Please give me a list of items I need to build my dream PC

Bare minimum hardware wise you'll need...
(listed in order of priority for gaming use)

1. GPU
2. CPU
3. RAM
4. MB
5. HDD
6. PSU
7. Case

Note that only performance wise HDD and PSU are of equally importance, but the PSU is of very much importance for reliability and stability, so don't skimp on it.

Optional, software, and peripheral items are...

1. Display
2. DVD drive
3. OS
4. Keyboard
5. Mouse

Luxury performance items are...

1. SSD drive
2. Speakers
3. Headphones
4. UPS (uninterruptible power supply for storm prone ares with lots of power outages)

It's really hard to figure what level of parts you can use unless you tell us what items in the way of peripherals or OS you might already have. I can tell you though that 2000, even IF it's in GBP, can easily afford you a 1080 Ti if you just need the main parts without needing any peripherals, OS or accessories.

As for DVD drives, they aren't totally necessary for gaming anymore due to most games being available as digital downloads, but some games are still on retail discs, and such a drive also works to play music CDs, install drivers from disc, etc. Since you can get a good one for cheap, and your budget can easily fit it in, I recommend you get one just in case you end up needing it for some things, even if only infrequently.

As far as water cooling goes, if you don't even know what parts are needed to build a gaming PC, I would definitely not use a complex and high maintenance piece together custom loop setup. Also, since the AIO (all in one) factory assembled no maintenance water cooling units that outperform decent air coolers (and only slightly at that) can easily cost twice as much, I think it would be better to just get a descent air cooler if you need more than core parts. It will allow you to spend more money on the parts that do most of the work, like the GPU and CPU. It matters a lot though whether you plan to OC your CPU as to what cooler you choose. If you don't OC, there are many affordable air coolers that would suffice, and many of the better ones handle moderate OCs well too.

Add an i7-8700k and a Z370 thats red led to this build on the 5th of next month. Turn the air 740 on its side with the window up for an amazing look.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£99.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£138.96 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£104.94 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£99.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING Video Card (£741.02 @ More Computers)
Case: Corsair - Air 740 ATX Full Tower Case (£125.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£84.96 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£82.74 @ Aria PC)
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM 140mm Fan (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM 140mm Fan (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM 140mm Fan (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1523.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-28 01:19 BST+0100

I agree with "elbert" for the CPU and motherboard. But I don't agree do with him with using Amazon because I had some bad experience with them for expensive hardware I will strongly recommend Scan.co.uk even if it bit more expensive but its very good.


CPU Cooler: NZXT 280mm Kraken X62 RGB All In One CPU Water Cooler (£149.99 Scan.co.uk) OR Corsair H110i AIO Hydro/Water Intel/AMD AM4 RGB LED CPU Cooler (£103.58 Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£138.96 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£104.94 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£99.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB FTW3 iCX Technology (£767.48 @ scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair - Corsair Crystal 570X Tempered Glass RGB PC Gaming Case (£179.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2 Modular Power Supply 80PLUS Gold (£94.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£82.74 @ Aria PC)

Total: £1619.08 with Kraken cooler or £1572.68 with Corsair cooler

Also I will look for EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte for GPU brand. I don't really like Asus again from personal experience with the service and the product quality. Also a friend of me had a lot of issues with Asus. I have been using gigabyte for 6 years and I was very happy of using gigabyte. Now I have MSI 1080 ti Gaming X and I can say it is very powerful card, in OC mode under load ( Battlefield 1 2560:1080 - Ultra ; 200% scale resolution) keep 65-68 degrees Celsius , also it's very silent and the recoil is much lower than the Asus. As I know Asus Strix 1080 ti has most Recoil after FE edition. If you can afford the parts from Scan buy it from there , they pack the parts very very well so they cannot be damaged but I cannot say the same thing for Amazon. If you cant you can use the example which gives "elbert" I like it is nearly the best you can find , just I give you my opinion so you have more than one choice.

King Regard,

Sam

I deal with Amazon a fair bit here in the US. Sure they and/or their sub vendors make mistakes now and then, but they are more than acceptable at correcting them to keep you a happy customer.

Case in point, I just ordered a $144 rug from one of their sub vendors. The SV contacted me just before it was supposed to be shipped and said it was the last one they had in stock and too dirty to ship.

A day later I got an email saying it had shipped. The problem is Amazon's order tracking system is over simplified and too automated, and doesn't even let vendors alert them of such things.

I went through a bit of grief and confusion over it, worrying if the dirty rug had been shipped anyway. The vendor ended up apologizing and taking blame for not fully clarifying what was going on. They just offered me a 30% discount while I wait for them to get more stock, which they say will delay the order about 2 and a half weeks max.

My point is such problems are usually resolved adequately if you communicate with them. I've yet to see a situation where their sub vendors or Amazon won't offer you an exceptional deal or a refund for any trouble the customer is put through. If you can't contact the sub vendor other than to ask for refund or reorder, call Amazon and explain the problem. They will email it to the sub vendor, whom will email you right back, it's a pretty quick process.

That said, I've read good things about Scan in the UK, and I know they have great service and reasonable prices. I'm also not sure if Amazon UK has the same quality control over the order processing and customer service in general as Amazon US. I know Jeff Bezos is a stickler for details though, and a big part of what made his Amazon empire grow so big is his attention to customer service.

I've had zero issues with Amazon. Not counting books, I order something at least 2-3-4 times a month. Since 1999.
Number of 'issues'? DOA, wrong part, whatever...<10
Number of 'unresolved issues'? Zero.

Yeah Amazon seems to have a better customer rating than Newegg anymore. Whenever it comes up I see a lot of people saying they've switched to Amazon, even if they have to pay a bit more than at Newegg.

My only beef with Amazon, which isn't their fault, is I have to pay sales tax on items they ship, since they're headquartered in the state I live in. That's why I often go through one of their sub vendors instead.

A friend is working in Amazon's warehouse and he said that the attitude to the hardware parts Is horrible and don't really care and also told me that some people can steal or damage your part in Amazon UK. So also from my personal experience I've brought like 2 GPU's and both arrived bad packed and the first one had damaged cooler a missing fin. I've never used US amazon so im not that competent to it but for UK is terrible! For me it is not problem to pay a bit more and use Scan.co.uk but for some people is not the greatest idea because it is bit more expensive but which I like is that they replace the parts very very insanely fast and they pack the parts very well so they cannot be damaged and also the customer service is just wonderful, you never know when you can receive broken part and if this happens its better to know you brought it from shop with high quality customer service.

That almost sounds to me like some company in the UK offered Bezos a lot of money to franchise out his Amazon name, because anything he owns himself he takes better care of than that.

I'm just trying to help and share my personal experience so maybe I can protect some customer of having issues. Everyone has his own opinion, that's why it's a " community " so we can share our information and the person who needs advice can choose the best option for him . Cheers

Regards,

Sam

This should give you an ideal of what the Air 740 looks like on its side. Just move the rubber feet all thats required.

Honestly I've had more hassle with scan & ebuyer than I've ever had with amazon .
& when you used to be a system builder spending up to £3k at a time on parts bad customer device is not what you want .

I buy virtually everything from amazon UK now (not market sellers but amazon direct).

Their RMA, return , redelivery service is far far better than any other online vendor in the UK.

Pretty much seamless & instant.

Yeah I think it's safe to say we need to hear more people weighing in on this before Amazon US customers will be convinced Amazon UK is terrible by comparison.

Since the opinions of one or two people is usually not enough to make a choice and can be misleading, I suggest anyone on the fence about it Google for comparisons and customer satisfaction ratings between Amazon UK and Scan and Ebuyer.

Also take the time to read the testimonials both pro and con. I find it's often the case that those making complaints either don't mention what the problem was, or could have handled the situation better on their end.

I think amazon have opened themselves to abuse from market sellers since allowing a second party sale service.

I got ripped off from a market seller to the tune of around £1.5k for 6x gtx 1060s.

While I was out of pocket (& product) for the duration of the delivery period Amazon themselves refunded me in full within 48 hours of the end of the estimated delivery date.

Vice versa I had a couple of products that were from a market seller but fulfilled by amazon (meaning they keep warehouse stock from the seller)
These were not as advertised , rma 'd & free packaging return labels were emailed within an hour of me receiving the items.
Once again money back in my account as soon amazon took return of the goods.

As I said unscrupulous sellers & customers returning items with swapped out goods are spoiling it BUT you will always get your money back quickly should this happen.

I stick solely to supplied by amazon goods now , then prices may be slightly higher , I have prime so delivery is free & they will delivery to my local PO if I'm not at home which is a massive bonus for me.

Fans , led or not , have no real relevance regarding power mate.
At max total they might just touch 1w.

Gpu's , depends essentially on what monitor you're running , 1080p 144htz, 1440p upto 75htz - gtx 1080.

Above that - meaning 1440p 144htz+ or 4k - 1080ti

Water cooling ? Depends on what board/processor you end up going for.

If Intel you'd assume coffee lake will use the same mounting points as they have for the last 4 gens.

If you happened to change your mind & switch to ryzen then the choice becomes more limited because only corsair have produced backplate for their entire range.

Nzxt, cooler master only partly.

Yes, it's been verified by comparison photos of a 7700k and 8700k that they have the same pin layout. We're being told that the 8700k will require the new Z370 chipset MB though, supposedly because the 6 core, 12 thread chip requires more power. Some are saying that looks suspect and perhaps a lie.

The way I look at it though, if you buy a decent Intel chip, it's going to perform better and last longer, so next upgrade you'll likely replace your MB as well anyway. The only ones that seem to complain about Intel's shorter platform cycle are those whom don't buy a robust CPU in the first place, or are just addicted to upgrading often.

Bottom line, I'd much rather have a decent CPU, than a one size fits all MB. The latter is almost an admission AMD can't compete on CPU gaming performance.

http://wccftech.com/intel-core-i7-8700k-review/

^ there are only a couple of chips mid put as direct ryzen competitors though.

The i3 8100 is going to hit ryzen 1200/1300x sales.
& the locked i7 8700 looks blistering value for money.

The rest ? Not impressed if those are the correct pricepoints at all.

I was really only commenting on the i7-8700k (which I'm going to be getting myself), and how it compares to the 7700k.

If it's anywhere near $360 as claimed by this site, I'll definitely be getting it.

a gtx 1080 can play 4k at 60fps there is no need to say it can only run on 1440p 75fps

Not at all true if you're talking max or anywhere near max settings. It takes a 1080 Ti for that.

When TechPowerUp, a very trust worthy GPU benching site, tested the 1080, only 5 of the 16 games they tested could manage 60 FPS or more at 4k, and I included Batman: AK in those as it came close at 59 FPS.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080/8.html

And I'll add that with some games that have released since then, it's even more so the case. For instance Ghost Recon Wildlands only hits 43 FPS at 4k using max settings on even a 1080 Ti.

^ That's the thing , different people have different ideals when it comes to what is acceptable fps & what are acceptable compromises on graphics settings.

Yea you can game at 4k with a 1080 , no doubt - if you're prepared to make a few compromises in newer titles

With a £2k budget though & a header entitled 'dream machine' if you were going for 4k you should be reaching for a 1080ti.
Yes its dreadfully overpriced still compared to a 1080 but until amd drop a card that can compete with it , its going to stay that way.