Project budget build noob

[millermilla]

There are some very impressive builds in here that are a credit to the people that put them together, the attention to detail amazes me. Most are way beyond my budget so I thought I would share with you my budget build that although modest in comparison I am very pleased with.

I have been lurking in the background of the forum for a couple of years never committing to a build. My old gaming PC was bought as a complete gaming system and was quite expensive at the time. I had no clue really what I had bought or how it all worked I just picked the biggest numbers to fit my budget if you know what I mean.

This time around I really wanted to build my own system for the satisfaction and a much better understanding of how all the components work. It was difficult to decide on a budget, I'm sure for some it's just as much as you can afford but for me I was looking for something that fits my needs and gives value. I'm a casual gamer and work away from home lots so there would be no point in spending £3K as my usage would not justify the expense.

I has a few components salvageable from the old setup, speakers, 1080p monitor, 2 320GB HDD's and peripherals. I set my budget at about £700 and started looking and asking lots of questions. I got lots of very useful advice on here.

For the £700 I wanted something that I could continue to upgrade in the future so for example I didn't mind spending £150 on a GFX card now and upgrading in 6 months time.

OCUK Build. I stretched the budget a bit to £775 but it was worth it.

CPU: 8Pack Approved - Intel Core i5 6400 @ 4.4GHz Overclocked Quad Core
RAM:Kingston Fury Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-21300C15 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX426C15FBK2/8)
CPU Cooler:Alpenföhn Brocken 2 CPU Cooler
SDD: Crucial BX200 240GB SSD SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive
OS: Windows 10 64 bit
Optical drive: Samsung SH-224FB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter
Wifi: TP-Link 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI Express Adapter
Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express
Power supply: SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold"
Case: Aerocool Aero 1000 Midi Tower Case



Carried over from my old setup:

HDD: 2 X Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 320GB
Monitor: HP Elite Display E231
Speakers: Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Surround sound
Peripherals: Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick

 

[millermilla]

The build itself was pretty straight forward, again I took lots of advice on here, read some magazines and watched a few YouTube videos. I just took my time and very much enjoyed it. It's a great feeling when you hit the on switch the first time and it just works!


I removed one of the HDD bays so the front fans are a bit more effective

I am a bit OCD, I like my cables neat and tidy

Case lights came off an auction site for a few quid. Not convinced on them but it looked way to plain with no lighting

 

[millermilla]

Performance wise I am very happy, I don't understand benchmark scores very well, i'm still learning but it does everything I ask of it with no problems which is what I wanted.

 

[millermilla]

Now I've been using it for a few weeks and I know far more now than I did when I placed the order I'm still very pleased.

The case was a last minute choice once I was advised how big the CPU cooler was. I have to say for a last minute decision it was a good one. I'm very pleased with the case, it's well put together, solid and there is plenty of room for future upgrade or water cooling.

I think I should have maybe bought a bigger PSU but glad I bought a quality unit, not sure if it will be up to a future upgrade of the GFX card.

It would have been nice to have bought a better GFX card but from what I see the price difference from a GTX960 to a 970 is quite significant so it would have blown the budget. It should be simple enough to replace the card later and give a decent performance increase, I guess my current card is below the capabilities of the system. I can see me upgrading to a 970 or even 980 before the end of the year, just not sure the PSU will be up to it?