Help with gaming pc

[Remix83]

Okay so I'm looking to get a gaming pc for my first time and I'm stuck between whether I get one pre-built with the parts I want or buy the same parts separately and make it myself. The website I'm using is ironside. They have all the parts that I want and they come with a warranty and they build it. But my question is it even worth paying the little extra it. And my final question is this a good pc setup for like playing Rust, csgo and other games along the line. I am only a week new to all this and still learning so any help is much appreciated whether I should change a part or do this or that.
Part list

Case
NZXT S340 Elite Black [Tempered Glass]

Processor
Intel Core I7-7700K 4.2GHz (Quad Core)

CPU Cooling
Phanteks Black

Thermal Compound
Standard Thermal Compound

Motherboard
ASUS ROG MAXIMUS IX HERO [SLI] [Crossfire] [RGB]

Memory
G.Skill Trident Z 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000Mhz [RGB]

M.2 Storage
SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVMe 250GB

Primary Hard Drive
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD

Secondary Hard Drive
1TB

Graphics Card
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC GAMING ACX 3.0 8GB

 

[LordVaderMTFBWU]

A) You should build it yourself. Its pretty easy and straightforward, lots of videos available on Youtube. You will learn a great deal if you do it yourself. Roughly speaking, you put your CPU in the motherboard, mount the CPU cooler, install RAM, put the motherboard in the case, Install PSU in case, connect all power connectors, connect front panel case connectors to motherboard, install case fans and storage, pop in the graphics card, close the case, attach keyboard mouse, controller and boom install windows.

B) I would change the CPU from 7700k to either a coffee lake CPU or a Ryzen 5 CPU (1600 is my favorite from price to perfomance ratio standpoint). If you want to go this route, let me know and I will suggest the other components to go with it.

 

[Remix83]

A) You should build it yourself. Its pretty easy and straightforward, lots of videos available on Youtube. You will learn a great deal if you do it yourself. Roughly speaking, you put your CPU in the motherboard, mount the CPU cooler, install RAM, put the motherboard in the case, Install PSU in case, connect all power connectors, connect front panel case connectors to motherboard, install case fans and storage, pop in the graphics card, close the case, attach keyboard mouse, controller and boom install windows.

B) I would change the CPU from 7700k to either a coffee lake CPU or a Ryzen 5 CPU (1600 is my favorite from price to perfomance ratio standpoint). If you want to go this route, let me know and I will suggest the other components to go with it.

Are they both called coffee lake and ryzen 5? And if I get one of them will I have to change any other part out? And last question which cpu cooler would you recommend I want a nice 100 dollar one but a good one. Thanks

 

[Ancalagon44]

I personally wish I had paid someone else to assemble mine, because if I had, it would have saved me a LOT of bother. In the process of building it I damaged the motherboard. Accidents like that are rare, but the thing is, it isn't that expensive to have them build it for you. If you can afford to buy a 7700K, you can afford to pay someone to build it.

It is fun to build it, I won't lie, but also stressful and time consuming. And you run the risk of damaging your components.

No Coffee Lake and Ryzen 5 are different CPUs

KabyLake - Previous generation Intel CPU. 7700K is a Kaby Lake - it is old.
Coffee Lake - newest generation Intel CPU. 8700k and 8600K are Coffee Lakes. Brand new, difficult to get hold of.
Ryzen 5 - AMD's latest CPU. There are Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3. Ryzen 5 has two models - 1600 and 1600X. So, the full CPU name is Ryzen 5 1600.

 

[Remix83]

Will my setup run a coffee lake? If im able to get one. And what cpu cooler would you recommend. Thanks

 

[Remix83]

I personally wish I had paid someone else to assemble mine, because if I had, it would have saved me a LOT of bother. In the process of building it I damaged the motherboard. Accidents like that are rare, but the thing is, it isn't that expensive to have them build it for you. If you can afford to buy a 7700K, you can afford to pay someone to build it.

It is fun to build it, I won't lie, but also stressful and time consuming. And you run the risk of damaging your components.

No Coffee Lake and Ryzen 5 are different CPUs

KabyLake - Previous generation Intel CPU. 7700K is a Kaby Lake - it is old.
Coffee Lake - newest generation Intel CPU. 8700k and 8600K are Coffee Lakes. Brand new, difficult to get hold of.
Ryzen 5 - AMD's latest CPU. There are Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3. Ryzen 5 has two models - 1600 and 1600X. So, the full CPU name is Ryzen 5 1600.

I don't know if my last text notify you since I didn't click on reply to your message.

 

[Tweak155]

Will my setup run a coffee lake? If im able to get one. And what cpu cooler would you recommend. Thanks

You will need a different motherboard. Z270 will not support 8th gen, Z370 will.

My personal suggestion either way here is to not invest in NVMe, the speed gains are not that noticeable from the 850 evo you have selected. Either get a second 850 evo or a larger 850 evo if you need the space.

Also I recommend building it yourself. With such a solid hardware selection that you have made, likely you'll only need to change out select parts for the next 5 years to keep it relevant. Building it now would enable you to have the skills to keep it up to date down the road if you plan on sticking with it!

 

[Remix83]

You will need a different motherboard. Z270 will not support 8th gen, Z370 will.

My personal suggestion either way here is to not invest in NVMe, the speed gains are not that noticeable from the 850 evo you have selected. Either get a second 850 evo or a larger 850 evo if you need the space.

Also I recommend building it yourself. With such a solid hardware selection that you have made, likely you'll only need to change out select parts for the next 5 years to keep it relevant. Building it now would enable you to have the skills to keep it up to date down the road if you plan on sticking with it!

How much of a difference would I notice if u go with the coffee lake and z370? And if I don't go with that path will I still be able to play games on 1080 with good fps

 

[Tweak155]

How much of a difference would I notice if u go with the coffee lake and z370? And if I don't go with that path will I still be able to play games on 1080 with good fps

I think for CS:GO and Rust (the games you listed in the OP), this rig is complete overkill, especially at 1080p (unless you meant GTX1080? either way you should be set even at 4K). You could drop back to a 7600K and still be completely fine.

Future games will utilize more cores more effectively, but if your core games are FPS like the ones you have listed, I doubt you'll notice any tangible difference for a long time to come if you get a solid quad core like the 7600K. Take that savings and invest it when the gains are more tangible.

 

[Remix83]

I think for CS:GO and Rust (the games you listed in the OP), this rig is complete overkill, especially at 1080p (unless you meant GTX1080? either way you should be set even at 4K). You could drop back to a 7600K and still be completely fine.

Future games will utilize more cores more effectively, but if your core games are FPS like the ones you have listed, I doubt you'll notice any tangible difference for a long time to come if you get a solid quad core like the 7600K. Take that savings and invest it when the gains are more tangible.

Alright thank you helps a lot just needs to find a cpu cooler. And determine how much fans I need and if I need any

 

[Fallen Kell]

CPU cooler really depends more on the specific case width and how quiet of a system you are attempting to build. You are going to have some issues with certain coolers due to the case selection (161mm limit for the CPU is tight for some of the larger quieter heatsinks). I personally prefer using a Noctua, something like a NH-D14 (just discontinued, but still available) would just barely fit in your case (160mm depending on fan placement). The more expensive NH-D15S would fit as well (again, just fit at 160mm). The NH-D15 is too big at 165mm (you need to check CPU socket compatibility if you use a discontinued heatsink).

A slightly smaller cooler is the Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B, (only 155mm in height) or Scythe SCFM-1000 Fuma (approx 150mm height, depending on fan positioning). These won't cool as well as the NH-D14/D15 would, but that really only matters if you are doing overclocking.

These will all cool well, and we are talking maybe 1-4 degrees of difference overclocked, at which point we are in the difference between how well you installed the heatsink and the thermal compound that you used. Again, the selection really comes down to the case. Personally I prefer the Fractal Design R5 case, as it supports cooler up to 180mm in height (but does not have the same top/front I/O connectivity ports that the S340).

 

[Remix83]

CPU cooler really depends more on the specific case width and how quiet of a system you are attempting to build. You are going to have some issues with certain coolers due to the case selection (161mm limit for the CPU is tight for some of the larger quieter heatsinks). I personally prefer using a Noctua, something like a NH-D14 (just discontinued, but still available) would just barely fit in your case (160mm depending on fan placement). The more expensive NH-D15S would fit as well (again, just fit at 160mm). The NH-D15 is too big at 165mm.

A slightly smaller cooler is the Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B, (only 155mm in height) or Scythe SCFM-1000 Fuma (approx 150mm height, depending on fan positioning). These won't cool as well as the NH-D14/D15 would, but that really only matters if you are doing overclocking.

These will all cool well, and we are talking maybe 1-4 degrees of difference overclocked, at which point we are in the difference between how well you installed the heatsink and the thermal compound that you used. Again, the selection really comes down to the case. Personally I prefer the Fractal Design R5 case, as it supports cooler up to 180mm in height (but does not have the same top/front I/O connectivity ports that the S340)

Alright I'll definitely take a look out for those items. I'm not for sure on the case I just chose it for something to have. If you have any more recommendations let me know thanks

 

[Stg-Flame]

What monitor have you chosen? There's little reason to build a gaming rig like this and attach it to an old 1080 monitor. Your current setup is more suited for a 4K monitor.

 

[Remix83]

What monitor have you chosen? There's little reason to build a gaming rig like this and attach it to an old 1080 monitor. Your current setup is more suited for a 4K monitor.

I haven't decided a monitor yet and I'm first trying to get the pc

 

[LordVaderMTFBWU]

The biggest advantage of going with Coffee lake or AMD Ryzen is that you can change the CPU in the future without necessarily changing the motherboard and RAM. Kaby Lake CPUs ( one of which you have selected) was launched in March this year and Intel has already abandoned the platform in the sense that the new Coffee Lake platform (launched on 5th October, yes only 6 months later, go figure) does not support the *old* kaby Lake CPUs in the new Coffee Lake Motherboard and vice versa. So, you see people who bought Kaby lake just 6 months ago are already looking at a dead upgrade path. You really dont want to walk down that path. Although your CPU choice is solid as far as performance goes, and you will not likely change it in the future but who knows man. What if you want to change it?

Anyways, all this information is not supposed to confuse you. I am just letting you know all this because A) You are new to all this and B) you should know this to make an informed decision.

If you go the AMD Ryzen route you wont even have to worry about buying a separate cooler. It easily over-clocks to close to its potential on stock cooler. Let me suggest you these parts and you can check the prices locally and see if it makes any sense. Again, from performance perspective your build is solid and I am here no way to endorse AMD or Intel, just want you to make informed decision before plonking money in your rig and when its built, you should have fun with it.

Intel usually performs better on the same clock speed due to its superior IPC. Also, intel CPUs overclock to 5GHz, which means even more performance. However, with your GPU you are unlikely to see any difference at FHD and above resolutions at 60 - 75 FPS. I suggest the AMD build below if your monitor refresh rate is within 60-75 Hz. If you are planning to buy a high refresh rate monitor, you will have to squeeze every ounce of performance from your rig and in that case you should go the Intel i7 way.

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (6 cores, 12 threads, 3.2 GHz, 3.6 GHz boost) . People have OC'd this CPU to around 3.8 on all cores using the stock cooler
Motherboard - Asus ROG Strix B350-f (Has RGB headers, compatible with your RAM, good VRMs, 6 SATA Ports, 1 M.2 drive support, standard stuff)
PSU - I dont see it in your list, but buy around 520 - 650 Watts from a reputed brand such as Seasonic, Corsair CX plus, etc. I am giving you a link to the PSU tier list by Toms and it explains very nicely what PSUs to buy and what to avoid. Check the availability locally and do not go below tier 2.

Rest of the components from your build. This build doesn't need thermal paste and CPU cooler separately, so you can remove those from the list.

 

[Remix83]

The biggest advantage of going with Coffee lake or AMD Ryzen is that you can change the CPU in the future without necessarily changing the motherboard and RAM. Kaby Lake CPUs ( one of which you have selected) was launched in March this year and Intel has already abandoned the platform in the sense that the new Coffee Lake platform (launched on 5th October, yes only 6 months later, go figure) does not support the *old* kaby Lake CPUs in the new Coffee Lake Motherboard and vice versa. So, you see people who bought Kaby lake just 6 months ago are already looking at a dead upgrade path. You really dont want to walk down that path. Although your CPU choice is solid as far as performance goes, and you will not likely change it in the future but who knows man. What if you want to change it?

Anyways, all this information is not supposed to confuse you. I am just letting you know all this because A) You are new to all this and B) you should know this to make an informed decision.

If you go the AMD Ryzen route you wont even have to worry about buying a separate cooler. It easily over-clocks to close to its potential on stock cooler. Let me suggest you these parts and you can check the prices locally and see if it makes any sense. Again, from performance perspective your build is solid and I am here no way to endorse AMD or Intel, just want you to make informed decision before plonking money in your rig and when its built, you should have fun with it.

Intel usually performs better on the same clock speed due to its superior IPC. Also, intel CPUs overclock to 5GHz, which means even more performance. However, with your GPU you are unlikely to see any difference at FHD and above resolutions at 60 - 75 FPS. I suggest the AMD build below if your monitor refresh rate is within 60-75 Hz. If you are planning to buy a high refresh rate monitor, you will have to squeeze every ounce of performance from your rig and in that case you should go the Intel i7 way.

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (6 cores, 12 threads, 3.2 GHz, 3.6 GHz boost) . People have OC'd this CPU to around 3.8 on all cores using the stock cooler
Motherboard - Asus ROG Strix B350-f (Has RGB headers, compatible with your RAM, good VRMs, 6 SATA Ports, 1 M.2 drive support, standard stuff)
PSU - I dont see it in your list, but buy around 520 - 650 Watts from a reputed brand such as Seasonic, Corsair CX plus, etc. I am giving you a link to the PSU tier list by Toms and it explains very nicely what PSUs to buy and what to avoid. Check the availability locally and do not go below tier 2.

Rest of the components from your build. This build doesn't need thermal paste and CPU cooler separately, so you can remove those from the list.

I doubt I'm going to go with amd as it just doesn't appeal to me as Intel does. But If I do I'll check those out. And if I go with a i7-8700k what z370 motherboard would be good. I been looking at the Asus maximus x hero but i have heard there will be other of its series to come out. How long should I wait to find out which one will be the best and have the least amount of problems at start. I don't need to buy as soon as possible so I can wait until it's a good time to chose which motherboard to go with. Thanks for the help.

 

[DigDog]

i will say what everyone else here has said, that you should build it yourself, annd that a 7700k for CSGO is massive overkill.

first off, you need to be a real moron to damage anything in your build - no offense to Ancalong. it can happen, but maybe you pay Ironside and they go bust the next day, it could happen.
Building a PC these days is so easy, a monkey could do it. If that monkey can read instructions. Let's just say it's reeeeally easy. "stick the thing in the only hole you can stick that particular thing in".

I would rather buy a 8700K than a 7700k, since, well, the 8700k is new and the price is basically the same. This may vary depending on where you are based and any deals available. Now, all this based on :

I ASSUME YOU WANT TO OVERCLOCK.

there is no need to buy a K-series CPU and a Z-series motherboard if you are not going to overclock your processor; and if you play CSGO, you don't need to overclock your processor.

Once upon a time, people used to overclock because it was the only way to get that extra bit of juice that people DESPERATELY NEEDED, because computers were garbage.

Today, with the new 8700 auto-boosting to 4.6Ghz, you really don't need to do any extra overclocking yourself because you already have enough CPU power to play games while editing a video. We old people didn't have enough CPU power to keep 3 Explorer pages open, so you can see that the difference is substantial.

You can, if you want, buy all the sweg stuff that makes you have a large ePenis. But, you can also be eSmart and save a bunch of moneys and yet have a great PC that does everything you want without complaining.

As Ironside is in the US, i assume you also are in the US. Here is a list of "good" stuff that will run AAA titles at high resolution on a 1080p monitor, and will give you ridiculous framerates on CSGO.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BnpT2R
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BnpT2R/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($145.10 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($264.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design - Define C ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $988.72

To be built via USB. As always, i suggest W7 over W10 because reasons.

 

[Remix83]

i will say what everyone else here has said, that you should build it yourself, annd that a 7700k for CSGO is massive overkill.

first off, you need to be a real moron to damage anything in your build - no offense to Ancalong. it can happen, but maybe you pay Ironside and they go bust the next day, it could happen.
Building a PC these days is so easy, a monkey could do it. If that monkey can read instructions. Let's just say it's reeeeally easy. "stick the thing in the only hole you can stick that particular thing in".

I would rather buy a 8700K than a 7700k, since, well, the 8700k is new and the price is basically the same. This may vary depending on where you are based and any deals available. Now, all this based on :

I ASSUME YOU WANT TO OVERCLOCK.

there is no need to buy a K-series CPU and a Z-series motherboard if you are not going to overclock your processor; and if you play CSGO, you don't need to overclock your processor.

Once upon a time, people used to overclock because it was the only way to get that extra bit of juice that people DESPERATELY NEEDED, because computers were garbage.

Today, with the new 8700 auto-boosting to 4.6Ghz, you really don't need to do any extra overclocking yourself because you already have enough CPU power to play games while editing a video. We old people didn't have enough CPU power to keep 3 Explorer pages open, so you can see that the difference is substantial.

You can, if you want, buy all the sweg stuff that makes you have a large ePenis. But, you can also be eSmart and save a bunch of moneys and yet have a great PC that does everything you want without complaining.

As Ironside is in the US, i assume you also are in the US. Here is a list of "good" stuff that will run AAA titles at high resolution on a 1080p monitor, and will give you ridiculous framerates on CSGO.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BnpT2R
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BnpT2R/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($145.10 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($264.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design - Define C ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $988.72

To be built via USB. As always, i suggest W7 over W10 because reasons.

I'm looking to play rust and games like that more then csgo. And I'm most likely going to get a i7-7700K if it's on sale for a good price due to the new one will be dropping out and holiday sale. But you are correct most likely overkill but I am new to all this here. And i know I could go cheap and get a good pc still but I prefer nicer quality just how I am and I want to be able to not need to get better parts later on

 

[Ancalagon44]

I'm looking to play rust and games like that more then csgo. And I'm most likely going to get a i7-7700K if it's on sale for a good price due to the new one will be dropping out and holiday sale. But you are correct most likely overkill but I am new to all this here. And i know I could go cheap and get a good pc still but I prefer nicer quality just how I am and I want to be able to not need to get better parts later on

Then buy a Z370 motherboard and a Core i5 8400 or 8600K.

A 7700K is a quality CPU, but old. An 8600K will outperform it anyway. There is really no point in buying a 7700K now that Coffee lake is available. Just buy a Coffee lake Core i5 rather than a Kaby Lake Core i7.

 

[Remix83]

Then buy a Z370 motherboard and a Core i5 8400 or 8600K.

A 7700K is a quality CPU, but old. An 8600K will outperform it anyway. There is really no point in buying a 7700K now that Coffee lake is available. Just buy a Coffee lake Core i5 rather than a Kaby Lake Core i7.

Could you send me a link to which motherboard and core you would recommend, and does any one know of ram size 32mm as I want to get a Noctua nh-d15

 

[Aikouka]

Could you send me a link to which motherboard and core you would recommend, and does any one know of ram size 32mm as I want to get a Noctua nh-d15

The RAM size doesn't matter much as you can just shift the fan upward if you need to. I had to move the fan up on mine a little bit after swapping RAM due to the G.Skill RAM being slightly taller than the Corsair RAM that I was using.

 

[Remix83]

Alright that helps alot I'm pretty sure I have found my dream setup doubt I'll change anything. Thanks

 

[BudAshes]

I just went to upgrade my PC and now 16GB of DDR4 costs as much as the CPU. That's basically double the price it was a year or so ago.

 

[Stg-Flame]

RAM goes cheap in the summer. Even on Black Friday/Cyber Monday they hike the prices a few weeks prior, then give you a small discount during the sale, so you're still spending a lot more than you should.

Just wait until next spring and you should see the same stick(s) of RAM for a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

[BudAshes]

RAM goes cheap in the summer. Even on Black Friday/Cyber Monday they hike the prices a few weeks prior, then give you a small discount during the sale, so you're still spending a lot more than you should.

Just wait until next spring and you should see the same stick(s) of RAM for a hell of a lot cheaper.

Yeah well I need it now so oh well guess I pay the surcharge. Just crazy to have had it double in price like that.