Help Needed | £1800 Gaming Build

[STK6001]

Hello folks,

I was hoping for some advice on what would be my first custom gaming PC build, if anyone would be so kind? I've had a look at other threads (honest) but none really speak to me.. you know?

I have a budget of around £1800-1900 (no need for monitor/keyboard etc.). I was thinking either Intel's Core i7-7700K or AMD's Ryzen 7 1800X (though I definitely need advice on which to get). I might also need advice on which motherboard would go best with this..

I also want a GTX 1080, i'm not really looking at the 1080Ti unless any of you can find a way of including it in that budget without having to scrimp on other areas

I have a 4k Monitor and just want a PC that will gobble up any current game at decent FPS and be as future proof as £1800 will make it..

Can it be done?

Appreciate your help, kind souls

 

[stulid]

OF course it can be done.

Did you want a particular colour scheme for example?

Ryzen I would suggest as you can get some 8 core/16thread beast compared to the 7700K 4core/8thread. Yes they are slower than a 7700K (but its hardly slacking) but only at lower resolutions and hopefully games (and some already have) will be patched to improve multicore performance and in theory newer titles/future titles should work well and I reckon the Ryzen might outlast the 7700K.

Example with a GTX1080,

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 Eight Core 1700X 3.80GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £349.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming K5 AMD X370 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £174.95
• 1 x Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TDGED416G300= £119.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £248.99
• 1 x Toshiba P300 2TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache High Performance Hard Drive (HDWD120UZSVA)= £68.99
• 1 x XFX XTR Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply= £99.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 D5X WindForce 3x 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N1080D5X-8GD)= £518.99
• 1 x Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Glass Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal= £129.95
• 1 x Corsair H100 RGB Extreme Performance Liquid Cooler OEM **OcUK Exclusive**= £90.95

Total: £1,818.05
(includes shipping: £15.30)



​

You can add a 2nd card in SLI with this board+PSU.


Or with a 1080ti (with a 1700 rather than 1700X, smaller m.2+hdd)

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming K5 AMD X370 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £174.95
• 1 x Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TDGED416G300= £119.99
• 1 x XFX XTR Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply= £99.95
• 1 x Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Glass Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal= £129.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080Ti Turbo OC 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £698.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £128.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 Eight Core 1700 3.70GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £299.99
• 1 x Corsair H100 RGB Extreme Performance Liquid Cooler OEM **OcUK Exclusive**= £90.95
• 1 x Toshiba P300 1TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache High Performance Hard Drive (HDWD110UZSVA)= £45.95

Total: £1,805.01
(includes shipping: £15.30)



​

 

[STK6001]

Pal, what a reply! Appreciate all your help so far

I trust your judgement but I'm clueless, could I ask a couple of questions?

1. Would there be no reason to go for the Ryzen 1800X over the 1700X?
2. Liquid cooling seems magical but a little daunting, am I going to be able to fit this without drowning my computer? Would air cooling not do the trick?

 

[stulid]

1) the 1800X is just a faster clock speed, no other changes like core count or cache etc, you can overclock the 1700X to match the speed of the 1800X for example.

2) the AIO cooler is sealed and thus no leaks should occur (unless its faulty somehow which is rare, Ive had a number of different ones and can only think of one that had an issue and that was before I even fitted it), air cooling would also work as long as a AM4 mounting bracket is supplied/obtainment.

 

[STK6001]

Right, great, thanks

I stress over choosing between the i7-7700K and the 1700/1800X as I know the i7 does give (slightly) better fps in the majority of games, I know the Ryzen bosses a lot of other areas, but i'm guessing I'm never going to notice the difference in frames at this level, and as you say the Ryzen might one day out perform the i7 in future games if they start making use of the extra cores?

 

[stulid]

Thats it and its not like the Ryzen is making poor frame rates, its just that the 7700K is quicker but thats like saying what is faster: A LaFerrari or a P1, both damn rapid.

 

[STK6001]

Perfect, thanks a lot

I like the first build you suggested, would you say that was the best 1080 to get? I don't know if there's much difference between them

And lastly (maybe), any slight upgrades you would suggest for that if the budget was £1900?

 

[Andythe Random]

This is very similar budget to what I am looking at, I am still tring to decide between Ryzen and i7, I think you have the Ryzen option covered with the above.
This is my i7 build option, though these parts were selected to be quiet, so if the noise level is less important to you it could be tweaked accordingly.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GA-Z270-Gaming K3 Intel Z270 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £131.99
• 1 x Super Flower Golden Silent 500W Fanless "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black= £139.99
• 1 x Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM= £319.99
• 1 x be quiet! Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler = £59.99
  • AM4 Bracket:Unwanted
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - White (CMK16GX4M2B30= £128.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 GameRock 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 10 32/64-Bit - USB Pen Drive - Retail (KW9-00017)= £89.95
• 1 x Asus PCE-AC51 Wireless-AC750 Dual-band PCI-E Adapter= £29.99
• 1 x be quiet! Silent Base 600 Midi Tower Case - Orange= £99.95
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £248.99
• 1 x Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM006)= £69.95

Total: £1,833.87
(includes shipping: £14.10)

 

[stulid]

Perfect, thanks a lot

I like the first build you suggested, would you say that was the best 1080 to get? I don't know if there's much difference between them

And lastly (maybe), any slight upgrades you would suggest for that if the budget was £1900?

Is it the "best" no that would be the Aorus or STrix or maybe on with a AIO cooler also.

But its decent, decent cooler, good warranty, back plate and is cheap enough.

 

[lee32uk]

This is very similar budget to what I am looking at, I am still tring to decide between Ryzen and i7, I think you have the Ryzen option covered with the above.
This is my i7 build option, though these parts were selected to be quiet, so if the noise level is less important to you it could be tweaked accordingly.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GA-Z270-Gaming K3 Intel Z270 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £131.99
• 1 x Super Flower Golden Silent 500W Fanless "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black= £139.99
• 1 x Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM= £319.99
• 1 x be quiet! Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler = £59.99
  • AM4 Bracket:Unwanted
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - White (CMK16GX4M2B30= £128.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 GameRock 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 10 32/64-Bit - USB Pen Drive - Retail (KW9-00017)= £89.95
• 1 x Asus PCE-AC51 Wireless-AC750 Dual-band PCI-E Adapter= £29.99
• 1 x be quiet! Silent Base 600 Midi Tower Case - Orange= £99.95
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £248.99
• 1 x Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM006)= £69.95

Total: £1,833.87
(includes shipping: £14.10)

No way I would be paying £140 for a 500W psu even if it is SuperFlower. Just get a good quality hybrid unit and run it in semi fanless mode.

 

[STK6001]

Is it the "best" no that would be the Aorus or STrix or maybe on with a AIO cooler also.

But its decent, decent cooler, good warranty, back plate and is cheap enough.

You're selling me on me this stulid!

As long as there is no minor tweaks that could be made to that sort of set up that could bump up performance for an extra £100 or so, I may well go for your suggestion

You've been a massive help my man appreciate ya

 

[stulid]

No worries, not sure what to do with an extra £100, maybe mechanical keyboard, or speakers/headset, mouse mat etc.

 

[Andythe Random]

No way I would be paying £140 for a 500W psu even if it is SuperFlower. Just get a good quality hybrid unit and run it in semi fanless mode.

I did look at a number of hybrids.
The trouble I had was working out which would stay silent at the load I would be using.
Reviewers seem to test in bands so good data is hard to find but from what i have seen I would need to go for an 850w to ensure the fans don't kick in at full load and i was looking at the Corsair RM850i.
If you have any personal experience of sub 850w PSUs that won't spin up until over 450(ish) watts that would be awesome.