Gaming PC

JoyPad

1. What is your budget? €2,000
2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming, Video editing
3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No
4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No
5. Do you need a monitor? No, I bought an Acer Predator XB271HUA (1440p TN panel @ 144Hz, G-Sync)
6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No
7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes
8. How can you pay? Credit Card
9. When are you purchasing? This week
10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Dublin 15

TBH, I would prefer to purchase ready made, but PC Specialist have very long waiting time at the moment. If you could recommend an alternate store that can build, test and guarantee the PC, please let me know.


This is what I had in mind, if PCS were not too busy:
Case: FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
CPU: Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard: ASUS® ROG STRIX Z270H GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
RAM: 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
GPU: 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
HDD: 2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
SSD: 500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
PSU: CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling: Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste: ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Warranty: 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery: 2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days

Price €1,951.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-overclocked/MWtmwY6hcd/

Blazer

I'd get a better case with better airflow if you're going to be overclocking.
Corsair are excellent but pricey.
Drop the M2 SSD and get a sata one and put that extra money towards the chassis.

JoyPad

How about I keep the case, and switch the Noctua for an AIO liquid cooler?

Blazer

JoyPad wrote: »

How about I keep the case, and switch the Noctua for an AIO liquid cooler?

you could do that too...make sure that the case supports an AIO..avoid the corsair v80iv2..its too bloody wide as its two fans with the radiator in between..rather than 2 fans side by side.

2ndcoming

I have the H80i v2, works perfect for me. Like all rads you can have fans on both sides or one (push / pull / pushpull). There's nothing unique about that set up...

K.O.Kiki

How about Scan.co.uk?

3XS Performance, Overclocked Intel Core i7 7700K "Kaby Lake", 16GB DDR4, 8GB EVGA GTX 1080 SC, 250GB PCIe SSD, Win 10 - £1699

3XS Vengeance, Overclocked Intel Core i7 7700K "Kaby Lake", 16GB DDR4, 8GB EVGA GTX 1080 SC, 250GB PCIe SSD, Win 10 - £1799

3XS Gamer Ti, Intel Core i7 7700K "Kaby Lake", 16GB DDR4, 11GB EVGA GTX 1080 Ti, 250GB M.2 SSD, 1TB HDD, Win 10 - £1899 (uses a small air cooler instead of AIO rad)

Overclockers.co.uk too:
Midi-tower
Full tower
OcUK branded

JoyPad

This sounds great. Thanks for that.
I'll see if I can squeeze a 1080Ti in the build, though I would prefer a better motherboard and overclocking.

Redfox25

JoyPad wrote: »

This sounds great. Thanks for that.
I'll see if I can squeeze a 1080Ti in the build, though I would prefer a better motherboard and overclocking.

Get the Ti and keep the cheaper mobo. Overclocking is not as hard to do as it once was and the benefit of the overclock will be overshadowed by getting a better GPU, for gaming in any case.

Worst case, you can strip out the mobo in a year or two and put in a dearer one, you will lose less on the mobo than taking out the gpu and buying a Ti later.

JoyPad

I'm now heavily tempted to buy the parts, like so:
- an overclocked bundle (CPU, Cooler, Motherboard, RAM)
- GTX 1080ti
- case
- power supply
- storage SSD + HDD

£1908 shipped. AFAIK, this would take just two days with DPD, that's how long they took to deliver my monitor.

K.O.Kiki

Yeah that looks good.

ZeroThreat

Which 1080 card is in that spec? I don't see the make or model.

wotzgoingon

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Which 1080 card is in that spec? I don't see the make or model.

How do you mean I clicked the link and it brought me to scan.co.uk and it is this model: Palit NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB JetStream

JoyPad

I ordered almost exactly as above. I replaced the Define S with a Define R5, mostly because of the filters.
Cleaned my son's gaming PC just last week, and the Define S has the bottom filter at the back, had to remove most cables to get to it.
On the other hand, both filters for R5 are easily accessible through the front. A clear cut winner

They said they would ship tomorrow, should have it all in my hands early next week.

ZeroThreat

wotzgoingon wrote: »

How do you mean I clicked the link and it brought me to scan.co.uk and it is this model: Palit NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB JetStream

sorry, didn't read his 2nd post, was just looking at the first one.

JoyPad

My order arrived today, and I'm itching to start building. But I'm at work, so it has to wait until this evening.
Here's a quick question: Should I use one or two cables to power the GPU? The TX650M provides two PCIe cables, each with two 6+2 pin connectors, so, technically, I could run just one and use both connectors to power the GPU, or I could run two, and only use one connector on each cable.
The question might already be moot if I need the whole length of the cable for proper routing, but in case the length is fine, what do you guys think?

My plan is to remove all the cages from the front of the case and mount the radiator there, with the fans outside. They would work just behind the filter, so I don't think dust would be a problem for a push configuration. That would allow me to keep the top closed with all moduvents in place. I'll complete the push-pull with a couple of SP120s at the back of the radiator after I figure out which type I need, and how to connect them for power.

The SATA HDD will go into the small cage mounted right at the back of the power supply, on the case floor.

The GPU came with a Y-splitter cable, with an 8-pin male connector on one end and two 6-pin female connectors at the other end. No idea what this is for. Any clues? The manual included is about the software, no installation instructions are provided, not even a list of what's in the box.

K.O.Kiki

Read the manuals! :pac:

Your GPU will require two 6+2 PCI-e cables.

Xenoronin

The single cable should be fine. The idea is to use one cable per GPU from what I know. My own has a single cable with two heads... Technically it isn't a single cable, it's a bunch of separate wires in a braided cover. Either way, it's way neater to use one cable.

Some older PSUs didn't have 8pin PCI-E cables, just a few 6pins. The idea with the y-splitter is to combine two 6pin into one 8pin.

JoyPad

Xenoronin wrote: »

The single cable should be fine.

Will try that, length permitting.

Xenoronin wrote: »

Some older PSUs didn't have 8pin PCI-E cables, just a few 6pins. The idea with the y-splitter is to combine two 6pin into one 8pin.

But, why include just one of them, when the GPU requires two 8-pin connections? Or did they assume that there are PSUs that provide a single 8-pin and two 6-pin connectors? Mind boggling...

Manual is useless. If there's any information on the CD (labelled Driver & Utility), I can't read it right now, no CD unit around here.

Xenoronin

JoyPad wrote: »

But, why include just one of them, when the GPU requires two 8-pin connections? Or did they assume that there are PSUs that provide a single 8-pin and two 6-pin connectors? Mind boggling...

I think it is usually a case that if you need to use it, you probably don't have a good enough PSU, but maybe "just enough" people complain that it has become a standard thing to include.

JoyPad

Well, it's built.
Benchmarks are good: TimeSpy, FireStrike

What I'm not happy about is CPU temps. With cooler on performance (which is quite noisy), it goes up to 85C on the package (83-87C on cores).
It's true that I've only one case fan extracting at the back, and no room to install the second provided 140mm fan. The front is now covered with two intake fans feeding air through the AIO radiator. Boy, was that a bitch to mount!

Have two Ultra Quiet PWM SP120s and splitter cable ordered from Amazon, will add more traction on that radiator.

I've removed all the HDD cages and sat the SATA in the 5-inch rack with an old caddy. There was no way to put the cage on the floor, it would have impaired all the cabling to the motherboard, particularly the USB 3.0 cable that goes to the case front.

Cabling was easy, this case has loads of options. Photos when I see it in the daylight.

Grahamer666

If that's on idle then you have a problem.

Redfox25

Contact Scan, there is no way that should be hitting 85C with that sized cooler. It could be down to poor contact between the cooler and the top of the CPU or the pump not starting up in the cooler.

In either case, get on the phone/email to them and see what they suggest. Somethings not right there and while those temps wont fry your CPU, it will downclock to save itself if needs be, but you need that sorted or your pc will be like a sauna at times.

K.O.Kiki

Is the CPU core voltage at stock (1.100V)?

JoyPad

On idle, it hovers around 40C. Those were max temps recorded during TimeSpy/FireStrike tests, as reported by HWMonitor.

The CPU/cooler/motherboard/RAM came as a package, I just put them inside the case.
The CPU is overclocked by Scan, all I know is that it can go up to 4.8GHz. I don't know other information right now, I'm at work, can't say voltages, etc. But I can check when I get home.

JoyPad

By the way, the overclocked bundle came with this sheet of paper. Can anyone tell what temperature they measured with the CPU under load?

Mickeroo

Looks like 77 to me.

JoyPad

So, they got 39 / 77 with the radiator on the table, while I'm getting 39-40 / 85 with the rad inside the case. I'm not saying 8 degrees is nothing, but measuring tools probably differ anyway.

Apart from the two SP120s that I will tack on the rad, is there anything else I should do to improve air flow? I would prefer not to remove the moduvents at the top of the case, so it's either adding an intake fan on the bottom, I think I could fit a 120mm there, or the side panel moduvent, which can take a 140mm.

Robertr

What cooler came with the bundle? The description has on the link has a Corsair H100i V2 but down below it has a be quiet! Dark Rock 3???

Any pictures?

JoyPad

The description is wrong. The bundle contains what you see in the title: i7 7700K, ASUS Z270F motherboard, the H100i V2 cooler with stock fans (I think they are the PWM SP120s, quite loud at full speed), and 16GB of RAM.

I should receive the extra fans today from Amazon via PM, and will post a temperature graph during some tests. So far, I've only used HwMonitor and looked at the max temps. Today, I will download this OCCT tool, to capture a graph of the temperature, see if it stays above, or simply spikes above 85C.

2ndcoming

I've got an i5-7600k @ 4.5 with a H80i v2 rad and it does 30 idle / 55 load. This is in a case not renowned for airflow also (Corsair 100R Silent) with only one exhaust fan.

Considering your rad is twice the size and you've two SP-120s to my one something definitely seems wrong... Maybe re-apply thermal paste?

Do a proper custom fan curve in the bios rather than those performance / silent presets. You can have the best of both worlds by having the fans running light at low temps and picking up as it rises.

TerrorFirmer

The i7-7700K is a really hot processor, it's pretty notorious and not unusual for it to go to 90-95c under heavy benchmarking conditions. 85c is not fatal though it is high.

Especially for that particular setup with dual fans on the radiator. Might be just badly installed or else some air trapped in the setup somewhere.

wotzgoingon

2ndcoming wrote: »

I've got an i5-7600k @ 4.5 with a H80i v2 rad and it does 30 idle / 55 load. This is in a case not renowned for airflow also (Corsair 100R Silent) with only one exhaust fan.

Considering your rad is twice the size and you've two SP-120s to my one something definitely seems wrong... Maybe re-apply thermal paste?

Do a proper custom fan curve in the bios rather than those performance / silent presets. You can have the best of both worlds by having the fans running light at low temps and picking up as it rises.

He didn't overclock himself or install the cooler

wotzgoingon

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The i7-7700K is a really hot processor, it's pretty notorious and not unusual for it to go to 90-95c under heavy benchmarking conditions. 85c is not fatal though it is high.

Especially for that particular setup with dual fans on the radiator. Might be just badly installed or else some air trapped in the setup somewhere.

I vaguely remember reading that before but didn't want to say anything in case I was talking sh*t.

game4it70

As TP said they are very hot running cpus and ideally you need to delid it the reduce temps.

Also Scan probably using their default settings to OC to 4.8ghz.According to the page you got the vcore is set to 1.3v.Thats high imo and I'd say there is a good chance you could lower it and still be stable unless its a bad OC'ing chip.
Scan would have been testing on an open bench so the temps would be lower than if in a case.

TerrorFirmer

I didn't realise it was overclocked. I don't think there's anything 'wrong' with an i7-7700K @ 4.8Ghz 1.35v reaching 85c at all.

If you go into bios and reset everything to default you will likely see an immediate drop in idle/max temps.

JoyPad

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I didn't realise it was overclocked. I don't think there's anything 'wrong' with an i7-7700K @ 4.8Ghz 1.35v reaching 85c at all.

If you go into bios and reset everything to default you will likely see an immediate drop in idle/max temps.

The bundle came overclocked. Here are some of the terms that was passed on:

It is advised that you do not enter the BIOS and change any settings other than boot order and on-board device settings, as altering our pre-configured BIOS settings could invalidate the warranty. We have taken notes of the BIOS version and overclock settings. If you need to change any settings for any reason this must be confirmed by Scan first. Please do not alter any of the onboard switches such as EPU or TPU, as this will adjust your overclocked settings. If this is accidentally done, please put the switch back to the original position before powering the bundle on. Take care not to remove the CMOS battery or remove any of the on-board jumpers, as this may completely clear your settings. If for some reason your settings do get wiped, then please consult the motherboard manual on how to reload saved BIOS profiles.

If I cannot bring the temperatures within safe limits, I will work with them to get the overclock lowered or removed.

Today I should receive two extra SP120s, a PWM splitter and an extension from Amazon. Scan suggested that I test and measure with a tool called AIDA64. I will run this once before changing anything, then install the fans and test again. I'll come back with numbers.

game4it70

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I didn't realise it was overclocked. I don't think there's anything 'wrong' with an i7-7700K @ 4.8Ghz 1.35v reaching 85c at all.

If you go into bios and reset everything to default you will likely see an immediate drop in idle/max temps.

Yeah thats pretty normal temps for the overclock unless its delidded.

If you change anything in the bios make sure you save the settings first before doing so.There should be an option to save the profile in case its not already there.

JoyPad

The fans are not here yet.
I've tried that AIDA64 thing, but looks severely limited to me, at least the free trial. OCCT looks like a much better tool, worthy of a PayPal donation.

Here's what I see: the temperature is actually within normal limits, with the occasional spikes into madness.

JoyPad

But this can also happen: test was cancelled because the temperature went too high!

TerrorFirmer

As before it's simply overclocked too high with too much voltage. The temps are not unusual or indicative that anything is wrong. Even at stock speeds the 7700K runs way, way hotter than the previous CPU, the 6700K despite not being much faster.

Resetting bios settings will absolutely not invalidate any warranty. The 7700K runs at 4.2Ghz at default and boosts to 4.6 so you're really loosing very little and should claw back a lot in temperature.

JoyPad

So, the additional fans arrived, and I added them to my setup. I removed the cooler, installed the stock fans on the inside, and mounted the cooler on the new fans. So, four SP120s now on the H100i V2, at the front of the case, pushing cool air through the radiator inside the case.

According to the Corsair Link software, the rad temp is 30C, even when the CPU is throttling. And, yes, I have had confirmation of throttling from the AIDA64 test, which I left on for an hour. Based on this information, I'm now certain that there's not a lot of air flow improvements I can do, the CPU will still get hot under load. Like TerrorFirmer said, too much voltage.

I spoke to Scan and asked about running at stock settings. They told me how to restore the profiles, I have the Stock and the OC saved.
Now, with Stock settings, I was able to complete the tests with no issues.

There are still some spikes, but the test wasn't stopped like in the OC tests.
The benchmarks, as expected, have lower scores. TimeSpy score down from 8783 to 8731, FireStrike down from 21648 to 21061.