Making the transition.

[JBIZZL3Y]

I thought I start by saying hello, I'm new and pretty much entirely new to pc gaming,

I've been a console guy for as long as I can remember and I'm currently playing on the xbox one, but things just don't seem right with team green. Don't get me wrong there's some games that I'm looking forward to but most of them are available on pc and there's so many more id like to play that are on pc.

Here's my dilemma I'd love to build my own small tower but I'm still trying to understand all of the components and I'm also going to require something that's moderately portable so I have been looking at the possibility of a laptop but id rather not go down the route.. I also don't have space for a monitor so it would have to be connected to my tv. (I don't know how well that would work?). And I don't really have a desk for a mouse and keyboard.. (The pc would have to be in a bedroom) so I need to work that out

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. What I'm trying to say Is I'm trying to decide weather to get a gaming laptop or build my own small form factor tower.. Can anybody offer any good reading related to selecting the components of building a pc.. I know the core components I'll need but there's so much technical jargon I've still not got to grips with and there's so many different versions of everything, like CPUs motherboards GPUS cooling options etc.

My budget would be around £1500 there's probably a little bit of room to play here. And it would be used almost solely for gaming. And I would need a keyboard and mouse.

Thanks for reading!

[Fred Castellum]

Welcome to the forums mate don't forget to read the code of conduct!

[JoshTBG]

I would start with the case i would recommend matx because its portable and not to big and you will have room to play look up the Bitfinex Prodigy M. and useing a Xbox 360 wireless controller and adapter. So you could sit in bed and play games 

[JoshTBG]

I would recommend using PCPartpicker

[KPZ211997]

Welcome to the gaming pc "heaven"

 

To save your time, here's my recommendation

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£164.34 @ Aria PC) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£78.73 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97I Gaming AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£104.36 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£64.02 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Intel 730 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£109.58 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£120.63 @ YoYoTech) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card  (£496.47 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Red) Mini ITX Tower Case  (£68.50 @ Amazon UK) 

Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£84.78 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Quick Fire TK Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£79.18 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M65 Wired Laser Mouse  (£52.33 @ Amazon UK) 

Other: Xbox One Wireless Controller (£44.99)

Total: £1467.91

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-23 17:02 BST+0100

 

If you are not interested in overclocking, I suggest getting a Xeon 1231V3 CPU

[JBIZZL3Y]

I was thinking of using an Matx, I'll look up the prodigy now thanks josh. The only problem with part picker is I don't know which ones to choose yet or what features certain parts come with etc etc...

[JBIZZL3Y]

Thank you for the recommendation, would a micro atx greatly limit upgradability in the future (with things like dual gpus)? And also where do the warranties stand with the components when they're put together by me?! Will they still stand? I know id probably void the CPU one if I over lock it but I still don't fully understand over locking nor how to do so. I should also admit that I havnt used a windows pc in at leat 8 years so there's going to be a bit of a learning curve here!

[KPZ211997]

Thank you for the recommendation, would a micro atx greatly limit upgradability in the future (with things like dual gpus)? And also where do the warranties stand with the components when they're put together by me?! Will they still stand? I know id probably void the CPU one if I over lock it but I still don't fully understand over locking nor how to do so. I should also admit that I havnt used a windows pc in at leat 8 years so there's going to be a bit of a learning curve here!

Only overclock if you are a bit experienced, some retailers will void your warranty if you oc

The matx case will limit only for multi-gpu setup (cuz no matx motherboard has 2 PCI-E slots for GPU)

[Guest]

Only overclock if you are a bit experienced, some retailers will void your warranty if you oc

The matx case will limit only for multi-gpu setup (cuz no matx motherboard has 2 PCI-E slots for GPU)

Wut ? There are quite a few matx boards that allow for cf/sli. The Gigabyte Z97MX-Gaming 5 is one example.

[KPZ211997]

Wut ? There are quite a few matx boards that allow for cf/sli. The Gigabyte Z97MX-Gaming 5 is one example.

Okay then it's rare for matx mobo to support cf/sli

 

But tbh, you wouldn't want to fit 2 GPUs inside a prodigy

[Guest]

Okay then it's rare for matx mobo to support cf/sli

 

But tbh, you wouldn't want to fit 2 GPUs inside a prodigy

There are probably about 4 or 5 that do cf/sli. I know Asus and MSI also have matx gaming boards. The prodigy isn't ideal for dual cards I agree. The op would probably be better off with something like the Corsair Air 240 or the 350D etc for a dual card setup.

[JBIZZL3Y]

Thanks for the advice everyone, 

I wouldn't be going for a dual card straight away but I would like the option to upgrade later. I've been watching a few of the linus tech tip youtube videos, and saw a couple of smaller form factor builds that looked awesome.. i think one used a Fractal node 804 case and the other a bitfeinx micro ATX which look like they might better support a dual gpu option later.. decisions decisions...

[General_Led]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£164.34 @ Aria PC) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£78.73 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£106.76 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£64.02 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£83.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£49.98 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB DirectCU II Video Card  (£509.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.99 @ Novatech) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£74.29 @ CCL Computers) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£59.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire TK Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£77.10 @ CCL Computers) 

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse  (£61.40 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Total: £1404.19

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-24 00:55 BST+0100

[JBIZZL3Y]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£164.34 @ Aria PC) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£78.73 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£106.76 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£64.02 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£83.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£49.98 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB DirectCU II Video Card  (£509.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.99 @ Novatech) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£74.29 @ CCL Computers) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£59.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire TK Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£77.10 @ CCL Computers) 

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse  (£61.40 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Total: £1404.19

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-24 00:55 BST+0100

 

Thank you for this build.. I have a couple of questions if thats okay, whilst I could just order all the parts i'd like to get a good understanding of what I'm actually putting together and how it all works:

 

1. I'm still a little bit confused with things like bandwidth and how that relates with the motherboard, CPU, GPU etc. (i realise the build you've listed might not have any issues with things like this but I'd like to fully understand it) Am i right in thinking that the PCIE slot you connect the gpu to has x bandwidth and the gpu will have a required bandwidth needed to work fully?

 

2. I'll probably need to have wireless internet for the pc. will most motherboards have wireless built in? or will I need some sort of expansion card?

 

3.I've seen a lot of discussion about i5 vs i7's.. i know a lot of games currently won't support the extra oomph of hyper threading etc from the i7. but I'm looking at playing things like star citizen once they come out and there might me the odd bit of youtube/go pro video editing (though it will be very light duty) so would i be better off investing in the i7? (I also very much doubt ill be OC'ing at least not at first, as you can see I'm pretty lost here as it is..)

 

4. Storage wise im a little bit confused as to how the SSD and HDD interface.. I know ill have the OS on the SSD but then what else will go on there? will i move things from HDD to SSD as i want to use them?

 

5. visually ill be connecting to a 42" hdtv.. will the build be up to this? I realise its quite a bit larger than most monitors.

 

Again thank you for your time, I know its a lot of questions and I'm very thankful for your help.

[KPZ211997]

Thank you for this build.. I have a couple of questions if thats okay, whilst I could just order all the parts i'd like to get a good understanding of what I'm actually putting together and how it all works:

 

1. I'm still a little bit confused with things like bandwidth and how that relates with the motherboard, CPU, GPU etc. (i realise the build you've listed might not have any issues with things like this but I'd like to fully understand it) Am i right in thinking that the PCIE slot you connect the gpu to has x bandwidth and the gpu will have a required bandwidth needed to work fully?

 

2. I'll probably need to have wireless internet for the pc. will most motherboards have wireless built in? or will I need some sort of expansion card?

 

3.I've seen a lot of discussion about i5 vs i7's.. i know a lot of games currently won't support the extra oomph of hyper threading etc from the i7. but I'm looking at playing things like star citizen once they come out and there might me the odd bit of youtube/go pro video editing (though it will be very light duty) so would i be better off investing in the i7? (I also very much doubt ill be OC'ing at least not at first, as you can see I'm pretty lost here as it is..)

 

4. Storage wise im a little bit confused as to how the SSD and HDD interface.. I know ill have the OS on the SSD but then what else will go on there? will i move things from HDD to SSD as i want to use them?

 

5. visually ill be connecting to a 42" hdtv.. will the build be up to this? I realise its quite a bit larger than most monitors.

 

Again thank you for your time, I know its a lot of questions and I'm very thankful for your help.

1. Most modern mobo should have enough bandwidth for your components to work properly, even my 65$ mobo is capable of powering an i5 and a 760

2. Ask your retailer if it has built-in wireless, some motherboard (cheap one to be exact) doesn't have it and you need to buy a wireless card

3. While many, many games doesn't benefit from i7's HT, you can still invest on an i7 if your budget allows and you want to use programs which benefits from HT, if you don't and still want HT, I suggest a xeon 1231V3 - has very close performance with an i7 and Ht while only about a few pounds more expensive than the i5

4. You can put games, OS, software on SSD to load faster, files like music, pictures, documents, etc... will go to the HDD, and yes you can move between them with proper configuration

5. Your TV is 42'' hdtv (mostly 1080p), and a 780 Ti will stomp every games you throw at with maximum setting @ 60fps

[JBIZZL3Y]

Tank you KPZ. so with the storage, if I go for 250GB SSD for the OS and a game or so, with a 1-2TB 7200 HDD for the rest of my steam library and the odd video file and doc's etc. then would it be a case of dragging and dropping the files between them? what sort of configuration would i have to go for?  

 

Thanks again!

[KPZ211997]

Tank you KPZ. so with the storage, if I go for 250GB SSD for the OS and a game or so, with a 1-2TB 7200 HDD for the rest of my steam library and the odd video file and doc's etc. then would it be a case of dragging and dropping the files between them? what sort of configuration would i have to go for?  

 

Thanks again!

There shouldn't be any problem transferring files between drives

 

For the config, I'm not so sure but probably you just plug in the sata cable for both drives then install windows normally on SSD

[JBIZZL3Y]

This is what I have so far:

CPU Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core £236.34 CPU Cooler Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid £78.73 Motherboard Gigabyte G1.Sniper M5 Micro ATX LGA1150 £219.86 Memory Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 £117.79 Storage Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" SSD £83.99   Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM £62.40 Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB £501.50 Case Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower £74.99 Power Supply EVGA 750W ATX12V / EPS12V £59.99 Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) £104.95 Wireless Network Adapter Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 £62.14

i'm still mulling a few bits over..

 

1. im concerned as to wether the wireless card will clash with the GPU when trying to insert it into the PCIE 4/1x slot underneath the 16x that i intent to use for the GPU (there is another x8 slot available but on this motherboard at least the 16x and 8x slots share bandwidth so whenever there is something installed into the 8x it will be taking bandwidth away from the 16x) - i think I've understood that correctly but please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Heres the product page if anyone can make more sense of it than me :

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4482#ov

 

2. the case I've gone for has a fan switch controller built into it.. is this optimal or wouldn't it be better to control them via the system? is this just the norm?

 

3. I'm going to go for windows 8 but I'm not yet sure wether to go for professional or standard. any thought here with regards to overall system performance enhancements?

 

Sorry again for the mass of questions. 

 

Thanks for reading.

[Guest]

This is what I have so far:

CPU Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core £236.34 CPU Cooler Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid £78.73 Motherboard Gigabyte G1.Sniper M5 Micro ATX LGA1150 £219.86 Memory Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 £117.79 Storage Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" SSD £83.99   Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM £62.40 Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB £501.50 Case Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower £74.99 Power Supply EVGA 750W ATX12V / EPS12V £59.99 Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) £104.95 Wireless Network Adapter Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 £62.14

i'm still mulling a few bits over..

 

1. im concerned as to wether the wireless card will clash with the GPU when trying to insert it into the PCIE 4/1x slot underneath the 16x that i intent to use for the GPU (there is another x8 slot available but on this motherboard at least the 16x and 8x slots share bandwidth so whenever there is something installed into the 8x it will be taking bandwidth away from the 16x) - i think I've understood that correctly but please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Heres the product page if anyone can make more sense of it than me :

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4482#ov

 

2. the case I've gone for has a fan switch controller built into it.. is this optimal or wouldn't it be better to control them via the system? is this just the norm?

 

3. I'm going to go for windows 8 but I'm not yet sure wether to go for professional or standard. any thought here with regards to overall system performance enhancements?

 

Sorry again for the mass of questions. 

 

Thanks for reading.

Go for Windows 8.1 rather than 8.

 

I would ditch the WD Black and just go for a regular WD Blue.

 

That Motherboard is very costly and is Z87. I would suggest you stick with a Z97 MATX board. Do you want that board because of the colour scheme ? 

 

The EVGA NEX isn't a very good psu. The Supernova G2 version is much better.

 

Instead of a wireless network card you could go for a powerline adapter. They work off your electrical plug sockets, so you don't get any dropped signals. I find them much more reliable than wireless cards.

 

Something like this - http://www.devolo.com/uk/Products/dLAN-500-duo+

[JBIZZL3Y]

Thanks for your reply, 

 

not to sound stupid but if i get windows 8.0 ill be able to upgrade to 8.1 once i get it installed?

 

no not the colour! What is the difference between z87 and z97? Id seen a review of the gigabyte sniper mobo and just liked the look of some of the features, plus it seemed to support the wireless expansion card..

 

thanks for the psu advice I think ill have a look into a few different options, and ill check out that wireless option now!

 

Edit: just looked at that Devolo lag adaptor and that looks almost too good to be true! have you used them? do you get a secure fast connection?

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply, 

 

not to sound stupid but if i get windows 8.0 ill be able to upgrade to 8.1 once i get it installed?

 

no not the colour! What is the difference between z87 and z97? Id seen a review of the gigabyte sniper mobo and just liked the look of some of the features, plus it seemed to support the wireless expansion card..

 

thanks for the psu advice I think ill have a look into a few different options, and ill check out that wireless option now!

 

Edit: just looked at that Devolo lag adaptor and that looks almost too good to be true! have you used them? do you get a secure fast connection?

Just buy Win 8.1 from the off - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615

 

There isn't a huge difference between Z87 and Z97. You get M2 support and SATA express on some Z97 boards. Also Z97 will support the next cpu release (Broadwell) whereas Z87 won't. That Z87 sniper is twice the price of the Gigabyte Z97MX-Gaming 5 board which is £111.56.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97mxgaming5

 

I use a Devolo Powerline adapter on a 2nd pc. I have had it for about 3 or more years and it has never skipped a beat. You plug one into the back of the router, and the other one goes into the pc that needs an internet connection. Then you just pair them up and off you go. The one I linked has AC passthrough, so you don't take up any plug sockets.

[General_Led]

Thank you for this build.. I have a couple of questions if thats okay, whilst I could just order all the parts i'd like to get a good understanding of what I'm actually putting together and how it all works:

 

1. I'm still a little bit confused with things like bandwidth and how that relates with the motherboard, CPU, GPU etc. (i realise the build you've listed might not have any issues with things like this but I'd like to fully understand it) Am i right in thinking that the PCIE slot you connect the gpu to has x bandwidth and the gpu will have a required bandwidth needed to work fully?

 

2. I'll probably need to have wireless internet for the pc. will most motherboards have wireless built in? or will I need some sort of expansion card?

 

3.I've seen a lot of discussion about i5 vs i7's.. i know a lot of games currently won't support the extra oomph of hyper threading etc from the i7. but I'm looking at playing things like star citizen once they come out and there might me the odd bit of youtube/go pro video editing (though it will be very light duty) so would i be better off investing in the i7? (I also very much doubt ill be OC'ing at least not at first, as you can see I'm pretty lost here as it is..)

 

4. Storage wise im a little bit confused as to how the SSD and HDD interface.. I know ill have the OS on the SSD but then what else will go on there? will i move things from HDD to SSD as i want to use them?

 

5. visually ill be connecting to a 42" hdtv.. will the build be up to this? I realise its quite a bit larger than most monitors.

 

Again thank you for your time, I know its a lot of questions and I'm very thankful for your help.

1.With modern components bandwidth is not a real concern until you get 3+ GPU's.

2.Standard ATX MOBO's usually dont have wireless until you get into the $200+ range. A lot of mitx MOBO's come with wireless built in. On pcpartpicker it tells you weather the mobo comes with wireless. Just but a pcie wireless adapter for around 20 (your currency) and it will be just fine.

3.In 99.9999% of the time i7 will be better. How much better though can vary. Games like star citizen and arma will definitely benefit from a i7. Video production and rendering will as well benefit from the extra horsepower.

4.So the ssd and hdd would be seperate drives. The ssd would be the boot drive with your OS and i suggest most used app, like skype, web browser, steam (not games), and i have a few other key applications that i use. The HDD would be the mass storage drive for stuff such as games, larger applications, less used applications, and so on. When you have 2 drives like that they work independently. When downloading stuff off steam or the web you have to tell which drive you want everything to download to. It can be a bit of a bitch at first but in the end very worth it since everything becomes more organized. Realistically you shouldnt be writing to the ssd very much, just mostly reading. 

5.Screen size does not dictate how much horsepower you need to drive it. Resolution does. It is no harder to power a 55" 1080p tv then is is to power a 22" 1080p display.

[General_Led]

Thanks for your reply, 

 

not to sound stupid but if i get windows 8.0 ill be able to upgrade to 8.1 once i get it installed?

 

no not the colour! What is the difference between z87 and z97? Id seen a review of the gigabyte sniper mobo and just liked the look of some of the features, plus it seemed to support the wireless expansion card..

 

thanks for the psu advice I think ill have a look into a few different options, and ill check out that wireless option now!

 

Edit: just looked at that Devolo lag adaptor and that looks almost too good to be true! have you used them? do you get a secure fast connection?

So the difference between z87 and z97 is not to much except z87 MOBO's do not support haswell refresh such as i5 4690k and i7 4790k. 

[Guest]

So the difference between z87 and z97 is not to much except z87 MOBO's do not support haswell refresh such as i5 4690k and i7 4790k. 

They do, but most boards need a bios update. 

[General_Led]

They do, but most boards need a bios update. 

Oh. I've had both times ive built a computer for some people using refreshes with a z87 and it not work even after i threw in a standard haswell and updated the bios. Kinda assumed it didn't work all together.