i5-8400 build, need help

[joonkimdds]

Hi, it's been a while since I built a computer. My last PC was sandybridge i5-2500.
Coffeelake was just released and it seems better than what most people expected.
I am interested in i5-8400.
I don't overclock, I don't use SLI or Crossfire.
I only use pc for gaming. I heard from many that intel=gaming, Ryzen=streaming, multitasking.

Here are some of my questions.
1) As long as a motherboard is Z370, does it matter whether I buy cheapest or most expensive as long as it's ATX motherboard? I was looking at gigabyte HD3P and it seems to be the cheapest ATX motherboard that has all the features I need.

2) What rams are recommended and compatible with i5-8400? I want 16GB (2x8GB) but not sure what brand which product and what frequency I need. Do I really need something like 3200 speed?

3) Some people say Ryzen's 8 core 16 threads will triump someday because more games will take advantage of more cores. When do you think games will actually start using 16 cores or 8 cores? I think there is not even a game that uses 6 cores yet. I am asking this to check how future proof 8400 is or if I should really go for more cores or more threads such as 8700K or Ryzen.

4) Could you also suggest other components such as 1TB SSD, powersupply...etc?
5) I think I will just continue to use my gigabyte 970 GTX until I feel like my PC is bottlenecking. I currently use ultrawide (21:9) 1080p and I will use this monitor and screen for at least 6 yrs. or...do you think I should just upgrade my GPU now or wait for next gen? I am interested in evil within2, far cry 5, anthem, Nioh, monster hunter world...etc.

Thanks.

 

[Hellfire13]

Something like this should be a pretty good gaming build for you...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($187.00 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 HD3P (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($143.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($138.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 1.1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($270.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair - SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $824.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-06 14:31 EDT-0400

> The motherboard you have chosen is fine. It doesnt matter which z370 you choose. Good thing is, it leaves you room for upgrade path should you choose to go with a more powerful chip like 8700k in future.

> Any RAM from 2666 onwards should work fine. Note that Intel do not recommend going below that for on par performance.

> Games still do not use 4 cores mostly. 6 cores is sufficient for the forseeable future and 8 core is like, who knows, 10 yrs down the line maybe.

> Most good quality components have been suggested above.

Edit: You can keep the 970 for now as it should serve you fine for a while.
SSD speeds are pretty fast and going for a faster SSD like 850 evo contributes nothing extra to gaming. Just increases your boot and load times by some tad few seconds, which is not worth the extra price you pay.
And we are talking about something like 10sec vs 13sec.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

I think the 8400 is the new king of mainstream gaming. Excellent price point for excellent gaming results. Here are my answers:

1. I would not pair an expensive motherboard with the 8400. Too bad Intel wont release the H or B boards till next year. I have the H170 version of the gigabyte board you selected in my son's PC and I have had no problems at all with it. If you were going to overclock, then it would not be a board I would want, but it will be fine with the 8400.

2. In the past Intel has not had as many issues with RAM compatibility. This is a new platform, so there may be issues that have not been reported, but I have not heard of any compatibility issues as of yet. If you want to be certain, go to the support page on your motherboard web page and it will have a memory compatibility chart.

Intel does not seem to scale as well to RAM speed as Ryzen, so I would not spend a lot on high speed RAM as there are only minimal gains.

3. Nothing is future proof. Quad core CPUs have been mainstream for a decade and games are only now using all the cores. AMD made 6 cores mainstream in 2017, given AAA games take years to develop, there is a high likelihood that by the time games require high core count CPUs, the 8400 will be pretty long in the tooth and be in need of an upgrade.

4. See my build below. The 850 EVO is the most popular SSD in the world, I would go for it. If you have room in your budget, get the 960 EVO as it is faster.

5. I would probably keep your 970 at this point. GPU prices are crazy high due to mining, I would at least wait till prices come back to normal. Volta should come out next year and maybe AMD can continue to improve Vega.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rjrvBP
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rjrvBP/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($187.00 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 HD3 (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($128.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($138.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($98.94 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $593.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-06 14:30 EDT-0400

 

[joonkimdds]

Wow, both of you are so amazing~!!!
Thank you guys~! I am already so excited to get this new rig~! 😀
I got few more questions if you don't mind.
Between SATA3 and M.2 for SSD, I heard that M.2 is faster but generates more heat. Does it need a separate cooler? And how much faster is it? Will I see the noticable difference? Maybe 10 sec shorter load time in games?

 

[Hellfire13]

M2 runs hot is a myth unless you have a terrible case with insufficient air flow. Its better to go with m2 for better cable management and aesthetics, but even a SATA disk is fine. Also, as i mentioned before, SSD speeds are already plenty fast and a faster SSD doesnt contribute anything extra. But if money is not an issue and you want more longevity, go with this config...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($187.00 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 HD3P (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($143.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($138.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($233.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.69 @ OutletPC)
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $884.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-06 14:59 EDT-0400

Make a 100gb partition on the NVME drive for OS/Software and keep the rest for your frequently used files like games and movies. Keep the hdd as a backup and storage drive.

 

[joonkimdds]

M2 runs hot is a myth unless you have a terrible case with insufficient air flow. Its better to go with m2 for better cable management and aesthetics, but even a SATA disk is fine. Also, as i mentioned before, SSD speeds are already plenty fast and a faster SSD doesnt contribute anything extra. But if money is not an issue and you want more longevity, go with this config...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($187.00 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 HD3P (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($143.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($138.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($233.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.69 @ OutletPC)
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $884.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-06 14:59 EDT-0400

Make a 100gb partition on the NVME drive for OS/Software and keep the rest for your frequently used files like games and movies. Keep the hdd as a backup and storage drive.

I actually care about better cable management so I will go with M.2 especially if it's faster than SATA3 at same price. I think it would be better than spending extra for EVO 960 if it still uses SATA3 and slower than M.2.
The 1TB M.2 SSD you recommended me is probably what I will get, "Crucial MX300 1TB M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive".

 

[Hellfire13]

The 960 EVO is NVME M2 drive and 5 times faster than any other most other normal SSDs out there... http://www.userbenchmark.com/Faq/What-s-the-difference-between-SATA-PCIe-and-NVMe/105

 

[joonkimdds]

The 960 EVO is NVME M2 drive and 5 times faster than any other most other normal SSDs out there... http://www.userbenchmark.com/Faq/What-s-the-difference-between-SATA-PCIe-and-NVMe/105

But the gaming loading time would still be small difference (10 sec vs. 13 sec), right?

 

[Hellfire13]

Maybe 8sec vs 13sec, or something like that. You could go with whichever combination you want. Either should be fine for gaming. I was just conveying all the stats to you.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

NVME drives are great and you should get one given your budget. But in the real world, you won't tell much of a difference from a 3D nand sata SSD.

I have a 960 EVO, and my monitor takes longer to boot than my pc.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

I would buy an MSI board simply because they have Enhanced Turbo which allows all cores to run at maximum turbo speed.

 

[Hellfire13]

I would buy an MSI board simply because they have Enhanced Turbo which allows all cores to run at maximum turbo speed.

That is for unlocked(k) processors. Not the locked ones. The locked ones have a fixed all core turbo.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

I would buy an MSI board simply because they have Enhanced Turbo which allows all cores to run at maximum turbo speed.

That is for unlocked(k) processors. Not the locked ones. The locked ones have a fixed all core turbo.

Alright thanks.

 

[joonkimdds]

NVME drives are great and you should get one given your budget. But in the real world, you won't tell much of a difference from a 3D nand sata SSD.

I have a 960 EVO, and my monitor takes longer to boot than my pc.

Does this one sound good?
Samsung 960 EVO Series - 1TB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E1T0BW) = $434 from amazon.com

The motherboard says "Dual Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA interface". Is this compatible with Evo 960? It says one m.2 supports type 22110 and the other one is for 2280. Which slot works for 960 Evo?

And what can I do with my 256GB SATA3 SSD Crucial from previous computer? Can I just plug it into SATA3 of new rig and make it work? Is it necessary to format and make sure it's empty before I plug it in?

 

[Hellfire13]

I think, for a gaming rig, there is no point spending that much on a NVME drive. You wont be able to feel the difference in real time from a normal SSD. That money can be better spent elsewhere. The Crucial 1tb should be sufficient for your need, and is a better idea. Or you should go with a 480gb ssd and 1tb hdd combo. 960evo 1tb for that configuration looks very odd. A faster SSD should come after faster cpu/gpu.
As for the Crucial from your previous pc, if you want to use it as a OS drive, then you need to format it. Infact it will prompt you for formatting during Windows installation. Else you can simply attach it and run as a secondary drive.

 

[mdd1963]

NCIX Tech Tips did a comparison of gaming level load times comparing SSD to M.2; times were identical. Not one second saved.

But 5 second boot times, and the 4 min Windows install time, and near instantaneous opening of docs, etc, are nice! ( but for purely gaming , that extra $100 for a 500 GB drive would be better spent on a better GPU, IMO...

 

[feelinfroggy777]

I can't tell a difference in game load times from my 960 EVO and 850 EVO. Virus scans are very fast for both of them. Boot times are faster with the 960, but we are talking about the difference between a few seconds.

The nice thing for M.2 is cable management. M.2 are very clean.

I would probabaly save the $100 and just get the 8600k. But I like to overclock. The 8400 is really nice though and is an excellent gaming chip for the price.

I'd save the 100 and start thing about a GPU when Volta comes out and GPU prices become reasonable again.