New system for gaming and VR

Soldato
Joined
2 Nov 2013
Posts
4,138
Hi All

I am looking at replacing my venerable 7 year old system (i7-8700K CPU, 2070S, 16GB ram). In all my years of owning PCs (starting with a 486SX33) I've always thought - next one I'll build myself. And somehow it never happens! Partly wimping out, partly not wanting to receive all the bits and it still be ages before I have a working PC from them!

it's a similar story this time, my head is very much being turned by pre-build systems. So I thought - why not share such a system here, and ask for your guys advice? Should I be going for self-build instead? What could I get in the same ball-park, what advantage would I see?
I'm hoping this will not be frowned upon, as I am comparing OCUK with OCUK, no competitors.

I want something that will drive a Quest 3 as well as possible, and run games at high settings for the foreseeable future. In the lucky position that I can afford to go a bit daft, so here's what I've seen on the OCUK website:

What would you consider changing, or what would you build yourself instead of that? That price point isn't set in stone either. If you think I can spend less for the same performance, then suggest away. If you think I could pay a little more for a large gain, happy to listen to that too!

If there's any other info that I can provide to help others help me, just tell me so!

One complication that I can share:
My PC is in a slightly modified oak desk. it sits in the cupboard section, but the rear panel is removed, and the draw above is removed too. This leaves it with a good 120mm x 300mm gap at the front to draw air from, and completely open behind the case. It does mean that the case size is limited though.

The size of the enclosure is approx 540mm deep, 270mm wide (at it's narrowest) and 580mm tall. Current no-name case is 480mm deep, 500mm tall and 200mm wide, and it's a pretty good fit. Allows wiggle and air room around it. But a decent case with a good reputation for noise and temp control would be great. As you can imagine, in a cupboard, flashy RGB is not a priority!

I hope this is an interesting challenge, not an annoying question! Thanks in advance for any help and advice.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
22 Jun 2006
Posts
11,896
Here is an equivalent self-build for comparison. OCUK don't state some of the components, but they tend to like using Kolink, so I used a Kolink PSU and AIO.

If you made any modifications to the spec, I'd assume they weren't carried over from your link.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £3,234.85 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

What would you consider changing, or what would you build yourself instead of that? That price point isn't set in stone either. If you think I can spend less for the same performance, then suggest away. If you think I could pay a little more for a large gain, happy to listen to that too!
I'd change it to something like this:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £2,399.77 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Cooler: this.

- Larger SSDs are usually better value and I don't think it makes sense to give up an M.2 slot for just 500GB.
- 4080 Super is a lot cheaper and while the top-end ray tracing performance can be significant, on average TPU have it @ 24% faster, but the price is something like 60-80% higher.
- If you're going with stock RAM, I'd up it to 64GB, especially as DDR5 systems seem to dislike 4 sticks.
- Swapped the KF to a K, you never know when it might come in handy to have the integrated graphics.
 
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Soldato
OP
Joined
2 Nov 2013
Posts
4,138
Thank you - really appreciate the effort you have put into that! :)

I wasn't sure whether modifications would carry over, so I didn't make any. But 100% agree with you - I would have been increasing the SSD sizes.

Can I ask about the case you have changed to? Is it simply saving money because a window isn't needed? or are there any other considerations which led you to that specific case?

Am I interpreting rightly that the processor has the integrated graphics? I remember back in the day that being a mobo thing, and I guess I'd continued to assume that was the way it still worked without ever checking!
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
2 Nov 2013
Posts
4,138
I'm also on board with the idea of air cooling instead of an AIO. Personal bias - my current system is the only AIO I've ever had, and I've never quite managed to stop it having occasional buzzes from something resonating and the like. If I was being fair, it's much more likely due to the poor case than the poor cooling quality!
 
Man of Honour
Joined
22 Jun 2006
Posts
11,896
Can I ask about the case you have changed to? Is it simply saving money because a window isn't needed? or are there any other considerations which led you to that specific case?
It is designed to be quiet, but you can remove the panels to make them a mesh if you choose more airflow instead. It is very big and very heavy though, if that is a factor. I'd also suggest buying at least 1 more 140mm fan if you're air cooling, but it does have 3 pre-installed.

Am I interpreting rightly that the processor has the integrated graphics? I remember back in the day that being a mobo thing, and I guess I'd continued to assume that was the way it still worked without ever checking!
Yes, the motherboard does need the display ports though, since some motherboards have only 1, or none. Any Intel or AMD CPU with an F (-F, -KF) has no graphics and you'll get no display without a graphics card. The price difference is usually so small that the F rarely makes sense, but since the prices are changing all the time, you never know. I'd want at least £30 off to get the F, preferably £40-£50. If you have plenty of spares you might not care, but I prefer the ease of being able to use the motherboard if necessary.

I'm also on board with the idea of air cooling instead of an AIO. Personal bias - my current system is the only AIO I've ever had, and I've never quite managed to stop it having occasional buzzes from something resonating and the like. If I was being fair, it's much more likely due to the poor case than the poor cooling quality!
The main reason I change it is because of the price, since they're only £35, but it does (air cooling) require a bit more tweaking to get the noise and temps how you'd like, whereas a decent 360mm AIO should be more or less configured correctly out of the box, depending on your typical workload.
 
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~cw

~cw

Associate
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2 Jan 2019
Posts
166
I VR game in 4K and do various other stuff, here's my build for comparison:

AMD R9 7950X, £540 (consider also R9 7900X, £390)
EK Nucleus AIO CR360, £110 (I have the RGB version because tasteful colours)
ASUS ProArt X670-E Creator WIFI, £540
Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x32 GB DDR5 6000MT/s, £210 (ocUK only have the 5200MT/s kit which isn't QVLed but is probably OK)
- Vengeance SKU or another quality brand would be fine if they're on the ProArt X670-E QVL
Nvidia RTX 4090 - MSI SUPRIM, Asus ROG Strix, AORUS MASTER, ASUS TUF - basically £1800-2000 unless you can snag a 4090 FE
- RTX 4080 more affordable, £820-850 range
Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, £180 - in retrospect I would have bought a 980 Pro for basically identical performance and 20 degree cooler controller temps
Corsair HX1000i, £229
Fractal Torrent Black TG dark tint case, £180

= ~£2820 with a 4080 (gulp) but there's a few quick ways to save ~500 off that just by not going for the X670 board, one notch down CPU and a more prudent choice of RAM :)
 
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Soldato
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Kolink PSU
ew, the last modular kolink psu I had was missing some cables, and I've seen at least two threads on here about ocuk having to replace a kolink psu on a prebuild,and then the same fault being there on the pc, typically random shutoffs I think they only use kolink, because they get them cheap, and they have a good turn around for replacing faulty units
I've never had a problem with a silverstone psu though, in comparison, kolink is run the gauntlet cheap, might destory other componants territory, frankly I'm amazed that ocuk do it tbh
 
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Man of Honour
Joined
22 Jun 2006
Posts
11,896
I've never had a problem with a silverstone psu though, in comparison, kolink is run the gauntlet cheap, might destory other componants territory, frankly I'm amazed that ocuk do it tbh
You're probably right that the support for OEMs is a big factor for OCUK, but at least with the PSU in my spec, I was provided with a Regulator for a review and the specs on paper are pretty good. I'd be surprised if it wasn't at least on a par with the Continuum, likely better. I'll be keen to read a professional review when one surfaces. Most brands make some poor PSUs too on the budget end, even Seasonic have sullied their brand that way.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
2 Nov 2013
Posts
4,138
I'd change it to something like this:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £2,399.77 (includes delivery: £11.98)​



- Larger SSDs are usually better value and I don't think it makes sense to give up an M.2 slot for just 500GB.
- 4080 Super is a lot cheaper and while the top-end ray tracing performance can be significant, on average TPU have it @ 24% faster, but the price is something like 60-80% higher.
- If you're going with stock RAM, I'd up it to 64GB, especially as DDR5 systems seem to dislike 4 sticks.
- Swapped the KF to a K, you never know when it might come in handy to have the integrated graphics.

This build has me very tempted now. The £800 difference between the 4090 and the 4080S is pretty dramatic, and I've always been of the approach of buying just behind the cutting edge previously. It was only the VR consideration that had me tempted to move away from that approach. On reflection, with everything else high spec too, surely the 4080S will be sufficient.
After the further discussion we had, I'll probably try out a good quality AIO for the cooling. I shouldn't let one experience put me off.

I'll just consider the cooling a bit more, and maybe look at some other cases too to see if I have a preference.
 
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Man of Honour
Joined
22 Jun 2006
Posts
11,896
This build has me very tempted now. The £800 difference between the 4090 and the 4080S is pretty dramatic, and I've always been of the approach of buying just behind the cutting edge previously. It was only the VR consideration that had me tempted to move away from that approach. On reflection, with everything else high spec too, surely the 4080S will be sufficient.
I wouldn't know where to go for VR benchmarks, so I can't advise on the meaningful difference there, but I do know that if it was me, I'd definitely not be paying the extra for a 4090 based on the normal 4K benchmarks.
 
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