Is there a better Intel gaming build sub £750?

Moobert · 9 Mar 2015 at 00:21

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infin8 Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WorldWide Exclusive** £275.99
1 x MSI Z97I AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £94.99
1 x Kingston 240GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/240G) £79.99
1 x Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA300) HDD £79.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £52.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy 'Ashes' Mini-ITX Cube Case - Black/Red £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
Total : £734.93 (includes shipping : ).

Considering it has to be in a smallish case, is there anything better for the money? Plan is to upgrade the Pentium for a second hand i5 in a few months.

tamzzy · 9 Mar 2015 at 00:29

the prodigy is not small lol.

Moobert · 9 Mar 2015 at 00:34

Small as in not ATX and reasonably portable

lee32uk · 9 Mar 2015 at 00:42

The Kingston V300 isn't a very good SSD. I would swap it for this SK Hynix one.

YOUR BASKET
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £84.98
Total : £93.68 (includes shipping : £7.25).

Danny75 · 9 Mar 2015 at 00:53

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX Mini-ITX Chassis with Window £54.95

danewesley · 9 Mar 2015 at 07:43

You can have that board for sub £50 brand new from another etailers popular auction site page. I wouldn't usually say anything but £45 is a lot of money.

implosiveturnip · 9 Mar 2015 at 08:27

Why not just buy the i5 outright? Buying twice always ends up costing more in the long run.

Moobert · 9 Mar 2015 at 10:30

As above have a £750 absolute max, the pentium could always be recycled and used for something like a HTPC in the future. Just wondering if there can be improvements made on the build for gaming as it will be primarily used for that

bigcee · 9 Mar 2015 at 10:42

Is there any merit in halving the size of your storage, save yourself approx 80, then maybe target a less expensive motherboard, and then grab a £150ish i5?

tamzzy · 9 Mar 2015 at 11:59

my 2p:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z97I Gaming ACK - Devil's Canyon i5 4690K CPU & Mini ITX Motherboard Bundle **£12 Saving** £285.98
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £84.98
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX Mini-ITX Chassis with Window £54.95
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £52.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
Total : £763.88 (includes shipping : ).

rather than selling off the pentium (and all its associated hassle), get a i5k outright but forgo the hdd for now.
then in a few months, get a hdd and a aftermarket cooler
the cost would be approximately the same either way.

Moobert · 9 Mar 2015 at 12:43

If I could manage to up the budget to £850 and sell off a few things im not using at the minute, i have specced this

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (97NPH6DT6XVZ) £259.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £62.99
1 x Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA200) HDD £57.98
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £52.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x SK Hynix 128GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS128G32MNB-2201A) £44.99
1 x Zalman Z3 Plus Midi-Tower - Black £39.95
Total : £843.47 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Quick question, is the 970 worth the few quid over the 290x?

tamzzy · 9 Mar 2015 at 13:37

Moobert said:
Quick question, is the 970 worth the few quid over the 290x?

tough question. the answer would vary according to who you ask ;p
personally, i'd say no.

the 290x is cheaper (and although puts out 60w more heat), the performance of the 290x and 970 is roughly equal

that's true as long as you're not hitting the last 0.5gb of the 970, in which case, stutter galore

ps: the 4790k is not really needed for single gpu gaming, just stick to the 4690k instead and save £100
pps: 128gb ssd is not really sufficient these days. 256gb minimum especially if you're plonking down good money for a rig

tamzzy · 9 Mar 2015 at 13:41

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£12 Saving** £265.98
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x SK Hynix 256GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS256G32MNB-2201A) £84.98
1 x Toshiba 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA300) HDD £79.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £52.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x Raijintek Agos Midi Tower - Black £39.95
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail £19.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £848.86 (includes shipping : ).

Admetos · 9 Mar 2015 at 16:07

Can I ask why your buying a motherboard with WiFi? If not network cable then surely you be better with PowerLine adapters.

BTW there is a Seasonic G 550w currently on offer, it's more money then the Superflower Green but it's worth the extra in my view.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-SS

Moobert · 9 Mar 2015 at 16:13

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £187.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £62.99
1 x Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA200) HDD £57.98
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £52.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black/Gold Window £29.99
Total : £776.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Cheaper build than the £850 but slightly over the £750. Im just adding the cheapest Z97 board, i will be using powerlines

stulid · 9 Mar 2015 at 16:34

Looks good, an extra £5 can be saved on the BX100 SSD.

Telecaster · 9 Mar 2015 at 16:56

danewesley said:
You can have that board for sub £50 brand new from another etailers popular auction site page. I wouldn't usually say anything but £45 is a lot of money.

I'd check again that it's not the Z87 version you've seen

Telecaster · 9 Mar 2015 at 17:02

Personally I'd go with the case you actually want, that's the bit that you'll see all the time and that's what you've got to fit stuff into, the rest of the bits can be picked up when you have a bit more money, get the case you want.

Admetos · 10 Mar 2015 at 02:19

Telecaster said:
get the case you want.

Also case, PSU, keyboard and mouse are the few components you can carry forward into new systems. If OP is on a budget I fully understand, but long term paying extra for these makes sense. I once used a Chieftec Dragon case that outlived 4 system builds, still got that case in storage.