Mid-High End Gaming PC Spec

[JVassie]

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE MAKER 5t GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700k (4.2GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z270X-Ultra Gaming: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
FREE Rainbow Six Siege with select SAMSUNG SSDs!
2nd Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
M.2 SSD Drive
128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 700MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
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
LED Lighting
2x 50cm Red LED Strip
Extra Case Fans
Thermaltake Riing RGB LED Fan Kit (3 Fans + Software)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)

Price £2,196.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-pc/fN8XRzvgmf/

This is the spec I've put together above, looking for any feedback from the amazing community here please.

My budget is around the £2200 mark. Intended uses are high end gaming, for example half a dozen EVE Online clients, plus some photoshop work. Also play World of Warcraft, World of Tanks and RIFT. Would like to be able to play all of them at the highest possible settings with high FPS (60+).

Have a few questions please:

1. As none of the games I play are hugely graphically intensive, I presume I don't need the 1080 Ti, and the standard 1080 would suffice?
2. As this CPU isn't overclocked, will the Noctua cooler be sufficient?
3. My current rig (from PCS) had Dual 670s in SLI, how much of an increase in graphics quality can I expect roughly?
4. I've heard that the WD Black HDDs aren't worth the extra spend over the 'regular' SATA ones listed, is this true?
5. Currently I game in 1080p, but would like to move up to 1440p relatively soon, any issues I'd have with the above spec?
6. I don't currently have anything special in terms of fans (think it's just two extra black standard ones), any known issues with the RGB kit, specifically in this case?
7. Would it be straight forward enough to move an existing 2TB WD Black HDD from current PC into the new one?

Please let me know if any further information would help in commenting on the planned spec above.

 

[Oussebon]

1 + 5 - The 1080 (non-ti) is very good for 1440p gaming. If you think you'll stick to 1080p however, a GTX 1070 would be generously more than enough.
2 - The Noctua cooler is sufficient even for overclocked systems. Since WoW and MMOs are your main focus, I'd strongly suggest getting it pre-overclocked by PCS. WoW in particular really likes CPU frequency. You could happily stick to the Noctua with a pre-OCed build
3 - GTX 670 SLI is, on a good day, similar to a GTX 970 in performance. A GTX 1080 does better at 1440p than a 970 does at 1080p. So I'd expect higher and more consistent framerates even when gaming with almost twice as many pixels and higher settings.
7 - Yes. Obviously if you have any programs installed on that HDD they may well not work on the new system. But files etc should be fine.

As for 6, the case and RGB fan kit are insanely expensive. Have you considered the Corsair 460X which has very good thermal performance, comes with RGB fans built in, uses tempered glass, and is a lot cheaper?

1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
FREE Rainbow Six Siege with select SAMSUNG SSDs!
...
M.2 SSD Drive
128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 700MB/W)

Why this? If it's to have Windows on one SSD and games on another, I'd suggest just getting a 960 Evo 500gb as it's faster than either and there aren't any real merits to separating out the OS and games.

Especially because that mobo has only 1 M.2 slot, so your small SM961 would use the only spot.

 

[JVassie]

Thanks for the reply Oussebon.

My current monitor setup is a pair of 24" ACER ET.UG5HE.019 - overall I've been very happy with them, but I would love to have extra screen real estate, particularly in the type of games I play, it is very handy.

#2 - I will stick with the Noctua cooler, currently using a H60 liquid cooler, but don't really feel like it is doing all that great a job, and seems to be quite loud. Will swap to a Pre O/C system too with the same CPU/Mobo.

#3 - I look forward to the performance increase then!

#6 - I had picked that case originally, but after looking at several reviews, I got the impression that the 460X wasn't quite as good as the Maker 5t. Additionally, it means I wouldn't be able to have a CD/DVD drive, not the end of the world, just something I'll need to consider. If I dropped the RGB fans as a consideration entirely, would you still reccomend the 460X over the Maker 5t?

#7 - Yes, that was exactly the reason. I was drawn to the M.2 SSDs for their insane read speeds, and figured having the PC boot up that much faster would be fantastic, however if there is no merit in seperating the OS and the games out, then yes, having just one larger M.2 would make more sense.

New questions following on from the above please;

#8 - Without having the extra case fans, will either the Maker 5t or 460X have any cooling issues, even swapping to a Pre O/C setup? Do the extra case fans add to the noise lovels considerably?

#9 - Any suggestions for good value 1440p monitors please?

#10 - Will RGB LED strips 'match' the colour being displayed in the front RGB fans?

---

With the above taken into account, new spec would look like this:

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 460X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z270X-Ultra Gaming: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SAMSUNG 960 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2100MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
None
Power Supply
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
LED Lighting
2x 50cm RGB LED Strip
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)

Price £2,091.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-overclocked/GAy7e53R39/

 

[Oussebon]

8 - The basic fans they come with are fine. Both Corsair (and Coolermaster) are well known for their cooling solutions and fans, and at the ~£100+ level you can start getting pretty decent fans included with the cases.

With the Corsair I'd suggest buying 1 extra fan as it doesn't come with a rear extractor fan included. Although it still does very well in reviews without that:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/chassis/100171-cooler-master-mastercase-maker-5t/?page=3


9- What budget are you looking at? There are some very nice 1440p high refresh rate gsync monitors out there.

10 - Depends. You can control the LED strips via mobo software like Asus Aura or Gigabyte Fusion depending on the mobo https://www.gigabyte.com/mb/rgb/ but that probably won't work with the 460X case fans, or the Riing, which have their own separate controllers for the RGB. So you'd need to set up the RGB lighting independently, though could presumably set them up to complement each other

Corsair do sell a Lighting Node Pro, which comes with 4 RGB LED kits, that I believe will let you control the 460X's fans RGB LEDs and the RGB LED strips (the ones it comes with at least) from one place. It's about £50 including the strips.