Question Potential Build (Suggestions, Comments, Etc.)

[qmill55]

CPU: I7-8700k
Cooler: Corsair H115i RGB Platinum 97 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Mobo: Z390 Aorus Elite
Ram: G skill Trident Z RGB 16GB (2x8)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB, Samsung 970 Evo plus 250GB
GPU: EVGA RTX 2060 6GB ultra gaming
PSU: EVGA Supernova G3 750W 80+ Gold, Fully modular
Case: Lian-Li Pc-o11 Air

After seeing this list of parts do you see any glaring issues, whether that is a waste of money for like a bottleneck or personal good/bad experiences, im planning on playing at 1080/1440 p for on a 144hz monitor. Is this enough cooling for the 8700k if i perform a mild overclock (first timer in OC's).
would you suggest a replacement of any parts or an addition, also if you know about the case i would love to hear some personal experiences and what the best fan setup is or whether you recommend another case even. Thanks!

 

[Frag Maniac]

If this is primarily a gaming build, you'd be better off spending more on the GPU, and less on non performance related items. You've speced well over $350 just on Cooler, Case, and PSU. For instance a 2070 is close to 20% more performance, and only costs $150 more than a 2060. I have a 8700k myself and it complements a 1080 SC plenty adequately at stock speed just on a $38 Cryorig H7 cooler. It rarely goes above 60c.

A 2070 only requires 500w total system power too. The case is less of an unnecessary expense, but there are plenty adequate cases for under $100. The Lian-Li Pc-o11 Air is $117 though and only comes with 2 120mm fans.

PSU Alternative
https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-550-gold-ssr-550fm-550w/p/N82E16817151203

Cooler Alternative
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U1...d=1561838878&s=electronics&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1

Case Alternative
https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-meshify-c-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352085

 

[qmill55]

If this is primarily a gaming build, you'd be better off spending more on the GPU, and less on non performance related items. You've speced well over $350 just on Cooler, Case, and PSU. For instance a 2070 is close to 20% more performance, and only costs $150 more than a 2060. I have a 8700k myself and it complements a 1080 SC plenty adequately at stock speed just on a $38 Cryorig H7 cooler. It rarely goes above 60c.

A 2070 only requires 500w total system power too. The case is less of an unnecessary expense, but there are plenty adequate cases for under $100. The Lian-Li Pc-o11 Air is $117 though and only comes with 2 120mm fans.

PSU Alternative
https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-550-gold-ssr-550fm-550w/p/N82E16817151203

Cooler Alternative
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U1...d=1561838878&s=electronics&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1

Case Alternative
https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-meshify-c-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352085

Yes, this is primarily for gaming, im interested in why you did not offer up the Cryorig H7 as the cooler alternative? also im looking for a fully modular psu so i will look around at the same wattage. Also, with all the Super RTX rumors and leaks im planning on waiting for official news on those anyway but maybe it would be worth to go with the 2060 super or 2070 or up as you say the performance would be most noticeable.
Thanks

 

[Frag Maniac]

Yes, this is primarily for gaming, im interested in why you did not offer up the Cryorig H7 as the cooler alternative? also im looking for a fully modular psu so i will look around at the same wattage. Also, with all the Super RTX rumors and leaks im planning on waiting for official news on those anyway but maybe it would be worth to go with the 2060 super or 2070 or up as you say the performance would be most noticeable.
Thanks

I didn't list the H7 because it's an older model not made anymore, and the new ones by Cryorig with RGB are same performance for WAY more. Any H7s you can still find are priced $100 or more due to scarcity. The next best thing is the one I listed, which is 140mm vs 120mm, so will cool better than my H7. It's bulkier though, so you need to make sure you check your CPU socket to side panel room to see if it will clear. I did this for you already should you choose the case I suggested, which has 172mm cooler clearance, vs the 165mm height of the cooler I listed.

Meshify C specs
https://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/meshify/meshify-c

NH-U14S specs
https://noctua.at/en/nh-u14s/specification

Look at the reviews on Amazon, the very first one says the NH-U14S cools better than a H100i he tried. The H115i is same cooler as the H100i btw, with RGB added. That is even verified by the info shown on the H115i on Amazon. It's one of the few products I take issue with Corsair on misleading advertising. Overall they're a good brand and have great service, but I feel their RAM is a better deal than their coolers.

The problems with RTX were at launch mostly. There's still the obscure title that has issues, but drivers and patches fixed most of it. If it were a choice between any model 2060 and a 2070 though, I would definitely go 2070.

 

[qmill55]

I didn't list the H7 because it's an older model not made anymore, and the new ones by Cryorig with RGB are same performance for WAY more. Any H7s you can still find are priced $100 or more due to scarcity. The next best thing is the one I listed, which is 140mm vs 120mm, so will cool better than my H7. It's bulkier though, so you need to make sure you check your CPU socket to side panel room to see if it will clear. I did this for you already should you choose the case I suggested, which has 172mm cooler clearance, vs the 165mm height of the cooler I listed.

Meshify C specs
https://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/meshify/meshify-c

NH-U14S specs
https://noctua.at/en/nh-u14s/specification

Look at the reviews on Amazon, the very first one says the NH-U14S cools better than a H100i he tried. The H115i is same cooler as the H100i btw, with RGB added. That is even verified by the info shown on the H115i on Amazon. It's one of the few products I take issue with Corsair on misleading advertising. Overall they're a good brand and have great service, but I feel their RAM is a better deal than their coolers.

The problems with RTX were at launch mostly. There's still the obscure title that has issues, but drivers and patches fixed most of it. If it were a choice between any model 2060 and a 2070 though, I would definitely go 2070.

alright, thanks for the info

 

[Frag Maniac]

alright, thanks for the info

Just so you know, since there may still be lingering issues with RTX, I would advise going with a reputable brand that has great service. I highly recommend EVGA. EVGA has only ever sold Nvidia based GPUs, so they get first bin selection on the processors. Plus they are thorough and quick at resolving any other issues. Most on EVGA RTX cards don't have any issues though.

 

[qmill55]

Just so you know, since there may still be lingering issues with RTX, I would advise going with a reputable brand that has great service. I highly recommend EVGA. EVGA has only ever sold Nvidia based GPUs, so they get first bin selection on the processors. Plus they are thorough and quick at resolving any other issues. Most on EVGA RTX cards don't have any issues though.

Just so you know, since there may still be lingering issues with RTX, I would advise going with a reputable brand that has great service. I highly recommend EVGA. EVGA has only ever sold Nvidia based GPUs, so they get first bin selection on the processors. Plus they are thorough and quick at resolving any other issues. Most on EVGA RTX cards don't have any issues though.

ok, im not even planning on using the ray tracing yet because it is currently so poorly optimized, i really just want to be able to disable that for now and run the game where it doesnt look like a potato while getting 144+ fps, im currents on an i5-4460 and a gtx 970 that i build ~5 years ago, im sure this upgrade will be great compared to what im used to but want to do it smart (obviously).

 

[Frag Maniac]

What games do you plan on playing, because if you're expecting 144 FPS on a 144 Hz display, especially at 1440p, that's going to take a lot of GPU power.

High refresh displays were mostly made for and intended to be used with eSports type games that can easily run at very high FPS on most hardware. The exception is if you have money to burn and can afford the best GPUs.

 

[qmill55]

What games do you plan on playing, because if you're expecting 144 FPS on a 144 Hz display, especially at 1440p, that's going to take a lot of GPU power.

High refresh displays were mostly made for and intended to be used with eSports type games that can easily run at very high FPS on most hardware. The exception is if you have money to burn and can afford the best GPUs.

i currently dont have a 1440p monitor but might upgrade in the future, like you said its mainly esport titles that i would care about at 144hz, so for me thats CSGO and fortnite really (which i can hit 144fps on my current computer), but i want to be able to run maybe not 144 frames but 100+ on other games like Destiny 2, Ark Survival Evolved, Rust, battlefield, etc. if i do upgrade to 1440p i would be ok with some lower frame rates but i still want to be able to take advantage of the refresh rate of the monitor as well. Like you said maybe spending more on the graphics card is the wise decision, i dont really have a hard cap, as this is all money ive made myself, obviosuly though im looking for high performance for dollar while also making it look decent and future proofing for another 5-7 years hopefully.

 

[Frag Maniac]

... im looking for high performance for dollar while also making it look decent and future proofing for another 5-7 years hopefully.

Even 5 might be questionable let alone 7, unless you do at least one GPU upgrade. That depends on what tastes in games you acquire along the way though. At any rate this is why I offered the suggestions I did. They're solid component alternatives that are about performance only, not bling.

One last thing, don't forget AMD's Navi 5700 is releasing soon, which may drop 2070 pricing. Better yet they may even get in a competitive price war, and the 5700 is said to be on par with it. I mean it doesn't have RT, but like you said, that's not a big sell at this point anyway.

Truth be told I'd wait for both the Ryzen 3000 and new Navis to release just to see how they perform in the hands of gamers. The Ryzen 5 3600 in early benches is already claimed to perform on par with a 8700k for far less. We won't know for sure until they release though.

The one caveat is the Ryzen Zen 2 design is still about twice the latency of Intel, so you need fast RAM, but RAM is cheap now. Also, if you ever plan to stream, Ryzen is the way to go.

 

[qmill55]

Even 5 might be questionable let alone 7, unless you do at least one GPU upgrade. That depends on what tastes in games you acquire along the way though. At any rate this is why I offered the suggestions I did. They're solid component alternatives that are about performance only, not bling.

One last thing, don't forget AMD's Navi 5700 is releasing soon, which may drop 2070 pricing. Better yet they may even get in a competitive price war, and the 5700 is said to be on par with it. I mean it doesn't have RT, but like you said, that's not a big sell at this point anyway.

Truth be told I'd wait for both the Ryzen 3000 and new Navis to release just to see how they perform in the hands of gamers. The Ryzen 5 3600 in early benches is already claimed to perform on par with a 8700k for far less. We won't know for sure until they release though.

The one caveat is the Ryzen Zen 2 design is still about twice the latency of Intel, so you need fast RAM, but RAM is cheap now. Also, if you ever plan to stream, Ryzen is the way to go.

Ya ive stretched out this 4460 and 970 for 5 years so im sure i can make a better one last haha. might suffer a bit but hey, i do plan on waiting for hopefully amd to release monster cpu and gpus in the coming weeks, truth be told i prefer intel and nvidia because its what im used to but the more competition the better it is for us buyers, thanks for all the help!

 

[Frag Maniac]

...thanks for all the help!

No problem, that's what the forum is for. When you decide what you're going with and get some gaming time on it, let us know how it goes, especially if it's AMD stuff. Lot of people might benefit from knowing how Ryzen 3000 and Navi will actually perform.