Putting together a new gaming PC

[Ph4t Pigeon]

Just looking for a friend, i know theres no case im leaving that for him to pick. Budget of 800-1000 but need to get a monitor as well with that price. I have a cpu cooler here that he can use, its a prolima panther for intel socket 1156/155, would this be compatible? Also dont need to worry about windows OS he already has that.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z97 Gaming 5 Intel Core i5 DIY ATX Motherboard Upgrade Kit £325.93
1 x MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £229.99
1 x Corsair RM Series RM 550 '80+ Gold' 550W Power Supply (CP-9020053-UK) £71.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x Intel 320 Series 120GB Internal SSD SATA 3GB/s 2.5" 7mm (SSDSA2BW120G3) £59.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £10.99
Total : £768.48 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Anything i am missing other than the case and cpu cooler?
Any recommendations or parts that would be better?

Is it worth waiting for the new processor coming out later this month? obviously going to be more expensive as he couldn't make use of the motherboard bundle deal, how much better would it really be?

Thanks.

 

[snips86x]

This would be my recommendation:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z97 Gaming 5 Intel Core i5 DIY ATX Motherboard Upgrade Kit £325.93
1 x VTX3D Radeon R9 290 V2 X-Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (VXR9 290 4GBD5-DHX) £299.99
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £98.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £46.99
Total : £861.49 (includes shipping : £8.00).



PSU is one of the best, graphics card is a superb choice for price vs performance.

 

[RJC]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £229.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £189.95
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £98.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £87.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £55.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £10.99
Total : £799.44 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 

[dacads]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £229.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £189.95
1 x Asus VE247H 24" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £129.95
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 550W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
Total : £948.74 (includes shipping : £19.10).

 

[Ph4t Pigeon]

Would you both rate radeon over nvidia cards?

Is there any real benefit using a gaming motherboard or is it more of a sales gimmick?

Thanks for the help ill pass the information on

 

[Quartz]

How often is he going to use the optical drive? If the answer is 'seldom' then I suggest he gets an external USB one so it can be put away in a drawer when not in use. Otherwise the internal one just operates as a dust trap.

 

[GrimNir]

I have to ask same as above... are gaming boards worth the extra money or are they just gimmicks?

Plus I was going to use the ASUS Maximus VII Ranger Z97 board. I had read reviews on places like bit-tech raving about it, its build quality and additional gaming tweak programs. Plus numerous awards, and asus home page totally dazzles in the presentation of this board. As does the link below, makes a big deal about gaming sound quality too. Yet I'm having doubts because in all the recommended gaming builds I've read NO ONE has ever suggested this board or the maximus range. Does that mean its either crap or just not worth the money??

Asus maximus VII ranger motherbaord £129.99

Plus Nvidia or Radeon graphics cards... I know radeons are cheaper giving bigger bang for your money, but I was told quite a few games struggle with radeon cards and you have to go searching for patches where as the Nvidia plays straight from the box on everything as games are writen with Nvidia in mind.... is this right or not? To be honest I'm getting starstruck looking at graphics cards and internet reviews seem contradictory

 

[Doomedspeed]

Would you both rate radeon over nvidia cards?

Is there any real benefit using a gaming motherboard or is it more of a sales gimmick?

Thanks for the help ill pass the information on

Yeah, currently I would rate the AMD over the Nvidia, just for Price vs performance. Im an Nvidia guy normally but if I were to buy a new GPU it would be a 280(x) or a 290.

Well, there just called 'gaming' motherboards. Like Asus' 'Ranger': that doesn't specialise in protecting national parks. It is just a name, no gimmick intended.

I have to ask same as above... are gaming boards worth the extra money or are they just gimmicks?

Plus I was going to use the ASUS Maximus VII Ranger Z97 board. I had read reviews on places like bit-tech raving about it, its build quality and additional gaming tweak programs. Plus numerous awards, and asus home page totally dazzles in the presentation of this board. As does the link below, makes a big deal about gaming sound quality too. Yet I'm having doubts because in all the recommended gaming builds I've read NO ONE has ever suggested this board or the maximus range. Does that mean its either crap or just not worth the money??

Asus maximus VII ranger motherbaord £129.99

Plus Nvidia or Radeon graphics cards... I know radeons are cheaper giving bigger bang for your money, but I was told quite a few games struggle with radeon cards and you have to go searching for patches where as the Nvidia plays straight from the box on everything as games are writen with Nvidia in mind.... is this right or not? To be honest I'm getting starstruck looking at graphics cards and internet reviews seem contradictory

The Maximus range is good but Asus have backed themselves into a corner on features and pricing. Gigabyte has covered every area of the market for less money than Asus. Gigabytes BIOS and RMA are also better (I moved from an Asus board to a Gigabyte one).

Gigabyte have cheap budget boards, which support fast memory. Sub £130 motherboard with built in sound cards (high end) like the Ranger (Gigabyte Sniper). They are just a forum favorite as most people who have/purchase one rave about it, like I do. Even the RMA process has been described as a pleasure to use.

I've not heard of games struggling on the new R9 cards.

They are bit bang for buck with improved drivers (from previous generations) and with the performance to match.

If Nvidia had a slight (£20-£30) price drop, it would put them right back in the game.

 

[Ph4t Pigeon]

Thanks very much that was some good information.

Im not sure how often he would use the cd drive, i have one in my build that ive probably used about 5 times in the 6 months since building the pc.