Aerocool DS build

[f3rr3t]

Hi guys

Been lurking for a few days to try and get some ideas for my first build in a few years. There's some great rigs being put together out there!

I'm looking to put together an m-atx gaming rig that will hopefully do me for a couple of years. Budget is ideally around £800, but as you'll see below I've kind of blown that already!!

First question is does the build look OK as it is?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Crucial M500 240GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT240M500SSD1) £129.95
1 x MSI Z87M Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Black Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 V2 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £54.98
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 450W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £14.99
Total : £949.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Second, any thoughts on where I might economise a bit? I think that the GPU is probably a bit overkill given that for at least the short term I will be using a 720p TV as a display...should I go for an R9 270x instead of the 280x? Also as I'm unlikely to o/c for a while could I just make do with the stock cooler rather than getting the h60 for now? Making these two changes would knock the best part of £150 off and bring the budget back into view.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[random_matt]

Hi guys

Been lurking for a few days to try and get some ideas for my first build in a few years. There's some great rigs being put together out there!

I'm looking to put together an m-atx gaming rig that will hopefully do me for a couple of years. Budget is ideally around £800, but as you'll see below I've kind of blown that already!!

First question is does the build look OK as it is?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Crucial M500 240GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT240M500SSD1) £129.95
1 x MSI Z87M Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Black Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 V2 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £54.98
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 450W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £14.99
Total : £949.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Second, any thoughts on where I might economise a bit? I think that the GPU is probably a bit overkill given that for at least the short term I will be using a 720p TV as a display...should I go for an R9 270x instead of the 280x? Also as I'm unlikely to o/c for a while could I just make do with the stock cooler rather than getting the h60 for now? Making these two changes would knock the best part of £150 off and bring the budget back into view.

Any help would be appreciated.

You need a 550W PSU or better. A 450W will do for a 780, but the 280X needs more power i think. Also, have you already got a HDD? You could save money on a 60gb ssd for windows and a HDD for everything else.

 

[f3rr3t]

You need a 550W PSU or better. A 450W will do for a 780, but the 280X needs more power i think. Also, have you already got a HDD? You could save money on a 60gb ssd for windows and a HDD for everything else.

Thanks I wasn't too sure on the PSU. Also, I'm starting completely from scratch so thought I might as well just go for a single decent size SSD.

 

[Danny75]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £129.95
1 x MSI Z87M Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Avexir Core Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21330904G-2CIR) - Red Light £79.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Black Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler - Red £44.98
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £14.99
Total : £857.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).



550w PSU for future GPU upgrades. Better SSD. Better (and theme matching) RAM. Better (and theme matching) cooler (yup, it beats the H60).

GPU lowered to a 270, which will be enough for 720p display. When/if you upgrade display, you can see how the 270 performs for your needs, and if it's not up to scratch, then upgrade GPU as well.

 

[Fulax]

I think you've spent a bit too much time lurking these forums if that's your £800 budget build The components are all sensible enough (the 450w PSU might be a bit tight, but I imagine it would work), as are your money-saving options. If you do opt for a 270X, the Powercolor Devil is the pick of the bunch, for me. It's one of the fastest, comes with 5 free games, and it's only £157 at the moment. Looks cool too.

Saying that, I would change the CPU cooler. Those 120mm AIOs don't offer great performance per dollar. Either get a big air cooler or go all out with a 240mm AIO (e.g. h100i).

 

[lee32uk]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 270X DEVIL 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £157.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £95.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Black Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £47.99
1 x Raijintek EreBoss High Performance CPU Cooler £26.99
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSBS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - Black £21.98
Total : £813.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 

[f3rr3t]

Thanks for the pointers. I do like the look of the Powercolor 270x Devil, that price with 5 free games seems a bit of a bargain.

Also thanks for pointing out some better colour coordinating components. Must admit I'm more interested in price than looks, but if I can get both (almost) within budget then that's great.

Time to stop lurking and start building methinks!

Thanks again for the quick responses, really pleased that I posted now. Might well have a few more questions if (or more likely when) I get stuck with the build.