Building an Intel i7-7700k

[adamtam]

Heya,

So I just moved to Melbourne and along with the move, comes time to build a new PC! Been about 5 years since I last put one together, so you can imagine the excitement It's been a while so I thought I'd touchbase with community enthusiast to make sure I get the most bang for my buck.

Context for PC:
I've been looking around today and figured I'll start with the i7-7700k processor as it seems perfect for its pricepoint & utility. Utility consists of video production & gaming and hoping to achieve smooth speeds for functions such as streaming, 4k video editing, renders & multitasking. Therefore I'm thinking of an GeForce GTX 1080 should compliment it well.

Also have a few recycled hardware I could still potentially use. They are an 850W PSU, DDR3 16gb twins 1866mhz & DDR3 16gb twins 1366mhz.

I guess my main priority right now is that I just wanna make sure compatibility of these hardwares are on point, and also to select a motherboard - which I have a few questions on.

I'm looking at this website for parts (http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf) and will probably just use them as an all-in-one solution.

Questions:

• 
  Is the difference in RAM mhz gonna effect the performance of this computer?
  What is the difference between an Intel KabyLake and Intel Skylake motherboard?
  What is your thoughts on current market favourites for motherboard brands?

I'll start with that.

 

[maikutech]

Depends on what you pair the memory to the motherboard and what exactly will you do with the computer itself.
Your ddr3 wouldn't work with the lga socket 1151 most of them are now on ddr4 ram and you would benefit from it in the long run
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Dominator-Platinum-3200MHz-PC4-25600/dp/B018GK2G9S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1493551497&sr=8-5&keywords=corsair+ddr4&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A677429011
This would be aimed more at 3d modeling, video production, programming.
With some good gaming you will want 32gb so windows will have plenty of breathing room to work

I would suggest a 1070ti, unless you really want to spend 500.00+ dollars for a video card then I won't stop you.
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GAMING-Support-08G-P4-5173-KR/dp/B01KVZBNY0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552340&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+1070ti
vs
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-08G-P4-6183-KR/dp/B01GAI6478/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552377&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+1080

You would be missing the speed difference by 100mhz at stock base then oc base when it gets going.
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-7700-Processor-Frequency-Generation/dp/B01N0L41N7/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552713&sr=1-3&keywords=7700k&refinements=p_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289792011

Go for the non k version, look at both clock speeds, then the max oc speeds, see the difference ?
Why pay 50.00 dollars more for nothing, just to be deadlocked at 4.2ghz- 4.4ghz ?
https://www.youtube.com/user/techtomorrow
Give him a look before you buy anything, usually hes right on the money sometimes he isn't but plenty of info from yester year to today.

 

[adamtam]

Depends on what you pair the memory to the motherboard and what exactly will you do with the computer itself.
Your ddr3 wouldn't work with the lga socket 1151 most of them are now on ddr4 ram and you would benefit from it in the long run
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Dominator-Platinum-3200MHz-PC4-25600/dp/B018GK2G9S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1493551497&sr=8-5&keywords=corsair+ddr4&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A677429011
This would be aimed more at 3d modeling, video production, programming.
With some good gaming you will want 32gb so windows will have plenty of breathing room to work

I would suggest a 1070ti, unless you really want to spend 500.00+ dollars for a video card then I won't stop you.
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GAMING-Support-08G-P4-5173-KR/dp/B01KVZBNY0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552340&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+1070ti
vs
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-08G-P4-6183-KR/dp/B01GAI6478/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552377&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+1080

You would be missing the speed difference by 100mhz at stock base then oc base when it gets going.
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-7700-Processor-Frequency-Generation/dp/B01N0L41N7/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552713&sr=1-3&keywords=7700k&refinements=p_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289792011

Go for the non k version, look at both clock speeds, then the max oc speeds, see the difference ?
Why pay 50.00 dollars more for nothing, just to be deadlocked at 4.2ghz- 4.4ghz ?
https://www.youtube.com/user/techtomorrow
Give him a look before you buy anything, usually hes right on the money sometimes he isn't but plenty of info from yester year to today.

Thanks for the detailed run down!
Fair call on the i7-7700 with oc capabilities - didn't see it that way definitely helpful.
Ok that's good, got room to upgrade RAM to DDR4 since we may be cutting down some costs. Will probably try to sell the DDR3s too.
And great catch on the GTX1070 price difference. It specs small differences, but why do you think there's such a massive price difference between the two?

 

[maikutech]

Depends on what you pair the memory to the motherboard and what exactly will you do with the computer itself.
Your ddr3 wouldn't work with the lga socket 1151 most of them are now on ddr4 ram and you would benefit from it in the long run
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Dominator-Platinum-3200MHz-PC4-25600/dp/B018GK2G9S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1493551497&sr=8-5&keywords=corsair+ddr4&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A677429011
This would be aimed more at 3d modeling, video production, programming.
With some good gaming you will want 32gb so windows will have plenty of breathing room to work

I would suggest a 1070ti, unless you really want to spend 500.00+ dollars for a video card then I won't stop you.
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GAMING-Support-08G-P4-5173-KR/dp/B01KVZBNY0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552340&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+1070ti
vs
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-08G-P4-6183-KR/dp/B01GAI6478/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552377&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+1080

You would be missing the speed difference by 100mhz at stock base then oc base when it gets going.
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-7700-Processor-Frequency-Generation/dp/B01N0L41N7/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1493552713&sr=1-3&keywords=7700k&refinements=p_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289792011

Go for the non k version, look at both clock speeds, then the max oc speeds, see the difference ?
Why pay 50.00 dollars more for nothing, just to be deadlocked at 4.2ghz- 4.4ghz ?
https://www.youtube.com/user/techtomorrow
Give him a look before you buy anything, usually hes right on the money sometimes he isn't but plenty of info from yester year to today.

Thanks for the detailed run down!
Fair call on the i7-7700 with oc capabilities - didn't see it that way definitely helpful.
Ok that's good, got room to upgrade RAM to DDR4 since we may be cutting down some costs. Will probably try to sell the DDR3s too.
And great catch on the GTX1070 price difference. It specs small differences, but why do you think there's such a massive price difference between the two?

Performances check the side by side comparison, memory clock, cuda cores which is indeed needed, gpu clock speed.
You and many others would probably be lacking 5% - 10% but if your not needing anything to demanding or over powered.
The GTX 1070 ti from evga would be your best bet and your saving atleast 200 dollars.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/pc-components/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-vs-1080-vs-1070-vs-1060-vs-1050-3640925/

 

[adamtam]

Performances check the side by side comparison, memory clock, cuda cores which is indeed needed, gpu clock speed.
You and many others would probably be lacking 5% - 10% but if your not needing anything to demanding or over powered.
The GTX 1070 ti from evga would be your best bet and your saving atleast 200 dollars.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/pc-components/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-vs-1080-vs-1070-vs-1060-vs-1050-3640925/

Awesome great to know!
Well I'm thinking of pushing this computer to do live streams, HD gaming screen captures and possibly minimal video rendering in the background. Do you reckon the GTX 1070 will still serve it justice?
(Btw, I don't think there's a GTX 1070Ti, have only found the GTX 1070 available in market)

 

[maikutech]

It'll do much more than you expect it to do, this is my card for the time being:
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-Overclocked-Graphics-VCGGTX750T2XPB-OC/dp/B00IGHD7S6

If it can do good gaming, while converting videos, uploading and doing god knows what else I do to it.
The GTX 1070 is more than this, you'll have a good skylake 7700 chip right beside it.
So you will barely feel anything, only thing you will feel is fragmentation from the hdd/ssd and maybe the registry breaking once and awhile.

If amazon uk does not have it go ahead and grab the gtx 1080, build up a part list and run it by this guy here.
http://www.techist.com/forums/members/pp-mguire/
Make a request thread he should be able tell you what you will want and don't want based on your preferences.
Coming from me though you seem ready to buy the parts soon and it'll last you a long time.

 

[jpe1701]

Hi there. I think you could really benefit from going to https://au.pcpartpicker.com/ . It will allow you to put together a build and it will make sure everything is compatible and it will show prices for various parts at online retailers. It sounds like you need a computer that can do heavy multitasking which the i7 can do very well but you really might want to look into AMDs Ryzen cpus as well. I will put together a few builds on partpicker using your old parts that are usable later and post them.

edit: I just went back and read your original post to see what parts to use but only the psu is usable.

 

[adamtam]

It'll do much more than you expect it to do, this is my card for the time being:
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-Overclocked-Graphics-VCGGTX750T2XPB-OC/dp/B00IGHD7S6

If it can do good gaming, while converting videos, uploading and doing god knows what else I do to it.
The GTX 1070 is more than this, you'll have a good skylake 7700 chip right beside it.
So you will barely feel anything, only thing you will feel is fragmentation from the hdd/ssd and maybe the registry breaking once and awhile.

If amazon uk does not have it go ahead and grab the gtx 1080, build up a part list and run it by this guy here.
http://www.techist.com/forums/members/pp-mguire/
Make a request thread he should be able tell you what you will want and don't want based on your preferences.
Coming from me though you seem ready to buy the parts soon and it'll last you a long time.

Thanks for the info Maikutech. Appreciate the advice

I'm reading about Koby Lake and Skylake differences now - seems Koby just got released this quarter. Reckon it'd make a big difference if I got a Koby Lake motherboard with the i7-7700?

 

[adamtam]

Hi there. I think you could really benefit from going to https://au.pcpartpicker.com/ . It will allow you to put together a build and it will make sure everything is compatible and it will show prices for various parts at online retailers. It sounds like you need a computer that can do heavy multitasking which the i7 can do very well but you really might want to look into AMDs Ryzen cpus as well. I will put together a few builds on partpicker using your old parts that are usable later and post them.

edit: I just went back and read your original post to see what parts to use but only the psu is usable.

Oh nice! pcpartpicker is gonna be super useful thanks for sharing

 

[maikutech]

It'll do much more than you expect it to do, this is my card for the time being:
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-Overclocked-Graphics-VCGGTX750T2XPB-OC/dp/B00IGHD7S6

If it can do good gaming, while converting videos, uploading and doing god knows what else I do to it.
The GTX 1070 is more than this, you'll have a good skylake 7700 chip right beside it.
So you will barely feel anything, only thing you will feel is fragmentation from the hdd/ssd and maybe the registry breaking once and awhile.

If amazon uk does not have it go ahead and grab the gtx 1080, build up a part list and run it by this guy here.
http://www.techist.com/forums/members/pp-mguire/
Make a request thread he should be able tell you what you will want and don't want based on your preferences.
Coming from me though you seem ready to buy the parts soon and it'll last you a long time.

Thanks for the info Maikutech. Appreciate the advice

I'm reading about Koby Lake and Skylake differences now - seems Koby just got released this quarter. Reckon it'd make a big difference if I got a Koby Lake motherboard with the i7-7700?

This will help explain things that kaby-lake will be better than sky-lake.
If it weren't intel would be just defeating itself when designing their cpu architecture plans.
It would also give the amd folks something more to laugh at, if they get the upper hand with their new lineup.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3152701/hardware/official-intel-7th-gen-kaby-lake-review-one-big-change-makes-up-for-smaller-ones.html

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/graphics-cards-pc-upgrades/kaby-lake-vs-skylake-3658183/

 

[adamtam]

This will help explain things that kaby-lake will be better than sky-lake.
If it weren't intel would be just defeating itself when designing their cpu architecture plans.
It would also give the amd folks something more to laugh at, if they get the upper hand with their new lineup.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3152701/hardware/official-intel-7th-gen-kaby-lake-review-one-big-change-makes-up-for-smaller-ones.html

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/graphics-cards-pc-upgrades/kaby-lake-vs-skylake-3658183/

I've run AMD in all my workstations in the past, so want to try intel this time round to see if I can feel the difference.

Awesome - thanks for sharing those links!

 

[jpe1701]

What is your budget? A lot of us on here love to go on pcpartpicker and put together builds to help people out. Chugalug_ really knows the prices of things in different parts of the world and is super helpful especially because he saves people a lot of money. Intel is a great choice. I've never tried an AMD cpu but I might try Ryzen once they have the kinks worked out. Kaby lake isn't a whole lot faster than sky lake but I think it is worth the extra cost considering it isn't that much. Since you are doing such good research for your build you might want to check out Intels upcoming Coffee lake. Another member of Toms forums left a link on another thread the other day that lead to a story on I think wccftech with rumors of chips being spotted with 6 cores for the mainstream segment, meaning 6 core i5s and i7s which may be released in august.

 

[adamtam]

What is your budget? A lot of us on here love to go on pcpartpicker and put together builds to help people out. Chugalug_ really knows the prices of things in different parts of the world and is super helpful especially because he saves people a lot of money. Intel is a great choice. I've never tried an AMD cpu but I might try Ryzen once they have the kinks worked out. Kaby lake isn't a whole lot faster than sky lake but I think it is worth the extra cost considering it isn't that much. Since you are doing such good research for your build you might want to check out Intels upcoming Coffee lake. Another member of Toms forums left a link on another thread the other day that lead to a story on I think wccftech with rumors of chips being spotted with 6 cores for the mainstream segment, meaning 6 core i5s and i7s which may be released in august.

Great tip jpe1701, but I wanna get this built and start putting it together next week? August is too long to wait without this workstation heh.

My budget is about $3000 AUD... I think that's about $2200USD. I'll save what I can, but I'm trying to build a computer that'll last me the next 3-5 years. I've found 2xMonitors at 300 ea, so that leaves me with $2400 to put this together.

 

[jpe1701]

I'm used to people posting that need help with budget and picking components. lol. As to your original questions, memory speed will affect it slightly. In gaming (because that is what I know) the difference between faster memory like 3000 mt/s and 2133 is a few frames per second. I use 2666 because it is the sweetspot between price and performance. The difference between a sky lake motherboard and kaby lake motherboard are that with a kaby lake cpu you get 4 more pcie lanes to use for things such as nvme m.2 drives. Kaby lake also uses 2400 mt/s ram as a minimum rather than 2133 and they will support the new Intel optane drives and memory. Now as for motherboard brands, it really is personal preference. I use Asus because they put out a good product and any time I have had to deal with them they have been very helpful and the 1 time I got a bad motherboard I had a replacement in a week and a half. Gigabyte, AsRock and MSI are really the other contenders but I am biased against MSI because I went with them first for my sky lake build and I got 3 bad boards in a row before I got 1 back that worked. Gigabyte and AsRock put out good products too I hear but I have not used them.

 

[adamtam]

I'm used to people posting that need help with budget and picking components. lol. As to your original questions, memory speed will affect it slightly. In gaming (because that is what I know) the difference between faster memory like 3000 mt/s and 2133 is a few frames per second. I use 2666 because it is the sweetspot between price and performance. The difference between a sky lake motherboard and kaby lake motherboard are that with a kaby lake cpu you get 4 more pcie lanes to use for things such as nvme m.2 drives. Kaby lake also uses 2400 mt/s ram as a minimum rather than 2133 and they will support the new Intel optane drives and memory. Now as for motherboard brands, it really is personal preference. I use Asus because they put out a good product and any time I have had to deal with them they have been very helpful and the 1 time I got a bad motherboard I had a replacement in a week and a half. Gigabyte, AsRock and MSI are really the other contenders but I am biased against MSI because I went with them first for my sky lake build and I got 3 bad boards in a row before I got 1 back that worked. Gigabyte and AsRock put out good products too I hear but I have not used them.

Fantastic - that's awesome to note!
Cool I'll put together a list of what I believe I'll be putting together soon and share it here. Hoping to get the workstation built the weekend after... ahh can't wait I'm super excited !

 

[adamtam]

So this is what I'm currently looking at putting together and its est cost in AUD$.

CPU >> Intel i7-7700 @ $409
GPU >> Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming 8GB GTX 1070 @ $649
Motherboard >> Asus Prime H270 PLUS @ $165
PSU >> 850W @ $150 (new)
RAM >> 16G Kit (8GB x 2) 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX @ $164
>> 16G Kit (8GB x 2) 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX @ $164
Monitors >> 27”-29” @ $300
>> 27”-29” @ $300
Speakers >> Logitech Z333 2.1 Wireless Bluetooth @ $100
Keyboard >> $120
Mouse >> $80
Headset >> $100

Note1: Monitors to Headset is the est. of what I'm willing to spend. Will probably decide when I see them physically at shop.
Note2: I have a HDDs that I've brought over from my last workstation, so won't be needing those. I am also purchasing a CPU case & PSU from a friend, so mate's rates apply.

Any thoughts on the build?

 

[jpe1701]

So this is what I'm currently looking at putting together and its est cost in AUD$.

CPU >> Intel i7-7700 @ $409
GPU >> Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming 8GB GTX 1070 @ $649
Motherboard >> Asus Prime H270 PLUS @ $165
PSU >> 850W @ $150 (new)
RAM >> 16G Kit (8GB x 2) 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX @ $164
>> 16G Kit (8GB x 2) 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX @ $164
Monitors >> 27”-29” @ $300
>> 27”-29” @ $300
Speakers >> Logitech Z333 2.1 Wireless Bluetooth @ $100
Keyboard >> $120
Mouse >> $80
Headset >> $100

Note1: Monitors to Headset is the est. of what I'm willing to spend. Will probably decide when I see them physically at shop.
Note2: I have a HDDs that I've brought over from my last workstation, so won't be needing those. I am also purchasing a CPU case & PSU from a friend, so mate's rates apply.

Any thoughts on the build?

My thoughts are that it looks good. It should serve you very well. The only suggestion I could make is that you might want an Ssd to speed up boot and loading times.

 

[adamtam]

So this is what I'm currently looking at putting together and its est cost in AUD$.

CPU >> Intel i7-7700 @ $409
GPU >> Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming 8GB GTX 1070 @ $649
Motherboard >> Asus Prime H270 PLUS @ $165
PSU >> 850W @ $150 (new)
RAM >> 16G Kit (8GB x 2) 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX @ $164
>> 16G Kit (8GB x 2) 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX @ $164
Monitors >> 27”-29” @ $300
>> 27”-29” @ $300
Speakers >> Logitech Z333 2.1 Wireless Bluetooth @ $100
Keyboard >> $120
Mouse >> $80
Headset >> $100

Note1: Monitors to Headset is the est. of what I'm willing to spend. Will probably decide when I see them physically at shop.
Note2: I have a HDDs that I've brought over from my last workstation, so won't be needing those. I am also purchasing a CPU case & PSU from a friend, so mate's rates apply.

Any thoughts on the build?

My thoughts are that it looks good. It should serve you very well. The only suggestion I could make is that you might want an Ssd to speed up boot and loading times.

Fantastic - great to hear!

I do have 2 SSD drives @ 240GB each so no issues there Cheers bud!

 

[jpe1701]

Oh good. Fantastic build. congrats and take care.

 

[maikutech]

700 watt psu should be enough for your new system, 850watts and depending on which model you got is over kill.
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Modular-Warranty-Supply-210-GQ-0750-V1/dp/B017HA3RGE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1493873499&sr=8-2&keywords=evga+750w

This is what I'm wearing now, absolutely great sound from my usb sound blaster go card.
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDRZX110-Stereo-Headphones-Black/dp/B00NJ2M33I/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1493873613&sr=8-3&keywords=sony+headphones

This is what I use on my main computer speakers, had them since 2011 and they still do a great job.
If it doesn't vibrate the windows downstairs, have the cops bang on your door, your parents threaten to toss you out withit or your
room mates trying to get rid of it...
Its not really doing its job, this is a newer version and I need to buy new ones this summer but good sound when managed right through realtek audio setup.
https://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-SHTIB1046-BT-Bluetooth-Computer-Speaker/dp/B00KRDT50G/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1493873751&sr=8-18&keywords=sylvania+speakers

 

[adamtam]

700 watt psu should be enough for your new system, 850watts and depending on which model you got is over kill.
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Modular-Warranty-Supply-210-GQ-0750-V1/dp/B017HA3RGE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1493873499&sr=8-2&keywords=evga+750w

This is what I'm wearing now, absolutely great sound from my usb sound blaster go card.
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDRZX110-Stereo-Headphones-Black/dp/B00NJ2M33I/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1493873613&sr=8-3&keywords=sony+headphones

This is what I use on my main computer speakers, had them since 2011 and they still do a great job.
If it doesn't vibrate the windows downstairs, have the cops bang on your door, your parents threaten to toss you out withit or your
room mates trying to get rid of it...
Its not really doing its job, this is a newer version and I need to buy new ones this summer but good sound when managed right through realtek audio setup.
https://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-SHTIB1046-BT-Bluetooth-Computer-Speaker/dp/B00KRDT50G/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1493873751&sr=8-18&keywords=sylvania+speakers

Fantastic! Thanks for the audio hardware recommendations. I like the look of the Sylvania - unfortunately I don't think they stock it inshop here. Will look into ordering it from amazon as above.

As for the PSU - I will be fully utlizing all SATA inputs on 3-4TB hard drives. My worry is that my PSU doesn't supply enough when I maximize storage capacity. Do you think the 700W will still be enough?