New build advice please, newbie!

[Allotmentman]

Hi

I am on a very limited budget and I am new to the ole self build thing. I have done a lot of research and have specced the following but want to be certain I haven't overlooked anything so would greatly appreciate any advice that you can offer. My budget is £400 and I have managed to price the below at £390 posted. I already have a keyboard, mouse and screen and a DVD rewrites/drive and will only need to source a windows package.

AMD Athlon X4 760K

MSI A78M-E35

Sapphire Radeon R7 260X

8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport

1TB Western Digital Black

430W Corsair CX430

Corsair SPEC-01

Wi-Fi Adapter – Asus USB-N53

Case Fan – Corsair AF120

So is the anything I am overlooking or anything I can improve for a little more money? I'm mostly looking to game as well as work on my photography. Thank you again for all of your help.

 

[ShivP]

Looks decent, some things I'd change though

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £65.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £52.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £42.98
1 x EVGA 500W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (100-B1-0500-KR) £35.99
1 x BitFenix Neos ATX Tower White/White £27.95
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler £14.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter (TL-WN727N) £5.48
1 x OcUK Tech Labs Zaward OEM 120mm Golf Ball Fan £2.59
Total : £409.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).



- Overclock the poo out of the Pentium
- Better GPU by quite a lot
- Better PSU

 

[ShivP]

Double posted the same thing for some reason, please delete

 

[Allotmentman]

Double posted the same thing for some reason, please delete

That's very kind, thank you. So that's two graphics cards at a total of 4gb, just used?

Also can you explain the rest of the changes you made and the benefits of them. I'm not being dim, just learning as I go along. Thanks again.

 

[ShivP]

That's very kind, thank you. So that's two graphics cards at a total of 4gb, just used?

Also can you explain the rest of the changes you made and the benefits of them. I'm not being dim, just learning as I go along. Thanks again.

Sorry, there's only one graphics card there (the 2x Windforce means it is Gigabyte's 2 fan Windforce cooler on the graphics card), the HD 7850. It's B-grade, so it may have dodgy packaging or something but it will function perfectly

Changes

- The Intel CPU and motherboard allow for overclocking like your spec, however the Pentium has very strong single core performance compared to the Athlon, and photo editing only uses 1/2 cores which favours the Pentium

- Faster speed RAM for increased performance benefits

- Faster and better graphics card (as mentioned) for a similar price, no-brainer

- More powerful power supply, increases upgrade options in the future

- Has a CPU cooler which will allow for overclocking, I wouldn't trust the Intel/AMD stock coolers.

 

[Allotmentman]

Any other opinions before I order and build. I'm definitely going to be gaming a fair bit so would like the best graphics card I can get, even if it's another £20-30. Shiny has certainly given me food for thought but as a newbie I want to get a couple of options to compare, like buying a car.

All help and opinions appreciated.

 

[Doomedspeed]

I cannot see an issue with Shivy's spec atall. For the budget it is really good.

The Z97 motherboard isn't a MUST but it gives you access to faster RAM (1600mhz+) and really allows you to drop an unlocked i5 or i7 in (if you feel the need to later) and OC the sacks off it..

I suggest you have a venture into Overclocking anyway with the Pentium K as its performance is massively increased (in games) when around 4.5ghz. And for £50 its insane value.

That B grade 7850 is a quite good price, the Windforce x 2 (x3 for bigger cards) is one of the best After market cooler around.

Like I say, I wouldn't change that spec, its pretty much spot on.

 

[ShivP]

If you wanted to spend an extra £20-£30, swap the GPU out to this.


YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** MSI HD 7870 Black Knight 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ( (GX-185-MS) £109.99
Total : £119.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 

[Doomedspeed]

Yeah, that's actually a better card. Though considering a NEW R9 270X is only £130 the price is a little Moot.

 

[Tohrazer]

shivy's spec looks good, also the second graphics card recommendation looks good if you want to spend some extra, although as doomed said id just get a 270x new at that point (270x and 7870 are basically the same card rebranded)

 

[ShivP]

Yeah, that's actually a better card. Though considering a NEW R9 270X is only £130 the price is a little Moot.

Yeah good point - can the 7850 be flashed to a 7870 anyway?

 

[Doomedspeed]

Yeah good point - can the 7850 be flashed to a 7870 anyway?

Don't think so, there used to be a 7950 to 7970 flsh but I don't think its made it down to the 7850's.

Though the 7850's can be clocked Silly high, 1050/1200mhz..

 

[ShivP]

Nice! Stick with the 7850 then unless you want to get a used 660/670 of fleabay

 

[Allotmentman]

Hi Shivy, just a quick question. If I wasn't confident with the Pentium chip what would be the next best option. I only ask as I have been researching everything you say and I am very impressed but in this review I got all excited until the end where it's basically suggested that this shouldn't really be used as a gaming pc chip. Please don't think I'm doubting, I am again just trying to learn.

 

[ShivP]

Hmm, from the benchmarks I've seen the Pentium is a very capable gaming chip, utilising very strong single core performance - perhaps in more multi-core games like BF4 it falls behind cheap quad cores, but definitely I'd stick with the Pentium. Anyway, for the photo editing the Pentium will destroy anything else at the same price point.

 

[Allotmentman]

Hmm, from the benchmarks I've seen the Pentium is a very capable gaming chip, utilising very strong single core performance - perhaps in more multi-core games like BF4 it falls behind cheap quad cores, but definitely I'd stick with the Pentium. Anyway, for the photo editing the Pentium will destroy anything else at the same price point.

Hi Shivy, thank you for that, much appreciated. So going forward as I'm keen to get these bits ordered tomorrow if I look forward to upgrading when I have more money what would I look to do next to improve the gaming credentials on the computer. What would my next step be processor wise, i5/ 7 and with the graphics what would be the next sensible jump up? Anything else I should know?

I'm sorry to ask so much but you have been so kind to offer the information you have I feel compelled to keep asking as you clearly know your stuff and have the respect of others here. Thank you again!!

 

[ShivP]

Well for starters if you wanted to spend £50 now you could get yourself up to an i3, but obviously that would stretch your budget. Yep, pretty much in the future you'd want to get a used i5/i7 and depending on budget, a current-gen (of the time you are buying) graphics card - entirely depends on your budget when you plan to upgrade though. You would also want to get an overclocking ready CPU as your board is overclocking ready

Np about the advice, that's what I come on here for and Doomedspeed probably knows more

 

[Allotmentman]

Brilliant, I'll make a note of those add ons then. So finally as I nearly forgot, would I have to have windows 8.1 or could I run something earlier as I'm not a big fan but appreciate I need something.

 

[ShivP]

I'd say Windows 7 -> is fine - I prefer Windows 7, 8/8.1 is also fine

 

[Allotmentman]

Ok I'm just adding my order now but I love the idea of the r9 270 x. There is quite a few though so which at £130 should I order? And Shivy which I3 would you suggest?