£1k Black Friday Gaming PC?

foomonkey · Nov 24, 2016

Hey all,

I'm in need of some advice on what to go for.

I'm looking to buy a new gaming PC as my current one is coming on 7 years old. Looking to pick the parts up through the Black Friday deals and my budget is £1k. I need advice on the below parts and i'm happy to build the PC myself.

Case
Power Supply
Motherboard
Processor (Water Cooled)
RAM
Graphics Card
SSD
1TB Hard Disk
Fans
OS not required

I don't know if it is possible to just upgrade my old PC with better parts or at least reuse the case to save some money/spend it elsewhere. below is a part list of what i originally ordered for my current 7 year old pc.

Sony AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case
Asus P6T SE iX58 Socket 1366 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 D0 2.66GHz Socket 1366 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM
Corsair 750W TX PSU - 120mm Fan, 80+% Efficiency, Single +12V Rail
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7 motherboards

I'm also looking for a new gaming monitor and looking at a 2k/1440p, 144hz, 1ms, 27inch for spec (would consider 4k but I think that might be overkill for gaming?) if anyone could lend some advice here too? Was hoping to keep my spending on the monitor under £300 if that's possible?

Thanks for any advice

EDIT : Should have mentioned this earlier but i'm also interested in doing streaming/editing with my gaming. Cheers

wah007 · Nov 24, 2016

I've made a part list, what do you think? It's over budget on there but through Black Friday deals you can probably get the parts under 1K.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/FYW84C

You can also use the HDD from your old PC, well you can use a lot of parts but it all depends on what you want really.

I can't help you with the monitor but I am sure someone else will be along to help you with that.

Aeacus · Nov 24, 2016

How about this high-end gaming rig. (color theme: black & red)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£209.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£66.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£155.00 @ Novatech)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory (£70.62 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: SK hynix SL308 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£74.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB GAMING X 3G Video Card (£223.96 @ More Computers)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case (£48.74 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£78.25 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £969.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-24 12:00 GMT+0000

Few words.

Put in the best CPU for gaming. As requested, put in AIO water cooler for CPU. MoBo is MSI Gaming M5 which houses 2x M.2 slots for future upgrades. With Z-series MoBo, you can also OC (overclock) your K-series CPU. For RAM, put in 2x 8GB DDR4 at speeds of 2800 Mhz. For OS, a great 2.5" SSD (240GB) and for data storage, a common WD Caviar Blue (1TB). GPU is the best price to performance ratio GPU there is. Case comes from Corsair with plenty of fan mounts and a window on it's side. System's power plant comes directly from the best PSU OEM, Seasonic. 80+ Gold and semi-modular to ease the installation.

All-in-all, this build is similar to my Skylake build (specs in my signature).

You can re-use your 1TB HDD to get the build cost down a bit.

As far as monitor goes, i suggest Crossover 2795 (27", 1440p, 60-120 Hz, 6ms) [$381 = £305.11],
newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA90V3FW7032
This monitor is one of the best OC (overclockable) monitors out there. By default, it runs on 60 Hz but you can easily OC it to run on 96 Hz and with some tuning, you can get even 120 Hz out of it.

foomonkey · Nov 24, 2016

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention that i'd also be interested in streaming/editing gaming so please take this into consideration.

wah007 · Nov 24, 2016

foomonkey :

For intensive editing I would go for the I7 6700K CPU. It's about £100 more expensive though.

foomonkey · Nov 24, 2016

wah007 :

Yeh I've been reading up a fair bit today and came to the conclusion that if I'm serious with trying out streaming, then that CPU would be the way to go.

Aeacus · Nov 24, 2016

foomonkey :

Refined my build a little.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£309.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£66.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£108.28 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory (£70.62 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: SK hynix SL308 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£74.47 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card (£238.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case (£48.74 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£78.25 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £996.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-24 15:08 GMT+0000

Changes made.

CPU: from i5-6600K to i7-6700K
MoBo: from MSI to AsRock
Storage: kicked out HDD
GPU: from MSI GTX 1060 3GB to Zotac GTX 1060 6GB

And all that for extra 27 quid, while still keeping the build under £1000.

foomonkey · Nov 24, 2016

Aeacus :

Thanks for the reply.

Having been researching, I think i'd like to be able to get a few of the following things below in my spec

Intel Core i7-6700K processor
Water cooling
2x 16gb RAM
500gb SSD
GeForce GTX 8gb 1070 or 1080 Graphics Card
2k/1440p 27inch 144hz 1ms Monitor

Would be prepared to go to £1500 for this if anyone has some recommendations?

Aeacus · Nov 24, 2016

foomonkey :

Something like this perhaps?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£309.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£66.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£108.28 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£142.93 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: SK hynix SL308 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£120.43 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Founders Edition Video Card (£345.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£28.00 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£67.99 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Acer XG270HU 27.0" 144Hz Monitor (£403.17 @ PC World Business)
Total: £1592.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-24 16:52 GMT+0000

foomonkey · Nov 24, 2016

Aeacus :

Do you think it'd be possible to reuse my existing PC case to reduce the cost down? I currently have a Antec Three Hundred Case. Might be able to reuse the power supply, existing HD as addition storage and some of the airflow fans again?

I'll need to check the Wattage of the power supply again but surely the case is reusable (and if so the fans will be too!).

Thanks again for the reply. You're giving good food for thought

wah007 · Nov 24, 2016

I don't recommend using the same PSU. With all them new components you dont want your old PSU going bust and ruining something else as well.

foomonkey · Nov 24, 2016

I opened up my pc. I have a corsair TX750W power supply in my old PC.

Is it definitely a bad idea to reuse this? If so why?

MatthewGB · Nov 24, 2016

I'd recommend reusing most of your old parts. Your case, psu, motherboard are all good enough for the upgrade. Your 920 can easily be swapped out for a 140£ i7-980, with the same performance as an i5-6500, but a lot cheaper, particularly as you won't need a new motherboard.

7 gens later, and the IPC improvement is a mere ~50%, so using older CPUs is an underrated option.

As for the GPU, you could buy the following best value options: RX 480/GTX 1060 (200£), Fury(X) (300£), 1070 (400£), 1080 (600£).

No, it is a good idea to reuse it. A good quality PSU like that is completely safe.

Aeacus · Nov 24, 2016

foomonkey :

Corsair TX750W PSU is a good quality PSU. My concern about it is the age of the unit. The older the PSU gets, the higher the chance it can die one day. If your PSU would be 3 years old or so, i wouldn't have concerns about it.
Though, you may be able to get 2-4 years out if it. Do note that with newer components, the load on PSU does increase since newer CPU and GPU use more power. You can re-use your old PSU, just keep in mind that if you push the old-timer with OC (overclock) it may die due to the age.

Refined my build to reduce the cost.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£309.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£66.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£87.60 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£142.93 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: SK hynix SL308 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£70.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F1 DT 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Founders Edition Video Card (£419.94 @ More Computers)
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For £0.00)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 750W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (Purchased For £0.00)
Monitor: Acer XG270HU 27.0" 144Hz Monitor (£403.17 @ PC World Business)
Total: £1501.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-25 03:02 GMT+0000

In this build, i have re-used your HDD, case (and it's installed fans) and PSU.
Switched MoBo for a cheaper one and SSD from 500B to 250GB to reduce the cost.

Even though MatthewGB's idea to upgrade your current PC is good (you can save a lot of money by this), the i7-980 isn't as good as i7-6700K is.
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-980-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m3336vs3502

foomonkey · Nov 25, 2016

Thanks again for the all help.

If i were to purely upgrade my old PC, what would you recommend i go for?

EDIT : i just read that my current motherboard is capped at 24mb for RAM.

I opened up my PC to take a look inside and identified i'd be wanting to replace the CPU, add water cooling, change the GPU, upgrade RAM and add a SSD.

I was thinking about putting in 32mb RAM so that might have just sealed the idea that i buy a new PC since i was would be overhauling the thing anyway.

Aeacus · Nov 25, 2016

If you were to upgrade your old PC, components would be:

CPU - i7-980 ($199.99 - $1,098.95 = £160.91 - £884.68)
amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0058FO22O/

CPU cooler - Corsair H80i v2 (£66.99)
amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019954Y2Q

RAM - 6x Samsung M378B5273BH1-CH9 4GB = 24GB (6x £30.88 = £185.28)
amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/DDR3-1333-PC3-10600-Unbuffered-M378B5273BH1-CH9-Mainboards/dp/B003KVJTIK

SSD - SK Hynix SL308 500GB (£120.43)
amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01H5KW9JW

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Founders Edition (£419.99)
amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GRCYL0Y

Total: £953.60 - £1677.37

Of if you go with the best CPU your MoBo can support, then:

CPU - i7-990X ($394.97 - $1,448.50 = £317.67 - £1,165.10)
amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004NRQDQQ

Total: £1,110.36 - £1,957.79

Few comparisons too.

i7-980 vs i7-990X,
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-980-vs-Intel-Core-i7-X-990/m3336vsm2590

i7-990X vs i7-6700K,
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-X-990-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/m2590vs3502

foomonkey · Nov 25, 2016

Aeacus :

Spending that kind of money just to upgrade would probably edge me to starting overall a new with taking some bits from my old PC.

Also it's a shame that the GPU 1070 cards have jumped up in price in a matter of a day! Was £345 but now coming up £420 :S

foomonkey · Nov 25, 2016

So i finally made a decision on what i'm going for.

I managed to pickup the monitor ive been wanting ages (link below) for £300. Ever other price i've seen for it came out at £400+

https://www.alza.co.uk/27-acer-xg270huaomidpx-gaming-d4522057.htm

Also i found a really good deal through OCUK but they currently sold out and are expecting stock to come back in next month so i've put the majority of components on the back burner til that becomes available.

However, with buying my new monitor, i was thinking about upgrading my current PC with the GeForce GTX 1070 for the time being and then properly put everything together when all the parts i want are available. With buying my new 1440p monitor, i please need some advice on which GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards manufacturer would be most suitable and cost efficient to get the best results at working to my new monitors resolution and spec?

Thanks again for all any any advice. It has been extremely helpful !

EDIT : Please correct me if i'm wrong, but I've just made a critical observation about the my monitor i've bought vs a GeForce GTX 1070 i'm interested in, in that my monitor is built for supporting (AMD) Freesync instead of (Nvidia) G-Sync?

I assume that they'll work together but i won't get the specific functionality for G-Sync?

If this is the case and i want to take advantage of the Freesync functionality, what AMD graphics card would be best to go for that rivals the GeForce GTX 1070?

Thanks again for any advice

Aeacus · Nov 25, 2016

Your monitor will work just fine since Freesync can be used only when using Display Port.

As far as G-Sync goes, cheapest monitor that fits your specs is Dell S2716DG,
pcpp: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/BcTrxr/dell-monitor-s2716dg

Since G-Sync monitors cost more than Freesync, i put in the cheapest monitor that did fit your specs. It having the Freesync doesn't hinder it's performance.

There's only one AMD GPU that can match the GTX 1070 performance, a RX 295 X2,
amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00JOQZ4XE

Further reading,
GPU hierarchy table: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

The two main differences between different GTX 1070 GPUs are the base/boost/OC clock speeds and heatsink/fan design.
Pick any you like, pcpp: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=369&sort=a8&page=1

I prefer MSI since MSI GPUs have the best cooling (love the Zero Frozr) and aesthetics (nice black & red theme when picking the Gaming series).

foomonkey · Nov 26, 2016

Aeacus :

Cheers again for the advice,

I ended up putting in a preorder for the Asus Turbo..

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/jygPxr/asus-geforce-gtx-1070-8gb-video-card-turbo-gtx1070-8g

..at £340, it seemed like a steal for that GPU! The RX 295 X2 seems extremely overpriced in comparison.

In terms of the monitor, i'm going to stick with what i ordered as the spec on it is fantastic for £300 while the Freesync example you gave costs an additional £200 more! If there is little to no difference in the performance, then keeping £200 in my pocket seems a more worthy cause

EDIT : Having looked a bit more i'm finding the RX 295 X2 for £399 on amazon..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Graphics-Express-DisplayPort-Dual-Link/dp/B00JOQZ4XE

..However the Asus Turbo still seems like a great deal at £340 by comparison? Would you say its worth the extra £60 just to pair up the Freesync tech from the monitor?

Cheers again

Aeacus · Nov 26, 2016

Freesync, G-Sync, V-Sync, Adaptive-Sync, Fast-Sync are all different methods to solve 1 issue: screen tearing.
Here's some further reading about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/4p0q7a/lets_talk_about_vsync_freesync_gsync_adaptivesync/

I do my gaming without any sync at all and screen tearing doesn't annoy me. When it get's annoying, i can always enable the v-sync and happily game on.

MatthewGB · Nov 27, 2016

AMD and Nvidia exaggerate how much of an issue screen tearing is. Unless using multi-monitor setups, or using a higher FPS then your monitor supports, you should see none. You can take care of the latter by using V-sync, which requires no fancy monitors or technologies, and works with pretty much every game.

I would disrecommend against a dual-GPU card such as the R9 295x2, GTX 590, etc, because they are a massive pain to setup, and most games won't support dual-GPUs and simply work at half the performance it is meant to. The best AMD alternative to the 1070 is the R9 Fury X, but it is far, far overpriced considering the release of Pascal. You should definitely get the 1070, and turn on v-sync.

£1k Black Friday Gaming PC?

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