Which system would you ask Father christmas for?

[xoso]

OK, imagine you're me. No, sorry for scaring you, just imagine you are a guy who wants to buy a new system. You do all the general work stuff and a bit of Coreldraw and Photoshop but really you want a kick ass system that games like Grand Theft Auto, Codemasters F1 series and iRacing will fly on and hopefully won't need upgrading for a few years.

Well that's me and I've managed to narrow my choice down to one of two systems which are both within budget and (as far as I can tell) fairly evenly specced, but I'm not very techy so maybe one might actually be better than the other for reasons I don't know.

The choice comes down to a system from Scan or Chillblast who for the benefit of American members are both Reputable UK builders (oh, and by the way - sorry for today. If I could have voted I would have but if it's any consolation the British public are just as dim-witted). Links to both are here:

https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/3xs-battlebox-carbon-nvidia-gaming-pc


Chillblast Recommended: Fusion GTX 1080 Custom Gaming PC




Clearly there is a difference in price - the chillblast is about £400 more expensive although if I did get the scan system I would also upgrade the SSHD to 4tb, the same as in the Chillblast so the price difference is not so great and you do get a cool case and water cooling in the chillblast (you can probably see which way I'm leaning).

So, which would you but and more importantly why?

Need to make a decision soon so that I can write to Santa and tell him which one I want so his elves can start building it in time for Christmas!

 

[Technician1]

Re: Which system would you ask Father christams for?

Neither, I'd go with a z170 or H170 board and not the prebuilt because it makes you use water cooling and that just sucks. It's also better to build it yourself than buy it built up already.
I'd also need to have the max RAM the board can hold and the OS address, so I'd do Win 7 pro x64 with 128GB and get a board that will house that.
For my uses RAM is a key to being usable for rendering and editing.

 

[xoso]

Re: Which system would you ask Father christams for?

Hi Technician

thanks for taking the time to respond. Seeing as you have I really don't want to bust your balls so don't take offence but that is probably the least helpful repsonse I have ever had on a forum.

I jokingly asked you to 'imagine you are me' at the start of the post, not tell me what system you'd buy for your own needs.

I don't want or need to build my own system. I understand I can save money but money is not the issue, nor is my ability as I've built many systems before. BUT, I run a business from home and I haven't got time to mess about with computers or fix them if they break down. That is why I have chosen to buy from reputable UK companies who offer on-site service warranties so if anything does go wrong I can call them out to fix it.

I have no experience of water cooling ( although I know it can be a ball ache if installing it yourself) but my understanding is it's beneficial for overclocked CPU's. I be interested to hear why you think it sucks as virtually all companies fit it on their higher end overclocked systems.

I don't do rendering or editing so 128 GB of Ram is ludicrous. At most I do a bit of post production work on photos in photoshop. Currrently 8 gb of ram is fine so 16gb certainly will be. I don't know of any games that can utilise more.

Windows 7 may be a good call. I'm using it at the moment and have no experience of windows 10. However, either company will install 7 instead of 10 if I ask them.

Anyway, thanks for your response but if you have any actual thoughts on my original question. i.e. which of the two systems I've shortlisted are better, I'd love to hear form you...or anyone else.

 

[crazyman143]

Re: Which system would you ask Father christams for?

I'm not a hardware expert but I like the board on your firstbuild better as in my experience Asus boards run forever. Second build has a higher wattage PSU which is always a good idea when it comes to longevity. The CPU is slightly inferior to the 6800K in your first build, but they are both high-performance.

I think the water cooling setup in the second build looks great but you said you're a busy person and it is somewhat higher maintenance. The water has to be replaced and it can develop leaks that have to be repaired. The pre-assembled units like the one in your first build are very low maintenance and still offer some water cooling benefits.

I'd probably go with your first build. Maybe get the 750w PSU for it. Just my 2¢

 

[lhuser]

^+1

Plus it'll be cheaper as well. Like crazyman mentioned, a huge water cooling solution does require maintenance and develops leaks, but the problem is that any leaks occuring and no caught real fast will fry something in the machine.

So if I was in your shoes, the first build with a higher wattage PSU would be perfect.