Looking for Help with First PC Build (PSU)

ThatFinchLad · 27 May 2014 at 20:50

HI everyone.

I recently decided that I was in a position where putting together a PC was a possibility but after looking around I am swamped by the different specifications and compatibilities. As far as I understand as long I have compatible (AMD & ATI/Intel & NVidia) components everything should work, but I am guessing it is more complicated than that to get the optimal build. The current components I provisionally plan to use are:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
RAM: Avexir Blitz 1.1 Original 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit
SSD: Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 Enthusiast Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange,

The basic questions I am here to ask are:

What PSU would be good for the above build? I understand modular is preferred but with so many different models available which would be the best for me?
Is there some form of cooling I am not considering? I see a lot of builds which have CPU coolers are these optimal or completely necessary?

My plan is to upgrade to a decent storage HHD at some point in the future but I think I will manage with just the SSD to start with.

Are any of these components vastly out classed by a component for similar price? The only stipulation on by build is I would like it to be Nvidia and Intel but apart from that I’m easy. I would like to spend around £1000 although slightly more would be ok if it meant improving something that I am not likely to upgrade.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

RJC · 27 May 2014 at 21:01

Hello and welcome to the forum

Done a spec below, but next month the newer 4790K is launched, if you can hold on

Went with the 280x as it slightly faster than the 770 and cheaper.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 410 Enthusiast Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange £84.95
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 £55.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £977.35 (includes shipping : £13.75).

Dizz · 27 May 2014 at 21:02

Don't be put off by the massive variety of options. For your build a 550w PSU will be fine unless you plan on putting in an additional GPU later on, then go for a 750+ PSU. Superflower are one of the better brands out there but as long as its a decent brand (just ask on here to be sure) then most PSU's do the same job!

The CPU will come with a stock cooler which is very basic and for optimal cooling you will want to upgrade to an aftermarket cooler, especially if you plan on overclocking the CPU.

If you see the items ive posted down below it should give you an idea of what to purchase. There are 2 types of coolers for the CPU....Air or Water. Water is in my opinion better but it may not be suitable for all builds.

Hope that helps.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £88.00
1 x Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU Cooler + Free Pure Wings 2 120mm Fan £65.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £55.99
Total : £219.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Danny75 · 27 May 2014 at 21:58

RJC said:
Went with the 280x as it slightly faster than the 770 and cheaper.

RJC,

The MSI GTX 770 Gaming overclocks @ 1250MHz easy on air (tested with two of them). Just a click of a button using the included MSI Gaming App. Real quiet too.

No idea how much those particular PowerColor models can consistently overclock above their official 1030MHz on air.

My suspicion is that only the higher end 280X's like the Sapphire Toxic (and a few others) are actually faster than the Gaming GTX 770 @ 1250MHz.

Is the PowerColor TurboDuo better in terms of price-to-performance? Perhaps. But I have my doubts that it's faster. Would be nice to know what results anyone who owns the card has achieved with it, on air.

ThatFinchLad · 27 May 2014 at 22:07

Thanks guys,

RJC would I be right in thinking that with a new processor coming out that the newer processor would be much more expensive? Also would a new version of the same socket of processor mean that the 4770k may expierience a decrease in price?

Also this might just be a misconception (that was possibly never true) but I had been lead to believe that NVIDIA were of a higher quality than ATI/AMD?

With the R9 280X would I need to be adding a new extra card at any point in the near future to be maxing specs?

Dizz does that mean that I should definitely be getting an aftermarket cooler from day one or is that more of a later upgraded? I know I shouldn't but I am still wary of pumping water into the middle of my shiny new PC haha.

RJC · 27 May 2014 at 22:21

The price of the new 4790k should be similar priced to the 4770k, but I would doubt the 4770k price would change much.

Both manufactures are equal far as I am concerned, I know what you mean though

For the time being one card should be ok, but it would depend on what res you play at.

Dizz · 28 May 2014 at 00:25

ThatFinchLad said:
Dizz does that mean that I should definitely be getting an aftermarket cooler from day one or is that more of a later upgraded? I know I shouldn't but I am still wary of pumping water into the middle of my shiny new PC haha.

I would say the stock cooler is fine if you are not overclocking or using high intensity programs like photoshop or video editing tools etc. Also some games are becoming more CPU intensive which would increase the heat output of the CPU.
Honestly if your going to be buying the top spec Intel CPU you really ought to cool it more efficiently than the stock cooler. It will allow better performance as well as increase the life of the component.

I have the Corsair H100i (water) in my PC, its very quiet and unless something goes drastically wrong, there is a very very very small chance of water leaking out and ruining everything

There are also some fantastic air coolers as well though. I was very tempted by some of them.

Oh and Nvidia and AMD in terms of Graphics performance are almost on par at each level, Nvidia drivers (let us know if you are unsure of the term) often have better support for games and run in to less problems. I have always have Nvidia and I am therefore going to be a bit biased as its like a football rivalry at times! :rolleyes:

Dizz · 28 May 2014 at 00:27

Oh just to add. Watch Dogs came out today, to run that on max settings requires A LOT of power. TotalBiscuit did a review and he uses 2 Titans in SLI and he was only getting just under 60fps with everything on ultra.

I think its a badly optimised game but just showing what could be required from a "next gen" title.

Edit: Nvidia just released a new driver to combat the bad optimisation. I will let you know how it plays on my 780 later if you like.

ThatFinchLad · 28 May 2014 at 21:33

I think I'll probably wait for the 4790k if that's the case, seems like it would be impatient of me not to. Also the "Devil's Canyon" sounds sweet!

After look through a few of the after-market coolers I think it would foolish to not get one even if it's just cause they look bad ass!

Is that max settings at 4k or 1080? That seems insane?

Yeah I have a Nvidia GeForce GT 555m (will never get a gaming laptop again) and I don't think I would be able to play half the games I own without the driver updates/optimisation. That's why I'm kind of leaning towards Nvidia, the software even with such dated hardware has made clear improvements to my performance over the years. I can't remember what it was but a driver update alone increased my Minecraft FPS by a consistent 50%.

ThatFinchLad · 30 May 2014 at 22:42

Thanks for the help so far guys. Was just about to order my first part (before the headset stops being included) and wanted to make sure that the:

Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard

Will be completely compatible with the new i7 4790k when it comes out? I'd be devastated if I bought the motherboard for starting a build in ~2 months and they don't compute.