Opinions on $1400 build for a friend

[MountainDrew329]

I'm doing a build for a friend where I'd like to spend about 1400. His primary usage is gaming, and he'll very rarely be doing anything multi-core intensive (hence why I chose intel). He is not likely to be overclocking so I went with the 8700 non-k processor.

His only requests were to make it fast and have cool rgb lighting, so I put a lot of emphasis on the rgb. I'd like to have everything totally compatible and synchronized in terms of lighting so I added the thermaltake sync controller so I can sync the Riing plus fans with the exact patterns of the motherboard and ram in the gigabyte RGB fusion software. The fans are addressable and the motherboard does not have an addressable header as far as I know so this is how I thought to solve the problem.

I plan on getting the 1080 used on ebay for around $380, which is why I manually entered that price.

I'm open to any suggestions!

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

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H60 (2018) 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($69.37 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - H370 AORUS Gaming 3 WIFI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston - A400 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB DUKE OC Video Card ($380.00)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($30.00)
Case Fan: Thermaltake - Riing Plus 12 RGB TT Premium Edition (3 Fan Pack) 48.3 CFM 120mm Fans ($85.58 @ Amazon)
Other: Thermaltake TT Sync SATA Powered 9 Port Addressable LED Controller TT Premium Edition (Compatible with ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion and MSI Mystic Light Sync) CL-O015-PL00BL-A ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1344.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-01 01:43 EDT-0400

 

[volkgren]

Looks good. If he likes RGB then I'd try to fit the NZXT Kraken X42 or X52 in the budget. But I don't really see any room to cut down on anything else.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Get the 9600k and z390 mobo (releases in a few weeks). You don't have to worry about overclocking cuz mobo have auto oc profiles which tweaks itself.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken M22 Liquid CPU Cooler ($83.67 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB DUKE OC Video Card ($380.00)
Case: Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($52.00 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($30.00)
Case Fan: Thermaltake - Riing Plus 12 RGB TT Premium Edition (3 Fan Pack) 48.3 CFM 120mm Fans ($85.58 @ Amazon)
Total: $942.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-01 02:21 EDT-0400

 

[ArchitSahu]

PSU is a solid unit, but can be better. Rest all seems pretty balanced.

 

[guanyu210379]

I would wait, if possible, for the coming I5 or I7 9xxx.
If you aim for 1080, I would also wait, if possible, until 2070 is available.
After those are available, you can choose to pick the better one but more expensive or the less better one but a bit cheaper.
Waiting is always good you know, if possible.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

^ depending on the price, the 2070 can also be worth it for 1080p. The 1080ti for 2k 144hz

 

[guanyu210379]

If someone interested,
Seeing 2080 is on the level of 1080Ti, my crystal ball said, that 2070 should be around 1080 performance level.

The 2xxx are all stupidly overpriced, so far.

 

[MountainDrew329]

Get the 9600k and z390 mobo (releases in a few weeks). You don't have to worry about overclocking cuz mobo have auto oc profiles which tweaks itself.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken M22 Liquid CPU Cooler ($83.67 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB DUKE OC Video Card ($380.00)
Case: Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($52.00 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($30.00)
Case Fan: Thermaltake - Riing Plus 12 RGB TT Premium Edition (3 Fan Pack) 48.3 CFM 120mm Fans ($85.58 @ Amazon)
Total: $942.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-01 02:21 EDT-0400

If I was building for myself, I agree and I would definitely wait for the 9000 series cpu's but the deadline he gave me is the end of October and I really want to allow about 2 weeks from the time I get the parts until the end of the months for assembly and troubleshooting, and in case I need to order anything last minute.

 

[MountainDrew329]

Looks good. If he likes RGB then I'd try to fit the NZXT Kraken X42 or X52 in the budget. But I don't really see any room to cut down on anything else.

From what I can tell, the NZXT Kraken coolers aren't compatible with any motherboard RGB software. I'm trying to make everything compatible with Gigabyte RGB Fusion, so idk if that's a smart move to have everything in the build totally synced except for the aio pump

 

[Lucky_SLS]

It's just that you will be able to get 8700k level of performance with overclocking the 9600k.

Expect 5.0ghz overclock easily cuz of soldered ihs.

But I leave it to you and your friend.

The kraken cooler is the best looking minimalistic rgb cooler out there. And it's got decent performance to back. That minimalistic look will sync with any rgb theme. Don't worry.

 

[MountainDrew329]

It's just that you will be able to get 8700k level of performance with overclocking the 9600k.

Expect 5.0ghz overclock easily cuz of soldered ihs.

But I leave it to you and your friend.

The kraken cooler is the best looking minimalistic rgb cooler out there. And it's got decent performance to back. That minimalistic look will sync with any rgb theme. Don't worry.

But in order to change the color on the kraken cooler, I'll have to use nzxt's software right? I don't think the kraken is compatible with RGB fusion, so I'd have to use the NZXT rgb software to adjust the lighting. That means my friend would have to download an additional rgb program besides rgb fusion just for the cpu cooler? I'm trying to keep it as simple for him as possible because he's not the most technically skilled.

UPDATE:

I think I figured out a way to get all 4 case fans rgb, and have a 240mm RGB AIO that will sync with the motherboard. All the thermaltake riing fans and the aio cpu block can connect to the sync controller which will make them compatible with gigabyte rgb fusion.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/B2phGG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/B2phGG/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake - Floe Riing RGB 240 TT Premium Edition 42.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($137.75 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - H370 AORUS Gaming 3 WIFI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg Business)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston - A400 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB DUKE OC Video Card ($380.00)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($30.00)
Case Fan: Thermaltake - Riing Plus 12 RGB TT Premium Edition 14.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($28.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Thermaltake - Riing Plus 12 RGB TT Premium Edition 14.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($28.99 @ Amazon)
Other: Thermaltake TT Sync SATA Powered 9 Port Addressable LED Controller TT Premium Edition (Compatible with ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion and MSI Mystic Light Sync) CL-O015-PL00BL-A ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1395.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-01 12:40 EDT-0400

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Get this cooler, don't need such an expensive one : https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-MasterAir-Addressable-MAM-T4PN-218PC-R1/dp/B07CPYM6NR