Gaming Rig - Spec me help!

Richie · 26 Apr 2015 at 12:17

Hi,

I am now in a position to build a decent gaming rig after using an 8 year old laptop for basic browsing for the last few years. I have built PC's before so thats not an issue

I have £1400-£1500 to spend on the rig not including monitor, KB or mouse etc... Basically just the tower and internal components. I have been out of the loop for way to long to make a proper informed decision but kinda looking for:

i7 CPU
decent GPU
16GB minimum RAM
SSD for OS/Games
Secondary HDD can be SATA

Will need an OS as well but probably prefer Win7 over Win8.

Thanks for the advice... Looking to order over the next 7-10 days.

stulid · 26 Apr 2015 at 12:22

The weekly offers change Wednesday so what ever awesome spec I show you know will be dated by then.Also there are two daily deals every morning.

But heres a little something,

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980 ACX 2.0 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (04G-P4-2981-KR) £455.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £393.98
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £149.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £99.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black / Red £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x Raijintek Themis Evo Professional CPU Cooler £27.95
Total : £1,494.26 (includes shipping : £13.75).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £393.98
1 x Asus Radeon R9 290X ROG Matrix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (MATRIX-R9290X-4GD5) £249.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £99.95
1 x Crucial BX100 250GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT250BX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x NZXT Source 340 Midi-Tower Case - Red Window £59.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £1,163.77 (includes shipping : ).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5 - Intel Core i7 5820K Six Core CPU & Motherboard Bundle ***£20 Saving*** £449.98
1 x Asus Radeon R9 290X ROG Matrix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (MATRIX-R9290X-4GD5) £249.95
1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU) £174.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £134.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16QC01) £109.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Micro ATX Case - Black £81.95
1 x Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO Cooling Solution £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
Total : £1,426.76 (includes shipping : ).

What resolution is your monitor?

Win8.1 > Win7, I find it faster to use.

Also all these cases have no optical drive option so if you need one you need to get an external one.

Richie · 26 Apr 2015 at 13:03

Brilliant Stulid, I appreciate the help. Although I could just pick components I have no idea what would work better together and what's better than others so thanks

I haven't chosen a monitor yet but probably looking at 22"/23".

stulid · 26 Apr 2015 at 13:05

You can do better than 22/23", those GFX cards by themselves can run screens like 1440P 27" or Gsync and Freesync ones of the same res.

dacads · 26 Apr 2015 at 13:16

The cooler is on pre-order but would fit in nicely with the colour scheme

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus X99-S - Intel Core i7 5820K Six Core CPU & Motherboard Bundle ***£30 Saving*** £489.94
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infin8 Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WorldWide Exclusive** £299.99
1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU) £174.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16QC01) £109.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Enthusiast Case with Window £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £84.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn White CPU Cooler £39.95
Total : £1,471.68 (includes shipping : ).

Also depending on what you fancy, there's also a white version of the case

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Enthusiast Case - White Window £89.99
Total : £99.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

joeyjojo · 26 Apr 2015 at 18:46

Richie said:
I haven't chosen a monitor yet but probably looking at 22"/23".

Choose the monitor size based on the viewing distance. 24" is pretty comfortable on a desktop IMO, but many swear by 27". High refresh rates (120 or 144 Hz) look smoother and are an advantage in twitchy games.

If you go for a smaller/lower res screen (up to 1920x1080) you don't necessarily need a top-tier GPU.

You probably don't need an i7 or X99 system, or 16 GB RAM, but perhaps you're multiboxing an MMO or something?

Richie · 26 Apr 2015 at 19:15

stulid said:
You can do better than 22/23", those GFX cards by themselves can run screens like 1440P 27" or Gsync and Freesync ones of the same res.

Heh, thats why I am on here

Any recommendations on monitors?

Think I am swaying to the top selection (tho I may change the case):

1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980 ACX 2.0 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (04G-P4-2981-KR) £455.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £393.98
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £149.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £99.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black / Red £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x Raijintek Themis Evo Professional CPU Cooler £27.95
Total : £1,494.26 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Thanks again ppl

Richie · 26 Apr 2015 at 19:17

joeyjojo said:
You probably don't need an i7 or X99 system, or 16 GB RAM, but perhaps you're multiboxing an MMO or something?

Just looking to get something that will do me a couple of years TBH so I dont mind spending a bit more to do that and also get good quality stuff. I adhere by the "buy cheap, pay twice" principle for things.

stulid · 26 Apr 2015 at 19:20

Here are some but not all Gync panels (for Nvidia cards),

YOUR BASKET
1 x Acer Predator XB270HU 27" G-Sync IPS 144Hz Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red (UM.HB0EE.009) £689.99
1 x Asus PG278Q ROG Swift 27" G-Sync 144Hz Gaming Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Black/Red £629.99
1 x AOC G2460PG 24" G-Sync 144Hz 1ms Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Gunmetal £299.99
Total : £1,619.96 (includes shipping : ).

I also like these 27" 1440P screens,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 27D850D 27" Widescreen LED Professional/Gaming Slim Bezel Monitor - Black £359.99
1 x Acer K272HUL 27" Widescreen LED Gaming Slim Bezel Flicker FREE Monitor - Black £319.99
1 x BenQ GW2765HT 27" Widescreen LED Gaming Flicker FREE Monitor - Black £319.99
Total : £1,024.09 (includes shipping : £20.10).

The Samsung is lovely.

And two 24" 1080P 144Hz screens,

YOUR BASKET
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £199.99
1 x AOC G2460FQ 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £179.99
Total : £394.98 (includes shipping : £12.50).

--------------------------------------

If you went for the Z97/x99+290X option then check this monitor out - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-083-AS&groupid=17&catid=948

Check whatever case you decide on fits the card+cooler inside.

Richie · 27 Apr 2015 at 06:43

stulid said:
Check whatever case you decide on fits the card+cooler inside.

Looking at the NZXT 440 you have put up as I quite like it although I will need to get an external optical drive but thats no biggie I guess.... I'm assuming I can install the OS from an external drive? :confused:

Quite keen on the Samsung monitor you posted as well

Payday tomorrow so will get ordering then

Thanks again, its much appreciated.

joeyjojo · 27 Apr 2015 at 08:50

Richie said:
Just looking to get something that will do me a couple of years TBH so I dont mind spending a bit more to do that and also get good quality stuff. I adhere by the "buy cheap, pay twice" principle for things.

Fair enough, if you've got money to throw away. I'd save £170 by getting the i5 bundle and 8 GB memory, it will be exactly the same in games and you can always drop an i7 in down the road if needed.

In fact, hyperthreading normally makes games slower, e.g. GTA V http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1911-gta-v-cpu-benchmark-4790k-3570k-9590-more

Richie · 1 May 2015 at 09:50

Joey - I see what you're saying... Will have a good think...

Going to be placing this order today. The first spec that is in Stulids post appeals to me although I may change the case to Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black as it allows an optical drive in the case....

I see a few items have had money taken off as this weeks specials (GFX, PSU, Memory) saving myself £40

Shame about the Samsung Monitor as I like the looks of it but its still out of stock. Any idea when this will be in? :confused:

ExRayTed · 1 May 2015 at 10:37

My tuppence worth..

The GTX 980 is massively and horribly overpriced right now, especially considering the small gain over the 290X. Only when you start cranking the resolution up to 4k is there a tangible difference.

A £200 difference though? Not even close.

dacads · 1 May 2015 at 12:14

ExRayTed said:
My tuppence worth..

The GTX 980 is massively and horribly overpriced right now, especially considering the small gain over the 290X. Only when you start cranking the resolution up to 4k is there a tangible difference.

A £200 difference though? Not even close.

Good point, or even the 970 for that matter.. which is why I recommended it

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1355?vs=1351

Richie · 1 May 2015 at 17:46

I hear ya... Looking at these 2 cards now which means I can fit KB/Mouse and speakers into same budget as 980:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-269-EA

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-270-EA

Is the Plus edition worth the premium?

Will be ordering tonight the following spec. Just want to make sure it will all be compatible:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £393.98
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £149.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £99.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black / Red £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x Raijintek Themis Evo Professional CPU Cooler £27.95
Total : £1,038.27 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Along with one of those 970's

One last thing - Will the MB allow me to boot from an external DVD to install windows if I go for the 440 Case?

Thanks again for the help guys

stulid · 1 May 2015 at 17:48

Thats nice.

Also what about the MSI GTX970 gaming? It would match the colours and is cheaper.

One last thing - Will the MB allow me to boot from an external DVD to install windows if I go for the 440 Case?

Yes.

Richie · 1 May 2015 at 17:52

Christ that was a quick reply... What would be a better card Stulid? I heard EVGA have great support etc as well should things go wrong with it so not sure.... I mean aesthetically the MSI fits the red theme

stulid · 1 May 2015 at 17:53

I know that the MSI, ASUS Strix, EVGA ACX2.0 and the Gigabyte G1 are all excellent with the G1 shading it over all but the logo glows blue.

The MSI would be my pick for you due to the price and colour.

dacads · 1 May 2015 at 17:54

From what I can see the plus edition has higher clock rates which you could do yourself anyway and a back plate which is mostly for aesthetic. So up to you.

Also I used an external drive to install Windows, I don't see why it should be any different for a newer motherboard

Richie said:
Christ that was a quick reply... What would be a better card Stulid? I heard EVGA have great support etc as well should things go wrong with it so not sure.... I mean aesthetically the MSI fits the red theme

MSI also have great support

Richie · 1 May 2015 at 18:07

Righto,

Final spec by the looks of it:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £281.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £393.98
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £149.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £99.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black / Red £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x Raijintek Themis Evo Professional CPU Cooler £27.95
1 x Samsung SE-218GB/RSBS Ultra Slim External DVD-RW Drive - Black (Retail) £26.99
Total : £1,310.80 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Will have some food then jump back on for ordering unless anyone sees anything that wont work?

Hopefully be able to build it next Friday when I am off