New build advice

LondonWolf

LondonWolf

LondonWolf

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Joined
22 Aug 2014
Posts
7
Hi guys,

Long time lurker - ftp. Been saving for a few months with a view to building my first gaming machine come the autumn. Bit early yet as the summer is just about still with us, but a couple of these bank holiday weekend specials caught my eye and I thought it might be worth buying a couple of components early (plus it's my birthday and I need to give people gift ideas!).

Plan to use it for general gaming (WoW, BF4, FM) and usage - nothing especially outlandish but I would like to be able to play most games on high settings. Keen to get everything exc. monitor & keyboard & mouse for c. £750.

With that in mind, I'd be really grateful for your advice on the below.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £65.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £54.98
1 x BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black/Black £29.99
1 x Alpenföhn Sella CPU Cooler - 92mm £17.99
Total : £761.89 (includes shipping : ).



My questions are:

Is the 280X worth the extra £50+ over the 280?
Is the motherboard I've chosen decent/compatible with the components?
Could I save money on the PSU (is 750w overkill)?

Also keen to hear any other thoughts you might have in case I've blundered hard - this will be my first build.

Many thanks
 
I would change that CPU cooler to something full size.
I doubt it have enough cooling power.

If you are planning to overclock, I would change motherboard too.
North bridge heatsink is a bit weak.
Maybe one of the 'Gaming' Gigabyte motherboards?

Strongly advise you to get the SSD as OS.
And spend a little more for a case tbh.
I changed this one to Corsair 200R compact.
It is same size, but gives you more expansion options (built in 4 x ssd cage) and it's much better choice in terms of cooling ( better airflow and allows for watercooling, thin 240mm rad on top/ AIO).

Here is the basket with my changes:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £61.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £44.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Evo Professional CPU Cooler £27.95
Total : £244.92 (includes shipping : ).

 
Welcome.

LondonWolf said:
Is the 280X worth the extra £50+ over the 280?
Could I save money on the PSU (is 750w overkill)?
Click to expand...

The X adds something like 15-20% performance, but costs about 25% more, so if you look at it that way it's not as good value for money.

Yes 750 W is too much, 550 W will be plenty for a 280(X). This is efficient and on offer:

YOUR BASKET
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £44.99
Total : £44.99 (includes shipping : ).



I agree with Bart_Hunt on the SSD, absolutely essential.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE AMD 8GB 2400MHz Memory Kit £299.99
1 x Asus Z97-K - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£14 Saving** £243.58
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £54.98
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £44.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £44.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £783.50 (includes shipping : ).




The Powercolor R9 290 comes with 8GB Free Ram.

If you can stretch your budget then as mentioned above, an SSD is recommended. The Crucial MX100 is pretty good value for money.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial MX100 128GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT128MX100SSD1) £52.99
Total : £52.99 (includes shipping : ).

 
Thanks a lot for your help guys - much appreciated.

Having a play around with the basket - I could save £25 by going with the Gigabyte bundle Stulid mentioned (plus £17.50 cashback) rather than getting the Gaming 5 board Bart suggested (which also offers £17.50 cashback).

Is the Gaming 5 board going to be better for OCing than the Z97X SLI? I notice in the pictures the heatsinks look slightly different on the gaming board than on the Ultra Durable one, but can't find mention in the specs.

Cheers
 
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