First PC build, need advice

[tejjy]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum, I recently sold my alienware m14x laptop, I know alienware is more of a gimic then a gaming machine, anyway I have decided it is time to build a gaming PC.

The specs I've been looking it are as follows:

Core i7 4790K devils canyon
AsRock Z97X fatal1ty
16gb ram Kingston hyper x beast series - I may make that 32gb
Gtx 970 or maybe 980

As for a power supply I'm looking at getting atleast 750w maybe even 1000w. I plan to sli later so the extra power will be useful.

I've been looking at cases a friend recommended the Coolermaster CM 690 III which I like the idea of having filters, but I'm not too sure on the looks I did like the Antec 300 with red led fand but I suppose I can always change the fans.

I plan on using the PC to also make music and render videos, so extra pci slots will be useful and also this explains why I want 32gb of ram. The specs I have suggested are not carved in stone so any recommendations will be taken into account, I plan on keeping the PC for a while so I want it to be good and as future proof as possible.

P.S. I have been doing my research, I know a lot of people suggest msi mobos but I've also heard that msi have bad quality control so I decided on the asrock.

 

[stulid]

Hi and welcome.

I am not too sure how much you want to spend but heres a quick a spec,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £387.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £169.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £89.99
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £79.99
1 x EVGA Supernova GS 550W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £71.95
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £41.99
1 x Antec VSP5000 Silenced Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Alpenfohn Ben Nevis CPU Cooler - 120mm £19.99
Total : £923.26 (includes shipping : £17.85 Ex.VAT).



It sounds like you want a quiet PC to enable you to do your music and video creativity. So I have picked out,

• Silenced case with sound dampening material and three fans prefitted with speed controllers.
• A GFX card that can game at 1080P and also runs passive at idle.
• A PSU with an ECO mode so again the fan runs passive at low use
• Cooler with a 120mm fan.

SSD for the OS and programs and a HDD for storage.

You can of course go for a 2nd RAM kit for 32Gb if you need that much RAM and have a suitable operating system.

There is also cashback available - https://toptechcashback.com/uk/en/pages/cpumb/qualifying

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EVGA also have these two PSUs which feature ECO mode,

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £94.99
Total : £219.54 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).



These two are made by Superflower and have a 10yr warranty.

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Here are two GTX970s which run passive at idle too,

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU II OC Strix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99
Total : £599.58 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).



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More silence optimised cases,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec P100 Mid Tower Case & HCG-620M 620W 80+ Bronze Modular PSU Bundle £116.92
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black (CC-9011015-WW) £104.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £94.99
1 x Antec Performance Series P280 Midi-Tower - White £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Ultra Silent Midi Tower Case - Blackout Edition (CC-9011076-WW) £85.99
1 x Antec P100 Mid Tower Silenced Computing Case £62.95
Total : £588.89 (includes shipping : £27.55 Ex.VAT).

 

[tejjy]

Thanks for your reply, I'm looking at a budget of around £900, not including SSD and HDD drives as I already have a 120gb kingston v300 ssd now, a 240gb kingston hyper x ssd and a 3tb samsung 3.5" drive. But I do need to get a gaming keyboard, I have the Razer Deathadder mouse with the Vespula mouse mat, looking at a Blackwidow Ultimate maybe the Chroma, and I would prefer to stick to £800, most for the graphics card as I am not completely decided on that and I will be using the £100 extra to play around with lighting and led fans water cooling if I can get a bit more money together.

Is there a reason for the Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 7 over the ASRock Z97X Killer Fatal1ty? Pros and cons? The specs seem pretty similar to me which is why I ask.

I do like the idea of silenced cases although over the years I have had problems with overheating, which is why I am thinking of going for a case with a mesh front panel and dust filters. I also want a side window so I can work on some lighting and when I'm bored look at what I can do to it to make it perform better and look cooler. Also want the option for water cooling if I decide to update in the future, I was looking at the Cooler Master CM-690 III Advanced Midi-Tower - Window Pure Black or the Corsair Obsidian 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Case, as I want something that isn't going to look out of place or old and tacky over time, so something similar to those as I am still not 100% sure on them. My friends have those cases and another has the Antec 300 (but I do believe that it does not have water cooling capability, so that one is already rules out), so in a way I do like them but at the same time would like something different.

I have decided on the GTX970, but I have been reading about the 980ti and was wondering if there was a release date yet, because I may try and get some extra money together to buy it.

Just out of interest I read on your profile that you are into car stuff, I am also working on mods for my car, I have a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 4 door Saloon, I've done a few little bits like a shark fin aerial and twin 12" subs, looking at plasti dip if you've heard about it, black with a red flip to it. Anyway that is a little off topic.

 

[stulid]

Hi again.

Gigabyte boards are solid and there is a forum rep to help should you have an issue, UK based RMA centre and a 3yr (but 4 yr if registered) warranty.

NZXT S240 or H400 are good case for a little bit of optional water cooling but no good to you if you need an external drive bay.

As for my car stuff I have worked at Toyota (Autologic/Walon) and Honda UK.

 

[tejjy]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me on that, I will be looking into the Gigabyte board in that case, as I will probably need the support when it comes to overclocking as I have been buying prebuilt systems which were all ready to go and this will be my first time doing it all myself.

I will look at those cases, the H400 is tempting as they have the razer addition, but I did find the NZXT Hue just now as I am used to changing the colour of the lighting when I get bored, and I found a mod for the fan lights as well, which I think is my lighting dilemma solved.

Its all about the Jap cars, never owned anything else, I'm an ex mechanic with a recent degree in Aerospace engineering, which I will be using to make my system as quiet as possible with the most efficient cooling.

Thank you for your advice, I will be doing some more research into it as I may wait to see what the 6th gen i7 brings as it is only a couple months away, would rather I didn't build a PC and the new tech basically makes me want to upgrade straight away.