£800 Gaming PC - First Build - Need help / Advice please!!

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Edit: The budget that is set is now £900 due to the replys, thanks again for the help so far :)

Hello. I've never built a PC before and have only started getting very interested in the topic quite recently so i do not know that much and would appreciate some guidance from those who are more experienced. So i am planning on building a PC for gaming for preferably around £800 (inc. operating system) although my budget is actually very flexible but i put that budget there to stop myself getting carried away. I will be ordering it on the 4th of January.

Here i will go over my components why i chose them and any questions i may have about the components:

Case: NZXT Tempest 410 Midi Tower
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-051-NX
I am very unsure about cases but i think this one looks nice and should be good enough, one thing though would i want to buy extra fans with it or are the 2 included ones fine?
£49.99

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77-D3H
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-391-GI
This motherboard is good value but I am wondering what it is like for overclocking (I would like to overclock CPU to 4.5 or 4.4)
£89.99

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-418-IN
Need I explain?
£179.99

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14-2011 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-015-NC
From what i have read if you want to overclock an i5 this what you want to get, Would i be right in thinking that it would be fine to overclock an i5 to 4.5 without needing to worry?
£59.99

GPU: MSI HD 7870 Black Knight OC 2048MB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-185-MS
This is another area I do not know too much about but would this GPU be fine? would any of the other makes be better? Again i am on a flexible budget if needed to change.
£179.99

Memory: Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-062-PA
Not 100% sure about this but i think its fine.
£41.99

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-257-SE
I need quite a bit of HDD room so that is why I went with 1TB and don't really feel like i need to buy more than that.
£69.98

Power Supply: Coolermaster GX Lite 600W '80 Plus'
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-292-CM
I'm not sure how much i will need i think 600W should be enough but should i buy more to make it more future proof?
£49.99

Optical Drive: OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-003-OK
Bog standard optical drive.
£13.99

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-127-MS
Because I hate Windows 8
£79.99

Total Price : 815.89

I did not get an SSD because even though they are nice and all I decided it would probably be more worth it to spend more on the more core components and get an SSD at a later date, correct me if im wrong.


I will mostly be using the PC for Gaming on a mixture of different games which I will run at 1920x1080 but i'll use BF3 as the baseline. I will also be doing a little bit of video editing / rendering. A few last questions will i need to buy anything for cable management or will that come with the case if so what? (link please). Also i presume ill have to buy thermal compound, Suggestions as i have no clue, are they all the same?
If anyone can think of any ways to improve the build with better components or anyway to save money then feel free to post comments I will check regularly as well as updating the thread as I progress with the build.
 
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Memory over 1600mhz makes such little odds on the 1155 socket. The 7950 is better than the 7870

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - Black £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £51.98
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.59
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £895.49 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Something to ponder over.......maybe the free games also help "justify" you upping the budget as you said it was flexibubble. Heatsinks come with paste, you might need an extension for the P4/8 aux power, if you mount the PSU fan down you might well get away with not needing one though
 
Ok thanks for all your reply's also I can stretch my budget to £900. I've decided on almost all of the components but i must say i hate you all for confusing me even more about what case and heatsink to get, Can you explain your choices of those as i have no idea what to go for now.
Also how do you link your basket, sorry im very new to this site :)
 
Case is personal preference really bud. I like that shinobi with the window and a couple of fans fitted. I could have used the P&C PSU but I went with the seasonic, it's gold rated a lil more power and it does have more amps on the 12V rail....also it's black and would look nicer through the window of the case ;)

You chose the Noctua heatsink which is very good and quiet, the silver arrow is one of it's rivals and happens to on offer and so is cheaper. I look forward to seeing your next spec :)

P.S Don't get the HIS 7950, it's not a bad card just has a shorter warranty than the gigabyte. Also I prefer the look of Kingston RAM over the Crucial Ballistix for the same price, I like things to look tidy as long as it doesnt impact on the price too much
 
Going to go with this build mostly but im going to go with the NZXT Tempest 410 and maybe might make another change or 2 for personal preference unless anyone else can think of any other nice suggestions on how to save money or make it perform better without spending much more.

well for 10 quid more, my spec in post #4 contains an ssd
 
was just browsing and noticed this post. If its a gaming rig you are building and you want dolby digital live for your games and you are not planning on buying a sound card, dont buy that mobo, its doesnt do dolby digital live. I stupidly fell for that and i had to go out and buy an asus xonar dx, which should be arriving soon.
 
Ok thanks for all your reply's also I can stretch my budget to £900. I've decided on almost all of the components but i must say i hate you all for confusing me even more about what case and heatsink to get, Can you explain your choices of those as i have no idea what to go for now.
Also how do you link your basket, sorry im very new to this site :)

Basically, take the components you like from those lists, and sort out a build yourself, then we can have a glance at it to make sure nothing's untoward.
 
Ok thanks for all your reply's also I can stretch my budget to £900. I've decided on almost all of the components but i must say i hate you all for confusing me even more about what case and heatsink to get, Can you explain your choices of those as i have no idea what to go for now.
Also how do you link your basket, sorry im very new to this site :)

Basically, take the components you like from those lists, and sort out a build yourself, then we can have a glance at it to make sure nothing's untoward.

Shopping tools are in my sig.
 
That's the thread.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18371076

I also run this bookmarklet (basically, create a shortcut to something on the bookmark bar, right click, properties, set URL to that block of code).

PHP:
javascript:( function() { function readPrice(text) { var output = text; output = output.replace('\n', ""); output = output.replace('\r', ""); output = output.replace('(', ""); output = output.replace(')', ""); output = output.replace('\u00A3', ""); var price = parseFloat(output); return price; } function copyIntoClipboardIE(text) { if (window.clipboardData && window.clipboardData.getData) { window.clipboardData.setData("Text", str); } }; function copyIntoClipboardSWF(text) { var flashClipboard = false; var flashId = 'flashId-HKxmj5'; var clipboardSWF = '_clipboard.swf'; var content; /*'http://appengine.bravo9.com/copy-into-clipboard/clipboard.swf';*/ if(!document.getElementById(flashId)) { var div = document.createElement('div'); div.id = flashId; document.getElementById('maincell').appendChild(div); } if(flashClipboard) { content = '<embed src="' + clipboardSWF + '" FlashVars="clipboard=' + encodeURIComponent(text) + '" width="0" height="0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>'; } else { content = '<div id=\"OcUKBBGenerator\"><h1 class=\"bigred\">Your Cart Contents BB-Code</h1><p>Copy and paste the following into the forums:</p><textarea id=\"OcUKBBGeneratorTextArea\" cols=\"130\" rows=\"20\" onclick=\"this.focus(); this.select()\" style=\"width:99%\" readonly=\"readonly\">' + text + '</textarea></div>'; } document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = ''; document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = content; document.getElementById('OcUKBBGeneratorTextArea').focus(); document.getElementById('OcUKBBGeneratorTextArea').select(); }; var thumbnails = 'no'; var shoppingBasket = document.getElementById("shoppingBkt"); var tbdy = shoppingBasket.getElementsByTagName('tbody')[0]; var rows = tbdy.getElementsByTagName('tr'); var str = "[COLOR=\"Yellow\"][b]YOUR BASKET[/b][/COLOR]\n"; var images = ""; console.log('Your Basket'); for (var i=1; i < rows.length - 4; i++) { var row = rows[i]; var cells = row.getElementsByTagName('td'); if (row.className == "basket_option") { var inputs = row.getElementsByTagName('input'); /* a complete system with no option price or count */ if(inputs.length == 0) { var cell = cells[0]; for (var j=0; j < cell.childNodes.length; j ++) { var option = cell.childNodes[j]; if(option.nodeName == "#text") { var desc = "[COLOR=\"Wheat\"]" + option.data + "[/COLOR]\n"; console.log(' option desc: ' + desc); str += desc; } } } /* a fully configurable build. */ else if(inputs.length == 1) { var desc = cells[0].childNodes[2].data; var qty = cells[1].childNodes[0].value; var price1 = readPrice(cells[2].childNodes[2].textContent); var price2 = readPrice(cells[2].childNodes[0].innerText); var price = (price1 > price2)? price1 : price2; console.log(' option desc: ' + desc); console.log(' option qty: ' + qty); console.log(' option price: ' + price); str += "[COLOR=\"Wheat\"]" + qty + " x " + desc + "[/COLOR] [b][COLOR=\"Yellow\"]" + "\u00A3" + price + "[/COLOR][/b]\n"; } } else { var image = cells[0].childNodes[0].src; var desc = cells[1].childNodes[0].textContent; var link = cells[1].childNodes[0].href; var qty = cells[2].childNodes[0].value; var price1 = readPrice(cells[3].childNodes[2].textContent); var price2 = readPrice(cells[3].childNodes[0].innerText); var price = (price1 > price2)? price1 : price2; var total1 = readPrice(cells[4].childNodes[2].textContent); var total2 = readPrice(cells[4].childNodes[0].innerText); var total = (total1 > total2)? total1 : total2; console.log('image: ' + image); console.log('desc: ' + desc); console.log('link: ' + link); console.log('qty: ' + qty); console.log('price: ' + price); images += "[url=\"" + link + "\"]" + "[img]" + image + "[/img][/url] "; str += qty + " x " + "[url=\"" + link + "\"]" + desc + "[/url] " + "[b][COLOR=\"Yellow\"]" + "\u00A3" + price + "[/COLOR][/b]"; if(qty > 1) { str += " [b][COLOR=\"DarkOrange\"](" + "\u00A3" + total.toFixed(2) + ")[/COLOR][/b]"; } str += "\n"; } } /* shipping costs */ var shipping = rows[rows.length - 3]; var shippingCells = shipping.getElementsByTagName('td'); var shippingValue = shippingCells[2].textContent; /* grand total */ var total = document.getElementById('orderTotal'); var totalCells = total.getElementsByTagName('td'); var totalValue = totalCells[2].textContent; console.log('Total: ' + totalValue + "(shipping " + shippingValue + ")"); str += "[b]Total : [COLOR=\"Yellow\"]" + totalValue + "[/COLOR][/b] " + "(includes shipping : " + shippingValue + ").\n"; if(thumbnails == 'yes') str += "\n" + images + "\n\n"; console.log(str); /* copy to console / clipboard / text area. */ copyIntoClipboardIE(str); copyIntoClipboardSWF(str); } )();

EDIT : tested with Chrome. IE is being a d*** again :/
 
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Can I be honest?

Don't get too carried away balancing the budget now. The offers change on the 2nd and you won't be ordering till the 4th you said. So to get you the best for your money we will need to do a respec before you actually order.

Once you figure out how to post your basket we can have a quick look before you order and make sure you've haven't missed any deals, as Olivier has said.
 
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