OK guys heres what I'm thinking of getting but open to suggestions on alternatives.
I'm going to be re-using my current hdd's, SSD and GPU, Msi GTX 1070 but everything else will be new.
Main uses are for VR (Rift) and P3D (in VR)

CPU Intel i7 7700K
Mobo Asus STRIX Z270H Gaming
Memory Kingston Fury Black PC4-17000C14 16GB
PSU Corsair RM850X
M.2 SSD Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Cooler NZXT Kraken X52 AIO
Case Phanteks Enthoo Evolo

Paying a premium for 'slow' RAM there....any particular reason you've gone for that? You can get much faster RAM a lot cheaper......or go cheap generic and push for 32GB for approx £140-£150 if you shop around.

Also, my personal opinion is that the Corsair Hydro series are better value especially as the Krakens are notorious for displaying incorrect temps. The Corsairs can enable some nice overclocks whilst running at the lowest level and are totally silent.

I don't know if you've linked everything at Overclockers for ease.....but I'd also recommend shopping for the same/similar items at www.scan.co.uk, www.aria.co.uk and www.ebuyer.com as I often find that you can get the same kit a lot cheaper. (the superspecials on Aria are great)

I've also got to ask....are you trying to keep the spec in your sig as a base unit to sell on or something? Seems a bit weird to blow £125 on a 850w PSU when you already have 1000w! If budget came into it at all I'd drop the PSU and M2 SSD upgrade, shave some money off the RAM by buying faster/cheaper and also the cooler and then when the GTX 1080's drop a little further in price when the ti's are released (I've seen them for £449 recently) sell your GTX 1070 and upgrade as it will make a huge difference in the framerates for your VR and also support a higher resolution monitor in the future.

My PSU is getting on a bit now, its pre-80+ rating so I thought it would be best to get a new more up to date one.
My current SSD system drive is only 128GB which turned out to be a bit on the small size and I'm forever managing it to make sure it dosent get to full so thats what the M.2 is for. I'l probably put P3D on the 128GB SSD.
The RAM is off the Mobo's QVL list but is definitely open to revision but would like to stick to the list if possible to avoid compatibility problems.
Again the coolers open to revision too, it will be my first water cooler and I dont really know a lot about them ATM.

Yes the Overclockers listing is mainly for convenience so I'm prepared to shop around once I get the specs nailed down.
Price isnt to much of an issue, I'm not loaded of anything but could afford to buy everything at Overclockers prices ATM if there was no alternative. I quit smoking about a year ago and I dont drink so my saving have built up a bit lately
I haven't decided what to do with my old rig just yet, its just listed in my sig because i'v kept my current rig in my sig for years.

If you saw my build thread, I LOVE that case. The one I did was mini ITX, but I'd feel just as strongly about ATX.
I think the memory is fine, but I am shocked at how expensive it is there. Is that the same everywhere? About $30 more than it is here.
I like the mobo, the PSU and the SSD. Relocate your documents/video/photos/music to another drive if concerned about filling up the 250GB.
I like the AIO, but I'd probably go Corsair just to save a few bucks. I've read good things about be quiet! as well.

Do you need the i7 or would an i5 work? If you just want to shoot the moon it's understandable, or if doing a lot of rendering or compiling, but if gaming alone, maybe consider the i5-7600k and save $100.

Are you committed to the AIO? Just wondering if you've done any research how that cooler compares to the Noctua NH-D15?

Yea, its quite a pretty looking case.
Yours looks a bit empty with the ITX and 120mm AIO but I guess the i3 doesn't kick out a lot of heat.

I would have preferred the case to have a front panel HDMI pass through for the Rift but there isn't many that have that.
The Phanteks Enthoo Elite Super Tower has one but I'm not paying £800 just for a case

I want to stick with the 7700 as although P3D is better than FSX when it comes to CPU load it still benefits from a high end CPU especially when you start add thing like Active Sky into the mix too.
I think I'm pretty much set on the CPU, Mobo and probably the case but everything else is open to suggestions.

As for the prices in the UK at the moment did you hear about Brexit. Everyone's using it as an excuse to fleece us even more than usual ATM.

Funnily enough my current cooler is a Noctua NH-D15.
Its a great cooler but its huge. The Antec 1200 case I have is a big case and it only just fits. anyway I wanted to give water cooling a try for a change.

Ugh, that sucks.

Fair enough!!
I would've thought it'll fit in any "decent" sized case...

Have you fully verified that the M.2 can boot with that mobo/chipset?

I'm trying to think of a reason it wouldn't? The board looks to fully support M.2 unless I'm reading the specs wrong. Have there been issues with M.2 booting on certain boards?

Me too, I dont know why not, the drive listed is on the QVL list so there shouldn't be any compatibility issues with it.

Why get an M2 850 Evo?

It's kind of a waste. I would either go cheap SATA 850 Evo or fork out for the 960 Evo M2 if I was looking for the performance over the price.




The Jedi Master

Your absolutely right
I misread the QVL, needed to scroll down further

Revisions on the list so far are

Cooler = Corsair Hydro H100i v2
M.2 SSD = Samsung PM961 Polaris 256GB

The only other thing i'm torn over is the memory, The more I pour over the QVL and websites the more confused I'm getting.

I really wouldn't agonize over that. 2133MHz is about as fast most mobo's will go w/o overclocking and I don't think you'd notice any difference anyway.
That's just about the last thing I worry about in my rig.

Yes. If you have memory that is too slow, it will hold you back. Once you get to that sweet spot, though, you only need faster to match a highly OC'd CPU, and that's really all.



The Jedi Master

Are you saying 2133MHz is too slow? I think not, not by a long shot. No need to overclock to get faster for no real difference. That's my point.

Well after lots of reading and watching videos etc. it seems that although that memory is compatible with the board the recommended base speed for the Kaby-Lake is 2400 so it is a bit slow.

I'v watched several Strix z270 + 7700K build videos and even though the QVL only list the 2133MHz as compatible it seems that the Corsair Vengeance LPX in any speed works just fine so I'm going for the
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz
I'd like plenty of overhead for overclocking and theres a good chance of going to 5Gb with the Strix board, in fact is has a bios setting to go straight to 5 with one click.
Even if its not stable at that speed and I have to dial it back a bit its still nice to have the breathing room on the memory.

I may be a little behind but the early chipsets did not fully support booting. It's probably sorted by now.

First post from the new rig.

The build mostly went smoothly, just a couple of minor hiccups along the way.

The mobo only uses 7 mountings instead of the full 9 and the posts for the front one didn't line up in the case and there's no alternative threads in the case so I had to mount it with only 6 posts.
The only problem this seems to cause is I had to be careful plugging the 24 pin power connector in so as not to flex the board.

One of the fans on the cooler was really noisy, duff bearing I think. I had replaced all the fans in my old case recently when the old ones started failing with Corsair SP120's so I used 2 of those.

I couldn't activate Win10 as it was registered to the old rig (Retail copy) so I had to phone the toll free number to do it.

Other than that jobs a gooden

I'm still installing and tweaking but that never really ends no matter how old your rig is