4k Gaming Build

[AmazingScottyBrothers]

Hello guys,

my brother and I are planning to build a new computer, which mainly needs to serve as a workhorse (I'm a teacher) with Ubuntu, but I also want to play modern AAA titles in 4k (and the ones to come for some years) on Windows. So I guess nearly any build would do with the first requirement, but not so many with the second one (esp. since I also need to buy a 4k monitor later on). We live in Germany, so my limit is 1500€ (1650 US $). We are only occasionally into building a PC (every few years or so), which means that we do need some advice to see if we forgot to consider something or if there is a better alternative within the same price range.  So this is what we thought of:

 

• case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV micro-ATX - white
• mainboard: ASRock Z270M Extreme4
• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
• CPU cooler: Corsair Hydro H90
• graphics card: Inno3D GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3200Mhz
• power supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 80Plus Platinum 850Watts
• fan: be quiet! Silent Wings 3 PWM 140mm 15db

With this build the price is currently at 1550€, so already over the limit ;-)

 

Storage will stay on my two current SSDs for now:  

• Ubuntu for working: Samsung MZ-75E500B/EU EVO 850 interne SSD 500GB (6,4 cm (2,5 Zoll), SATA III) 
• Windows 10 for gaming: Crucial CT250BX100SSD1 interne SSD 250 GB (6,4 cm (2,5 Zoll) 7mm, SATA III)  for

 

Any help or suggestions will be highly appreciated! Thank you very much!

The AmazingScottyBrothers

[FloRolf]

what is your workload as a teacher? Are there any special programms or something? Or just office applications?

Because of real 4k AAA gaming i'd get the 1080ti and definitley not founders edition.

 

Also:

Dont get the H90

PSU is overkill

[AmazingScottyBrothers]

2 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

what is your workload as a teacher? Are there any special programms or something? Or just office applications?

Hi, it's just office and browsing the web for the teacher part ;-)

The 1080ti unfortunately is a budget overkill

[FloRolf]

Just now, AmazingScottyBrothers said:

Hi, it's just office and browsing the web for the teacher part ;-)

oh okay. 

I'm not sure. If your budget is mainly maxed out by this then maybe an i5 but GTX1080ti would be the better choice. Higher resolutions tend to not be bottlenecked by "slower" CPUs. Or maybe a Ryzen?

[Guest]

The Ryzen 5 1600 and 1080Ti combo would be better for 4K. 1600 is better than 7700K in multithreaded workloads, gaming performance of your processor doesn't matter as much in higher resolutions. Also get a B350 mobo, cooler is included.

[Zando_]

Just now, FTL said:

The Ryzen 5 1600 and 1080Ti combo would be better for 4K. 1600 is better than 7700K in multithreaded workloads, gaming performance of your processor doesn't matter as much in higher resolutions. Also get a B350 mobo, cooler is included.

This^^^ AMD is killing Intel in the low price - high performance range. A Ryzen will be a lot more bang for your buck, especially if you do a decent OC. 

[The Sloth]

5 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

oh okay. 

I'm not sure. If your budget is mainly maxed out by this then maybe an i5 but GTX1080ti would be the better choice. Higher resolutions tend to not be bottlenecked by "slower" CPUs. Or maybe a Ryzen?

 

I5 is not worth it anymore especially with the 1600 around. 

[grimreeper132]

5 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

This^^^ AMD is killing Intel in the low price - high performance range. A Ryzen will be a lot more bang for your buck, especially if you do a decent OC. 

aye it's great isn't it, intel has to hit back soon, as AMD is owning most of the custom PC market at the moment with their CPUs, as there is very few cases when a intel CPU should be used, excluding low end i3 and pentium builds

[AmazingScottyBrothers]

okay, this is surprising to me so:

 

for the processor rather AMD Ryzen 5 1600x Prozessor (300€) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Prozessor (220€)? Are the 80€ really worth it?

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

aye it's great isn't it, intel has to hit back soon, as AMD is owning most of the custom PC market at the moment with their CPUs, as there is very few cases when a intel CPU should be used, excluding low end i3 and pentium builds

Yeah. I think Intel has got the gaming enthusiast top class with the 7700K (Though Ryzen is catching it up) and it rules the low end market with the new Pentiums. AMD has got a good hold on the middle the market. It's better for everyone, as the competition will force Intel to make better, cheaper CPUs, and then AMD will hit back, etc. It's better for consumers all round. 

[grimreeper132]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

Yeah. I think Intel has got the gaming enthusiast top class with the 7700K (Though Ryzen is catching it up) and it rules the low end market with the new Pentiums. AMD has got a good hold on the middle the market. It's better for everyone, as the competition will force Intel to make better, cheaper CPUs, and then AMD will hit back, etc. It's better for consumers all round. 

oh yea, I anit complaining, and I ssorta disagree with the 7700K, yes, it is better, but only marginally and I recon most people will get AMD just encase they do do something else with it as well

[Zando_]

Just now, AmazingScottyBrothers said:

okay, this is surprising to me so:

 

for the processor rather AMD Ryzen 5 1600x Prozessor (300€) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Prozessor (220€)? Are the 80€ really worth it?

1600. You can OC it to meet the 1600X. 

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, grimreeper132 said:

oh yea, I anit complaining, and I ssorta disagree with the 7700K, yes, it is better, but only marginally and I recon most people will get AMD just encase they do do something else with it as well

Yeah. The 7700K is mainly for perfectionists who want the ultimate fps, and don't care about multitasking and stuff (Though I'd still be torn between the two if I had the $$$). 

[NinJake]

Definitely go for the AMD.

[AmazingScottyBrothers]

25 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

Dont get the H90

PSU is overkill

What else do you suggest?

[grimreeper132]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Yeah. The 7700K is mainly for perfectionists who want the ultimate fps, and don't care about multitasking and stuff (Though I'd still be torn between the two if I had the $$$). 

same

 

6 minutes ago, AmazingScottyBrothers said:

okay, this is surprising to me so:

 

for the processor rather AMD Ryzen 5 1600x Prozessor (300€) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Prozessor (220€)? Are the 80€ really worth it?

there is no reason to get an X processor, in any case, excluding the 1500X because it has more cache, you can overclock the rest to be just as good as the others, at that core count level

[DocSwag]

Not sure why no one made a list yet, so...

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  (€222.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (€59.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€92.99 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill - Flare X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (€121.76 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP Edition Video Card  (€739.82 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (€82.84 @ Mindfactory) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€72.40 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1392.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-05 18:45 CEST+0200

 

Make sure to OC the RAM as high as you can.

[AmazingScottyBrothers]

Thx DocSwag. Is the PSU  really enough for my build with 620W?

 

The case isn't working for me, since I cannot have buttons on top (cats walking on it and suddenly shutting it off) and I have a baby (so a hidden power button would be nice).

[FloRolf]

24 minutes ago, AmazingScottyBrothers said:

Thx DocSwag. Is the PSU  really enough for my build with 620W?

 

The case isn't working for me, since I cannot have buttons on top (cats walking on it and suddenly shutting it off) and I have a baby (so a hidden power button would be nice).

Yeah the PSU is plenty. It's not like the 1080ti is 20x more powerfull than a GTX580 because it uses 20x the electricity ^^

 

I'd go for @DocSwags build and just take a different Case.

[AmazingScottyBrothers]

Why did @DocSwag change the RAM?

 

As for the CPU Cooler I'd rather have water cooling, esp. since you say I should OC (overclock). Or is that overkill too?

[FloRolf]

2 minutes ago, AmazingScottyBrothers said:

Why did @DocSwag change the RAM?

 

As for the CPU Cooler I'd rather have water cooling, esp. since you say I should OC (overclock). Or is that overkill too?

I haven't checked but probably because his ram is on AMDs support list. I wouldn't go with random ram for AMD since they have overclocking issues.

 

And i'd totally advice against AiOs. I had a H100 and H100i GTX and i don't like either of them. My Alpenföhn Brocken is quieter and obviously more reliable.

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 hour ago, AmazingScottyBrothers said:

Hi, it's just office and browsing the web for the teacher part ;-)

The 1080ti unfortunately is a budget overkill

This seems to fit the bill: 1080 Ti + i7 for under 1500 Euro.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  (€311.39 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: Asus - H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (€58.50 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: Crucial - 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  (€120.55 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: KFA2 - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founders Edition Video Card  (€726.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo EVOLV MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (€137.72 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€72.40 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1427.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-05 19:32 CEST+0200

 

Or for a little more you can upgrade to the 7700 and DDR4-2400 memory instead

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor  (€318.93 @ Mindfactory) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-B250M-D2V Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (€71.69 @ Mindfactory) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory  (€122.40 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: KFA2 - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founders Edition Video Card  (€726.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo EVOLV MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (€137.72 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€72.40 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1450.13
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-05 19:33 CEST+0200

[SteveGrabowski0]

Spending money on a Z270 board plus unlocked cpu plus cooler is a waste of money when you're trying to game at 4k and will be heavily gpu bound. A 1080 will play many games at reduced settings at 4k, but a 1080 Ti should play almost everything at high settings at 4k and will absolutely last you longer than the 1080.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Actually, I'd switch up the GTX 1080 Ti I recommended with the one in @DocSwag's build, since that Zotac card is open air. You'd still be plenty under budget with my build and that 1080 Ti. The R5 1600 he recommended is an awesome processor, but on that kind of budget I wouldn't go any less than i7 when it's for gaming and you're not doing anything on it that benefits from those two extra physical cores on the R5 1600.

[DocSwag]

7 minutes ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Actually, I'd switch up the GTX 1080 Ti I recommended with the one in @DocSwag's build, since that Zotac card is open air. You'd still be plenty under budget with my build and that 1080 Ti. The R5 1600 he recommended is an awesome processor, but on that kind of budget I wouldn't go any less than i7 when it's for gaming and you're not doing anything on it that benefits from those two extra physical cores on the R5 1600.

The debate is mainly upgrade path vs better performance (with 1600 on the former and i7 on the latter).

 

Note though that with a 1080 ti at 4k you won't notice a difference, you'd have to wait for a GPU upgrade before you will notice a difference.