Gaming PC

JoyPad

1. What is your budget? €2,000
2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming, Video editing
3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No
4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No
5. Do you need a monitor? No, I bought an Acer Predator XB271HUA (1440p TN panel @ 144Hz, G-Sync)
6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No
7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes
8. How can you pay? Credit Card
9. When are you purchasing? This week
10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Dublin 15

TBH, I would prefer to purchase ready made, but PC Specialist have very long waiting time at the moment. If you could recommend an alternate store that can build, test and guarantee the PC, please let me know.


This is what I had in mind, if PCS were not too busy:
Case: FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
CPU: Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard: ASUS® ROG STRIX Z270H GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
RAM: 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
GPU: 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
HDD: 2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
SSD: 500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
PSU: CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling: Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste: ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Warranty: 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery: 2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days

Price €1,951.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-overclocked/MWtmwY6hcd/

Blazer

I'd get a better case with better airflow if you're going to be overclocking.
Corsair are excellent but pricey.
Drop the M2 SSD and get a sata one and put that extra money towards the chassis.

JoyPad

How about I keep the case, and switch the Noctua for an AIO liquid cooler?

Blazer

JoyPad wrote: »

How about I keep the case, and switch the Noctua for an AIO liquid cooler?

you could do that too...make sure that the case supports an AIO..avoid the corsair v80iv2..its too bloody wide as its two fans with the radiator in between..rather than 2 fans side by side.

2ndcoming

I have the H80i v2, works perfect for me. Like all rads you can have fans on both sides or one (push / pull / pushpull). There's nothing unique about that set up...

K.O.Kiki

How about Scan.co.uk?

3XS Performance, Overclocked Intel Core i7 7700K "Kaby Lake", 16GB DDR4, 8GB EVGA GTX 1080 SC, 250GB PCIe SSD, Win 10 - £1699

3XS Vengeance, Overclocked Intel Core i7 7700K "Kaby Lake", 16GB DDR4, 8GB EVGA GTX 1080 SC, 250GB PCIe SSD, Win 10 - £1799

3XS Gamer Ti, Intel Core i7 7700K "Kaby Lake", 16GB DDR4, 11GB EVGA GTX 1080 Ti, 250GB M.2 SSD, 1TB HDD, Win 10 - £1899 (uses a small air cooler instead of AIO rad)

Overclockers.co.uk too:
Midi-tower
Full tower
OcUK branded

JoyPad

This sounds great. Thanks for that.
I'll see if I can squeeze a 1080Ti in the build, though I would prefer a better motherboard and overclocking.

Redfox25

JoyPad wrote: »

This sounds great. Thanks for that.
I'll see if I can squeeze a 1080Ti in the build, though I would prefer a better motherboard and overclocking.

Get the Ti and keep the cheaper mobo. Overclocking is not as hard to do as it once was and the benefit of the overclock will be overshadowed by getting a better GPU, for gaming in any case.

Worst case, you can strip out the mobo in a year or two and put in a dearer one, you will lose less on the mobo than taking out the gpu and buying a Ti later.

JoyPad

I'm now heavily tempted to buy the parts, like so:
- an overclocked bundle (CPU, Cooler, Motherboard, RAM)
- GTX 1080ti
- case
- power supply
- storage SSD + HDD

£1908 shipped. AFAIK, this would take just two days with DPD, that's how long they took to deliver my monitor.

K.O.Kiki

Yeah that looks good.

ZeroThreat

Which 1080 card is in that spec? I don't see the make or model.

wotzgoingon

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Which 1080 card is in that spec? I don't see the make or model.

How do you mean I clicked the link and it brought me to scan.co.uk and it is this model: Palit NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB JetStream

JoyPad

I ordered almost exactly as above. I replaced the Define S with a Define R5, mostly because of the filters.
Cleaned my son's gaming PC just last week, and the Define S has the bottom filter at the back, had to remove most cables to get to it.
On the other hand, both filters for R5 are easily accessible through the front. A clear cut winner

They said they would ship tomorrow, should have it all in my hands early next week.

ZeroThreat

wotzgoingon wrote: »

How do you mean I clicked the link and it brought me to scan.co.uk and it is this model: Palit NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB JetStream

sorry, didn't read his 2nd post, was just looking at the first one.

JoyPad

My order arrived today, and I'm itching to start building. But I'm at work, so it has to wait until this evening.
Here's a quick question: Should I use one or two cables to power the GPU? The TX650M provides two PCIe cables, each with two 6+2 pin connectors, so, technically, I could run just one and use both connectors to power the GPU, or I could run two, and only use one connector on each cable.
The question might already be moot if I need the whole length of the cable for proper routing, but in case the length is fine, what do you guys think?

My plan is to remove all the cages from the front of the case and mount the radiator there, with the fans outside. They would work just behind the filter, so I don't think dust would be a problem for a push configuration. That would allow me to keep the top closed with all moduvents in place. I'll complete the push-pull with a couple of SP120s at the back of the radiator after I figure out which type I need, and how to connect them for power.

The SATA HDD will go into the small cage mounted right at the back of the power supply, on the case floor.

The GPU came with a Y-splitter cable, with an 8-pin male connector on one end and two 6-pin female connectors at the other end. No idea what this is for. Any clues? The manual included is about the software, no installation instructions are provided, not even a list of what's in the box.

K.O.Kiki

Read the manuals! :pac:

Your GPU will require two 6+2 PCI-e cables.

Xenoronin

The single cable should be fine. The idea is to use one cable per GPU from what I know. My own has a single cable with two heads... Technically it isn't a single cable, it's a bunch of separate wires in a braided cover. Either way, it's way neater to use one cable.

Some older PSUs didn't have 8pin PCI-E cables, just a few 6pins. The idea with the y-splitter is to combine two 6pin into one 8pin.

JoyPad

Xenoronin wrote: »

The single cable should be fine.

Will try that, length permitting.

Xenoronin wrote: »

Some older PSUs didn't have 8pin PCI-E cables, just a few 6pins. The idea with the y-splitter is to combine two 6pin into one 8pin.

But, why include just one of them, when the GPU requires two 8-pin connections? Or did they assume that there are PSUs that provide a single 8-pin and two 6-pin connectors? Mind boggling...

Manual is useless. If there's any information on the CD (labelled Driver & Utility), I can't read it right now, no CD unit around here.

Xenoronin

JoyPad wrote: »

But, why include just one of them, when the GPU requires two 8-pin connections? Or did they assume that there are PSUs that provide a single 8-pin and two 6-pin connectors? Mind boggling...

I think it is usually a case that if you need to use it, you probably don't have a good enough PSU, but maybe "just enough" people complain that it has become a standard thing to include.

JoyPad

Well, it's built.
Benchmarks are good: TimeSpy, FireStrike

What I'm not happy about is CPU temps. With cooler on performance (which is quite noisy), it goes up to 85C on the package (83-87C on cores).
It's true that I've only one case fan extracting at the back, and no room to install the second provided 140mm fan. The front is now covered with two intake fans feeding air through the AIO radiator. Boy, was that a bitch to mount!

Have two Ultra Quiet PWM SP120s and splitter cable ordered from Amazon, will add more traction on that radiator.

I've removed all the HDD cages and sat the SATA in the 5-inch rack with an old caddy. There was no way to put the cage on the floor, it would have impaired all the cabling to the motherboard, particularly the USB 3.0 cable that goes to the case front.

Cabling was easy, this case has loads of options. Photos when I see it in the daylight.

Grahamer666

If that's on idle then you have a problem.

Redfox25

Contact Scan, there is no way that should be hitting 85C with that sized cooler. It could be down to poor contact between the cooler and the top of the CPU or the pump not starting up in the cooler.

In either case, get on the phone/email to them and see what they suggest. Somethings not right there and while those temps wont fry your CPU, it will downclock to save itself if needs be, but you need that sorted or your pc will be like a sauna at times.

K.O.Kiki

Is the CPU core voltage at stock (1.100V)?

JoyPad

On idle, it hovers around 40C. Those were max temps recorded during TimeSpy/FireStrike tests, as reported by HWMonitor.

The CPU/cooler/motherboard/RAM came as a package, I just put them inside the case.
The CPU is overclocked by Scan, all I know is that it can go up to 4.8GHz. I don't know other information right now, I'm at work, can't say voltages, etc. But I can check when I get home.

JoyPad

By the way, the overclocked bundle came with this sheet of paper. Can anyone tell what temperature they measured with the CPU under load?

Mickeroo

Looks like 77 to me.

JoyPad

So, they got 39 / 77 with the radiator on the table, while I'm getting 39-40 / 85 with the rad inside the case. I'm not saying 8 degrees is nothing, but measuring tools probably differ anyway.

Apart from the two SP120s that I will tack on the rad, is there anything else I should do to improve air flow? I would prefer not to remove the moduvents at the top of the case, so it's either adding an intake fan on the bottom, I think I could fit a 120mm there, or the side panel moduvent, which can take a 140mm.

Robertr

What cooler came with the bundle? The description has on the link has a Corsair H100i V2 but down below it has a be quiet! Dark Rock 3???

Any pictures?

JoyPad

The description is wrong. The bundle contains what you see in the title: i7 7700K, ASUS Z270F motherboard, the H100i V2 cooler with stock fans (I think they are the PWM SP120s, quite loud at full speed), and 16GB of RAM.

I should receive the extra fans today from Amazon via PM, and will post a temperature graph during some tests. So far, I've only used HwMonitor and looked at the max temps. Today, I will download this OCCT tool, to capture a graph of the temperature, see if it stays above, or simply spikes above 85C.

2ndcoming

I've got an i5-7600k @ 4.5 with a H80i v2 rad and it does 30 idle / 55 load. This is in a case not renowned for airflow also (Corsair 100R Silent) with only one exhaust fan.

Considering your rad is twice the size and you've two SP-120s to my one something definitely seems wrong... Maybe re-apply thermal paste?

Do a proper custom fan curve in the bios rather than those performance / silent presets. You can have the best of both worlds by having the fans running light at low temps and picking up as it rises.

TerrorFirmer

The i7-7700K is a really hot processor, it's pretty notorious and not unusual for it to go to 90-95c under heavy benchmarking conditions. 85c is not fatal though it is high.

Especially for that particular setup with dual fans on the radiator. Might be just badly installed or else some air trapped in the setup somewhere.