First PC build - gaming under £900

[skinnerman]

Hi guys,

I'm looking at building my first PC - will be used primarily for gaming and uni work. I've considered buying a pre-built but I can't get one for less than £1k so I'm biting the bullet and looking at doing it myself!

This is the spec I've put together at the moment:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87-D3HP ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card
Case: Cooler Master Force 500 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Drive
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)
Monitor: Hannspree HL229DPB 21.5" Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech EX 100 Cordless Desktop Wireless Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse

This is coming in at £885 - any suggestions on substitutions etc? I need all the peripherals and OS too. I'd like it last me a few years at least! My maximum budget is £900, but the lower the better!

Cheers

 

[snips86x]

I would change the RAM for 1866/2133 and the g/card for a 7870.

I know there is no mouse/keyboard.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £173.99
1 x MSI HD 7870 Black Knight 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7870-2GD5T/OC) £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £109.99
1 x BenQ GW2260HM 22" Widescreen LED Professional Monitor - Black £107.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HG5D Series 7mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - (THNSNH128GCST) £94.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G186C9K) £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £52.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.95
Total : £954.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[skinnerman]

Great, thanks very much - got all that priced up at £963.81 with my mouse and keyboard. Anything you could think to skimp on a little to shave it down to the £900 mark? Thanks very much for your help!

 

[skinnerman]

Sorry for the double post; I've been paid now, so have £900 to buy all my kit with - any alternative builds to bring me into this price? Thanks!

 

[Threepwood]

Drop the mechanical hard drive for now and buy one later, or not upto you. Should get you closer to budget.

Edit: Wouldn't bother with a wireless keyboard/mouse either. Get wired, less bother.

Double edit: You can officially and legally download windows and use it for a trial period of a month, after which it will prompt you to buy. In this time you could try both windows 8 and 7 and see what you want before buying either.

No need to spend money on an OS right away.

 

[Doomedspeed]

Sorry for the double post; I've been paid now, so have £900 to buy all my kit with - any alternative builds to bring me into this price? Thanks!

Getting the windows 8 dev edition (if it's still available) will pull you back into budget..

I think it's a 3 month free trail..

I wouldn't sacrfice your PC performance...

You could alway run another OS for a bit.

 

[skinnerman]

So that's what I've bought! With shopping around and deals etc., I've got it for £925, which will do Will I be alright with a stock CPU cooler with this spec? Thanks for all of your help!