Help me answer some tricky questions and improve my spec before I buy!

D

Doops

Member
Hello PC Specialists,

EDIT: I have just figured out how to edit my post, I am a doylum! This has been edit to be my latest build as of the 11:00 - 13th May 2021. Please accept my apologies for making such a confusing post, I will remove my other comments that cause additional confusion.

EDIT: Updated image to the relevant image regarding inability to pre-order.

EDIT: Removed BullGuard as per BigFoot's recommendation.

I have meticulously sifted through each and every component and attempted to build my dream PC. I do have some questions which would definitely put my mind at ease when it comes to hitting order if anyone can help, it would be appreciated.

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Things to note:

- My budget is £4,000 with a little bit of wiggle room.
- I want to synchronise as much of the RGB controls as possible so I don't have to have a multiple controllers or applications handling them.
- I plan on streaming my gameplay of Fortnite and Rocket League using my Elgato 60S+ USB Capture Card combined with OBS. I will also think about video editing, playing VR games, 4K games and be ready for 8K games, finally it would be amazing if I could mine for BitCoin in the PC's downtime.
- The case in my opinion is super beautiful, absolutely love it. I really want to build my PC around it.

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Here is the build:

Case
CoolerMaster MasterCase H500M Gaming Case (LS)
Custom Liquid Cooling Kit
Liquid Series RGB Mid Kit - Corsair Hydro X
Tubing
Clear Hardline PETG Tubing (Bent/Metallic Fittings)
Graphics Card Cooling
GPU Water Block - For One Graphics Card!
Coolant Colour
EK-CryoFuel Purple
LED Lighting
2x 50cm RGB LED Strip
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core (3.4GHz @ up to 4.65GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP (Pre-Order Only)
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
RAID
RAID 0 (STRIPED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Black
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Asus Xonar AE 7.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
None
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £4,075.00 including VAT and Delivery

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Questions I have regarding the build (I have numbered them so you can reply directly without having to quote them in your responses):

1) Topic: Restricted water cooling options due to the size of the case selected.

The water cooling options are restricted to:
- Liquid Series RGB Mid Kit - Corsair Hydro X
- Liquid Series RGB Mid Kit - EK

Question: Which of these performs better, I think the only difference I have been able to find is the sizing of the tubes. Is this a cosmetic difference or will this effect the cooling performance, amount of energy required to pump the fluid through them.

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2) Topic: Restricted water cooling options ability to cool such a powerful computer.

Question: As the parts I will be using are very high spec, will the Liquid Series RGB Mid Kit's be up to the task?

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3) Topic: RGB Strip lighting within the CoolerMaster MasterCase H500M Gaming Case.

Question: I have selected two RGB lighting strips, assuming there is only dedicated space for two strips, is my assumption correct?

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4) Topic: The CoolerMaster MasterCase H500M Gaming Case can support up to 3 additional fan(s). I have added the Liquid Series RGB Mid Kit - Corsair Hydro X that comes with a 360mm radiator and quoting from the more info specs 'Up to 4x Corsair RGB Fans'.

Question:
a) Will the radiator be situated at the top of the case with the fans attached; occupying the 3 additional fan slots?
b) Also, the 4th Corsair RGB Fan that comes in the cooling kit, can I request it to replace the plain black fan located at the rear of the PC Case?

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5) Topic: Selecting the right RAM for the ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) Motherboard.

Not knowing if the ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) Motherboard's RAM slots are bi-channel or quad-channel.

Question:
a) Am I best getting 4 x 8gb or 2 x 16gb sticks of RAM?
b) Should swap the 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB) RAM for the lower MHz 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB) RAM to occupy all four channels?

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6) Topic: Braided Power Supply Cables.

I want to have purple braided cables.

Question: Are braided cables safer, offer a better quality power transfer, noticeable when they are simply black braided cables, come with some kind of warranty or protection standard cables would not offer? Or, are they just cosmetic!

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7) Topic: Choosing the right sound card for my intended use.

I plan to stream my gameplay, listen to music on (currently 5.1 but will potentially go to 7.1) surround sound speakers.

Question: Has the selected Asus Xonar AE 7.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card got me covered or should I be getting a better sound card?

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8) Topic: HD / SSD / m.2 Partitions

I want to make the best use of my m.2 drive. The things I will be using the most on the computer are:

- Booting the PC.
- Google Chrome.
- OBS.
- Fortnite.
- Rocket League.
- Spotify.
- Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator.

What should I specify the partitions to be to make these all have priority and ability to sit on the m.2 for quickest reads and writes?

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9) Topic: Ability to pay for my computer.

CPU - Overclocked AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core (3.4GHz @ up to 4.65GHz)
GPU - 10GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP (Pre-Order Only)

Are both out of stock, and I can patiently wait for them to become available again.

Questions:
a) How can I get my hands on one when they are back in stock?
b) Am I able to pay for it soon and patiently wait for it to come back into stock?
c) Who do I need to reach out to in order to do so as I cannot get past the screen I have shared an image of due to the out of stock notice? * Attached image: unable-to-preorder.png

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I would really appreciate if you could respond using a numbered system as I am not a wizard when it comes to the naming structure of all of the PC components, so if you could copy and paste this template and respond to each question accordingly I would help me massively:

My experience with these components: Owned / Tested & Reviewed / Watched Reviews / Looked at the Specs / I just know better than you - deal with it!

Q1) Answer

Q2) ...

Q3) ...

Q4 - a) ...
Q4 - b) ...

Q5 - a) ...
Q5 - b) ...

Q6) ...

Q7) ...

Q8) ...

Q9 - a) ...
Q9 - b) ...
Q9 - c) ...

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Appreciate this is a very long post, thank you all for taking the time.

Thanks, Doops.
 

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Last edited:
C

ColEyt

Gold Level Poster
If you select your system for the Graphics Card as "none I already have a graphic card" then you should be able to post the system, and it will make it so much easier for people to be able to comment about the build in general and also your specific questions
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
ColEyt said:
If you select your system for the Graphics Card as "none I already have a graphic card" then you should be able to post the system, and it will make it so much easier for people to be able to comment about the build in general and also your specific questions
Click to expand...
That option isn't available for Liquid Series.
 
B

Bigfoot

Grand Master
Is this only for gaming or will it have other uses? What monitor will you be using with this? The 5950x is not really a gaming chip. You may be better off with a 5800x. AMD chips don’t generally benefit from overclocking. Do you really need / want a full liquid cooled build? They don’t provide much benefit (if any) over an AIO and can be a hassle in terms of maintenance. 16GB is generally good for most games, with a few exceptions such as MSFS. RAID really does nothing for home PCs, except double the cost of storage. An extra m.2 drive would be faster than a SATA SSD and cost about the same. Sound cards provide very little benefit over on board sound. If you want better, then you need something external and others would need to help you here. Bullguard has been reported to cause problems and is best left off the order.
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Fortnite and Rocketleague?

Both those games would run on a toaster mate, this is using a shotgun as a fly swatter

In fact I don't see why your going for liquid build at all? You could build a machine for around 2K that will smash any game for the foreseeable future without issue that also doesn't require as much maintenance or cost near as much
 
D

Doops

Member
Martinr36 said:
This looks like a duplicate post to me, maybe one of the mods can sort it
Click to expand...
It definitely is, I am having a nightmare, if a mod could set me up with a clean post with my latest comment as the original question, I think it could save a lot of confusion!
 
D

Doops

Member
Steveyg said:
Fortnite and Rocketleague?

Both those games would run on a toaster mate, this is using a shotgun as a fly swatter

In fact I don't see why your going for liquid build at all? You could build a machine for around 2K that will smash any game for the foreseeable future without issue that also doesn't require as much maintenance or cost near as much
Click to expand...
I also plan to get VR hooked up and eventually do video editing too, I would also love the option to do some mining of BitCoin with it when it is not in use otherwise. I also would love a liquid cooled PC purely for the visuals, it will be a great addition to my games room.
 
D

Doops

Member
Bigfoot said:
Is this only for gaming or will it have other uses? What monitor will you be using with this? The 5950x is not really a gaming chip. You may be better off with a 5800x. AMD chips don’t generally benefit from overclocking. Do you really need / want a full liquid cooled build? They don’t provide much benefit (if any) over an AIO and can be a hassle in terms of maintenance. 16GB is generally good for most games, with a few exceptions such as MSFS. RAID really does nothing for home PCs, except double the cost of storage. An extra m.2 drive would be faster than a SATA SSD and cost about the same. Sound cards provide very little benefit over on board sound. If you want better, then you need something external and others would need to help you here. Bullguard has been reported to cause problems and is best left off the order.
Click to expand...
Please see my response above to SteveYG.
 
D

Doops

Member
AgentCooper said:
Merged!
Click to expand...
I think the post is now sorted, would you be able to delete all the comments that are regarding the old post leaving behind the relevant ones to the OP question? Including this one.. I think the post is daunting enough without the additional confusion caused by myself in the comments. Thanks again, Doops.
 
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