PC Build

[Evynglai]

Hi,

 

I'm looking to build my first ever custom PC and need some help choosing the parts for it. I'll go through the list given in 'Build Plan Thread Recommendations' to make it simpler to follow.

 

Thanks for the help,

Matt (Evynglai)

 

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Budget and Location

 

I'm in Edinburgh, UK, and my budget is around £2500 (GBP). Ideally I'd like to keep costs down, but don't want to end up with a PC that will be useless in a year or two.

 

Aim

 

The PC will mainly be used for gaming (if it can run GTA V at max it should be fine, although I might want to progress into VR, i.e. Elite Dangerous, if the budget allows the specs for this), web browsing and University work (programming 3D plots, doesn't take a huge amount of horsepower). My girlfriend will also potentially be using it to edit photos and videos.

 

Monitors

 

I only plan on using one monitor at the moment, a 27-inch FHD Dell 'gaming' monitor is what I currently have, and I don't plan to upgrade since this was a recent black Friday purchase.

 

Peripherals

 

I already chose and purchased my peripherals which I use now with my laptop - a solar powered keyboard (Logitech) and a Logitech Master AMZ mouse, with Logitech speakers. I also have a headset - so basically I don't need any peripherals. And apparently I'm a sucker for Logitech gear (I even have the Logitech MX Anywhere mouse as my 'portable' one for studying at University...).

 

Oh, I'll also need to buy a copy of Windows.

 

Why are you upgrading?

 

I currently game on the Xbox One S and use my HP Spectre x360 13-ac051na laptop for University. I don't game on PC, but I used to years ago and want to get back into it (and want to try out some of my favourite games in VR if it'll fit into my budget). I came into some money recently and decided it's a good time to get a good PC, hopefully one that will last a while, since I likely won't be able to upgrade for 5 or 6 years.

 

[Nocte]

£2,500 is a huge budget... This is pretty much one of the best rigs you can buy right now, with good aesthetics (there was space for some RGB, so I put it ). I also put in there case fans and Windows, but you decide if you want them or not. Anyhow, you would still have £500 to spare. The EVGA 2080Ti is not the cheapest in the UK market, but I think it's worth the extra 100-200 pounds for the much better customer support and extra warranty.

Here is the part list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor	£299.58 @ Aria PC
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard	£184.38 @ Aria PC
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	£134.99 @ CCL Computers
Storage	Western Digital - Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	£50.98 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	£36.97 @ Aria PC
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Black Video Card	£1110.79 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case	£58.91 @ More Computers
Power Supply	SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	£79.47 @ Amazon UK
Operating System	Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	£94.92 @ PC World Business
Case Fan	Thermaltake - Riing 12 RGB Triple Pack 40.6 CFM 120mm Fans	£39.99 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£2090.98
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 13:25 GMT+0000

You could also invest in a 3rd party CPU cooler, but the Wraith Prism is really good on its own.

[Dedayog]

6 minutes ago, Nocte said:

£2,500 is a huge budget... This is pretty much one of the best rigs you can buy right now, with good aesthetics (there was space for some RGB, so I put it ). I also put in there case fans and Windows, but you decide if you want them or not. Anyhow, you would still have £500 to spare. The EVGA 2080Ti is not the cheapest in the UK market, but I think it's worth the extra 100-200 pounds for the much better customer support and extra warranty.

Here is the part list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor	£299.58 @ Aria PC
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard	£184.38 @ Aria PC
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	£134.99 @ CCL Computers
Storage	Western Digital - Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	£50.98 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	£36.97 @ Aria PC
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Black Video Card	£1110.79 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case	£58.91 @ More Computers
Power Supply	SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	£79.47 @ Amazon UK
Operating System	Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	£94.92 @ PC World Business
Case Fan	Thermaltake - Riing 12 RGB Triple Pack 40.6 CFM 120mm Fans	£39.99 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£2090.98
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 13:25 GMT+0000

You could also invest in a 3rd party CPU cooler, but the Wraith Prism is really good on its own.

I'd upgrade to 2-3TB of HDD storage.  1 isn't much at all.  

 

Buy Microsoft on the grey market.  

 

Case is completely subjective, but I'd look into higher end cases for building ease and aesthetics that suit you personally.

 

Also, I didn't realize EVGA had a better warranty than the other board partners, interesting.

[TH3R34P3R]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	£383.99 @ Aria PC
CPU Cooler	Corsair - H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	£101.99 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	£206.39 @ Novatech
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	£199.98 @ Aria PC
Storage	Western Digital - Black NVMe 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	£107.69 @ Ebuyer
Storage	Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	£54.97 @ CCL Computers
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Black Video Card	£1110.79 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	NZXT - H500i (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case	£97.99 @ AWD-IT
Power Supply	Corsair - HX Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	£130.49 @ Ebuyer
Case Fan	Thermaltake - Riing 12 RGB Triple Pack 40.6 CFM 120mm Fans	£39.99 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£2434.27
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 13:35 GMT+0000

 

This is a very solid build if you want intel, with 32gb of ram and the ability for another 32 more. 

[Evynglai]

3 minutes ago, Nocte said:

£2,500 is a huge budget... This is pretty much one of the best rigs you can buy right now, with good aesthetics (there was space for some RGB, so I put it ). I also put in there case fans and Windows, but you decide if you want them or not. Anyhow, you would still have £500 to spare. The EVGA 2080Ti is not the cheapest in the UK market, but I think it's worth the extra 100-200 pounds for the much better customer support and extra warranty.

Here is the part list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor	£299.58 @ Aria PC
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard	£184.38 @ Aria PC
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	£134.99 @ CCL Computers
Storage	Western Digital - Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	£50.98 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	£36.97 @ Aria PC
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Black Video Card	£1110.79 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case	£58.91 @ More Computers
Power Supply	SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	£79.47 @ Amazon UK
Operating System	Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	£94.92 @ PC World Business
Case Fan	Thermaltake - Riing 12 RGB Triple Pack 40.6 CFM 120mm Fans	£39.99 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£2090.98
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 13:25 GMT+0000

You could also invest in a 3rd party CPU cooler, but the Wraith Prism is really good on its own.

 

1 minute ago, jstudrawa said:

I'd upgrade to 2-3TB of HDD storage.  1 isn't much at all.  

 

Bu y Microsoft on the grey market.  

 

Case is completely subjective, but I'd look into higher end cases for building ease and aesthetics that suit you personally.

I was just replying about the storage. I'm planning on having mine and my girlfriends photo libraries stored on a secondary HDD (we have a combined 6TB of photos and videos from previous holidays) and was probably going to throw a couple of 8TB or 12TB drives* in there (should have mentioned that, sorry!), but other than that, this build is a lot better than what I was envisioning. I definitely didn't expect a 2080Ti to be in there. One thing that's worrying me is the PSU. Would I be better off getting a higher wattage to make it run silent? Or is it not really worth it since there'll be the fan noise from the CPU and case fans anyways? The budget allows for this upgrade. Let me know what you think.

 

*one 12TB drive is not included in the price as my girlfriend is paying for that, so doesn't affect the current build listing.

[Dedayog]

8 and 12 TB drives aren't cheap, but if that's what you need, go for it.

 

Most high quality PSU's run quiet or silent.  I can't hear mine at all, at any time, over the case fans.

 

You can also look into a 8700K, it's arguably a better gaming CPU.

[TH3R34P3R]

6 minutes ago, Evynglai said:

throw a couple of 8TB or 12TB drives* in there

i would personally get like 4 4tb drives...  instead of massive ones. and to throw a couple in your budget, thats going to be a major hit into cost. 

[Evynglai]

Just now, TH3R34P3R said:

i would personally get like 4 4tb drives...  instead of massive ones. and to throw a couple in your budget, thats going to be a major hit into cost. 

Yeah, I might do the one 8TB as my usual drive and as I said, the 12TB sort of 'cold storage' drive is coming out of the girlfriend's pocket. I just checked and you're right, it would be cheaper to have two 4TB drives, but it would likely be easier to manage just using one. I'll decide when I order. I think my Uncle (who works in the robotics industry) has a few spare drives too, so I'll see if he's got any bigger ones going cheap. For now, I'll leave that 1TB in there.

 

jstrudawa just mentioned the possibility of getting an 8700k. Do you think the Ryzen is better for gaming and editing, or should I go for that instead? I originally intended an intel processor but I'm not an expert by any means. I've watched a LOT of LTT and I know that AMD have made a huge comeback in the last year and now a lot of people seem to be favouring their processors over Intel's, but which is better for the varying workloads I'm planning to do?

[Dedayog]

At your budget level, you have the option of going all out.

 

For editing AND gaming, I'd go with AMD unless you want to pony up for the 9900K to win it all.

 

Some will suggest going AMD so you can upgrade to the new CPUs in 6 months or so.  

 

I love the 8700K but I don't edit at all.  Fantastic gaming CPU for a not too bad of a price.

[Guest]

It would be a bit of a waste going with a 2080 ti for a 1080p monitor. An RTX 2060/ GTX 1070 ti etc will do fine for that. 

 

The cooler is available from Overclockers. A similar cooler would be something like the Arctic Cooler Freezer 33 Esports.

 

Upgrade when the need arises, that way you will have the latest parts. The AM4 socket is supported until 2020 so Ryzen 4th gen should slot right in if need be. Same goes for the gpu. Upgrade that when it starts to struggle, or if you ever decide to go 1440p/4K etc. 

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  (£142.50 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 Plus 59 CFM CPU Cooler  (£41.99) 
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£169.61 @ More Computers) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£104.88 @ More Computers) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£64.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£54.97 @ CCL Computers) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB VENTUS OC Video Card  (£339.99 @ CCL Computers) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Dark TG ATX Mid Tower Case  (£84.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: RIOTORO - ENIGMA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£73.85 @ More Computers) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  (£94.92 @ PC World Business) 
Total: £1172.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 16:25 GMT+0000

[Evynglai]

28 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

It would be a bit of a waste going with a 2080 ti for a 1080p monitor. An RTX 2060/ GTX 1070 ti etc will do fine for that. 

 

The cooler is available from Overclockers. A similar cooler would be something like the Arctic Cooler Freezer 33 Esports.

 

Upgrade when the need arises, that way you will have the latest parts. The AM4 socket is supported until 2020 so Ryzen 4th gen should slot right in if need be. Same goes for the gpu. Upgrade that when it starts to struggle, or if you ever decide to go 1440p/4K etc. 

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  (£142.50 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 Plus 59 CFM CPU Cooler  (£41.99) 
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£169.61 @ More Computers) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£104.88 @ More Computers) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£64.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£54.97 @ CCL Computers) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB VENTUS OC Video Card  (£339.99 @ CCL Computers) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Dark TG ATX Mid Tower Case  (£84.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: RIOTORO - ENIGMA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£73.85 @ More Computers) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  (£94.92 @ PC World Business) 
Total: £1172.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 16:25 GMT+0000

 

I mentioned in the original post I might be going towards VR gaming as well - would this be able to do that? I might also invest in a 4K monitor if I see a good black Friday deal or something next year, so I'll have to think about that when deciding. Also, my current 27-inch is 1440p, 144hz, not 1080p. Does that affect your selection at all? Thanks for your reply.

[Guest]

Just now, Evynglai said:

 

I mentioned in the original post I might be going towards VR gaming as well - would this be able to do that? I might also invest in a 4K monitor if I see a good black Friday deal or something next year, so I'll have to think about that when deciding. Also, my current 27-inch is 1440p, 144hz, not 1080p. Does that affect your selection at all? Thanks for your reply.

You mentioned it being FHD and that is commonly known as 1920 x 1080 

 

An RX 580 can easily run VR games, but of course if you are playing AAA titles as well then you would want something better. An RTX 2060 can run 1440p but of course it depends on what sort of frame rates/settings you want.

 

The RTX 2060 review below shows GTA V benchmarks at 1440p max quality and it does a nice job.

 

https://www.techspot.com/review/1781-geforce-rtx-2060-mega-benchmark/page2.html

 

The RTX 2080 ti is obviously the best card on the market (Not counting the RTX Titan) but the current price is just crazy. So only you can decide if you think it is worth the current asking price. If you do go for the 2080 ti then get one with a good warranty such as the Gigabyte Gaming OC which has 4 years warranty when you register it and UK RMA support.

[Evynglai]

1 hour ago, lee32uk said:

You mentioned it being FHD and that is commonly known as 1920 x 1080 

 

An RX 580 can easily run VR games, but of course if you are playing AAA titles as well then you would want something better. An RTX 2060 can run 1440p but of course it depends on what sort of frame rates/settings you want.

 

The RTX 2060 review below shows GTA V benchmarks at 1440p max quality and it does a nice job.

 

https://www.techspot.com/review/1781-geforce-rtx-2060-mega-benchmark/page2.html

 

The RTX 2080 ti is obviously the best card on the market (Not counting the RTX Titan) but the current price is just crazy. So only you can decide if you think it is worth the current asking price. If you do go for the 2080 ti then get one with a good warranty such as the Gigabyte Gaming OC which has 4 years warranty when you register it and UK RMA support.

Ah yes, I did, sorry. I meant to say QHD. Thanks for spotting my mistake. I'll have a look at some different reviews and see whether it's worth it for me to get the 2080ti or to stick with something cheaper. Thanks.