Konovalov

Absolutely you would be fine gaming on the i7-7700k for now and the next 3-4 years at least. It is a powerhouse for gaming and just general pc stuff. If you can wait then by all means hunker down and see how the Coffee Lake series turn out before making a decision. My guess and it is only a guess is that Intel will release the i7-8700k and others later this year in November/December. And in answer to your post question, yes I am waiting for the 8700k to come out before making a decision on which way to go either AMD or Intel. My i7-950 X58 rig is getting seriously long in the tooth but it has served me well over the last 6 years but now it is a big bottleneck for my 1070.

Agreed. I buy a display and stick with it for at least 5-6 years on average. In that time I would own at least two different generations of GPU. Back in 2012 I went from a 24inch 1080p display to a 27inch 1440p display. Next monitor upgrade will likely be a 34-45 inch ultrawide 1440p display with either GSync or FreeSync depending on what GPU is better AMD or Nvidia. Also it must have at least 100-120Hz refresh.

Hopefully Intel will release the desktop Coffee Lake CPU's by some time in October. I would just wait until the reviews are out which I am sure will compare the 8700k against the 1600x and 1700. Also at that time we will know the all important pricing structure from Intel. But if you look at all the leaks that there have been on Coffee Lake things do look promising and it might actually be worth your while upgrading from that old yet trusty i5-2500k. And you could probably sell that 2500k on Ebay for a good sum to recover some of the cost from your new 2017 rig.

The latest newsletter update talks about detailed trains and carriages being added into the Nevada map. So I would hope that more important items, objects and vehicles are also found in the Hormuz map. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As a general rule of thumb for gaming, the most expensive component in your rig should be the graphics card.

If your primary aim is aesthetics then get the mobo which fits in with your preferred colour scheme. Otherwise compare the feature set of each mobo to determine what is your better fit. Any of them will pretty much overclock the same. It really just comes down to aesthetics, differences in rear I/O connections and things like onboard sound, motherboard layout, number of fan connectors and so on.

GTX970 is certainly why your VR experience is rubbish. Non-VR are you using a 1080p monitor or are you using a 1440p res screen? Either way with the new high detail maps such as Normandy I would suggest replacing the old 970 for something like a 1070 or 1080 or the equivalent from the red team. The problem with the 970 is that it only has 3 and a bit GB of RAM onboard. Get a card with 6-8GB of RAM. I would certainly also suggest getting an extra SSD to put DCS on. There are definitely some topics already posted on the game settings and what items within settings are best used to get better performance. Also the Normandy map is still being worked on so further optimisation/performance improvements should be on the way.

I would wait for Eagle Dynamics to further optimize the new DCS maps. A 1060 for gaming at just the measly 1080p resolution that you use should be plenty. Have you tried playing around with the graphics settings of DCS. There are some options which can really kill performance. I would strongly suggest overclocking as already mentioned by others to overclock your CPU to 4.2-4.5Ghz. So long as you have a decent cooler this should not be a problem. And of course a 700-1000Mhz clock speed increase is free performance. Who doesn't like something for free. You have mentioned most of the core specs of your PC however I can't see any mention of hard drive type. Do you have your DCS install and on an SSD. All your other specs are more than adequate.

Hi Radial9, As mentioned above you will need to enable in your BIOS the SMP profile. This is the easiest and quickest way. It is currently running at "safe" JEDEC rated speed which is pretty much what all motherboards do as part of the stock/default BIOS settings.

Is your CPU cooler fan connected to the motherboard? You say that it shuts down on startup. Does the BIOS screen display? Can you get into BIOS? What do you mean by testing your PSU? Have you tried an alternate PSU?

To buy into the X299 platform for gaming only is pointless. If need to purchase now then go either for i7-7700k or cheaper i5-7600k from Intel. Even cheaper option would be AMD Ryzen 5 1600/1600x. Or if you can wait see what Intel release with Coffee Lake hex core CPU's later/end of this year hopefully. I know that is what I have been doing since the Ryzen releases earlier this year. Plenty of reviews out there. Once below with loads on benchmarks: https://www.techspot.com/review/1450-core-i7-vs-ryzen-5-hexa-core/page9.html

Very nice. I have that exact same case in white and love it. It has to be the easiest case to build in and cable management is an absolute breeze. Not to mention cooling also is top notch with an uninterrupted flow from front to rear. Planning to refit my Air 540 with a custom loop water cooled build for my next rig.

I agree. Probably have been flogged within an inch of their life.

Thanks Ironhand. Your site and videos proved invaluable during my early days in Lockon and Flaming Cliffs. So many great tutorials like Surviving the Duel and Outmaneuvering SAM's. Well constructed videos that were easy to listen to, follow and understand. So thanks again for your passion and dedication.

Buy now a 1080 if you have to. Who knows how long this supply crisis will last.

Hi Radial9, Welcome to the community. You certainly have some nice components for your build with plenty of scope for overclocking. I would second Bitmaster on making sure that your monitor has GSync capability. This makes a massive difference to the whole gaming experience. As far as overclocking guides there is an official Asus ROG one that is probably a good starting point: https://rog.asus.com/articles/guides/the-kaby-lake-overclocking-guide/

If Reflected can afford a i5-7600k then may as well plump for a Ryzen 5 1600 over the 1500. Here in Australia a Ryzen 5 1600 costs sub AUD $300 which also includes a decent air cooler in the price. The Intel i5-7600k costs AUD $335 and does not include any cooler. Throw the motherboard into the equation and it just gets worse for Intel. The most expensive AMD B350 board I can find in Oz is the Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming for AUD 189. On the Intel side the Asus Strix Z270F Gaming retails for AUD $289 or the lesser Asus Strix Z270H Gaming for AUD $235. Any way you cut it, the AMD platform allows you to attain similar or better CPU performance while allowing you to put more money towards the GPU which is the most important part of any gaming rig.

If you are looking to purchase in Jan 2018 then the CPU landscape probably would have changed a little. Intel will have likely releases Coffee Lake CPU's to replace the current Kaby Lake such as i5-7600k and i7-7700k. Coffee Lake is meant to come with 6 cores in response to Ryzen. I also echo the thoughts of Pilotasso and the vast majority of hardware enthusiasts that the i5-7600k 4 core / 4 thread is a dead end moving forward. If you are only going to play only a few old games and none of the new and future stuff and/or don't use any productivity software then by all means however the i5-7600k is going to date seriously quickly and is almost as much as pointless purchase as on of those Krappy Lake X CPU's. What the hell were Intel thinking with those?

This makes for some very sober viewing. It appears that overclocking on the X299 chipset requires some pretty serious cooling if not a custom water loop coupled with good case airflow. This video I viewed a few days ago concludes similar:

Love the ML fan range. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don't get me wrong the H80i is a good AIO unit but the 7700k when overclocked upwards of 4.8 runs pretty hot. Something like a H100 would handle this type of overclock better and with lower noise. Also pretty sure your case could take a 240mm rad AIO cooler at the top of your case exhausting out. If you are not going to aggressively overclock then the H80 is fine. Good pick also the 1080 which have dropped a little in price now the 108oTi is out and thay is loads of power for 1080 and 1040p gaming. Good luck and enjoy.

Hi Donny, my only slight reservation is that the H80 cooler may have to ramp up to high fan speeds if you plan on overclocking the i7-7700k. And that means noise. At stock clocks it should be more than adequate and with a quiet sound profile. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you plan on sticking with your chosen i5-7600 CPU/mobo combo for three to four years and don't plan on playing some current and many future AAA titles during that time then I am sure that only four cores will be fine. However in my opinion 4 core CPU's will start to show their age with new games in the next year or so as software including games use 6 or more cores. There are already quite a few AA titles that like all the cores and threads that can be thrown at it. Also as far as your choice of the i5-7600 you are locked in as far as CPU clock speed. Strongly suggest spending a few dolars more on the K variant that you can easily overclock from 4.8 to +5Ghz.

Anyone who is buying an X299 rig just for gaming has more money than sense. As mentioned either grab a Ryzen 5 series or wait for Intel's Coffee Lake Z370 platform that hopefully will arrive in the next few months.

If you are plumping for a 1080Ti I would also suggest getting the i7-7700 K version so when you need it you can overclock to near 5Ghz. If you don't desperately need a new rig now I would hold fire as there is possibility Intel Coffee Lake (replacement for current Kabylake) could be out and they may offer same excellent level of IPC performance but with 6 cores to compete with Ryzen 5 1600/1600x CPU's.