Thoughts and a little help with new gaming pc build

Domy

Member
Sep 25, 2002
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I'm looking from some of your thoughts on my new pc build. It will be used for gaming only. I will be overclocking. I have a budget of 2K, but would like to keep under that as much as I can. I put together a list of parts. Please let me know if any of this is overkill. I want the best bang for the buck. I will be getting a 1440p monitor and I already have a power supply. I want to build this system now, not wait for new CPU's to come out. Nothing on my list is written in stone, if it makes sense to change it, I will.
https://pcpartpicker.com/mr/amazon/gRvZxr
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kxXrCy
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
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Dec 11, 1999
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Hm. Overkill is relative. Is it worth $127 to you to have a game load in, say, half a second instead of two seconds? If not, skip the M.2 SSD.

The motherboard and water cooling feel like they might be overkill too, but I'm not that familiar with high-end overclocking. On the other hand, you could spend some of that money ensuring you start with a good CPU.

Finally, don't pay the FEe. Skip the Founders Edition 1080 and get something with more fans. Again, I'm not very familiar with super-high-end overclocks, but a lot of people have liked EVGA, except for a recent overheating issue, which I think was fixed.
 

whm1974

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2016
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Speaking of storage, you may want to get 1 TB SSD instead of the 250GB M.2 and 500GB SATA you selected. Modern games do take up a heavy amount space these days.
 

Domy

Member
Sep 25, 2002
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My main goal is to overclock, which is the reason I went with higher end parts. I just wasn't sure if what I picked was a little to much. I know sometimes going with higher end parts for the price isn't worth the minimal gain you might see with a lesser part at a better price. I was going to use the 250GB M.2 for the OS only and the 500GB SSD for games, but I have no problem going with a 1TB SSD only. Thank You both for your input.
 

DaveSimmons

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Aug 12, 2001
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I like having a small SSD (128 - 256) for the boot drive and then a big 1 TB+ one for Steam and Origin installs. It simplifies backing up the OS and also means paging and OS writes are on their own port, controller, cache separate from the game's reads and writes.

If building this week I'd lean toward 2 x SATA SSDs instead of an M.2 boot just because of the storage forum has had a few threads on M.2 issues. SATA is a little slower (probably not noticeable outside of benchmarks) but it "just works."
 
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whm1974

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2016
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I like having a small SSD (128 - 256) for the boot drive and then a big 1 TB+ one for Steam and Origin installs. It simplifies backing up the OS and also means paging and OS writes are on their own port, controller, cache separate from the game's reads and writes.

If building this week I'd lean toward 2 x SATA SSDs instead of an M.2 boot just because of the storage forum has had a few threads on M.2 issues. SATA is a little slower (probably not noticeable outside of benchmarks) but it "just works."
I have my games on their own 1TB SSD so I don't have to my files and games fighting for space. This does keep things simple by quite a bit.
 

Domy

Member
Sep 25, 2002
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Going with two SSD's sounds good. Probably goo with a 256 for boot drive and 1TB for everything else.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
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Sep 28, 2005
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downgrade the motherboard...

i would rather run a Gigabyte Z270-UD5 (not the gaming or K series because i hear the sound blaster is fubarded)
or a ASrock z270 TAICHI.

Gigabyte UD5:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...m_re=gigabyte_z270_ud5-_-13-128-970-_-Product

Taichi:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157754&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker, LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

My first pick would most likely be the Taichi...

U definitely want a 960 EVO for your main boot drive / OS drive, and a 1TB for steam/origin would be pretty good.

I would also cave in and extend my budget even if it kills me to get a 1080 ti and not a normal 1080. There is quite a big difference between the 1080ti 12GB vs a 1080 GTX 8GB which will make u rant why u didnt spend the extra 200 dollars.
 
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John Connor

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Nov 30, 2012
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I think you're paying way too much for the motherboard. I just bought the MOBO in my sig and its perfectly overrclockable. I'm buying a new vid card latter on though.

You can OC on air. I have read the difference between water cooling and air is negligible. Like a few degrees difference. I just use the popular Cooler Master Evo 212. If you do use that you have to make sure the case has enough room. The cooler is pretty tall. It fit into my case with about a quarter of an inch to spare. If I can remember right, when I run FSX and it's using turbo at 3.9 GHz, the temps are around 36c according to Core Temp. I have yet to OC.

A lot of people get a smaller SSD for the OS and games they want to load fast and use a 1 TB or more platter. But if you can afford a 1 TB SSD go for it. I would also get a 1 TB platter and clone the main rig every so often. I just had a 6 year old Adata SSD go kaput and I wasn't able to recover any files. I learned my lesson and do full HDD clones.
 
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