Unbalanced Build

Nodds

Nodds

Nodds

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Joined
7 Feb 2014
Posts
6
Greetings,

I'm looking to build my first PC after living with a laptop for a right few years. I've got something in mind but think I may be over egging it in certain areas based on what my requirements are. Looking for some guidance on how to rein it back in....

My requirements from a machine are thus:

1) allow remote working via citrix based thingy
2) allow general home office functionality
3) Allow for general home media related gubbins (Youtube, CBBC site etc)
4) Allow for audio manipulation shenanigans (traktor, Ableton etc).
5) casual gaming. I have two kids so never have the time to play anything for any length of time or get involved to much. At present I fancy playing the likes of Half Life again, and then with my son trying out Train Simulator (and other simulators) followed by his current obsession with minecraft. I'm sure i'll eventually catch-up and get into the current gen of games as well.

Ideally looking for a base build that will look good & be wife approved(hence the Prodigy case) will have straightforward upgrade paths and do all of the above without breaking a sweat.

I have a budget of approx £700 (excluding screen, keyboard, mice, additional storage etc).

Dont mind paying more for a component if its going to stand me in good stead further down the line. But at the same time dont want to have uneccessarily bling components either.

Removed competitor names and prices.


Heres what I originally stated:

(minus a Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card & Asus Z87I-PRO Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Arctic White £69.95
1 x Zalman LQ310 Ultimate Liquid CPU Cooler £59.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £53.99
2 x Corsair Value 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Single Channel Kit (CMV4GX3M1A1333C9) £31.99 (£63.98)
1 x BitFenix Spectre 230mm Fan - Black £11.78
Total : £545.77 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Any advice is greatfully received :)
 
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I'd find the items on OCUK and link there rather than what you've got - no linking to competitors allowed. Doesn't mean you have to buy them all here, but...

I'd say you're underspending on GPU. You could easily cut back on mobo and cpu cooler costs to upgrade gfx card. OK, until you try current gen games you'll be fine, Half-life should run fine, but it's still poor.
Given it's form factor maybe you're stuck with that mobo, I don't know.
The ram you've picked is neither super cheap nor particularly good.
An alternative for RAM might be: TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit which is faster and cheaper. Not great timings, but for cheapish RAM is much better than your pick.
I'd look to spend more on PSU - you'll get your money back over the life of it with a higher efficiency one.
 
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David Bisset said:
I'd say you're underspending on GPU. You could easily cut back on mobo and cpu cooler costs to upgrade gfx card. OK, until you try current gen games you'll be fine, Half-life should run fine, but it's still poor.
The ram you've picked is neither super cheap nor particularly good.
I'd look to spend more on PSU - you'll get your money back over the life of it with a higher efficiency one.
Click to expand...

Id say you need to look at a 270x or GTX 660. (270x would be my choice).

8gb would be better really.

I don't agree David on the PSU front, the outlay for a more efficent PSU won't really reap any rewards, as you only gain a small percentage. For a SLI 780ti Rig, yes as 5%-12% of 800W usage is a decent amount, where as 5%-12% of 250W isn't worth it atall.
 
 
Aye, I'd happily withdraw the PSU comment.

You do have 8GB RAM listed, but as two single 4GB sticks, generally buying pairs of sticks is cheaper. I'd not normally aim for the kind of RAM speed that I linked to on this kind of budget, was just to illustrate how poor the current choice was. 1600MHz C9 would be about right probably.

Edit: Ahh, altrewin posted while I was writing. The above looks much nicer, can still pick the higher CPU if you wanted but you've got a significant improvement in graphics & RAM while saving money. Everyones a winner!
 
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An AIO water cooler is a bit excessive on a £700 budget, and the case comes with a 120mm in the front and one in the rear, so it'd only be worth it if you feel you'd benefit from a bit of extra airflow. :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 270X Boost OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £143.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £95.99
1 x Xigmatek Gigas Micro ATX Cube Case - Silver £86.99
1 x Seasonic G series 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £65.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £65.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
1 x Deepcool GAMMAXX S40 CPU-Cooler - 120mm £19.99
Total : £729.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).





Slightly over the £700 budget, although you do get a 'k' cpu and a 270X.

The case is Aluminium and looks pretty nice imo. It also comes with 4 x 120 fans installed. There is a black version, although I can't see it on here.

Modular psu will help with cable management.

If you don't want to overclock then you could go for the non 'k' version cpu and a different motherboard.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X WindForce 3X OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included £161.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4430 3.00GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £139.99
1 x Gigabyte H87N-WIFI Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Arctic White £69.95
1 x Seasonic G series 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £65.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £59.99
Total : £691.94 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Very similar to my current PC which I cannot fault! The only thing that causes the most noise while sitting idle would be the CPU cooler but other than that it is perfect!
 
No overclocking, but a slightly more wife-friendly case (but that's completely subjective I suppose).

Slightly overbudget, but you could drop to a 270

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x EVGA Hadron Air Mini-ITX Case - including 500W Gold Power Supply - Black £149.99
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 270X Boost OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £143.99
1 x Gigabyte H87N-WIFI Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £59.99
Total : £713.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Or alternatively, faster RAM, slower GPU. Haswell does benefit from faster memory,though I'm not sure how much that would impact you with your intended usage. Or go for the slower gpu and ram to keep it closer to your budget.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x EVGA Hadron Air Mini-ITX Case - including 500W Gold Power Supply - Black £149.99
1 x MSI Radeon R9 270 Gaming Edition OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £134.99
1 x Gigabyte H87N-WIFI Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99
1 x Avexir Blitz Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (AVD3U20000904G-2GW) £79.99
Total : £724.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).



You could also opt for a micro atx board and case, which could bring the cost down too, but don't forget you'll need to factor in a PSU, as the Hadron includes a 500w gold.
 
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