# Thoughts on this PC build?



## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 5, 2018)

cpu - Intel Core i7-8700K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.7 GHz 349.99

liquid cooler - Corsair Hydro Series H100i V2 Extreme 104.99

motherboard - ASUS Prime Z370-A LGA 1151 169.99

power supply - EVGA 700 B1 100-B1-0700-K1 80+ BRONZE 700W 79.99

ssd 500gb - SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series 2.5" 500GB SATA III 129.99

ram 64gb - CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 64GB (4 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 794.32

case - Phanteks Eclipse P400 PH-EC416PTG_BK 78.99

graphics - GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 DirectX 12 GV-N1080WF3OC-8GD 8GB 579.99

total - 2288.25


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## LinusW (Jun 5, 2018)

Why such an advanced graphics card needing a lot of power and cooling?

I would have gone for a really huge and silent CPU fan than liquid cooling.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 5, 2018)

this will be for 3D rendering and animation as well.

i will check the silent fan options.

thanks!


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## EvilDragon (Jun 5, 2018)

Try not to save on the PSU, get a Gold rated one if you can. Also, definitely recommending Fractal Design cases over just about anything else on the market. They're brilliant.

And yes. Noctua NH-D15.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 5, 2018)

excellent comments - thanks.

i had to start somewhere, so i took a newegg package build and just upped the RAM.

so, i could go a little lower on the GPU and a non-water system.

will check the case and power supply.

may be doing this in the next week or so.


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## Damarus (Jun 5, 2018)

+1 for Fractal. Check the Define R5 /R6 cases without the glass side panel. Nice and quiet and easy cable management.

Overall good choices for a PC. I have the same cooler and if I had to do it over again, Id go for the Noctua CPU fan again. The AIO cooler is not bad, just not fully convinced for the price


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 5, 2018)

update:

cpu Intel Core i7-8700K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.7 GHz 349.99

cooling Noctua NH-D15 SSO2 D-Type 86.2

motherboard ASUS Prime Z370-A LGA 1151 169.99

power supply CORSAIR RMx Series RM750x 109.99

ssd 500gb SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series 2.5" 500GB SATA III 129.99

ram 64gb CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 64GB (4 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 794.32

case Fractal Design Define C TG Black Tempered Glass Window Silent Compact ATX Mid Tower 90.51

graphics GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 DirectX 12 GV-N1080WF3OC-8GD 8GB 579.99

total - 2310.98



again, can go lighter on the GPU - recommendations?

possibly an m.2 system drive 

with a 1tb ssd (could harvest from my current system).


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jun 5, 2018)

Was having this chat with someone just the other day about PSUs. I don't understand why people go all-out on everything else and yet skimp on the PSU. After all, you would not shell out $50,000 on a car and put a useless engine in it :/

Your PSU is the MOST important part of the system. If that has terrible ratings on the rails, you will have an unstable machine


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 5, 2018)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> Was having this chat with someone just the other day about PSUs. I don't understand why people go all-out on everything else and yet skimp on the PSU. After all, you would not shell out $50,000 on a car and put a useless engine in it :/
> 
> Your PSU is the MOST important part of the system. If that has terrible ratings on the rails, you will have an unstable machine



the exact point of this thread.

if you have a PSU recommendation, i'm all ears. 

i already changed it per ED's Gold Rated suggestion - 

so, i'm not "married" to any of this other than the CPU and RAM amount.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 6, 2018)

latest:


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## LinusW (Jun 6, 2018)

Existing keyboard/mouse/display/backup drive?


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## JohnG (Jun 6, 2018)

I have been seeing consistent problems with Nvidia drivers, as measured by Latencymon http://www.resplendence.com/downloads

So personally, if I were building today I would skip the GPU completely and go with the motherboard's onboard graphics. If the mobo didn't have that I'd get a different mobo -- the graphics card drivers have been a PITA for me lately.

I like ASRock mobs but ASUS is of course good too.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 6, 2018)

LinusW said:


> Existing keyboard/mouse/display/backup drive?


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 6, 2018)

JohnG said:


> I have been seeing consistent problems with Nvidia drivers, as measured by Latencymon http://www.resplendence.com/downloads
> 
> So personally, if I were building today I would skip the GPU completely and go with the motherboard's onboard graphics. If the mobo didn't have that I'd get a different mobo -- the graphics card drivers have been a PITA for me lately.



GPU is required as this will be a 3D rendering/animation and CAD box as well.

Same graphics hardware our rendering team uses for the Microsoft product animations.

Except they have 4 ganged together.

Full audio and video production with zero driver issues.


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## JohnG (Jun 6, 2018)

Ok. I'm not alone with the Nvidia problems -- just sayin.

Good luck,

John


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 6, 2018)

JohnG said:


> Ok. I'm not alone with the Nvidia problems -- just sayin.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> John



thanks!

will report.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 7, 2018)

here's what our rendering team specified:

Gigabyte X299 1 $436.54

Intel core i7 7820x 1 $469.99

Crucial 128GB DDR4-2666 RDIMM 1 $1,799.99

Fractal Design Define XL R2 1 $126.00

1080ti Aero 2 $1,579.98

EVGA 1300 Watt PSU 1 $329.99

Samsung 860 Pro 1 $213.99

WD Gold 1 $389.99

Samsung 960 Pro 2TB M.2 1 $1,257.45

Noctua NH-D15 1 $89.95

NEC EA275UHD 27" 4k Monitor 2 $1,219.38

Logitech k740 1 $63.99

Logitech B100 1 $9.19

$7,986.43


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## LinusW (Jun 7, 2018)

Whoa, that's a performance workstation right there. 7820x has eight cores and WD Gold enterprise HDD and... 2 TB M.2 SSD?!


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## chimuelo (Jun 7, 2018)

Better look at ASRock X299 w/ Optane demo from Computex 2018.
Seems they finally got it sorted out w/ Quad channel RAM.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 7, 2018)

chimuelo said:


> Better look at ASRock X299 w/ Optane demo from Computex 2018.
> Seems they finally got it sorted out w/ Quad channel RAM.




Yes!

I think i will go X299 / 64gb ram with room for 128gb later.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 7, 2018)

today's build:


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 7, 2018)

the 2TB m.2 is looking like the best option after evaluating my current drive situation.

or three.


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## Symfoniq (Jun 7, 2018)

Zoot_Rollo said:


> today's build:



I built pretty much this same system last fall (7820x, ASRock X299 Taichi, NH-D15, Vengeance LPX, 960 Pro), so I can vouch that it's a good build. Mine has been rock-solid from the beginning. Here are the few differences between your build and mine:


I used a Seasonic Platinum 750 watt power supply (because I never skimp on power supplies)
I used DDR-2666 Vengeance LPX (not 2400)
I used a GTX 1080 (non-Ti)
I used a Fractal Define C (instead of an R5, which I used on my last build) for better airflow
I replaced the stock front fans in the Define C with two 140mm Noctuas, and the rear stock fan with a 120mm Noctua, resulting in an almost silent system under typical loads
After some experimenting, I've settled on a 4.4 GHz overclock of all cores at only 1.050 vcore. Temps idle at around 40C with 30% fan duty and reach the low 70s C at ~80% fan duty in AIDA64 stress testing. Mesh speed is stock, RAM is using stock XMP profile. LatencyMon reports outstanding results.

Happy building!


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 7, 2018)

Symfoniq said:


> I built pretty much this same system last fall (7820x, ASRock X299 Taichi, NH-D15, Vengeance LPX, 960 Pro), so I can vouch that it's a good build. Mine has been rock-solid from the beginning. Here are the few differences between your build and mine:
> 
> 
> I used a Seasonic Platinum 750 watt power supply (because I never skimp on power supplies)
> ...




excellent timing with your post, my last effort was to double check all the components before ordering.

great info, THANK YOU!!!

should be quite the boost up from my current i7-4700HQ @ 2.4GHz with 16gb RAM.


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## Symfoniq (Jun 7, 2018)

Zoot_Rollo said:


> excellent timing with your post, my last effort was to double check all the components before ordering.
> 
> great info, THANK YOU!!!
> 
> should be quite the boost up from my current i7-4700HQ @ 2.4GHz with 16gb RAM.



That will indeed be quite an upgrade!

One thing to note about the Define C is that is does away with a lot of the front drive bays, so if you have tons of 2.5" drives, the R5 might be a better way to go. I'm running two NVMe drives on the motherboard and three 2.5" SSDs behind it, so the Define C was adequate for me, with the benefit of better airflow unimpeded by unused front drive bays. But I own both cases (the R5 is still in service), and they're both excellent and very quiet.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 7, 2018)

didn't see the Define C on picker. i have a few drives, but i plan on filling the m.2s over time.

EVGA is recommended by my rendering team lead - he said they are probably all great rated gold and above.

going 1080 Ti - just to fit in.

may as well just go for it with the RAM while i'm at it.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 9, 2018)

today's final order:

Intel Core i7-7820X X-Series 3.6 GHz 8-Core LGA 2066 Processor 

Samsung 2TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD - Quantity - 2

Corsair HXi Series HX1000i 1000W 80 Plus Platinum Certified PSU ATX Power Supply Unit (Black)

Noctua NH-D15 SSO2 D-Type Premium CPU Cooler

EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 GAMING, 11G-P4-6593-KR, 11GB GDDR5X

CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 64GB (4 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666

ASRock X299 TAICHI XE LGA 2066 Intel X299 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard

Fractal Design Define C TG Black Tempered Glass Window Silent Compact ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

-

should deliver next Thursday.

thanks for all the comments and suggestions!


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 10, 2018)

update:

swapped the RAM for low profile Corsair Vengeance LPX to fit with the NH-D15 cooler.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 14, 2018)

just fired her up, M.2 drives were right there, installed Win 10 Pro, graphics driver.

boom.

i expected a jet engine with the fans - quietest system i've ever had.

now i just need to install all my ilok, elicenser, waves, etc...

thought this would be a nightmare build, especially the BIOS -

BUT surprisingly , very simple and straightforward.

Fractal Define C case is very nice!

Noctua fans installed front and rear after this pic.

i smell a 3rd 2tb m.2 in the not too distant...


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