High End Gaming PC Build - $5K Budget

^+1, at $5k budget for a gaming build you're long past the point of diminishing returns and into the realm of just throwing your money away. 8700K/2700X + 1080 Ti should be the core of your build (unless you want to wait for next gen GPUs).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor ($319.79 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: EVGA - CLC 280 113.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($106.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - X470 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard ($195.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($315.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.09 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AORUS Video Card ($719.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Tempered Glass (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($96.59 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2291.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-25 18:33 EDT-0400

Yes this exactly. There's no need to blow that much on a gaming PC. You don't need an i9 or a Threadripper for gaming purposes - these CPUs actually aren't really made for gaming, though gaming variants of their CPUs do exist in various forms. I wouldn't spend any more than this for the time being:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($347.69 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($141.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($198.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($205.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($104.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($110.90 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($769.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($769.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Black TG ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - PRIME Gold 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($154.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2913.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-25 19:23 EDT-0400

Or this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor ($319.79 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($141.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING M7 AC ATX AM4 Motherboard ($218.90 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($205.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($104.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($110.90 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($769.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($769.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Black TG ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - PRIME Gold 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($154.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2905.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-25 19:25 EDT-0400

This is what I would build if it was me, will handle anything needed.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8086K 4GHz 6-Core Processor ($417.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($83.61 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS X CODE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($279.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($104.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($217.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB FTW3 GAMING iCX Video Card ($820.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterCase Pro 5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - PRIME Ultra Titanium 750W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($126.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2521.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-26 00:28 EDT-0400

I agree. I would struggle to find $5000 in components worth putting into a gaming PC.

There are certainly high-end professional-level CPUs with tons of cores available, but games by themselves won't likely benefit from having more than six Hyperthreaded cores any time soon, and an overclocked 8700K will offer better per-core performance than any of those processors with more cores currently on the market. Perhaps if you were streaming, more threads could be dedicated to encoding the stream without impacting performance, but the benefits while streaming today's games would likely be minimal. In a less-demanding game like Fortnite, I doubt you would see any real difference. Of course, as you mentioned, you could always use a second PC to encode the stream using a capture card. What kind of PC are you currently using? If it has an i5 or better processor, there is a good chance that your existing system could be used for encoding the stream. I'm not super-familiar with dedicated streaming setups though.

SLI is rather poorly supported these days, and you are likely to run into performance and compatibility issues with such a setup, so I'm not sure I would recommend dual graphics cards either. As you mentioned, waiting for the 1180 to drop might be worthwhile though, since it will supposedly be launching in a little over a month.

If you have a big game collection, getting a 1TB or larger SSD to improve load times in the games stored on it might be a good option for a high-end setup. You might still want a traditional hard drive for things like bulk media storage and backups though, where performance isn't going to matter as much.

For RAM, unless there's a lot of multitasking going on, relatively few of today's games will benefit much from having more than 8GB, so 16GB will likely be plenty for any games coming out over the next few years. You could technically go with more, such as 32GB, but any RAM not in use will just be sitting there not doing anything.

Honestly, I think you would be best off building a high-end system for around half that budget, and saving the remaining money for upgrades in the years that follow. By upgrading the system every couple years or so on an as-needed basis, you'll be able to make use of newer, faster components as they come out.

@jankerson I have a really hard time recommending an 8086K, even for a 'no budget' build like this. Stock performance is essentially identical to a 8700K, all you get is an average ~100 MHz of OC headroom.

I have both the 8700K and 8086K.

With mine there is a rather large difference in clock speed... 4.7 GHz vs 5.1 GHz (Will actually do 5.2 GHz)

The 8700K won't do more than 4.7 at reasonable voltage while the 8086K will do 5.1 GHz at less voltage than the 8700K will do 4.7 GHz.

Actually running 2 machines now, 8086K and 8700K as it worked out having both CPU's.

AORUS Z370 Gaming 5 for the 8086K and AORUS Z370 Ultra Gaming vers 1.0 for the 8700K.

Luck is still involved just like any other chip. You apparently have a dud 8700K and possibly an extra good 8086k. Likewise, it's entirely possible to get an 8700k that clocks higher than an 8086k.

Silicon Lottery publishes their overclocking statistics, as you can see the 8086k only gets an extra 100 MHz on average.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i7-8086k-cpu-8086-anniversary,5658-3.html

Yeah, and they run them all at 1.4V or more, neither of mine are near that VCORE.

And with no AVX offset.

Running my 8086K at 5.0 GHz MCE at low voltage, nice and cool.

8700K at 4.7 GHz MCE at low voltage also. (Takes 1.4 to do 4.8)


Anyhow there has been a ton of crying about the 8086K due to the cost (Standard these days with anything that costs something), but in reality to get a 8700K that will actually do what the 8086K will do one would have to get one from the Silicon Lottery and pay more than the 8086K would cost retail.

And 100% of the 8086K's will do 5.0 Ghz MCE.... Not so with the 8700K.


A lot of politics out there on the internet with the 8086K with some Youturbers crying like babies, it was pathetic really.

Here is the list: (Gaming)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($347.69 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS X CODE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($279.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($190.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($197.80 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING Video Card ($799.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro TG RGB ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - HX Platinum 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2261.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-26 02:37 EDT-0400

Here is the list: (Streaming and Video Editing)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor ($319.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard ($199.96 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($330.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($197.80 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Gold 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($173.00 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card ($584.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - HX Platinum 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus - MG278Q 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor ($435.00 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair - Vengeance K95 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($149.99 @ Corsair)
Other: AVerMedia GC573 Live Gamer 4K ($287.83 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Total: $2919.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-26 02:38 EDT-0400

Best setup fore Gaming and Streaming.

As you are spending such a huge amount on this setup I highly recommend waiting another 2-3 months and going for GTX1180 for gaming PC and GTX1170 for Streaming PC or GTX1180 for both of them depending on its price.

I included that specific Keyboard for Streaming PC as it packs in excessive programmable keys which come in handy as short-keys for streaming and editing.