Help with gaming PC build

[nagooro]

With black friday coming up, hoping to find some deals and build a new gaming PC.

Made a quick build on PC part picker, is there anything I should change or consider? I dont know much about motherboards, so kind of just picked one based on reviews.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/J42c2R

[Maxx Mazda]

The Strix is a great board. My only suggestion would be to consider two smaller cards in SLI as opposed to the 1080. If you do that however, upgrade the power supply.

[firebane]

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The Strix is a great board. My only suggestion would be to consider two smaller cards in SLI as opposed to the 1080. If you do that however, upgrade the power supply.

Single card performance is way better than SLI performance.

[OTown]

Yeah screw SLI. If you can afford the single card then do it. I would however suggest the brand new 1070 ti thats currently available for $600 and has similar performance to the 1080 for the lower power and cheaper price. I guess it depends what resolution and frame rates you want. I just got the 1070ti and absolutely love it. Its barely a 10% difference in benchmarks and less than that in games with similar framerates to the 1080.

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...-387-_-Product

Also, do you really want a Full tower case? Seems pretty huge for what you have. A mid ATX may better suit your needs, have a smaller size and be cheaper (usually)

[Maxx Mazda]

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Single card performance is way better than SLI performance.

Benchmarks have proven that even two 970’s in SLi produce lower frame rates than a single 1080, with the added bonus of increased memory bandwidth on the second set of PCI-E lanes.

For gaming in 1080p one card will be fine but for 4K you’ll really start to notice the benefits of SLI.

[Boat]

Look into a nvme pci ssd. Performance is better.

[firebane]

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Benchmarks have proven that even two 970’s in SLi produce lower frame rates than a single 1080, with the added bonus of increased memory bandwidth on the second set of PCI-E lanes.

For gaming in 1080p one card will be fine but for 4K you’ll really start to notice the benefits of SLI.

4k is not worth it yet. Gaming is best in a 1080 res or 1440

[Kobe]

Damn a year, when I was purchasing was told not to get the 1080 since most games wont run it for awhile and got the 1070..

Memx said the 500W power supply is not enough others told me it should be fine (It's fine btw)

This is what I got little over a year ago if you want to compare the difference in prices. - I had some things pricematched with newegg.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I would change just a few things.

Switch case to Fractal Design R5. Cheaper, quieter, and better.

Switch PSU to EVGA SuperNOVA 650 or 750 G3. The G3 units are built on the latest Superflower Leadex II platform and are pretty well the best power supplies you can buy for hardly any more money. Objective testing has them near flawless. I'd go 750W if you are overclocking lots.

Switch the 850 EVO to a 960 EVO M2 SSD. $95 more for 5X the speed is a no-brainer IMO.

This one's up to you but I would get a quieter cooler, just because I like quiet PC's. Also if you want to do any overclocking (which everyone will be with an 8700K) you will need a better cooler anyway. Noctua NH-D15 is almost silent and cools as good or better than any 240mm AIO water cooler. $99.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/cfKjtJ

[nagooro]

Thanks for all the input. Is the i7 800K an overkill? Or am I better off getting an i5 (or even an amd ryzen) and putting the savings towards a 1080ti?

[schocker]

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Thanks for all the input. Is the i7 800K an overkill? Or am I better off getting an i5 (or even an amd ryzen) and putting the savings towards a 1080ti?

Depends on what you are going to do with it. Sometimes it is fun to give it gobs of power. If you say stream and whatnot while gaming, would be worth it, or if you do tasks that would use all 12 threads. 8600k is already 6 core though just no hyperthreading. I like what ryzen brought but personally I still stick with intel. 1080ti is great though, so if that extra ~$150 helps with that, I would get that. I have a founders edition and it runs everything very well w/ high fps at 1440p.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Thanks for all the input. Is the i7 800K an overkill? Or am I better off getting an i5 (or even an amd ryzen) and putting the savings towards a 1080ti?

It entirely depends what you want to do with it, and how long you plan on keeping it. If you keep your computers 5-6 years, I would over-build it now. If you are always upgrading and tinkering, it doesn't really matter. If you do any streaming or content creation, photo editing, etc. you will also benefit from more cores/threads.

[A790]

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If you do any streaming or content creation, photo editing, etc. you will also benefit from more cores/threads.

Currently, have photoshop open (with 8 PSD's loaded), Ashes of Singularity Escalation, Chrome with 50 tabs... running fine.

Don't underpower yourself. This isn't a car. You can't limp along to work and tell yourself that it's okay since you go from A-B just fine.

Do you know the one thing worse than having NO computer? Having a SLOW one.

[Xtrema]

Gaming for now, clock speed is more important than cores.

Streaming/Video encoding, cores are more important than clock speed.

Go for clock speed if you don't want to spend on cores. But if I'm pairing with a 1080ti may as well go nuts and pair it with i7-8700K or higher.

No point slapping an titanium exhaust on a Civic DX.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Gaming for now, clock speed is more important than cores.

Streaming/Video encoding, cores are more important than clock speed.

Go for clock speed if you don't want to spend on cores. But if I'm pairing with a 1080ti may as well go nuts and pair it with i7-8700K or higher.

No point slapping an titanium exhaust on a Civic DX.

Depends on the game, some games can utilize more cores too. It can also help keeping minimum frame rates up, even if peak frame rates aren't the highest - this was apparent in lots of the Ryzen benchmarks when comparing to Intel's quad core gaming CPUs.

Right now, it's simply a non-issue since you can get clock speed and cores together, so it's an easy decision IMO. You can easily get 8 cores at 4.7ish GHZ on air, and I'm sure you can get an 8700K to do 4.8-4.9GHz or very close to it for 6 cores.

[nagooro]

Thanks for all the input and I do plan/hope to keep this computer for ~5 years.
I posted on a different forum/reddit as well. Below is my updated list.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/fsyTXH

The only things I can think of that I would now swap around are the MOBO and video card.
Mobo (Z370): not sure if I should go with one of the Asus STRIX's or the ASROCK (in current build)
GPU (GTX 1080): on the fence between the ASUS ROG STRIX or the EVGA FTW.

Otherwise I think the build seems pretty good...?

Thanks
@Mitsu3000gt is the D15S just as effective as the D15? Realized the NZXT case I currently have chosen only works with the D15S, not D15.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Thanks for all the input. I posted on a different forum/reddit as well. Below is my updated list.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/fsyTXH

The only things I can think of that I would now swap around are the MOBO and video card.
Mobo (Z370): not sure if I should go with one of the Asus STRIX's or the ASROCK (in current build)
GPU (GTX 1080): on the fence between the ASUS ROG STRIX or the EVGA FTW.

Otherwise I think the build seems pretty good...?

Thanks

The build looks pretty good.

Get the NH-D15 though, not the "S" model. The "S" is single fan but the regular model with two fans costs only $13 more (often it's the exact same price). If there are any RAM clearance issues you can just raise the fan up a few mm's and still use both fans just fine. If you don't want to use the second fan, you get a 140mm Noctua fan for either half price or free depending on the deal you get.

For the GPU I would go with the EVGA unit, their warranty and customer service are second to none. I haven't checked benchmarks but I imagine performance difference between the two is not noticeable. If you're buying at memory express, you can safely forego IPR on anything EVGA.

For the case, I would still go with the Fractal R5. It's built better, has better cooling/airflow options, better configuration options/cable management, it's sound deadened with asphalt pads, and can be had with a window if you prefer that style. You can often find the R5 for just over $100, it goes on sale often. It's physically a bit larger though if that's an issue, but if you're putting in a NH-D15 (it's massive) and top end GPU you will probably want the extra room and air flow.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Thanks for all the input and I do plan/hope to keep this computer for ~5 years.
I posted on a different forum/reddit as well. Below is my updated list.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/fsyTXH

The only things I can think of that I would now swap around are the MOBO and video card.
Mobo (Z370): not sure if I should go with one of the Asus STRIX's or the ASROCK (in current build)
GPU (GTX 1080): on the fence between the ASUS ROG STRIX or the EVGA FTW.

Otherwise I think the build seems pretty good...?

Thanks
@Mitsu3000gt is the D15S just as effective as the D15? Realized the NZXT case I currently have chosen only works with the D15S, not D15.

The NH-D15S is literally a NH-D15 with one less fan in the box. The "S" stands for single fan. The reason the "S" Exists is it guarantees ram compatibility with everything, but what you can do is just buy the NH-D15 (non-S) and raise the outer fan by a few mm's to clear your ram. That RAM isn't very tall anyway so you will hardly have to do anything. The fans just clip onto the cooling fins so there is flexibility to where you mount them. I have trident Z RAM which is quite tall, and I just raised the outside fan on the NH-D15 by a tiny bit and it works perfectly. The regular 2-fan NH-D15 cools better than the NH-D15S because of the second fan, but they are literally the same unit, just one extra fan and fan clip in the box on the NH-D15. The D15S still cools really well. These coolers are massive - that is one reason why I suggested going with a Fractal R5 for a case. You also want to be able to work in the case if you need to in the future without having to un-mount your CPU cooler which is a pain in the ass.

Also this is better ram for less money than what you have chosen. The price difference can pay for the better case

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...source=afc-%zn

[Crazyjoker77]

I'll throw my 2c in fwiw.

-Definatly go for the 8700k especially if you want to keep it that long. Games are getting better at multithread performance and I see my cpu peg 100% during loading screens even on games that arent very well optimized. So even if its not upping your FPS playing games it lowers the time your staring at loading screens. I would also consider a ryzen 1700 if you wanted to save a few bucks.

-if your spending 100$ on a air cooler may as well just go with a water AIO. May not cool any better but looks much better and eliminates any clearance issues and makes working in the case a lot easier.

-While I've always heard EVGA has amazing customer support I've had the opposite experience. I had to send them 8 emails just to get them to respond about getting their thermal kit for the earlier FTW cards where they didn't install thermal pads for the VRMs. In their response they simply emailed me a new Firmware which was nothing more than a super aggressive and loud fan curve that was already available on their website and didn't even respond to my request for thermal pad kit. To this day I still haven't gotten them to send me the kit which should of never been needed in the first place.... Also a bit sour because I placed a Pre-order directly with them as soon as they were accepting pre-orders and the card was delayed over 6weeks from pascal launch and ended up buying one off the shelf from Mem-Ex before my preorder was filled....

-I was getting sick of waiting for the FTW card to actually be in stock so I was about to get the strix cards that were everywhere but just before placing the order realized the the strix cards have 2dp and 2hdmi instead of the usual 3dp that every other card uses... DP is far superior and was a deal breaker for me.

-If all your doing is gaming a NVME isn't really needed. Its actually slower as a boot drive and is negligible faster in games. Its a good place to save a few bucks. Also I really like the crucial MX300 ssds. They perform the same as the 850s and are cheaper the only real difference is you only get a 3yr warranty as opposed to samsungs 5yr. You will get more benefit out of a larger capacity sata SSD over a faster nvme IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdF_aerWcW8

[nagooro]

Thanks for the input guys, took a few recommendations from above.

- changed the cooler to the Noctua D15 - opted out for an AIO, not too concerned with physical looks and should have no clearance issues
- changed case to Fractal R5
- changed storage from m2 back to SSD, don't think ill gain any significant gaming performance so figured I would save the $100. My last crucial SSD failed on me so sticking to samsung for now.
- GPU from ASUS to EVGA 1080 FTW

Might do a bit more research on the MOBO, but otherwise I think I am pretty settled on the build below.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/VG9d3F

On a side note, whats the difficulty in putting this together myself? I put one together ~5 years ago with some help, I am sure I could do this one fine with some googling/youtube?