First personal desktop (and custom build)

[TTD187]

Technically, I did have a desktop when I was younger, but the use of it was extremely minimal after a while. I was young when we had an internet connection, then we moved and stopped the internet for a very long time. Shame. Then I used for music. Meh. It had Windows 98 on it!

 

So as this is my first build, I'm not entirely sure if there's anything I should be switching on it, but I'm looking for something to game in 1080p on my TV at reasonable FPS which should last for years to come. I want to play the most recent games above 40fps on highest settings so I opted for a GTX 760 and a fast i5.

I plan at some point to go SLI and overclock my CPU but I'm not sure on what cooler to get for the CPU and if it's needed when I first buy it, or can I wait until I do decide to overclock? That won't actually be until my CPU starts to run games a little slowly due to advanced graphics.

 

I'm okay with changing a few parts for better value of money or to improve my capabilities of doing what it is I want (as mentioned).

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/G9Jyt6

 

Thanks

 

Edit: I forgot to include that I'm going for a budget of around £700.

 

Considering my desire to get a second card after some time, would it be worth switching to an R9 280X to get a boost in performance? The motherboard I chose doesn't have SLI support but it does have crossfire and it does seem to have SLI support, there is a greater increase in cost.

[Silmano]

I would suggest the following changes, since you have some room until you reach £700:

1. If you want to overclock you need a Z board (Z87 or Z97), those will let you overclock to the limit.
2. Get 2x4G of RAM instead of just one memory, that way you will be using the Dual Channel and it might perform better.
3. If you don't need that much space, get a small SSD (120Gb for example) for the SO and some games and get a second 1Tb HDD for all the rest.
4. If the board has CrossFire, get an ATI card like for example the R9 280. It should be in the same range of price and comes with 3Gb of memory!
5. If you plan on overclock and/or run CrossFire, I would suggest a larger power supply (600+ W). You will need to change your current power supply if you run two graphics card, because it only has 2x 6+2 pin PCI-e power, you need 4 for two high end cards.

[brob]

Technically, I did have a desktop when I was younger, but the use of it was extremely minimal after a while. I was young when we had an internet connection, then we moved and stopped the internet for a very long time. Shame. Then I used for music. Meh. It had Windows 98 on it!

 

So as this is my first build, I'm not entirely sure if there's anything I should be switching on it, but I'm looking for something to game in 1080p on my TV at reasonable FPS which should last for years to come. I want to play the most recent games above 40fps on highest settings so I opted for a GTX 760 and a fast i5.

I plan at some point to go SLI and overclock my CPU but I'm not sure on what cooler to get for the CPU and if it's needed when I first buy it, or can I wait until I do decide to overclock? That won't actually be until my CPU starts to run games a little slowly due to advanced graphics.

 

I'm okay with changing a few parts for better value of money or to improve my capabilities of doing what it is I want (as mentioned).

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/G9Jyt6

 

Thanks

 

Edit: I forgot to include that I'm going for a budget of around £700.

 

Considering my desire to get a second card after some time, would it be worth switching to an R9 280X to get a boost in performance? The motherboard I chose doesn't have SLI support but it does have crossfire and it does seem to have SLI support, there is a greater increase in cost.

 

I would suggest a number of changes.

 

A z97 SLI capable motherboard to permit overclocking at a future date. You will have to get an aftermarket cooler like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO to get a decent oc. But that is easy enough to add later. (Right now the cost is about £25.) If you are willing to go a few pounds over the 700 limit you might consider getting an i5-4690K.

 

A different memory kit. The 2x4GB kit is actually less expensive than a single stick and will provide better performance because is has better timings and will operate in dual channel mode.

 

An ssd. Pretty much necessary IMO.

 

Had to cut down the size of the hdd to get to budget. So if 2 TB really is necessary something will have to go.

 

A different case. One that will accommodate a tall cpu cooler and longer gpu. It's also a little less expensive.

 

A much better psu that will cope with two GTX 760. By the time you are ready to add the second gpu you may well find that it makes more sense to replace the existing one with a new generation gpu.

 

Dropped the wired LAN card. The Z97 motherboard has one on-board. As does the B85 motherboard you selected.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£155.99 @ Aria PC)

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£88.76 @ Scan.co.uk)

Memory: Kingston Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£58.18 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£44.94 @ CCL Computers)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.18 @ Aria PC)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  (£168.91 @ Scan.co.uk)

Case: Fractal Design FD-CA-CORE-3300-BL ATX Mid Tower Case  (£52.00 @ Scan.co.uk)

Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£44.11 @ CCL Computers)

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer  (£19.11 @ Amazon UK)

Wireless Network Adapter: Edimax EW-7612PIn 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  (£11.98 @ Scan.co.uk)

Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-K7100 Wired Slim Keyboard  (£9.48 @ CCL Computers)

Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M5050 Wired Optical Mouse  (£4.67 @ Scan.co.uk)

Total: £697.31

[TTD187]

Thanks for the replies this has been really helpful for me and does allow for me to build a more valuable PC.

 

Are there any suggestions to buy the parts individually or just go for them all at once for ease?

[brob]

Thanks for the replies this has been really helpful for me and does allow for me to build a more valuable PC.

 

Are there any suggestions to buy the parts individually or just go for them all at once for ease?

 

Depends on what the price differences are and the merchant(s) with which you wish to deal. In N.Am. many merchants will price match - that is meet a competitors advertised lower price. I don't know if that practice exists in the U.K. But if it does one can often get best pricing along with the ease of buying from a single source.

 

If you are in a major urban area you should also check the larger on-line merchants to see if you can pick-up an order locally. When available it can save shipping and insurance charges.

 

You may also want to consider buying items with very high shipping costs from a local retailer. Cases often incur high shipping charges so buying locally, even at a slightly higher price may be more economical.

[TTD187]

Just to make sure, would the 550w PSU be fine or should I opt for a 600W instead? If I go for the 550W, I would supposedly run fairly close with SLI, so how much energy would overclocked the CPU use?

[Silmano]

Just to make sure, would the 550w PSU be fine or should I opt for a 600W instead? If I go for the 550W, I would supposedly run fairly close with SLI, so how much energy would overclocked the CPU use?

 

For a GTX 760 SLI I think you will need at least a 700W PSU. With a 550W PSU you have some margin, but the 760 alone has a TDP of 170W. If you want to overclock with SLI (and maybe overclock them also?), I would recomend you get a 800-850W PSU.

[brob]

Just to make sure, would the 550w PSU be fine or should I opt for a 600W instead? If I go for the 550W, I would supposedly run fairly close with SLI, so how much energy would overclocked the CPU use?

 

For comfort you may want to opt for a 650W psu.

[TTD187]

Thanks. I'm not sure if this would be a reasonable PSU for the system?

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-power-supply-fdpsuin2b650w

[brob]

Thanks. I'm not sure if this would be a reasonable PSU for the system?

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-power-supply-fdpsuin2b650w

 

I would suggest a better psu. Part of the reason being that this unit is not modular or semi-modular.

 

Although they are more expensive XFX P1-650X-XXB9, XFX P1-650S-NLB9, or SeaSonic SS-620GM2 would be far better choices.

[TTD187]

I would suggest a better psu. Part of the reason being that this unit is not modular or semi-modular.

 

Although they are more expensive XFX P1-650X-XXB9, XFX P1-650S-NLB9, or SeaSonic SS-620GM2 would be far better choices.

 

Thanks, in terms of convenience, your first choice seems to be the best for me. What does it mean for it to be modular?

 

And I recently found I can go a little higher if needed (£700 was never really a strict budget anyway). Would getting a GTX 770 instead be worth it? I've seen a few videos to suggest its performance is better, but despite my liquid budget, I don't want to be buying something if it's not really worth it, so is the GTX 770 worth considering or would I be better off waiting a year or 2 and going SLI with the 760 then upgrading to a better GPU later after that? I'd likely end up going for SLI with the 770 too, I think, but just not as soon.

[brob]

Thanks, in terms of convenience, your first choice seems to be the best for me. What does it mean for it to be modular?

 

And I recently found I can go a little higher if needed (£700 was never really a strict budget anyway). Would getting a GTX 770 instead be worth it? I've seen a few videos to suggest its performance is better, but despite my liquid budget, I don't want to be buying something if it's not really worth it, so is the GTX 770 worth considering or would I be better off waiting a year or 2 and going SLI with the 760 then upgrading to a better GPU later after that? I'd likely end up going for SLI with the 770 too, I think, but just not as soon.

 

Non-modular means that all the power cables are attached inside the psu and the bundle exits through a central aperture in the back of the psu. Any cables that are not needed must be placed out of the way somewhere in the case.

 

Fully modular means that power cables plug into the rear of the psu so you only need to have the cables required to power present components in the case.

 

Semi-modular means that commonly required cables are attached inside the psu. Less commonly used cables are modular.

 

The GTX 770 is significantly better than the GTX 760. See http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1038?vs=1037 for a comparison of reference models. I would suggest going with the GTX 770 if it can fit in the budget. In a year or two there will be at least one, if not two newer generations of gpu. They will likely be more desirable than SLI GTX 760.

[TTD187]

Again, thank you so much, but in the case I go SLI with the GTX 770, I imagine an even bigger PSU would be in demand then? I looked and it would just top the 650W mark which obviously wouldn't do anything so well...

[brob]

Again, thank you so much, but in the case I go SLI with the GTX 770, I imagine an even bigger PSU would be in demand then? I looked and it would just top the 650W mark which obviously wouldn't do anything so well...

 

Yes SLI 770's would require a larger psu. 750W - 850W is the usual recommendation. You need to figure out just how likely you are to SLI within the next 12 months or so. Any further out and it really is speculation and not worth spending anything extra now. (For all we know in 14 months the then cost of a 770 might be equivalent to the price of a single newer architecture gpu with twice the power.)

[TTD187]

That will obviously be something we'll see in the time it takes for that to come out. I imagine that having a high wattage PSU would be a good idea anyway in the case of overclocking and any other expansions I may be willing to make.

 

Trying to fit with your use of XFX PSUs that are modular or semi, I picked this one. It seems to also be highly rated. Would you recommend?

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750xxxb9

 

EDIT: But I realise that my chosen shop doesn't have it in stock which would mean going for a different PSU. I don't want to push my budget too much, but this PSU is semi-modular and has decent ratings.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850xxxb9

[brob]

That will obviously be something we'll see in the time it takes for that to come out. I imagine that having a high wattage PSU would be a good idea anyway in the case of overclocking and any other expansions I may be willing to make.

 

Trying to fit with your use of XFX PSUs that are modular or semi, I picked this one. It seems to also be highly rated. Would you recommend?

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750xxxb9

 

EDIT: But I realise that my chosen shop doesn't have it in stock which would mean going for a different PSU. I don't want to push my budget too much, but this PSU is semi-modular and has decent ratings.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850xxxb9

 

Both are good. Pick the one you feel most comfortable getting.

 

I'm not married to XFX. There are other as good or better models from other manufactures available.

[TTD187]

Thank you Brob so much for your help! You've done me a great kindness and have secured my final decisions on my build. This will be an incredibly fun experience for me and hopefully will last that way for several years to come.

 

However, despite that, I did notice that my card is 5mm longer than the supported length with drive bays. I don't think this should be much of a worry though as I can remove them, but would it ever be likely that I'll need to expand my space? If so, could I just use the 5.25" bay for a HDD with some adapters to make it fit? Of course, I would still be able to use my 2.5" bay for SSDs which makes me happy

 

Or do you feel it's worth looking for a different case?

 

I'd also like to thank Silmano for the posts you've also been of good help to me

[brob]

Thank you Brob so much for your help! You've done me a great kindness and have secured my final decisions on my build. This will be an incredibly fun experience for me and hopefully will last that way for several years to come.

 

However, despite that, I did notice that my card is 5mm longer than the supported length with drive bays. I don't think this should be much of a worry though as I can remove them, but would it ever be likely that I'll need to expand my space? If so, could I just use the 5.25" bay for a HDD with some adapters to make it fit? Of course, I would still be able to use my 2.5" bay for SSDs which makes me happy

 

Or do you feel it's worth looking for a different case?

 

I'd also like to thank Silmano for the posts you've also been of good help to me

 

What case?

[TTD187]

The one I'll be getting. It says it holds up to 255mm cards but the 770 is 260mm. Is it worth getting a case that handles it so I don't have to remove any drive space? Although looking through the cases, I'm struggling to find one that I like so much.

[brob]

The one I'll be getting. It says it holds up to 255mm cards but the 770 is 260mm. Is it worth getting a case that handles it so I don't have to remove any drive space? Although looking through the cases, I'm struggling to find one that I like so much.

 

I asked which case because some cases have split drive bays or some other organization that will not mean the loss of all drive bays when installing longer gpu.

 

Very few desktops have a need for all the available drive bays in ATX cases.

[TTD187]

This one?

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcacore3300bl

 

I've been set back a month sadly. I won't be able to buy it until the end of August.

[brob]

This one?

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcacore3300bl

 

I've been set back a month sadly. I won't be able to buy it until the end of August.

 

You will want to reevaluate your list closer to the time of purchase. But that may not be a bad thing.

 

The gpu is tall and you may have to remove the drive bay structure. But that is not a certainty. As you suggested you can always use an adapter and mount an hdd in one of the two external bays. There is space to mount two sdd underneath the motherboard.

[TTD187]

Would it only be one drive bay needed to be removed or is it possible all three would have to go?

[brob]

Would it only be one drive bay needed to be removed or is it possible all three would have to go?

 

In the Fractal Design Core 3300 there is no choice all the 3.5" bays would go.

 

Perhaps a different case would be better. Corsair 200R