First ever gaming PC build: Advice Please

[jond9319]

Hello everyone,
I'm about to build a PC for the first time. Any opinions or advice on my chosen components or things to look out for would be greatly appreciated.

Approximate Purchase Date: in 1-2 weeks

Budget Range: No hard limit but ideally less than ~£2000 (more expensive but highly recommended build modifications also appreciated)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming at 1440p, watching movies, browsing the web

Are you buying a monitor: Yes - Dell - S2716DG 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor

Your Monitor Resolution: 2560x1440

Parts to Buy: PCpartpicker link with all components and prices

CPU | Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor £269.94 @ Aria PC

CPU Cooler | Scythe - FUMA 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler £58.52 @ Amazon UK

Motherboard | MSI - Z270 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard £124.97 @ Amazon UK

Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory £168.32 @ Aria PC

Storage | Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive £107.50 @ Aria PC

Storage | Western Digital - Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive £55.99 @ Aria PC

Video Card | Zotac - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB AMP! Extreme Video Card £409.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk

Case | NZXT - S340 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case £75.53 @ Amazon UK

Power Supply | Corsair - RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply £152.97 @ Amazon UK

Wireless Network Adapter | TP-Link - Archer T9E PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter £51.00 @ Aria PC

Monitor | Dell - S2716DG 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor £529.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk

Total: £2004.72

Do you need to buy OS: Yes - Windows 10 home (64-bit)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon.co.uk (other reputable sellers also acceptable)

Location: Leeds, UK

Parts Preferences: No preferences

Overclocking: Maybe in the future to keep up with demanding game system requirements

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe if necessary and affordable

Additional Comments: Unsure if downgrading CPU to i5 and upgrading GPU to 1080 would be better for gaming? Also not sure if a VA or IPS monitor without G-sync would be a better choice than the current TN with G-sync selection?

Why Are You Building: Initially to play Total War: Warhammer 2 at max settings 1440p. Would like a quiet PC able to play most games at max settings for the next year or so and able to be easily upgraded in the future.

Thanks in advance for any discussion on this build!

 

[constantine_99]

some improvement can be made there:

CPU: u would bode better with a coffelake / Ryzen CPU, while for the high fps mark i'll lean toward the coffelake, as those extra cores threads would prove to be useful, especially in the future
upgradability: Ryzen offers better upgradability, AM4 socket will last till at very least 2020, while the kabylake socket already dead [LGA 1151 v1 imo] thanks to the improvement on the socket required by coffelake [LGA 1151 v2 imo]

GPU: to reach the 144hz target that u would really want, u would need either one of these imo [lowest to highest]
Vega 64
1070 Ti
1080
1080 Ti

G-sync TN would prove more useful if u're looking for smoothness over image quality imo [since VA & IPS will have better image quality than a G-Sync TN Panel]

HDD: get the high RPM instead, so your apps stored in the HDD works faster

 

[jond9319]

some improvement can be made there:

CPU: u would bode better with a coffelake / Ryzen CPU, while for the high fps mark i'll lean toward the coffelake, as those extra cores threads would prove to be useful, especially in the future
upgradability: Ryzen offers better upgradability, AM4 socket will last till at very least 2020, while the kabylake socket already dead [LGA 1151 v1 imo] thanks to the improvement on the socket required by coffelake [LGA 1151 v2 imo]

GPU: to reach the 144hz target that u would really want, u would need either one of these imo [lowest to highest]
Vega 64
1070 Ti
1080
1080 Ti

G-sync TN would prove more useful if u're looking for smoothness over image quality imo [since VA & IPS will have better image quality than a G-Sync TN Panel]

HDD: get the high RPM instead, so your apps stored in the HDD works faster

Thanks for the advice!

I think I may go for an Intel core i7-8700K then, with a 1080 graphics card. I swapped those out of an earlier version of the build as I didn't think a high number of threads or cores was needed for gaming and I wanted to keep costs down a little bit but I'll put them back in since they are necessary. I haven't researched Ryzen processors much after reading that many people prefer Intel CPUs but I'll look into them since I do want good upgradability.

Not sure what my preferences are on image quality over smoothness yet so I think I'll try and see the difference for myself in a shop before deciding. I also hadn't realised there was much variation in HDD, so thanks for the higher RPM tip.

 

[constantine_99]

some improvement can be made there:

CPU: u would bode better with a coffelake / Ryzen CPU, while for the high fps mark i'll lean toward the coffelake, as those extra cores threads would prove to be useful, especially in the future
upgradability: Ryzen offers better upgradability, AM4 socket will last till at very least 2020, while the kabylake socket already dead [LGA 1151 v1 imo] thanks to the improvement on the socket required by coffelake [LGA 1151 v2 imo]

GPU: to reach the 144hz target that u would really want, u would need either one of these imo [lowest to highest]
Vega 64
1070 Ti
1080
1080 Ti

G-sync TN would prove more useful if u're looking for smoothness over image quality imo [since VA & IPS will have better image quality than a G-Sync TN Panel]

HDD: get the high RPM instead, so your apps stored in the HDD works faster

Thanks for the advice!

I think I may go for an Intel core i7-8700K then, with a 1080 graphics card. I swapped those out of an earlier version of the build as I didn't think a high number of threads or cores was needed for gaming and I wanted to keep costs down a little bit but I'll put them back in since they are necessary. I haven't researched Ryzen processors much after reading that many people prefer Intel CPUs but I'll look into them since I do want good upgradability.

Not sure what my preferences are on image quality over smoothness yet so I think I'll try and see the difference for myself in a shop before deciding. I also hadn't realised there was much variation in HDD, so thanks for the higher RPM tip.

what i mean smoothness over quality is if u're a competitive gamer, like u love CS:GO / things like that, if ur preference is on quality, the IPS panel would matter much more

well the extra core would allow longer lifespan, obviously, also the TWW is a CPU intensive so those extra cores could help

well on high fps mark, intel is always upfront, bringing more fps thanks to it's higher IPC, but Ryzen on the other hand, offers more core/threads at less cost [both the CPU and the mobo] while also promising improvement for the same socket [AM4] till very least 2020 [might be more]so, if FPS is your main concern and u had enough money to spend, coffelake is your man, if u want a more bang in the buck, all while wanting those extra upgradability for the next 2-3 year, the Ryzen is more assuring imho...

don't forget the HDD XD, that extra RPM helps with loading and such