Sanity check components please

[Taz]

Hi everyone,

Here's a list of components that I'm contemplating on buying to build a desktop PC for playing X-Plane 11 flight simulator. This simulation relies on CPU mainly, and of course the graphics card.

• CPU: Intel Core i5 7600K
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z270 HD3P
• CPU Cooler: Noctua Low Profile NH-L9i
• Memory: Corsair Dominator 16GB 3866MHz DDR4 RAM
• Graphics card: Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G1 650W
• HDD 1: Samsung 500GB 960 Evo PCIe Solid State Drive
• HDD 2: <none>
• Case: Fractal Design Define R5 Gaming Case
• Thermal Paste: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
• OS: <Already have Windows 10>
• Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech MK520 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse OEM

Any comments on compatibility issues or something better on those?

[kompukare]

So I assume you've managed to figure out that X-Plane 11 definitely doesn't scale to more than 4 cores.

The Define R5 is a massive case so I don't see why you'd get the SSF Noctua low profile; surely a bigger cooler would be more efficient if you've got the space.

A quick skinflint search shows the Corsair 3866MHz as being about 50% more expensive than the 3200MHz version. Unless you have found a benchmark showing Xplane11 to be very memory bandwidth limited I think that's a poor investment.

Not convinced about paying ~£70 for an FSP made power supply. 650W is most likely too much for that build. The G2 or G3 are Superflower and the GS are Seasonic and they - unlike the FSP - are semi-passive which is nice.

[EndlessWaves]

The NH-L9i is a good cooler for limited space, but in a large case like that a small tower cooler will work better and be cheaper. It will likely come with thermal paste as well.

The SSD is a waste of money, the 'faster' ones don't show any noticable difference in practice. I'd pick up whatever's cheap from a company with a good track record of support.

[Taz]

All excellent points, many thanks! I'll revisit the components list and adjust.

I want a mid-tower case so I didn't realise the Define R5 is massive! I might look at a more modestly sized case.

[EndlessWaves]

I want a mid-tower case so I didn't realise the Define R5 is massive! I might look at a more modestly sized case.

The component market hasn't really kept up with the mainstream market. If anything the cases have become larger, they've certainly gotten wider.

[MrRockliffe]

I'd save some money and get a sata SSD too. You won't notice the difference between it and PCIe, but it'll still be a huge difference between it and a HDD. PSU is way over the top. I'd go for something like a 450W or 500W, so that when under load, you're hitting the efficiency curve sweet spot. Get some cheaper vengeance DDR4 @ 2400 MHz - Intel doesn't rely heavily on faster RAM for performance, unlike Ryzen.

[Taz]

After a few more days and many, many hours of research, I settled upon the following PC components for my first build in more than half a decade:

• CPU - Intel Core i5 7600K
• Motherboard - Gigabyte Z270 HD3P
• CPU Cooler - ARCTIC Freezer i11 - Silent 150 Watt CPU Cooler
• Memory - Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16R Vengeance LPX 16 GB
• Graphics card - Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 OC
• PSU - Corsair CS550M 550W Hybrid
• HDD 1 - Samsung 960 EVO M.2-2280 500GB
• HDD 2 - <None>
• Case - NZXT Source 340
• Thermal Paste - <None>
• OS - <Not needed>
• Keyboard/Mouse - Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo

If everything arrives by the end of this week then I'll build at the weekend. I'm not usually a fan of windowed cases but the NZXT Source 340 looked roomy inside as I can remove the drive cage and it had some good reviews.