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PC Gaming Build Thread


Dazey

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Recently I bought a cheap Alienware X51. It's only running a GTX 960 so I bought a 1080 with an external card housing because the card won't fit in the X51 case.

Problem is the card is so big it won't even fit in the external housing so I was stuck with a £600 graphics card I couldn't use and a pretty pricey web browsing box. 

I've decided to basically strip the X51 for parts and build a proper gaming rig and I was wondering if anybody on here has any experience in building from scratch and could offer me any advice?

 

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Yes, but before you do that - I had the same issue changing my CPU cooler from liquid to fan-powered. My new cooling unit was about an inch bigger than my case... so I leave the side panel slightly ajar; it's leaning against the case and heatsink, been running this way for about 2 years. Luckily my CPU's heatsink fan brings heat out through the rear of the case and isn't directed at the side, so this is a good DIY solution. You may be able to do something similar with the GPU.

You will want to monitor your temperatures for sure if you do this, but it's a much cheaper option than doing a new build.

On the other hand, depending on what games/applications you will be using, an upgrade from the X51 may be almost necessary if you want to run them at the highest settings and get the most of the GPU, especially thinking 6-12 months down the road. The specs I'm seeing for the X51 aren't bad, but an i7 and some faster DDR4 RAM will have a better time handling newer games. I considered doing a new build when I got my 1080, and even though I ended up not doing it, I did run a few builds through pcpartpicker: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DQYksJ 

Random tips from memory for self-building:

  • Make sure your motherboard and CPU are the same socket type, and that your motherboard supports your RAM type 
  • Don't skimp on the case and power supply, doing so could result in poor cooling and possible power failures
  • A fully modular power supply will generally be easiest to work with
  • The "K" versions of Intel processors are easier to overclock
  • Liquid cooling sounds cool, but IMO is tougher to maintain and more expensive than fan cooling without getting much benefit in terms of actual performance/temperatures
  • Read through your motheboard's manual to ensure the correct RAM layout is applied (if applicable) and get any other details that may be easy to miss (this one is from experience :P)
  • Bring a friend! It's always more fun to have a tech savvy friend assist, and having two pairs of eyes on the parts/directions can't hurt either

Honestly though, I know I just typed all of that up, but ultimately if I were you I'd sell/return the GTX 1080 and buy a used 980 Ti for about £250. You'll still be getting ~60 fps in most games and high quality image rendering. Then start thinking about a new PC when you get a 2K or 4K TV (or monitor).

Edited by OmarBradley
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12 minutes ago, OmarBradley said:

Yes, but before you do that - I had the same issue changing my CPU cooler from liquid to fan-powered. My new cooling unit was about an inch bigger than my case... so I leave the side panel slightly ajar; it's leaning against the case and heatsink, been running this way for about 2 years. Luckily my CPU's heatsink fan brings heat out through the rear of the case and isn't directed at the side, so this is a good DIY solution. You may be able to do something similar with the GPU.

You will want to monitor your temperatures for sure if you do this, but it's a much cheaper option than doing a new build.

On the other hand, depending on what games/applications you will be using, an upgrade from the X51 may be almost necessary if you want to run them at the highest settings and get the most of the GPU, especially thinking 6-12 months down the road. The specs I'm seeing for the X51 aren't bad, but an i7 and some faster DDR4 RAM will have a better time handling newer games. I considered doing a new build when I got my 1080, and even though I ended up not doing it, I did run a few builds through pcpartpicker: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DQYksJ 

Random tips from memory for self-building:

  • Make sure your motherboard and CPU are the same socket type, and that your motherboard supports your RAM type 
  • Don't skimp on the case and power supply, doing so could result in poor cooling and possible power failures
  • A fully modular power supply will generally be easiest to work with
  • The "K" versions of Intel processors are easier to overclock
  • Liquid cooling sounds cool, but IMO is tougher to maintain and more expensive than fan cooling without getting much benefit in terms of actual performance/temperatures
  • Read through your motheboard's manual to ensure the correct RAM layout is applied (if applicable) and get any other details that may be easy to miss (this one is from experience :P)
  • Bring a friend! It's always more fun to have a tech savvy friend assist, and having two pairs of eyes on the parts/directions can't hurt either

Honestly though, I know I just typed all of that up, but ultimately if I were you I'd sell/return the GTX 1080 and buy a used 980 Ti for about £250. You'll still be getting ~60 fps in most games and high quality image rendering. Then start thinking about a new PC when you get a 2K or 4K TV (or monitor).

Thanks man. The X51 I have has an i7 6700K with 16GB of 2133mhz DDR4 which I was planning to re-use.

I've ordered this case

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Carbide-Mid-Tower-Performance-Computer/dp/B017XPP9KK 

and this power supply

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-RM1000i-Modular-Certified-warranty/dp/B00YPNSQRW

but I've not yet decided on a motherboard

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Ah that's much much better than the X51 that showed up on Google. Definitely would agree to reuse those parts. I'd get a Z170 motherboard from Asus or MSI to go along with your CPU and RAM. Case and power supply look good to me, I don't think you need as much advice as you may think. :lol: You're pretty much set.

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  • 1 year later...

With Anthem and Metro just around the corner, I've just realized this will be the first time in several years I'm not able to play the newest games on completely maxed out settings. :(

I could use 1080p instead of 1440p, but I think pixels are more important and most of the changeable settings in a game. Will be interesting to see how these run on my system. I expect fairly decent performance and to be using a mix of medium/high settings, but probably not ultra/very high.

Think I'll do a new build in the spring. Question is, do I sell my 1080 and get a 2080, or do I get a second 1080 for SLI? I'm leaning the former. Rest of the build I pretty much know what I'd want, but if anyone has recommendations on anything, feel free to mention.

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5 hours ago, OmarBradley said:

With Anthem and Metro just around the corner, I've just realized this will be the first time in several years I'm not able to play the newest games on completely maxed out settings. :(

I could use 1080p instead of 1440p, but I think pixels are more important and most of the changeable settings in a game. Will be interesting to see how these run on my system. I expect fairly decent performance and to be using a mix of medium/high settings, but probably not ultra/very high.

Think I'll do a new build in the spring. Question is, do I sell my 1080 and get a 2080, or do I get a second 1080 for SLI? I'm leaning the former. Rest of the build I pretty much know what I'd want, but if anyone has recommendations on anything, feel free to mention.

I wouldn't do either a 2080 upgrade, or a second 1080 card.

The 2080 is an underwhelming card and it really doesn't do much.   

SLI is just going out of style or some such, because most games don't launch with SLI support, and some never get it (although AAA titles usually do)  SLI just isn't worth it anymore.  I'm kind of happy, because 10 years ago, I anticipated needed quad SLI by now.  I'm super glad that was wrong.

When the 30 series comes out, I think the 2080 will be garbage.  I concur with Oldest Goat, wait for the 30 series.  The 20 series is a generation to be skipped.

 

On ‎4‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 1:53 PM, Dazey said:

Recently I bought a cheap Alienware X51. It's only running a GTX 960 so I bought a 1080 with an external card housing because the card won't fit in the X51 case.

Problem is the card is so big it won't even fit in the external housing so I was stuck with a £600 graphics card I couldn't use and a pretty pricey web browsing box. 

I've decided to basically strip the X51 for parts and build a proper gaming rig and I was wondering if anybody on here has any experience in building from scratch and could offer me any advice?

 

I used to build from scratch all the way, and frequently.  As I got older, lazier and richer, I began buying premade builds and modifying/upgrading them.  The reason I'm telling you this is because there was a time when I could tell you exactly what to get, and how to build it, now I can't BUT - between how to videos on Ytube, and forums like https://forums.guru3d.com/

and surprisingly Steams hardware discussion forum https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11  I can get all the info I need when it's time for an upgrade.  Most of Steam is a mess, here I consistently get good info on how to, tips and tricks.

Another must use site imo is although it doesn't sound like you would need this because all you are really adding in is the case and not new hardware   https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2080-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080-Ti/4026vs3918 Here you can compare any hardware you want and get math results instead of opinion.  This particular link is for you too Omar, this compares the benchmark of a 2080 to a 1080ti.

 

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9 hours ago, DeadSlash said:

I wouldn't do either a 2080 upgrade, or a second 1080 card.

The 2080 is an underwhelming card and it really doesn't do much.   

SLI is just going out of style or some such, because most games don't launch with SLI support, and some never get it (although AAA titles usually do)  SLI just isn't worth it anymore.  I'm kind of happy, because 10 years ago, I anticipated needed quad SLI by now.  I'm super glad that was wrong.

When the 30 series comes out, I think the 2080 will be garbage.  I concur with Oldest Goat, wait for the 30 series.  The 20 series is a generation to be skipped.

 

I used to build from scratch all the way, and frequently.  As I got older, lazier and richer, I began buying premade builds and modifying/upgrading them.  The reason I'm telling you this is because there was a time when I could tell you exactly what to get, and how to build it, now I can't BUT - between how to videos on Ytube, and forums like https://forums.guru3d.com/

and surprisingly Steams hardware discussion forum https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11  I can get all the info I need when it's time for an upgrade.  Most of Steam is a mess, here I consistently get good info on how to, tips and tricks.

Another must use site imo is although it doesn't sound like you would need this because all you are really adding in is the case and not new hardware   https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2080-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080-Ti/4026vs3918 Here you can compare any hardware you want and get math results instead of opinion.  This particular link is for you too Omar, this compares the benchmark of a 2080 to a 1080ti.

 

14 hours ago, Oldest Goat said:

Don't do that. Make do and wait for the 30 series.

I'll upgrade my 2700x to a 3850x and wait for the 30 series. When I do that I'll get a 144hz monitor too. I'll make do with my GTX1080Ti for now

The GTX 30XX won't be out for at least another year, so I won't wait for it, though I may upgrade to it when it drops. And yeah that's why I'm hesitant about SLI, seems to not have become as mainstream as NVIDIA hoped.

Getting a 1080 Ti for this new build isn't a bad idea though, if I can get a solid used price and flip my 1080 toward it. One 1080 by itself is probably not going to cut it for newer games at 1440p.

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