Gaming Build, £1000

Fallen god

Fallen god

Fallen god

Soldato
Joined
4 Oct 2008
Posts
6,693
Location
London
Hey guys,

Time to build a new machine, I have a gaming laptop that I have giving to my dad now, and I brought myself a macbook pro retina 13" to use as my protable machine so I need something to get my gaming done on.

I have a Samsung Evo 256 SSD which I will take out of the gaming laptop. Below is what I feel is a decent build, but I havn't kept up to date as much as I would have liked to recently. I will also need a monitor but I will get that next month and I will use my old one for now. I want to get most gaming done at 1080p with highest/ultra most of the time. I might get a 1440p monitor but I'm not 100% sure yet. Please let me know if I have left anything out or have any glaring mistakes. Also I havn't used a DVD drive in years and I install windows through USB as its much faster so I won't need one. I will also need some recommendation on a keyboard/mouse, I tend to play a lot of FPS games, 3rd person action games, and some mmo's but a lot less these days.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Radeon R9 280X DirectCUII TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £107.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case - Black £74.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) HDD £71.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x Thermalright Chill Factor 3 Tube (4g) Thermal Paste £4.19
Total : £874.03 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Maybe a better mobo for that processor, if budget will allow (after you add keyboard, mouse etc).

Maybe RAM with slightly better speed/timings around that price-range.

That's me being a bit picky.

The R9 280X is stated to consume up to 300W on load. Add 84W of the processor (without overclocking), and everything else, and it might be cutting a bit close for a 550W PSU, even if it's a good one. If you're sure it'll run it comfortably, cool. I wouldn't risk it, but that's just me and I don't know that much about power supply matters so I like to go a bit beyond what's probably needed.
 
Great choice of components there. Motherboard is a great budget board & GB have proven to produce great products and PSU us more then ample.

What cooler do you have?
Would you consider crossfire in the future?

Here is my suggestions:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard - FREE Gigabyte M8000x Gaming Mouse £139.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black (CC-9011017-WW) £78.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) HDD £71.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (4g) £6.98
Total : £972.78 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I've added another SSD which can be used for OS or Games, changed the g/card as the Gigabyte is quicker & added the thermal paste MX2. However, if you don't have a cooler, you'd need one and the paste is pre-applied.

The board will allow crossfire, but you'd need to swap to a 750w at least to support multiple cards.

Alternativley, if you have access to the MM, there are some great deals with g/card there. 2 HIS 7950 ICE-Q's went for £300, as an example.
 
Last edited:
How about an i7 and a 780?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £399.95
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £251.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 750W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (0-761345-06223-7) £99.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
Total : £1,057.36 (includes shipping : £10.50).




SLI-able. :)

Just giving you options.
 
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I take it you all missed this part guys.!!!!

I will also need some recommendation on a keyboard/mouse, I tend to play a lot of FPS games, 3rd person action games, and some mmo's but a lot less these days.
Click to expand...
 
Well spotted idle.

Xfire rig: (future)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £239.99
1 x HIS Radeon R9 280X iPower IceQ X2 Boost 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £233.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 750W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (0-761345-06223-7) £99.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x Razer DeathAdder Respawn 3500 DPI Black Edition Gaming Mouse £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
Total : £999.34 (includes shipping : £10.50).



Single card rig.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £399.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £60
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £57.95
1 x Razer DeathAdder Respawn 3500 DPI Black Edition Gaming Mouse £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
Total : £1,058.20 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
Thanks for all the specs guys.

I have thought about all the recommendation and I have come up with the below spec. I intend to actual go xfire some point down the line so I will get 1 280x now and get another in 1/2 years, there for I have upped the PSU. I also want to use wireless most of the time so I have selected a motherboard that had great reviews and a wireless chip, using the following review.

Also I checked around at some reviews and I don't think I will need an i7, unless you guys think other wise, I used this review and there is also another comparison with haswell chips here.

Also tried to spec ram that has better timings, and it does kind of go with the motherboard, never really hard of the brand.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Radeon R9 280X DirectCUII TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus Z87-PRO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £161.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 750W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (0-761345-06223-7) £99.95
1 x Avexir Gold Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21330904G-2CEY) - Yellow/Gold Light £71.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - Black £59.99
1 x Razer DeathAdder Respawn 3500 DPI Black Edition Gaming Mouse £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
1 x Thermalright Chill Factor 3 Tube (4g) Thermal Paste £4.19
Total : £1,075.99 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Let me know what you all think, I don't need a OS since I still get it for free from MSDNA and I already have a 256gb Evo SSD which is plenty fast.
 
That case has no logo or strips included, so you will either have to buy them separately or buy the case which isn't the "core" version.
Other than that, looks good :)
 
AlecR said:
That's looking very good. I don't think there's anything I'd change there.
Click to expand...

I would.

The case you've picked doesn't come with ANY fans.. Not good..

The motherboard is also overpriced for what it is.

Id also rather go for the windforce GPU. (its cheaper too)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £113.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 750W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (0-761345-06223-7) £99.95
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G213C1KBL) £69.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x Razer DeathAdder Respawn 3500 DPI Black Edition Gaming Mouse £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
1 x Thermalright Chill Factor 3 Tube (4g) Thermal Paste £4.19
Total : £1,000.87 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Thanks for the catch guys, went with your spec Doomedspeed, just 1 question why is the windforce GPU better?

Also going forward what res monitor should I go for, I'm thinking to get 1 1440p monitor, and just buy another gpu when it starts to not run so great at the res. I will also use the monitor with my rmbp for dev work so if I can have both connected at the same time that would be great. Iirc hdmi doesn't support anything over 1080p so it would have to be DVI.

Idleman said:
But it does offer WIFI and is a decent board.
Click to expand...

For the price difference I can pick up a decent usb dongle and still pocket some change so I think it might be better to go for the cheaper mobo and stay right on my budget.
 
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