New PC for gaming/VR

[Yardem]

Budget: £2600
Planning to buy in October/November, this will be Christmas present for the offspring.

Case: COOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
CPU: Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-6800K (3.4GHz) 15MB Cache
Motherboard: Gigabyte X99 Ultra Gaming: ATX, LG2011-3, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs, XFIRE/SLI
RAM: 16GB HyperX PREDATOR DDR4 3200MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk: 120GB KINGSTON UV400 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (550MB/R, 350MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk: 2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Power Supply: CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling: Corsair H80i V2 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste: ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Operating System: Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Monitor: ASUS 27" ROG Swift PG278Q
Keyboard & Mouse: Corsair Gaming Bundle - Keyboard, Mouse, Headset & Mouse Mat

Some additional questions:
1. It doesn't tell me what brand the graphics card is. Why can I not pick?
2. Will the system come with the appropriate cable and adapter (if needed) to connect that monitor to that graphics card?

Thanks.

 

[Rakk]

1. It doesn't tell me what brand the graphics card is. Why can I not pick?
2. Will the system come with the appropriate cable and adapter (if needed) to connect that monitor to that graphics card?

1. The NVidia cards that PCS supply are generally either Palit or Zotac - its depends what they have so you do not get a choice
2. If you order it with a monitor cable (it's one of the selectors in the configurator) it will have one (or if you're ordering a monitor with the PC ) , otherwise it will not - it tends to be that cables come with monitors rather than graphics cards

 

[Oussebon]

1. It doesn't tell me what brand the graphics card is. Why can I not pick?

PC Specialist will use what they have in supply at the time, which is often Palit or Zotac. If you're keen for the PC to have an EVGA GTX 1080 FTW (for example) you could buy the PC and then install a card of your choice yourself.

The Corsair VS series is very value-oriented. Ofc it's perfectly alright, but I would probably prefer something of a higher build quality in a £2.5k PC, at least the CS or maybe the RMx series. The CS is modular which means fewer cables and is better build quality. The RMx is excellent quality and also has a passive mode where the fan will not operate if the PSU can cool itself passively.

2. Will the system come with the appropriate cable and adapter (if needed) to connect that monitor to that graphics card?

Yes, they'd be included with the Asus monitor. Though some people find the boxed cables Asus and other manufacturers supply with their monitors to be a bit short. If you're buying in Nov though you'll have plenty of time to test and see if you want to buy a longer cable.

Edit: I opened this post Window before Rakk commented on the above so apologies for the double answer

The 6800k is a very good CPU ofc, but the 6700k will generally outperform it in games.* Particularly at stock speeds.

You might consider an overclocked build, whether you go for a Skylake or a Broadwell-E build.

There's a user on these forums who is apparently quite a fan of VR and finds that the better clock for clock performance and the higher clock speeds of OCed skylake is a bigger asset for VR than having more cores. But that aside, it's still true in gaming generally.

The 6700k is also a lot cheaper, despite being better for gaming. The 6800k is more for video editing and prosumer uses (3d modelling, etc).

You might consider the Fractal Define X1 build near the top of the review section, which will work out somewhat cheaper (it's a pre-OCed i7 6700k build with 16gb 3000MHz DDR4, GTX 1080, a bigger and faster SSD, 2tb HDD, etc etc) for £1499.

* slightly lazy illustration to back up the 6700k generally outperforming the 6800k for gaming:

 

[Scott]

I can only echo what's already been said. Purely for gaming the overclocked 6700k is the way to go. It's win-win too as it's so much cheaper. If you want a multi-use PC then the extra cores may well come into play and make a large impact.... but again you're going to want to overclock as already said.

The X1 is the PC I would be going with in your shoes.

Oh, the SSD that you have chosen will be too small IMO. These games are taking up vast amounts of HDD space nowadays. I would suggest that 256GB would be the bare minimum now with 512GB being the optimum choice.

 

[jerpers]

There's a user on these forums who is apparently quite a fan of VR and finds that the better clock for clock performance and the higher clock speeds of OCed skylake is a bigger asset for VR than having more cores. But that aside, it's still true in gaming generally.
View attachment 8670

Do you mean me by any chance?

From all my reading around the topic and from various discussions on reddit, single core performance is far superior for VR. I would highly recomment the 6700k especially as it overclocks so easily.

 

[Yardem]

Thanks for your replies.

I've opted for:
CPU: Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 3 ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs

Replaced OS hard drive with this one, but keeping the 2TB additional HDD:
1st Hard Disk: 500GB Samsung 750 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk: 2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE

Finally, replaced the power supply and this should even power a second 1080, if I ever buy another:
Power Supply: CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

With everything else the same, the total is now £2,498 (saving £102).

 

[jerpers]

It may be worth looking at the define X1 review machines with similar specs and a nice discount. If noise is a concern for you, go for the notua cooler or get the h80i with the quiet fan option. The stock ones are quite loud.

 

[Scott]

I'm not sure if you are following what we are saying or not but the Define X1 is the way to go with what you are after....

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/

Click the above link then scroll down till you see "Define X1" with the black case and green lighting.

The spec of that system is pretty much exactly what you are after. You can add the monitor and any other extras later. If you do it over the phone you may even be able to customise it to a degree and only pay the upgrade prices.

It's £1500 which is a huge saving over your current system.

 

[Yardem]

It may be worth looking at the define X1 review machines with similar specs and a nice discount. If noise is a concern for you, go for the notua cooler or get the h80i with the quiet fan option. The stock ones are quite loud.

Hmmm, I didn't realise we're talking about £300+ savings if you're taking it as it is...

 

[Yardem]

After doing a bit more reading, I've ordered the Define X1.
Need to save some more for monitor and peripherals, which need to be ordered before Christmas, but I'm very happy with the price for the rig.

Many thanks for sending me that way!