gaming PC ~£1000

[r00s73r]

Hey. I'm new to the forums and to gaming PC's as well so, please, bear with me.

I'm willing to spend £1000-£1200

I have a dilemma as I'm not sure if I should buy pre-built system or just make my own, using custom parts.

I've been looking at these:

ForceBox Ultimate" Intel Core i7 4770K @ 4.2GHz Quad Core Nvidia GTX Gaming PC - seems nice but I would probably felt better with something that has optical drive

"Photon Envy" Intel Core i7 4770K @ 3.9GHz Turbo Nvidia GeForce Quad Core LAN Gaming PC looks interesting as well but I've heard that water cooling is a bit of a pain when it comes to maintenance

"Titan Scythe" Intel Core i5 4670K @ 4.3GHz Overclocked Nvidia GeForce SLI Quad Core Gaming PC
seems to be my favourite. It has pre-built Intel i5 and 8GB RAM - I've noticed that people usually recommend these when it comes to this kind of budget. Makes putting in i7 and 16GB RAM not that much of a difference?

"Titan Envy M" Intel Core i7 4770K @ 4.2GHz Overclocked Nvidia GeForce Gaming PC this one also caught my attention but that water cooling again.

I also read something about new chipset (motherboards?) coming out in the coming weeks - should I wait then? Will it make that much of a difference?
Also, is it necessary to use overclocked CPU (I feel stupid asking that question in here)? - I heard someone say that with today's CPU's it doesn't really make that much of a difference.

If you would be so kind and recommend me a build, pleases take these into consideration - no water cooling, possibility of having an optical drive, add good wireless connector, Nvidia GFX.

One more thing when choosing an OS (win 8.1) to be installed, will I receive the disc as well (if I want to reinstall it in the future)?

 

[lee32uk]

Welcome

I would have a look at a few self builds on Youtube and see what you think. It isn't difficult building your own pc, but I can understand it if you didn't want to. After all £1000-1200 is a lot of money.

Just type 'gaming pc build' into youtube and there are quite a few videos.

Also by building your own you get to choose the components, rather than having a set menu so to speak.


There are new motherboards (Z97) and the Haswell refresh cpu's on the horizon.
The boards are supposedly due around 11th of this month, and the cpu's will probably be a couple of weeks later.

I think it is worth waiting just to see what they offer. They will support current cpu's along with the next Intel cpu which is called Broadwell (Due 2015)


Overclocking isn't required at all, but it is nice to have the option once your new shiny pc starts to struggle down the road

I am not sure if ocuk provide the windows disc with their systems, so you would need to ask, or get confirmation from someone else.

 

[r00s73r]

Welcome

I would have a look at a few self builds on Youtube and see what you think. It isn't difficult building your own pc, but I can understand it if you didn't want to. After all £1000-1200 is a lot of money.

Just type 'gaming pc build' into youtube and there are quite a few videos.

Also by building your own you get to choose the components, rather than having a set menu so to speak.


There are new motherboards (Z97) and the Haswell refresh cpu's on the horizon.
The boards are supposedly due around 11th of this month, and the cpu's will probably be a couple of weeks later.

I think it is worth waiting just to see what they offer. They will support current cpu's along with the next Intel cpu which is called Broadwell (Due 2015)


Overclocking isn't required at all, but it is nice to have the option once your new shiny pc starts to struggle down the road

I am not sure if ocuk provide the windows disc with their systems, so you would need to ask, or get confirmation from someone else.

Thank you for the reply. I'd like to choose my own components as well but the thing is that I have close to zero knowledge when it comes to it. I just don't know which should I choose in order to properly built a decent machine - what parameters to look for, how well they go with one another, what performance can I expect, etc.

Well, I haven't thought much about future upgrades - I'm just a casual gamer but I would like to enjoy latest games to the fullest and keep enjoying them for as long as I can. I am aware that more demanding games are constantly made but thinking about the games that came out in recent years, they don't seem to have that much of a gap when it comes to performance requirements. That's why I would be fine with a PC able to run games on medium settings in years to come, if that's possible.

Thanks for the tip on youtube. I'll be sure to check it out if I run out of options.

 

[lee32uk]

Here is a decent spec for starters.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x MSI Z97 Gaming 3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £49.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £13.49
Total : £973.28 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Obviously the above build can be tweaked depending on your requirements.


Have a look at this link to see a rough idea of graphics card performance

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU14/815

Just select a card from the dropdown list and you can compare a single card, or two against each other. This should give you some idea of the performance to expect from the games listed.

So for AMD you are looking at R9 280X, R9 290 and R9 290X

Nvidia would be GTX770, GTX780 and GTX780ti.

If you are only a casual gamer then I would discount the R9 290X and GTX780ti unless you have deep pockets


I am sure that OCUK would also build you a pc from your own parts list if you ask them.

 

[r00s73r]

Thanks for the spec and for the link - I just can't stop comparing those cards (like choosing a car in NFS) I get that games used there, as a point of reference, are one of the most demanding ones? Yeah, that GTX780ti seems a bit pricey but I'm not giving up on it yet. Anyway thanks for that spec - it's nice to have some framework to work with. About building PC from my own parts - where can I ask OCUK to do that (here in forums or on their website)?

 

[Beren]

Just to check, do you need any of the following:
Screen
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Headphones
To be included in the quote?
Also are you just using it for gaming, browsing etc or do you also intend to be doing anything else with it?

 

[r00s73r]

Just to check, do you need any of the following:
Screen
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Headphones
To be included in the quote?
Also are you just using it for gaming, browsing etc or do you also intend to be doing anything else with it?

Yes, I'll be needing those as well (no speakers) but I haven't browsed for them yet. I would like to be sure about what PC will look like and then focus on the rest. That being said, I will still appreciate any recommendations, as I do not have that much experience with various gaming accessories. Back at home I have old MS Reclusa keyboard and Razer Diamondback mouse so that could tell you what would my preference probably be like, but I'm not afraid to try a different style. However, I don't need anything too intricate - I rarely use macros on my keyboard. I would appreciate few spare buttons an a mouse though. As for monitor - largest I have ever used was 17". I was thinking about 19", 22" tops, don't want anything too big. Headphones - no idea.

I intend to use it just for gaming and multimedia (browsing, watching videos etc.).

 

[Almightyliham]

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2450 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £129.95
1 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £89.99
1 x Asus VS228DE 22" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £74.99
Total : £316.34 (includes shipping : £17.85).



There is two '22 inch' monitors and the starting price for a 24 inch monitor. I think there are some threads in relation to ASUS atm as people are having a bad time with ASUS replacements. But i have found Benq to be reliable.

 

[r00s73r]

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2450 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £129.95
1 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £89.99
1 x Asus VS228DE 22" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £74.99
Total : £316.34 (includes shipping : £17.85).



There is two '22 inch' monitors and the starting price for a 24 inch monitor. I think there are some threads in relation to ASUS atm as people are having a bad time with ASUS replacements. But i have found Benq to be reliable.

Thanks for the tips. Frankly, I was afraid there might be some issues related to products of certain manufacturers, so your comment is much appreciated. That 21.5" BenQ looks nice.

 

[lee32uk]

Thanks for the spec and for the link - I just can't stop comparing those cards (like choosing a car in NFS) I get that games used there, as a point of reference, are one of the most demanding ones? Yeah, that GTX780ti seems a bit pricey but I'm not giving up on it yet. Anyway thanks for that spec - it's nice to have some framework to work with. About building PC from my own parts - where can I ask OCUK to do that (here in forums or on their website)?

There is a Customer Services section at the top of the Forums, and then a pre-sales query sub-section within that. You can either link them to this thread, or post your final basket in the CS section as it will only be visible to yourself and CS.

Here is the link for the OCUK shopping cart app (Google Chrome):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ocuk-shopping-cart-viewer/empfloiadabicdlgahhamannadefhehj

Other browsers in this link:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18371076&highlight=browser

 

[r00s73r]

There is a Customer Services section at the top of the Forums, and then a pre-sales query sub-section within that. You can either link them to this thread, or post your final basket in the CS section as it will only be visible to yourself and CS.

Here is the link for the OCUK shopping cart app (Google Chrome):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ocuk-shopping-cart-viewer/empfloiadabicdlgahhamannadefhehj

Other browsers in this link:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18371076&highlight=browser

Thanks once again. I get that the MB you recommended is that new one coming out on 11th. I'd like to ask, if I change that GFX for a more powerful one (780 or 780ti), should I change the power supply, as well?

EDIT: Is there a trick to adding that MB you suggested into the basket/shopping cart app? Link redirects me to the page but it says that product is unavailable so I don't know how to add it.

The question above, regarding the power supply, still stands as I'm thinking about going with i7 and 780 or 780ti, in the end.

 

[lee32uk]

Thanks once again. I get that the MB you recommended is that new one coming out on 11th. I'd like to ask, if I change that GFX for a more powerful one (780 or 780ti), should I change the power supply, as well?

EDIT: Is there a trick to adding that MB you suggested into the basket/shopping cart app? Link redirects me to the page but it says that product is unavailable so I don't know how to add it.

The question above, regarding the power supply, still stands as I'm thinking about going with i7 and 780 or 780ti, in the end.

The Z97 Motherboards seem to have been removed so I am not sure what is going on with them.

A 550W should be fine for a single gpu, but you can up it to 650W if you want some headroom. If you plan on running 2 cards then you would need something like an 850W and a Motherboard that supports Crossfire/SLI.
Dual AMD cards run in crossfire and Dual Nvidia run in SLI.

Have you considered the AMD 290 ? You get a bit more value for money over a 780. The same goes for a 290X over a 780ti.

Also if it was my build I would be looking at a 24" Monitor. It seems a shame to waste a powerful gpu on a small screen


Here are a couple of alternative 650W power supplies. The Leadex one is fully modular which means you only use the cables that you need. With the Golden green they are all hardwired.

YOUR BASKET
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £79.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £65.99
Total : £155.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 

[r00s73r]

The Z97 Motherboards seem to have been removed so I am not sure what is going on with them.

A 550W should be fine for a single gpu, but you can up it to 650W if you want some headroom. If you plan on running 2 cards then you would need something like an 850W and a Motherboard that supports Crossfire/SLI.
Dual AMD cards run in crossfire and Dual Nvidia run in SLI.

Have you considered the AMD 290 ? You get a bit more value for money over a 780. The same goes for a 290X over a 780ti.

Also if it was my build I would be looking at a 24" Monitor. It seems a shame to waste a powerful gpu on a small screen


Here are a couple of alternative 650W power supplies. The Leadex one is fully modular which means you only use the cables that you need. With the Golden green they are all hardwired.

YOUR BASKET
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £79.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £65.99
Total : £155.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Maybe I will change it to that 650W just to have that headroom you spoke of, however I don't plan on using 2 cards.

I never used Nvidia graphics so I would like to try it but to tell you the truth, I want it mostly because of Nvidia physx. Not sure if thats a good enough reason but that's just it. That being said, I would like to hear your opinion on couple of cards that caught my attention.
GTX770 it's half a price of 780ti and based on user reviews, it seems that it runs games just as well (when compared with 780 and 780ti there is a difference, of course but I'm not sure if it matters that much)
GTX780
GTX780ti a bit cheaper then the next one, core frequency seems to be lower and it's not overclocked
GTX780ti Is OC really that necessary in already powerful card? Seems I just lack the knowledge to understand the difference.

Does 24" really make that much of a difference? I've never used such a big screen so I was probably intimidated by the idea but based on what you said I'm willing to give it a try.

EDIT: that's what I came up with

Spoiler

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Classified "Dual BIOS" 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (03G-P4-3788-KR) £429.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x BenQ GL2450 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £129.95
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £104.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £59.99
1 x Corsair Raptor K40 Gaming Keyboard (CH-9000051-UK) £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x Plantronics GameCom 380 Stereo Gaming Headset £19.99
1 x Cooler Master Xornet 2000DPI Gaming Mouse £16.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £13.49
1 x Aerocool Strike-X Glider Gaming Surface £6.49
Total : £1,450.78 (includes shipping : £20.10).

I'm still deciding between those GFX, I changed the MB (I said I don't plan on using 2 cards but I never plan anything so who knows), changed to that modular 650w power supply for better cooling, monitor seems nice, chose mouse,keyboard,headset based on reviews/price.

 

[lee32uk]

This 780ti is at a good price although they might not last long (4 left)

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 Geforce GTX 780Ti HOF 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
Total : £489.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Some MSI cards had issues with the fan bearings leaking oil. Not sure if it still happening.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 780 Phantom 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £359.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £239.99
Total : £969.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).



The Gigabyte cards have one of the better warranties, along with EVGA. The Classified card you mentioned is really nice, but only you can decide if it's worth paying the extra over the Gigabyte/Gainward.

For some reason the Gigabyte 780 doesn't show it as having a free game, so it might be worth asking ocuk about that.


I think a 24" 1080P monitor would be a good choice if you have space on your desk for it. If you get a 21" you might regret not going bigger

 

[Rhoxy]

You will definitely regret not going bigger, especially using it for gaming imo.

 

[r00s73r]

This 780ti is at a good price although they might not last long (4 left)

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 Geforce GTX 780Ti HOF 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
Total : £489.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Some MSI cards had issues with the fan bearings leaking oil. Not sure if it still happening.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 780 Phantom 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £359.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £239.99
Total : £969.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).



The Gigabyte cards have one of the better warranties, along with EVGA. The Classified card you mentioned is really nice, but only you can decide if it's worth paying the extra over the Gigabyte/Gainward.

For some reason the Gigabyte 780 doesn't show it as having a free game, so it might be worth asking ocuk about that.


I think a 24" 1080P monitor would be a good choice if you have space on your desk for it. If you get a 21" you might regret not going bigger

I was considering that 780ti as well but I wasn't sure based on reviews. Those 780 seem nice, the difference in price between those and the classified one is significant. That made me thinking though, considering performance/price difference, would it be better to choose that 780ti over classified 780 rather than classified over Gigabyte/gainward?

As for the monitor...space is not a problem.

You will definitely regret not going bigger, especially using it for gaming imo.

Do you mean something specific?

 

[lee32uk]

If it was Me I would probably go for the Gigabyte 780. It will handle 1080P and saves you cash in the process. You can always upgrade to a 780ti or something else once the 780 starts to struggle.

The £70 saved over the classified would go towards a nice case, bigger SSD etc.

Thats just my opinion, and I am sure others might not agree

 

[r00s73r]

If it was Me I would probably go for the Gigabyte 780. It will handle 1080P and saves you cash in the process. You can always upgrade to a 780ti or something else once the 780 starts to struggle.

The £70 saved over the classified would go towards a nice case, bigger SSD etc.

Thats just my opinion, and I am sure others might not agree

That's true, I just wanted it to be good for as long as it can.
I don't really care much about the case, at least not about its appearance. The one you recommended is good in terms of cooling right (I think I saw your comment about that in different thread)? Utility is more important to me. About the SSD, I've noticed that most pre-built systems and even builds people recommend come with 120GB SSD and 1T SATA but you recommended double of that so I think that should be enough. However, with those money saved, I wonder if I should change the i5 to i7 - would it make that much of a difference (I think there's £50 difference in price)?

 

[ShivP]

For gaming there isn't a realistic difference between the 4670k and 4770k, although if the funds are available then yes, I would go for it, whether there is a need for it at this point in time for gaming? Probably not. In the future? Probably.

 

[r00s73r]

For gaming there isn't a realistic difference between the 4670k and 4770k, although if the funds are available then yes, I would go for it, whether there is a need for it at this point in time for gaming? Probably not. In the future? Probably.

If there is not that much of a difference now, wouldn't it be better to pick i5 and see how the new one, coming in 2015, will do and change it later if needed?