SpaceFrontier

Honorable
Jan 10, 2015
57
1
10,535
Hey all,

A while back when I upgraded my old PC I asked for help here and you were all extremely helpful and pointed out things I'd missed, I'm planning to build a new PC and wanted to see if anyone had any advice.

The PC will be for things like 3D modeling/Photoshop and gaming/level creation ("mapping"). The kinds of games I play are very heavy on CPU/RAM and require good SSD performance (Rust/DayZ and other large open world games). I still want a decent GPU but I have concentrated on RAM and CPU more for these reasons. Some of the programs I use for making game levels absolutely kill my current 16gb DDR3/1600mhz RAM so I'm not too bothered with buying 32gb.

My current plan can be viewed here:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/tMkBMZ

Some issues I'd like some advice on:
I'd like to use those two 970 EVO SSDs in RAID0 for the very slight performance gain, and because the 500gb one was actually slightly more than 2 separate ones (£30 more). Is it worth having a 1TB SSD for OS/general files and this RAID0 system with the two EVOs to act as 500gb storage for games or is there another way I can do this for a better price to power ratio? Also, does the MOBO I've selected support having this setup? I'm struggling to figure that part out.

I'm not happy with the case, the reason I have this as a placeholder is because according to http://www.logicalincrements.com/ (which this build is based off of under the "Outstanding" option) it physically houses both the MOBO and Noctua fan which are both quite large. What would you suggest as a cheaper alternative that doesn't skip out on decent cooling? I still want good cooling, but I couldn't care less for how the case looks. Not interested in paying extra for looks/decals/LEDs. £140 is extremely steep for a case in my opinion. If I could choose one component to save on, it would be the case. As long as it functions I'm happy.

Do I go with the RTX 1070 or do I go with a GTX 1080? I do not care for ray trace lighting but from benchmarks it seems they're not that far apart price-wise yet the 1070 seems to get better performance. If I do get the 1070, is the one I selected a good choice? I'm unfamilar with Gigabyte and as I understand it's factory overclocked with better cooling. I found an MSI one that wasn't factory overclocked but it was the exact same price, so to me it seems logical to get the Gigabyte one I've selected.

Other than this I'm quite happy with the build. I have a decent mouse/keyboard setup and a 144hz monitor that can take advantage of higher framerates, which is why I've gone a little overboard on this build. Is there anything else I've missed out on? Any advice you'd like to give or any compatibility issues I may have missed (including physical size compatibility lol).

edit
Nearly forgot to mention -- which components are worth buying second hand? I was thinking maybe RAM/GPU. I'm fine with buying 2nd hand parts except maybe CPU because I won't know how well it was taken care of until I actually get my hands on it.

Budget is the lower end of £1500-2000. I'd like to be as close to £1500 as possible without missing out on small improvements that are worth it and being able to avoid bottlenecks.

Many thanks for your help in advance.
 
Last edited:
Solution
I made some changes to the original build that I think will be much better:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£358.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler (£54.98 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£154.56 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£192.39 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£149.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£113.45 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce...

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
The PC will be for things like 3D modeling/Photoshop and gaming/level creation ("mapping"). The kinds of games I play are very heavy on CPU/RAM and require good SSD performance (Rust/DayZ and other large open world games). I still want a decent GPU but I have concentrated on RAM and CPU more for these reasons. Some of the programs I use for making game levels absolutely kill my current 16gb DDR3/1600mhz RAM so I'm not too bothered with buying 32gb.

Yeah that's not going to do much. You really are much better off buying a new system at this point.

I'd like to use those two 970 EVO SSDs in RAID0 for the very slight performance gain, and because the 500gb one was actually slightly more than 2 separate ones (£30 more). Is it worth having a 1TB SSD for OS/general files and this RAID0 system with the two EVOs to act as 500gb storage for games or is there another way I can do this for a better price to power ratio? Also, does the MOBO I've selected support having this setup? I'm struggling to figure that part out.

SSDs can be put into RAID 0 but you're better off running the drives independently. RAID 0 is too much hassle and not a lot of benefit gained from doing this. SSDs are far more likely to fail if they are in RAID mode than they are running independently.

I'm not happy with the case, the reason I have this as a placeholder is because according to http://www.logicalincrements.com/ (which this build is based off of under the "Outstanding" option) it physically houses both the MOBO and Noctua fan which are both quite large. What would you suggest as a cheaper alternative that doesn't skip out on decent cooling? I still want good cooling, but I couldn't care less for how the case looks. Not interested in paying extra for looks/decals/LEDs. £140 is extremely steep for a case in my opinion. If I could choose one component to save on, it would be the case. As long as it functions I'm happy.

That site has a lot of misinformation on it. It feels like they are intentionally misleading people on things like cases and cooling to get them to spend more in areas where it has no effect on performance whatsoever. Yeah it is important to make sure that you have a good cooling solution, but that can be achieved on any budget. In addition to having some very outdated info, a lot of information on that site is quite simply, a load of BS. Telling people that a $300 case is "exceptional" and a $100 case is "marginal" is really defeating the purpose. Case is subjective and there is a lot of crap out there, but there's also good cases on any budget.

Do I go with the RTX 1070 or do I go with a GTX 1080? I do not care for ray trace lighting but from benchmarks it seems they're not that far apart price-wise yet the 1070 seems to get better performance. If I do get the 1070, is the one I selected a good choice? I'm unfamilar with Gigabyte and as I understand it's factory overclocked with better cooling. I found an MSI one that wasn't factory overclocked but it was the exact same price, so to me it seems logical to get the Gigabyte one I've selected.

Why go with the last generation? You should be prepared for when the software moves to the next level of hardware and you won't do that buying the older card. Get a 2070 - it's basically a 1080TI in a less expensive package. I have the same card.

Other than this I'm quite happy with the build. I have a decent mouse/keyboard setup and a 144hz monitor that can take advantage of higher framerates, which is why I've gone a little overboard on this build. Is there anything else I've missed out on? Any advice you'd like to give or any compatibility issues I may have missed (including physical size compatibility lol).

For one thing - never, ever buy a mixed set of RAM. Always buy matching sets. The main reason is that RAM can be manufactured at different points and use different B-Dies which would make overclocking difficult and cause serious instability issues. Also get faster RAM, these days 2133 won't cut it, you should be getting 3200 or higher. 2133 is the bare minimum for DDR4 boards these days. What is your overall budget?
 
Last edited:

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
I made some changes to the original build that I think will be much better:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£358.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler (£54.98 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£154.56 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£192.39 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£149.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£113.45 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£448.98 @ Box Limited)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case (£88.96 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£85.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1647.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-10 06:02 BST+0100
 
Solution

SpaceFrontier

Honorable
Jan 10, 2015
57
1
10,535
I made some changes to the original build that I think will be much better:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£358.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler (£54.98 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£154.56 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£192.39 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£149.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£113.45 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£448.98 @ Box Limited)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case (£88.96 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£85.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1647.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-10 06:02 BST+0100

Hi! Many thanks for all your advice. I did forget to mention budget but your improved build is pretty much what it was, I was aiming for the lower end of £1500-2000 preferably as close to £1500 without causing bottlenecks. I'm glad you agree with the 1070, ideally I'd like newer gen that'll last me a while. I don't tend to pick up new games very often so as long as the things I'm playing now run fine I should be good for many years to come which is why I've pushed the performance a bit. I'm aware future proofing is a flawed concept but I'm trying to get as close as possible to a future proof PC for the programs/games I run.

Your advice on RAID0 is pretty much what I've seen in my (limited) research but due to worries with PCIe lanes and as you mentioned, increased failure rate, I'm happy with the one you've selected. I'd like the idea of a large SSD with acceptable performance for the OS and general files, an M2 for heavy program performance and I'll put in an old HDD at some point for more important files that I want to backup.

I'm currently at work so I'll look more in-depth into your suggested build once off this evening, I should also mention that I won't be at my home address for around a month and as such I don't want to purchase a build until I'm back home. I'm hoping this will align with a new price drop for graphics cards from both Nvidia and AMD, which will hopefully lower the cost of the 1070.
 

Bob Bobson

Proper
Apr 19, 2019
167
15
115
I made some changes to the original build that I think will be much better:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£358.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler (£54.98 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£154.56 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£192.39 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£149.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£113.45 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£448.98 @ Box Limited)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case (£88.96 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£85.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1647.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-10 06:02 BST+0100

Will that 9700k be enough if he is doing a 3d model renders etc?
 

Bob Bobson

Proper
Apr 19, 2019
167
15
115
Hey all,

A while back when I upgraded my old PC I asked for help here and you were all extremely helpful and pointed out things I'd missed, I'm planning to build a new PC and wanted to see if anyone had any advice.

The PC will be for things like 3D modeling/Photoshop and gaming/level creation ("mapping"). The kinds of games I play are very heavy on CPU/RAM and require good SSD performance (Rust/DayZ and other large open world games). I still want a decent GPU but I have concentrated on RAM and CPU more for these reasons. Some of the programs I use for making game levels absolutely kill my current 16gb DDR3/1600mhz RAM so I'm not too bothered with buying 32gb.

My current plan can be viewed here:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/tMkBMZ

Some issues I'd like some advice on:
I'd like to use those two 970 EVO SSDs in RAID0 for the very slight performance gain, and because the 500gb one was actually slightly more than 2 separate ones (£30 more). Is it worth having a 1TB SSD for OS/general files and this RAID0 system with the two EVOs to act as 500gb storage for games or is there another way I can do this for a better price to power ratio? Also, does the MOBO I've selected support having this setup? I'm struggling to figure that part out.

I'm not happy with the case, the reason I have this as a placeholder is because according to http://www.logicalincrements.com/ (which this build is based off of under the "Outstanding" option) it physically houses both the MOBO and Noctua fan which are both quite large. What would you suggest as a cheaper alternative that doesn't skip out on decent cooling? I still want good cooling, but I couldn't care less for how the case looks. Not interested in paying extra for looks/decals/LEDs. £140 is extremely steep for a case in my opinion. If I could choose one component to save on, it would be the case. As long as it functions I'm happy.

Do I go with the RTX 1070 or do I go with a GTX 1080? I do not care for ray trace lighting but from benchmarks it seems they're not that far apart price-wise yet the 1070 seems to get better performance. If I do get the 1070, is the one I selected a good choice? I'm unfamilar with Gigabyte and as I understand it's factory overclocked with better cooling. I found an MSI one that wasn't factory overclocked but it was the exact same price, so to me it seems logical to get the Gigabyte one I've selected.

Other than this I'm quite happy with the build. I have a decent mouse/keyboard setup and a 144hz monitor that can take advantage of higher framerates, which is why I've gone a little overboard on this build. Is there anything else I've missed out on? Any advice you'd like to give or any compatibility issues I may have missed (including physical size compatibility lol).

edit
Nearly forgot to mention -- which components are worth buying second hand? I was thinking maybe RAM/GPU. I'm fine with buying 2nd hand parts except maybe CPU because I won't know how well it was taken care of until I actually get my hands on it.

Budget is the lower end of £1500-2000. I'd like to be as close to £1500 as possible without missing out on small improvements that are worth it and being able to avoid bottlenecks.

Many thanks for your help in advance.

Since you are doing some rendering, more then 8 threads would be of a great use imo.

This is what i suggest. It sits at 1700, and that 9900k is going to go a long way in terms of you 3D work.
I changed that windforce gpu, becauser this exact model kept dying a lot for people at my local store. Evga is safer choice imo.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/fhWgV6

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU | Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | £462.98 @ Aria PC
CPU Cooler | be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler | £67.11 @ CCL Computers
Motherboard | ASRock - Z390 Taichi ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | £226.70 @ Amazon UK
Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | £79.99 @ CCL Computers
Storage | Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | £149.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Storage | Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | £57.14 @ PC World Business
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Black Video Card | £483.48 @ Scan.co.uk
Case | NZXT - H500i ATX Mid Tower Case | £99.97 @ Box Limited
Power Supply | SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | £85.47 @ Amazon UK
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £1712.43
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-10 16:37 BST+0100 |
 
8 cores/threads is about as strong as you can get on a mainstream platform. The 8 core 16 thread 9900k is the only logical step up for that platform.

Of course ryzen exists where you can get an 8 core 16 thread cpu for. Sub $150. If you do a lot of modeling in a program that uses more than 8 threads, i would go either 9900k or go ryzen 7 and save a ton of money.
 
Last edited:

Bob Bobson

Proper
Apr 19, 2019
167
15
115
That was the CPU in the original build. I would think it would be. You could go 9900K but the budget is unknown at this point. After that the only logical step up is a TR4 and there's very few applications out there that need that kind of power.

I went from the 1630 pound budget in his build, i know that 8 vs 16 threads is miles apart in 3d rendering
 

SpaceFrontier

Honorable
Jan 10, 2015
57
1
10,535
I went from the 1630 pound budget in his build, i know that 8 vs 16 threads is miles apart in 3d rendering

Hi thanks for your help,

You're pretty much spot on, I amended the original post - my budget is £1500-£2000 trying to keep towards the lower end as much as possible, but with a little bit of room to play with so your £1600 suggestion is perfect. I'm not too sure about the i9 there, I think the i7 should be enough for what I have in mind and may have similar game performance at a lower price. The info on the Windforce is very much appreciated as I had a feeling there was a catch, I may have to look into that nice alternative you mentioned although I'm aware it's a bit more so I may take the risk and get the Windforce after a bit more research (especially in Gigabyte's customer service lol). Is the cooling any good on the Windforce? I don't want to buy something that's factory overclocked if the cooling doesn't match it.
 

Bob Bobson

Proper
Apr 19, 2019
167
15
115
Hi thanks for your help,

You're pretty much spot on, I amended the original post - my budget is £1500-£2000 trying to keep towards the lower end as much as possible, but with a little bit of room to play with so your £1600 suggestion is perfect. I'm not too sure about the i9 there, I think the i7 should be enough for what I have in mind and may have similar game performance at a lower price. The info on the Windforce is very much appreciated as I had a feeling there was a catch, I may have to look into that nice alternative you mentioned although I'm aware it's a bit more so I may take the risk and get the Windforce after a bit more research (especially in Gigabyte's customer service lol). Is the cooling any good on the Windforce? I don't want to buy something that's factory overclocked if the cooling doesn't match it.

The cooling is actually quite good on the windforce, but it seems that the chip malfunction is quite high. I RMAed two gigabyte 1080ti in the last month, so I know first hand their support is terrible. At least here in Europe, I got an Evga card now and I hope it will stay healthy.

I put in the i9 because I saw you do 3D stuff. I had an i7 8700k work PC but recently switched to ryzen 2700x and those extra threads are great. If you don't do much of that then stick with the 9700K, it's great chip for gaming.

Although as always, I have to say that waiting for the ryzen 3000 launch might be wise, since the prices will probably go down on all processors.
 

SpaceFrontier

Honorable
Jan 10, 2015
57
1
10,535
The cooling is actually quite good on the windforce, but it seems that the chip malfunction is quite high. I RMAed two gigabyte 1080ti in the last month, so I know first hand their support is terrible. At least here in Europe, I got an Evga card now and I hope it will stay healthy.

I put in the i9 because I saw you do 3D stuff. I had an i7 8700k work PC but recently switched to ryzen 2700x and those extra threads are great. If you don't do much of that then stick with the 9700K, it's great chip for gaming.

Although as always, I have to say that waiting for the ryzen 3000 launch might be wise, since the prices will probably go down on all processors.

Yeah agreed with the price drop.
Hm I'll have to think about the Windforce, do I play it safe or do I save a little and get a tiny performance boost with the chance of a DOA card... I do a little light 3D modeling as mentioned but I think if I had to choose game performance or rendering performance, I'd go with game. Plus it's a lot cheaper. Still some solid advice though I may upgrade to the i9 in the far future if I go deeper down the 3D route.

For now I will most likely go with G-unit's modified build as I like the case he suggested quite a lot and it's a ton cheaper than my original choice, plus the SSD/RAM combo is a lot better compared to my original build. I'm still torn on the Windforce but at the same time I don't plan to buy until next month, or more if the new Ryzens don't drop until then, so I've got plenty of time to research and make my mind up.

Thanks to everyone that commented in this thread! The help is appreciated.
Great advice back in 2015, and yet again in 2019.
 
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Bob Bobson

Proper
Apr 19, 2019
167
15
115
Yeah agreed with the price drop.
Hm I'll have to think about the Windforce, do I play it safe or do I save a little and get a tiny performance boost with the chance of a DOA card... I do a little light 3D modeling as mentioned but I think if I had to choose game performance or rendering performance, I'd go with game. Plus it's a lot cheaper. Still some solid advice though I may upgrade to the i9 in the far future if I go deeper down the 3D route.

For now I will most likely go with G-unit's modified build as I like the case he suggested quite a lot and it's a ton cheaper than my original choice, plus the SSD/RAM combo is a lot better compared to my original build. I'm still torn on the Windforce but at the same time I don't plan to buy until next month, or more if the new Ryzens don't drop until then, so I've got plenty of time to research and make my mind up.

Thanks to everyone that commented in this thread! The help is appreciated.
Great advice back in 2015, and yet again in 2019.

Sure, it's a solid build, apart from that Windforce, but you may have different experience. Also get the 2tb drive, if you want to play games, it's gonna get filled up pretty soon.
Enjoy
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Yeah agreed with the price drop.
Hm I'll have to think about the Windforce, do I play it safe or do I save a little and get a tiny performance boost with the chance of a DOA card... I do a little light 3D modeling as mentioned but I think if I had to choose game performance or rendering performance, I'd go with game. Plus it's a lot cheaper. Still some solid advice though I may upgrade to the i9 in the far future if I go deeper down the 3D route.

For now I will most likely go with G-unit's modified build as I like the case he suggested quite a lot and it's a ton cheaper than my original choice, plus the SSD/RAM combo is a lot better compared to my original build. I'm still torn on the Windforce but at the same time I don't plan to buy until next month, or more if the new Ryzens don't drop until then, so I've got plenty of time to research and make my mind up.

Thanks to everyone that commented in this thread! The help is appreciated.
Great advice back in 2015, and yet again in 2019.

Yeah I have that same case, sitting right in front of me, actually. One of the best I've ever used!