# Need help making a build for a friend



## wolar (Jan 12, 2018)

Hello guys, a friend of mine wants to build a pc and i need some help picking parts , main purpose is gaming.
Budget around 1350GBP , needs psu,motherboard,cpu,ram,gpu,case,ssd,hdd(1tb is enough),monitor(144hz),keyboard and some speakers.
I suggested this : (keyboard might change).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

*CPU:* AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  (£159.54 @ Aria PC) 
*Motherboard:* Asus - STRIX B350-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£104.95 @ AWD-IT) 
*Memory:* G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£92.92 @ Amazon UK) 
*Storage:* Crucial - MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£67.40 @ Amazon UK) 
*Storage:* Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£37.50 @ Amazon UK) 
*Video Card:* MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB ARMOR Video Card  (£420.00 @ Novatech) 
*Case:* Fractal Design - Define C ATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.10 @ Novatech) 
*Power Supply:* EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£75.08 @ CCL Computers) 
*Case Fan:* ARCTIC - F12 PWM 74.0 CFM  120mm Fan  (£4.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
*Monitor:* LG - 24GM79G-B 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  (£219.95 @ Amazon UK) 
*Keyboard:* Corsair - K70 RAPIDFIRE Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£74.98 @ AWD-IT) 
*Speakers:* Creative Labs - Inspire T10 10W 2ch Speakers  (£35.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
*Total:* £1367.40
_Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-12 23:28 GMT+0000_

Thanks.


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## jboydgolfer (Jan 12, 2018)

wolar said:


> *Power Supply:* EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£75.08 @ CCL Computers)



I'd recommend a different power supply. Possibly seasonic focus+ ,  they've been on sale lately. Or maybe a EVGA G2.  I'm not 100% sure but if I recall correctly the G3 has like four or more +12 V rails. Maybe a little more ram too, 8 gb is iffy.


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## 64K (Jan 12, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> I'd recommend a different power supply. Possibly seasonic focus+ ,  they've been on sale lately. Or maybe a EVGA G2.  I'm not 100% sure but if I recall correctly the G3 has like four or more +12 V rails. Maybe a little more ram too, 8 gb is iffy.



The 550 watt G3 has a single +12V rail. I agree to go with more RAM though. If budget is tight maybe go with some slower RAM but get 16 GB.


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## jboydgolfer (Jan 12, 2018)

Disregard what I said about the G3 EVGA . I must've mistaken for a different power supply. 

 So then it would boil down to just the ram I think 16 GB would be a better choice. We're getting to the point in time where 8 GB just doesn't suffice any longer, it used to and you'd still be able to get by but I have a feeling you'd hit the ceiling more often than not with only 8gb


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## wolar (Jan 12, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> I'd recommend a different power supply. Possibly seasonic focus+ ,  they've been on sale lately. Or maybe a EVGA G2.  I'm not 100% sure but if I recall correctly the G3 has like four or more +12 V rails. Maybe a little more ram too, 8 gb is iffy.


It is too expensive to buy more ram, speed isn't the issue as the price difference between different speeds isn't that much. I tried to fit 16gb ram into the build but they can always be added later instead of picking worse components right now.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 13, 2018)

If a regular 1070 is available save the dough, otherwise find a 1080...


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## jboydgolfer (Jan 13, 2018)

wolar said:


> It is too expensive to buy more ram, speed isn't the issue as the price difference between different speeds isn't that much. I tried to fit 16gb ram into the build but they can always be added later instead of picking worse components right now.



Yeah you can totally buy it down the road. As I mentioned, it'll suffice but you may encounter times where it's not enough, or you may find that it's sufficient, and you just saved your friend a large amount of cash.

This is one of the main things stopping me over the past couple years from upgrading my systems. The price of RAM is through the roof, it's out of control.  I currently have 4 PCs in my home, each of them running 16 GB of RAM. I hate to think what it would cost to upgrade.  Obviously it wouldn't all be at once but I'm trying to get the most out of this DDR3 that I can.  When I bought most of it, the price was very low. If I recall correctly I was paying $70 for 16 GB of RAM at Micro Center.  It also doesn't help that I'm very, very cheap 


id say your instincts were good when putting the build together. looks like its time to pull the trigger if no other questions remain.


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## Cvrk (Jan 13, 2018)

Can your friend wait ?

In just a few months the 2k series gtx will come out also the new cpu's from Amd..... let's face you will see no,or little difference in terms of fps, but my guess is that they will cost the same. Why not get the 2018 technology instead of old stuff.


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## wolar (Jan 13, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> If a regular 1070 is available save the dough, otherwise find a 1080...


I can save around 40gbp going to a 1070 and a 1080 is 90gbp more, i thought the price of the 1070ti made it the best but i may be wrong.


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## Vya Domus (Jan 13, 2018)

wolar said:


> i thought the price of the 1070ti made it the best but i may be wrong.



The price differential is often so small between the two you might just as well buy a 1080.


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## BarbaricSoul (Jan 13, 2018)

Get a bigger SSD. I just added a 500 GB SSD to my system last month, I only have 3 games installed on it, and it's already half full.


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## wolar (Jan 13, 2018)

Vya Domus said:


> The price differential is often so small between the two you might just as well buy a 1080.


Well, 90gbp isn't that small tbh. 

As for the ssd, 240-275gb is enough according to him. I myself never had a problem with my 256gb ssd, i never have many games installed(finish and delete).


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## 64K (Jan 13, 2018)

I wouldn't step down to a 1070 (non Ti) since he wants a 144 Hz monitor. I assume he wants very high FPS. The 1070 Ti is a great choice for most games. Of course a 1080 would be a little better. There's always better. Next generation from Nvidia the 1070 equivalent will probably perform around the present 1080 Ti. A gaming rig is a never ending series of upgrades but your friend probably knows that.


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## micropage7 (Jan 13, 2018)

BarbaricSoul said:


> Get a bigger SSD. I just added a 500 GB SSD to my system last month, I only have 3 games installed on it, and it's already half full.


ssd still expensive if you compare it to platter drive
i dunno i got less trust on WD, got some WD and dead for some reason in short time. still prefer seagate for hdd


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## Vya Domus (Jan 13, 2018)

wolar said:


> Well, 90gbp isn't that small tbh.



It's your call or your friend's. A 1080 OC'ed is well ahead of a 1070ti OC'ed.


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## wolar (Jan 13, 2018)

Vya Domus said:


> It's your call or your friend's. A 1080 OC'ed is well ahead of a 1070ti OC'ed.


I know, my goal was a 1080, maybe with a cheaper keyboard (magicforce 68 with outemu) and increase the budget by the rest, i'll have to ask him for this.


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## jboydgolfer (Jan 13, 2018)

wolar said:


> I know, my goal was a 1080, maybe with a cheaper keyboard (magicforce 68 with outemu) and increase the budget by the rest, i'll have to ask him for this.



do u not need an OS, or is that something that is already taken care of?


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## wolar (Jan 13, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> do u not need an OS, or is that something that is already taken care of?


He already have one.


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## Caelestis (Jan 15, 2018)

Regarding the motherboard I would recommend the ASUS Prime X370 Pro. Has higher quality parts (e.g. mosfets) and better / more OC options in the bios. It costs only about £20 more.


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## wolar (Jan 15, 2018)

Caelestis said:


> Regarding the motherboard I would recommend the ASUS Prime X370 Pro. Has higher quality parts (e.g. mosfets) and better / more OC options in the bios. It costs only about £20 more.


That board has some really poor ratings, not sure if i can recommend something like that.


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## Liviu Cojocaru (Jan 15, 2018)

I would get 16GB RAM, 1080 instead of 1070Ti and MX500 SSD instead of MX300


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## John Naylor (Jan 15, 2018)

You said "Main purpose is gaming" ... in which case, I wouldn't use a Ryzen 1600

Review the list of pros / cons at TPUs review here:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Ryzen_5_1600/21.html

The 1st of which should be of primary importance give the stated usage:

"Gaming frame rates lower than competing Intel chips"

I understand your budget limitations but remember that in the end, it's cheaper to buy what you need / want up front as opposed to remove and replace.....

1.  See above review.  Comparable Intel CPU would be a 7500 ....

2.  Be aware of MoBo limitations ... No 2nd GFX card option (non issue at 1080p) but would be if considering 2160p in future.  Luckily this MoBo has a decenbt audio (ALC1220) solution

3.  Adding RAM, espeially on a low budget board and at that speed is an iffy proposition on any CPU, especially at that speed.  If they don't come in the same package, you have no guarantee.  Also see above review_ "Memory frequency options and memory compatibility limited Setup complicated (memory, HPET, CCX, SMT, and power profile)"_.  This may or may not be an issue for ya friend.

4.  Blue is a rather slow drive and 1 GB bit small for a gaming library, As you can see SSHDs more than twice as fast as Blue and 50 % fasrter then WD Black (and SSHD ~ 1% fail rate) .... http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hdd-charts-2013/-17-PCMark-7-Gaming,2915.html

5.  Armor is the choice over the Aero if ya can't get the Gaming X

6.  We generally recommend the Phantex cases over the Fractal's in most proce tiers.

7.  I'd recommend the VG248QR or BenQXL2411 which are also 144 Hz but have better (as tested) specs and about the same price.

Our budget based recommended system consists of an 8600k, Scythe Fuma or Mugen Max, Dual GFX card **capable** MoBo w/ ALC 1220, 250GB SSD,  2TB SSHD, 2 x 8GB RAM , GTX 1070, Phanteks Case and 620 watt PSU.

Thats not going to happen with 16GB at your budget but going w/ your RAM, your GPU. your SSD and leaving out speakers / KB, it comes in at 1375 GBP.  Again, as per TPU testing It would be 20% faster then the Ryzen 1600 @ 1080p not counting the 2% extra as that review is based on 7700k.  Kaby Lake was a pretty much assured 20% OC (5.0 Ghz)  ... haven't seen enough stats on Coffee Lake, tho appears to be about the same.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

*CPU:* Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  (£195.50 @ Amazon UK) 
*CPU Cooler:* Scythe - Mugen MAX 97.2 CFM CPU Cooler  (£42.95 @ Amazon UK) 
*Motherboard:* MSI - Z370 GAMING PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£113.99 @ Ebuyer) 
*Memory:* G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£92.92 @ Amazon UK) 
*Storage:* Crucial - MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£69.96 @ Amazon UK) 
*Storage:* Seagate - FireCuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  (£79.06 @ Ebuyer) 
*Video Card:* MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB ARMOR Video Card  (£420.00 @ Novatech) 
*Case:* Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case  (£59.98 @ CCL Computers) 
*Power Supply:* SeaSonic - EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£75.46 @ Amazon UK) 
*Monitor:* Asus - VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  (£224.99 @ CCL Computers) 
*Total:* £1374.81
_Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available_
_Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-15 19:58 GMT+0000_

Now if ya friend intends to add video editing and other workstation apps to his list of  usages to any significant extent, I would stick w/ a  Ryzen build ... for gaming only, the TPU numbers don't point this way tho.


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## wolar (Jan 15, 2018)

If at the same price why not pick the evga g3 550w instead of the seasonic one? Its gold rated as well and from what i know it is better build too.
The ram i only picked that because it was quite cheap tbh, i do not expect it to reach 3200mhz, but i hope they will reach 29xx-3066 with decent timings.
As for the case, it is his choice(ill show him some good cases at around the same price).
Thanks for the input on the CPU, i forgot tbh to check for the intel counterparts, i will still recommend the ryzen though, he will get better fps with the intel for now but the AM4 socket will support the new CPUs so it makes it easier for upgrades in the future.
For the HDD i think he has one 2tb WD green in his old pc, we'll test if its working and not get another. So no need to include one for now.
I only picked that motherboard due to being the cheapest with the ALC1220 and the intel nic, the msi carbon pro b350 has both and is around that price but i do not like the placement of the m.2 below the GPU.
As for the monitor, i do not know the differences between the lg, zowie and asus and which one is better so ill recommend the asus one you posted or the zowie.

Thanks for help.


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## wolar (Jan 21, 2018)

There is a discount on the 7700k for 250gbp and also the z270 mark 1 for 150gbp, do you think it will be better to go for the i7 as he will game at 144hz monitor and a 1060 for now?
It will be something like this :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

*CPU:* Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£257.94 @ Aria PC) 
*CPU Cooler:* CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  (£39.46 @ Amazon UK) 
*Motherboard:* Asus - STRIX Z270F ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£153.59 @ Aria PC) 
*Memory:* Kingston - HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  (£85.48 @ CCL Computers) 
*Storage:* ADATA - Ultimate SU800 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£74.92 @ More Computers) 
*Video Card:* EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB FTW2 GAMING iCX Video Card  (£283.61 @ Amazon UK) 
*Case:* Cooler Master - MasterBox 5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£59.44 @ Box Limited) 
*Power Supply:* EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£75.00 @ Aria PC) 
*Monitor:* Asus - VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  (£224.95 @ Aria PC) 
*Keyboard:* EagleTec - KG011 Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£46.99 @ Amazon UK) 
*Speakers:* Creative Labs - Inspire T10 10W 2ch Speakers  (£35.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
*Total:* £1337.37
_Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-21 18:28 GMT+0000_


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## Aquinus (Jan 21, 2018)

The cost of DRAM and GPUs is prohibitively expensive right now. I'm not upgrading for the very reason that DRAM and GPUs are outrageously priced right now. If you friend can wait, I highly suggest that he do so.


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## wolar (Jan 21, 2018)

He can wait for 2-3 months, i do not know which will be better for him tbh, thats why i tried to make a balanced build.
The 7700k right now is 250gbp and the 8600k is 240-270gbp, choosing either of these will benefit him now, i do not know if it will be the same in 1-2 years though and ryzen doesn't get better, also which of these cpus(7700k and 8600k) is better for high fps.


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## Aquinus (Jan 21, 2018)

wolar said:


> The 7700k right now is 250gbp and the 8600k is 240-270gbp, choosing either of these will benefit him now, i do not know if it will be the same in 1-2 years though and also which of these 2 cpus is better for high fps.


The CPU with the higher clock speeds are likely to be better at higher frame rates because CPU load (in particular, serial workloads,) scales to frame rate but, doesn't typically scale as much to resolution. If your buddy is going to run a display >= 120Hz, then go with whatever can clock higher. If 60Hz is the goal, then it probably doesn't matter.

An example would actually be my system. I run several games at 4k that fully tax the GPU but, the 3930k keeps up no problem, and this CPU has been around for over half a decade  but, I'm also not cranking out insanely high frame rates which lessens the burden on the CPU.


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## Jetster (Jan 21, 2018)

It's perfect, the only issue is it's a bad time to buy PC parts. Wait till Bitcoin crashes.


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## wolar (Jan 21, 2018)

I honestly do not see it crashing any time soon :/ Awesome, i will tell him to get the i7 then.


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## jaggerwild (Jan 22, 2018)

Jetster said:


> It's perfect, the only issue is it's a bad time to buy PC parts. Wait till Bitcoin crashes.



 Thats going in my sig too!!


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## alan23 (Feb 7, 2018)

i do not know the differences between the lg, zowie and asus and which one is better so ill recommend the asus one you posted or the zowie.


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## wolar (Apr 13, 2018)

The build is complete but i have some problems with the cpu temperature. Case is cool, cpu cooler is the h5 universal, motherboard is the z270 mark1.

Cpu is set to 4.2ghz, core volt at 1.225, PLL at 1.1v and i also reduced some other voltages which i cannot remember right now.
I also configured the fan speed of the cooler to be more aggresive.
After about 10m in overwatch cpu reach at 75C, with p95 after about 30seconds it reach 90c, i stopped it but after some minutes it could reach 93-95 i believe which is too high.
Is it normal? Is there any other way to reduce the temps ? Ill try using 1 more fan with the cpu cooler and if that doesnt work i will re-install the cooler but i think it was correctly installed the first time..

Edit: Temperatures and voltages were monitored using hwinfo


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## Hood (Apr 14, 2018)

What's the ambient temp of the room?  Seems very hot for that clock speed and vcore.  If the room isn't hot, you may have terrible air flow.  Check/adjust all fan profiles to 80 or 90%.  Maybe try it with the side cover removed, and a desk fan blowing in.  I find that stress apps like p95 and IBT are not that useful anymore on newer CPUs, because they cause it to overheat quickly.  I only use AIDA64 stress test these days to check stability of OC, usually un-checking the "stress FPU" and stress cache" options.  Gaming doesn't tax it as much anyway.


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## Final_Fighter (Apr 14, 2018)

sounds like the cooler is not mounted right. go ahead and reinstall it.


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## wolar (Apr 14, 2018)

I will first try the latest bios(the one installed is some months old) and reset everything except core voltage to 1.225-1.25. If that doesnt work ill try with another fan on the cooler and after ill reinstall the cooler, i honestly do not believe the installation wasn't correct but ill do it anyway to check. 

Thanks for the help.


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## Vayra86 (Apr 14, 2018)

wolar said:


> He can wait for 2-3 months, i do not know which will be better for him tbh, thats why i tried to make a balanced build.
> The 7700k right now is 250gbp and the 8600k is 240-270gbp, choosing either of these will benefit him now, i do not know if it will be the same in 1-2 years though and ryzen doesn't get better, also which of these cpus(7700k and 8600k) is better for high fps.



EDIT: OKAY scratch this. You've already built it some time ago  didn't notice the dates

You will need to look at all voltages and tweak accordingly. These chips have spiky temp behavior, Coffee Lake is no different and the H5 isn't a fantastic solution for this kind of chip. BIOS updates can help set some things right in that sense.

Focus on the following:
- VCCIO / VCCSA - as close to or at stock volt, even with XMP ram you can dial it down in most cases
- LLC. Play around and find the lowest temp setting that also helps with vDroop. Sometimes a tighter LLC works well for this, some boards prefer it really loose
- AVX Offset. Last resort. Effectively you will find the CPU running at lower freq more often than  you might like, but this will keep temps in check in a big way. This offset effectively lowers the multipliers when there's an AVX load.
- A better cooler. The H5 is 'sufficient' but when you OC it runs into constraints fast.
- Ambient temp and case airflow. Most reviews test at 18-20C ambient. You only get similar results if you have that ambient temp inside the case.


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## wolar (Apr 15, 2018)

Vayra86 said:


> EDIT: OKAY scratch this. You've already built it some time ago  didn't notice the dates
> 
> You will need to look at all voltages and tweak accordingly. These chips have spiky temp behavior, Coffee Lake is no different and the H5 isn't a fantastic solution for this kind of chip. BIOS updates can help set some things right in that sense.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply. VCCIO is the ram voltage? Also what is LLC? do you mean PLL ? Ill try using the adaptive for the core voltage as well instead of manual.

Ambient was around 25-30C , case airflow is more than sufficient.


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## Vayra86 (Apr 15, 2018)

wolar said:


> Thanks for the reply. VCCIO is the ram voltage? Also what is LLC? do you mean PLL ? Ill try using the adaptive for the core voltage as well instead of manual.
> 
> Ambient was around 25-30C , case airflow is more than sufficient.



LLC is Load Line Calibration and PLL stands for phase lock loop voltage. PLL isn't a really important OC setting, you could usually lower it a little while maintaining stability, thats it.

But LLC is very important, it allows you to hold a steady vCore under load. What happens is, you set a vCore and during load, that vCore drops a bit from what you've set it at. LLC counters that behaviour, making your set vCore more reliable and forcing it to what you set. This in turn may allow you to use a lower (adaptive) vCore to start with, because a stronger LLC setting keeps it at a similar value at load and you're no longer 'compensating for the drop'. I hope that explains it, otherwise this pic may help:

Here you can see how voltage can change during prolonged load:

there is a dip before starting the bench and then an overshoot to 1.33v, the CPU then gets 1.31v 'under load'. This is an example of vDroop, and later during the run, it drops down to 1.30v. A stronger LLC setting would eliminate that behaviour, and allow you to set the vCore not at 1.33v, but at 1.31v and 'hold' that voltage all the time. Its about finding the best balance, best being the balance that gives the lowest temperature without sacrificing stability.






Ideally what you want is a straight line.

VCCIO is tied to RAM but its not the RAM voltage itself - that I would not touch.


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## wolar (May 6, 2018)

Will the noctua NF-F12 INDUSTRIALPPC-2000 pwm make a big difference ? I still didnt' get to try the settings but if it doesn't work will this noctua fan do the job or will he needs to buy a new cooler? 

It can get really hot in the summer here that is why i am worried(32-42c).


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