My i7 8700k ASUS ROG Strix Gaming PC Build

[adam4lanry]

Hi guys i am new here nice to meet you all now i am building a "i7 8700k Asus ROG Strix Gaming PC" this is my first build i am very super hype so i also need some tips here the parts i am using. (Also please note that there are some parts i don't have yet.)

1: Corsair Carbide Spec-04 Mid tower Gaming case (grey version) "Have it"

2: Asus ROG Strix Z370-E Gaming Motherboard (Intel version) "Don't have it yet"

3: Intel i7 8700k Cpu "Don't have it yet"

4: Cooler master Hyper 212 evo cpu fan "Don't have it yet"

5: Corsair Vengeance 32gb ddr4 ram (4x8 sticks) "Don't have it yet"

6: Asus Geforce Gtx 1070 8gb ROG Strix GPU "Don't have it yet"

7: 3.5 4 TB Hard Drive (or 6 TB) "Don't have it yet"

8: 2.5 500gb ssd drive "Don't have it yet"

9: Power supply (still did not decide) "Don't have it yet"

Now i have some "Question" and i need some tips so i hope someone i can help me.

Question #1: The case i got look nice there is one little flaw in it the top of the case does not have a dust cover i am investing to get two 120 mm dust covers for that area also i worry about air flow because i want to ad two 120 mm fans up there can anyone recommend any type of dust cover that would be best ????

Question #2: I notice the case only have one fan in it so i am removing that fan and getting 5 new 120mm fans i place 2 fans in the front, 2 fans on the top, 1 fan in the rear. Now the fan i am getting maybe are corsair air series sp 120 Led Green fans or some cooler master rgb 120 mm fans now i can decide witch to go with, the corsair look super it would give my tower a interesting look as for the cooler master rgb fans they can sync with aura sync i can give a green glow plus ad some beat when i play music on my pc and make it breathe to make it come to life man the possibility are endless what do guys think i should get ???

Question #3: Now like the fans i am going with corsair rgb ram sticks they are 3200mhz (Model CMR16GX4M2C3200C16) i have no idea if they will work with the aura sync of the motherboard i chose ????

Question #4: The Gpu i chose Asus Geforce Gtx 1070 8gb ROG Strix i have like no idea if the gpu will fit in my build ???

Question #5: I have three question about the cpu fan 1: Will this cpu fan block some ram slots ??? 2: I want to place two fans in the top area will the cpu fan i chose give enough space two fan there ??? 3: The cpu fan has one fan is it a good idea to ad a second fan to it ????

Question #6: Now the ssd and the hdd drives, i have two programs "Big fish Games" and "Steam Games" the rig i am building is for games ONLY!!! anyway i am using a 3.5 hdd 4TB drive for my steam games (hope it will have enough space) and 2.5 ssd 500GB drive i using it for my big fish games, now the ssd drive i have no idea if i should go with 500GB or 2TB or again should i buy a other 4TB to install window 10 and my big fish games what do you guys think ????

Question #7: Now finally the power supply i have no idea what to buy should i buy a 750w one or higher to run all my parts ???


Now that all the question i have for now i hope someone can help me.

 

[Hockster]

If you get the Corsair fans the 3 pack of LL's comes with a lighting controller. It can control 6 RGB fans. You control the lighting via Corsair's Link or Icue software. Icue will also control the RGB memory if going with Corsair.

I use Link, I prefer the simplicity of it, but doesn't control the new RGB Pro memory unfortunately.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I was in a game, read your post on my tablet and instantly quit out so i could reply....


Our builds are almost identical so I thought id help with a few pointers.

--The VRMs on that board are kind of weak and overclocking with an 8700k will put a significant amount of stress on them as they are underpowered. I wont go into huge detail but a guy called buildzoid did a complete tear down and analysis of the boards you can watch it here. If you plan to OC then youre better with a Maximus X Hero which has the better VRMS to support such a powerful chip... For an overclocked 8600k however its no problem... Buildzoids video explains everything.

-- the heatsink you specced wont be good for a serious OC if that is what youre after. Look for a Cryoig H7 or H5 Ultimate

-- Dont do 4x8GBs of ram. that can hamper your OC and puts a lot of stress on your CPUs mem controller. It might be cheaper to go 4x8 but unless youre running an X79, X299 or equivalent AMD setup. its always best to go with 2x16GB. It might be more expensive. but trust me. if you want to get the best OC your CPU can take, this change is imperative.

-- Motherboard supports M.2 and Msata -- I recommend using one of them (or both even). I recently bought a 1TB Msata WD SSD for real cheap... For the same price you could have an M.2 NvMe that reads close to 4000mb/s compared to the 550mb/s of the regular sata. Do note that for the same price of the Msata vs the M.2 NvMe you get half the capacity. so 1TB Msata price equates to 500 or 512GB NvMe but 500 or 512GB is plenty for an OS drive with maybe a few games.

-- Powersupply depends on your budget. I can strongly recommend Corsair HX and RM units. cant go wrong with Seasonic units either.


-- Question 1 = Silverstone Magnetic Dust Cover, They come in 120mm and 140mm flavors

-- Question 2 = Corsair SP fans can be LOUD, consider Corsair ML fans instead, they are more pricey but worth it. If they are too expensive then consider getting the cheaper ML fans and getting a green LED light installed inside your case instead. possbilities are almost endless. If it really has to be green LED fans then consider Cougar CFD120 Green LED HB Fan -- I think they have been discontinued but some places still sell them... They are silent fans but still move a fair amount of air and cougar are pretty decent when it comes to fans.

-- Question 3 = They will be fine. I have the exact same rams but with the white LED

-- Question 4 = 1070 is fine. I in fact have one for sale if youre in the UK, you could save yourself a fair amount of cash. I just upgraded to a 1080Ti about a week ago. but I had my 1070 for around 2 years and paired with my 8600k it ran just fine.

-- Question 5 = Dont know. the Cryorig coolers shouldnt unless you buy the R1 Ultimate/Universal - these are both amazing coolers but priced to match their performance.

-- Question 6 = simple. your board has 2 M.2 slots, populate the top one with an NvMe drive for your OS and the other with a 1TB Msata one which is plenty for some games. you can still hook regular 2.5 drives upto your board if you wish, but using the M.2 slots makes better use of space inside small cases.


Question 7 = Already mentioned the powersupply. there are loads to fit your budget. Just make sure you get a decent branded one.


-------


Anymore questions. Just ask.


::EDIT::

Oh and dont forget to grab yourself a heatsink for your NvMe drive because they will run hot -- I got one of these EK ones for mine, it does the business.


::EDIT 2::

On a side note if you get RGB fans you can control them via Asus Aura (i think) though Asus Aura doesnt really work part of the time.

 

[adam4lanry]

I was in a game, read your post on my tablet and instantly quit out so i could reply....


Our builds are almost identical so I thought id help with a few pointers.

--The VRMs on that board are kind of weak and overclocking with an 8700k will put a significant amount of stress on them as they are underpowered. I wont go into huge detail but a guy called buildzoid did a complete tear down and analysis of the boards you can watch it here. If you plan to OC then youre better with a Maximus X Hero which has the better VRMS to support such a powerful chip... For an overclocked 8600k however its no problem... Buildzoids video explains everything.

-- the heatsink you specced wont be good for a serious OC if that is what youre after. Look for a Cryoig H7 or H5 Ultimate

-- Dont do 4x8GBs of ram. that can hamper your OC and puts a lot of stress on your CPUs mem controller. It might be cheaper to go 4x8 but unless youre running an X79, X299 or equivalent AMD setup. its always best to go with 2x16GB. It might be more expensive. but trust me. if you want to get the best OC your CPU can take, this change is imperative.

-- Motherboard supports M.2 and Msata -- I recommend using one of them (or both even). I recently bought a 1TB Msata WD SSD for real cheap... For the same price you could have an M.2 NvMe that reads close to 4000mb/s compared to the 550mb/s of the regular sata. Do note that for the same price of the Msata vs the M.2 NvMe you get half the capacity. so 1TB Msata price equates to 500 or 512GB NvMe but 500 or 512GB is plenty for an OS drive with maybe a few games.

-- Powersupply depends on your budget. I can strongly recommend Corsair HX and RM units. cant go wrong with Seasonic units either.


-- Question 1 = Silverstone Magnetic Dust Cover, They come in 120mm and 140mm flavors

-- Question 2 = Corsair SP fans can be LOUD, consider Corsair ML fans instead, they are more pricey but worth it. If they are too expensive then consider getting the cheaper ML fans and getting a green LED light installed inside your case instead. possbilities are almost endless. If it really has to be green LED fans then consider Cougar CFD120 Green LED HB Fan -- I think they have been discontinued but some places still sell them... They are silent fans but still move a fair amount of air and cougar are pretty decent when it comes to fans.

-- Question 3 = They will be fine. I have the exact same rams but with the white LED

-- Question 4 = 1070 is fine. I in fact have one for sale if youre in the UK, you could save yourself a fair amount of cash. I just upgraded to a 1080Ti about a week ago. but I had my 1070 for around 2 years and paired with my 8600k it ran just fine.

-- Question 5 = Dont know. the Cryorig coolers shouldnt unless you buy the R1 Ultimate/Universal - these are both amazing coolers but priced to match their performance.

-- Question 6 = simple. your board has 2 M.2 slots, populate the top one with an NvMe drive for your OS and the other with a 1TB Msata one which is plenty for some games. you can still hook regular 2.5 drives upto your board if you wish, but using the M.2 slots makes better use of space inside small cases.


Question 7 = Already mentioned the powersupply. there are loads to fit your budget. Just make sure you get a decent branded one.


-------


Anymore questions. Just ask.


::EDIT::

Oh and dont forget to grab yourself a heatsink for your NvMe drive because they will run hot -- I got one of these EK ones for mine, it does the business.


::EDIT 2::

On a side note if you get RGB fans you can control them via Asus Aura (i think) though Asus Aura doesnt really work part of the time.

Wow i mean wow FreedomEclipse you are a messenger from heaven Thank you for the reply now you ask me if i will oc my cpu well belive it or not i might not oc my cpu at all (not yet anyway) oh and can you tell me how do i keep my cpu to stock settings please , now the cpu fan you recommended i will take a super hard look at the Cryoig H7 this cpu cooler look promising i will put in my wishlist, also i look at the fans you recommended the corsair ml 120 does in rgb lighting that could work for my build however can i place them on cpu cooler ???

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Wow i mean wow FreedomEclipse you are a messenger from heaven Thank you for the reply now you ask me if i will oc my cpu well belive it or not i might not oc my cpu at all (not yet anyway) oh and can you tell me how do i keep my cpu to stock settings please , now the cpu fan you recommended i will take a super hard look at the Cryoig H7 this cpu cooler look promising i will put in my wishlist, also i look at the fans you recommended the corsair ml 120 does in rgb lighting that could work for my build however can i place them on cpu cooler ???

the H7 was a budget minded suggestion. If you do plan to overclock then you might need to beef up your cooling to the Cryorig R1 Universal. Get the H5 Universal. you might be able to strap another fan on the back in which case you maybe just fine with an OC.

stock settings will be there by default as soon as you have it put together. the Corsair fans should work with the H5 but you might need to get different fan clips.

I recommend the ML fans as case or CPU fans but the Cougar fans just as case fans as youre running quite a power PC.

 

[adam4lanry]

the H7 was a budget minded suggestion. If you do plan to overclock then you might need to beef up your cooling to the Cryorig R1 Universal. Get the H5 Universal. you might be able to strap another fan on the back in which case you maybe just fine with an OC.

stock settings will be there by default as soon as you have it put together. the Corsair fans should work with the H5 but you might need to get different fan clips.

I recommend the ML fans as case or CPU fans but the Cougar fans just as case fans as youre running quite a power PC.

I see i will still buy the h7 (for now) if and when i want to upgrade my "Corsair Carbide Spec-04 Mid tower Gaming case" to a bigger case like "Cougar Panzer Max Pc Full tower" (this is only a exemple and i have my eye on it) i will upgade my Cryorig h7 to the Cryorig R1 when the time come and i am still not planning to overclock for now anyway the temperture of the 8700k oc mode scare a lot (no offence).

Now there was something else i wanted to ask you i want to no more about the ram, my brother in suggested that i get like 16gb of ram (that would be like 2x8gb or 4x4gb of ram) should be enough for me since i can't oc my cpu but i wanted to get like 32gb of ram to make sure i have enough ram if there are some games in the future that i need a lot of ram do you think i am wrong about that ????

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I see i will still buy the h7 (for now) if and when i want to upgrade my "Corsair Carbide Spec-04 Mid tower Gaming case" to a bigger case like "Cougar Panzer Max Pc Full tower" (this is only a exemple and i have my eye on it) i will upgade my Cryorig h7 to the Cryorig R1 when the time come and i am still not planning to overclock for now anyway the temperture of the 8700k oc mode scare a lot (no offence).

Now there was something else i wanted to ask you i want to no more about the ram, my brother in suggested that i get like 16gb of ram (that would be like 2x8gb or 4x4gb of ram) should be enough for me since i can't oc my cpu but i wanted to get like 32gb of ram to make sure i have enough ram if there are some games in the future that i need a lot of ram do you think i am wrong about that ????

Go with the h5 universal. Better memory clearance.

2x8 is fine for now. You don't need 32gb of ram unless you're a serious power user. A gaming machine doesn't need that much ram just yet

 

[John Naylor]

Question 1 - Bill has what you need

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcnCXoB2dRjaTKkcd3l517Q
https://mnpctech.com/case-mods-gami...mputer-mnpctech-overclock-cooling-fan-grills/

Call Bill, tell him what ya wanna do, he'll send the parts

Question 2a - Are we talking 3 fans out and 2 in ? Bad idea. measurements so that a dust ilter on fan intake can reduce flow by as much as 1/2. So lets label your exhaust fan whatever it might be as "Fan with CFM X" , then the intake fan will see as little as 2.3 of that or 0.67X:

Top = 2 x CFM X = 2.00X
Rear = 1 x CFM X = 1.00X
Front = 2 x 0.67 CFM X = 1.33X

So that's 3.0X going out and 1.33X coming in meaning you box will draw as mich as 1,67X cfm thru case grilles, most of which will be at case rear. Dust being sucked in is the last concern. What's more important is what kind of air will be drawn in the back of the case up against the wall ? ... air containing the hot exhaust from your 650 watt PSU and 200 watt GFX card

id suggest staring out with 2 fans blowing in (1.33X) at the from and one (1.00X) out the rear..., this will provide positive case pressure and forcing the excess air out the top and rear preventing any hot exhaust from getting sucked back in. If you decide to add the remaining two fans on top, consider something like the Swiftech H240 X3. As is customary, rad fans always blow in.

Question 2b - Have to opt out of this discussion as I find RGB is played out and now garish. If you wanna consider performance, then Phanteks F-120SP or Silent Wing 3's. If ya need the RGB thin add the Phantels Halos

http://www.phanteks.com/HalosLux.html

Question 3 - Can't help ya with RGB. Just an old fogey here ... anything that comes with RGB, I'll disable unnless is simple in case highlights or case accents.

Question 4 - On the cards page at Asus site your new egg you sill see Card length.... or newegg
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...6&cm_re=ROG_Strix_1080-_-14-126-116-_-Product

That link says" Card Dimensions (L x H) = 11.73" x 5.28" "

For the case:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...&cm_re=Carbide_Spec-04-_-11-139-095-_-Product

"Max GPU Length Allowance = 370 mm
Max CPU Cooler Height Allowance150 mm "

370 / 25.4 = 14.56 " which is > 11.3 so OK

Check your cooler height....

Heatsink Dimensions = 116.00 x 51.00 x 159.00 mm too big for 150mm case limit
It will fit the Scythe Fuma tho which is only 149mm and matched the performance of the bext air collers on the market beating the Hyper 212 Evo by 10C

Question 5 - The budget level coolers are horrendously cheap on documentation. Id suggest a better case w/ more room and a Scythr Fuma which performs as well or better as the $90 flagships from cryorig and Noctua for just $45

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854071
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854049

Much Better case w/ more room Both $59 ... and it helps eliminate your neg pressure issue

"Max GPU Length Allowance=330 mm
Max CPU Cooler Height Allowance=160 mm "

And it fits the FUMA

The Fuma not only demolishes everything in its $45 price range it beats or matches Noctua's / Cryorigs $90 flasgship coolers for half the price.

Question 6 - To be frank, you'll never be able to tell the difference. Sure if you run benchmarks the SSD will kick ass . But if i went to your house and switched those folder locations, you'd not notice . I have done it 10 times with people, where ever 6 weeks we switched back and forth and after 6 bweeks no one noticed. SSds are exrtraordinary at certain thinkgs but if ya look at what tests are done to prove it, 18/20 tests will be somehting you might never so and the others just a few times.

If you had a toaster that toasted bread in 30 seconds versus one that took 15, would you be able to make the sandwich any faster ... you're busy slicing the coldcuts, slicing tomato, grabbing some lettuce, making the iced tea so by the time ya done, both toasts are ready. The user is the bottleneck here. better analogy would be 2 people leave for work at same time, who gets their first Porsche of station wagon.... in 20mph rush hour traffic, the Porsche isn't helping

If you open a game and stare at the screen, ypou can probably see that game loads faster with SSD. but IRL, you will be lainching the game, getting confy, grabbing a drink, taking a bio, opening discord, putting on ya hgeadset. opening we pages such that by the time you are done, game is loaded either way.

Windows Boot Times:

SSD = 15.6 seconds
SSHD = 16.5 seconds
HD = 21,2 second

Still, I put an SSD in every build... but upping ya GFX card a to next tier will have far far more impact than a TB SSD.

SSHDs score more than 50% higher in gaming than HDs.

Also note that the bigger the drive the higher the RMA rate

Id suggest a 250 GB SSD and a 2 GB SSHD ($95) ... save the TB SSD purchase for down the road when they are cheaper. Put the balance into better case, cooler and GFX

Question 7 - Bet Buy PSU wise is likely to be Seasonic Focus Gold Plus or M12 / S12 if ya don't moind an older model .... and a 500 watter will be just fine.... 550-600 if overclocking

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_1070_gaming_x_review,8.html

If budget is an issue, then the 520 M12 can be had for $35, the S12 620 for $42
Next up are the Focus Gold $59 for the 550 and $64 for the 650 watter
The 550 Plus Gold is $79 and that quality is crazy for that price.

The Focus Gold garnered 10 / 10 Performance and Build Quality ratings from jonnyguru

You can grab some nice EVGA G2 / G3s in that price range too.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=529

 

[adam4lanry]

Go with the h5 universal. Better memory clearance.

2x8 is fine for now. You don't need 32gb of ram unless you're a serious power user. A gaming machine doesn't need that much ram just yet

Okay then 2x8 it is also the about the cpu fan i am not worry about the memory clearance of the h5 universal offers but i am worry that it will take some space of the 2 fans i want to install on top my case okay then i will give the h5 universal a try and see what happens.

 

[adam4lanry]

Hi everyone i have a update on my gaming pc instead on getting a Asus ROG Strix Z370-E Gaming Motherboard with a i7-8700k i don't no if it would be better that i get a Gigabyte h370 aorus gaming 3 wifi with a i7-8700 i heard that the 8700 does not get to hot compare to the 8700k when all core are activated is that truth ????

 

[FreedomEclipse]

What sort of games do you plan to play with this build?

I dont think the temperatures should differ too much but the H370 isnt as premium as the Z370 and might not have overclocking or if it does then it will be pretty limited given the VRMS on the board. 8700 cant be overclocked either so it all falls down on budget. 8700k is good but an 8600k at 4.8Ghz shows almost no difference compared to the 8700k and the performance scales the same way even when overclocked until you reach a game that likes multi-threaded CPUs in which case the 8700k wins.

8600k will still destroy any game that exists when overclocked.

Let us know your total budget and also the games you plan to play and if you do other stuff with your PC.

 

[adam4lanry]

What sort of games do you plan to play with this build?

I dont think the temperatures should differ too much but the H370 isnt as premium as the Z370 and might not have overclocking or if it does then it will be pretty limited given the VRMS on the board. 8700 cant be overclocked either so it all falls down on budget. 8700k is good but an 8600k at 4.8Ghz shows almost no difference compared to the 8700k and the performance scales the same way even when overclocked until you reach a game that likes multi-threaded CPUs in which case the 8700k wins.

8600k will still destroy any game that exists when overclocked.

Let us know your total budget and also the games you plan to play and if you do other stuff with your PC.

Well here the games i had on my old computer:

Back to the Future: The Game

FINAL FANTASY VII

FINAL FANTASY VIII

FINAL FANTASY® XIII

Grand Theft Auto V

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil Revelations

Resident Evil Revelations 2

Skullgirls

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

Ultra Street Fighter® IV

FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster

FINAL FANTASY® XIII-2

HuniePop

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation

Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition

resident evil 4

Saints Row 2

Saints Row: The Third

Saints Row IV

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell

Now i no some of the game in my list my not need the i7-8700k however "Grand Theft Auto V" is a other story similar games need a a strong cpu and a strong gpu (i don't no if i am wrong) but i do need something to play all my games in high setting what do you think ???