£650 mATX - First Build

ote1 · 9 Jul 2014 at 20:53

Hey,

Looking to build my first PC and have a spec sheet for review if some of you wouldn't mind offering some feedback. I've done some reading around but may well have missed things. I'm not entirely sure if the motherboard is suitable/overkill and if the RAM frequency is correct.

I'd like to keep it south of £650 without OS. Was initially looking at the i5 4670 and R9 270 but seeing as those two listed were on offer I think they could be worth the extra buck. As for overclocking, I'm not sure I'd want to - I'm more interested in longevity and expect to find the above spec superfluous (for the time being!).

Edit: I realise spending so much on a case on such a budget might seem overkill but the form factor is important. I'll most likely be regularly moving it between two rooms using it with a monitor and projector. Looking forward to Civ V on a projector!

Thanks for any feedback and suggestions.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280 TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £109.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy M 'Yang' MATX Cube Case - Black/White £74.95
1 x ASRock H97M Pro4 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £49.99
Total : £688.00 (includes shipping : £11.75).

ote1 · 9 Jul 2014 at 21:02

I've had some thoughts and perhaps could bump it up to £800 if there's really significant gains to be made from that additional investment but it's something I'd have to consider vary carefully.

For the record, I'd live with a 250GB SSD quite easily for a while. Have an external HD for media and will only have a few games on it. When more funds become available at a later date I'd invest in more internal storage.

mightymouse · 9 Jul 2014 at 21:06

Pretty good build you've got here. Just one thing, you may want to consider an aftermarket cooler and get a better one later should you decide to go for overclocking later.

Good luck

ote1 · 9 Jul 2014 at 21:13

mightymouse said:
Pretty good build you've got here. Just one thing, you may want to consider an aftermarket cooler and get a better one later should you decide to go for overclocking later.

Good luck

Are you referring to a CPU cooler? I've seen them listed frequently on various builds. There seems a decent one for £20 (Reinjik or similar name). Would you recommend buying thermal paste also?

mightymouse · 9 Jul 2014 at 21:45

yes paste especially if you make mistakes then you can start again. plus the pastes will give you better performance compared to stock. For cleaning just use rubbing alcohol and make sure it is dry before using the paste of course

ote1 · 9 Jul 2014 at 21:55

mightymouse said:
yes paste especially if you make mistakes then you can start again. plus the pastes will give you better performance compared to stock. For cleaning just use rubbing alcohol and make sure it is dry before using the paste of course

Cheers. I just noticed the CPU comes with free paste so thumbs up. I have another question: what's the best way to hook this up to my WiFi?