new pc - spec me happy!

realBabelfish

realBabelfish

realBabelfish

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Joined
23 Oct 2002
Posts
3,177
hi guys,

ok, i am wanting to build a new HTPC/gaming rig (i use Kodi). im looking at getting most stuff new but will use my recently purchased CPU (850 gold sunflower or whatever they are called lol) and my blu-ray writer.

after some deliberation i think i will go with a Intel Core i5-4690K, unless someone can persuade me its a bit overkill over an AMD.

so i would like a decent OCing mobo to go with this. SLI would be good and also need a full sized mobo with at least 1 pciex1 for my tv tuner card. the Z97 chipset looks good for intel.

also some RAM to go with that. might as well go with 16gb seeing as the cost is only around £50 more. are these any good:
TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit or should i go with better MHz if i can? seems to be a big price hit if i do.

in terms of storage my old SSD has died so i would like a new one, around 120gb would probably do. enough for OS and say 2 games that require a lot of disk accessing (GTA V?).

are these any good?:
SanDisk X110 128GB SATA 6GB/s 2.5" Solid State Drive (SD6SB1M-128G-1022i) £38.99

i also need a new 4TB HDD as my old NAS is getting a bit long in the tooth now. looking at a WD green or red. dont trust seagate any more. as this will be a HTPC should i go with the quieter green or the more reliable/stable? red?

also thinking of a case. i quote fancy the BeQuiet Silent Base 800 Black Case & FREE Pure Rock CPU Cooler Bundle. are good? will that free HSF be any good for overclocking? im not looking at going too high as i want stability first and foremost. say 4.3ghz? most cases seem to be md towers these days, but this one seems quite roomy and the sound reduction could be a bonus.

another case for consideration is the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black. hopefully fans not too loud?

and lastly, a GPU. i dont game that much currently but mainly because PC is a bit old. so im guessing this card would eat up GTA V and witcher? im not interested in 4k but have a nice amp, speakers and TV so 1080p @ 60fps would be ideal. i am thinking of a nvidia 970 as they seem to run quieter and have plenty of bang for buck. looking at the MSI possibly as no fans until in heavy use, so perfect for HTPC stuff. seems like i can bitstream to my amp too, which my 580 couldnt do (yet 560 could!?!?).

thanks for all replies. hopefully this doesnt get derailed because i called AMD ATI lol.
 
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Danny75 said:
250GB SSD would be better - OS/drivers/updates, programs and GTA V (the latter taking up around 65GB alone) won't leave much for a second game on a 120GB. And it's good to keep some space free for better operation/longevity. After installing that stuff, you'll be up to around 95GB even if you disable Hibernation and reduce size of Page File to help free up room. So you'll effectively have about 15GB free (system will reserve about 10GB) and you should keep that free.
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thats a good point. but bear in mind so far that system has only peaked at 40gb as its not got any of my power stuff on it, just steam, origin and Kodi/xbmc.

i will look into the costs though of a 250 though, edit: for the extra small outlay i might as well go 250 gb, any recommendations?
 
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Idleman said:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18672930

How about this case. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-168-AN&groupid=2362&catid=160
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not a fan of the case, i want back really to match all my AV kit.

not that fussed on going 2nd hand, i would prefer stable and new. neverreally been into 2nd hand PC parts, but will maybe sell some of my old stuff :)

ok, so next is the mobo, i think thats the only thing im undecided about now. quite like the MSI Z97 Gaming 5 Intel Z97. would match the MSI 970 nicely.

also, the RAM question and the HDD need answering too.

wd red or green?!?!
 
thanks Mahius,

the gigabyte mobo is out of stock. would this one do the same with the PCI lanes? in fairness i will likely never go SLI but nice to have it available.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-261-MS

i think the MSI gpu seems the best bet. i guess would match nicely with the MSI mobo above?

i recently got a new superflower 850 gold PSU so that should do nicely.

any thoughts on HSF for the CPU? i am looking at a case that comes with a free HSF, any good? :

BeQuiet Silent Base 800 Black Case & FREE Pure Rock CPU Cooler Bundle
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-001-BQ&groupid=2362&catid=2911

most of the data on the 4tb will be TV shows and movies for my son, which gets backed up anyway, so not sure the extra £60 for the black drive will be worth it.

thanks for the advice! :)
 
ah ok cool. will look at something beefier. can always sell the free one ;)

i take it the speedstep or whatever they call it is still in use these days? i.e. if i overclock to say 4.5ghz the machine will only use say 3ghz unless it needs to use more.

so a nice quiet HSF 200w TDP then? :)
 
Danny75 said:
Yes, if you enable it and C-States and don't use Fixed/Override (i.e. use Dynamic/Adaptive).




Have a look at the better models BeQuiet have, or Noctua or Phanteks or Prolimatech. The Overclocking and Cooling forum is a good place to ask for the current best performers.
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cheers mate. do you know if this motherboard can handle my SLI and tv card situation?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-261-MS the gigabyte one is out of stock.
 
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haha. i was looking since the weekend. kinda knew roughly what i wanted just had to iron out a few little bits.

i used to upgrade all the time until i got married and became a dad.
 
yeah. will post some pics when i get chance.

one thing i noticed, since i clocked it to 4ghz its always at that speed. before it was throttling when not needed. new BIOS have so many options i cannot find where that setting is now, or what its called lol.

temps are good so far. about 40c after an hour of GTA V. 60fps solid with everything on max :) great fun game too.

not as quiet as i hoped though, HSF fans dont seem to be affected by mobo fan speed setting. need to tweak this at some point. when i am happy with the OC, hoping to get to 4.3 or 4.4 but not had the time to spend on that, wanted to play some games! :)

PC is:

MSI GTX 970 GAMING Twin Frozr V 4GB
WD 4TB Green Drive 3.5" SATA-III
Intel Core i5 4690K 3.5GHz
Crucial CT250BX100SSD1 BX100 250GB SATAIII 2.5inch SSD
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 5 Socket 1150
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan
BeQuiet Silent Base 800 Orange Gaming Case
HyperX Savage 16GB 2400MHz
SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold"
a TV tuner card TBS? cant remember

another annoying thing, partitioned the SSD to have a 70gb C drive and rest on a gaming partition. but windows backup only allows me to backup the whole disk, not the partition. which was the reason i partitioned in the first place. is this some quirk with windows, partitions and SSDs as i have never had a big enough one to partition before :)
 
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