AdviceFirst PC build and just looking for any advice.
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AdviceFirst PC build and just looking for any advice.Posted:

Bowcox
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Hi guys,

My budget is around the £1400 mark (of course I'd like it to be much cheaper) and looking for a pc for gaming and software development. I've tried my best to look around online for knowledge on all the parts but so conflicted on a lot of things. Below is the build I have at the moment:

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What shall I look for in motherboards and is there much of a difference between a £100 and £200 motherboard? Will the one I've chosen suffice?

I'm looking to keep this pc for a long time so I want the stuff to be relevant alongside. Would the stuff I'm looking to get be relevant for a while or be outdated fairly soon. For example, I've had my laptop for 8 years after upgrading a little half way through. Obviously I don't expect it to last that long and will upgrade every now and then to help.

I'd like to utilise the 144Hz monitor I'm going to purchase as much as I can, in terms of a video card that's most suitable, what's a better option (if they are good options) 1070ti or 1660 ti? I've currently got the 1070ti in the build.

Thanks, I appreciate any help
#2. Posted:
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So, what exactly are you using the system for? What games, and what programs/applications?

What is the 32GB RAM for? It's ridiculously over-priced, even for 32GB RAM so definitely don't buy that kit.

Don't buy a 1070Ti either. RTX 2060 is newer, and better for a lower price. 1660Ti trades blows with the 1070Ti for the most part, but the 1660Ti has architectural improvements and is far cheaper, so the 1660Ti is definitely a better option than the 1070Ti now IMO.
I'd be ignoring 1080p monitors with this kind of budget as well.

Yes, there is definitely going to be a difference between a £100 and £200 Z390 motherboard. The low end Z390 boards are kinda trash. Gigabyte's AORUS Z390 motherboards are all good, other than the BIOS being kind of a pain, but MSI's BIOS is just as bad IMO. The Z390 AORUS Elite and Z390 AORUS PRO are about 170 quid, either of which would be my choice for a Z390 motherboard, though I'd probably be considering Ryzen instead of Intel, especially since you want to save money. Depends what programs/applications you'll be using for software development though.

If you're sticking with Intel;
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£353.99 @ Newegg UK)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£64.33 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£166.70 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£169.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£61.75 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.39 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING OC PRO Video Card (£354.95 @ More Computers)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.95 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.98 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Acer - ED242QR Abidpx 23.6" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor (£129.98)
Total: £1483.00

Managed to save a bit of cash, but no way it's going under £1400 with 32GB RAM, and an i7 unless you switch the RTX 2060 for a 1660Ti, in which case you'd be right around £1400. I swapped the 860 EVO for a Crucial MX500, both will perform nigh on identically and both have 5 year warranties AFAIK, so the 860 EVO really isn't worth the extra 30 quid over the MX500.

Or Ryzen instead;
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (£139.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£64.33 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard (£89.98 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£169.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£61.75 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.39 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING OC PRO Video Card (£354.95 @ More Computers)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.95 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.98 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Acer - ED242QR Abidpx 23.6" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor (£129.98)
Total: £1192.28

You'd maybe want an R7, again it depends on what programs/applications you're using and whether or not you'd utilise the extra cores/threads with R7. I left the same cooler in here, but honestly you could drop it the Cryorig H7 if you wanted. I'd stick with the Dark Rock Pro 4 if you go with the 8700k though. All the money you save with Ryzen could go towards a much nicer monitor;
amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LC27JG50QQUX...B07FB3JLLS

So even with an R7 CPU, the better monitor, and an RTX 2060, you'd be spending less money than an 8700k with a 1660Ti.
#3. Posted:
Bowcox
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I enjoy playing a wide range of games, I've been playing a lot of GTA V, Overwatch and Rocket League on PS4 recently and been holding off on open world games whilst saving up for the PC. I just want to be able to play any games I want, smoothly and without compromising on the graphics. Hopefully the graphics card remains relevant for as long as possible, maybe for games that will come out within the next 3-4 years. My PS4 is currently struggling big time with Final Fantasy XV, GTA etc and it's hard to play and enjoy them. Software development I use a fair few programs but nothing crazy right now, learning C#, Python and Java before a uni course next year and just don't want any limitations.

I've looked around the internet and tried to gain advice from as many sources as possible and most people say that getting 2x16Gb get's the most out of the 8700k, I don't know whether that's legit but I know almost nothing when it comes to computer parts. Trying to get into Game development as much as possible too so I suppose the RAM helps a little. I've recently seen that with intel the speed doesn't matter as much so I'll definitely take that option though, that's a crazy saving on the RAM.

I'll have a look into both the GPUs and mobos now, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions in far more detail than other people have. No one ever really tried explaining either of the Graphics card or motherboard, they just decided to chuck me new builds. I'm thinking about getting the 2060 but just wondering, will the 6Gb be a problem in the future compared to the 8Gb offered by the 1070 ti? If I were to pay out for a 1440p monitor too, would the 1070 ti be a better option?

Once again, I appreciate all the help, I tried my best. I love that you gave both options and actually helped explain them. Thanks
#4. Posted:
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GPU is going to be the first thing you'll want to upgrade for better gaming performance most likely, even if you were to go with an RTX 2080. I'd be more inclined to go with a 'lesser' CPU and RTX 2080, rather than an i7 you may not utilise, and being stuck with a far lower end GPU.

If you're sticking with 1080p 144Hz, then the i7 could be beneficial in some games, but not with an RTX 2060, so it's kind of irrelevant really at that point. The R5 2600 allows you to get a better GPU, which will be more noticeable and is going to be more than adequate for getting in to programming/software development. If you go with 1440p 144Hz, then the difference between CPUs in games will be less noticeable, as in the i7 is really only gonna be a benefit with an RTX 2080Ti.

No, you definitely don't need 32GB RAM to "get the most out of" an i7, or any CPU. You could use 4GB RAM if you wanted to. That would definitely limit you, because 4GB is barely enough RAM to even open Google Chrome at this point lol, but that doesn't mean you need 32GB RAM. I'd probably go with 16GB for now, since it's easy enough to add more RAM in the future. That said, RAM IS a lot cheaper than it was this time last year, so if you know for a fact you're going to utilise more than 16GB, go for the 32GB kit.

Ignore the 1070Ti. You're not going to get a new one for less than an RTX 2060, so it's irrelevant. The RTX 2060 is a (slightly) faster GPU, regardless of the VRAM. 6GB is perfectly adequate for 1440p, and the 2060 has GDDR6 as opposed to GDDR5 on the 1070Ti, which means the 2060's memory bandwidth is up on the 1070Ti. The 1070Ti is a great card, no doubt, just doesn't make sense over a 2060 unless you get the 1070Ti for less than £300, which you won't unless you buy used.
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