Advice on a High Spec Home PC

[mun]

Hi All

It's been 7 years since I last specced my own home PC and I am in need of some advice in a few areas please.

I plan to use the PC for general home use, work (Visio, Excel), medium intensive graphics (Google Earth, Minecraft) and maybe run a separate VM (for privacy).

The specification is below, with some questions:


Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 452 QUIET MID TOWER CASE - I require a case that is below 500mm in length, without lights and quiet. This seems to be the only option.
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-7800X Six Core (3.50GHz @ up to 4.6GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X299 AORUS Gaming 3: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s - reliability is the most important factor for the motherboard (the Asus doesn't support the number of PCI-e slots I require). Is this motherboard known for its reliability?
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i V2 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) - do I need an extra case fan or will it just increase noise?
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1200 867Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language


All advice is appreciated.

 

[Oussebon]

What's your budget?

I require a case that is below 500mm in length, without lights and quiet. This seems to be the only option.

I have to ask, is this because it's going to get stuffed somewhere? It wouldn't be good for any PC to bath in its own hot air, but especially not the Silencio with an overclocked CPU as it already doesn't do a particularly good job of keeping things cool (which can actually lead to more noise as the fans inside work harder to try to cool the CPU and GPU).

 

[mun]

For the case I have a budget of around £150. Overall it's under £2000.

 

[Oussebon]

I'd strongly suggest avoiding the Silencio case.

If you really can't fit the Fractal Define S or Define R5, then I'd suggest using the "send in your own" case option with something like the Fractal Define C (LxWxH: 399 x 210 x 440mm ) http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-c
The C's cooling isn't as good as the S or R5 however. But it should still be better than the Silencio.

(the Asus doesn't support the number of PCI-e slots I require)

Do you mean because of the PCIe cards you're putting there? If so, do you actually need all of them?

Do you need those USB ports when the motherboard and case already have so many?

Do you need a cheapo 5.1 soundcard when the motherboard already supports 7.1 audio and has decent enough onboard sound of its own?

Some motherboards also have built in wifi and bluetooth.

The WD Black drives have a huge price premium and may not be worth it vs being able to get a 2TB HDD for less.

The 960 Evo M.2 SSD is a lot faster than the 850 Evo.

The i7 7800x is more or less obsolete with the release of Intel's 8th Gen Core CPUs that are pretty much faster and cheaper.




Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R5 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Six Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
FREE Assassin's Creed: Origins with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,646.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/Q8tnAv7HrZ/

If the R5 is too big, I suggest using the Send In Your Own Case option with a Fractal Define C
The Z370E has 867mbps wifi and BT 4.1

 

[dani72]

Motherboard
Gigabyte X299 AORUS Gaming 3: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s - reliability is the most important factor for the motherboard (the Asus doesn't support the number of PCI-e slots I require). Is this motherboard known for its reliability?

My current PC has a Gigabyte motherboard which has lasted me 9 years and given me no problems. I have literally just ordered a new PC from this site and there was never a doubt as to what brand of motherboard I would go for. The fact that the Asus ones don't have USB 3.1 could be a consideration too.

 

[Oussebon]

The fact that the Asus ones don't have USB 3.1 could be a consideration too.

Except that they do :/

PCS just labelled it up wrong.

 

[dani72]

Except that they do :/

PCS just labelled it up wrong.

That's not good. I see from https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-Z370-E-GAMING/ that you are right. PCS should really rectify that.

 

[mun]

Thanks for the advice.

Should the 1st Hard Disk not be an SSD? I plan to have an SSD hosting my OS with a 3.5" as a backup disk.
There appears to be no option to select the Samsung 960 as my "1st Hard Disk".

 

[Oussebon]

To get the 960 Evo you select it from the M.2 SSD Drive menu (which is just under the Hard Drive options). In which case you you don't have the SSD as the 1st Hard Drive. PCS will install Windows to the M.2 SSD by default - there's usually a notification about this when you select an M.2 SSD and click the "proceed" button.