New computer, help?

[alxrocks]

Hello guys,

I find myself here, again. Recently my GPU has decided to go boom, so I've decided I'll give this computer to my partner and treat myself!

So, I'm looking to spend around the £1500-£2000 mark, want to ideally have this computer handle games well for the next five years or so. Also as PCS use PaLit cards, how do these compare to let's say ASUS / MSI, as I'm probably looking to get a 1080?

Thanks guys,
Alex

 

[Oussebon]

PCS use Palit, but also Zotac and I think I've seen someone mention a Galax one used one time.

Also as PCS use PaLit cards, how do these compare to let's say ASUS / MSI, as I'm probably looking to get a 1080?

Pretty well all things considered: http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/93494-evga-geforce-gtx-1080-ftw/?page=10 You can see the kind of difference between a GTX 1080 founders edition (i.e. reference card) and one of the top 1080 models (GTX 1080 FTW). I.e. there isn't much of a difference in performance. If you're buying the card to game on rather than tinker with and aren't worried about multiple VBIOSes and 10 power phases etc then the price premium of some of the most expensive models is questionable value.

One thing to note is that the exact model of GPU from PCS isn't guaranteed. It could have a twin fan solution that spins down on idle, it might have a blower cooler that doesn't. So you might hear the GPU's fan even when the card isn't under load. I gather that the noise isn't particularly intrusive, though if you were building a system also designed to be very quiet (fractal case, noctua cooler, semi-passive PSU, etc) you might notice it a bit more. That said, you might prefer a blower cooler if there's a chance you'll go SLI down the road for 4k gaming.

In terms of quality control, I doubt one's all that much more likely to snuff it than the next.

TL-DR is that there's not a huge difference, but if there's a model you really want or a feature you can't live without (or you just want a given aesthetic) you can always buy the PC without the GPU and install your own.

As for the overall build, there are cheaper ways to go but if you wanted to pull out all the stops then something like this would squeeze into the top end of your budget:


Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ AIR 540 GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX PREDATOR DDR4 3200MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i V2 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,007.00 including VAT and delivery.

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

 

[chrhil]

Nice build, I would probably push to the gold warranty though!

 

[alxrocks]

Thank you for your response. Is there anything you guys know that will be coming out in the very near future that would be better to wait out for?

-Alexander

 

[Oussebon]

There are new things on the horizon. AMD is expected to release Zen (Ryzen), a new series of CPUs, within the next few months. Unlike their current family these are expected to actually be competitive against Intel's top offerings, possibly a shade slower but somewhat cheaper.

There is also Vega, AMD's long anticipated next series of high end GPUs, which is expected in the first half of this year (though not very soon in the first half..) And a while after that Nvidia will release Volta. And there are rumours that Nvidia will release a GTX 1080 ti in March, although there were rumours that was coming in January as well and it didn't.

I'm not overly convinced any of that is worth holding out for if you're in a position where you need a new PC / new GPU. If you didn't need a PC at all then maybe.

 

[Rakk]

I'm not overly convinced any of that is worth holding out for if you're in a position where you need a new PC / new GPU. If you didn't need a PC at all then maybe.

Especially since there is always new stuff on the horizon somewhere, only time its worth waiting is if said release is close and definitely much better, cos otherwise you'll never get your PC