First time full build, help!

Tom898

Tom898

Tom898

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Joined
31 Oct 2013
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137
Hi there,

I have finally decided to bite the bullet and build my first gaming PC, and would like the forum to help me decide on some components.

I have around 600-700 pounds to spend on my computer, please tell me what you think about some of the items I am thinking about purchasing and whether they are all compatible with each other.

CPU: Possibly Intel 4770K

Motherboard: Not really sure on the best choice, ideally would like it to have some processor OC settings built in as I would like to OC but am not really sure where to start.

RAM: I noticed there is a deal on RAM today (GeIL EVO?) that seems good at first glance, I am able to purchase items today so is this a good deal?

HD: Would like a small amount of SSD to be able to store my OS and a few of my most used games, then a simple 1TB drive will be more than enough.

Graphics Card: I have an MSI 7950 card left from my previous build, this has be able to work with all other parts in my system as this is what I will be using.

PSU: I also have a Corsair CX600 lying around, Will this be sufficient and also compatible with this system?

Case: BitFenix Shinobi "Core" seems like the case I like the aesthetics of, will this fit all of my parts?

CPU cooler: I have an Akasa Voodoo Venom CPU cooler, I believe this is compatible with the CPU I mentioned above and would need to be compatible if the CPU is changed.

Case Fans: I also have a couple Akasa fans leftover, will 2 be enough to enable good airflow or will I need more?

I would also like a cheap DVD Drive just incase, can be the cheapest one possible.

Thanks in advance for your help
 
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Hello and welcome to the forum.

Apart from gaming, what others uses will your system need to perform?
Are you also likely to want to go Xfire(2x7950) in the near future?
 
 
Red/black and white themed(ignore the blue in the case image, it's just example lighting).. :)

Your Basket »
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £245.99
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £124.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £83.99
1 x Avexir MPower Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CRR) £65.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - White £54.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSWS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - White £26.99
1 x Corsair Air Series AF120 1500RPM LED Red Quiet Edition - Dual Pack (CO-9050016-RLED) £16.99
2 x Corsair Air Series AF140 1200RPM LED Red Quiet Edition (CO-9050017-RLED) £11.99 (£23.98)



Total: £711.98 (includes shipping: £11.75)

External DVD drive can be dropped to bring spec inline with budget, i just thought it might look nice with the case.. ;)
 
Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £245.99
1 x MSI Z87 Mpower SP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £143.99
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U24001004G-2CM) £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black £78.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £703.90 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...

I see that you have chosen a Toshiba SSD, from my time looking around I seem to have noticed people saying that the Samsung is the fastest of the lot, so have you chosen the Toshiba because of the price?

Also just another little question I have, are motherboards more of a personal preference/colour scheme thing more than anything else? As I know absolutely nothing about motherboards.
 
The Toshiba is both good in price and performance.

I buy a mobo to suit my needs. Does it offer me decent overclocking, how many Gpu`s (sli/xfire capable), does it have enough sata ports, etc,etc.
It all depends on what you want and what if any other devices you may want to connect to your system. If you chose a windowed case, some would rather it looked good, if a non windowed case then no one sees it, so it does`nt matter how many different coloured items you have, as long as they perform to your requirements.
Personally I buy what I need to do the job, balancing budget with performance and quality.
If for instance you are not going to be OCing to the extreme or likely to install another Gpu, then you could still get a very could board for less money. And spend what you save on a better quality component. You would however need to buy a 750 Psu at least, if you were to xfire your 7950.
At the end of the day, just buy what you need that will do the tasks you set, be it gaming or whatever. Once you have a good base to work from, upgrading in the future is easier and cheaper. No reason it should`nt last you a few years, with the odd upgrade.
 
I guess a pertinent question at this point would be..

Do you intend to overclock? If you know that realistically it's something you'll not bother with(i've built systems for guys who say they want to overclock but never do - funny, but i love building the systems, win win for me), the spec can be changed and savings made that can then be put into other areas of the build.
 
TooMuchCheese said:
I guess a pertinent question at this point would be..

Do you intend to overclock? If you know that realistically it's something you'll not bother with(i've built systems for guys who say they want to overclock but never do - funny, but i love building the systems, win win for me), the spec can be changed and savings made that can then be put into other areas of the build.
Click to expand...

That is why I have asked for a MoBo that has preset OC settings built in - I do not want to have to be fiddling with voltages etc. to get a stable overclock, however if a MoBo has settings for a stableish OC of 4.2GHz + then yes I do want that sort of Mobo.

However I do not want to add another graphics card to my rig in the future, one 7950 will do for now and maybe if I need more processing in the future I will just buy one new card.
 
TooMuchCheese said:
Red/black and white themed(ignore the blue in the case image, it's just example lighting).. :)

Your Basket »
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £245.99
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £124.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £83.99
1 x Avexir MPower Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CRR) £65.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi "Core" USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - White £54.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSWS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - White £26.99
1 x Corsair Air Series AF120 1500RPM LED Red Quiet Edition - Dual Pack (CO-9050016-RLED) £16.99
2 x Corsair Air Series AF140 1200RPM LED Red Quiet Edition (CO-9050017-RLED) £11.99 (£23.98)



Total: £711.98 (includes shipping: £11.75)

External DVD drive can be dropped to bring spec inline with budget, i just thought it might look nice with the case.. ;)
Click to expand...

The "core" case is missing mesh, the logo and fans (but you have some in the basket for this issue).
 
Tom898 said:
That is why I have asked for a MoBo that has preset OC settings built in - I do not want to have to be fiddling with voltages etc. to get a stable overclock, however if a MoBo has settings for a stableish OC of 4.2GHz + then yes I do want that sort of Mobo.

However I do not want to add another graphics card to my rig in the future, one 7950 will do for now and maybe if I need more processing in the future I will just buy one new card.
Click to expand...

The auto overclocking will just adjust the voltages for you. Sadly it tends to add more voltage than necessary. Upping the Vcore voltage also ups the temps which is why so many of us do it manually so we don't use more than necessary. You can simply just up the CPU ratio in the BIOS and see how far you get on stock volts if you want to start with baby steps.

From what you have said......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £245.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G186C9KBL) £65.99
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 OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £681.29 (includes shipping : £11.25).



The OEM CPU has a shorter warranty and no stock heatsink but it is a fair saving over the retail version. The mobo includes a decent free heatsink so the H100 can be omitted, it's there because the Ronin (the updated Shinobi essentially) can mount 240mm rads unlike the Shinobi.
 
honosuseri said:
The auto overclocking will just adjust the voltages for you. Sadly it tends to add more voltage than necessary. Upping the Vcore voltage also ups the temps which is why so many of us do it manually so we don't use more than necessary. You can simply just up the CPU ratio in the BIOS and see how far you get on stock volts if you want to start with baby steps.

From what you have said......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £245.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £69.95
1 x Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G186C9KBL) £65.99
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 OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.95
Total : £681.29 (includes shipping : £11.25).



The OEM CPU has a shorter warranty and no stock heatsink but it is a fair saving over the retail version. The mobo includes a decent free heatsink so the H100 can be omitted, it's there because the Ronin (the updated Shinobi essentially) can mount 240mm rads unlike the Shinobi.
Click to expand...

I have an Akasa Voodoo Venom CPU cooler,
Click to expand...

Now he`ll have 3 coolers, might need a bigger case buddy. :D
 
Idleman said:
Now he`ll have 3 coolers, might need a bigger case buddy. :D
Click to expand...

Ha Ha :P

Yes I did notice he had the Venom Cooler and I also noticed how you nicely matched the yellow into your spec ;)

The D3HP does all he is asking for very well, I can't help that it comes with a free cooler ;) I prefer the Ronin to the 300R as the fan vents in the 300Rs window and the Shinobi bug me, case is a personal preference though. The 300R and Shinobi can't mount the H100 but the Ronin can, he might not care about that but it's nice to know the case offers pretty decent watercooling options for a similar price :)
 
The MPower is overkill, as he does`nt want to clock it himself. I did have a look at some of the Overclocked bundles, but they seem rather expensive for what you get. The same goes for the OC`ed gaming systems.
 
 
I don't think I want to go the full hog and go with watercooling, I think my current air cooler will be able to handle things.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-062-BX
This is currently my favourite case - I have looked at the window on the Shinobi and as someone said previously I do not like the grilling on it. Also Reading the description of that case, it does not seem to have any 2.5" bays for an SSD, would I need to buy some sort of adapter so an SSD can fit in one of these bays?

I have also considered the Corsair 750D, but it's almost certainly complete overkill for the kind of system I want to run however it is probably the nicest case I've ever seen.

Also I would like to ask if on my budget people think it's worth buying the 4770K over the 4670K, the £65 price difference is big and I'm not sure what applications are able to take advantage of the extra 4 threads, advice please?
 
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The standard Shinobi and the soundproofed one only come with a single fan. The windowed Shinobi has two fans preinstalled and to be honest the standard Bitfenix Spectre fans aren't great.

Case is a personal preference as I said, just remember the soundproofing material will limit the height of the cooler you can use. For a quiet case I'd look at the Corsair 330R myself but to each their own
 
Tom898 said:
I don't think I want to go the full hog and go with watercooling, I think my current air cooler will be able to handle things.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-062-BX
This is currently my favourite case - I have looked at the window on the Shinobi and as someone said previously I do not like the grilling on it. Also Reading the description of that case, it does not seem to have any 2.5" bays for an SSD, would I need to buy some sort of adapter so an SSD can fit in one of these bays?
Click to expand...

Good cases, the HDD caddies take 2.5" drives too.

Also the Ghost and shadow are quiet.
 
honosuseri said:
The standard Shinobi and the soundproofed one only come with a single fan. The windowed Shinobi has two fans preinstalled and to be honest the standard Bitfenix Spectre fans aren't great.

Case is a personal preference as I said, just remember the soundproofing material will limit the height of the cooler you can use. For a quiet case I'd look at the Corsair 330R myself but to each their own
Click to expand...

Thank you for pointing this case out to me, it looks great! Do you know if the fans that come with the case are any good?

Tom898 said:
Also I would like to ask if on my budget people think it's worth buying the 4770K over the 4670K, the £65 price difference is big and I'm not sure what applications are able to take advantage of the extra 4 threads, advice please?
Click to expand...

Would still love for this question to be answered also

EDIT: Also looking on the OCUK website I see they have power supplies in a seperate 'Haswell compatible' category, so is my PSU definitely compatible if I were to buy a haswell board?
 
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Tom898 said:
Thank you for pointing this case out to me, it looks great! Do you know if the fans that come with the case are any good?
Click to expand...


You can watch that and hopefully it will answer some of your questions. Look at reviews for cases till you find something you like. The Shinobi isn't bad but it's quite old now, the Ronin really is it's replacement.

The i7s Hypertheading is mainly for video editing etc but some games will perform better with it. The i5K is still a very good all round CPU it just lacks the hyperthreading.
 
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