£600-£700 Gaming Build

Brocky36

Brocky36

Brocky36

Associate
Joined
3 Dec 2015
Posts
342
Hi all!

I'm looking to replace my old i5 2400, GTX560Ti, 4GB RAM, Thermaltake Dokker machine. I thought about upgrading it, but then decided to start afresh and donate this one to a mate of mine that's not in a position to buy himself a new rig at the moment.

All peripherals are sorted and I will be hooking it up to my 40" TV. It will be mainly used for gaming with the occasional movie, a bit of browsing & Youtube. I'm not really a FPS fan. RTS, RPG and open world games are more my thing, but I do like smooth & pretty gaming.

The case will need to be the same size, or smaller, than my Thermaltake, be able to fit an aftermarket cooler, such as the EVO 212 (although, I am not fussed about OCing, I just like things to be icy and they look damn good, too) and have at least 2x USB at the front for my KB & mouse, preferably without the need to open a front panel door. If there has to be LED, white or blue would be my preference, but I would prefer it didn't look too much like a Christmas tree. ;)

Budget is £600-£700, but I may be able to stretch a bit, if it's one of those 'You'd be mad not to' situations.

So, over to you, OCers. Your help would be very much appreciated.
 
Do you need a copy of windows too? If so you're better of sourcing a copy of win 7 or 8 and using the free upgrade. Cheaper :)
 
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Snookums said:
Do you need a copy of windows to? If so you're better of sourcing a copy of win 7 or 8 and using the free upgrade. Cheaper :)
Click to expand...

I knew I had forgotten something. Yeah, I will need Windows. I have a copy of 7, but will need to give that to my mate with my old rig. Leave the price out of the build, though. Santa could likely bring me one. ;)

I've just been looking at the Antec GX500 case that won the 'Bang for Buck' award. Assuming I can get everything in with the option for an aftermarket cooler, that's likely the way I would go. Function is definitely more important than style, for me. Though, I would be open to alternatives.
 
Ok, so here is what I have so far.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £780.68
(includes shipping: £13.20)
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I'll be honest, I basically just categorised each component by 'most popular' and went from there. It's slightly over budget, so I would be interested in some opinions on where I can save a buck without losing too much (or even adding some more with a bit of re-jigging) bang.

Thoughts?

*Edit* - Also, will I be able to fit it all, with a EVO 212 in that case?
 
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Heres a build you could go previous gen cpu and save £50.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £726.05
(includes shipping: £13.20)
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The 212 is 159mm and the max for that case is 158mm so technically the cooler wont fit. As for the build it all seems good to me you could maybe grab some cheaper ram to cut costs down a little, with the £20 back on the card I wouldn't be dropping the strix down if i were you.

Some others on here would kill me for saying these but if you are strict for your 700 budget drop the SSD and get it in a month or so when you have some spare money.
 
mickyflinn said:
Heres a build you could go previous gen cpu and save £50.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £726.05
(includes shipping: £13.20)
​


​
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mickey.

I don't doubt for a second that you know more than I, but could you please explain a little about why you've chosen the stuff that you have over the stuff I did? Were you looking at it purely from a cost saving perspective or will your build give more bang for buck, so to speak?

Are there any disadvantages to going with the older CPU? If I will see the benefit of that extra £50, then I would be happy to stretch, I think.

@Snookums - Any similar cases you'd recommend that would fit the EVO? I do like the fact that the Antec one has fan controls on it and it seems to be a good case for the price. Tbh, I might not even need the EVO, as I don't plan on OCing.
 
Micky's spec is good but it only has a 950, whereas if you can manipulate yours you can have a 970 which is a great card.

Just find any case really that has a CPU clearance that fits your needs. May as well get the evo as you will eventualy want to OC.
 
There is pros and cons when you build a system at a certain price point i have gone for The latest cpu mobo and ram combo with a midish range gpu and budget ssd. Get the Samsung SSD i love them the Magician software that u can get for it is brilliant.

With older gen cpu and mobo you get great value and performance but with the new you always pay a premiuma modest 3-5 % perfomance boost.

Finally the previous gen socket is dead so no new cpu upgrades as where there may be with new gen but knowing intel there make another socket so they can sell more stuff.
 
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Snookums said:
Micky's spec is good but it only has a 950, whereas if you can manipulate yours you can have a 970 which is a great card.

Just find any case really that has a CPU clearance that fits your needs. May as well get the evo as you will eventualy want to OC.
Click to expand...

Hmm, i'll have a bit more of a look at cases.

I think I am settled on the board, CPU & GPU. Whilst the one Micky suggested would give more power, the SLi board would be pointless, as I don't plan on running two cards. The £20 back on the Strix card pretty much pays for an EVO 212.

It's just the RAM and SSD that I am not sure on.

Kingston has always seemed to be the go-to brand for RAM, although I hear Avexir are making comparable stuff at a lower price. I also see a lot of people in here suggesting Crucial Ballistix Sport sticks.

With SSD, I have no clue at all. I have heard SanDisk SSD aren't so great and you get a free game with the Samsung one, so went with that. I'd be open to saving a few quid, if anyone has any cheaper suggestions that are as good.
 
mickyflinn said:
There is pros and cons when you build a system at a certain price point i have gone for The latest cpu mobo and ram combo with a midish range gpu and budget ssd. Get the Samsung SSD i love them the Magician software that u can get for it is brilliant.

With older gen cpu and mobo you get great value and performance but with the new you always pay a premiuma modest 3-5 % perfomance boost.

Finally the previous gen socket is dead so no new cpu upgrades as where there may be with new gen but knowing intel there make another socket so they can sell more stuff.
Click to expand...

Damn, just as I type that I am settled with the board, CPU & GPU, you come at me with this. :p
 
Honestly it may be a slight improvement but I doubt there will be anything realesed on the z170 that will truely trash the z97 chipset. If anything is better it'll be out on a new chipset.
 
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Ok, I think I'm settled.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £869.21
(includes shipping: £14.70)
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The price has gone a fair bit over my initial budget, but I'm likely going to add a few bits to my list to Santa and will hold out to see if I can knock a few quid off in January.

@micky - Thanks for pointing out the RAM. I didn't even check, tbh. I did consider the Gigabyte bundle but, after doing a spec comparison, decided on the Asus as it has much better PWM support, I am familiar with the BIOS software and I don't intend to SLi. Thanks for the advice, though.

The budget jumped mainly with the addition of the better case, WD HDD over Seagate and the EVO. It's a shame the case I initially chose didn't have the clearance for the EVO, as, for the price, it was a lot of case. Once I started looking at better ones, I felt that I may as well spend the extra and get a quality one.

It's possible that I may tweak things in the next few weeks and would certainly be open to suggestions (especially on the case, as there are simply so many out there, it's tough to decide) but I'm content that I'm getting a rig that's worth the price-tag, I'd say. Hopefully I can grab a bargain or three in January.
 
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mickyflinn said:
Personally prefer the 440 over the phantom, and heres a splash of color to go with your ram if u want.

Enjoy your build.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

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Click to expand...

Thanks again, Micky.

I've actually linked the wrong case there, for some reason. (Too many to choose from!) I meant this one...




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...but the red & black NZXT one is VERY nice! No optical will be a bit of a pain, initially, as I will need to install Windows from a CD....but I'll get by.

I think you may have just changed my mind. :D
 
Just ran the build through PartPicker and although it comes in £22 cheaper overall, I wouldn't get the £20 cash back or the free game that come with the GTX and there would be shipping added on to 3-4 parts....so it looks like I will be buying the job-lot from OCers!

However, I did notice this - the only compatibility note...

The Kingston Savage 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory operating voltage of 1.65V exceeds the Intel Haswell Refresh CPU recommended maximum of 1.5V+5% (1.575V). This memory module may run at a reduced clock rate to meet the 1.5V voltage recommendation, or may require running at a voltage greater than the Intel recommended maximum.
Click to expand...

Is this a notable issue?
 
I think you can go smaller, keep it cool & tidy and be a bit more stylish as well. What I would say though is that you can safely lose the CM 212 evo, and trade the 4690K for an i7 6700 (stock cooler is more than potent enough to keep it both cool and quiet). Especially since you aren't keen on OC'ing and honestly, it won't make that much of a difference anyway. It will be a bit more expensive, so here's the 4690k version anyway. I would also go 390 over 970 because it has more vram, it's generally faster and AMD cards just plain age better, and you can also find them cheaper *cough*. If you do go for a 6700 I'd advise you to buy 3000mhz DDR4 RAM, they make a difference.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £812.07
(includes shipping: £13.20)
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Shop around, there's good deals to be made to be closer to the 700 mark. ;)
 
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