Under 1700 Build

[Andrew Sh]

2 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

The decision is yours. The GTX 1070 + 1080p monitor combo will last you a while (at least get a 144Hz 1080p display), but the 3440x1440 monitor+ GTX 1080 combo gets you a more immersive gaming experience and a sharper image at the cost of a little longevity, a little CPU horsepower, and RGB lighting.

 

If you care about the lighting and customizable colours, I won't fault you for that. Get that if it's what you want; my intention was to provide an alternative.

The gtx 1080 + 1440p ultrawide monitor will indeed offer a good gaming experience but I don't think it'll last long before settings have to bit by bit be turned down.

As I said previously, my 6970 could max out games in 2012 or so. Now it runs on Medium and was struggling to run the new COD and some other modern titles on low settings.
 

I think either 1070 + 1080p or 1080 + standard 1440p is gonna be a sweet spot.

If he's sticking to budget, go for 1070.
If can stretch or swap out the LED stuff then 1080 can be afforded with this edit
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rVGRCy
 

Have to remember that if you want "pretty" you're gonna sacrifice maybe 20-40% performance to look good.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

7 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

Nope, the 7700k handily beats it; especially when overclocked. However, at 3440x1440 with a 1080, the two CPUs will perform identically in almost every game.

I'll probably keep the 7700 because it's unused game performance will make recording and editing faster.

[Andrew Sh]

5 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

Nope, the 7700k handily beats it; especially when overclocked. However, at 3440x1440 with a 1080, the two CPUs will perform identically in almost every game.

7700k will have about 10% fps advantage on cpu heavy games and is what, 4-5 generations newer at this point?

I'm not sure how much i7 vs i3-4160 (on your profile) but if he's spending $1700 on a new pc, advising him to buy a 3 year old CPU (low-mid range Server cpu) along with H class motherboard and all that seems a little stupid.

 

[TheNuzziNuzz]

5 minutes ago, Andrew Sh said:

The gtx 1080 + 1440p ultrawide monitor will indeed offer a good gaming experience but I don't think it'll last long before settings have to bit by bit be turned down.

As I said previously, my 6970 could max out games in 2012 or so. Now it runs on Medium and was struggling to run the new COD and some other modern titles on low settings.
 

I think either 1070 + 1080p or 1080 + standard 1440p is gonna be a sweet spot.

If he's sticking to budget, go for 1070.
If can stretch or swap out the LED stuff then 1080 can be afforded with this edit
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rVGRCy
 

Have to remember that if you want "pretty" you're gonna sacrifice maybe 20-40% performance to look good.

I think 20-40% is a little much. And your link is the same as another one previously mentioned.

[Aereldor]

3 minutes ago, Andrew Sh said:

The gtx 1080 + 1440p ultrawide monitor will indeed offer a good gaming experience but I don't think it'll last long before settings have to bit by bit be turned down.

As I said previously, my 6970 could max out games in 2012 or so. Now it runs on Medium and was struggling to run the new COD and some other modern titles on low settings.

Yeah, but a 1080 should be able to handle 3440x1440 for a while. Consider that the GTX 480 can still play games at 1080p medium settings at around 45 FPS. The card came out seven years ago, back when 1080p wasn't the mainstream resolution; sort of how 1440p ultrawide isn't right now, but is making its way from top-end to enthusiast to consumer price ranges.

 

The GTX 1080 was designed to play games at 4k 60FPS near-maxed (not counting gimmicks like GameWorks etc.). 4k is about 8.3 million pixels. 1440p ultrawide is about 4.9. I daresay he should be good for a couple of years.

[Aereldor]

3 minutes ago, Andrew Sh said:

7700k will have about 10% fps advantage on cpu heavy games and is what, 4-5 generations newer at this point?

I'm not sure how much i7 vs i3-4160 (on your profile) but if he's spending $1700 on a new pc, advising him to buy a 3 year old CPU (low-mid range Server cpu) along with H class motherboard and all that seems a little stupid.

 

Three. That's a Skylake chip. Then there was Broadwell, Skylake, and Kabylake. You need to look this stuff up.

 

Don't pretend Intel offers revolutionary improvements in performance with each generation. A Core i7 2600 is still considered high-end, and that chip is six years old. more than twice as old as the 2.5-year-old Xeon E3 1231-v3. 

 

My own CPU has nothing to do with it (someone's knowledge is not limited by the hardware they can afford).

 

I'm just aware that a Xeon E3 1231-v3 (on par with a Core i7 4770) paired with a GTX 1080 will outperform a 7700k paired with a GTX 1070 in almost every situation. Watch Dogs 2 and GTA V at 1080p might be the only exception, as neither GPU will be stressed and the faster CPU will prevail. This will not be the case at, say, 3440x1440, or even 2560x1440.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

11 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

Yeah, but a 1080 should be able to handle 3440x1440 for a while. Consider that the GTX 480 can still play games at 1080p medium settings at around 45 FPS. The card came out seven years ago, back when 1080p wasn't the mainstream resolution; sort of how 1440p ultrawide isn't right now, but is making its way from top-end to enthusiast to consumer price ranges.

 

The GTX 1080 was designed to play games at 4k 60FPS near-maxed (not counting gimmicks like GameWorks etc.). 4k is about 8.3 million pixels. 1440p ultrawide is about 4.9. I daresay he should be good for a couple of years.

Will spare the 200 for a GTX 1080.

[Aereldor]

11 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Will spare the 200 for a GTX 1080.

But what resolution do you intend to play at? With a GTX 1080, 1080p is folly. So is 1440p 60FPS unless you plan to keep the same setup for half a decade. I'd recommend the 3440x1440 monitor. Furthermore, it's closer to the 2.39:1 aspect ratio of movies than 16:9, so while you will see black bars on the sides while watching YouTube videos, the experience when watching a movie will be near-seamless.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

10 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

But what resolution do you intend to play at? With a GTX 1080, 1080p is folly. So is 1440p 60FPS unless you plan to keep the same setup for half a decade. I'd recommend the 3440x1440 monitor. Furthermore, it's closer to the 2.39:1 aspect ratio of movies than 16:9, so while you will see black bars on the sides while watching YouTube videos, the experience when watching a movie will be near-seamless.

Half a decade sounds right.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

23 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

But what resolution do you intend to play at? With a GTX 1080, 1080p is folly. So is 1440p 60FPS unless you plan to keep the same setup for half a decade. I'd recommend the 3440x1440 monitor. Furthermore, it's closer to the 2.39:1 aspect ratio of movies than 16:9, so while you will see black bars on the sides while watching YouTube videos, the experience when watching a movie will be near-seamless.

I think two monitors would be best. A 1080p for most recording and streaming, and then an ultra wide for the better gamming experience when not recording. Plus two monitors for productivity. Could you suggest a budget ultra wide?