Gaming PC around £1250

Minkasaurus · 23 Oct 2014 at 15:44

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and looking to build a gaming PC, never done it before but it seems easy enough to do. I am just looking for a bit of advice please on a build I have been looking at.

The following build is what I have come up with so far.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£43 Saving** £347.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99
1 x Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter CT512MX100SSD1) £154.99
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £89.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £85.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.95
Total : £1,260.56 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Could you let me know if there is anything missing or anything that I could improve on. I have based it on what I have seen posted on the forums but not sure if its the best for around my price range.

I am also happy to go up in price a bit if its worth it in the long run.

Thank you,

Mark

Rhyswh · 23 Oct 2014 at 15:55

Most will tell that an i5 is enough/better than the i7 for gaming. Could save yourself a bit there. Even if you SLI the 970 you won't need 750w (not that this is a bad thing though, good to have the headroom) but I would change it for a superflower model just for the simple fact you'll get free shipping! Not sure what you mean by all you need is the tower? You've already speced a case? Looks good though

stulid · 23 Oct 2014 at 18:37

Looks almost perfect.

Here is a great offer from Gigabyte - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18631511 - you can find a BK board+CPU deal in the same area as the one you found.

Scirocco · 29 Oct 2014 at 12:39

Been considering something very similar:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK - Devil's Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£35 Saving** £367.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £275.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD316G2666HC11CDC01) £113.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £101.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £89.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.95
Total : £1,224.31 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Not sold on the case completely, it's gorgeous but cooling is questionable, smaller SSD than your build, boot drive mostly, more RAM and a slightly different CPU bundle (see above post for the etended/exchange warranty on the black boards) but this is a bit more than a gaming PC for me. Also went for a smaller SuperflowerPSU.

Comes in at a simlar price.

stulid · 29 Oct 2014 at 13:15

Scirocco said:
Been considering something very similar:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK - Devil's Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£35 Saving** £367.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £275.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD316G2666HC11CDC01) £113.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £101.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £89.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.95
Total : £1,224.31 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Not sold on the case completely, it's gorgeous but cooling is questionable, smaller SSD than your build, boot drive mostly, more RAM and a slightly different CPU bundle (see above post for the etended/exchange warranty on the black boards) but this is a bit more than a gaming PC for me. Also went for a smaller SuperflowerPSU.

Comes in at a simlar price.

There are plenty of cases to pick from.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower Gaming Case - Red £97.99
1 x In Win 707 Full Tower - Black / Red £94.99
Total : £337.09 (includes shipping : £20.10).

Also the Crucial MX100 256GB SSD is still quick and as its cheaper helps offset the extra costs of the Phanteks.

The thick H105 might be a tight fit in the Inwin (clearing VRM heatsinks etc).

Scirocco · 29 Oct 2014 at 13:24

stulid said:
There are plenty of cases to pick from.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower Gaming Case - Red £97.99
1 x In Win 707 Full Tower - Black / Red £94.99
Total : £337.09 (includes shipping : £20.10).

Also the Crucial MX100 256GB SSD is still quick and as its cheaper helps offset the extra costs of the Phanteks.

The thick H105 might be a tight fit in the Inwin (clearing VRM heatsinks etc).

Thanks for the info. The crucial SSD looks like a good option.

That Phantecs case is really cracking. Im afraid as it lives in our lounge aesthetics do kinda matter a bit

So many cases to choose from, so i appreciate the suggestions.

proff999 · 30 Oct 2014 at 06:10

I've gone for this set up as I like the idea of the less intrusive case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z97M Gaming - Devil's Canyon i7 4790K CPU & Micro ATX Motherboard Bundle **£18 Saving** £351.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £275.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black (CC-9011029-WW) £84.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £79.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £67.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX21C11BRK2/8-OC) £67.99
1 x OcUK Value Blu-ray / DVDRW combi SATA - OEM £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Seidon 120V, AIO Cooling Solution £39.95
Total : £1,183.27 (includes shipping : £13.75).

stulid · 30 Oct 2014 at 08:57

750w PSU will cover the sli option on that above.

sleighg · 30 Oct 2014 at 17:14

It is worth considering the GTX 980? I see both builds include the 970. I'm planning on ordering a similar build this weekend but thought I would ditch the i7 for an i5 and also ditch the watercooling. Use the money (plus a bit more) to max out on graphics. I do have existing 3T HD from Overclockers that I can reuse which saves a bit.

I've always considered that the top graphics card carries an excessive premium but thought I would this time for once!

stulid · 30 Oct 2014 at 17:30

sleighg said:
It is worth considering the GTX 980? I see both builds include the 970. I'm planning on ordering a similar build this weekend but thought I would ditch the i7 for an i5 and also ditch the watercooling. Use the money (plus a bit more) to max out on graphics. I do have existing 3T HD from Overclockers that I can reuse which saves a bit.

I've always considered that the top graphics card carries an excessive premium but thought I would this time for once!

Thats like picking from your favorite offspring.

Rhyswh · 30 Oct 2014 at 23:57

Currently you'd be better off with an i5 and GTX 980.