Gaming build - your collective expertise would be much appreciated

fowler002 said:
Unless you're a extreme overclocker spending £300+ on a motherboard (such as the asus Maximus vi extreme) then for the most part what motherboard you use doesn't effect how well the CPU overclocks as its the cooling used, well I'm no expert but that is what I've read.

As you're not an extreme overclocker the motherboard choice really comes down to your budget and the features you require(I.e number of sata ports, wifi/Bluetooth etc), not as important as the other two but also the looks/colour of the motherboard.

The gigabyte sniper is meant to have the best onboard sound for a motherboard, tho looks like you took qitarhs suggestion on the motherboard.

If you will be going xfire in the future then go with the 4770k otherwise might as well save money and stick with the 4670k, cooler wise the top 3 air coolers are the k2 mount doom, the one qitarah linked to and the thermalright silver arrow(the mount doom being the cheaper of the three).
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Splendid - I'll have a look at the coolers. Cheers
 
Qitarah said:
4820k is ivy bridge express. Different motherboard socket. Slightly slower than haswell 4770k but overclocks a bit better and it's Not compatible with the 1150 socket motherboard (haswell). The 4820k has more expensive motherboards as well. Over all it's not worth it over a 4770k. The only benefit is that socket 2011 have the 4930k which is a beast of a processor (at a beastly price!). This would offer an upgrade path in a few years time but at that point where a 4770k needs upgrading, I would imagine a 4930k would too!

Haswell is code name for socket 1150 and in this case the 4770k (i7) or 4670k (i5).

Oem basically means it is one year warranty and no intel heatsink (retail is 3 year warranty). I'd defiantly not recommended oem over retail for the sake of a couple of pounds (especially since the 4770k is on offer right now).

The 4770 (3.4 ghz) is a non-k edition, which is a bit slower and also not overclockable at all (or very limited).

The 4770k is the one you are looking for and it is currently at a nice price this week!!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-471-IN
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You know, I hadn't even noticed the addition of the 'K' - that certainly helps to differentiate between them.

I had noticed the one year warranty on the OEM one and was certainly put off by it. As you say, the slight price increase of the retail unit is certainly worth it in my book just for the warranty.

Thank you for explaining the finer points of the different processors Qitarah, I very much appreciate it. Had I not come on here and heard from you knowledgeable folk I would have likely thought the bigger number was better (!) and not considered the socket compatibility. Saved me there!
 
Qitarah said:
The ud4h at £135 is a good deal, the sniper is also a good board but at £120 for the sniper the ud4h is just better overall.

going back to the I7 vs I 5 for a sec what games do you play currently?
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The ud4h is on its way as we speak - the price was too good to pass up.

I have not played anything in a good while due to my laptop (now deceased) being rather elderly and frail. It still played Battlefield Vietnam (the original one!) which is just an excellent game, but I'm looking at things like DayZ (standalone); GTA V (when it finally emerges); War Thunder; and likely things like Assassin's Creed Black Flag; Call of Duty; and Battlefield. More emphasis on the DayZ/War Thunder side of things though probably.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Trust me, man. If you want to get a decent temperature (=better performance) from your CPU, spending the extra on a liquid cooling unit is well worth it. You won't be able to overclock it with that air cooler, particularly not such a cheap one, and in that case you won't need a K processor, just a standard one.

I think we probably had this conversation at the pub; it won't leak.

Also, the PSU, although it'll be fine for one GPU, if you ever want a second, you'll need to change it.

Excellent on the UD4H, though. I have the UD5H I think.
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There's a post above with three air cooling options - the one in my 'basket' post is just a guide. But this is only if I OC. I won't be OCing for quite some time I imagine, in which case my budget 'basket' one looks like it'll be fine.

The 4770K processor is for the future ability to OC. Better to outlay more now than have to totally replace the 4770 if I want to OC. N'est pas?
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Bien sur. The air coolers are fine, I just wouldn't buy a really cheap one. The last link that that chap has posted, the Corsair H80i, is the cooler I have. As I said in my text, you'd probably need to change out the fans that come with it. Also, when you turn the PC on they run at 100% for about 10 seconds, which is annoying, but unavoidable with that unit.
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That would irritate me greatly. Don't most PCs (in the traditional sense) start up with that 'woosh' though? Or is it avoidable with certain air coolers?
 
Qitarah said:
If your not going to overclock or venture into it for a while, just get a cheaper cooler. Will be silent enough and do the job of keep temperatures down.

If and when you decide you would like to try overclocking, replacing an 18 pound heatsink isn't the worst thing in the world. Then you can decide between high end aircooling or a closed loop water cooling system.


Did you decide between the 4770k and the 4670k (i5)?
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Yes indeed - a decision that warrants further investigation at a later date (and hopefully when things have moved on and have become a little cheaper)!

Not decided on the i7 or i5 yet. What were your thoughts on the games of DayZ/War Thunder/latest FPS?
 
Qitarah said:
I'm not too familiar with War thunder and how it performs, and I don't think DayZ makes use of hyperthreading (what the i7 has to get its 4 more virtual cores).

However battlefield 4 for example does make use of virtual cores.

A lot of games currently aren't making proper use of an i7, and the i5 will still make easy work of them when coupled with the 290 you have bought!

Maybe in the interests of not smashing the original budget by two miles you should just get the 4670k its a great processor and will be great for what you want.


What about the Power supply, have you had any thoughts on that? (i.e. getting a larger one for maybe Crossfiring another 290 in the future). I personally think its not worth it. One 290 now will be great FPS for a long time on games, by the time its not it will be just much easier to replace the one graphics card to a newer model, rather than messing around trying to find a 2nd hand card and etcetc.

The more I think about it, the more I think you should just get the i5, get a cheap aircooler and get the PSU you have listed. Will be an great gaming machine.
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The deal on the 4770K appears to have ended on OCUK, but the rainforest has it at 239.99.

This one is just a few quid more on the same site:

Intel Core i7 4820K Extreme Quad Core CPU Retail (Socket 2011, 3.70GHz, 10MB, 130W, Unlocked and Unleashed, Hyper-Threading Technology)

Is the issue there the socket being 2011 rather than 1150?
 
Qitarah said:
Yer 4820k is a different motherboard socket, the motherboards for 2011 are quite a lot more expensive, also you need to run the ram in quad chan, instead of duel chan so yet more expenses (having to buy more ram) and there isn't any real benefit over the 4770k, in fact clock for clock the 4770k is faster. Maybe if video editing and the likes was your cup of tea then the 4820k would be better, but especially since you are gaming only, the 4770k is the way to go.

You need to be looking at the 4770k (i7) or the 4670k (i5). Which is socket 1150.
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You're so very helpful Qitarah - I've said thank you many times already, but I'll say it again. Thank you! Just gone for the 4770K.

Looking at the coolers etc, the Corsair case has 160mm clearance for a CPU cooler. Thinking ahead for other coolers, it seems like the other three more expensive air coolers linked earlier will not fit within this case.

Will the Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler still suffice for the 4770K (before overclocking), or would something like the Raijintek EreBoss High Performance CPU Cooler be a better move for the shift in processor? Both appear to fit the Corsair case.
 
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WalderX said:
If both will fit then go for the EreBoss - much larger heatsink surface area so should perform much better. Stulid recently wrote up a detailed review on this cooler here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18556058

It seems excellent, much better fan than the other one by the looks of it too.
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Thank you for the link - that chap certainly knows how to do an informative review.

Having said that it will fit in the Corsair case, reading the review suggests it may not. I was going on the spec posting of:

Dimension: 140(W) x 110.5(D) x 160(H) mm
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But I assumed that was the total dimension, rather than excluding the fan, which according to the review would bring the total to:

The total height with fan fitted is around 173mm give or take 1mm.
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So going on the Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case spec of:

Up to 160mm of space for CPU coolers.
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It would seem it won't fit. Booger.
 
Qitarah said:
You're welcome!

The cheaper heatsink will most certainly keep it cool if your not overclocking. It will probably have a little room for overclocking too, just not huge amounts!


As for more advanced overclocking cooling solutions, it seems with the corsair case you will be a bit more limited to what you can choose. Without going through a lot of the options for aircooling heatsinks you have a few options such as:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-036-TT&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2570

Although it will be a very tight fit!

Probably your best bet is just to go with Closed loop watercooling system if you do decide in the future to overclock such as:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-014-CS&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2262

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-015-CS&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2262

The better aircoolers just fit in that particular corsair case. The h100i should fit, might be a bit tight. Just have a look on google if you decide to go with the h100i!

Obviously the h100i is better than the h80i but as I said maybe its a bit problematic to fit in into the case. Just have a look on google. I suspect it will be fine!
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The h100i looks to fit as that particular Corsair case has a 240mm radiator option at the top.

But, neither the h80i nor h100i appear to be compatible with the 1150, unless I've misunderstood:

Compatibility
• Intel™ LGA 1155, 1156, 1366, and 2011
• AMD™ sockets FM1, FM2, AM2, and AM3
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But actually, looking at the top of the listing, it says:

Socket Compatibility: 1155 / 1150 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2
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Talk about confusing!!
 
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Qitarah said:
Great, this will be a really nice gaming rig!

Is the extra fan to put at the front if the case, right? You won't have any where else to put it anyways :D
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Is it not strictly needed? I just thought a bit of circulation might be good...!

Just checked; the case comes with:

Front: 140mm included (upgradeable to dual 120mm or 140mm
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Any need for the dual? Also, would it need to be the same as the one it comes with? (Again, my apologies if it's a highly rookie question. I am the very definition of one, after all.)
 
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Qitarah said:
Hmm also in regards to the cooler, the new corsair h105 seems a bit better than the current h100i similar price currently on pre order here at Ocuk though.

Doesn't seem much difference between them mind you.
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Thanks for this - yet another bit of confusing spec on the H105:

The extra-thick 240mm radiator...
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But then:

Specifications:-

- Radiator Dimensions:- 270mm x 120mm x 38mm
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I've asked for clarification from OcUK. Should fit the Corsair anyway with the 240mm or 280mm radiator compatibility.
 
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