Need barebones

AlexW484 · 25 Feb 2017 at 14:45

Hi all, my motherboard (currently running a Sandybridge I7 2600) appears to be on its way out so I'm looking for CPU/MB/RAM upgrade.

I'm looking at Kaby Lake i7 7700k and wanted to see any suggestions on Motherboard/RAM which would go nicely with it. I'm running a Gainward GLH 1080 GPU and want to ensure the other components do not bottleneck the card. I don't think it has been a big problem so far since Doom was running around 110fps on my 144hz monitor and Witcher 3 above 80fps.

cheers

AlexW484 · 26 Feb 2017 at 11:35

Looking at these:

Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail

Asus ROG Strix Z270H Gaming Intel Z270 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-32000C19 4000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Red (CMK16GX4M2B4000

Any thoughts if whether these will all play nice together or if there are better options?

Cheers.

lee32uk · 26 Feb 2017 at 15:10

Hi

That Ram is pretty expensive. A 3000MHz kit would do fine.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Red (CMK16GX4M2B3000= £128.99

Total: £137.69
(includes shipping: £8.70)

I would hang fire for a week though as Ryzen is due to release at the beginning of March. There should be some reviews out pretty soon.

Marcoloves360 · 27 Feb 2017 at 08:21

Get a z170 motherboard the z270 mobos are overpriced, you need to update bios but some of them you just need to plug an USB with the bios file.

AlexW484 · 27 Feb 2017 at 10:01

Thanks for your replies. Looking at this it seems that there could be a noteworthy difference even between 3600 & 4000 RAM, given that I have a GTX 1080 & 144hz screen which would make potential minor bottlenecks more likely to show themselves.

Also I was looking at possibly an M.2 to boot from and think this would be a good match:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...-3.0-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-hd-22g-sa.html

Also out of interest, why is this one so much more at apparently a slower speed?
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...3.0-x-4-nvme-solid-state-drive-hd-215-sa.html

gamesaregood · 28 Feb 2017 at 00:23

Have you considered AMD Ryzen?

lee32uk · 28 Feb 2017 at 17:06

AlexW484 said:
Thanks for your replies. Looking at this it seems that there could be a noteworthy difference even between 3600 & 4000 RAM, given that I have a GTX 1080 & 144hz screen which would make potential minor bottlenecks more likely to show themselves.

Also I was looking at possibly an M.2 to boot from and think this would be a good match:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...-3.0-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-hd-22g-sa.html

Also out of interest, why is this one so much more at apparently a slower speed?
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...3.0-x-4-nvme-solid-state-drive-hd-215-sa.html

That article suggests aiming for 3000MHz ram unless you can get a faster kit for not much more. If you can justify an extra £71 then that is your call

Regarding the SSD I have no idea why the 950 PRO is more expensive. You sometimes get weird pricing i.e Skylake cpu's costing more than KabyLake. The 960 EVO is definitely the better buy.