I’ve been out of the loop for a little while – the last PC I built was a Q6600 micro-ITX build nearly 5 years ago, and I’m currently using a Dell laptop (for portability) – but the time has come to build again. I think it is fair to say that I have lost touch with the latest developments and what once were the go to brands may no longer be so. I therefore humbly submit my new system for your critique and advice. I have done some research but know there are things I will have overlooked from such a long absence.
First off, my intention is to have a quality system (i.e. solid, reliable components) with the best performance for price – therefore I am not after the cheapest nor am I after bleeding edge. I am happy to pay a little more for better quality components but not a premium for performance or branding or features I won’t use. Also, I don’t tend to do much in the way of overclocking – I want a rock-steady PC.
My main usage will be (in no particular order):
I intend to purchase this stuff on my return from Dubai mid-December, unless OC has a wicked January sales plan, in which case I’ll hold off.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £766.30
(includes shipping: £23.40)
I will be adding in some SATA HDD that I already have for mass storage.
P.S. although the future upgrading path is appealing, I know from my previous builds that I won’t tend to change much apart from adding storage or RAM between system builds and therefore is of little concern here – again, I’m not after latest generation stuff.
TL/DR
Out of the loop for a while, lost touch with market.
Sanity check on system above.
Approx £750 budget for PC excluding peripherals, monitor etc.
Best performance for price wanted.
First off, my intention is to have a quality system (i.e. solid, reliable components) with the best performance for price – therefore I am not after the cheapest nor am I after bleeding edge. I am happy to pay a little more for better quality components but not a premium for performance or branding or features I won’t use. Also, I don’t tend to do much in the way of overclocking – I want a rock-steady PC.
My main usage will be (in no particular order):
- Internet
- Media streamer/player (eventually hook upto TV as well as monitor)
- Gaming (don’t have a 4K monitor, and games like Tomb Raider, Dirt 3, Fallout 4)
- AutoCAD (2D engineering drawings and minimal 3D topographical drawings)
- Office
I intend to purchase this stuff on my return from Dubai mid-December, unless OC has a wicked January sales plan, in which case I’ll hold off.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
- 1 x Fractal Design Define S Midi Tower - Black= £61.99
- 1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black= £59.99
- 1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail= £152.98
- 1 x Corsair Hydro H90 140mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060013-WW)= £76.99
- 1 x TP-Link 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI Express Adapter (TL-WDN4800)= £26.99
- 1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML16GX3M2A16= £68.99
- 1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard= £61.99
- 1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 Nitro 380 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Backplate (11242-13-20G)= £169.99
- 1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £62.99
Total: £766.30
(includes shipping: £23.40)
I will be adding in some SATA HDD that I already have for mass storage.
P.S. although the future upgrading path is appealing, I know from my previous builds that I won’t tend to change much apart from adding storage or RAM between system builds and therefore is of little concern here – again, I’m not after latest generation stuff.
TL/DR
Out of the loop for a while, lost touch with market.
Sanity check on system above.
Approx £750 budget for PC excluding peripherals, monitor etc.
Best performance for price wanted.
