New rig, first time build.

Jvella · 30 May 2014 at 11:34

So I am looking to build my own custom pc, used for gaming but also my Uni course which involves a lot of video editing, rendering etc... I havent got a big budget so I am not expecting the best spec ever. I have a list of parts and want your guys advice, recommendations.

Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Case

GIGABYTE NVIDIA GTX 750Ti 2GB PCI-E Graphics Card

Kingston Technology 240GB Solid State Drive 2.5-inch

WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive

Intel Core i5 4670K Quad Core

Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Motherboard

G-Skill 8GB Ripjaws X DDR3 2133 Dual Kit - Red

These were the parts I had in mind I was also thinking a semi-modular Corsair 500w psu - bronze 80 plus

Will this be sufficient for my needs? Also has the PSU got enough wattage?

snips86x · 30 May 2014 at 11:37

PSU will be fine.

What's your budget? Res you're playing at?

Jvella · 30 May 2014 at 11:43

around the £650 mark for the PC as I need to get monitors, mouse,keyboard, etc... I want a good fan controller if you could recommend one? I play Empire Total War but I want to play Rome 2 TW but my laptop cant handle it even on low settings, its to laggy. I want to be able to play on as close to the highest settings as possible. I cant really say for any other games as I don't really play much else lately.

Danny75 · 30 May 2014 at 12:19

The Z97 motherboards are newer.

You'll want a decent aftermarket cooler for overclocking that CPU. More important than a fan controller.

The Zalman Z3+ already comes with fan control, and is a brilliant case for the money, with 4 fans and a GPU sturdening bar that also doubles up as extra GPU fan holder.

http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=821

Idleman · 30 May 2014 at 12:29

The NZXT is a decent Psu and at a very good price.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-143-NX&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2366

Jvella · 30 May 2014 at 12:43

I think the Z97 mobos are a bit out of my price range:/ and that PSU, is it semi-modular or Fixed cables?

Jvella · 30 May 2014 at 12:45

Danny75 said:
The Z97 motherboards are newer.

You'll want a decent aftermarket cooler for overclocking that CPU. More important than a fan controller.

The Zalman Z3+ already comes with fan control, and is a brilliant case for the money, with 4 fans and a GPU sturdening bar that also doubles up as extra GPU fan holder.

http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=821

Yeh I have a few In mind. I have seen the Z3 but I think I prefer the Z11 Fan controllers are rather cheap anyway, something I can get after my build.

Idleman · 30 May 2014 at 12:52

Jvella said:
I think the Z97 mobos are a bit out of my price range:/ and that PSU, is it semi-modular or Fixed cables?

The NZXT is non modular.

Idleman · 30 May 2014 at 12:55

The Z97 is only £5 dearer than the Z87 version.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £87.95
Total : £97.55 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Jvella · 30 May 2014 at 13:11

Idleman said:
The Z97 is only £5 dearer than the Z87 version.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £87.95
Total : £97.55 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Oh I think I will go for that then, thanks!

haka93 · 30 May 2014 at 13:31

I would recommend keeping on the lookout for one of the XFX psu's as they are the ones I always use in my builds. They're usually very reasonably priced, and have high efficiency ratings as they are made by seasonic which is considered to be one of the best PSU manufacturers.

Scythe · 30 May 2014 at 13:33

Jvella said:
Oh I think I will go for that then, thanks!

I built my friend a PC for £650 yesterday as we've just finished uni and wanted to treat himself. That is a great motherboard, that much that I'm looking at upgrading now

lee32uk · 30 May 2014 at 13:34

haka93 said:
I would recommend keeping on the lookout for one of the XFX psu's as they are the ones I always use in my builds. They're usually very reasonably priced, and have high efficiency ratings as they are made by seasonic which is considered to be one of the best PSU manufacturers.

The warranty support is poor with XFX though. I think that was the main reason OCUK stopped selling them.

haka93 · 30 May 2014 at 13:44

lee32uk said:
The warranty support is poor with XFX though. I think that was the main reason OCUK stopped selling them.

Ah didn't know that, never had any trouble with them myself though, guess I was just lucky

Idleman · 30 May 2014 at 13:49

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 750Ti OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (N750Ti-2GD5/OC) £109.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £87.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £65.99
1 x Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 550W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
Total : £664.80 (includes shipping : £19.10).

A 240/250 ssd would take the budget up to about £700.
Do you have an OS?
I would also look at getting the R7 265.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R7 265 Dual-X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £109.99
Total : £119.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Comparison between the 750ti and 265.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1127?vs=1130

lee32uk · 30 May 2014 at 13:50

haka93 said:
Ah didn't know that, never had any trouble with them myself though, guess I was just lucky

I have a 750W XFX in my rig, which has never skipped a beat. It is supposed to be a bit of a pain though if you have to deal with XFX warranty support.

Jvella · 30 May 2014 at 14:04

Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 750Ti OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (N750Ti-2GD5/OC) £109.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £87.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £65.99
1 x Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 550W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £43.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
Total : £664.80 (includes shipping : £19.10).

A 240/250 ssd would take the budget up to about £700.
Do you have an OS?
I would also look at getting the R7 265.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R7 265 Dual-X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £109.99
Total : £119.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Comparison between the 750ti and 265.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1127?vs=1130

What would be recommended? 750ti or the 265?

snips86x · 30 May 2014 at 14:06

Jvella said:
What would be recommended? 750ti or the 265?

Depends on the software you are using. Typically rendering prefers nVidia GPUs because of CUDA.

Jvella · 30 May 2014 at 14:10

Yeh, I was advised at getting an i7 and a nVidia GPU by my uncle (He does similar course in Uni but also games) I think I'll go nVidia.

snips86x · 30 May 2014 at 14:13

Jvella said:
Yeh, I was advised at getting an i7 and a nVidia GPU by my uncle (He does similar course in Uni but also games) I think I'll go nVidia.

Have you considered purchasing 2nd hand parts? Saving money may allow you the use of an i7 and better GPU. The intel 2700k and 3770k are still solid units, competing well against Haswell and can be picked up for a bargain. Overclock them and you've got a chip which will last you quite a considerable number of years.

Same goes for the GPU, a second hand 770 would be better over the 760.