Upgrading My System. Need Feedback! PCPartPicker Links Included.

[gcoyle1992]

Good followers of LTT,
 I need your feedback!

I'm looking at upgrading my PC and I would like to "future-proof" as much as possible for now. I wasn't sure which platform to go with, X299 or Z370. I have two parts lists from PCPartPicker that I was hoping you guys could help me decide between. 

Currently I'm using the computer for gaming primarily. I play a lot of FPS games and pretty much anything created by Bethesda (judge me). I run tons of mods on the Fallout Series games and the Elder Scrolls games. I also run a few dedicated servers for smaller games like Garry's Mod, Minecraft, etc. I also work from my computer, but nothing like 3D rendering or anything like that. I basically just work in 2D CAD for small projects here and there. 

The X299 platform would be stretching my budget pretty thin, but I'm not quite sure if it would be worth it for what I use my PC for. Take a look at my Parts Lists and tell me what you think. Don't worry about cooling. I already have a full, custom loop cooling system using EK waterblocks and all I will have to do is purchase the correct waterblock for the CPU/Mobo. Also, I have plenty of storage drives beyond the M.2 on each list, so capacity won't be an issue either.

Thanks!

X299 List
Z370 List

And yes..... I'm going RGB... 

[gcoyle1992]

Before anyone asks, my current system is:

Intel i7-4700k
Gigabyte g1.Sniper 5 Motherboard
32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2133MHz
EVGA GeForce GTX 980
2x Samsung EVO 850 120GB SSDs in RAID0
Corsair 850W Modular PSU
A bunch of 2TB Storage drives.

[Eduard the weeb]

First Z370 next if your going rgb why not Aura, next wouldn't one 1080ti due better then two 1080's in most situations and also be cheaper.Not sure how your cooling that but no cooler is included. If your custom looping and do go with AURA 

 

here what I would do personally https://pcpartpicker.com/list/h3h7zM

 

( edit nevermind hardrive you already have one but I am to lazy to take it out of the List.)

[gcoyle1992]

Just now, Eduard the weeb said:

First Z370 next if your going rgb why not Aura, next wouldn't one 1080ti due better then two 1080's in most situations and also be cheaper.Not sure how your cooling that but no cooler is included. If your custom looping and do go with AURA 

 

here what I would do personally https://pcpartpicker.com/list/h3h7zM

I went with Gigabyte instead of Asus Aura because it seems to have the best compatibility with Corsair's RGB RAM and CableMod's RGB strips, though I know CableMods has an adapter to hookup to Aura.

For cooling, I was able to get some free GTX 1080 waterblocks from a raffle. So yes, a single 1080ti would probably be cheaper, but if I have to also pay for the waterblock which is about $160 US it seems a toss up. Also, this gives me the option to just get the single 1080 for now, then add a second later. Not sure if that's the most economical way though.

 

[Streetguru]

12 minutes ago, gcoyle1992 said:

 

What resolution/refresh rate are you gaming at? Also what monitor?

SLI is never worth it.

[gcoyle1992]

Just now, Streetguru said:

What resolution/refresh rate are you gaming at?

SLI is never worth it.

Currently have three monitors. I game on my main monitor which is a 4k 60Hz LED monitor. The other two monitors are 1080 at 144Hz I think.

[Eduard the weeb]

9 minutes ago, gcoyle1992 said:

I went with Gigabyte instead of Asus Aura because it seems to have the best compatibility with Corsair's RGB RAM and CableMod's RGB strips, though I know CableMods has an adapter to hookup to Aura.

For cooling, I was able to get some free GTX 1080 waterblocks from a raffle. So yes, a single 1080ti would probably be cheaper, but if I have to also pay for the waterblock which is about $160 US it seems a toss up. Also, this gives me the option to just get the single 1080 for now, then add a second later. Not sure if that's the most economical way though.

 

Oh okay were those water blocks only EVGA? because wouldn't AORUS sync motherboard with your gpu.

[Streetguru]

6 minutes ago, gcoyle1992 said:

Currently have three monitors. I game on my main monitor which is a 4k 60Hz LED monitor. The other two monitors are 1080 at 144Hz I think.

If you game at 4k 60hz mostly then here's just throwing out the performance per dollar option with an R7, are you ever going to need a lot of CPU cores?

You don't need an NVME M.2 for your usecase.

 

Get this 1080ti which comes with an EK water block installed,

GTX 1080 Ti SEA HAWK EK X

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137144

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=MSI-108TSE&c=fr&hash=60abM76fwvTKTqPXfseGWGfXXa4ICN0nTVXiUNVBgG%2BvGzOHjN34xjtRUqQmz8QCjPziC%2FLPEAIEaBZ%2FBMspjZOPPK%2Fc4peiVZE%2BHCF6%2BB12cQTjaBGLR%2F8&gclid=CjwKCAiAoqXQBRA8EiwAIIOWsofnin11F3PHfQDfzULyMkJ7hWxB-2RUVXTzxd1HqigHpWpFKReMMBoCP0gQAvD_BwE

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7hRVJV
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7hRVJV/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($284.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($189.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $1049.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-13 12:36 EST-0500

[gcoyle1992]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

If you game at 4k 60hz mostly then here's just throwing out the performance per dollar option with an R7, are you ever going to need a lot of CPU cores?

You don't need an NVME M.2 for your usecase.

 

Get this 1080ti which comes with an EK water block installed,

GTX 1080 Ti SEA HAWK EK X

Honestly, at first I won't need a ton of cores, but eventually I will expand into the realm of 24/7 dedicated gaming servers and I would like to get into more AutoCAD stuff. I would imagine, for those workloads, eventually I will start needing more cores to divvy up the loads. 

The M.2 was just because I have pretty much used up all of the drive bays in the lower cages and didn't want to ruin my pretty case by adding back those extra drive bays in the center of the case.

But considering both you, and the gentleman above you have suggested 1080ti's instead, maybe I should throw up the 1080 waterblocks i have on eBay and make some money off of them.

[gcoyle1992]

6 minutes ago, Eduard the weeb said:

Oh okay were those water blocks only EVGA? because wouldn't AORUS sync motherboard with your gpu.

I'm not sure if they're compatible with other 1080s. I'll have to do some quick looking around to see if I can find the model and get more specifics on them. I don't think the waterblocks have any LEDs included, honestly.

 

[Streetguru]

6 minutes ago, gcoyle1992 said:

Mainly you don't have SLI issues

But you could get a 16 core TR chip right now going by that $3k budget there, this Seasonic unit is probably the one to go for

The M.2 you had is NVME, it's faster than a Sata M.2, but at that point it's faster than fast, so it's not a big difference, namely not worth the extra $100
 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sYpKYr
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sYpKYr/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  ($959.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - X399 Taichi ATX TR4 Motherboard  ($343.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC2 HYBRID GAMING Video Card  ($799.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - PRIME Platinum 1200W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($236.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2815.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-13 12:48 EST-0500

Plus then you end up with a big fat waterblock if you care about aesthetics for some reason

 

[gcoyle1992]

24 minutes ago, Eduard the weeb said:

Oh okay were those water blocks only EVGA? because wouldn't AORUS sync motherboard with your gpu.

Here's what I have two of. I think they're mainly for the FTW version of EVGA's cards, but I'm sure I could probably sell em to recoup some money to put towards a block for a 1080ti.

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-fc1080-gtx-ftw2-acetal-nickel?___store=default

Edited November 13, 2017 by gcoyle1992

[Eduard the weeb]

15 minutes ago, gcoyle1992 said:

I'm not sure if they're compatible with other 1080s. I'll have to do some quick looking around to see if I can find the model and get more specifics on them. I don't think the waterblocks have any LEDs included, honestly.

 

Oh yeah most don't I think only Strix EC blocks do