New Gaming PC

[Jack Moloney]

I want a new PC as my current set-up is about 5 years old now. I am not too concerned about budget, happy to go to about £2,000. I primarily play WoW but also like to play current games at highest possible quality and I also want to continue streaming games while I play.

I configured the below and would appreciate any comments/improvements. If I can get some for similar quality that's cheaper happy to swap out as I don't necessarily want to reach £2,000, that's just top-end.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-7500 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z270P-D3: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
32GB HyperX PREDATOR DDR4 3200MHz X.M.P (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
FREE FOR HONOR or GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS with select GTX 10 Series GPUs!
1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
4TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD4004FZWX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS 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
ASUS Xonar DSX - Bring Hi-Fi spirit to your Music, Movie & Games
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1750 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 450Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Thanks all.

 

[Oussebon]

You can do a lot better for the money.

WoW seems to benefit greatly from strong single threaded CPU performance so in real terms this mean an overclocked system.

There's no point to more than 16gb RAM for gaming, you won't even need all 16gb.

The WD Black drives carry a massive premium over regular HDDs and the extra performance will have no effect on FPS. Also are you sure you need 4tb? 3tb is quite a lot to be getting on with.


Unless you have fairly high end audio gear you may not get much benefit from a sound card. The onboard sound is quite decent. It may be worth ordering without the sound card and auditioning the onboard sound. if you don't like it you can buy a USB DAC which is probably a better bet anyway.

The Z270E has onboard wifi with mimo. So you might be able to get away without a separate wifi card. Though with the spec below you still have the budget for one.

You can get the PM961 SSD which is faster than the sata III 850 Evo for the same money.

e.g.


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 1070 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
FREE FOR HONOR or GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS with select GTX 10 Series GPUs!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1600MB/W)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS 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 2 to 4 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,853.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-overclocked/N4NP5qqAn3/

 

[Jack Moloney]

Thanks for the reply. I thought I could do a lot more for my money!

Fair enough about the ram, thought that might be overkill! Wasn't massively sure about the difference in HD's so thanks for the advice there. With regards to the space I wasn't taking the SSD into consideration so 3TB should be plenty.

I did mean to take out the sound & wireless card as I have heard the same regarding audio and I have a wired connection at home.

I only other question I have is about the case, wasn't a huge fan of it initially but it is growing on me. Are there any other cases you would recommend that I could have a look at? Not sure how much difference it makes apart from actually being able to fit all the components and having a not terrible airflow?

 

[Oussebon]

The Define S and Define R5 are good cases. My only whinge about them is that PCS apparently install the water coolers on the roof which means taking off the sound dampening panels that otherwise live there, which kind of ruins the point of the Fractal cases. It's not a terrible thing to do, it just seems (in my opinion) like a bit of a shame to buy a case with sound dampening material and features only to then open the roof up and let the sound out. You could go with the Noctua cooler, which should be more than enough to tame WoW gaming temps with a 7700k and a Fractal case. It's £50 cheaper as well.

The Carbide air 540 is an excellent case for cooling performance, and the better airflow may help you get better boost clocks out of your GTX 1070 - although a custom fan profile for the GPU would likely do the same or better anyway.

The NZXT Noctis 450 is good apparently, as is the CM690 III.

So those are a few options to get you started I guess.