AdviceAdvice needed to choose parts and some general questions
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AdviceAdvice needed to choose parts and some general questionsPosted:

Lagicolado
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Hi!
I'm planning my first PC build and I would really appreciate some advice and comments about the choices I made so far or questions I have.
The idea is not to build a monster PC and is not meant for gaming (I kind of never play games), I'm mostly programming/multitasking/emulating but I do it a lot so I really want to build a PC that is optimal for my use (budget is on the order of 1000 - 1200 CHF ).
I plan on buying a i7-8700K for its great single thread performance and its 6 cores. That would mean I would have to buy a LGA1151v2-compatible MB right? What are the things I have to check for a good MB other than the number of PCI-E, the max frequency and the compatibility of others specs? Do you have some advices on which MB to pick? For the moment the diff in performance of the motherboards is kind of a mystery for me and there's a lot of them available ^^
Two things I don't understand regarding the CPU I plan on buying are:
Why is it that better in all benchmarks from the i7-8700? Isn't the only difference between the two the capability to overclock one and not the other? Because I don't plan on overclocking (not worth it for my use right?) so if it's just that they overclock in benchmarks I will just change to buy a i7-8700.
And I've read that the memory capability of this CPU is DDR4-2666 ( [Minimum post requirement for links] ) Does it mean that buying RAM with frequency >2700 would be pointless?
I have a friend that could give me a GTX-580 GPU, I realize it's old but it would greatly fit my needs since I don't need a huge graphic capability (and I don't program with GPUs yet), can it be compatible with the MB (and CPU?) I would be using?

Also, I've read contradictory posts concerning what is better between one or multiple SSD (if it makes a difference at all ^^). For example one for the OS (will be arch linux) / main programms and one for the rest (+ maybe one for windows in the future). Do any of you know if it makes a difference and in which case?

I realize I may overthink the thing ahahah (as always) but I like this stuff and don't want to screw up. I also fear that I underestimate the price regarding the PC I plan so far .

Thank you!
#2. Posted:
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If you're not overclocking, I wouldn't bother with a k SKU CPU, unless the price increase is very minor. If you go with an 8700k, get a Z370 motherboard- or Z390 if they're more reasonably priced than Z370 wherever you buy from. If you get an i7-8700(non k), just grab a B360 motherboard with 4 DIMM slots- unless you require any additional features that might require a more expensive motherboard of course.

You're not going to notice a difference in performance with a different motherboard, unless you buy an incompatible mobo in which case you'll have 0 performance lol. Alternatively, a low end and/or poor quality motherboard might not have VRM capable of handling a certain CPU. The i9-9900k for example, requires a really high end Z390 motherboard especially if you're not running stock clocks. If you're going to be running an i7-8700/8700k at stock clocks, pretty much any Z370/Z390 board should be fine. Gigabyte's Z390 AORUS mobo's all have good VRM's according to HardwareUnboxed though, so those might be worth a look. Asus' Z370-E and Z370-F Strix are good, but their Z390 boards are meh.

It might be worth considering a Ryzen 7 CPU with a B450 or X470 motherboard though, depending on price difference wherever you buy from.

For memory compatibility, that just means that running beyond 2666MHz is technically an OC. With a Z370/Z390 mobo, if you have like 3000MHz RAM, you should still be able to select 3000MHz XMP. With an i7-8700 and cheaper motherboard with a lower end chipset, you will be limited to 2666MHz. Though this might not really be an issue unless you know for a fact that whatever you're using the system for really benefits from faster RAM. If that were the case though, I'd think you'd be overclocking.

You could use a GTX 580, yes. I probably wouldn't if you go Intel though, I'd probably just stick with integrated graphics. I don't think the GTX 580 would benefit you much, if at all. Even something like a GTX 1050 is going to out-perform the GTX 580, so yeah I'm really not sure I'd bother with it, but if you want to use it you can- assuming you have a compatible PSU.

I'm not sure what you're asking about SSD? You can have as much or as little storage as you want/need. Of course, you could eventually run out of space in your case I suppose. I think what you're seeing are people recommending an SSD, and an HDD instead of just buying a large SSD? Which makes sense, you should have an SSD for your OS and whatever programs you're using a lot since it will significantly speed up the process. HDD's are good for mass storage. If you're doing lots of editing 4k video's or something that benefits from faster storage, then you'd maybe want to start looking at NVMe SSD's but if that's something that would benefit you, I'd think you would already know that.
#3. Posted:
Lagicolado
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Hi,
Thx for the response it really helped me targeting my research ^^

Actually I'm really considering going for the Z370 / 8700k over the 8700 so that I will be able to overclock and upgrade my build as needed or wanted in the future, but I'm struggling making a choice because I have trouble really realize how much the 8700 choice is powerful and how long it can last since I've never had a good PC yet. Can it make a difference for uses that is not some performance-needy gaming? Or will I never need to overclock my CPU / RAM to have a fluent use of my computer?
It's just that if I go for the 8700 / B360 choice for example, I feel that I will kind of be "stuck" with no room for improvement and I fear that.

What I meant for the SSD was to put them in RAID0 but I clearly don't need a setup like this with my use and the power of my PC. I think I'll go with a big SSD + HDD combination as you suggested.

I've seen a build ( [Minimum post requirement for links] ) that go with a fujistu MB (Fujitsu D3643-H) and I've never seen that in any of the videos or guide I looked so far, would you recommend it?

Thank you!
#4. Posted:
Lord_R
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I have an 8700k and love it, I have mine running at 5ghz @1.325

Every game runs amazing
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