Looking to build a new gaming PC (2000-2500€)

Hardware Build a PC
1

What I’ve come up with so far: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/3qs9pb

Budget. How much are you willing to spend?
Somewhere between 2000-2500€

Where do you live (what country, don't post specific details), and what currency do you use?
Luxembourg, €

Is there a retailer you prefer?

Would like to use Amazon Germany as much as possible, Mindfactory is also acceptable

Do you need or already have peripherals? (this can add to costs)

Need a monitor, will reuse other peripherals

What will you be using your Glorious computer for? Gaming? Rendering? Mix of both? Or is this a home media PC or Steam Box?
Gaming, 1440p/144hz is the plan. Example games would be Dishonored 2, NieR: Automata, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War

Do you overclock or want to get into overclocking?

Nope and currently not planning to do so

Do you plan on going for custom water-cooling now, or in the future?
Nope

Operating System. Do you need a new one?
Yes, Win10

Questions and concerns I have in mind at the moment:

1) Are there any blatantly poor choices in the list, i.e. parts that are known to be bad quality?
2) Current build is slightly too expensive, cutting the price down by a few hundred would be nice. What to replace with something cheaper?
3) PcPartpicker gives an estimated wattage of 465W. Is a 650W PSU overkill or would a 550W one have enough leeway?
4) How important is the speed on memory? Would I see a meaningful difference between DDR4-2400 and DDR4-3000?
5) Liquid vs. air cooling. Is one or the other preferable for this setup?
6) Should I get extra case fans or is there enough air flow?

Overall I’m looking for a powerful, reliable machine that would be able to handle AAA titles well for a few years at least. My current PC sounds like a jet engine under load, so quietness would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your input.

2

For me gaming capabilities is byproduct of my workstation. So I will only comment one thing that I'm sure off.
For Intel processors and gaming there is very low or no benefit accompanied by faster general memory.
Unlike Intel, AMD Ryzen processors have some internal clocks linked to memory bus clock.

The main reason why "faster" DDR4 memory usually has marginal influence on performance is that faster memory, unless you pay super extra, has higher cycle latency parameters (number of cycles - mainly CL parameter).
Other major contributor to the low influence of memory on CPU performance is the CPU cache, which sole purpose is to mitigate slow speed of memory.

3) PcPartpicker gives an estimated wattage of 465W. Is a 650W PSU overkill or would a 550W one have enough leeway?

In general it is best to have a some buffer over what theoretically you need in regards to power needs. I would go for 650W

5) Liquid vs. air cooling. Is one or the other preferable for this setup?

In your case, I would say air cooling - 7700K has 91 W TDP and you do not intent to OC.

3


  • Why are you buying Intel if you want to save costs now that Ryzen is available and you want a system that will remain relevant for the next 3-4 years?


  • If you don't want to overclock why are you buying a K chip and an overclocking motherboard which cost more money?

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Why the AIO Water Cooler when a good Air Cooler would give you the same temperatures within 3 degrees and cost half as much?


  • Why the ASUS Monitor when there are so many fine displays that cost less?
    If you want to save money avoid products branded ASUS.

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550W PSU is sufficient.

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2T HDD is better off being replaced by several SSDs that you can add as time goes on. You can start with a 500-575 volume, then add another when you see cut-rate sales, i.e. 250GB for $40, etc.

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Extra case fans should only be bought after you test and evaluate your airflow, then only added as needed. It's not the number of case fans, it's the overall efficiency.

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System RAM speed is important for Ryzen CPUs.

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I think in the future he does plan on overclocking.

5

He does not OC.

6

for this build, maybe. from experience, having to recable your entire setup because you spied a new GPU on sale some years later and didn't have enough power, is a right cunt.

depends on what they need storage for. i have a 1tb HDD that i dump all my music on and am constantly adding, deleting, and reorganising it. i have another one for media files which again, comes under heavy use. an SSD for either one would be a waste of money because of limited read/write.

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The trend for all hardware is less power consumption, and you can expect the next generation of GPU's to use even less power. When the Carbon Tax hits, some will not be able to afford to run a PC at all, but for those who can, having less power draw will be paramount.
This is not done voluntarily, but by UN mandate Agenda 21.

HDD are old tech, go boldly into the future!
Buy only SSD's.

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What's on the list right now is simply stuff that often seemed to appear in various build suggestions or had been positive reviewed. When it comes to deciding what part is good for what purpose (i.e. what to avoid if not planning to overclock), I don't really know. Would you be able to name similar alternatives for the motherboard, (air) cooler or monitor that'd be better options?

Also, I had thought Ryzen CPUs are better suited for those who also do other tasks like editing. Are Ryzens the optimal choice for gaming as well?

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The GTX 1080Ti you have picked is only needed if you plan to get a 4K monitor at a later date. A GTX 1080 should be fine for 1440p. In the US a 1080Ti is over $700, but the 1080's have dropped in price and can be found for $500 or less. This article says that even a 1070 is good for 1440p at 60 FPS, but you wanted 144 FPS, right?

http://www.trustedreviews.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review-performance-benchmarks-and-conclusion-page-2#X6vErQ1w0Ixw9RlX.99

While correct, I disagree. A 250GB Samsung SSD is currently about $100, it won't be $40 for a long time.
SSD prices are rising and will continue to rise because there is a worldwide shortage of NAND chips. There is nothing wrong with spinning rust HDD for data storage. I have a 3 SSD's for Windows and games and 2 HDD's for storage. I do suggest that you get a 2nd SSD later just for games. I like having only Windows and programs on a separate SSD that can be restored from backup if / when I screw something up.

Here is a tip, when installing Windows only connect the SSD. Sometimes Windows will put stuff on both drives and both must be in place for the system to boot.

10

Shopping for parts on Mindfactory or other German sites is a bit challenging if you are not fluent in the language, although I have done so in the past. It is really something that you should do yourself since sales are usually time sensitive and you need to act quickly.
Ryzen has shown to be a very smooth gaming experience and in no way is less than Intel unless you judge that by the highest frames, which AMD does not seek to do. Their approach is less clockspeed, more processing power. The same is true for their graphics cards which you will see with Polaris and Vega. Even if you don't do much production tasks, the resale value of what is the undisputed strongest 8 Core CPU in the World will be higher than old architecture from Intel.

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There is no shortage of NAND. It's an excuse to raise prices.
$40 was for a PNY which chips were made by Micron(Crucial). This is fine for storage as he only needs a Samsung for the boot drive.

12

Why would you buy Ryzen for a build that is purely gaming, with high refresh rate and a top of the line graphics card? Do you REALLY think he's trying to skimp on the processor with a 2500 euro GAMING build? Also, if you think that an I7 7700k won't be relevant for at least 3-4 years, that's ridiculous. Ryzen shines in workstation tasks, but as he said, this is a build for playing AAA titles primarily.

I would grab a 7200 rpm hard drive instead of a 5400 rpm, just to get a bit more performance out of it. SSD prices are still too high to make 2TB units economical, so a 7200 rpm hard drive would be recommendable.

You could step the cooling down to a Noctua air cooler unit to save a bit and maybe even slightly reduce noise. The included fans on the NZXT you have selected aren't bad, but they're not as good as the noctua fans.

Not much in most titles. I would just go 2400Mhz really.

I would consider a second intake fan to keep the air in the case from getting too warm. The 1080 Ti is a big gpu, that will put out a good amount of hot air into the case that will raise temps of everything else in the system. A second fan would help mitigate this, as the single intake and exhaust fans of the Define S will not keep up well without turning up the RPM.

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Yes, because that is what the OP says all throughout the thread, he wants to reduce costs.
OP if I misread you, please correct me.

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Yeah but he can reduce costs much easier in say the motherboard, cooler, hdd, and ram. Why would he take a step down in the cpu or gpu, which are the main two components that dictate the performance of his gaming rig? He could do this:

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/Npp3kT

Move the cooler down because he won't be overclocking, lower the motherboard because he won't be overclocking, and lower the memory because it makes no impact. Boom, three moves and his build is under 2500 euro. No need to step down from a 7700k and actually get lower fps metrics with ryzen.

1 Like
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https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/x398wV

Boop.

Alternatively: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/2dPzgL

Cheaper 6 core with a 1070.

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I can image this thread going sour with ryzen vs intel talk.

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Let us hope not, given it's a purely high FPS gaming build. :slight_smile:

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That was the point I made.
You should read more carefully, especially when you want to disagree with me.
FPS is not the only standard of what constitutes gaming performance. In fact high FPS can be a problem if the low frames cause stutter. See where I mention resale value.
Ryzen is a superior processor that gives a smooth gaming experience.
See Wendell's video where they could not tell the difference between the 7700K and R7 1800X.

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I updated my post.

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Does Ryzen perform better or worse in the majority of games when the cpu is the limiting factor? The L1 techs video was done at 4k, where the gpu is the limiting factor. In a lot of 1440p games, with a 1080 ti, the cpu will be a limiting factor. If you can't acknowledge that Ryzen isn't well optimized for in current games and as such doesn't perform as well as Intel offerings, then I'm done here.