Building a new "petite" rig

[razzu]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm Planning to build a new pc in July and maybe having it last for at least 3 years

 

Anyways I have been planning this rig for the past few weeks, after countless hours debating with myself if I should just wait for next gen, but since maxwell and broadwell are well out of the way, i have decided to stick with these.

 

Would love to receive some tips of what i think is a well rounded/balanced rig.

 

I'm ordering these parts from Amazon UK and shipping them to Malta and my budget is around 2000$ max including monitor (peripherals are taken care off)

 

I will be buying an NZXT Sentry mix 2, NZXT rgb lights and replacing fans with better ones later on as well, but aesthetics and a slight performance bump comes later.

 

Parts:

 

Case: Corsair 450D

 

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero

 

CPU: i5-4690k Devil's Canyon

 

Ram: 1x8GB corsair Dominator 1866 ram (upgrading to 16GB later if needed/for looks)

 

Cooler: Corsair H100i 

 

PSU: Corsair RM750

 

SSD/HDD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB

 

Monitor: Asus VX 239 H (adding another one in the near future)

 

 

The dilemma i have is the GPU, With the recent game releases demanding more and more VRAM, such as Watch Dogs, whom uses about 3.5GB of VRAM (which is a shit ton) the Asus GTX 760 Striker Platinum seems like a really compelling choice, But for 230GBP, You can either buy an Asus R9-280X which i heard a lot of bad stuff about after a few months of use or even immediately and finally The MSI GTX 770 (the Asus looks bad) which offers a better core but less ram at a mere 10GBP more.

 

so it's:

 

Asus GTX 760 Striker Platinum

 

or

 

Asus R9-280X

 

or

 

MSI GTX 770

 

Again, really appreciate if you can give me a second opinion on this!

 

BTW I'm installing Windows 7 on this but i already have a new copy.

 

 

 

[Megazero]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm Planning to build a new pc in July and maybe having it last for at least 3 years

 

Anyways I have been planning this rig for the past few weeks, after countless hours debating with myself if I should just wait for next gen, but since maxwell and broadwell are well out of the way, i have decided to stick with these.

 

Would love to receive some tips of what i think is a well rounded/balanced rig.

 

I'm ordering these parts from Amazon UK and shipping them to Malta and my budget is around 2000$ max including monitor (peripherals are taken care off)

 

I will be buying an NZXT Sentry mix 2, NZXT rgb lights and replacing fans with better ones later on as well, but aesthetics and a slight performance bump comes later.

 

Parts:

 

Case: Corsair 450D

 

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero

 

CPU: i5-4690k Devil's Canyon

 

Ram: 1x8GB corsair Dominator 1866 ram (upgrading to 16GB later if needed/for looks)

 

Cooler: Corsair H100i 

 

PSU: Corsair RM750

 

SSD/HDD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB

 

Monitor: Asus VX 239 H (adding another one in the near future)

 

 

The dilemma i have is the GPU, With the recent game releases demanding more and more VRAM, such as Watch Dogs, whom uses about 3.5GB of VRAM (which is a shit ton) the Asus GTX 760 Striker Platinum seems like a really compelling choice, But for 230GBP, You can either buy an Asus R9-280X which i heard a lot of bad stuff about after a few months of use or even immediately and finally The MSI GTX 770 (the Asus looks bad) which offers a better core but less ram at a mere 10GBP more.

 

so it's:

 

Asus GTX 760 Striker Platinum

 

or

 

Asus R9-280X

 

or

 

MSI GTX 770

 

Again, really appreciate if you can give me a second opinion on this!

 

BTW I'm installing Windows 7 on this but i already have a new copy.

For a 2000$ budget your build is really bad, but maybe it's because of the tax? so I'd say you have around 1400-1500$ instead right?

So before I get together a build for you, let me ask 1 thing first: Why dont you have an HDD?

[Cacao]

I used to live in Malta

 

What about this?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£163.00 @ Amazon UK) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£29.90 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£97.02 @ Amazon UK) 

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

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£88.34 @ Amazon UK) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card  (£379.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£68.98 @ Amazon UK) 

Monitor: Asus VX238H 23.0" Monitor  (£141.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Other: 450D (£92.00)

Total: £1118.41

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 19:18 BST+0100

 

I didn't put the Devil's Canyon stuff because amazon.co.uk doesn't have the 4690k, but you can easily swap it out.

[Vendetta]

Why are those your only gpu options? If you can afford the 760 striker then you should be able to afford a gtx780 or r9 290. Both of which are MUCH better options thab what youbare thinking about.

[razzu]

Why are those your only gpu options? If you can afford the 760 striker then you should be able to afford a gtx780 or r9 290. Both of which are MUCH better options thab what youbare thinking about.

 Uhm, a gtx 780 is double the price of the striker.

 

 

 

I used to live in Malta

 

What about this?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£163.00 @ Amazon UK) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£29.90 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£97.02 @ Amazon UK) 

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

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£88.34 @ Amazon UK) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card  (£379.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£68.98 @ Amazon UK) 

Monitor: Asus VX238H 23.0" Monitor  (£141.00 @ Amazon UK) 

Other: 450D (£92.00)

Total: £1118.41

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 19:18 BST+0100

 

I didn't put the Devil's Canyon stuff because amazon.co.uk doesn't have the 4690k, but you can easily swap it out.

 

 

Thats a pretty compelling package, although i would rather have a windowless pc with that disgusting brown pcb and an air cooler , kinda having a good looks theme going on.

 

 

 

For a 2000$ budget your build is really bad, but maybe it's because of the tax? so I'd say you have around 1400-1500$ instead right?

So before I get together a build for you, let me ask 1 thing first: Why dont you have an HDD?

Yeah, sadly for 2000$ in the US i can have a gtx 780 and maybe a maximus VII formula, but since I'm in Malta, and local retailers would charge me 2500$ for that build and from amazon I managed it for 2000$.

 

I don't have an HDD because i have a 2TB external drive for media and I'm optimizing this build for silence, hence the RM series psu as well..

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

BTW, I want water cooling since I'm planning to overclock the i5 for 4.5 ghz or more  preferably

[razzu]

 

I used to live in Malta

 

 

 

Awesome! I'm trying to emigrate from Malta soon , can't stand the roads 

[Megazero]

 Uhm, a gtx 780 is double the price of the striker.

 

 

 

Thats a pretty compelling package, although i would rather have a windowless pc with that disgusting brown pcb and an air cooler , kinda having a good looks theme going on.

 

 

 

Yeah, sadly for 2000$ in the US i can have a gtx 780 and maybe a maximus VII formula, but since I'm in Malta, and local retailers would charge me 2500$ for that build and from amazon I managed it for 2000$.

 

I don't have an HDD because i have a 2TB external drive for media and I'm optimizing this build for silence, hence the RM series psu as well..

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

BTW, I want water cooling since I'm planning to overclock the i5 for 4.5 ghz or more  preferably

So I keep it down to 1k5 USD, how about this?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($239.99 @ Amazon) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($148.99 @ Mac Mall) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($74.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($84.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($469.99 @ Micro Center) 

Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 

Monitor: Asus VE278Q 27.0" Monitor  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $1473.90

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 14:52 EDT-0400

Reason for change over your build: 

Mobo: Your Mobo is really expensive with fancy feature that you probably will never use, so I change to a G45 gaming instead, which is a very good Mobo with alot of feature while stay cheap.

Ram: No particular reason, I just choose it randomly base on the color your ram is good as well.

GPU: 780~

PSU: 750W is overkill for a 1GPU build. For 1 GPU build you can make do with even a 500W PSU, so I just add abit of overhead and get a 600W instead.

Monitor: well I saved up quite a bit and havent reach the 1500$ target yet so I got you a 27inch instead

[razzu]

 

So I keep it down to 1k5 USD, how about this?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($239.99 @ Amazon) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($148.99 @ Mac Mall) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($74.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($84.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($469.99 @ Micro Center) 

Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 

Monitor: Asus VE278Q 27.0" Monitor  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $1473.90

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 14:52 EDT-0400

Reason for change over your build: 

Mobo: Your Mobo is really expensive with fancy feature that you probably will never use, so I change to a G45 gaming instead, which is a very good Mobo with alot of feature while stay cheap.

Ram: No particular reason, I just choose it randomly base on the color your ram is good as well.

GPU: 780~

PSU: 750W is overkill for a 1GPU build. For 1 GPU build you can make do with even a 500W PSU, so I just add abit of overhead and get a 600W instead.

Monitor: well I saved up quite a bit and havent reach the 1500$ target yet so I got you a 27inch instead

 

I'm liking this very much, although i would still keep the 24 inch and have it AH IPS rather than TN, the only problem is that half of the stuff listed isn't available from amazon uk, which would be a real pain, but other then that, i will try to scavenge similar parts from amazon, if  you see Scan Malta, its more like a Scam then Scan.

[JoaoPRSousa]

Seriously, why do you guys keep on recommending the CX series psu from Corsair? The XFX ones are so much better because of its OEM (Seasonic)

[Cacao]

Awesome! I'm trying to emigrate from Malta soon , can't stand the roads 

Yeah I must say, the roads are quite terrible I used to live in Gozo, where all the savages live The roads are even worse there!

[razzu]

Yeah I must say, the roads are quite terrible I used to live in Gozo, where all the savages live The roads are even worse there!

Savages.. lol, glad I'm not from there, else i would be a hermit..

 

Anyways, if i were to keep that current build, what would you guys suggest as one of those gpus, or maybe by another manufacturer? 

[Megazero]

Seriously, why do you guys keep on recommending the CX series psu from Corsair? The XFX ones are so much better because of its OEM (Seasonic)

 

Oh I dont know... let's see... because the PSU <90$ from XFX is all non-modular and more than that it's crazy expensive? The CX series from Corsair is cheap and semi modular, targeting ppl with budget/dont want to spend too much on PSU, so that's why it's a popular choice. If you are spending more  then there's also other series from Corsair that's also have the OEM as Seasonic.

[JoaoPRSousa]

Im mot talking about that version, the XFX 550W Core Edition, well it not semi modular or full, but at least is a better in IMO.

[razzu]

I'm thinking of buying the striker now, and then buying another one in a year or so, i think that's feasible or ?