New Coffee Lake gaming pc.

[Vgillett44]

Hi everyone. I posted on here a few months ago with a spec I was thinking about getting with an i7-700k but decided to hold off until Intel released the new Coffee Lake set.

Here’s the new spec I’m thinking of getting. It’s mainly going to be used for gaming, open world games like Witcher 3, GTA 5, Far Cry 4/5 as well as Total Warhammer.

I want to use it with a ViewSonic XG2703-GS 165Hz 1440p G-Sync Monitor.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R5 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
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 H100i V2 Hydro Series High 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 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
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)
Speakers
LOGITECH Z200 2.0 SPEAKERS - 10W
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Promotional Item
FREE Assassin's Creed: Origins with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
Promotional Item
Get Destiny 2 with select GTX 10 Series GPUs! ** Limited Codes Available **
Quantity
1

Price £2,305.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[jerpers]

I assume with the case you are going for quiet. The stock fans on the Corsair cooler are quite loud. I would go for the option with the quiet fans unless you plan to change them yourself. Also, if PCS are using FE 1080ti's, the blower fan could be quite loud, you could source yourself and add later if quiet is what you are after.

With the Fractal case, PCS will mount the cooler radiator at the top. This removes the moduvent panels negating its noise deadening effect. I had the same but upon delivery removed the HDD cages and bought an adaptor to put the HDD in the spare 5"1/4 bay so the rad could be at the front.

Edit: Album of my PC before I upgraded to the 1080ti:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/album.php?albumid=111

 

[Oussebon]

I was thinking about getting with an i7-700k but decided to hold off until Intel released the new Coffee Lake set.

Good call.

+1 to Jerper's comments. Note that the Noctua cooler will be more than adequate for even an overclocked i7 8700k, let alone a stock clocked one.

If you will be overclocking, consider getting a pre-OCed build here so you get some kind of OC under the warranty: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-z370-overclocked/
The cost difference was like a tenner or something last time I looked.

1st Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE

A regular 7200rpm HDD is over £50 cheaper and for gaming will be just as good. It's really not worth the premium.

 

[Vgillett44]

+1 to Jerper's comments. Note that the Noctua cooler will be more than adequate for even an overclocked i7 8700k, let alone a stock clocked one.

If you will be overclocking, consider getting a pre-OCed build here so you get some kind of OC under the warranty: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-z370-overclocked/
The cost difference was like a tenner or something last time I looked.

Hey, thanks for the help. Noise is a concern but temp worries me more. Do you really think the Noctua 14-S would be enough to keep an OC 8700k cool? I'm thinking of going for the NZXT 410 with a Corsair H100i V2 up top with an extra fan in the front. Probably remove the drive cages for extra air flow.

 

[jerpers]

The Noctua would probably keep the CPU temps around the 70C mark when under heavy load which is fine and well within limits.

 

[ClarkF1]

I've got the Noctua on a non-overclocked i7-8700k system.

When running some science apps on all the cores it runs at 60C and that's with Intel Turbo Boost increasing the frequency to 4.3GHz.

 

[Oussebon]

Just as a brief aside if I may:

1st Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE

This is about £50 more than a regular 7200rpm HDD, and for gaming it's not going to help performance. I'd say keep the £50.

 

[Vgillett44]

Just as a brief aside if I may:

This is about £50 more than a regular 7200rpm HDD, and for gaming it's not going to help performance. I'd say keep the £50.

Thanks, I've decided to go with the regular 7200rpm HDD.

Do you think there is any point in going for the overclocked 8700K? I've never done any overclocking and I'm not sure it's worth it if I can get 4.7ghz at max turbo without overclocking.

 

[Oussebon]

Do you think there is any point in going for the overclocked 8700K? I've never done any overclocking and I'm not sure it's worth it if I can get 4.7ghz at max turbo without overclocking.

I'd say it is worth it, as a stock build is only a few £ more than a regular build with the same components.

Note that the 4.7GHz is max boost for a single core. Max boost with load across all cores is 4.3GHz. So an OC for ~£10 gives you upto 500Mhz extra across 6 cores.

PCS will have set up the overclock and tested the system with it before shipping it to you.

 

[Vgillett44]

With the Fractal case, PCS will mount the cooler radiator at the top. This removes the moduvent panels negating its noise deadening effect. I had the same but upon delivery removed the HDD cages and bought an adaptor to put the HDD in the spare 5"1/4 bay so the rad could be at the front.

Edit: Album of my PC before I upgraded to the 1080ti:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/album.php?albumid=111

From asking around people keep suggesting I put the radiator at the front like you did. How easy was it to do? I wonder if PCS might put the rad at the front if I asked them.

 

[jerpers]

Putting the rad at the front was very easy.

I bought a HDD adaptor from amazon to put it under the Bluray drive. That was a bit tricky and needed a little bit of dremeling to get the cables to fit. The cages in the case are incredibly easy to remove and then its a case of unscrewing the rad from the top and screwing it onto the front. It can be a bit fiddly locating the thread on the rad after feeding the screw through the fan. I went for extra fans and had to get more screws to do this.

It is worth asking PCS to make sure they send you the moduvents from the top. Mine came with them in the box but iirc Oussebon didn't receive his.

I wish they would put the rad straight in the front but when I contacted them they told me in their opinion it is better for airflow on top. Looking back on it, I am glad they shipped it as they did because removing the cages does reduce the structural integrity. Whilst it is extremely sturdy and fine for use, I can imagine if it got knocked in transit it could potentially deform it.

 

[Oussebon]

It is worth asking PCS to make sure they send you the moduvents from the top. Mine came with them in the box but iirc Oussebon didn't receive his.

Yeah, I got to order mine from Germany where the shipping was like 10x the cost of the panels. That was 2012, I think Jerpers' purchase was much more recent. Best to ask PCS though.

 

[Vgillett44]

Best to ask PCS though.

I emailed PCS and like you they said that because of thermals they wouldn't put the rad at the front. They did say they would send the moduvents though.

So this is what I'm thinking of going for now. I decided to go for ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO because from what I've read it seems to be better at handling overclocking than the STRIX Z370-E GAMING.

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 MAXIMUS X HERO: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - GTX VR Ready!

Get Destiny 2 with select GTX 10 Series GPUs! ** Limited Codes Available **
1st 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
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 Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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
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)
Speakers
LOGITECH Z200 2.0 SPEAKERS - 10W
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £2,377.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[Oussebon]

I decided to go for ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO because from what I've read it seems to be better at handling overclocking than the STRIX Z370-E GAMING.

That's basically just marketing unless you're doing pretty extreme overclocking.

 

[jerpers]

The ROG boards are great but they do have a premium. As Oussebon said they do handle pretty extreme stuff well. I have had mine up to 4.9ghz at a reasonable voltage. I might try delidding and pushing it more but not until I plan on upgrading in case I destroy it.

 

[Vgillett44]

The ROG boards are great but they do have a premium. As Oussebon said they do handle pretty extreme stuff well. I have had mine up to 4.9ghz at a reasonable voltage.

Cool. Do you think it's worth me going with the Hero X and getting a wireless card? I’m planning on using a LAN connection most of the time but I like to have wireless as a back-up, I just don’t want it to mess with the cooling of the graphics card.

 

[Oussebon]

The Z370 E has built in 867mbps wifi and Bluetooth 4.2.

There is a version of the Hero X that has that too, but it's not the one PCS are using it seems.

Note that extreme overclocking in this context means trying to push over 5GHz - and it won't be the motherboard that makes or breaks whether you can do that but rather the cooling and the silicon lottery afaik. Especially for Kaby/Coffee lake. Upto 4.8 is pretty MOTR.

 

[jerpers]

Note that extreme overclocking in this context means trying to push over 5GHz - and it won't be the motherboard that makes or breaks whether you can do that but rather the cooling and the silicon lottery afaik. Especially for Kaby/Coffee lake. Upto 4.8 is pretty MOTR.

This. I do this for 'fun' and the ROG board is good for adding temp probes and its on board switches. The Z370 E with the built in wireless is likely to be better for you, particularly as that means one less card to potentially reduce the movement of air (even by a tiny amount)