Out of of gaming for 2 years, need build advice £1500-1800

[drewl5799]

as title suggests, not had a gaming rig for last 2 years and wanting back in. Im looking to build myself and spend £1500-1800. I already have monitor, keyboard, mouse, OS. Open to all suggestions as I'm a bit rusty. Cheers in advance.....

 

[Danny75]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

What's the monitor's resolution/refresh rate?

 

[tamzzy]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 295 X2 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £499.99
1 x Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5 - Intel Core i7 5820K Six Core CPU & Motherboard Bundle ***£20 Saving*** £479.98
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £138.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16QC01) £119.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £99.95
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Micro ATX Case - White £89.99
1 x Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO Cooling Solution £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £46.99
Total : £1,572.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[drewl5799]

Hi, monitor I have is AOC u3477PQU 34". 3440x1440 res. I was planning on going nvidia route, I've never used amd before. Forgot to mention it will be solely for gaming, battlefield, witcher 3 etc.

 

[tamzzy]

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce Titan X 12288MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £869.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97MX-Gaming 5 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K OEM CPU & Micro ATX Motherboard Bundle **£35 OFF** £352.93
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £138.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11SRK2/16) £95.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Micro ATX Case - White £89.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £84.95
1 x Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO Cooling Solution £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £46.99
Total : £1,776.31 (includes shipping : £13.75).



get another one for SLI when you have the money lol

 

[Ronald]

X99 is not a good choice for gaming. That Titan X is not good value so... And those specs are sorely missing an SSD!

My more sensible option...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 980 DirectCU II OC Strix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £455.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £387.98
1 x SK Hynix 512GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (HFS512G32MNB-2202A) £152.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Case (CC-9011049-WW) £99.95
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11SRK2/16) £95.99
1 x Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler £52.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £51.95
Total : £1,307.44 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Get this PSU instead if you may upgrade to SLI:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £94.99
Total : £104.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 

[tamzzy]

And those specs are sorely missing an SSD!

needs to go to an optician

 

[Danny75]

Mini-ITX option. Sleek black/green "Nvidia" look (to match led logo on side of GPU), with all the works, including white braided cables which I think would look very sexy in this rig.


YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 980 "Reference Design" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £449.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £283.99
1 x Avexir Venom Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331108G-2CIG) - Green Light £129.95
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £109.99
1 x MSI Z97I AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £91.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £84.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX Mini-ITX Chassis with Window £54.95
1 x Samsung SE-208GB/RSBD External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - Black £21.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Premium Modding LED Strip - Connect White 30cm £16.79
3 x Phanteks PH F140SP 140mm Fan Green LED - Black / White £12.49 (£37.47)
1 x Silverstone Cable Extension Value Bundle - White £10.8
1 x No Molex to SATA Adapter Required £0
1 x Silverstone 6-pin 25cm PCIe extension - White £4.26
1 x Silverstone 6-pin 25cm PCIe extension - White £4.26
2 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - White £5.99 (£11.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Molex to 3pin x3 Fan adaptor 12V 20cm - White £4.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - White £4.49
4 x BitFenix Alchemy 2pin I/O extension 30cm - White £3.95 (£15.80)
1 x NZXT 3 Pin Fan White Sleeved 30cm Extension Cable - CB-3F (BWW) £2.99
Total : £1,513.19 (includes shipping : £8.00).




BitFenix white led strip for the bottom of the case, by the windowed side panel, to illuminate the PSU, PSU shroud, Phanteks logo and the side of the GPU (these won't receive much or any light from the led fans due to their position).

Had to go slightly overboard on some things such as PSU. The 750W is cheaper than the 650W model and there are no cheaper "top top quality" 550W, apart from the white 650W model:

YOUR BASKET
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - White £74.99



Part of the PSU is visible so went for black, but white might be a nice contrast.

Good thing is the 750W PSU fan would probably not spin at all due to it not being possible to load it more than 50%, and that's being generous. So less noisy PSU.

Now the fans - gone with green led Phanteks with white blades to match the Phanteks 200mm front case fan. Their 5-year warranty is nice too. They aren't PWM so need running on 12v or 7v but seem to be okay for noise at 19db for 12v. The large 280mm radiator means it's fine to have fans with maximum of only 1200 RPM. Even for a 240mm AIO I'd personally be happy with that, as I don't need 3-5 degrees cooler at the expense of more noise, personally.

The motherboard choice is basically anything Z97 and black (and I've had good experiences with the Z87i versions of that mobo). Alternatives are the Gigabyte or the Asus. I'd go with whatever you feel most comfortable or the looks or features you like most:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97N-WIFI Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Asus Z97I-Plus Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £105.95



The Asus has some gold in it but that wouldn't hurt the overall look, imo.

The MSI Z97i has two fan headers. Can use one for the cooler pump connector and the other for the 200mm case fan. This should give you a bit of control in the BIOS over the RPM of the front fan which may or may not be just a tad noisy on full whack - if necessary connect it to the CPU_FAN header and the pump connector to the SYS_FAN, as CPU_FAN tends to have better control options. The pump will run at full speed regardless of whether you connect it to CPU or SYS header.

The 3 x 1400mm fans can be connected to the included 12v adapter. If they ended up being a bit loud despite the stated noise level, you could change the molex pins around to make it 7v (there are plenty of vids showing how, not too hard).

It would look yummy, imo, and no question about performance, but thing is with ITX you can't add a second card.

 

[stulid]

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 980 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £455.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K OEM CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£40 OFF** £363.98
1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU) £199.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11SRK2/16) £95.99
1 x Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO Cooling Solution £79.99
1 x CableMod E-Series G2 & P2 Cable Kit - Black / Red £69.95
Total : £1,518.53 (includes shipping : £14.75).




EVGA PSU is made by Superflower and has a 10yr warranty, 850W is plenty even for GTX980s in SLI.


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YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK - Devil's Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£15 Saving + Gigabyte Free Upgrade ** £411.98
2 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infin8 Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WorldWide Exclusive** £289.99 (£579.98)
1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU) £199.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Primo Full Tower - Black/Gold £169.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX324C11T3K2/16) £109.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £94.99
1 x Cooler Master Nepton 240M AIO Cooling Solution £79.99
1 x CableMod E-Series G2 & P2 Cable Kit - Black £69.95
Total : £1,716.88 (includes shipping : ).




This black edition board has a 5yr warranty and a 2for1 upgrade program - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18631511


-----------------------------------------


YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 980 "Hall of Fame V2 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (98NQH6DND2UZ) £569.99
1 x Asus X99-S - Intel Core i7 5820K Six Core CPU & Motherboard Bundle ***£30 Saving*** £519.94
1 x Kingston Predator 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C12 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (HX424C12PB2K4/16) £155.99
1 x SK Hynix 512GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (HFS512G32MNB-2202A) £152.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Enthusiast Case - White Window £89.99
1 x CableMod E-Series G2 & P2 Cable Kit - Black / White £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £66.98
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14S 140mm CPU Cooler £38.99
Total : £1,793.26 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 

[Quartz]

For the GPUS I would suggest the 8 GB R9 290X if the Titan is out of budget. Any GPU with 4 GB or less VRAM is a waste of money.

 

[stulid]

For the GPUS I would suggest the 8 GB R9 290X if the Titan is out of budget. Any GPU with 4 GB or less VRAM is a waste of money.

Expand on this?

 

[Threepwood]

Go X99 or wait for skylake if you want to spend £1500 - £1800, imho.

(edit: or at least wait for some Broadwell bargins when Haswell is EOL.)

 

[Anomalistics]

Personally, I'd be heading towards the X99 setup. Whilst it is significantly more expensive, it will benefit you in the long term.

Just sucks at the moment as DDR4 is like £500.

 

[Ronald]

Go X99 or wait for skylake if you want to spend £1500 - £1800, imho.

(edit: or at least wait for some Broadwell bargins when Haswell is EOL.)

Hence my build for less... which should be enough until Skylake or the next one goes EOL. Especially with an intermediate GPU upgrade, which would give better performance all throughout the life of the GTX 980 and 2 generations after for the remainder of the budget.

As this was a request for a gaming build... Z97+4790K is a better and cheaper choice.

 

[Threepwood]

Personally, I'd be heading towards the X99 setup. Whilst it is significantly more expensive, it will benefit you in the long term.

Just sucks at the moment as DDR4 is like £500.

Significantly? Not really that much more and £500 for DDR4? What.

Hence my build for less... which should be enough until Skylake or the next one goes EOL. Especially with an intermediate GPU upgrade, which would give better performance all throughout the life of the GTX 980 and 2 generations after for the remainder of the budget.

As this was a request for a gaming build... Z97+4790K is a better and cheaper choice.

Why buy twice and spend more? Just buy the X99 or be happy with Broadwell.

 

[Ronald]

Twice? I said GPU upgrade. The general concensus is 4790K is the faster chip for gaming, so why pay more indeed.

If other usage was a consideration X99 may well be the better option, but not for this one.

 

[Threepwood]

You also said,

Hence my build for less...which should be enough until Skylake

So when Skylake comes along, do you mean buy into skylake or not?

If so, this is the point, with X99 you won't need to buy into skylake.

And dude, buying a 4790k with Broadwell around the corner is plain madness.

 

[Ronald]

You also said,
So when Skylake comes along, do you mean buy into skylake or not?

That wasn't intended to be read like that. 4790K will be more than sufficient until the time skylake is EOL and quite possibly whatever after.

Remember generation 2 i5's are generally deemed just fine still, especially overclocked K's

If so, this is the point, with X99 you won't need to buy into skylake.

As above, no need to buy skylake or even the next one (likely)

And dude, buying a 4790k with Broadwell around the corner is plain madness.

You can always wait, something is always around the corner... If the TS had a system he could stretch for a few more month, it could be worth waiting... but it sounds like he hasn't.

 

[Ronald]

Drewl, what do you run at the moment, as you may just be able to limp to Skylake on just a GPU, which wouldn't be wasted?

 

[drewl5799]

I currently don't have a system, I work abroad so sold my last one about three years ago. Now moving back home and ready to start again : )