Looking for help...

[trents]

I would say with those changes you have made good choices. Are you waiting to order until after Friday when your friend takes a look at your present system problems?

 

[trents]

Hold on! The MSI GTX 1070 Seahawk, the only ones I see come with an EK water block which would only be appropriate for custom water cooling loops. If you want a water cooled video card make sure you get one that is self contained, i.e. it has it's own radiator and pump so that it's a closed loop. I think Jeff was thinking you were entertaining the idea of a custom loop. Here's the one you want:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KXOHIZM/ref=psdc_284822_t3_B01HBG0VY0

Wait, there is this one that appears to be self-contained: https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GeForce-...8&qid=1505279623&sr=1-4&keywords=1080+seahawk

 

[TBsteve]

Awesome. Ah okay. Yes, I think I'd rather get a AIO water cooler first. Next build down the line I will give it a shot making it myself. I think I will be waiting until Friday for my friend to look at it. I'd like to narrow down the issue possibly so I can then sell the rest of the parts. Going to sell my monitors as well so I can stick to the one Samsung monitor I have in my cart. Is water cooling a good option for me or do you think I should stick to good ol' fans?

Also; reviews on the CPU I chose pretty much have a consensus that it runs hot. Do I need to have a heat sink or does water cooling take care of that?

 

[Daleon]

Unless you need more SSD storage there is no real need to get another at this point. A Samsung 960 Evo NVMe might boot into Windows a few seconds faster. After that though you won't notice much of any difference.

Personally I might consider keeping your GTX 970. Its still a pretty good card if your just doing 1080p@60hz and wait for newer cards next year as its already pretty late in the 10 series cycle and prices are fairly high right now for GPUs.

I would get little better ram:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232483

Excellent mb. Case... HAF's were great back in the day. For the price I think they are a little antiquated these days.

How sexy is this beast:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133359



If you go with the TT AIO you will have quite the RGB kit.

Some less flashy but nicer cases:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6ZP3KS9747
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68V45G2217
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68V35M4138

 

[TBsteve]

My buddy told me about the GPUs.....but
..my girlfriend and I are probably going to be buying a house next year. So I would rather upgrade early. I did a lot of research on cases and actually looked at all of those. I appreciate the advice but I think I may stick with the HAF. One question I have is should I go with a 1080????

 

[trents]

Awesome. Ah okay. Yes, I think I'd rather get a AIO water cooler first. Next build down the line I will give it a shot making it myself. I think I will be waiting until Friday for my friend to look at it. I'd like to narrow down the issue possibly so I can then sell the rest of the parts. Going to sell my monitors as well so I can stick to the one Samsung monitor I have in my cart. Is water cooling a good option for me or do you think I should stick to good ol' fans? Certainly, AIO water cooling is an option for you. But so is a good air cooler. It is up to you. If you go with air instead of water get a top end air cooler like the Noctua NH-D15. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAADY44C6006 They are huge but will give about the same cooling performance as a 2x120 AIO water cooler. One of the main reasons people go with an AIO water cooler is to free up space in the case. It makes it easier to work on things inside the case when you need to.

Also; reviews on the CPU I chose pretty much have a consensus that it runs hot. Do I need to have a heat sink or does water cooling take care of that? Water coolers use a "block" that mounts on top of the CPU and acts as the heat sink. With AIO coolers the water pump and the block are a one piece unit. As water in the block absorbs heat the pump pushes the warmed water through the intake hose up to the radiator where the fans on the radiator remove heat from the water by blowing air across the radiator fins. The warm water enters in one side of he radiator (which is the heat exchanger) and the cooled water exits via the return hose to the pump/block.

Also, going back to your list, I would definitely not get Arctic Silver 5 as the thermal paste. It is an older product and doesn't perform as well as some other brands. It is also electrically capacitive which can cause problems if it squeezes out onto the socket pins. It also has a curing time which most newer products don't. Get something like Arctic Cooling MX4. Any cooler you buy, whether it be an AIO water unit or an air cooler will likely come with its own little tube of thermal paste or come with the paste pre applied. But it's still a good idea to have a tube of thermal paste laying around in case you need to do a remount at some point.

Concerning going with an air cooler again instead of water, there are always pros and cons. Air coolers don't suffer from the prospect of a pump dying or a coolant leak (which is very rare, by the way). However, the weight of an air cooler large enough to give the same cooling power as a 2x120 water radiator can damage motherboards if the computer is dropped or handled roughly. And some of us suspect that is what probably happened to your current system.

 

[TBsteve]

I'm inclined to agree that the something happened while moving my PC. It sucks especially because we didn't end up even needing to evacuate (the hurricane glanced to the right and we got hit by the edges). I'm definitely going to go with the water cooled unit. I'll get the right paste too, I kind of just picked the one they recommended. I have a tube somewhere but I can't find it and its 5 years old lol. With that build would I still be good to use this power supply?

 

[trents]

Your current power supply is a quality unit and I would keep it if it's only a year old.

Did you build your current system yourself?

 

[TBsteve]

Okay cool. I had to replace my first power supply about a year ago that's why I got this one. But yes I did build the system myself with the help of 2 good friends. Hence why the wiring is so atrocious, lol.

 

[trents]

One more question that has bearing on choice of cooling solutions. Do you intend to overclock the 7700k? We are assuming you are and our cooling recommendations are based on that assumption. If you are not intending to overclock the 7700k then you don't need as much cooling.

 

[TBsteve]

I have never overclocked so I guess not? Unless overclocking is something I need to learn to do. I guess maybe I'd like the cooling so one day I could overclock if I'd like to.

 

[TBsteve]

Question...I've been looking at water-cooled cards and I found a couple different options. I was trying to stick with an MSI card as I have an MSI Motherboard (does it matter, really?) but I found a couple EVGA cards in addition to the one you posted. I was also looking and its only an extra $100 to get a 1080. Should I just get a 1080?

MSI Seahawk 1080
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127942&ignorebbr=1

EVGA 1080
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487266&ignorebbr=1

EVGA 1070
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487281&ignorebbr=1

 

[Daleon]

You can always see what your performance is like at stock then OC later if you want more. Like I said unless your moving up to 4K, 2K, or 144+hz your going to be pushing more FPS than you need as it is. Even as such I'd probably go to a 1080 over a 1070 if you might upgrade monitors within a year or two.

Very good air cooled 1080:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814125869

Otherwise spring for Seahawk I guess.

 

[trents]

Makes no difference at all if the motherboard and video card are the same brand.

If you can afford it, go with the 1080 card. It will give you more longevity and possibly a better gaming experience in the here and now.

Concerning overclocking, that is usually why people by the "k" series CPUs like the 7600k and the 7700k. The "k" indicates the processors have unlocked frequency multipliers and can be easily configured to run faster than the nominal factory speed. Typically, about 25 % faster and that is free speed. But it makes the CPU run hotter so that's why extra cooling is necessary when overclocking.

 

[TBsteve]

Okay cool. Could you take a look at the 2 1080 cards I replied with? I'll probably go with the EVGA 1080, unless the MSI is better. And I will probably try my hand at overclocking when the time comes!

 

[trents]

Overclocking also requires a motherboard that has the capability of changing certain settings in the bios in order to make the unlocked CPU run faster. And these motherboards are more expensive. The motherboard you chose has the Z270 chipset which means it does have the ability to overclock the CPU. If a person has no intention to overclock then they can save money by getting a non "k" CPU and a lower end motherboard with a different chipset.

 

[TBsteve]

Also stupid question, should I get a higher wattage of PSU or should I still be good with the Supernova 650 with a 1080 and overclocking?

 

[trents]

Concerning the two 1080 cards you reference, not much difference in them really. The EVGA is clocked a tad bit faster and gets better Egg reviews so I guess I would go with that one. EVGA in known for making high quality components, MSI maybe not so much, though MSI has improved the quality of at least their motherboards in the last few years and is now a respected manufacturer of motherboards.

- - - Updated - - -

Also stupid question, should I get a higher wattage of PSU or should I still be good with the Supernova 650 with a 1080 and overclocking?

Plenty of juice their for any system with one video card. You are fine with your current PSU.

 

[TBsteve]

Excellent. I think the only question I have left is regarding my drives. Since I got the free download of Windows 10 back when it first released, is there any way I can just plug my hard drives in? I don't want to lose all my information on the drives. I don't know if thats possible?

 

[trents]

1. Yes, it is likely you you can just reconnect your system drive and boot right into Windows 10. No guarantee of this but Windows 10 is pretty good about picking up new chipsets on the fly. It will then find and install drivers for the new components.

2. It would be best, however to backup your data to an external drive of some kind and install Windows 10 from scratch. You can make a Windows 10 DVD or USB flash drive installer by going here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 To activate it you would need to call the 1-800 phone number and use the automated attendant process. They will give you a new activation key. After installing Windows 10 then put your data back on from the external storage.

Whether you go with 1. or 2. you will still need to reactivate Windows 10 because your motherboard will be new. You should not need to buy a new license for Windows 10. This is legit as you are not putting the same licensed copy of Windows on a second computer (two computers) but you are reinstalling after component failure.