My Very First Gaming PC..Please chime in!Post Date: 2017-02-08 |
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husky337
Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2017 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2 |
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Topic: My Very First Gaming PC..Please chime in! Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 3:50pm |
Hey guys,
I'm a long time Apple fanboy (don't kill me please! :) ) who has been thinking for the past year or so about adding a Gaming PC to my arsenal. I have been pretty happy with Apple products as I am not that technically inclined so their products are very easy to plug and play, and more importantly I love their minimal, sleek, "finished" designs. Their design ethos is really prevalent in all their products which I also really like with my iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro. However, I'm looking to get more screen real estate and I'm curious to try a Windows machine after being away from that OS for so long. My 15 inch MacBook Pro, as big as it is, is too small for me for what I do at home with multiple windows/applications open all the time. I did buy their 5k LG Display to hook up to my MacBook Pro 15 a couple weeks ago, but I hated the look of the LG display, it caused my MBP to run very hot, and it was buggy. So that kind of was the straw that broke the camel's back. Want to try something different than an iMac too. I've spent some time researching building my own PC but honestly I think for the setup I want and expectations I have for my own PC, it is a bit more complicated than what I might be able to craft on my first attempt. So I've been researching around at the different custom PC makers and I really fell in love with the Bolt 3 design, for me it is the perfect mix of sleek, minimal, and "Apple-y" for lack of a better term but I also love the glass window showing the internals and giving it a more "mechanical" look if that makes sense. I'm hoping you guys can chime in on my configuration I've set up and perhaps see if I'm missing anything critical to my build or if there are things in here I could do without. I also had some other questions. Any and all opinions are greatly welcomed, thanks a ton for your time and help. Added my questions down at the bottom. Budget: $2500-ish on the computer alone..really hope to not pass that amount if possible. My config right now I think is about $2780. Expectations: Look sleek, more "minimal" if possible. Looking to set this desktop up with two nice looking monitors, a decent/good looking sound system, a mouse, and build my own keyboard. Hopefully it won't be too noisy as I've read some Bolt 3 owners have noticed that. Also hope initial setup is pretty easy and straight forward. Usage: 70% will be general web surfing and email, 10% League of Legends, 10% coding (learning how to code currently), 10% 3D Modeling and that is it. 3D modeling software I use is Fusion 360. Special Needs: Don't need too much storage, I almost think just the SSD from DS will be enough for me to save like $80. Wouldn't watch media or store big files on my computer. Use Apple's ecosystem for that stuff. Specifications: System Configuration: Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Pre-built Digital Storm Bolt 3 Exterior Finish: Exotic Paint Finish - Apollo White Side Window: Edge to Edge Premium Acrylic Processor: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2 GHz (Codename Kaby Lake) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core) Motherboard: ASUS Z170I PRO GAMING (Intel Z170 Chipset) (Mini-ITX) (Up to 1x PCI-E Device) System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Digital Storm Performance Series Power Supply: 600W SilverStone SX600-G (Gold Plus Rated) (Supports up to GTX 1080) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 8x / CD-Writer 8x) (Internal) Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (480GB Digital Storm Performance Series) Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (2TB Seagate / Toshiba) Storage Set 3: - No Thanks RAID Config: - No Thanks RAID Card: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Graphics Card(s): 1x GeForce GTX 1070 8GB (VR Ready) Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio HPC Processor: - No Thanks Extreme Cooling: Digital Storm HydroLux PRO (CPU Only) HydroLux Tubing Style: Flexible Tubing (Requires HydroLux Liquid Cooling System) HydroLux Fluid Color: White Fluid (Requires HydroLux Liquid Cooling System) Cable Management: Exotic Cable Management - White - (Cable Combs with Custom Color Sleeved Extension Cables) Chassis Fans: High Static Pressure - Corsair Air Series SP120 Fans (2x 120mm) Internal Lighting: Software Controlled Internal + Front Panel RGB LED Lighting (Requires Airflow Control Upgrade) Airflow Control: Digital Storm Thermal Management Control Board & Software Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks LaserMark: - No Thanks CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU - Up to 4.4GHz (Depends on Cooling and Motherboard) Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) OS Boost: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Factory Reset Feature (Restore Windows + Drivers) (Partition up to 50GB of Storage) Virus Protection: FREE: McAfee AntiVirus Plus (1 Year Service Activation Card) (Not Pre-installed) ($35 Value) Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks Branded Gear: - No Thanks Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 15-20 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement) Questions: 1) Hooking up 2 Monitors to this machine, I assume that it has the all the necessary ports I could need and more to do that? 2) Their config website isn't great at helping me see what my PC will look like fully built since it's not the standard black case with red coolant, does anyone have any experience with their "Exotic Paint Finish - Apollo White"? Same with the white fluids for the cooling system? I really like the concept of a white case with white visible fluids, white cables, and black components on the inside. Will the case be metal or plastic? I tried googling images, but couldn't find a single image of a Bolt 3 that wasn't in their standard black!! 3) With what my usage will be for the next 2+ years at least, did I go overkill on any part of my config, or is there anything critical I am missing? 4) With the Bolt 3, is freight shipping a must? Or is regular ground ok? No idea with this...on all Apple products their standard shipping is what I use. 5) Does DS ever do discounts/promotions off pricing? Since this is a good amount of money I would be willing to wait a bit if its known that they do, if not no problem. 6) Any other comments or opinions are greatly appreciated, thank you thank you!! Edited by husky337 - 08 Feb 2017 at 3:55pm |
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DS Veteran Joined: 28 Oct 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1674 |
Quote Reply Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 5:12pm |
1) There will be a number of ports on the GPU. It can vary by the Add-In-Board manufacturer, but the baseline is 3 DisplayPort 1.2, 1 HDMI 2.0 port, and 1 DVI-D port.
2) I personally don't have any experience other than the standard matte black, but perhaps you can get an idea looking at their Instagram page? 3)See 6 4) No, ground is okay. I think only the Aventum and Hailstorm require freight 5) Yes, but it doesn't seem as often. Their best sales are on Cyber Monday, followed closely by Black Friday, but those are a ways off. If they'll have one soon, check out the site around a holiday. 6) I'd recommend an SFX-L PSU (the Lian-Li units)...they'll use a 120mm fan instead of an 80mm fan, and be much quieter. For your build, any PSU 400W or more should work. For cooling, if you're going to get Hydrolux Pro, get it with both the CPU and GPU. If not, just go for an AIO closed-loop cooler for less money. Asus is coming out with a new, updated motherboard, the Z270I Strix, that I would suggest waiting for DS to pick up. Don't get the fan control board. The motherboard will have all of the fan controls included. The new Strix board will have all of the LED control you need as well, just ask DS to plug the LED strip into the motherboard. The fan upgrade is only worth it if they are using the newer ML fans. If they are using the older SP fans, the performance gain isn't worth the cost. I'd either drop the hard drive or get a WD Black-series for better reliability. If you have cloud storage or other drives (could be internal or external), you can mitigate the need for a hard drive for storage all together. The 1080 can be a worthwhile upgrade over the 1070 if you're going to be using multiple high resolution monitors. Don't get an overclocked processor, unless you get the $99 5.0GHz boost (call them for this). The processor already boost up to 4.5GHz on it's own and there are built-in overclocking features in the motherboard UEFI BIOS. |
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husky337
Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2017 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2 |
Quote Reply Posted: 11 Feb 2017 at 9:50am |
Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it
Going to take your advice on those things but also wait for the Bolt X, I much prefer that case look and it seems to be coming out sometime this year, so I can wait a bit longer for that design. Will use your advice in configuring the X once it's available. Thanks again. |
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