So, it appears it is nearly time. After sticking with my current build (Athlon II X3, HD 6850) it's finally time to upgrade (in time for my 18th too)! I've put together the following spec with a budget of £1000:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Asus Maximus VII Gene Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £157.99
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) £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £59.99
1 x Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA200) HDD £56.99
Total : £1,039.52 (includes shipping : £8.00).
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The following parts will likely be reused from my current build:
YOUR BASKET
1 x NZXT Phantom 410 Enthusiast Midi Tower Case - Black £84.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova NEX 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £69.95
1 x Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler - Black £44.98
Total : £213.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).
I'll also be buying Win 8.1 from the MS Store as I still qualify for a student discount.
_____
First off may I request that any specs have the following at the least:
~240GB SSD
2TB+ HDD
Something in the same performance tier as a 290/780
_____
Now reasons for some of my choices
CPU - I'm seeing more and more games requiring and also utilizing i7's so I decided to try and fit one into the budget, I also do hobbyist Photoshop and video editing.
GPU - Asus is on offer, comes with a free headset and matches the M7G nicely.
Motherboard - Here's where I'm not sure. I love the looks and performance of the ROG lineup, and it's also packed with a ton of features... But there are some boards which offer ~90% of the features for less price (looking at the Gigabyte Gaming 7 as you get a free 8GB kit of the Kingston OcUK RAM). I also chose the M7G for the included mPCIe slot which would eventually be populated with an Intel AC7260 instead of having an ugly addon board or populating a USB port with a potentially inferior dongle. I also chose this board as I only plan on using 1 GPU and it would offer me the option of downsizing my case if I feel the need to (e.g when I get around to moving out).
So, have I made good choices? I'd ideally not like to go over £1k so I'll have a bit of extra money left for the upcoming Steam Summer Sale. The system will likely be bought over the next month, probaby in seperate orders depending on what's on offer as my birthday is on the 7th July.
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Asus Maximus VII Gene Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £157.99
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) £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £59.99
1 x Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA200) HDD £56.99
Total : £1,039.52 (includes shipping : £8.00).
_____
The following parts will likely be reused from my current build:
YOUR BASKET
1 x NZXT Phantom 410 Enthusiast Midi Tower Case - Black £84.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova NEX 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £69.95
1 x Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler - Black £44.98
Total : £213.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).
I'll also be buying Win 8.1 from the MS Store as I still qualify for a student discount.
_____
First off may I request that any specs have the following at the least:
~240GB SSD
2TB+ HDD
Something in the same performance tier as a 290/780
_____
Now reasons for some of my choices
CPU - I'm seeing more and more games requiring and also utilizing i7's so I decided to try and fit one into the budget, I also do hobbyist Photoshop and video editing.
GPU - Asus is on offer, comes with a free headset and matches the M7G nicely.
Motherboard - Here's where I'm not sure. I love the looks and performance of the ROG lineup, and it's also packed with a ton of features... But there are some boards which offer ~90% of the features for less price (looking at the Gigabyte Gaming 7 as you get a free 8GB kit of the Kingston OcUK RAM). I also chose the M7G for the included mPCIe slot which would eventually be populated with an Intel AC7260 instead of having an ugly addon board or populating a USB port with a potentially inferior dongle. I also chose this board as I only plan on using 1 GPU and it would offer me the option of downsizing my case if I feel the need to (e.g when I get around to moving out).
So, have I made good choices? I'd ideally not like to go over £1k so I'll have a bit of extra money left for the upcoming Steam Summer Sale. The system will likely be bought over the next month, probaby in seperate orders depending on what's on offer as my birthday is on the 7th July.
