Need help with £800 gaming build.

The_Bagel_Guy

The_Bagel_Guy

The_Bagel_Guy

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7 Mar 2014
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At the moment I've set out the current components which I'm going to be using for some casual gaming and it'd be nice to have the graphics on high settings for a change as well as some CAD work in CATIA. I do tend to have several things running at the same time, playing games whilst watching youtube videos etc etc.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC ACX Dual Bios 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2776-KR) £275.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £157.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A2133C11R) £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black (CC-9011014-WW) £65.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £59.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £844.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).



My target budget was £800 but I could stretch it to £900-£1000 if there were significant improvements to be made. I've already got all the peripherals, monitor, OS, etc. My only concern being i think my 1TB hard-drive is SATA2 not SATA3 but I was planning on putting the OS on the SSD anyway...

My issue here is I don't know whether these components are giving me good "bang for my buck"?
For example:
Is it worth getting the EVGA GPU for £30 more than the MSI Gaming Edition, is there an equivalent AMD that'd give me better performance for the money?
And is the motherboard I've selected over specced?

I'm trying to shave some money off any of the components I can without compromising too much on performance. I've specced the K series i5 and a cooler even though I have never overclocked a computer in my life on the assumption that it's actually worthwhile overclocking it for everyday use/casual gaming? Or is this really for the hardcore gamers out there? (Sorry if that's a particularly dumb question...)

Also, is the case and cooler I've selected worth the money? And could anyone recommend a good power supply. I did have a 750W picked out but decided I'd find out what I actually need first instead of just aiming to overshoot.


PS.
I'm not particularly attached to any part of this build so if I've made a series of unfortunate mistakes in picking these components I'm open to anyone recommending a completely different build that'd get the best out of £800-£900!

Cheers!
 
Hello and welcome to the forum :)

Done some minor changes:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with *FREE COOLERMASTER SEIDON 120V COOLER £143.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black (CC-9011017-WW) £78.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 550W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £41.99
Total : £903.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
1 grand:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £329.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x NZXT Phantom Enthusiast USB3.0 Full Tower Case - White £104.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Enermax ELC240 with 2x T.B.Silence 12cm Fans £69.98
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £61.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £39.95
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £972.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).



800 quid:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Dual-X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £245.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £39.95
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - White £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £775.82 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Wow, thanks for the fast reply guys!

Just realised that the OEM i5 is £10 cheaper but only has 1 year warranty! I thought it was just the lack of a cooler which I was going to replace anyway!

Will the 550W power supply definitely be big enough? Are 750W supplies only needed when you've got two or three GPUS?


I'm gunna be mulling over the builds you've both suggested.... Sorely tempted to shell out for the £1k...
 
For the 1k build I'd be spec'ing a better quality and probably a 650W PSU (IMO), & a higher wattage PSU if you'll likely to get a 2nd GPU in the near future?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D Radeon R9 290 V2 X-Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (VXR9 290 4GBD5-DHX) £299.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with *FREE COOLERMASTER SEIDON 120V COOLER £143.99
1 x Silverstone Strider Gold Series - 850 Watt (SST-ST85F-GS) £99.95
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £68.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £61.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £41.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £984.42 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
The_Bagel_Guy said:
I'm gunna be mulling over the builds you've both suggested.... Sorely tempted to shell out for the £1k...
Click to expand...

What Space Monkey said. Whatever you do, I'd make sure to change the PSU in that 1K basket. An overclocked i5-4670K can pull around 150w. An overclocked R9 290 can pull over 300w.

And then you're already at the very limit of that PSU's 12v rails' output (38 amps x 12v = 456w). If you don't overclock at all, you'd pull around 350w when gaming, which is around 80% of the 12v rails' capacity. But then why buy a "K" chip?

The SuperFlower Amazon 550w is a little better in that respect, but only has 3 amps more output (41 amps x 12v = 492w), so again there's not much headroom even though it'd be a decent budget choice if necessary. When overclocked, the 12v rails' load would be around 90% (rough estimates here as it depends on the overclock).

There are alternatives for around the same price with better amp output on the 12v rail(s) that would cover you nicely for a single powerful card. The SuperFlower Gold 550w with 45 amp output (540w) for example, at £59.99. At £53.99 there is the BeQuiet Pure Power L8 600W, with 45 amp output (540w) as well. And for the same price as the SuperFlower Amazon 550w - £49.99, there is the EVGA 600B with 49 amp output (588w).

So in my opinion, Stulid's PSU choice is the best pick in this thread and it covers you for CrossFire too.
 
Last edited:
Danny75 said:
What Space Monkey said. Whatever you do, I'd make sure to change the PSU in that 1K basket. An overclocked i5-4670K can pull around 150w. An overclocked R9 290 can pull over 300w.
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET

1 x EVGA SuperNova NEX 750W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (120-PB-0750-KR) £71.99


Ok, so I'm looking at this power supply which can handle up to 61 Amps across all four 12V rails (732W Total). However, each 12V rail can only handle up to 20A (240W Per rail). If the R9 290 can pull upwards of 300W is it possible to have it hooked up to two rails to stop it going over the limit of the individuals?


This is the new build which I've used peoples suggestions to put together:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £329.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova NEX 750W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (120-PB-0750-KR) £71.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £61.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £41.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
Total : £921.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I've tried to save as much as I can on the case because looks etc really don't bother me as long as it has enough cooling.

I'll probably attempt to overclock but it will only be something mild for the time being so I'm hoping the Matterhorn cooler will be up to that?
(Anyone know of some good sources for info on how overclocking is done?)
 
The_Bagel_Guy said:
YOUR BASKET

Ok, so I'm looking at this power supply which can handle up to 61 Amps across all four 12V rails (732W Total). However, each 12V rail can only handle up to 20A (240W Per rail). If the R9 290 can pull upwards of 300W is it possible to have it hooked up to two rails to stop it going over the limit of the individuals?

I've tried to save as much as I can on the case because looks etc really don't bother me as long as it has enough cooling.

I'll probably attempt to overclock but it will only be something mild for the time being so I'm hoping the Matterhorn cooler will be up to that?
(Anyone know of some good sources for info on how overclocking is done?)
Click to expand...

i had a quick google, so a full 290x oc can pull ~530w at the wall, that translates to ~450w from the psu at the 12v rail
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/01/13/asus_r9_290x_directcu_ii_oc_overclocking_review/6

so any decent 550w psu would be fine.

here's my 2 pence:
YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D Radeon R9 290 V2 X-Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (VXR9 290 4GBD5-DHX) £299.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £53.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £43.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £17.99
Total : £887.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).



cheaper gpu and i think vtx branded gpu warranties are dealt with by ocuk (check with customer support first though)
cheaper psu and its 12v rails can support 540w, so decent headroom for any overclocks
changed the ram as the xtreem LV is tall, and the matterhorn wont fit otherwise
changed the hdd (wd is slightly more reliable than seagate)
also just to make you aware, the mobo does not support x8/x8 xfire (or sli) so if you do intend to go down the dual gpu pathway, then you should spec another mobo
 
tamzzy said:
cheaper gpu and i think vtx branded gpu warranties are dealt with by ocuk (check with customer support first though)
Click to expand...
Do you think it's worth the £30 saving on the GPU's here? I understand they're essentially the same but will the MSI be quieter/run cooler?

tamzzy said:
changed the ram as the xtreem LV is tall, and the matterhorn wont fit otherwise
Click to expand...

That could have potentially reduced me to tears! Thankyou sir! :eek:

I've taken what you said into account and made some changes! It's nice that you said why you were making changes so I could understand what why things should be changed!

I'm pretty happy with this build now. Going to hit buy if no-one points out any mistakes in the next hour or so.

Then it comes down to driving the Mrs mad as I stand in the window waiting for the postman to arrive!

:D

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £329.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £53.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £43.99
1 x NZXT Source 210 Elite Midi Tower Case - Black £39.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
Total : £899.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I suppose the only thing I haven't taken into account (Not too worried for now) is any extra fans I may need for the case? It's got fans top and back that too me look a bit too close together to be as effective as they could?

I may look into remounting the rear fan in the front to pull air in if that's a good idea?

Just for future reference can any recommend some good quality (V. quiet!) fans? I'm hoping this Mobo supports 4-pin PWM fans? I've never actually had 4 pin fans so do they actually make a world of difference with regards to noise what with being variable speed?

Thanks for all the help everyone that posted!
 
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