1st Custom Gaming Build- Mid/High end- please advise!

Orenard

Orenard

Orenard

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2 Nov 2014
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32
Hello Overlockers!

The kind of thing I'm after has kindly been detailed by the poster below, however I do kind of have my heart set on the MSI GTX 970.

I've been through the Overclockers builder and interestingly it's not much more expensive to have it built and tested professionally than it would be to order the components and try myself, which goes against the general consensus that it's cheaper to build your own. Obviously as a first timer this is a no-brainer.

Can anyone offer any advice on my build? I've gone i5 as I've read in a few places that this is fine as long as the GPU is sufficient. I've gone for faster RAM because it's not much more expensive and I've foregone an SSD to save a little cash there.

Would love to hear from some experienced builders.
 
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you need to remove the ************ link. it isn't allowed on the forums.

anyway, here's a build for you. £850
ssd included
free shipping with this code: SFCASE

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 780 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card - Retail (78XNH5DN9IST) £215.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2133HC11ADC01) £67.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Raijintek Agos Midi Tower - Black £39.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.95
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £13.49
1 x TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless-N USB Adapter (TL-WN821N) £8.99
Total : £850.30 (includes shipping : ).

 
Sorry tamzzy, link removed.

That's a great build, thanks. However as said in my edit I was really digging the idea of the MSI GTX 970. Current game I'm wanting to run at ultra 60fps 1080 is Shadow of Mordor. Would the 780 manage this? (Minus the ridiculous HD texture pack)
 
Great info thanks guys. Looking at the frame rates... That gap of 5-10 could be worth the £30-£40 to me. I'm not a competitive gamer so load times aren't so much of an issue for me which is why I felt I could sacrifice the SSD but again I'm open to advice here- if you guys really think it will improve my experience then I'd rather part with the cash now than have to upgrade within a year.

Financially I'm not exactly on a budget- the money is in the bank- just trying to be modest and justify my spending!

Edit: also seen a lot of people bigging up the new architecture on the 9xx series, is this going to become a big factor down the road?
 
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what's the budget we're working to? i know you say you don't have a budget, but i'm sure you have a rough idea about how much you intend to spend
 
SSD changes lives, I would never give it up for anything, not hugely for games but for everything else, PC starts up in seconds, things open instantly, never have to wait for mech drives.
 
I'd like to spend £800 but the more I read the less realistic this seems. Looks like it's going to be more like £900.

As for the SSD, I won't be using this computer for anything besides gaming; I have a MacBook for work. Startup time is a total non-issue and the only time I'll be opening an app is when I boot up whatever game I'm playing before an hour-or-longer session. How much would an SSD boost load times say between areas in an RPG like Dragon Age Inquisitions or Witcher 3?
 
Not just for this thread but for a few spec me threads; I think we're forgetting that the 780's are still very good cards.

Although the 970's have been released and it's more powerful by a smidgen, the 780's/770's are still very good. My 680 run's BF4 at ultra, so would have no issues with a 780 in your build + they run around the same temperature.

An SSD can knock 30 seconds off loading your OS & Well no idea as those 2 games aren't released yet, but it will be a lot quicker/snappier for everything you have installed onto it. I am normally first to load into a game on BF4.

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 780 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card - Retail (78XNH5DN9IST) £215.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.95
1 x Raijintek Arcadia Mid Tower USB 3.0 Case - Black £24.95
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps High Gain Wireless-N USB Adapter (TL-WN722N) £9.49
Total : £799.91 (includes shipping : £8.00).



SSD has been assured by OCUK to meet to specs stated so have specced it after previous allegations, so no worries there.
OS + 3-4 Large games will fit on the SSD.
 
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Ok Reaper, so perhaps it'd be more effective to go with the 780 now and either upgrade or SLI in a couple years. I'm assuming this motherboard is SLI capable? The freebie Borderlands is a nice bonus too.

Regarding SSD, that obviously sounds good. I did play some BF4 and probably would've done more if I weren't trying to make do with Boot Camp. If I'm going to go this way though I think foregoing an HDD in favour of a 240GB SSD would be the way forward since this machine really will be for gaming and nothing else- I can't imagine what I'd want to put on the HDD. And I always have the option to use an external drive (I have a small one spare knocking about) if I really need to store something.

Thanks for the help, really appreciate it.
 
Motherboard won't support SLI, I've included a better motherboard, up'd the SSD, and a 750w PSU so you have enough juice. If you need to save some money right now you can get the 3 month trial/preview for Windows 8.1/10 and then get windows after that.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£14 Saving** £258.58
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 780 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card - Retail (78XNH5DN9IST) £215.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 750W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Raijintek Arcadia Mid Tower USB 3.0 Case - Black £24.95
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps High Gain Wireless-N USB Adapter (TL-WN722N) £9.49
Total : £842.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Thanks Fallen God. So now then looking into the future... Am I right in thinking I wouldn't be able to SLI a 780 with a 970 due to differing architectures?
 
Ok well thanks guys. One final question before I settle on a build- the baskets you guys have shown, are they just components? Meaning if I want OC to build and test the machine will I need to pay extra? Pretty happy to do this- I want to be sure it will all work perfectly.
 
correct, iirc it's only £60 for ocuk to build your custom rig. if you buy the OS as well, they'll install it (and the drivers) for no extra cost
 
Ok so I got a little impatient and just used the system configurator. I compared the spec on the parts to what people advised here though so I'm happy. Here's where I ended up-
BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black/Black
Intel Core i5 4690K 3.5GHz Devils Canyon
MSI Z97S SLI Plus (Socket 1150) ATX Motherboard
Raijintek Themis Direct Contact - 120mmTower Cooler
Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) 2133MHz DDR3 Dual Channel - Black/Red
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB Graphics Card
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 240GB Solid State Drive
Super Flower Golden Green HX 750W 80+ Gold PSU
Win 8.1

Should be with me by Friday 14th. Begin extreme testing of patience!
 
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