±£1000 Gaming Rig

Nathan94

Nathan94

Nathan94

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Joined
25 Dec 2010
Posts
121
Hello,

I'm looking at upgrading my Gaming Rig to handle the recent releases.

I haven't really touched the specs (AMD X6 / XFX 6850 BLACK ED. / 60GB SSD / 500 GB + 2 TB / 4GB Ram) since I bought my retina macbook when it first released 2 odd years ago.

So i'm looking at spending ±£1000 on parts to upgrade the rig.

I've come up with the following so far, but could do with suggestion for graphics card and anything else i'm missing!

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Maximus VII Ranger - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£34 Saving** £365.94
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £88
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £85.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £22
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22
1 x Corsair AF140 Quiet Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050009-WW) £14.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050001-WW) £11.99
Total : £790.84 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Thanks.
 
Last edited:
You seem to be missing the GFX card and drives.

Or are you going to re-use ones you already have such as the 2TB?

And finally you are suggesting spending approximately half the value of the case on fans!


Luckily there are also some handy CPU+board+16GB RAM+PSU bundles with the excellent Gaming 7 board.


YOUR BASKET
1 x EPIC BUNDLE: Intel 4790K, Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7, Kingston 16GB 2400MHz Kit, Superflower 750W PSU & FREE STUFF!! **£50 SAVING** £549.92
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.98
Total : £1,089.83 (includes shipping : £12.50).




If you don't need a HDD you can get the VTX R9 290 gfx card.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£43 Saving** £351.98
1 x VTX3D Radeon R9 290 V2 X-Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (VXR9 290 4GBD5-DHX) £269.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £99.95
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
Total : £1,071.84 (includes shipping : £12.50).




I have included a much larger SSD in both of the above as a 60Gb which I think you currently have doesn't go far these days.
 
  • Not sure why you've included 16 G of memory in the first build stulid. Just as it's in bundle?
  • Agree that the 240 G SSD is a good move.
  • Both builds have overkill PSUs - 600 W for one 290 is plenty (only uses around 250 W reference).

OP - we need to know screen resolution and what kind of games you're into.
 
Yeah the 16Gb is because its part of the bundle, the big PSU's are for dual GFX cards further down the road should he want too.
 
joeyjojo said:
  • Not sure why you've included 16 G of memory in the first build stulid. Just as it's in bundle?
  • Agree that the 240 G SSD is a good move.
  • Both builds have overkill PSUs - 600 W for one 290 is plenty (only uses around 250 W reference).

OP - we need to know screen resolution and what kind of games you're into.
Click to expand...

1920x1080 atm, games are from anything (sims/simcity/bf4/cod/watchdogs/gta)

Don't need a hdd as going to re-use those for now, just looking at an SSD.

stulid said:
You seem to be missing the GFX card and drives.

Or are you going to re-use ones you already have such as the 2TB?

And finally you are suggesting spending approximately half the value of the case on fans!


Luckily there are also some handy CPU+board+16GB RAM+PSU bundles with the excellent Gaming 7 board.


YOUR BASKET
1 x EPIC BUNDLE: Intel 4790K, Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7, Kingston 16GB 2400MHz Kit, Superflower 750W PSU & FREE STUFF!! **£50 SAVING** £549.92
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.98
Total : £1,089.83 (includes shipping : £12.50).




If you don't need a HDD you can get the VTX R9 290 gfx card.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£43 Saving** £351.98
1 x VTX3D Radeon R9 290 V2 X-Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (VXR9 290 4GBD5-DHX) £269.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £99.95
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
Total : £1,071.84 (includes shipping : £12.50).




I have included a much larger SSD in both of the above as a 60Gb which I think you currently have doesn't go far these days.
Click to expand...

Any reason for choosing R9 over 780?
 
Last edited:
A R9 290 is bit faster than a 780 (not a 780ti) and generally offers a better bang for your buck.
 
Nathan94 said:
ohh okay, what would you say was the best R9 card then? for say under £400
Click to expand...

Well the VTX at £270 is undoubtedly the best bang per buck there is.

But at £300 you also have gigabytes windforce card. Or at £335 Asus have one that comes with a free headset.
 
Doomedspeed said:
R9 290,

Though the 290X is BETTER, for the money buy a 290 and overclock it a little, itll perform the same as the 290X and you save some money. :)
Click to expand...

stulid said:
Well the VTX at £270 is undoubtedly the best bang per buck there is.

But at £300 you also have gigabytes windforce card. Or at £335 Asus have one that comes with a free headset.
Click to expand...

oh right okay, it'll have to be quiet too.. my XFX currently is like a turbine, and one thing that's pushing me to upgrade haha.
 
Nathan94 said:
oh right okay, it'll have to be quiet too.. my XFX currently is like a turbine, and one thing that's pushing me to upgrade haha.
Click to expand...

I'd say the gigabyte is best for the money, unless you need a heatset too, then go for the Asus, both great cool and quiet (for what they are) cards. :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£43 Saving** £351.98
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC WindForce 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-R929OC-4GD) £299.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £88
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £85.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Pro Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMY8GX3M2A2400C11R) £79.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £22
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22
1 x Corsair AF140 Quiet Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050009-WW) £14.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050001-WW) £11.99
Total : £1,090.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Okay, so I've changed a few things..

Ram / GPU / Motherboard
 
When it comes to Gigabyte GPU's i'm unsure if they are all voltage locked, but my 2x 270x's are, so if you plan on OCing your GPU your probably better off with an MSI or a Sapphire card.
I could be wrong though, but I know for certain my 270x's are hardware voltage locked.
 
Nathan94 said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£43 Saving** £351.98
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC WindForce 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-R929OC-4GD) £299.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £88
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £85.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Pro Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMY8GX3M2A2400C11R) £79.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £22
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22
1 x Corsair AF140 Quiet Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050009-WW) £14.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050001-WW) £11.99
Total : £1,090.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Okay, so I've changed a few things..

Ram / GPU / Motherboard
Click to expand...

The H105 has a thicker rad than the H100i and with this increase in surface area it gives better results, it is also simpler to use as it doesn't use the Link software which if you use Win8.1 is a pain.

Also again be wary how much you are spending on fans, if you combine the cost of the case+fans you can get a better case.
 
stulid said:
The H105 has a thicker rad than the H100i and with this increase in surface area it gives better results, it is also simpler to use as it doesn't use the Link software which if you use Win8.1 is a pain.

Also again be wary how much you are spending on fans, if you combine the cost of the case+fans you can get a better case.
Click to expand...

Interesting point there, will look at the h105.

As for the case, i'm pretty sold on the case as I have the space to accommodate it and the chamber design is sweet. The fans are necessary to cool the rad, exhaust and front.
 
stulid said:
You do know that the case comes with fans and so does the H100/105?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been flicking through the official owners club thread for the case on this forum and it appears as if almost everyone has replaced them, due to loudness.

So, it's a worthwhile investment i suppose.
 
Nathan94 said:
Yeah, I've been flicking through the official owners club thread for the case on this forum and it appears as if almost everyone has replaced them, due to loudness.

So, it's a worthwhile investment i suppose.
Click to expand...

I think its worth leaving the fans at stock for the time being then if it is too loud, order the fans then.

It doesn't cost any extra (exc shipping) and it could SAVE you money if you can cope with the stock fans.
 
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