Advice on gaming PC specs chosen.

[arrmar]

Hi, I am looking for some advice on whether the build below works well as I am a novice in building computers. I am looking for something that is future proof, in terms of lasting a long time and something that will obviously make the games I play and future games run without issues. I mostly play Guild Wars 2 and FPS such as Battlefield and use my PC like a television. It's on many hours of the day when not at work.

If anything can be changed to make it cheaper, even better. Thanks.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 10 Core Processor i9-7900X (3.3GHz) 13.75MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s, WIFI - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Intel Optane Memory
16GB INTEL® OPTANE MEMORY
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence

 

[Oussebon]

It's not very well balanced. The i9 CPU is more for things like rendering - the cheaper i7 8700k (available in different configurators is better for gaming while being hundreds of £ less expensive.

What's your budget, how much did the above come to, and what monitor / screen are you pairing it with? especially the resolution?

 

[arrmar]

It's not very well balanced. The i9 CPU is more for things like rendering - the cheaper i7 8700k (available in different configurators is better for gaming while being hundreds of £ less expensive.

What's your budget, how much did the above come to, and what monitor / screen are you pairing it with? especially the resolution?

Hi, thanks for your reply! Just goes to show, I thought being the latest, that i9 would be best, but clearly not. Ideally anything up to £1500, but could go higher. The above actually came out just over £2k.

 

[Oussebon]

If your ideal budget is about £1500, check out the Ultima X01 here: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/

Direct link: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/configure-review/238/

It's a review build, which means it has a fixed configuration but a discounted price. Configuring the spec manually would cost about £1700 but its price is fixed at £1479

The spec is:

Case
NZXT S340 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK/BLUE)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 2050MB/s R | 700MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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 H100i V2 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm White LED Strip
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 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence

The 8700k is pretty well the best gaming CPU available, mostly as games aren't close to taking advantage of all the i9s extra cores, and the 8700k has higher frequencies.


It also has more RAM, a better GPU, a better quality PSU, and a proper SSD. The HDD is smaller but there's plenty of scope to add in more HDDs in the future when you need more space, and it's still a lot cheaper.

 

[arrmar]

Thank you Oussebon for taking the time to look and advice me. Look pretty good in terms of up to date and future proof for some years to come. I forgot to mention that my monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster P2450 and resolution is 1920 x 1080.

I am looking to change monitor soon to a bigger one, this is 24' and might get a 26' monitor.

 

[Oussebon]

The size of the monitor doesn't really affect what hardware you need to run it - rather the resolution and/or refresh rate.

Note that if you get a bigger monitor that is still 1080p, the pixel density will be lower (obviously -same number of pixels, stretched across more screen). So might not look as good, depending on your personal preferences.

You could look into getting a 27" 1440p monitor, which a GTX 1080 is more than sufficient for.