PC build Sli

Chipper500

Chipper500

Chipper500

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2 Jun 2013
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421
hello

I am currently carrying out research around building a new gaming pc, the last gaming pc i built was over 10 years ago so i feel like i am starting from scratch again and need some advice

As i am starting a masters degree shortly i thought instead of building a laptop i may aswell invest in a good pc that will last me a while

the current build i am looking at is as follows

Processor (CPU) - Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard - ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE

Memory (RAM) - 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card - 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

1st Hard Disk

120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk

1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

Power Supply

CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Processor Cooling

Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler

firstly can i ask how the pc build looks? ill be looking to run "most" games around mid-high settings (im a big fan of the Total War series and will be buying Rome 2 as soon as i get the pc!)

and can i also ask if this build will be SLI ready? and if not why not and do i really need it to be?

thanks in advance! :D
 
You'll be disappointed at gaming performance. Look to the R9 290X or the Geforce GTX 970. That SSD looks on the small side - consider 250 GB. Or get yourself a 500 GB or 1 TB SSD and drop the HDD entirely.

You're missing monitors (I suggest 2) and a Windows license.

You should add an external USB optical drive. And an external USB 3 drive to back up your data.
 
Chipper500 said:
hello

I am currently carrying out research around building a new gaming pc, the last gaming pc i built was over 10 years ago so i feel like i am starting from scratch again and need some advice

As i am starting a masters degree shortly i thought instead of building a laptop i may aswell invest in a good pc that will last me a while

the current build i am looking at is as follows

Processor (CPU) - Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard - ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE

Memory (RAM) - 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card - 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

1st Hard Disk

120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk

1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

Power Supply

CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Processor Cooling

Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler

firstly can i ask how the pc build looks? ill be looking to run "most" games around mid-high settings (im a big fan of the Total War series and will be buying Rome 2 as soon as i get the pc!)

and can i also ask if this build will be SLI ready? and if not why not and do i really need it to be?

thanks in advance! :D
Click to expand...

What is your budget?

Personally I would avoid SLi and always go for a single high power card.

But yes it looks SLi ready from what you have posted.

Consider a bigger SSD. Do you already have a monitor and peripherals? Case? Optical drive?
 
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Probably best off asking in general hardware for suggestions / improvements to be honest.

I'd recommend upping the RAM to 16GB, if you don't upgrade PC's very often. Also, why not stick 2TB in now rather than 1TB now and then have to add more later?

Should play most stuff pretty happily, depending slightly on screen resolution. I'm running a GTX660 (the series before that card) and it does me fine at 1920x1080 on a 120Hz monitor. However, there are now some games which need a few settings turned down here and there.
 
Quartz said:
You'll be disappointed at gaming performance. Look to the R9 290X or the Geforce GTX 970. That SSD looks on the small side - consider 250 GB. Or get yourself a 500 GB or 1 TB SSD and drop the HDD entirely.

You're missing monitors (I suggest 2) and a Windows license.

You should add an external USB optical drive. And an external USB 3 drive to back up your data.
Click to expand...

i expected the SSD to be used only for the OS thus not requiring a larger one? is this incorrect?

should i be running windows 7 or windows 8? id suspect 7

monitors will be arranged after i get the build correct, thanks for your reply
 
Chipper500 said:
i expected the SSD to be used only for the OS thus not requiring a larger one? is this incorrect?

should i be running windows 7 or windows 8? id suspect 7

monitors will be arranged after i get the build correct, thanks for your reply
Click to expand...

It is up to you. I personally went for a bigger SSD and use it as boot drive but also gaming drive. I have to manage my games and remove/reinstall as required but it is worth it for the increase in performance by running from SSD.

I personally have limited experience with Win 8, but I have heard mixed things. I went for Win7 personally.

You need a case. If you are desperate to go SLi I recommend you choose one big enough and one with enough cooling.

But my overall advice would still be to go single card. Even after years of being around xfire/Sli is still buggy and not often well supported.
 
The GPU is massively dated. Get a R9 290/X or something instead. 650W PSU will be enough for 1 graphics card.

The SSD will be plenty big for the O/S but most games are 30GB+ now and SSD's help reduce stuttering and load times so I prefer to run my games off it. Since you mentioned gaming you are better off with a larger one.

Maybe there will be some SSD deals around Black Friday?
 
BuffetSlayer said:
What is your budget?

Personally I would avoid SLi and always go for a single high power card.

But yes it looks SLi ready from what you have posted.

Consider a bigger SSD. Do you already have a monitor and peripherals? Case? Optical drive?
Click to expand...

kk thanks

i will purchase a montior once i have the pc built, i have a monitor which i can use in the mean time

i just want to get the build worked out first :D
 
Another vote here for the single card theory. You'll have a lot less hassle with gaming and not having to setup SLI profiles, SLI really comes into its' own when you're spending a lot more than your budget ;)
 
matt_fsr said:
Another vote here for the single card theory. You'll have a lot less hassle with gaming and not having to setup SLI profiles, SLI really comes into its' own when you're spending a lot more than your budget ;)
Click to expand...

ok thanks :) i can stretch to over £1000 but i dont wanna go too much over it...

r there any gd examples of builds for around that price with optimal performance?
 
One of the things that will most influence GPU choice is your screen(s) as the resolution you will be using has a large impact on the level of GPU 'grunt' needed. That's whay a lot of folks are asking about the screen(s). You may as well think about it now and take it into account with your overall budget, even if you're not buying it right away.

Do you see yourself sticking with 1920x1080?

I'll agree with most others here, from experience - 1 x good GPU is always in my opinion a better choice than 1 x mediocre one with "SLI later" as a plan. R9 290 or 290x seems to be a sweet spot at the moment.

If you can afford a larger SSD I think you'll enjoy the benefits, but 120Gb is enough for OS plus a couple of common apps/games - you may just have to shuffle games on and off of it as you change what you're playing most.

I notice your RAM appears to be a single stick. The general hardware forum guys will be able to tell you more, but I think that two sticks of 4Gb each may give better performance? (or 2 x 8Gb for preference :D)
 
Chipper500 said:
kk thanks

i will purchase a montior once i have the pc built, i have a monitor which i can use in the mean time

i just want to get the build worked out first :D
Click to expand...

For £900 you can build a pretty good base unit.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £101.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £77.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black (CC-9011017-WW) £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £42.95
1 x OcUK Value Blu-ray / DVDRW combi SATA - OEM £39.95
Total : £945.73 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Obviously, you can tweak the components, or pay a bit extra to enhance them, but you can build a solid PC for your budget.
 
Mockingbird said:
One of the things that will most influence GPU choice is your screen(s) as the resolution you will be using has a large impact on the level of GPU 'grunt' needed. That's whay a lot of folks are asking about the screen(s). You may as well think about it now and take it into account with your overall budget, even if you're not buying it right away.

Do you see yourself sticking with 1920x1080?

I'll agree with most others here, from experience - 1 x good GPU is always in my opinion a better choice than 1 x mediocre one with "SLI later" as a plan. R9 290 or 290x seems to be a sweet spot at the moment.

If you can afford a larger SSD I think you'll enjoy the benefits, but 120Gb is enough for OS plus a couple of common apps/games - you may just have to shuffle games on and off of it as you change what you're playing most.

I notice your RAM appears to be a single stick. The general hardware forum guys will be able to tell you more, but I think that two sticks of 4Gb each may give better performance? (or 2 x 8Gb for preference :D)
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply

I will be purchasing the best montior to suit the build of the pc once the built is finalised, the price of the monitor will not really b an issue...

i was hoping to stick with an nvidia card as ive been happy with the last 2 nvidia cards i have had tho the card which has been mentioned seems to very very good, is there an nvidia card on a par with the R9 290?

ill take ur ram stick thoughts into account i may indeed go with 2 sticks of 8, by the sounds of things most things in my orginal build need upgraded slightly :(
 
BuffetSlayer said:
For £900 you can build a pretty good base unit.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £101.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £77.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black (CC-9011017-WW) £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £42.95
1 x OcUK Value Blu-ray / DVDRW combi SATA - OEM £39.95
Total : £945.73 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Obviously, you can tweak the components, or pay a bit extra to enhance them, but you can build a solid PC for your budget.
Click to expand...

thanks very much i shall take this into consideration
 
Chipper500 said:
thanks for the reply

I will be purchasing the best montior to suit the build of the pc once the built is finalised, the price of the monitor will not really b an issue...

i was hoping to stick with an nvidia card as ive been happy with the last 2 nvidia cards i have had tho the card which has been mentioned seems to very very good, is there an nvidia card on a par with the R9 290?

ill take ur ram stick thoughts into account i may indeed go with 2 sticks of 8, by the sounds of things most things in my orginal build need upgraded slightly :(
Click to expand...

The equivalent nvidia card would be something like a GTX 970, but Nvidia cards will invariably cost you more for similar performance to AMD. Bang for buck AMD are the card to go for. Nvidia cards are great, dont get me wrong, but you pay a premium. Also consider that all current gen consoles use AMD architecture, so as a future investment an AMD GPU might serve you better when it comes to cross platform games. That said, equivalent nvidia cards will still munch through anything you throw at them, they just cost more.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£14 Saving** £258.58
1 x Inno3D GeForce GTX 970 OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 750W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £82.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV "Frost Edition" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £41.99
1 x Raijintek Agos Midi Tower - Black £39.95
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £911.05 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Better GPU - GTX 970, will smash 1080p & 1440p.
Cheaper and faster RAM
Cheaper SSD
Better motherboard
Cheaper 1TB HDD
Windows 8.1 (Free upgrade to Windows 10)
CPU Heatsink for when you overclock.
PSU will do SLI 970's if you want to SLI in the future.

Superflower PSU + Case = Discount code SFCASE

Also, 8GB of RAM is fine for gaming/your needs, 16GB won't be utilised by anything gaming wise.
 
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