• Gaming PC Build - £1000-£1500
    12 replies, posted
Hey guys, So I'm looking to build a new PC after being stuck on the same setup for over 6 years with minimal upgrades. I've never built one before but I've looked around a bit and this is what I've put together (credit to [b]Lilyo[/b] over [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1392085&p=44757974&viewfull=1#post44757974]here[/url] for a lot of it): [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/FYRNgs]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/FYRNgs/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] [b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74770k]Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] (£227.99 @ Aria PC) [b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14]Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler[/url] (£64.90 @ Amazon UK) [b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z87g45gaming]MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] (£82.64 @ Scan.co.uk) [b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmy16gx3m2a1866c9r]Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory[/url] (£124.99 @ Scan.co.uk) [b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te500bw]Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] (£179.99 @ Aria PC) [b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-03gp42784kr]EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card[/url] (£378.60 @ Aria PC) [b]Case:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-200r]Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] (£44.99 @ Amazon UK) [b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx600m]Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply[/url] (£49.93 @ CCL Computers) [b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-optical-drive-uh12ns30]LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer[/url] (£40.67 @ Aria PC) [b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615]Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] (£79.61 @ Amazon UK) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050002ww]Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans[/url] (£19.00 @ Amazon UK) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050002ww]Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans[/url] (£19.00 @ Amazon UK) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nfs12apwm]Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm Fan[/url] (£16.85 @ Ebuyer) [b]Total:[/b] £1329.16 [i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i] Peripherals (mouse/keyboard/monitors) aren't necessary and I have a 2 TB external I recently bought so the SSD is all the storage I need. I'll mostly be playing Blizzard games/League of Legends/Dota 2/upcoming releases, streaming to Twitch and possibly recording via Fraps. I'd prefer not to spend more than what is above (closer to £1000 would be great if it's not a massive performance hit), but I do want a good PC that will last me for a good while and perform well (1080p, 60 FPS minimum on all games at near max settings). I'll probably start buying the parts in mid-late August so is there anything that I should wait for/any changes I should make? e.g. Is it worth spending an extra ~£83 for an i7-4770K over an i5-4670K, and an extra ~£120 for a GTX 780 over a 770?
This knocks the price down a bit while increasing performance. The Haswell refresh parts will provide marginal performance increases, but honestly it's more about equipping for the near future. With the Z97 board you can put in both broadwell and SATA express SSD's. Plus they overclock a touch better. You could bump back up to 16GB of RAM if you want, but if something needs cut, I'd do that before the i7 if you're wanting to play and stream and record. The R9 290 is also a hair better than the 780 for most games while being cheaper, so I'd go with that. The Corsair CX series is a model I'd suggest staying away from with high power components. I put in a Seasonic fully modular, which will be great for cable management, plus Seasonic is widely considered to be the best PSU manufacturer. [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/t9v84D]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/t9v84D/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] [b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74790k]Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] (£245.94 @ Aria PC) [b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14]Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler[/url] (£64.90 @ Amazon UK) [b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xud3h]Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] (£105.56 @ Scan.co.uk) [b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9]Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] (£56.98 @ Amazon UK) [b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct480m500ssd1]Crucial M500 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] (£155.99 @ Aria PC) [b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9290aedfd]XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card[/url] (£281.99 @ Aria PC) [b]Case:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-300r]Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] (£59.15 @ Aria PC) [b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss620gm2]SeaSonic EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply[/url] (£63.74 @ Scan.co.uk) [b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/pioneer-optical-drive-bdc207dbk]Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer[/url] (£39.42 @ Aria PC) [b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615]Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] (£79.61 @ Amazon UK) [b]Total:[/b] £1153.28 [i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i]
Thanks for the fast response Levelog. Just wondering if there's any particular reason you switched the case from a 200R to a 300R? It appears to have less bays and costs a bit more. Is it due to the increased length of the video card? [del]I also noticed that the video card says "Min PSU Requirement: 750W" on the Aria page, is that correct?[/del] [b]EDIT[/b]: Nevermind about this question, I just noticed your reply on another topic. I also take it the case fans were unnecessary? [b]EDIT[/b]: Also curious about the difference between DDR3-1600 vs DDR3-1866 RAM? They're not that different price wise so why not get higher?
It'll fit, but only with about a half inch to spare. And I didn't include fans because I'm lazy. You should get some. Also, the difference between 1600 and 1866 is extremely small, and completely unnoticeable for what you're doing.
Thanks again for the help. This is what I have down now: [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hbYPgs]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hbYPgs/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] [b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74790k]Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] (£245.94 @ Aria PC) [b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14]Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler[/url] (£64.90 @ Amazon UK) [b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xud3h]Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] (£105.56 @ Scan.co.uk) [b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9]Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] (£56.98 @ Amazon UK) [b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct480m500ssd1]Crucial M500 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] (£155.99 @ Aria PC) [b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9290aedfd]XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card[/url] (£281.99 @ Aria PC) [b]Case:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-300rwindowed]Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] (£64.13 @ CCL Computers) [b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss620gm2]SeaSonic EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply[/url] (£63.74 @ Scan.co.uk) [b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-optical-drive-uh12ns30]LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer[/url] (£40.67 @ Aria PC) [b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615]Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] (£79.61 @ Amazon UK) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050002ww]Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans[/url] (£19.00 @ Amazon UK) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050002ww]Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans[/url] (£19.00 @ Amazon UK) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nfs12apwm]Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm Fan[/url] (£16.85 @ Ebuyer) [b]Total:[/b] £1214.36 [i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i]
Hey again, forgot to mention that I'll be using at least two monitors and would like to go up to three in the future - I was just wondering how the above specs would run three 1920x1080 monitors, or even two and a 2560x1440? These are what I was looking at: [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pb278q]Asus PB278Q 2560x1440[/url] and [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/VN247H-23-6-inch-Widescreen-Multimedia-1920x1080/dp/B00A4415KG/]Asus VN247H 1920x1080[/url] x2 OR [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vg248qe]Asus VG238QE 1920x1080[/url] and [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/VN247H-23-6-inch-Widescreen-Multimedia-1920x1080/dp/B00A4415KG/]Asus VN247H 1920x1080[/url] x2
Running all 3 for a single picture? The two and 1440p would be out of the question. They all need to be same resolution/refresh rate. Unless eyefinity is different. The r9 290 should be able to push out 3x1080 without much problem. You may just need to turn down AA from max to 2x or 4x on some games.
I'd just use the main monitor (the PB278Q or VG238QE) for gaming, with the other two being used for for multi-tasking, e.g. Chrome/TeamSpeak/etc - I assume it should be fine having different refresh rates? (And thanks once more for the quick response.)
[QUOTE=JohnWallace;45341730]I'd just use the main monitor (the PB278Q or VG238QE) for gaming, with the other two being used for for multi-tasking, e.g. Chrome/TeamSpeak/etc - I assume it should be fine having different refresh rates? (And thanks once more for the quick response.)[/QUOTE] I'd go ahead and buy 3 high-refresh rate monitors. You can power down the 2 on the side and use the single for gaming. Heck, even power up the 2 on the side for racing / flying games.
[QUOTE=JohnWallace;45341730]I'd just use the main monitor (the PB278Q or VG238QE) for gaming, with the other two being used for for multi-tasking, e.g. Chrome/TeamSpeak/etc - I assume it should be fine having different refresh rates? (And thanks once more for the quick response.)[/QUOTE] Yeah. You'll be fine. I run a 2560x1080 main and two 1280x1024 on a lesser card
Hey (once) again, I just have one more question: Does everything come with the cables to connect it together or will I need to buy them too (I'm mostly unsure on the power supply)?
You will get all the cables you'll need, usually only very exotic builds need extra cables or replacement cables
I thought I would just post again with a photo of the PC now fully built (I bought all the parts sooner than initially expected): [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27872479/2014-07-31%2023.57.02.jpg[/t] Here are the final parts (the Seasonic PSU was out of stock so I had to buy a different one): [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hqc8bv]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hqc8bv/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] [b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74790k]Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] (Purchased For £229.14) [b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14]Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler[/url] (Purchased For £64.98) [b]Thermal Compound:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/arctic-silver-thermal-paste-as535g]Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste[/url] (Purchased For £5.80) [b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xud3h]Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] (Purchased For £99.99) [b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml8gx3m2a1600c9]Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] (Purchased For £59.98) [b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct512mx100ssd1]Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] (Purchased For £149.99) [b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9290aedfd]XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card[/url] (Purchased For £257.99) [b]Case:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-300rwindowed]Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] (Purchased For £63.83) [b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120pg0750gr]EVGA SuperNOVA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply[/url] (Purchased For £75.30) [b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-optical-drive-uh12ns30]LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer[/url] (Purchased For £40.67) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050002ww]Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans[/url] (Purchased For £19.00) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050002ww]Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans[/url] (Purchased For £19.00) [b]Case Fan:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nfs12apwm]Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm Fan[/url] (Purchased For £17.62) [b]Other:[/b] Aria PC - Shipping/Delivery (Purchased For £8.34) [b]Other:[/b] Aria PC - Shipping/Delivery (Purchased For £10.74) [b]Other:[/b] Windows 8.1 Pro (Purchased For £19.99) [b]Other:[/b] KOENIG PC Stand with Wheels (Purchased For £9.99) [b]Total:[/b] £1152.35 [i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i] [i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-03 06:17 BST+0100[/i] But thanks for all the help - it is performing pretty much perfectly and far better than I could've ever hoped for! Next up I'll likely be buying a regular HDD as it'll be handy to have one - [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm001]Seagate Barracuda 2TB[/url], and some new monitors - [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pb278q]Asus PB278Q[/url] x1 and [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A4415KG/]Asus VN247H[/url] x2.
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