Spec me: Budget mid range gaming machine

[HazardO]

So It's getting to that time in my son's life when it's time to introduce him to PC gaming.

My 6 core system with it's huge corsair case isn't going to be suitable for use in shared family space, and I can't really afford to completely upgrade my machine at the moment anyway, so rather than just buy new for myself and hand my old machine down, I thought I'd see about specing up a small form factor mid range gaming machine for him and the rest of the family to use.

With Pascal about to be released, I'm, looking to replace my GPUs, so one of my 970s can form the GPU part of the build.

I also have a 1200p IPS HP monitor which he can use.

I want to keep the price down as much as possible but not buy something which will be not much use in less than a year.

I present to the forums a quick spec for your appraisal/ridicule.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)= £119.99
• 1 x Samsung PM951 256GB M.2 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive (MZVLV256HCHP-00000)= £65.99
• 1 x Avexir Blitz Original Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit - Red Light= £99.95
• 1 x Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £194.99
• 1 x Asus Z170I Pro Gaming Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £134.99
• 1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black= £64.99
• 1 x Super Flower Leadex Platinum 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black= £98.99
• 1 x Antec H1200 Kuhler 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler= £59.99

Total: £839.88
(includes shipping: £0.00)
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Any obvious issues I've missed?
Motherboard any good?
RAM or SSD compatibility?
Is the cooler suspiciously cheap?

THX

 

[HazardO]

Cheers Stu, is 3000MHz overkill then?

 

[HazardO]

Ooh, missed that, thanks.

So ..

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)= £119.99
• 1 x Samsung PM951 256GB M.2 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive (MZVLV256HCHP-00000)= £65.99
• 1 x Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £194.99
• 1 x Asus Z170I Pro Gaming Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £134.99
• 1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black= £64.99
• 1 x Super Flower Leadex Platinum 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black= £98.99
• 1 x Antec H1200 Kuhler 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler= £59.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B30= £68.99

Total: £808.92
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

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For the PSU, I think I'll probably stick to something that's overkill but efficient.

 

[HazardO]

Ok then, the price is certainly looking better!

Now to start delicate negotiations with my wife!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)= £119.99
• 1 x Samsung PM951 256GB M.2 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive (MZVLV256HCHP-00000)= £65.99
• 1 x Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £194.99
• 1 x Asus Z170I Pro Gaming Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £134.99
• 1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black= £64.99
• 1 x Antec H1200 Kuhler 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler= £59.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B30= £68.99
• 1 x Super Flower Leadex Platinum 550W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black= £87.95

Total: £797.88
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

 

[HazardO]

Not worth scrounging on the MM? There was a complete system going for £400 a few days back...

RAM, SSD & GPU here - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18728353
Board - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18732119
Case - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18732022

He'll be getting one of my 970s, and I don't believe in buying second hand SSDs. I guess it's worth thinking about, but in general I'm a bit scared of buying second hand components.

Ah, the time when vocabulary matures with incorporation/copious usage of: "your mother," "noob," "big noob," etc.







The SuperFlower Leadex Platinum 550/650W may not fit or will be a tight fit in that case. It's 165mm depth and then also add the size of the modular connectors and that bit of cable. Recommend the EVGA GS model for it instead. 550W would be fine but there's also a 650W if you prefer.

The expensive red led RAM would not be seen. So the change to a cheaper kit is good. You could spend the savings on a big 230mm BitFenix Spectre Pro red led (or other) fan for the front, plus a good 140mm fan for the rear (the stock 120mm fans on the Prodigy hardly push any air).

The H1200 has been getting good reviews. I've used the H600 and was impressed. The fan is a bit noisy although not as noisy as Corsair AIO stock fans, but maybe that was just a bit of bad luck with the one I received. Something you could swap later on anyway if needed.

You still have the PM951 SSD in your basket instead of the better SM951. But yeah the latter is more expensive.

That SSD is a lot better on writes though, good spot (I'm not up on my NVMe drives). Good tip as well on PSU size, although the 550W isn't in stock at the moment (Not a problem, I'd be buying in a month or so anyway).

 

[HazardO]

Must have been a Stu ninja edit, or I missed that too, cheers Stu

 

[HazardO]

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/supe...0-plus-gold-power-supply-black-ca-038-sf.html

Thats another £18 saved, not sure how much the pc would be used for for the platinum psu to pay itself back by.

Will it fit in the case though?
Knowing my wife and children, it might be on for a long time, so efficiency might well pay off. Even if it just produces less heat that would be a bonus as it would help keep things quieter.