Spec me some gaming goodies

Energizer Bunny · 3 Feb 2014 at 02:19

Righto chaps. It is finally time for an upgrade. I've been running a Q6600 for goodness knows how long now and it has got to go (along with a few other bits). Here's what I need

Needs
New CPU
CPU cooler
Graphics card
Motherboard
Ram
Possibly a case (if a particularly cool one catches my eye)

Already Have
HDDs
PSU (Corsair 620watt ATX2.2)
Case (Thermaltake Armour 2) - as said would consider changing
Monitors and all peripherals

Budget
1000GBP

Uses
Making games run as fast and as pretty as possible

Thoughts appreciated!

stulid · 3 Feb 2014 at 02:24

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £249.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with *FREE COOLERMASTER SEIDON 120V COOLER £163.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £71.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
Total : £1,005.46 (includes shipping : £8.00).

NirK · 3 Feb 2014 at 02:45

Would get a 256gb SSD to be honest because a 128 will run out very fast and you will end up installing games on your mechanical HDD which makes the SSD a bit pointless. That's what happened to me anyway.

fowler002 · 3 Feb 2014 at 02:59

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X "BF4 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-00-50G) £365.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £249.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-OC Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £158.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £129.95
1 x OcUK Tech Labs Fathom All in One Custom Cooler 240mm £112.97
1 x Mayhems Pastel - Orange Coolant 1L £14.99
1 x Hardware Labs Black ICE Radiator SR1 240 £55.98
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
Total : £1,245.89 (includes shipping : £11.75).

gone a little over but then ho hum

lee32uk · 3 Feb 2014 at 03:55

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X "BF4 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-00-50G) £365.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £249.95
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z87 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x BitFenix Ronin Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler £49.99
Total : £1,071.44 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Energizer Bunny · 3 Feb 2014 at 13:20

Gents

Firstly, appreciate your input. Thanks for taking the time.

Secondly, I wasn't clear in my original post, but I already have SSDs. Stupidly I put HDDs. Apologies for that, but I can obviously still use the other parts you have suggested.

Thoughts
- You guys all agree on processor and graphics card (bar a minor edition difference on the latter), which is great news
- The motherboard I'm not sure about. Each of you has gone for a different one. Is there a particular difference between them? Historically I've gone with cheap mobos but know that isn't necessarily the best idea
- Ram tips look good to me. Thanks!
- Case is still a TBC. Both those look good though. Will muse

Appreciate the help!

sw1ft · 3 Feb 2014 at 13:49

Here's a uATX build just for the hell of it.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 "BF4 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £335.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Asus Z87M-PLUS Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Gold Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler £49.99
Total : £922.42 (includes shipping : £17.10).

Gold theme, obviously.

- Smaller case
- GPU has a reference cooler though the case probably isn't small enough to really require it.
- £100 left over for gold cable extensions/fans etc.
- Low profile 2400mhz RAM
- Everything is in stock

sw1ft · 3 Feb 2014 at 13:55

Some alternative uATX case suggestions if you weren't a fan of the case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Silverstone TemJin TJ08B-E Midi Tower Case - Black (SST-TJ08B-E USB 3.0) £83.99
1 x BitFenix Phenom MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black £74.95
1 x BitFenix Prodigy M MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black £65.52
Total : £243.18 (includes shipping : £15.60).

Again, all in stock.

stulid · 3 Feb 2014 at 14:12

The boards,

Well the Z87X-OC is an overclocking monster and is what the pros use.

The UD4H comes with a free cooler.

Here is a side by side comparison of the main features - http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/comparison/list.aspx?ck=2&pids=4488,4514

NirK · 3 Feb 2014 at 14:51

Deleted

Fulax · 3 Feb 2014 at 14:58

That makes no sense. An upgrade from Haswell to Broadwell would be pointless anyway, so who cares if his motherboard won't support Broadwell?

lee32uk · 3 Feb 2014 at 17:02

sw1ft said:
Here's a uATX build just for the hell of it.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 "BF4 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £335.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Asus Z87M-PLUS Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Aero Cool Dead Silence Gaming Gold Mini Tower Windowed £72.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler £49.99
Total : £922.42 (includes shipping : £17.10).

Gold theme, obviously.

- Smaller case
- GPU has a reference cooler though the case probably isn't small enough to really require it.
- £100 left over for gold cable extensions/fans etc.
- Low profile 2400mhz RAM
- Everything is in stock

Change that gpu for a non ref version.

fowler002 · 3 Feb 2014 at 17:46

Fulax said:
That makes no sense. An upgrade from Haswell to Broadwell would be pointless anyway, so who cares if his motherboard won't support Broadwell?

Have you two nicked mystic Meg's crystal ball or something? Who says broadwell wouldn't

A) be worth upgrading from haswell
B) not compatible with current motherboards(if sandy and ivy is anything to go by they'll release bios upgrade.

Energizer Bunny · 3 Feb 2014 at 18:08

Ok I'm now super tempted by the uATX option.

Fulax · 3 Feb 2014 at 18:12

fowler002 said:
Have you two nicked mystic Meg's crystal ball or something? Who says broadwell wouldn't

A) be worth upgrading from haswell
B) not compatible with current motherboards(if sandy and ivy is anything to go by they'll release bios upgrade.

a) Call it an educated guess. Based on the fact that a 4770k isn't much of an upgrade from a 2600k or a 3770k, a 5770k probably won't be worth upgrading to from a 4770k.

b) This was rumoured a while ago:

The only downside with Broadwell right now is that it's unlikely to be compatible with any of the 8-series motherboards out there in the market at the moment. That's a shame as usually the die shrink of a process is at least partially compatible with the previous generation's motherboards. With the move from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge CPUs the new chip would at least run in the older boards, even if it didn't have full access to the entire feature-set.

The reason for this incompatibility is unclear. Intel wouldn't be drawn on the subject, but rumours from some motherboard manufacturers are that the integrated voltage regulator (iVR) is being moved off-die and back onto the motherboard.

http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/2013/09/12/intel-reveal-new-broadwell-cpu-technology-due-out-next-year/

lee32uk · 3 Feb 2014 at 18:12

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £249.95
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 530 Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £104.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £69.95
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler £49.99
Total : £999.85 (includes shipping : FREE).

lee32uk · 3 Feb 2014 at 18:23

matx

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £359.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £249.95
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI GENE Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £159.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £99.95
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black (CC-9011029-WW) £94.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £69.95
Total : £1,034.77 (includes shipping : FREE).

NirK · 4 Feb 2014 at 05:11

I would guess that Broadwell would probably be 5-10% faster. To be honest though if you get Haswell now, then it will be more than good enough to run everything until Skylake comes out in about 1.5-2 years, as the PS4 and XB1 have crappy CPU anyway I doubt much will change with CPU/games, it will probably last 4+ years before you need to upgrade.