Will this PC work? (i5 7600K (Unlocked CPU), GTX 1080)

[woahwoahwilly]

I'm buying a new PC to replace my old system that's slowed down over the years (but might be able to get my work done for now). Its aging hardware is just barely enough to get my work done, but I'm not sure if it's going to break down (maybe it will). My dad has a lot of money. Since he's a nice guy, he offered me to hook me up with whatever PC I asked and designed as long as it was under $1500 (USD). So I made this PC for programming and video editing: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XytmCb

My main questions about getting this rig are:

1) Will the 12GB of RAM I used compatible like the filter claims?
2) Will 2 wireless network cards work like the filter claims, or is Dad going to waste money on another network card that won't even be used by the system?
3) If I wanted to get another video card for SLI in the future, where could I get the SLI cord (or whatever it is)? Or does it come with the card?

Why I think my PC might break down:

The hardware is old. The motherboard (P7P 55D E-LX) won't last forever. The general idea is... I think it's better to just build a new PC instead of repairing this thing over the course of however long it might last. Once the motherboard gives up, I have to get a new PC. According to Dad, transferring a hard drive from one motherboard to another will screw it up and then it won't work at all. Tell me if he's wrong or not, please. So I'd rather do this now.

EDIT: I might upgrade to 16-32GB of RAM. Not sure yet. I realized a hard drive with Windows won't just boot right into Windows, so I might as well get a new hard drive. I think I'll forget about Velociraptor and an SSD; just get Optane. Much faster that way. Also, those 16GB kits are deal breakers. I might think about the 8600K.

 

[profoundnoah]

1. 12 GB of RAM is a fairly odd configuration...those kits are not GUARANTEED to play together, although they more than likely will.

2. I'm not really sure why you'd need TWO network adapters...there's no speed increases to be had at all. Please explain.

3. You can't even SLI cards with that board, there's only one compatible slot for a 1080... but if you were to buy an SLI compatible board, then it should come with a bridge.

Moving hard drives is just like moving transferable storage, there's no harm to come to the board, although you may see more compatibility if you reinstall windows.

Now, a few questions of my own:

1. What resolution are you playing games/recording at?

2. Is there any reason to go for a smaller case/board and less RAM? There's still over $160 of wiggle room...

3. Do you already own the Hard Drives on the list? Can you not use your internet adapter from your previous build?

Honestly, if I didn't have faith in the Tom's Hardware community, I'd expect this to be a troll post, but I'll be helpful regardless.

This build would be FAR better for $1500...https://pcpartpicker.com/list/chpfdX

 

[luckymatt42]

A couple things...

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this, but having two sticks of memory with different capacities might not work in dual channel mode (a mode that allows memory to run significantly faster, fyi). Not a deal breaker, but may be better to go with 2x8Gb.

A direct hard drive swap from one motherboard to another won't just boot into Windows. You MIGHT be able to do a Windows repair (use windows Media Creation tool to create USB, then boot from USB and follow prompts). I would just back up my files somewhere (cloud, etc.), then do a clean Windows install on the new hardware (like don't back up your programs or games, just documents and savegame files for example).

 

[woahwoahwilly]

Now, a few questions of my own:

1. What resolution are you playing games/recording at?

2. Is there any reason to go for a smaller case/board and less RAM? There's still over $160 of wiggle room...

3. Do you already own the Hard Drives on the list? Can you not use your internet adapter from your previous build?

Honestly, if I didn't have faith in the Tom's Hardware community, I'd expect this to be a troll post, but I'll be helpful regardless.

This build would be FAR better for $1500...https://pcpartpicker.com/list/chpfdX

1. I'm currently at 900p, but plan to upgrade to 1080p or 4K if I can.

2. The case I found is a good buy (to me). I don't see why I should get a massive case.

3. No, I do not own the HDDs. But I might be able to use the old network adapter. Can't guarantee it'll work right now. I don't know the model number, type or anything, but I might take a look at it next time I boot it up.

 

[woahwoahwilly]

A couple things...

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this, but having two sticks of memory with different capacities might not work in dual channel mode (a mode that allows memory to run significantly faster, fyi). Not a deal breaker, but may be better to go with 2x8Gb.

A direct hard drive swap from one motherboard to another won't just boot into Windows. You MIGHT be able to do a Windows repair (use windows Media Creation tool to create USB, then boot from USB and follow prompts). I would just back up my files somewhere (cloud, etc.), then do a clean Windows install on the new hardware (like don't back up your programs or games, just documents and savegame files for example).

I did, but it's got 32-bit Windows on it and it's for my other alternative PC.

 

[woahwoahwilly]

I'm not really sure why you'd need TWO network adapters...there's no speed increases to be had at all. Please explain.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/chpfdX

Well, I don't really see why I should get a Core i7... also I figured with 2 network adapters there WOULD be speed increases, but I guess not... maybe one of them could be a backup in case one of them is bad. About the SSD: I'm a storage hog, so SSDs are NOT my thing. That 8700 is locked (8700K is unlocked, correct me if I'm wrong) at 3.2 GHz; the i5 is based at 3.8 GHz and can overclock, and even though it only has 4 cores, I don't need 6 and the i5 is much cheaper. Dad plans to fix the AC, so...

 

[geofelt]

What an odd assortment of parts!

I think you can do better.

The answer to your questions first:

1. No, it is not compatible.
Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.
It is safer to get what you need in one kit.
But, it is a bit more expensive because of the added matching of all the sticks to insure compatibility.
Then, also, you would be running 4gb of ram in slower single channel mode.
A 2 x 8gb kit is what you want.

2. If you need a wireless card I see no reason for a second. Some motherboards will include a wireless card.
If you have Ethernet connectivity, you do not need wireless at all.

3. SLI is a lousy idea; a single strong card will play better.
More games today have bypassed dual gpu support.
And the motherboard you picked will not support sli any way, neither would a 520w psu.
4. Transferring a hard drive to a new pc works perfectly well for data folders.
Not so for apps installed on it or windows.

As to what you should do:


1. Might as well go for current tech.
I5-8600K would be similarly priced and perform better.
2. You should spend a bit more for a Z370 based motherboard go get better performance.
3. The K processors do need a cpu cooler. But the hyper103 is puny and simply not as good as cheaper competitors.
I like the scythe kotetsu for $35
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13C-0004-00005
4. Perhaps you can reuse your case.
5. raptor was good in it's day.
Today, buy a 240gb ssd for windows. I like Samsung evo.

What is your current case? Likely, you can reuse it.

 

[woahwoahwilly]

What an odd assortment of parts!

What is your current case? Likely, you can reuse it.

Well, I have no idea. It's definitely an ATX Mid, but it has an Alpine fan in the back and a Rocketfish fan in the front. Meaning who knows what case it was. It's very weird. But being ATX Mid I don't know if it will work with a Micro ATX motherboard.

 

[profoundnoah]

A core i7 would be the logical choice for editing, given it has hyperthreading, a technology that a lot of multi-threaded applications take advantage of. Recording/Editing Applications happen to fall under that category. If you're using Premiere, the 8600k isn't a bad decision, since QuickSync does compensate for the performance difference a fair bit...

That case is of poor quality. Like Geofelt said, if you can reuse your current case, that'd be the best option. That Xion case doesn't have ANY rubber grommets/competent cable managing system, BARELY IF NOT ANY ROOM for SLI, and likely subpar ventilation. Your case is one of the least swapped components in a system, so there's no harm in ensuring its quality.

 

[woahwoahwilly]

What an odd assortment of parts!

Yes. I prefer the better video card, less than 16GB of RAM, smaller CPU coolers (the Cryorig C7 cooler wouldn't work on a K series, would it?), and am not a fan of the Core i7, as a Core i5 delivers similar to the exact same performance for up to 100 dollars less. What I'm saying first is, will a Core i5 7600K work with a GTX 1080 and whatever else? I know an i5 won't hold back a GTX 1080, but I'm wondering about everything else.

 

[woahwoahwilly]

A core i7 would be the logical choice for editing, given it has hyperthreading, a technology that a lot of multi-threaded applications take advantage of. Recording/Editing Applications happen to fall under that category. If you're using Premiere, the 8600k isn't a bad decision, since QuickSync does compensate for the performance difference a fair bit...

That case is of poor quality. Like Geofelt said, if you can reuse your current case, that'd be the best option. That Xion case doesn't have ANY rubber grommets/competent cable managing system, BARELY IF NOT ANY ROOM for SLI, and likely subpar ventilation. Your case is one of the least swapped components in a system, so there's no harm in ensuring its quality.

My case is from, like, 2008 or so and has no grommets either, but looks and seems like a better option. Cable management IS possible without grommets though, as I just did that about a week ago.

 

[profoundnoah]

Please cite me ANY empirical data as to the parity of performance between the i7 and i5 in multi-threaded applications.....

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11859/the-anandtech-coffee-lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers/8

You'd be troubling yourself more by going with 12 GB vs. 16 in the long run, plus 16 GB gives you A LOT more headroom for editing/programming applications. Also, smaller CPU coolers, at least air coolers, have a VERY niche application, mainly inside HTPC's. It's nonsensical to go with a C7 when your case could fit the much more capable H7 at a $5 premium. Any modern i5 will not hold back a 1080.

EDIT:
If your case is from 2008, then go ahead and upgrade. More compatibility down the line with the S340.

 

[Karadjgne]

Shooting yourself in the foot with such an old/odd pc setup.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($209.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U12S SE-AM4 CPU Cooler ($59.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card ($549.99 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.85 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1515.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-15 18:26 EDT-0400

The core i5 7series is 4 threads. The core i7 7series is 8 threads. Even games such as gta:v, Witcher 3, Overwatch, Battlefield 1/4, WoW or any other MMORPG especially on heavy drop servers will show considerable differences. Even my heavily modded skyrim shows a considerable difference between my i5-3570k and i7-3770K pc's as I had to drop almost half of the larger mods just to keep 60fps.

And that's not including the differences when it comes to such things as rendering. With rendering and many other heavy cpu apps, threads = time saved. So much so that an R7 1700 can cut winzip time in half compared to an i7-8700k.

The days of the quad core i5 are limited, same as a few years ago when games actually started using most of an i5 capability and that heralded the imminent demise of the dual core cpus.

It's called progress, and even Intel has finally clued in, a current i3 8100 doesn't have any issues staying up with a i5-7500.

Spending $1500 on a new system that'll struggle to render as fast as my old 3770k just doesn't make much sense.

 

[USAFRet]

On the left, we have a wall, with lists of parts in every category, going back several years.
CPU, RAM, drives, GPU, cases, etc, etc.

On the right, we have a man with some darts.

Whatever part a dart hits, that's what ends up on the list.

I can only imagine that when throwing the darts at the board to select the parts, the man was blindfolded, and a rabid weasel was climbing up his pant leg.

 

[geofelt]

Buy a 2 x 8gb ram kit.
More ram is always better.
At your budget, 16gb is appropriate.
Particularly if you are multitasking.

Nothing wrong with a M-ATX motherboard.
It has 4 expansion slots, but is a subset of a full ATX motherboard and will fit in your current case.
Post a pic of your case, someone will identify it.
Sometimes the name is stamped on the bottom.
If the case has at least two 120/140mm front intake fans, it will have sufficient air intake capabilities for a hot cpu and graphics card.

GTX1080 seems like an appropriate graphics card.

Cryorig C7 is a nice downdraft cooler that is not very effective.
Measure the height available for a tower type air cooler in your case.
160mm or more will be sufficient for any number of coolers.

I5-8600K is priced almost exactly the same as a I5-7600k.
But, it has 6 cores vs. 4.
It has a higher boost clock of 4.3 vs. 4.2.
If you are into overclocking(you will need a Z370 motherboard) the 8600K
Virtually all 8600K processors will reach 4.8 on all 6 cores.


I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games.
But, many things default to the "C" drive.
When a SSD nears full, it will lose performance and endurance.
240gb is the recommended minimum.

If you can go 240gb, or 500gb you may never need a hard drive.

You can defer on the hard drive unless you need to store large files such as video's.
It is easy to add a hard drive later.

Samsung EVO is a good choice for performance and reliability.



If you thought a wd raptor was fast for a windows drive, consider that any ssd will be some 50x faster in small random I/O.
That is what windows does mostly.
A sata ssd will be 4x faster in sequential operations.
Believe me, once you have a SSD, you will never go back.

Use a hard drive for bulk storage of sequential files such as videos.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Wow, no offense but your build is an absolute trainwreck and a waste of money. After reading through this thread there is so much wrong with your line of thinking.

- 12gb of ram. WHY???? First off buying an 8gb stick and a 4gb stick, MIGHT work, it might not, you won't get dual channel performance, and theres a chance it won't work. Get a 16gb kit, this is literally not negotiable, its a waste of time and money otherwise

- On no planet does an i5 outperform the same gen i7 for $100 less. In a few games or programs, it keeps up, sure. But all around no.

- Why would you bother with the 7600k when the 8600k is the same price with 2 more cores. You are programming and video editing, those 2 extra cores WILL make a difference, in gaming too when you do that.

- 2 WiFi adaptors? WHY? WHY???? No there is no benefit at all.

- 300gb 10000 RPM hard drive.... WHYYY?!?!? An SSD will crush it, and be more reliable.

- Overclocking, you can't do it with the motherboard you selected, you are wrong about locked and unlocked processors. The i7-8700 is only locked in terms of it can't be overclocked. It will turbo itself up to 4.6 ghz. The i5-7600k turbos to 4.2 ghz. Even though it is a k, the motherboard you selected will not allow it to overclock.

- That CPU cooler you selected is an overpriced piece of trash, and you couldn't overclock with it either.

- SLI. It ain't gonna do that either, and TBH its a waste of money.

Now taking all of that into account I have re-jigged your $1500 budget into something far more useful

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($238.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 AORUS GAMING WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg Business)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Samsung)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.00 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB DUKE OC Video Card ($544.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($95.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1446.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-15 21:53 EDT-0400

6 core i5, supports Overclocking and SLI if you ever go that route, AND it even has a built in WiFi adaptor so you don't need to buy one of those (and especially not TWO) either. The correct memory setup, and the best 250gb SSD you can get. If you honestly buy that pile of junk you want over this or any of the other suggestions here you may as well not bother asking for help.

 

[Karadjgne]

Will it work: Yes.
Will it work well: No
Will it work as well as a pc costing $100's less: Barely, maybe, possibly No.
Is it worth the money: Absolutely, Unequivocally, No

 

[randomizer]

I prefer ... less than 16GB of RAM...

I'd really like to know why. Didn't you say this is for programming?

 

[J_E_D_70]

OP, please listen to these fine folks. Highly entertaining thread.

 

[geofelt]

Most here will recommend the I5-8600K for the best in gaming and all around performance.

Another option which would be absolutely better for you compared to the I5-7600K would be the current gen I3-8350K.
This processor has the same 4 full cores(no hyperthreading despite the i3 designation).
It runs at a stock clock of 4.0 and can be overclocked to near 5.0.
And... it costs $168.

I, personally think the extra $60 for a i5-8600K is money well spent on a $1500 pc.
But, if you want a quad, 8350K is as good as it gets.

 

[woahwoahwilly]

Even games such as gta:v, Witcher 3, Overwatch, Battlefield 1/4, WoW or any other MMORPG especially on heavy drop servers will show considerable differences.

I don't play ANY of the games you mentioned above.

 

[woahwoahwilly]

Please cite me ANY empirical data as to the parity of performance between the i7 and i5 in multi-threaded applications.....

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11859/the-anandtech-coffee-lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers/8

.

They never included the 7600K. I'd like to see a comparison between the 7600K and 7700K. I would never use those two extra cores of the 8400/8600K/8700/8700K, but ok.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Please cite me ANY empirical data as to the parity of performance between the i7 and i5 in multi-threaded applications.....

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11859/the-anandtech-coffee-lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers/8

.

They never included the 7600K. I'd like to see a comparison between the 7600K and 7700K. I would never use those two extra cores of the 8400/8600K/8700/8700K, but ok.

On some planet you may THINK you'd never use the extra cores, except you will, when you are rendering video, compiling a program, or playing nearly every current AAA title.

Kabylake for your review:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/10968/the-intel-core-i7-7700k-91w-review-the-new-stock-performance-champion

Look through any of the results. In gaming they are close. In everything else they are not.

 

[Karadjgne]

Vanilla skyrim uses 2 threads or less to run. Same with Fallout, same engine. I'm running over 130 2k/4k/8k mods and an enb on my i7-3770K. It uses a consistent 6 threads the enb alone is basically 1 thread by itself. 60fps constant at Ultra settings.
On my i5-3570k, skyrim is 70 mods, no enb, uses all 4 threads, get consistent 55-60fps. Had to ditch some weather, cities, flora/fauna mods and some of the more intense kill move mods etc as they were far too cpu dependent and killed fps.

Just like having slightly too much ram is not an issue, so is having maybe a few too many threads. Having them and possibly using them when needed is far different than needing them and not having them.

With progress, today's games, tomorrow's games and production apps, the old adage of 4 cores is good enough, no need to spend the extra $100 for hyperthreading is gone, done, buried, Dead. Production can and will use as many threads as available, the whole reason to have 32 thread Xeons etc. Rendering, compiling, zip, floating point calculations, many things benefit from thread availability. It's the difference between having spent a week setting up a project and finally dropping an 8hr compile/render, that may or may not be just right, and spending that same week, dropping a 4hr compile/render and still having time to fix it to satisfaction in that same 8 hr day.

That's not to say small is an antiquated notion, mITX in reality is huge in concept, but lowering performance deliberately due to antiquated opinions is the very definition of nuts.

 

[profoundnoah]

Please cite me ANY empirical data as to the parity of performance between the i7 and i5 in multi-threaded applications.....

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11859/the-anandtech-coffee-lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers/8

.

They never included the 7600K. I'd like to see a comparison between the 7600K and 7700K. I would never use those two extra cores of the 8400/8600K/8700/8700K, but ok.

I'm holding back a fair amount of words here for the sake of virtue...

In the AnandTech comparison, the i5 7400, i7 7700k, and the i7 8700k are all listed. The 8400 is a SIX CORE PROCESSOR mind you, and yet STILL gets beaten by the 7700 DUE TO HYPERTHREADING. For someone who is going into programming, your depth of knowledge is, let's just say, intriguing... The whole reason Karadjgne even mentioned the performance of games relevant to the i7 would be to demonstrate that, even in a non-heavy load such as gaming (although it can get heavy on occasion), there is STILL some performance to be gained by going for an i7 over an i5. This increase in performance would only become more noticeable when performing multi-core intensive tasks.

A lot of your preferences don't seem too conducive for a successful programming/editing build, so it really makes me wonder why you remain adamant when you have so many well-rounded folks suggesting alternatives... Do you really want our help? As for the 8600k, it's not JUST a matter of cores. Even in single-threaded workloads, such as sequential simulations, what is KEY is FREQUENCY/IPC. You'd be undoubtedly getting a better OC'ing factor with coffee lake, not to mention the HUGE GAIN with multi-core performance, which is key for video editing...https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-intel_core_i5_8600k-765-vs-intel_core_i5_7600k-667

The only time you'd be getting better, and I mean BY ONE POINT performance with an i5 vs i7 in SINGLE CORE, (mind you these reviews weren't made when the 8700k came out) would be if you somehow managed to hold the 7600k at a 4.9 Ghz OC, which is kind of ridiculous for just an extra point. https://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/luke-hill/intel-core-i7-7700k-i5-7600k-kaby-lake-cpu-review/5/ When you factor in the 8700k, the difference is undeniable. It is, in my opinion, one of the strongest CPU's to have reached the market recently.

For somebody who is supposedly worried about "dad wasting money," you sure are lackadaisical when it comes to bygone components and odd hardware decisions. You've even gone to the point of blatantly ignoring/not considering the recommendations from countless users who are fairly proficient at navigating this metaphorical ocean of decisions. Needless to say, this will be my last post on the thread, with the exception of me seeing something that raises the absurdity of this thread even more.