Acquiring a New PC

[tales23]

I have seen a few questions being asked on this, and I am very amazed by the assistance provided. I tried to obtain info from most of those threads, but in the end of the day, I guess that I need to make it more specific to my needs, hence the need for me to start this thread.

My aim is to build a PC which should be sufficient to play some Blizzard games, potentially some Dota2/LoL and new RPG games. Also to watch videos at 1080 or potentially 4k, etc. Nothing too fanciful in terms of looks/cooling system.

In terms of budget, I am looking around S$2K (not inclusive of mouse, keyboard and monitor). It may be higher, or lower, but the key emphasis is 'value for money'.

I have gathered this from another thread which I found rather helpful:

1) Motherboard+CPU Intel 8700 + ASUS ROG STRIX H370-F GAMING

a. I read that B360 may be sufficient. What is the difference between that and this H370-F Gaming version? I will also require wifi just in case LAN does not work.

b. Is Intel 8700 overkill? Anything that suggest for good value?

2) GPU 1070 Ti

a. I understand that the 11 series will be launching. How will this affect the 10 series pricing and which range of the 10 series should I go for once the launch happens?

3) RAM CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX 2666MHZ CL16 ( 8GBx2pcs )

4) PSU SEASONIC FP FX-650W FULL GOLD 10YRS

5) SSD SAMSUNG EVO 860 500GB 2.5" SSD

6) WD HDD - Anything to recommend?

7) Any suggested plain/simple yet chic casing?

I do not intend to overclock hence I will use what I have once received.

I am happy to listen to any other alternatives to the above.

Are there any shops recommended to build this PC for me? I understand that there are boutique shops like aftershock and dreamcore - where the building process seems simple and straight forward (though less customisable). Are these desirable or still better to go to the usual shops in Sim Lim?

I think I have asked a fair bit this round, I will follow up shortly after hopefully having some comments from you. Thank you in advance!

 

[singupingu]

Jesus Christ! WOT damage 9999999999

Jokes aside, here's my two cents:

1a. H370 if you need Z370 features like RAID and what not but don't intend to overclock. B360 is better. Asus Strix series mobo are expensive and not value for money, while most asus board are already more expensive than most other brand in the first place. Unless you needed something in specific like what I am going to suggest below, otherwise MSI and Asrock offering are usually more worth the money.

Suggest you get an Asus B360 TUF Pro Gaming WIFI. Save the trouble and the included wifi/bluetooth is Intel AC 9650, which is pretty decent.

1b. For just purely gaming, i7 is excellent though not the most value-for-money. Intel Core i5-8400 fits that category more. But if your budget permits, i7 is more relevant in the long run. To prove to you, i5-3450 is 3rd gen value CPU while i7-3770 is expensive, but gaming on i7-3770 is still very very relevant even till today and matching power high end gpu like gtx 1080 without much bottlenecks on most scenario, where i5-3450 will face some bottleneck issue when pairing with high end gpu.

Continuing for CPU section. Getting 8th Gen Intel, you need aftermarket cooler. Stock cooler, it's fineeeeee..... But will have lesser boost clock performance due to stock cooler being unable to dissipate the heat fast enough. Lower the temps on load, more stable the boost clock sustains.

Suggests you get a Cryorig H7 tower cooler for $59, which looks neat and performance well. Or a Cooler Master Hyper 212 for $39, which is less aesthetically pleasing but perform equally good.

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[shadey]

If you are watching 4k, factor.in the price of a 4k monitor. If you want to then game at 4k, better go 1080Ti once the new nvidia cards are.out

 

[singupingu]

Question 2 is answered by shadey

6. For WD HDD, the Blue series will suits your need. Otherwise, Toshiba is a good alternative and a cheaper option to get. Can consider Seagate Barracuda as well, but some here suggested their rma rate is higher, while my experience so far is okay.

7. Fractal Design Meshify C/Define C
Phanteks P300/P350X/P400
NZXT H500/H500i (i-variant for integrated CAM system and top mounted RGB LED)

Good luck choosing hahaha


For boutiques, you buy them for the warranty. I like the parts choices of Dreamcore. Pretty decent and competitive. If you know how to DIY, you only ask for specs and proceed with it. Since you're asking shop to build for you, can go for PC Themes @ SLS Level 4, one of the corner shop near the back. Newbie friendly shop to go.

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[tales23]

Thanks Singupingu and Shadey for your comments, most appreciated!

Singupingu: Sorry, my humour radar is off today, but what WOT dmg 99999 did you mean? Also, the following questions below are a follow up to your very well thought out and nicely written comments.

1. CPU: OK, I am sold with your recommendation of i7. Which i7 should I get?

2. MOBO: I have no preference in brand actually for motherboard. Actually, I stand corrected, I know nothing of motherboard, hence I am open to suggestion to match the CPU above and is reliable. I only remember that I bought one long ago (perhaps 15 years back, where Gigabyte Lanparty was recommended). If not for this Asus B360 TUF Pro Gaming WIFI recommendation, what specific mother board from MSI and/or Asrock do you recommend?

3. Are the RAM, SSD and PSU mentioned OK? I see your rig specs in your profile (if it is indeed updated) different, hence my curiosity on why yours is different.

4. How long should I hold out to get the 1080 TI? I see that prices for that is still extremely high.

5. Your suggestion on the HDD is well noted. I guess it is just a matter of luck/preference here.

6. LOL! Thanks for the list of recommendation. While I checked out the Cyrorig H7 tower cooler you recommended, I saw that they also sell a casing. The Toku, it looks neat, but is it a good idea to have such a small casing?

7. All in all, your recommendation is most helpful, but do you mind if I trouble you to list down what you will personally get if you have S$2,500 now? No monitors, keyboard, mouse, speaker needed. I currently have two dell monitors a full HD 22" monitor and a 27" 4K monitor. Problem is that I am only using a laptop now which is not powerful enough hence I only hook up the 22" monitor to the laptop.

Thank you once again in advance!

 

[ceestudent]

WOT is wall of text..

If you don't intend to overclock and need I7 then only have 1 choice which is i7-8700.

Mobo reliability is also depend on the luck. You can choose based on the feature they offer (how many sata port, m2 slot, need wifi or not, etc). Alternatively you can add pci-e card/use usb wifi dongle if your mobo have no wifi.

For gpu, you can wait until they announce the next gtx on 20 august.

Regarding your question for ssd and ram brand, it just depend on the preference. Some want colorful rig hence they choose rgb version. Try to use m2 nvme (not m2 sata) instead of 2.5" sata ssd if your budget permit.

Have you consider the boutique pc like aftershock or dreamcore? Maybe it is more suitable for you to save the hassle.

 

[tales23]

Ah, thanks ceestudent for the explanation of WOT and also to elaborate further on some of my follow up questions.

Which method is best for Wifi? Built in with mobo or separately slot in?

What non-rgb good brands are there for RAM?

Yes, I am considering aftershock/dreamcore, but as I have mentioned in my previous post, the choices are limited. I never really had problem with PCs after purchasing (maybe due to luck) hence the warranty is not really my biggest concern.

 

[singupingu]

No difference. Spec matters more for the wifi card. Good wifi card usually have specs of dual band wifi, with 2.4ghz max at 300-450mbps and 5ghz max at 800+mbps. Coverage wise, as long as they have dedicated antenna, they should be good.

No one brand better than another for RAM. If you ask me about Klevv Bolt vs G.Skill Trident Z/Ripjaw V vs Corsair Vengeance LPX vs Crucial Ballistix, to me just about the same. Price and Cas Latency value more for me. For the same speed (say 3000MHz), the lower the XMP timings, the better. But don't bother too much for RAM, they yield the low returns for the higher price you pay.

Many of us here, have at least some sort of knowledge and experience on troubleshooting. So, we can pin them down most of the time, take our time to RMA the faulty component at the respective distributor. It's a bit of troublesome, but it's something we have anticipated.

Warranty should be a concern. Boutique have servicing department. They will troubleshoot and replace the stuff for you, without needing you to sacrifice your time and money (if you ask others to troubleshoot for you). If you confident in troubleshooting or you wanna learn, go the DIY route. If you worry you mess things up and want minimum downtime, go the boutique route.

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[williamgohsg]

If you are looking for a PC - I recommend the Dell XPS Tower Edition is stealthy. Quite blazing-fast 7th generation Intel CPU and a spacious hard drive and/or SSD. Good choice, you can store a lot of game memory or downloads. Check it out!

 

[tales23]

Thanks for the further feedback.

I have updated the list and now with price. Have some questions related to these items.

1. ASUS TUF B360-PRO GAMING/WIFI - INTEL i7 8700K ($721)

(a) Is i7 8700K needed or 8700 is good enough?
(b) If i7 8700K is recommended, is this Mobo compatible?

2. Cyrorig H7 Cooler ($60)

3. NVidia GeForce GTX 1070 ($650)

(a) KIV - Awaiting new list after 11 series is launched

4. G.Skill Trident Z 3200MHZ CL16 ($289)

(a) Is this 3200MHZ overkill as I understand that the Mobo can support up to only 3000MHZ, or is this not the correct way of reading this?
(b) I read that G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB DDR4-3200 CL14 was recommended. What is the difference between this and also the Trident Z 3200MHZ CL16?

5. Samsung 970 Evo 1TB ($599)

(a) Is this NVme? Cannot really tell and does the Mobo above support NVme?

6. Western Digital 4TB Blue (5400 rpm) ($153)

7. EVGA G+ Series 650W Gold 5 Yrs ($159)

(a) I believe 650W is sufficient? I read somewhere that EVGA Supernova 850 P2 Platinum is recommended, is that overkill?

8. NZXT H400 Micro T Glass Case ($149)

(a) Not sure if this is the plain simple H400 which I think should be sufficient. I need one with good airflow and nothing artsy fartsy - just clean simple and chic.

9. Windows 10 Home ($159)

(a) Are there cheaper means for this?

 

[singupingu]

1a. Buy the non-K i7-8700.
1b. Buying K-variant, B360 can support of coz. But cannot overclock. If you buy an overclockable CPU and match with a non-overclock motherboard, or vice versa, it defeat the purpose of getting one of them being overclockable only while the other component don't support all of the features it offer.

4a. It's overkill. Getting B360 board, your ram is still capped at 2666mhz even if you spend all the money getting a 4000mhz kit.
4b. 3200mhz C14 variant uses Samsung B-die. It's very friendly for overclocking the ram speed. No point for your case when you are getting a B360 board which capped the speed at 2666mhz due to motherboard chipset limitation.

5a. Yes, your motherboard support nvme ssd and Samsung 900 series ssd are all nvme based ssd.

6. 5400rpm based hdd are slower. Usually for storing raw read write data like movies, music, videos, pictures, etc. If you plan to install games in it, it will be slower than the typical 7200rpm based hdd. Just so you know.

7. Yes, 650W is enough to even support a Titan V if you want since you're not overclocking anything. 850W is recommended if you wanna do SLI/Crossfire GPU. Use outervision.com to estimate how much power you need.

8. Get H500. Cheaper. H400 is micro ATX. It doesn't support ATX motherboard. Know your form factor.
ITX - 1-2 slots of PCIE bracket space.
Micro ATX (MATX) - 3-4 slots of PCIE bracket space.
ATX - 7-8 slots of PCIE bracket space.

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[tales23]

Thanks so much Singupingu.

1. Is it advisable to allow overclocking option/ability - so that the desktop could be a little more obsolete resistant?

2. If I decide on the non-overclocking route, which 2666 mhz memory is then suggested to match with the current B360 motherboard?

3. Is the 5400 rpm HDD good enough to play 4K equivalent video from file in the HDD? How much slower is it compared to the 7200 rpm HDD? I assume that the 7200 rpm HDD are black, red and purple?

 

[singupingu]

1. No. Higher clock speed does not necessarily mean you're obsolete resistant. Also, overclocking damage void warranty. Unless you're ready to explore and risk, otherwise I won't recommend it to you. I do it coz I'm aware of my limit and I did enough research to minimize my risk.

2. I mentioned to you earlier. Not much difference between one another. Not enough difference for the raw eye to see without any benchmark. Choose one that priced well to you, or aesthetically pleasing to you.

3. Cheapest 4tb with 7200rpm speed is Toshiba. If you getting WD, then ya. Black is the one you need to look at. Playing 4K video is no issue, but depending on how big is your 4K video size. The speed difference won't matter as typical 4K video won't face bottlenecking with a 5400rpm drive, unless you run multiple at once or you're editing the 4K video on that hard drive, only then you will face bottlenecking. Anyway, for editing video, do it in SSD, you will appreciate the fast read and write speed, especially for NVMe based ones.

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[Ark Law]

2. If I decide on the non-overclocking route, which 2666 mhz memory is then suggested to match with the current B360 motherboard?

The cheapest. Or the chioest if you're into looks and have a windowed case.

 

[tales23]

I see a number of brands for 1080 Ti and 1070 Ti.

Which should I use with the list of other components that I have already stated above?

Thank you.

 

[phyrexians]

Hi,

Not sure if you referenced my thread. But based on what I purchased last week, I would suggest you to drop by TradePac to get their price as well. Some of their products are significantly lower than those listed on PC Themes price list.

For your information, I bought
Asus ROG Tuf b360
I7-8700k (cos it's just $70..i think I'm a sucker for this kind of pricing strategy...)
2x 8gb Corsair 2666ghz (no led cos I just want cheapest)
Evga power supply (seasonic was oos and Evga also same 10 years warranty)
Aftermarket cooler with quad lumi (I kinda regretted this cos the white light is always on and my PC is in my room)
500gb Samsung 960 pro nvme
Toshiba 2TB HDD
Fractal Design Meshify C

TradePac charges me $25 for installation. Probably can bargain down but I didn't try. Installation took over 2 hours though on a weekday Thursday afternoon though...

I'm waiting for the next generation of Nvidia Gpu before I decide to buy 1070 or maybe even 2070 if the price isn't too high. For now, my old gtx760 is capable of running Mhw on mid settings.

A big thank you to everyone in Hardwarezone for helping to advise people build their pc. This community is simply wonderful

 

[tales23]

Hi Phyrexians

Yes, I read your thread and kinda assimilated your suggested components there and updated based on feedback from the kind peeps here.

Just wondering, why did you get the Asus ROG TUF B360 mother board when you got the I7-8700K? I understand that the mother board does not have room for overclocking and unleashing the potential of the I7-8700K.

My components will be rather similar to yours too.

The only thing too for me is on what GPU to get. At this point in time, I do not expect the 1080 TI to drop price? I intend to have my computer built probably by no later than end of this month.

Also, I have asked what brand to get for the 1070/1080 series - do they make make any difference? Awaiting the kind reply of the many helpful people here.

 

[Jerroldscv]

Hi guys

Im abt to get my first pc from tradepac

Saw the pricelist

Question - can i just go for those bundle package?

Im buying the pc to network and basic surfing
No games at all

Looking at specs - I5 8500 at least 8gb ram

Can u all help advise me?

 

[Ark Law]

Hi guys

Im abt to get my first pc from tradepac

Saw the pricelist

Question - can i just go for those bundle package?

Im buying the pc to network and basic surfing
No games at all

Looking at specs - I5 8500 at least 8gb ram

Can u all help advise me?

Don't know anything and want buy bundle might as well go #02-32 ask Nigel build for you.

 

[_DeS__]

Hi Phyrexians

Yes, I read your thread and kinda assimilated your suggested components there and updated based on feedback from the kind peeps here.

Just wondering, why did you get the Asus ROG TUF B360 mother board when you got the I7-8700K? I understand that the mother board does not have room for overclocking and unleashing the potential of the I7-8700K.

My components will be rather similar to yours too.

The only thing too for me is on what GPU to get. At this point in time, I do not expect the 1080 TI to drop price? I intend to have my computer built probably by no later than end of this month.

Also, I have asked what brand to get for the 1070/1080 series - do they make make any difference? Awaiting the kind reply of the many helpful people here.

8700 base clock 3.2ghz
8700k base clock 3.7ghz

People who don't want to OC but want a faster base clock speed can choose this option.