New Gaming Rig - £1600+ Advice Needed

vguzzi.dev

vguzzi.dev

vguzzi.dev

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Hi Everyone!

After starting my first job outside of university I finally have the funds to build a new gaming PC. I have done a lot of research into lots of different parts but a friend recommended that I post here to get some more advice or maybe better alternatives!

Background
I am somewhat of an enthusiast and I am not looking for a budget build, however if I am paying way more than I should for a specific part I would prefer the alternative. I will be using my PC mostly for software development and gaming and I want to eventually buy a decent 4k monitor and a second graphics card to support it. Below is what I have mocked up so far, any suggestions will be appreciated as I have only built one gaming PC and that was 5 years ago.

Computer Parts

GPU
After doing a lot of research the GTX 780 Ti seemed like the best choice for me. Eventually I could buy a second GTX 780 Ti when I buy my 4k monitor. But I couldn't decide on which 780 Ti to get. At first I thought the ZOTAC was the best option, it is also the cheapest;

http://www.zotac.com/products/graph.../gtx-780-ti/detail/geforce-gtx-780-ti-oc.html

However after doing more digging the EVGA model seemed best (however this is £150 more expensive!!).

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 780Ti Dual Classified ACX 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (03G-P4-2888-KR) £599.99
Total : £609.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



I do not know wether the classified version is worth that extra cost? I would be spending about £200 more if I got the classified EVGA version than I would have done with the ZOTAC OC version, is it really worth it? Is the Ti even worth the extra £150 than the 780? Bearing in mind that I do want it future proofed and ready for 4k gaming.

CPU
The CPU which I think will be best for me is a haswell 4790k which I would buy a water cooler for and overclock eventually. However from reading this article; http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...00-ultra-hd-monitor-ssd-and-windows-included/ it opened my eyes to maybe getting an AMD FX-8350 CPU. My current system is intel so I don't know much about AMD, I've also read that intel is better at the moment? Which would be best?

Motherboard
I want a decent future proof motherboard with a good Wi-Fi adapter and sound card. At first I had down the ARock Z87 Extreme11 motherboard, however after comparing the extreme9 and extreme6 I don't see the point in paying so much extra for an extreme11, so I changed it to an extreme6.

RAM
G.Skill Trident X 2x8GB seemed like the best option for this build as they apparently run better with haswell CPU's.

PSU
Cooler master v850. Would I need a bigger PSU if I am going to future proof my PC for 4k gaming? Maybe a v1000 one?

Hard Drive
YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 512GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD512BW) £309.98
Total : £319.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Is the pro worth the extra cost? I was going to get a Corsair SSD which was half the price but from reading lots of reviews on this SSD people are saying its worth it.

Case
I have no idea on which case I want. I am willing to not skimp out on it as I want this case to last more than one build and be very future proof. I want it to have a clear panel and have easy access to the PC components (I've seen a few cases with a handle to just open the case which look nice).

Conclusion
Below is a full list of what I've got so far excluding the case and CPU cooler.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 780Ti Dual Classified ACX 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (03G-P4-2888-KR) £599.99
1 x Samsung 512GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD512BW) £309.98
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £259.99
1 x ARock’s Z87 Extreme9 - £256
1 x G.Skill Trident X 2x8GB - £140
1 x Cooler Master V850 - £135


For the CPU cooler I was thinking of the h100i.

Any recommendations really appreciated, even if everythings different. Is the 780Ti worth it? And is the extra £100+ worth it for the classified and classified KINGPIN editions of EVGA? What case should I buy? Any 4k monitor suggestions? I was also thinking of getting an Astro A40 audio system headset this weekend. For the PC tower I wouldn't really like to stretch over £2000 but if there is a lot of reason to wait and save for an extra month then I'll do it! - Also that being said I wouldn't mind spending more like £1000 if any extra isn't really worth it.

Thank you so much for your help!



EDIT: Finalized List! (end of page 2)

Below is my finalized list. Any advice appreciated. Will everything fit correctly into the PSU and everything else? Have I listed something which won't be compatible with the other?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780Ti GHz Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N78TGHZ-3GD) £569.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor & Corsair H100i CPU Cooler Bundle £340
1 x Samsung 512GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND (MZ-7KE512BW) £282.98
1 x MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard **FREE SteelSeries Headset** £202.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 760T Windowed Full Tower Gaming Case - Black (CC-9011044-WW) £144.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £125.99
1 x Silverstone LED Light Strips - White £10.25
1 x Silverstone LED Light Strips - Red £10.25
1 x G.Skill TridentX series 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3 1600MHz Memory £121.65
Total : £1,825.54 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Thanks for everyone for helping me put this together.. It's strange how the new Samsung 850 pro is going to be cheaper than the 840 pro :| I wonder why.. Also I'm only gonna get the gaming 9 if the headset deal is still on and I'm going to sell the headset.. If the deal has finished when I come to buying then I'm gonna get the Gaming 5 or 7 instead. Also, I picked this PSU as the reviews were good and its future proofing, I hope it's good!
 
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Hi and welcome.

It seems like you've done a fair bit of research.

Ill give you my POV on what i'd do with your needs/budget.

CPU - 4790k is perfect. That article of Forbes' is just rubbish. Yes it can handle games and stresming (due it extra threads but so can the 4790k). They have the same amount of Virtual cores (8) as each other. Where the FX CPU's fall down is single threaded performance. Which most games are based on.. The 4790k wins that.

Motherboard - Great on board sound? Ability to SLI. That screams Sniper to me. See those green capacitors? Thats where the sound comes from, it is truely stunning (appearently). Though its not wireless so you will need either a USB adaptor, wireless card or powerline adaptors. :)

GPU: Yes, 780ti. This DCUII is perfect, i love these Asus cards. :)

PSU: There are only a few brands id suggest for people buying a (new) PSU. These are Seasonic, Silverstone, Superflower, EVGA and NZXT (Hale 90). The rest are either overpriced or just poor. 1000w will be enough for SLI. :)

SSD: The 850 Pro, will be released soon. I think 256GB is enough.

Case: It may be expensive but this is a stunner of a case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCU II 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor & Corsair H100i CPU Cooler Bundle £340
1 x Corsair Graphite 760T Windowed Full Tower Gaming Case - White (CC-9011045-WW) £152.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND (MZ-7KE256BW) £142.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/16-OC) £129.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £125.99
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £42.98
1 x TP-Link AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit (TL-PA411KIT) £29.99
Total : £1,581.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).



What do you think? :)
 
Doomedspeed said:
Hi and welcome.

It seems like you've done a fair bit of research.

Ill give you my POV on what i'd do with your needs/budget.

CPU - 4790k is perfect. That article of Forbes' is just rubbish. Yes it can handle games and stresming (due it extra threads but so can the 4790k). They have the same amount of Virtual cores (8) as each other. Where the FX CPU's fall down is single threaded performance. Which most games are based on.. The 4790k wins that.

Motherboard - Great on board sound? Ability to SLI. That screams Sniper to me. See those green capacitors? Thats where the sound comes from, it is truely stunning (appearently). Though its not wireless so you will need either a USB adaptor, wireless card or powerline adaptors. :)

GPU: Yes, 780ti. This DCUII is perfect, i love these Asus cards. :)

PSU: There are only a few brands id suggest for people buying a (new) PSU. These are Seasonic, Silverstone, Superflower, EVGA and NZXT (Hale 90). The rest are either overpriced or just poor. 1000w will be enough for SLI. :)

SSD: The 850 Pro, will be released soon. I think 256GB is enough.

Case: It may be expensive but this is a stunner of a case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCU II 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor & Corsair H100i CPU Cooler Bundle £340
1 x Corsair Graphite 760T Windowed Full Tower Gaming Case - White (CC-9011045-WW) £152.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND (MZ-7KE256BW) £142.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/16-OC) £129.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £125.99
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £42.98
1 x TP-Link AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit (TL-PA411KIT) £29.99
Total : £1,581.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).



What do you think? :)
Click to expand...

Wow, that case looks perfect! Thank you so much :)

Everything else looks nice too, I don't understand what the TP link things are, they are just to boost the Wi-Fi signal from my router? I will still need to buy an adapter if I get the motherboard you suggested? I really wanted a motherboard with a Wi-Fi adapter built in as I've spent so much money on my current system buying external USB ones, I also bought a £60 internal one but they've all been rubbish!

I'm guessing it's not worth paying the ridiculous amounts extra for the £650+ versions of the 780 Ti then? Nice find with the Asus one! I thought only the ZOTAC was below £500.

Also is the RAM you suggested better than G.Skill Trident? PSU looks nice too :) thanks for your help!
 
vguzzi.dev said:
Wow, that case looks perfect! Thank you so much :)
Click to expand...

No worries. Yeah that case is quite expensive but its a show stopper. The whole window/door thing is sublime, shows off your whole system and makes it easy to get to things (like you wanted). You'll have to do some good cable management though. :)

vguzzi.dev said:
Everything else looks nice too, I don't understand what the TP link things are, they are just to boost the Wi-Fi signal from my router? I will still need to buy an adapter if I get the motherboard you suggested? I really wanted a motherboard with a Wi-Fi adapter built in as I've spent so much money on my current system buying external USB ones, I also bought a £60 internal one but they've all been rubbish!
Click to expand...

Yeah, Thats a powerline adapter. Its new to me too but my friend has had one for ayears now and swears by it, basically its 'ethernet cable splitter' if you pardon the crudness of words. It goes, Modem > Powerline 1 via ethernet, then Powerline 2 to PC (via ethernet). The two adaptors are connected by the wiring in the house (plug sockets). They are solid house bricks appearently and i can see why. :) No messy installations either. :). If i were in the market i'd go for them.

vguzzi.dev said:
I'm guessing it's not worth paying the ridiculous amounts extra for the £650+ versions of the 780 Ti then? Nice find with the Asus one! I thought only the ZOTAC was below £500.
Click to expand...

Yeah the DCUII is prefect, a top range colour for pocket money, comparatively.
.
vguzzi.dev said:
Also is the RAM you suggested better than G.Skill Trident? PSU looks nice too :) thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

Kingston are a great brand, i don't rate G skill really. It depends on the speed the G skills were, these HyperX's are 2400mhz, so super fast. The Timings aren't great but that won't matter (and you can tighten them if you wish).

I went for a red/black theme too and you can extend that with extra fans and cables, the silverstone extension cables (black/red) would set it off a bit..
 
Ahh the TP link's sound awesome! Forgot to ask about the SSD. I was going to just bite the bullet and spend a little bit extra on the 500GB version and not have an extra hard drive (and I would buy another one eventually if I need it). The reason being because I wanted to install a lot of my steam games on it, and I have a lot of steam games so the 240GB one wouldn't hold that many, or is it not worth it? You think I should wait for the 850 too?
 
vguzzi.dev said:
Ahh the TP link's sound awesome! Forgot to ask about the SSD. I was going to just bite the bullet and spend a little bit extra on the 500GB version and not have an extra hard drive (and I would buy another one eventually if I need it). The reason being because I wanted to install a lot of my steam games on it, and I have a lot of steam games so the 240GB one wouldn't hold that many, or is it not worth it? You think I should wait for the 850 too?
Click to expand...

Okay, i see you're thinking. Personally i still think 250GB (ish) is more than enough.

The 850 is certainly worth the wait IMO, though if you want a more budget friendly (which is nearly as good as the 850 PRO) the Samsung EVO's are sublime. Cheap for what they are too.
 
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Or you could go with option number 2 and have some orange in your life :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780Ti WindForce 3x OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N78TOC-3GD) £529.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £259.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £139.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD316G2133HC11ADC01) £119.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £99.95
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) £88.00
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
2 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £41.98 (£83.96)
1 x TP-Link AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit (TL-PA411KIT) £29.99
2 x Silverstone LED Light Strips - White £10.25 (£20.50)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Orange £8.99
6 x Alpenföhn 120mm Wing Boost 2 Plus PWM fan - Orange £8.45 (£50.70)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Orange £5.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 6+2-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved orange/black £5.99 (£11.98)
2 x BitFenix Alchemy Molex to 3pin x3 Fan adaptor 7V 20cm - Black £4.99 (£9.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Orange £4.49
4 x BitFenix Alchemy 2pin I/O extension 30cm - Orange £3.95 (£15.80)
Total : £1,675.69 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
Ethermaster said:
Or you could go with option number 2 and have some orange in your life :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780Ti WindForce 3x OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N78TOC-3GD) £529.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £259.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £139.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD316G2133HC11ADC01) £119.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £99.95
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) £88.00
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
2 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £41.98 (£83.96)
1 x TP-Link AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit (TL-PA411KIT) £29.99
2 x Silverstone LED Light Strips - White £10.25 (£20.50)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Orange £8.99
6 x Alpenföhn 120mm Wing Boost 2 Plus PWM fan - Orange £8.45 (£50.70)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Orange £5.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 6+2-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved orange/black £5.99 (£11.98)
2 x BitFenix Alchemy Molex to 3pin x3 Fan adaptor 7V 20cm - Black £4.99 (£9.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Orange £4.49
4 x BitFenix Alchemy 2pin I/O extension 30cm - Orange £3.95 (£15.80)
Total : £1,675.69 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Click to expand...

I would go with this, but switching to this bundle.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force Intel Core i7 DIY ATX Motherboard, CPU & RAM Bundle £517.52
Total : £527.12 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Looking at the first motherboard suggested;
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99

It doesn't support SLI and eventually I wanted to put in a second GTX 780Ti in for 4k gaming and from what I've understood crossfire is for different GPU's so it might not be suitable.

However, this one does so it seems like a really good option!

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard **Overclockers UK Exclusive** £159.95


But will it be better than my originally planned ASRock z87 Extreme9? Specs here; http://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/Z87 Extreme9ac/index.asp?cat=

It's definitely a lot cheaper than the ASRock so thats a plus, and the sound adapter also seems better!
 
Gigabyte is the better choice imo as it has a UK RMA base if anything did go wrong unlike that ASrock board where you will have to ship it back to the far east (not cheap) and I personally wouldn't use a ASrock board even if you paid me!

I choose the Super Overclock board for your spec because it fits within my lovely orange colour scheme :D
 
Last edited:
lee32uk said:
The Sniper does support SLI :)
Click to expand...

Ooo, I just looked on the overclockers link and yeah it does say SLI... I read a review earlier and it said SLi N/a!

So which ones the better motherboard? I can't really tell the difference.

Edit: I see it has more port options etc, still would I not benefit from the extreme9 more?
 
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The SOC looks better imo (I'm still not sure why Gigabyte this generation of motherboards choose to make them all red), the SOC also supports 4x Crossfire if you wanted to go with AMD over Nvidia (I wouldn't recommend going with 4x Crossfire tho unless you where just benching as past 2 cards the benefits aren't as great). If you know how to overclock like a boss the SOC will miles better then the Sniper in that regard as that is what it was designed to do.
 
Ethermaster said:
Gigabyte is the better choice imo as it has a UK RMA base if anything did go wrong unlike that ASrock board where you will have to back to the far east (not cheap) and I personally wouldn't use a ASrock board even if you paid me!

I choose the Super Overclock board for your spec because it fits within my lovely orange colour scheme :D
Click to expand...

Cool :)

I suppose the only reason I went for the ASRock to begin with was from reading that I should put most of my money into the motherboard and GPU on toms hardware I think it was, and ASRock I've read is one of the best money can buy, but it's jam packed with stuff I probably won't use like thunderbolt ports and a lot more expensive.
 
Ram is ram these days, I normally pick ram based on its capacity, rated speed (cas timings don't really matter unless your benching) and if the ram fits in with my colour scheme. Last but not least is the price and does it fit in my budget, if the ram meets these requirements that's the ram I buy.
 
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Ahhhh, even though I like the look of the 760T case I just got won over by the one below! The 760T seemed quite flimsy on the reviews I watched and I like solid looking cases. The cosmos seems verrryy future proof and durable and I can see myself using it for many years to come. It doesen't have the window like I wanted but I could probably pass on the window for a case like this. Opinions?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Case - Black £299.99
Total : £314.99 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
I'm not the Comos 2's biggest fan its expensive and no window to show off the sexy hardware if you do get a themed colour coded rig. The case tho is a personal choice and completely up to you as what you like. I do think your be better off with one of the Corsair case that have been specced and the cm is quite old as well.
 
The Cosmos 2 isn't great, NO window, lack of watercooling support and £300.. £300 is a lot for a case. Considering the 900D is around that price too, it has MUCH better features than the cosmos.

The reason it's got good airflow and 'things' is because its a size of a shed.

As Ethel said, I think you are much better off with a more upto date case, the 760T is a great choice.
 
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