3x builds - just need some advice / comb over

[Man Manne]

So, I've built one machine and have 2 more in situ. Looking for some nods/advice from peeps here just to confirm a few things...

The wattages aren't huge and they're not being OC'd at all. First one's brief was for "Minecraft and school work", the 2nd for the "HTC Vive" and the last was for someone who is a console player but said they'd like to game on the PC.

All had specific budgets of £380, £580 and £630 respectively.


Brief: Minecraft & Office / Budget £380 (built): - 242W (Projected)
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2H Micro ATX LGA1150
RAM: 2x Corsair ValueSelect 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
GPU: Zotac GeForce GTX 650 2GB
PSU: Corsair CX600 80+ Bronze Certified
Case: Green CiT F3 Black Midi Gaming Case With 3x 120mm Green LED Fan
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCI-Express x1 802.11b/g/n
Monitor: HP Pavilion 24xw TechniColour 23.8" Full-HD IPS Monitor
Speakers: ADVENT ASP21BK15 2.1
Headset: Green Gioteck FL200
Keyboard: Advent C112 Keyboard
Mouse: Advent C112 Mouse
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
S/W: Microsoft Office Professional 2016


Brief: HTC Vive VR / Budget £570 (everything purchased, MX300 was already bought by the guy himself): - 286W (Projected)
CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X Performa CPU Cooler
Mobo: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151
RAM: TBD DDR4-2133
SSD: Crucial MX300 750GB 2.5"
GPU: Inno3D GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Compact
PSU: Corsair CX600 80+ Bronze Certified
ODD: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n
Case Fans: 2x ARCTIC Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Zoostorm case, keyboard and mouse from my old "2nd uber-budget build"


Brief: A PC to game on / Budget £630 (everything purchased): - 402W (Projected)
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core
Cooler: Akasa K32 56.8 CFM
Mobo: Asus H81M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1600
SSD: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB
HDD: 2x Toshiba 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drives
GPU: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card
PSU: Corsair CX600 80+ Bronze Certified
Case: Green CiT F3 Black Midi Gaming Case With 3x 120mm Green LED Fan
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n
Monitor: AOC E2460SH 24" LED Monitor (no stand - so mounted)
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth Edition
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Elite
Headset: Green Gioteck FL200
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1


Thoughts? - Even if it's just a "yeah, looks ok"


Just placing here, my replacement "2nd build" will be:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core
CPU Cooler: Deepcool White GAMMAXX 400 74.3 CFM
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150
RAM: TBD DDR3 (colour: RED or WHITE)
SSD: 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5"
HDD: Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB 3.5" 10000RPM
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V
PSU: Corsair CX600 80+ Bronze Certified
Case: White Game Max Vegas
Monitor: Acer XB240H 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor
Mouse: Corsair M65 RGB Wired Laser Mouse
Keyboard: K-RAY K6 Backlit Gaming Keyboard
Headset: SteelSeries Siberia Elite 7.1 Channel
Case Fans: Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
S/W: Office 2016, Photoshop, FL12, Dreamweaver


Around 370W and all in that has cost me around £575, but will be using my Void's on it more than likely if I get a white pair for my main build.

 

[Man Manne]

Are you talking in reference to the Razer items? - They were my old ones from a build, so they are in with the price. They are as new really, even have a nice cover for the Black Widow that I got off eBay for £11 with it (albeit American enter button).

 

[Man Manne]

From what I've read, that GPU is pretty much the bare minimum. You should give serious thought to a 1070 instead.

It's a budget build and I heard the R9 380 was a worse choice and he wanted Nvidia as it's less power consuming. Definitely went 6GB version too, so hopefully won't be such a slouch. HIs budget was £580 too.

Thanks

 

[Man Manne]

I presume your using a Vive or similar. If so, what you are saying is you're happy to fork out £700 for a headset bit won't even match that cost for the pc that will be running it? Seems a bit backwards to me, just saying.

My suggestion would be to get rid of the work pc. Use the gaming pc for work and spend more of the GPU for the VR setup.

It was £590 paid for the Vive on a special discount, and it's not my build. He specced it up against this: http://www.vive.com/uk/vive-ready-hp-computer-bundle/

I have read several things around the web, but as usual, you have pockets of fanbuys or just plain assumptions. Managed to get the 1060 for £215, so it fitted in with this spec and for the price.

 

[Man Manne]

The 1060 is perfectly fine for the Vive. I have tried both my 1060 and 1070 with the Vive and both performed very well, just with the 1070 allowing some more supersampling.

Thank you. Looking at the minimum specs, it will be ok, just wanted some extra input, it's nice to have. SOMETIMES. I mean... The internet.