Advice on building a PC wanted!

[thatSeniorGuy]

Yes, it's another PC building thread!

So my old GTX 460SE video card has finally given up and gone to meet its maker, and as the PC it came from was first built in 2011 I think it's time for a complete rebuild. The only things I'll be keeping are KB+M, speakers, optical drive, and my SSD and HDD; everything else is going! I'm aiming for a mid to high end rig, being able to play videogames at decent/high settings. I don't exactly need to play Crysis at 60fps at 4k, but if I ever stop playing Warframe I'd like to play say The Witcher 3 at high settings. I've got a MSY shop (https://www.msy.com.au/home.php) near me that I've used in the past, so I'm basing my purchases off of their parts list (http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf). I've been using Logical Increments (http://www.logicalincrements.com/) to help me narrow down parts because there are a metric ****ton of options out there. I generally don't care too much about looks and prefer technical prowess to flashy LEDs. I also have a decent budget so I'm splurging a bit in some areas. I'm looking for a few extra sets of eyes to make sure I'm not making a stupid mistake, or grossly mismatching parts, or going with a dodgy brand/part.

Here's a link to my current build (https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/thatSeniorGuy/saved/Fv6nnQ) on PC Part Picker, and I'm putting my choices/reasoning below.


CPU: Intel - Core i5-8500 3GHz 6-Core Processor
It seems like a decent high-ish range processor. Note that I'm not going to be bothering with overclocking anything (I really don't want to spare the effort to get a few measly extra FPS).

Motherboard: ASRock H370-Pro4
Asus - TUF B360M-E GAMING Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
I was going to get a ASRock Z370 Killer, but as I'm not going to be overclocking anything it would be going a bit overboard (and I don't exactly need all the bells and whistles on the mobo). This seemed like a decent mid-range board.

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB Kit (8Gx2) DDR4 2666
G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
16GB because why not, and the brand/version ... because it was on Logical Increments, and that's pretty much it.

Storage: As I said above I'll be re-using my current SDD, HDD and ODD.

Video Card: Galax Nvidia 8GB GTX 1070 OC Mini
GALAX - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB EX Video Card
I decided to go with a GTX 1070 card as they seem to be the best value for performance and price, and it should last me for a good while. I choose this particular one because it was the cheapest one available :smalltongue:

Case: Corsair - 100R ATX Mid Tower Case
The PC is going to be sitting in it's own shelf in my desk, and as such I've got some size restrictions (the shelf itself is 64cm (H) by 48cm (D) by 28cm (W) so the case has to fit well inside that). I don't really need a fancy case, so this seemed like a nice choice.

Power Supply: Corsair CX550M
Corsair - RMx 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
I wanted a fully modular PSU as they seem to enable power management, and this one seemed to be around the middle of the pack price-wise.

Monitor: AOC - AG241QG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor
Given the quality of the graphics card I figured I could go for higher-end monitor. This size is about the limit of what I can fit on my desk, and it was one of the only 1440p monitors available at this size.

So, what are your thoughts? I realise that Part Picker is pointing out a potential problem regarding the GPU size and drive bays, but as I've only got one SSD and HDD I don't think it will be a problem.

[Silfir]

Just a couple of things:

- You've picked an ATX case, but you're putting a Micro-ATX board inside it, which is a size smaller than ATX. You could just get an ATX board instead; you'll have more slots and probably an easier time building, and the price tends to be identical. Or go with a Micro-ATX case and save even more space.

- Keep in mind that the B360 chipset can't run the high RAM speeds. 3200 MHz RAM will be compatible, but capped at the highest speed the chipset supports (which I believe is 2666 MHz). You might be able to save some money there.

- That's an excellent power supply - perhaps more excellent than you strictly need, given you're not overclocking. A 550W CX550M would do just as well.

[Peelee]

I've always gotten slightly heftier power supplies than I've needed, just in case. Of course, I'm kind of weird like that.

[thracian]

I've lived with the 200R for a while now, and I've had an excellent time with it. It looks like there aren't huge differences between the 100R and the 200R, so I can infer it should also be excellent. Pity the size, otherwise I'd wholeheartedly recommend the 200R, but it looks like it's a little too long.

[Gnoman]

So, what are your thoughts? I realise that Part Picker is pointing out a potential problem regarding the GPU size and drive bays, but as I've only got one SSD and HDD I don't think it will be a problem.

Cable management is likely to be a pain in these scenarios. "Blocked drive bays" often means "getting the SATA or power cable to the drive bays you're actually using will force you to route them around the video card. Good luck.", at least in my experience.


You might want to consider dropping the GPU down to a 1060. At 1080p resolution, that should give you 60+ FPS in most (if not all) titles you're interested in, especially if you turn off anti-aliasing (which costs a ton of power to do, and makes the game look uglier as far as I am concerned). That would save you some cash, and you'd probably wind up with a shorter, easier to work with card.

[Silfir]

You might want to consider dropping the GPU down to a 1060. At 1080p resolution, that should give you 60+ FPS in most (if not all) titles you're interested in, especially if you turn off anti-aliasing (which costs a ton of power to do, and makes the game look uglier as far as I am concerned). That would save you some cash, and you'd probably wind up with a shorter, easier to work with card.

He's planning on getting a 1440p/165fps monitor - I imagine 1080p will look fairly rubbish on it. Rather than going down to a GTX 1060, I'd recommend simply switching to a different GTX 1070 model that is shorter. For example, the Zotac Mini is a mere 210 mm long.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Just a couple of things:

- You've picked an ATX case, but you're putting a Micro-ATX board inside it, which is a size smaller than ATX. You could just get an ATX board instead; you'll have more slots and probably an easier time building, and the price tends to be identical. Or go with a Micro-ATX case and save even more space.

- Keep in mind that the B360 chipset can't run the high RAM speeds. 3200 MHz RAM will be compatible, but capped at the highest speed the chipset supports (which I believe is 2666 MHz). You might be able to save some money there.

See, the RAM thing is exactly why I made this thread! Thanks for pointing this out, I would have missed it otherwise. Since only the Z370 boards seem to support the higher speeds, I've switched to a Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB Kit (8Gx2) DDR4 2666 (2666 is the highest a H370 board can support) and ASRock H370-Pro4 mobo.



- That's an excellent power supply - perhaps more excellent than you strictly need, given you're not overclocking. A 550W CX550M would do just as well.
Sounds good to me!


I've lived with the 200R for a while now, and I've had an excellent time with it. It looks like there aren't huge differences between the 100R and the 200R, so I can infer it should also be excellent. Pity the size, otherwise I'd wholeheartedly recommend the 200R, but it looks like it's a little too long.
Glad to know that you have good experience with the brand. And yeah, the size restriction is a bit of a PITA :smallfrown:


Cable management is likely to be a pain in these scenarios. "Blocked drive bays" often means "getting the SATA or power cable to the drive bays you're actually using will force you to route them around the video card. Good luck.", at least in my experience.

You might want to consider dropping the GPU down to a 1060. At 1080p resolution, that should give you 60+ FPS in most (if not all) titles you're interested in, especially if you turn off anti-aliasing (which costs a ton of power to do, and makes the game look uglier as far as I am concerned). That would save you some cash, and you'd probably wind up with a shorter, easier to work with card.


He's planning on getting a 1440p/165fps monitor - I imagine 1080p will look fairly rubbish on it. Rather than going down to a GTX 1060, I'd recommend simply switching to a different GTX 1070 model that is shorter. For example, the Zotac Mini is a mere 210 mm long.

As Silfir said, a 1060 would not look great with the monitor I'm getting. I've switched the video card to a Galax Nvidia 8GB GTX 1070 OC Mini, which fits nicely!

Thanks for the advice all!