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colbs2411

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Jul 25, 2018
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Hello,

I am looking to buy a new Gaming/Editing PC and went to CCL to help me build one - as I have never tried building one myself - but have found that by shopping around its a load cheaper to build myself.

Therefore, I have created a list of parts - based on those that CCL used in the build they configured for me - and wanted to ask for advise. My budget is £1500, and I have managed to find the parts below for £1277:

CPU: Intel I7 8700K
GPU: EVGA GTX 1080
M/B: Gigabyte Z370P D3
RAM: Hyper X Fury 16GB
SSD: Adata 24GB SSD
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2GB
POWER: Cooler Master 600
COOLING:Be Quiet! Dark Rock 4
WiFi: Edimax EW-7612PIn

Could anyone please advise me on whether there are any improvements I can make to this without pushing the costs up too much?

I'm happy with the CPU, GPU and RAM - I know new GPUs are coming but I need the PC asap and this looks more than okay - but everything else I have no idea if its good or not as, compared to you lot on here, I have very little idea what I am doing.

I have also not chosen a case - the CCL build used a game master onyx, which looks terrible for cooling - so any advise here would also be great.

Thank you all in advance; I started a thread a couple of days ago and you were really helpful.
 
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Here's the build with a spectacular monitor that doesn't cut corners too much, the Asus VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor.
I've swapped out the motherboard from the previous build with the Asus Prime Z370-A motherboard. I've also swapped out the GTX 1080 Ti for a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB WINDFORCE OC 8G.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor (£311.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£54.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus - Prime Z370-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£140.39 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston - FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400...
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My pleasure. That's why I love Tom's Hardware forums. You can help so many people around the globe.
BTW if you have found a solution in this thread you can select it as the best answer for you. It helps others and it lets them get badges and stuff.
 
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Oh okay cool, thanks for letting me know - there's so many great builds here but I think for now I'll stick to one with a 1080 instead of the 1080TI. Am i right in assuming I can add another 1080 at a later date through an SLI linkup?
 
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No problem.
Yes you can add another 1080 later as this motherboard supports an SLI configuration. This motherboard comes with the SLI bridge. Make sure to not throw that away because you'll regret it!
 
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Ah great thanks for the heads-up - just to make sure you mean the Asus Prime Z370-A ATX right? I dont really know what to look for in a motherboard to be honest with you, so I'll stick with those recommended above.
 
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Yep, the Asus Prime Z370-A ATX. It's cheap and has all the features you need and most importantly, it gets the job done.

 
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I'll just say this. Planning for SLI or Crossfire is pointless these days. To begin with, the scaling on these modern cards is nowhere as good as what it used to be on some older architectures. Secondly, fewer and fewer games are including multi card profiles because cards have gotten to the point where it's mostly not needed regardless of title or resolution. If you can't do what you're trying to do with a 1080ti, you're probably being unrealistic OR are that rare percentage of users that have multiple 4k gaming monitors.

Either that or you're trying to play a particularly bad port.

SLI and Crossfire's days are numbered and I wouldn't be surprised to see driver support for them disappear entirely at some point in the near future. Plus, in order to take advantage of them you're going to need an 850w or higher unit, a good one, unless you want to hear the fan running all the time or see your PSU take a dirt nap years before it would normally.
 
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That is very true.
 
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Oh okay cool ,thanks for letting me know that - I'm assuming that, with a 1080 setup and the I7, a 1080 should be more than enough for what I'm doing anyway, but If I do want to upgrade in future I'll go with the 1080TI instead.

I'm pretty much decided now so thank you all for your help, I'm really grateful for it.
 
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Just wanted to say thank you for all the help on here, think I've finally finalised my build - sorry I couldn't work out how to find the permalink to my parts picker page, so I've listed them below:

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor
£303.60
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler
£69.73
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 GAMING PRO CARBON AC ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
£158.99
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
£155.95
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
£71.94
Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
£32.39
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card
£465.99
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Dark TG ATX Mid Tower Case
£79.98
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
£74.99

Total cost - £1413

Again, thank you so much for the help!
 
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You realize that M.2 drive is SATA and won't be any faster than any other SATA SSD, right? What you want is the 960 EVO M.2 PCI, not SATA, NVME drive. It's worlds faster, and to be honest, the SATA version of M.2 is useless for a desktop unless you are doing it strictly for aesthetic reasons because it will still be speed limited to the same SATA bus limits as any other regular SSD.

This is the one you want, if you want the Samsung M.2 PCI drive that is miles faster than the SATA version.

The key here is that there are both SATA AND PCI versions of that drive. You want either the PCI version, which costs a little more, or just get a regular 860 EVO which is probably a bit cheaper than the 960 EVO M.2 SATA, but has the same speeds.

https://www.outletpc.com/vb4742-samsung-960-evo-series-250gb-pcie-nvme--m2-intern.html?utm_source=vb4742-samsung-960-evo-series-250gb-pcie-nvme--m2-intern&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=pcpartpicker&utm_content=Samsung%2B-%2BHard%20Drives%20%26%20SSD%20%3E%20M%2E2%20SSDs

 
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For some reason i missed it completely - thanks for spotting that! I meant the one you linked but if I wont see a change from the cheaper 860 EVO I'll look at that.

Does everything else look okay though?

EDIT: the one on my parts list is listed as a M.2-2280 - this should be okay shouldn't it? even if it is I'll probably stick to the link you gave me just in case.
 
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As long as it says PCI express, then it's the correct version. I admit I confused the cost of 71 pounds for dollars and was thinking it had to be the SATA version of the drive, but I'm not even positive the 960 EVO has a SATA version like the older Samsung M.2 drives do. I think you're ok but make sure it says PCI express.

 
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what is the performance between a 2700x and 8700k at 1080p? %5?? %10??, what is this difference at 1440p?? does it worth the difference? does it effects the gameplay? furthermore if you want to upgrade your CPU in the next 3-4 years what would you do with and Intel system? and with AMD system. So gaming performace is a bit low which you can not make out the difference. How long will you be using this system for games only? or do you plan to train your self in the modelling and rendering area in the near feature? even not when upgrading are you willing to pay more money for the mainboard and CPU in the future instead of replacing only your CPU for a better one?

These are the questions needed to be asked. For me i7 8700k solely for gaming is a waste of money. 2700x is also the same. If the gaming is only reason than a 2600x or an i5 can do the trick. However if you are in to content creation and rendering and such then a 2700x is a better choice not only with the extra cores it provides but also with a more viable upgrade path.
 
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It's a good argument. Both platforms will do the job and AMD does tend to be less expensive. Some folks, not specifically this OP necessarily, but some, are firmly entrenched in one camp or the other and don't want to consider options from the other one. It is what it is and no amount of argument is likely to deter them from that course of action.

AMD has pretty much done this to themselves due to major flubs in the past, but it does appear that Intel is currently and pretty consistently tripping over their shoe laces as well. Time will tell, and lets not turn the OPs thread into another Intel versus AMD argument, shall we.
 
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@daerohn I have an I7 - although not as good as the 8700k - in my current system and its comes in super handy for photoshop, 3ds max, blender and the like. although I'm not too fussed about AMD or Intel, I know that a few games I play regularly have issues on Ryzen systems, which given I have found both the 2700X and 8700K for similar prices has somewhat swayed me towards the latter.

Thank you for your feedback though, I've learnt so much from just reading through the threads on these forums It's unreal.

I'm now at the stage of just biting the bullet and buying the parts, so thank you so so much to everyone on here for the feedback and support - fingers crossed it all works out!
 
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That has to be a typo on their part, or simply incorrect information. I would contact them and verify, but it states 3200mbps/1500mbps, which are speeds that are not possible with SATAIII. So either the SATAIII specification is wrong or the speeds listed are wrong.

The part number they have listed shows up on Newegg as the PCI express NVME part, which is what you want.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147593


But since they have conflicting information in the description and specifications, it might be prudent to contact them and address the information they have listed so they can get it fixed and to be sure you get the correct part.
 
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Thanks DarkBreeze - I will let them know, but Ii want to order it all tonight so I might look elsewhere if the prices are still good.

Also, I was about to buy the MSI Z370 GAMING PRO CARBON AC but just when I was at the checkout I noticed it only has a 3 star rating on parts picker compared to the 5 star rating of the MSI Z370 GAMING PRO CARBON - both linked below.

Is there a motherboard I should look at instead? Sorry but its so much money to spend and I cant afford to get it wrong.

link to MSI AC: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/YtVBD3/msi-z370-gaming-pro-carbon-ac-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z370-gaming-pro-carbon-ac

Link to MSI GAMING PRO CARBON: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/DXCrxr/msi-z370-gaming-pro-carbon-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z370-gaming-pro-carbon

EDIT: I had looked at the ASROCK Extreme 4 as its cheaper and has some good reviews, and the ASUS ROG Strix I

ASROCK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0763BS899/?tag=pcp0f-21

ASUS: https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Intel+Socket/Socket+1151+-+Z370+Coffee+Lake/ASUS+ROG+STRIX+Z370-H+Gaming+-+Intel+Coffee+Lake+DDR4+ATX+Motherboard+?productId=68629
 
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I'll be blunt. Reviews on PCPP, Newegg, Amazon and other vendor sites are at best laughable. At worst, they are the worst thing you could use as a guiding light for making purchasing decisions. The exception to that rule is that when you read a product review on one of those sites and it is plainly evident that the person who wrote the review is exceptionally well versed in the particulars and details, you might lend some credence to that review alone or others that are similarly obviously from somebody who knows what they are talking about.

Otherwise, overall all those things reflect is that either the majority of people are too stupid to properly install, operate or use the device, that it got there on time, or didn't, that the box was nice, that it actually "worked" or that they simply couldn't figure out how to install or use the device.

Myself, and most other experienced builders, 100% ignore reviews on those sites and look to professional reviews for guidance on hardware we are unfamiliar with. If there is no professional review for any peripheral or hardware component then usually it's either because it is too new for anybody to have reviewed yet or wasn't worth reviewing and probably should be avoided.

When it comes to motherboards, almost without exception I avoid MSI, NZXT, EVGA, ECS, Biostar, Zotac, Jetstar, Sapphire and Foxconn when I'm looking for an aftermarket motherboard that is not OEM style. Some of those like ECS, Supermicro, etc. have decent workstation and OEM style boards, but they will lack the features desired for an enthusiast aftermarket build.

So, I usually stick to ASUS, Gigabyte or ASRock. The reason I avoid MSI is because historically I have personally experienced too many quality control issues on their boards and although supposedly those days are past, I see leanings toward there still being some intermittent issues with some of their boards and that's enough for me to continue to avoid them in the entirety of their lineup.

With Gigabyte I have found their boards are beginning to lack granular options in the bios and some basic features that are much better addressed by these others, like poor or limited fan controls, not true PWM support on some fan headers on mid to lower end boards, etc. I think that for important builds I will begin avoiding them as well until I see changes in that area, even though my current board is a Gigabyte but it lacks some of those things that it should have because others in similar price ranges from ASUS and ASRock have them.

That's my thought on the matter. What you do is totally up to you.

How much are you able to budget for specifically the motherboard?
 
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I have budgeted about 160 for it as the MSI came in at 158.99. I have already bought my GPU, CPU cooler, DDR4 and PSU, but all of these parts would be compatible with the parts i referenced. The site I am on has a list of motherboards and It would help to buy here to keep the costs down on postage and just overall.

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Intel+Socket/Socket+1151+-+Z370+Coffee+Lake

I dont know the difference in letters but there are a range of ROG STRIX cards - but I am happy with whatever is best for around 160

Also the ASRock Z370 Extreme4 is on Amazon for 144 on prime - if that is the better choice I'll go for it, but I'd love your opinion.

EDIT: I also see that cyan1de_ used the ASUS PRIME Z370-A for his suggested builds, so I could happily go with that - I think I only changed it because I didn't like the white-ish heat shields.

Also I have realised I had not accounted for a wifi adapter - I had one on the original post, will that be okay?
 
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