Need advice for building a £800-£1000 new build

silvara

silvara

silvara

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26 Dec 2005
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Hi guys,

My current build has been on it's last legs for a while now, so I'm starting to look at what I can get for around £800-£1000.
I want to replace everything including the case since that was really basic, huge and boring looking (I only brought it because I had an extra long graphics card at the time and couldn't find much to fit it!), so I'd like something a little more compact and smart!

I am finding it hard to know where to start, since I haven't been keeping up to date with tech advances in the last few years, so any pointers or build suggestions would be really appreciated!

I don't need a monitor, peripherals or OS (I am currently using Windows 8), but I was thinking of investing in my first SSD as part of this build.
Also I have no idea how to overclock, so unless I brought a bundle that already has that done for me then I won't be doing it myself in case I break something...

Thanks for any help in advance - it is seriously appreciated! :)
 
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Is this a gaming build? Do you do any video editing etc?

EDIT: The weekly offers have changed. I've left out an aftermarket heatsink this time to keep it under budget. The stock heatsink will be fine until you decide you're ready to try overclocking.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-00-40G) £347.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x MSI Z87M Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £74.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming White/Black Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
2 x Enermax Cluster UCCL12 120mm Fan £9.98 (£19.96)
Total : £1,009.84 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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Thanks for the fast reply!

Oops! I knew I would miss something - its purely for gaming (mainly MMOs & FPSs like Battlefield)

So a 128GB SSD would have enough space? I really don't know much about them except that everyone has told be they are so much better to use than a HHD.
 
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120gb will be enough for your OS and applications (which is where an SSD really makes a difference), and a few games.
 
Also would the mini tower have enough space for future upgrades, or would I be better using a mid sized one?
Sorry for all the questions!
 
If you'd want to add an extra GPU you would be better off with an ATX tower. Two GPUs would fit in that build (although you'd need a bigger PSU), but they would be very close together and would therefore get quite hot.

I can put together an ATX spec if you want?
 
ATX build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-00-40G) £347.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Seasonic G series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black (CC-9011014-WW) £65.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £1,001.29 (includes shipping : £17.85).



Dimensions of the case:

Height: 435
Width : 210
Depth : 485
 
I'd like the ability to upgrade in the future once I have some more cash, although tbh it probably wouldn't happen for a year or two.
For the time being at least I would be sticking to one GPU, I guess I mainly worry about having enough space for fans, etc for good airflow. I have built two computers in the past, but am still pretty much a novice when it comes to these things...

But yes, the ATX spec would be much appreciated :)
I really like the look of these cases, although don't know how good they are in comparison to the first one you suggested:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-033-AE&groupid=2362&catid=2226
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-053-AE&groupid=2362&catid=2226
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-045-AE&groupid=2362&catid=2226
 
silvara said:
I really like the look of these cases, although don't know how good they are in comparison to the first one you suggested:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-033-AE&groupid=2362&catid=2226
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-053-AE&groupid=2362&catid=2226
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-045-AE&groupid=2362&catid=2226
Click to expand...

Well they aren't as tasteful :D They'll do the job, but I doubt they'll have the same build quality as the Corsair one. And the first one you linked looks like it has very little space for cable management, so I'd avoid that.

If airflow and fans are what you're worried about - no need. The mATX case above will keep your components nice and cool, particularly with the extra fans I put in there. If you'll be waiting that long to add another GPU, chances are you won't get around to doing it at all. There will be some shiny new card available by then that will grab your attention ;)
 
Ok that makes sense, I think that after comparing I prefer the initial build that you posted :)

One last question - would it be preferable to get a CPU cooler as well, or would the one that it comes with be enough when combined with the two additional fans?
 
Good enough at stock speeds, yes. If and when you decide to do some overclocking you'll want to get an aftermarket one.

The stock cooler is a bit noisy at full load, though.
 
Could you recommend a better quality one that would fit in the Aero case, I could stretch to improving that budget-wise?

BTW using a Micro ATX Motherboard doesn't affect performance in any way does it? (in comparison to using a 'normal' sized mobo?)
 
 
Some options:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1220 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler £81.6
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x Deepcool GAMMAXX 300 CPU-Cooler - 120mm £16.99
Total : £138.18 (includes shipping : £8.00).



The DeepCool one will be the quietest, but won't offer much performance over the stock cooler. The Antec is an all-in-one watercooling unit. It will give you the best cooling performance, but at a price (although you could drop the extra fans in my spec). It is overkill if you won't be doing any overclocking. The Alpenfohn offers a balance between the two. If you'd perhaps like to give overclocking a try in the future (there are plenty of guides out there), I'd go for the Alpenfohn one. If you definitely won't, just get the DeepCool.

You don't lose any performance with a good mATX board.
 
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