Building a new rig; Would appreciate advice!

Zikar

Zikar

Zikar

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23 Sep 2013
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Hello, first time poster long time OcUKer.
That time has come again when I need to build a new Gaming PC.
My old PC, an i5-2500, GTX 570 is ageing and I have a friend who needs a new gaming PC anyway, so he'll get my old and I'll get something brand new.

Okay, my main concerns with this are:
That it's powerful enough to play modern games at 1080p with the graphics turned up.
That it'll last a good 2-3 years before feeling like it needs replacing.
That all the components are of good quality.

I've used the PC Gamer UK rig as a base and added a few things to it, I'd much appreciate your input.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £259.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2762-KR) £199.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GLC-01844) £143.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance K70 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Black - Blue Switch £119.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with USB3.0 - Black £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Logitech G700 Wireless Gaming Mouse (910-001759) £69.98
1 x Zalman LQ310 Ultimate Liquid CPU Cooler £59.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £59.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite Power 500W Power Supply £34.99
Total : £1,172.93 (includes shipping : £20.10).



Anything is up for critique, I've been out of the loop for a while. I also need some suggestions on a good monitor for gaming. I'd like to not go over £1,500 but if you can convince me another component is significantly better and worth the price, go right ahead.
 
Do you really need the extra features in W7 Ultimate?

I'd be definitely be looking at a better PSU. (eg. Seasonic G series)

Also, if you're going for GTX760, get the MSI GTX 760 Twin Frozr Gaming OC version.
 
Last edited:
Wow, PC Gamer really don't know much :rolleyes:

No need for i7, AMD GPU would be better, no need for Win7 Ultimate, case is old (personal taste), motherboard is pretty basic not something I'd expect in a 1.1k build, cooler isn't great, RAM isn't the best for a 1k+ build, PSU isn't the best quality and would want something more than 500W for future proof. Do you already have a monitor, SSD and/or hard drives? Let me spec something up.
 
Hyburnate said:
Wow, PC Gamer really don't know much :rolleyes:

No need for i7, AMD GPU would be better, no need for Win7 Ultimate, case is old (personal taste), motherboard is pretty basic not something I'd expect in a 1.1k build, cooler isn't great, RAM isn't the best for a 1k+ build, PSU isn't the best quality and would want something more than 500W for future proof. Do you already have a monitor, SSD and/or hard drives? Let me spec something up.
Click to expand...

+1 that is a rubbish spec for that money.
 
kefan77 said:
Do you really need the extra features in W7 Ultimate?
Click to expand...
Which would you suggest? I'm not sure on the differences between them (and MS has helpfully scrubbed all it's Win7 info in favour of Win8 info)

I'd be definitely be looking at a better PSU. (eg. Seasonic G series)
Click to expand...
What wattage would you suggest?

I also forgot to ask about HDD. SSDs are still a bit expensive for me, but I was thinking of a smaller HDD for Windows and miscellaneous software and 1 or 2TB drive for games. Any suggestions on the best at the moment?
 
Not too up to date on hardware at the moment.
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7970 Twin FrozR OC BE 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE GAMES £259.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black £114.95
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £103.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 750W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (0-761345-06223-7) £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Patriot Venom Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0KRD) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Cable Bundle - Red £28.45
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,216.78 (includes shipping : £17.10).



Probably missed something out, but RAM is just a placeholder not sure what's good RAM wise.
 
This would be my suggestion:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Games **FREE SHIPPING** £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £74.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x Seasonic S12II 620W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £67.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £65.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £53.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 412S CPU Cooler £28.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,127.78 (includes shipping : FREE).



Includes everything you need, a lot better than your orignal spec and cheaper too. :)

I never realised how out of touch PC gamer UK were..
 
Themed for the win! :D

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Games **FREE SHIPPING** £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer M 620W "80+ Bronze" Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black £78.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x Patriot Venom Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0KRD) £65.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
Total : £1,133.75 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
I'm working on it .......

EDIT: Fully Ether'ed up....

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Games **FREE SHIPPING** £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer M 620W "80+ Bronze" Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black £78.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x Patriot Venom Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0KRD) £65.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
1 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise - Dual Pack (CO-9050006-WW) £25.99
2 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £19.99 (£39.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24-Pin ATX Extension 30cm - sleeved black/red/black £7.49
1 x BitFenix Molex to 4x SATA Adapter 20 cm - sleeved black/red/black £5.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Red £5.99 (£11.98)
2 x BitFenix 8-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved black/red/black £5.95 (£11.90)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8-Pin EPS12V Extension 45cm - sleeved black/red/black £4.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Red £4.49
4 x BitFenix Alchemy 2pin I/O extension 30cm - Red £3.95 (£15.80)
Total : £1,262.35 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
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Oh my!

A lot to think about there... but I'm gonna be a jerk and question a few things even though you're clearly the expert here!

I'd rather go for nVidia over Asus... I've had both in the past and I've always preferred nVidia cards and drivers... they just seem to play nicer with other software.

Everyone seems to suggest i5 over i7, I take it i7s aren't that great then?

Windows 8. Everything I've seen of Win8 makes me recoil in horror, is there any real advantage of getting Win8 over Win7?

The case. I might stick with the chase I chose, I like the HAF series and enjoy having a nice big case to work with.

Thanks you very much for all that help, the cables are a nice touch!
 
The 7970 is one of the best cards to have and at the price it's at, a very good bargain!

The i7 is a good chip however for gaming the i5 will do everything you need, you'll only be missing the Hyper threading which isn't utilized in gaming at the moment anyway. W8 is W7, just with a different start menu, (which is 1000% better than the start menu) looks nice when you pin all your steam games as well. Make's it very gamer PC like.

The Haf X is a nice case, I prefer my Storm Trooper over it or maybe a NZXT case? :)
 
The new amd cards are apparently being announced on Wednesday, so maybe worth holding on before buying a graphics card.

to counter thereaperguys i5 vs i7 point it all depend on what games you play, newer games are said to be utilising extra/cores/threads so the i7 will be more future proof.
 
So, I've taken Ethermaster's suggestions and modified it slightly for personal taste.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £259.99
1 x Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Games **FREE SHIPPING** £233.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942) £129.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance K70 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Black - Blue Switch £119.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer M 620W "80+ Bronze" Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Patriot Venom Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (PV38G240C0KRD) £65.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £44.99
1 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise - Dual Pack (CO-9050006-WW) £25.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £19.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24-Pin ATX Extension 30cm - sleeved black/red/black £7.49
1 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Red £5.99
1 x BitFenix Molex to 4x SATA Adapter 20 cm - sleeved black/red/black £5.99
1 x BitFenix 8-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved black/red/black £5.95
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8-Pin EPS12V Extension 45cm - sleeved black/red/black £4.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Red £4.49
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 2pin I/O extension 30cm - Red £3.95
Total : £1,399.62 (includes shipping : FREE).



I like the HAF X (thanks for the suggestion ReaperGuy) and the Keyboard better (I'm a sucker for backlit keys, so unless there's something wrong with it that I don't know, I'll go with that).
I also did some research on i7 and i5s. I think the i7 will be better for what I want. It does better in tests and it seems more future proof. I also enjoy recording game footage so the extra hyperthreading may help with that.
What do you guys think?
 
Actually, can I get rid of the water cooling? I don't think I'm confident enough for that yet. Can someone recommend a good CPU fan?

I'd also still like a recommendation on a good gaming monitor.
 
Last edited:
Zikar said:
Actually, can I get rid of the water cooling? I don't think I'm confident enough for that yet. Can someone recommend a good CPU fan?.
Click to expand...

Doomedspeed said:
This would be my suggestion:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Games **FREE SHIPPING** £233.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £74.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Silver - Red Switch (CH-9000040-UK) £69.95
1 x Seasonic S12II 620W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £67.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £65.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £54.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £53.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 412S CPU Cooler £28.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,127.78 (includes shipping : FREE).



Includes everything you need, a lot better than your orignal spec and cheaper too. :)

I never realised how out of touch PC gamer UK were..
Click to expand...


Zikar said:
I'd also still like a recommendation on a good gaming monitor.
Click to expand...

Would this be included in your budget or seperate?

Would 1080p suffice or do you want 120hz/1440p? :)
 
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