Help me optimize my build before I start ordering? First time builder.

[FrankRD]

Hey all! I'm a first time builder and I was hoping to get some opinions on my build before I decide to order anything.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/FrankRD/saved/xVwYrH

It doesn't have to be pretty, since it will be living under my desk. Price, functionality, and volume are key.

It should definitely be gaming grade, but it doesn't have to be overkill. i.e I could have gone double GPU and an i9, but I figured nothing I play at 1080p would actually need it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Frank.

 

[vapour]

Only one suggestion, get coffee lake I7-8700k and Z370 MB very high end build.

 

[vapour]

Coffee lake is the new king, with 6 better cores and 12 threads, much better than I7-7700k

 

[FrankRD]

Coffee lake is the new king, with 6 better cores and 12 threads, much better than I7-7700k

Sorry for the delayed response, I'm dealing with my cats.

Thanks for the suggestion! I wouldn't have even realized there was a new generation until months after I ordered the parts.

I changed up the build, how does it look now?

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Your playing at 1080p? This system is a massive overkill for 1080p. Your bottleneck will be your monitor. I would highly recommend getting a 1440p or 4k monitor.

What are you using this system for? 32gb of RAM is way more than any game will require. You only need that much RAM and storage if you are video editing and have a lot of video data.

You also have almost 20tb of storage. That is server levels of storage. It is a lot for a first time system build. Do you have a need for that much storage? That would store more than 300 games if each game was 50gb. I don't think there are even 300 games that are 50gb or more. I would only get that much storage if you have an extensive video library. I have an 8tb storage on my home server and have over 1000 movies to give an example.

Also, you don't need a 1000 watt PSU for this build. The EVGA G3's have also had some issues. I would look for a 650 or 750watt EVGA G2 PSU.

What is your budget? Are you trying to avoid noise? You have $150 in fans. Noctua fans are fantastic, but $150 is a lot for fans. There may be better ways to spend the money and get better performance.

If you can give a budget and what your PC needs are for, there are a lot of people here that can help you design a system where you wont spend money that you don't need to spend.

 

[vapour]

I checked the case, you may not need so many extra fans...

Cooling System
120mm Fans

Top: 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm fan


Bottom: 2 x 120mm fan
140mm Fans
Front: 2 x 120/140mm fan (2 x 140mm fan Included)


Rear: 1 x 120/140mm fan (1 x 140mm fan Included)

 

[vapour]

So 3 140 mm fans have already been included. You only need either 2 140mm + 2 120mm or 5 120mm

 

[vapour]

Judging from the build, I assume gaming @ 1080p is only a side business. Are you doing any work on photo/video editing or streaming? 32 gb will be good for rendering kind of stuff.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

I would go with something like this and pair it with a really nice monitor. I went with the Phanteks case cause it comes with a fan controller. I dropped the PSU to a better PSU that is not overkill.

I dropped the fans to max out the fans on the case, but in reality, the case comes with 3 fans, so you would only need one more. But if you want Noctua, then for all of them, then you would only need 4.

I also dropped the SATA SSD and used a full 960 EVO 1tb. With SSDs you get better performance on larger driver.

You will also have some issues with enough SATA ports with the Blu Ray Drive, Wifi Card, SATA SSD, and the HDDs. You wont have enough ports to run everything with your setup without sacrificing lanes on your M.2 SSD. So I changed the motherboard with built in Wifi, I removed one of the HDDs. You still have 17tb of storage. I would run the 2 8tb drives in raid 0 and have some good performance there.

What this system needs is a good monitor. I love the Acer preadator X34. It is perfect for gaming and productivity and your system will run it very nicely.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vyh3r7
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vyh3r7/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($389.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($87.95 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($5.83 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI AC) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($259.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair - Dominator Platinum 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($439.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($443.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($312.72 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($312.72 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card ($768.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Luxe Tempered Glass (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG - WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($46.48 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan ($20.97 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan ($20.97 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan ($20.97 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan ($20.97 @ Newegg)
Speakers: Logitech - Z200 0W 2ch Speakers ($22.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $3538.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-19 10:37 EDT-0400

 

[FrankRD]

Your playing at 1080p? This system is a massive overkill for 1080p. Your bottleneck will be your monitor. I would highly recommend getting a 1440p or 4k monitor.

What are you using this system for? 32gb of RAM is way more than any game will require. You only need that much RAM and storage if you are video editing and have a lot of video data.

You also have almost 20tb of storage. That is server levels of storage. It is a lot for a first time system build. Do you have a need for that much storage? That would store more than 300 games if each game was 50gb. I don't think there are even 300 games that are 50gb or more. I would only get that much storage if you have an extensive video library. I have an 8tb storage on my home server and have over 1000 movies to give an example.

Also, you don't need a 1000 watt PSU for this build. The EVGA G3's have also had some issues. I would look for a 650 or 750watt EVGA G2 PSU.

What is your budget? Are you trying to avoid noise? You have $150 in fans. Noctua fans are fantastic, but $150 is a lot for fans. There may be better ways to spend the money and get better performance.

If you can give a budget and what your PC needs are for, there are a lot of people here that can help you design a system where you wont spend money that you don't need to spend.

For the monitors, I currently have two 27" 1080p monitors. Upgrading wouldn't be an issue, though! Any suggestions for a dual setup?

As far as the storage, I plan to have one drive for backups, one for possibly a second OS, and the 8TB for programs, games, and media.

And for budget, I don't really have one. I know I said price was an issue, but that's only for when it comes to overkill.

Judging from the build, I assume gaming @ 1080p is only a side business. Are you doing any work on photo/video editing or streaming? 32 gb will be good for rendering kind of stuff.

As far as the fans, the two 120mm for the bottom are only if you remove the HDD cages. And I was figuring that I'd replace all the stock fans so it'd be more uniform.


Overall, I am mocking up a major build that I wouldn't have to update for the near future whatsoever.


EDIT: Oops, I replied a little early. Give me a couple!

 

[FrankRD]

I would go with something like this and pair it with a really nice monitor.

It looks like you fixed my build in one fell swoop! Thanks a ton. I'll look into that monitor for sure. I'm just used to dual monitors for productivity. I could always just snap my windows to half the screen.

Also, do you think it'd be possible with these specs to run a second monitor besides the curved one? I've got two of these (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XLPzK8/samsung-monitor-s27e310h) right now, so I'd be losing some space.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

This is widely recognized as one of the best monitors in the world. And it should be as it cost enough. lol

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009869&ignorebbr=1

You will be able to hook up 3 monitors to your system. So you can have the curved x34 and 2 more monitors. But you may not need it. The x34 is wide screen, so it is like 2 monitors but together and it is 1440p. So the PPI is much higher which gives you a lot of real-estate on the screen. I run mine and have 3 full page tabs next to each other. Unlike 4k, 1440p PPI is not so hard that you need a magnified glass to read the text. It is the perfect balance for productivity and gaming.

Also, about the fans, you can remove the HDD cages for more fans, but where will you put your HDDs? The Phanteks case I selected has removeable HDD cages, you can remove on cage and use the other for your 2 drives. If you remove the bottom cage it will open up an additional 140mm fan to put at the bottom, so you can go with 5 of the Noctuas.

You don't necessarily need 2 drives to run a second OS. You just have to partition the drives right. I built a hackintosh a while ago and I ran a dual boot system with MAC OS and Windows. But it will be easier to run Linux on a separate drive, so if you are a novice the easy way may be the best.

I left your build with 2 8th HDD. What I would do, is load my OS on the SSD (obviously) and store your games and programs on one of the 8tb hdd. If you are really worried about backups, I would get external hdd for the backup. They are actually cheaper than internal drives. But remember, you don't have to backup your games. Saves will be on the cloud and you can just reinstall your games if you have an issue. You just need to backup your sensitive data and your OS. If you have very sensitive data, then you can take your external hdd and store it a different physical location that is not where the PC is. So incase there is a fire, both don't get burned up.

 

[FrankRD]

This is widely recognized as one of the best monitors in the world. And it should be as it cost enough. lol

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009869&ignorebbr=1

You will be able to hook up 3 monitors to your system. So you can have the curved x34 and 2 more monitors. But you may not need it. The x34 is wide screen, so it is like 2 monitors but together and it is 1440p. So the PPI is much higher which gives you a lot of real-estate on the screen. I run mine and have 3 full page tabs next to each other. Unlike 4k, 1440p PPI is not so hard that you need a magnified glass to read the text. It is the perfect balance for productivity and gaming.

Also, about the fans, you can remove the HDD cages for more fans, but where will you put your HDDs? The Phanteks case I selected has removeable HDD cages, you can remove on cage and use the other for your 2 drives. If you remove the bottom cage it will open up an additional 140mm fan to put at the bottom, so you can go with 5 of the Noctuas.

You don't necessarily need 2 drives to run a second OS. You just have to partition the drives right. I built a hackintosh a while ago and I ran a dual boot system with MAC OS and Windows. But it will be easier to run Linux on a separate drive, so if you are a novice the easy way may be the best.

I left your build with 2 8th HDD. What I would do, is load my OS on the SSD (obviously) and store your games and programs on one of the 8tb hdd. If you are really worried about backups, I would get external hdd for the backup. They are actually cheaper than internal drives. But remember, you don't have to backup your games. Saves will be on the cloud and you can just reinstall your games if you have an issue. You just need to backup your sensitive data and your OS. If you have very sensitive data, then you can take your external hdd and store it a different physical location that is not where the PC is. So incase there is a fire, both don't get burned up.

Thanks for all the help! Looks like I've just got to figure out how to budget this now, lol.

 

[connerweatherly17]

Your playing at 1080p? This system is a massive overkill for 1080p. Your bottleneck will be your monitor. I would highly recommend getting a 1440p or 4k monitor.

What are you using this system for? 32gb of RAM is way more than any game will require. You only need that much RAM and storage if you are video editing and have a lot of video data.

You also have almost 20tb of storage. That is server levels of storage. It is a lot for a first time system build. Do you have a need for that much storage? That would store more than 300 games if each game was 50gb. I don't think there are even 300 games that are 50gb or more. I would only get that much storage if you have an extensive video library. I have an 8tb storage on my home server and have over 1000 movies to give an example.

Also, you don't need a 1000 watt PSU for this build. The EVGA G3's have also had some issues. I would look for a 650 or 750watt EVGA G2 PSU.

What is your budget? Are you trying to avoid noise? You have $150 in fans. Noctua fans are fantastic, but $150 is a lot for fans. There may be better ways to spend the money and get better performance.

If you can give a budget and what your PC needs are for, there are a lot of people here that can help you design a system where you wont spend money that you don't need to spend.

What do mean by that? I have been looking for a 650 Watt PSU and someone had suggested a EVGA SuperNova 650 Watt G3, I don't know a lot about PSU so what issues do they have? Why should I not purchase one? What would you suggest? All I need is a 650 or 750 Watt

 

[FrankRD]

What do mean by that? I have been looking for a 650 Watt PSU and someone had suggested a EVGA SuperNova 650 Watt G3, I don't know a lot about PSU so what issues do they have? Why should I not purchase one? What would you suggest? All I need is a 650 or 750 Watt

He suggested this one for me. Check it out.

 

[connerweatherly17]

What do mean by that? I have been looking for a 650 Watt PSU and someone had suggested a EVGA SuperNova 650 Watt G3, I don't know a lot about PSU so what issues do they have? Why should I not purchase one? What would you suggest? All I need is a 650 or 750 Watt

He suggested this one for me. Check it out.

Sure will, and if its good I will probably get this but I still would like to know what issues they G3 has

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Let me preface by saying that I don't have an EVGA G3. I was intrigued when they came out and offering a 10 year warranty on this lineup especially considering how good the G2 is. But I have had several people here on this forum that know more about PSUs than I do say that their are issues with the G3. Maybe they are wrong, but these users know more than I do.

The G3s are very new, so if there are issues, they may not be as well known yet. So I would go with the G2 until there is some more longevity with the G3 PSUs. This is not a slight on EVGA, they make great PSUs, but if I am building a 3k system, I want to know I have a good PSU with a good track record.

 

[connerweatherly17]

Let me preface by saying that I don't have an EVGA G3. I was intrigued when they came out and offering a 10 year warranty on this lineup especially considering how good the G2 is. But I have had several people here on this forum that know more about PSUs than I do say that their are issues with the G3. Maybe they are wrong, but these users know more than I do.

The G3s are very new, so if there are issues, they may not be as well known yet. So I would go with the G2 until there is some more longevity with the G3 PSUs. This is not a slight on EVGA, they make great PSUs, but if I am building a 3k system, I want to know I have a good PSU with a good track record.

Ok so if I get a 650w G2 it will work just fine with ryzen 7, 16 gb ram, 1 tb hard drive, 120 gb m.2, x370 taichi, and MSI gtx 1080 8 gb?

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Let me preface by saying that I don't have an EVGA G3. I was intrigued when they came out and offering a 10 year warranty on this lineup especially considering how good the G2 is. But I have had several people here on this forum that know more about PSUs than I do say that their are issues with the G3. Maybe they are wrong, but these users know more than I do.

The G3s are very new, so if there are issues, they may not be as well known yet. So I would go with the G2 until there is some more longevity with the G3 PSUs. This is not a slight on EVGA, they make great PSUs, but if I am building a 3k system, I want to know I have a good PSU with a good track record.

Ok so if I get a 650w G2 it will work just fine with ryzen 7, 16 gb ram, 1 tb hard drive, 120 gb m.2, x370 taichi, and MSI gtx 1080 8 gb?

Oh yes. The G2 is one of the best PSUs on the market and has been for a long time.