How is my first build?

Raw Berserker

Raw Berserker

Raw Berserker

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5 Dec 2013
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Hi there. I'm new to the forums and also new to making my own gaming PC. I have had help from my friend and my brother in this build but would like to know some expert advice. Please can you rate my build and chosen components (whether they will work well together or not) and tell me if I need to improve on something.

Here is my build so far: CPU - Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard - Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
RAM - Kingston Blu Red Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (x2)
SSD - Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card
Power Supply - Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Case - Zalman Z9 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case

My budget was £700, however I did go £20 over which isn't too bad (since I can handle it).

My brother has also said that he may help me in getting a GTX 770 instead of the 760 which I chose so if someone could "review" the build with both GPUs that would be great :D

(this is the 770 he picked out) https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-178-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

Thank you for helping me out :)
 
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Fallen god said:
Squeezed into 770, but had to drop the HDD.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £263.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-SLI Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 620W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £819.48 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...

Thanks for a quick reply, however I can't drop the HDD from my build since I am 100% sure that I will need more than just 120gb :p

Also, could you tell me why I would change the components I picked for the ones you picked, because if the change doesn't make much of a difference, I don't see why I would need to change. Thanks again :D
 
The ram specced is much better, which has been showed to improve minimum fps and it also makes clocking easier.

The motherboard is about the same but with a UK RMA.

The Gigabyte GPU has great UK based RMA.

Dont know why Fallen god may have specced them but that is how i see it. Also we only spec from overclockers, so if you base your prices elsewhere, of course there will be variance. The memory is definitely worth the money and the case is of better quality IMO (i own both and one more carbide and obsidian from corsair and one more Zalman case too).

The PSU is also better and you should never skimp on a PSU! Corsair cx range is by no means bad quality but Antec PSU is better and made by Seasonic for not all that much of a price difference.
 
Raw Berserker said:
Thanks for a quick reply, however I can't drop the HDD from my build since I am 100% sure that I will need more than just 120gb :p

Also, could you tell me why I would change the components I picked for the ones you picked, because if the change doesn't make much of a difference, I don't see why I would need to change. Thanks again :D
Click to expand...

The ram is extremely slow, you should atleast get 1600mhz
Samsung SSDs are just the best right now
Antec is more personally preference
Motherboard I felt they offered about the same for a much cheaper price
Case I feel the 200R is better amazing, if you like the Z9 more then you could change too it.

Anyways, changed the PSU to one similar to the one you spec'd but fully modular, and the 770 your brother recommend and a HDD, comes in at £830. You will probably need a CPU heatsink at some point so you can OC that baby.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 770 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-SLI Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £74.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020060-UK) £62.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £42.95
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £831.38 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Thank you very much to both of you. I didn't expect this much help this quickly! I'll be altering the build to use the components you said (or ones similar but at a lower price if possible) and will get back to you to tell you what it is! :D
 
Fallen god said:
The ram is extremely slow, you should atleast get 1600mhz
Samsung SSDs are just the best right now
Antec is more personally preference
Motherboard I felt they offered about the same for a much cheaper price
Case I feel the 200R is better amazing, if you like the Z9 more then you could change too it.

Anyways, changed the PSU to one similar to the one you spec'd but fully modular, and the 770 your brother recommend and a HDD, comes in at £830. You will probably need a CPU heatsink at some point so you can OC that baby.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 770 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-SLI Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £74.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020060-UK) £62.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £42.95
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £831.38 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...

Only drawback with this build, no cooler. :eek:
 
I have implemented your component choices into the build and have come up with this:
CPU - Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard - Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
RAM - TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit
SSD - Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache
GPU - Gainward GeForce GTX 770 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Power Supply - Corsair Builder Series CX 600w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Cooler - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler
Optical Drive - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Case - Zalman Z9 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case

As you can see, I have put in most of the the things you said I could improve on, however I have decided to stick with the Z9 case (because I am a weird person who likes flashy lights) as you said it is still a good case. Also, I have stuck with the ASUS motherboard since I hear they are pretty much the best in terms of motherboards. You can also see I have chosen to take the Arctic Freezer 7 Rev 2 since I have seen people say it is very good at keeping temperatures down and it is also £20 (which seems like a real bargain).

So if I could have a second "review" on this new build, I would really appreciate it. Also, if you really think I should change what I haven't then please tell me and I will take your word for it. :D
 
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Fallen god said:
Normally recommend a different cooler, it is out of stock but due back soon, not sure if u want too wait The Freeze 7 is just really old now.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £32.96 (includes shipping : £4.98).

Click to expand...

When you say that the Freezer 7 is really old, do you mean it won't be enough to keep my CPU cool? I ask this because if the Freezer 7 is enough, I don't see why I can't save a bit of money and get something that still does the job it needs to do.
 
Raw Berserker said:
When you say that the Freezer 7 is really old, do you mean it won't be enough to keep my CPU cool? I ask this because if the Freezer 7 is enough, I don't see why I can't save a bit of money and get something that still does the job it needs to do.
Click to expand...

Actual, did a bit of researching and this cooler is better then the Hyper 212 and cheaper. The ram sticks are out of stock and so I switched them to some Red sticks to match the Cooler, and changed the Mobo a bit, this one is just as good and it gives you an nice red theme overall, I would have gone asus board but the cheapest red one is a bit crazy priced.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £71.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £17.99
Total : £209.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
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