Future proof gaming system

CosminGCole

CosminGCole

CosminGCole

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Joined
27 Dec 2012
Posts
375
Location
London
Hello, I would like some final opinions on the system I put together with the help of some other people around here. Do you think is well balanced ? Will it last?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 780Ti Gaming Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £509.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £259.99
1 x Asus VN247H 24"Widescreen Super Narrow Bezel LED Monitor - Black £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £88
1 x Corsair RM Series RM 650 '80+ Gold' 650W Power Supply (CP-9020054-UK) £85.99
1 x CM Storm Quickfire TK Stealth Brown Switch £74.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x CM Storm Havoc Gaming Mouse 8200DPI - Black £41.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24F1ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £17.99
Total : £1,732.39 (includes shipping : £25.45).

 
That case doesn't have a 5.25" drive bay, so you'll need an external optical drive.
 
Future-proofing is a really weak (and nonsensical) term.

Even though we may know what software and hardware will be around in 12-24 months, it doesn't mean you know its performance/requirements. We only truly know what today brings.

You can only really 'prepare' you're hardware to be added to/upgraded. There are really only 2 ways:
  • CPU overclocking
  • Multi-GPU setup

Overclocking your CPU will increase its performance and (if there is) alleviate any GPU bottleneck you may have.

Multi-GPU means Xfire/SLI, so having the rig setup to run 2 GPU's rather than just one. This requires good airflow and a strong PSU (atleast 750w+). You need to ensure your motherboard supports SLI/Xfire too.

Monitor resolution is also important. 1080p has become very easty to max out xcurrently, so you can step up to 1440p or 120/144hz without too much hassle.

I would change you spec a fair bit; but what budget do i/you have to play with?
 
you can do better on that budget. eg xfire 290s:

YOUR BASKET
2 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99 (£659.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £259.99
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £107.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower Gaming Case - Red £104.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x CM Storm Quickfire XT - Mechanical Keyboard - Brown Switch £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC) £65.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1220 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £60
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EFRX - OEM HDD £49.99
1 x CM Storm Recon 4000 DPI Gaming Mouse £39.98
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
Total : £1,837.56 (includes shipping : £14.75).



mobo comes with free headset worth ~30 quid
 
Doomedspeed said:
Future-proofing is a really weak (and nonsensical) term.

Even though we may know what software and hardware will be around in 12-24 months, it doesn't mean you know its performance/requirements. We only truly know what today brings.

You can only really 'prepare' you're hardware to be added to/upgraded. There are really only 2 ways:
  • CPU overclocking
  • Multi-GPU setup

Overclocking your CPU will increase its performance and (if there is) alleviate any GPU bottleneck you may have.

Multi-GPU means Xfire/SLI, so having the rig setup to run 2 GPU's rather than just one. This requires good airflow and a strong PSU (atleast 750w+). You need to ensure your motherboard supports SLI/Xfire too.

Monitor resolution is also important. 1080p has become very easty to max out xcurrently, so you can step up to 1440p or 120/144hz without too much hassle.

I would change you spec a fair bit; but what budget do i/you have to play with?
Click to expand...

You are right as it goes, cannot really see whats going to come out in the future. My budget is £2000 including peripherals.
 
YOUR BASKET
2 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99 (£659.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £259.99
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £199.99
1 x Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter CT512MX100SSD1) £159.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £107.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower Gaming Case - Red £104.99
1 x CM Storm Quickfire XT - Mechanical Keyboard - Brown Switch £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC) £65.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1220 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £60
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EFRX - OEM HDD £49.99
1 x NZXT HUE RGB LED Controller - Black £39.98
1 x CM Storm Recon 4000 DPI Gaming Mouse £39.98
1 x Corsair Fan, SP120 PWM Low Noise High Pressure Fan 4 pin, Dual Pack (CO-9050012-WW) £25
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Cable Bundle - Red £21.95
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.49
Total : £2,020.48 (includes shipping : £16.85).




2 grand, red case, red/black internals and hue lighting
512gb ssd + 1tb wd red
 
Went along the same theme as Tamzzy, using 290 DCUII's and a red colour.

YOUR BASKET
2 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99 (£659.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £199.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £139.99
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £128.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x Corsair Obsidian 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Case (CC-9011049-WW) £91.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC) £65.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1220 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £60
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Raptor K40 Gaming Keyboard (CH-9000051-UK) £39.95
1 x Corsair Raptor M45 Gaming Mouse (CH-9000052-EU) £37.99
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22
1 x Corsair AF120 Performance Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050003-WW) £11.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
2 x Corsair Air Series AF140 1200RPM LED Red Quiet Edition (CO-9050017-RLED) £10.99 (£21.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.98 (£13.96)
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.49 (£12.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Red £5.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal USB Extension 30cm - sleeved red/black £4.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Red £4.49
Total : £2,014.39 (includes shipping : £16.85).



Motherboard:
I went for the sniper, the difference is the black PCB (where the Gaming 3 had a browny colour) and (where the sniper is a clear winner) sound. It has 'green cap' capacitors which give insane sound quality, well worth the extra £20.
Yes, it doesn't come with a free headset but who needs 3 heatsets anyway?

Case:
I was thinking about the 540 Air but the 450 has great airflow while still being conventioanl tower shaped. Plain and elegant. The colour si for the insdie not the out (thats my way of looking at it)

GPU's:
Will out perform a 780ti and cost around the same. Even 1 290 should be enough for 144hz. :) (this is my way of future proofing).

Keyboard & mouse:
Went pretty simple on these, im not a mechanical keyboard fan so i just picked good quality non-mechanic stuff.

SSD:
The EVO is just quality, Quick and for what it is, cheap.

Fans:
The SP120's are for the cooler (use the red rings)
The AF140 LEDs are for the front (as you wont see the rings there)
And the single AF140 is for the rear (red ring)

Thoughts? :)
 
Doomedspeed said:
Went along the same theme as Tamzzy, using 290 DCUII's and a red colour.

YOUR BASKET
2 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99 (£659.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £199.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £139.99
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £128.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x Corsair Obsidian 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Case (CC-9011049-WW) £91.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC) £65.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1220 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £60
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Raptor K40 Gaming Keyboard (CH-9000051-UK) £39.95
1 x Corsair Raptor M45 Gaming Mouse (CH-9000052-EU) £37.99
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22
1 x Corsair AF120 Performance Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050003-WW) £11.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
2 x Corsair Air Series AF140 1200RPM LED Red Quiet Edition (CO-9050017-RLED) £10.99 (£21.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.98 (£13.96)
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.49 (£12.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Red £5.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal USB Extension 30cm - sleeved red/black £4.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Red £4.49
Total : £2,014.39 (includes shipping : £16.85).



Motherboard:
I went for the sniper, the difference is the black PCB (where the Gaming 3 had a browny colour) and (where the sniper is a clear winner) sound. It has 'green cap' capacitors which give insane sound quality, well worth the extra £20.
Yes, it doesn't come with a free headset but who needs 3 heatsets anyway?

Case:
I was thinking about the 540 Air but the 450 has great airflow while still being conventioanl tower shaped. Plain and elegant. The colour si for the insdie not the out (thats my way of looking at it)

GPU's:
Will out perform a 780ti and cost around the same. Even 1 290 should be enough for 144hz. :) (this is my way of future proofing).

Keyboard & mouse:
Went pretty simple on these, im not a mechanical keyboard fan so i just picked good quality non-mechanic stuff.

SSD:
The EVO is just quality, Quick and for what it is, cheap.

Fans:
The SP120's are for the cooler (use the red rings)
The AF140 LEDs are for the front (as you wont see the rings there)
And the single AF140 is for the rear (red ring)

Thoughts? :)
Click to expand...

Well, well. This looks pretty impressive but I would like to go with Nvidia because.. I don't even know why, I had Radeon for quite a while and I'm pretty tired of them :/ .Not very satisfied with it but if these two cards will outperform the 780ti by a lot I might consider going with Radeon again.
 
Last edited:
tamzzy said:
YOUR BASKET
2 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99 (£659.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £259.99
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £199.99
1 x Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter CT512MX100SSD1) £159.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £107.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower Gaming Case - Red £104.99
1 x CM Storm Quickfire XT - Mechanical Keyboard - Brown Switch £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC) £65.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1220 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £60
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EFRX - OEM HDD £49.99
1 x NZXT HUE RGB LED Controller - Black £39.98
1 x CM Storm Recon 4000 DPI Gaming Mouse £39.98
1 x Corsair Fan, SP120 PWM Low Noise High Pressure Fan 4 pin, Dual Pack (CO-9050012-WW) £25
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Cable Bundle - Red £21.95
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.49
Total : £2,020.48 (includes shipping : £16.85).




2 grand, red case, red/black internals and hue lighting
512gb ssd + 1tb wd red
Click to expand...
tamzzy , your build also looks great but the same problem, I'd rather go with Nvidia than Radeon for this build.
 
Last edited:
lee32uk said:
Slightly more expensive for the 780, but this Gigabyte will fit in with any colour scheme.

YOUR BASKET
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £359.99 (£719.98)
Total : £729.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...

I don't really mind it if it goes a little over £2000 and that card is pretty awesome but I was mostly thinking of the MSI 780 Gaming edition x2 . Would it be better than the Gigabyte one?
 
CosminGCole said:
I don't really mind it if it goes a little over £2000 and that card is pretty awesome but I was mostly thinking of the MSI 780 Gaming edition x2 . Would it be better than the Gigabyte one?
Click to expand...

I think for the extra £20 I would stick with the Gigabyte card. There has been a problem with the MSI cards (Probably fixed by now) where the fans have been leaking oil. I would imagine that any on sale now have had that problem rectified. Gigabyte have very good UK based warranty support as well.
 
I'd be looking at a 1000w PSU just so I could upgrade to crossfire if I want to, getting just one card to start with can be good just to see if you like it or not, as you can always add another if you're not getting the performance you think you want/need.
 
CosminGCole said:
Well, well. This looks pretty impressive but I would like to go with Nvidia because.. I don't even know why, I had Radeon for quite a while and I'm pretty tired of them :/ .Not very satisfied with it but if these two cards will outperform the 780ti by a lot I might consider going with Radeon again.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Well i'll level with you, i've never been a radeon fan either (actually only own one AMD (its was ATI back then) GPU and it wasn't amazing (no issues but OC'ed like a brick). Moved to Nvidia and never looked back.

A friend of mine did the opposite recently. He switched his GTX 570 (which was the same card as i had) and went to a 7970 (which is now an R9 280) and he was blown away. He had no issues, OCed like a demon and was cool and calm.

Appearently the R9 series are more stable, than their 7 series counter parts too.

For the money i'd say give it a go but i see your concern. I think you will be impressed though.

If you are going Nvidia though, don't get 2 x 780's get a single 780ti and keep the money to add a second later if you feel you need to.

The 780's come no-where near the 780ti's.
 
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