Custom Build desktop help required

[TheBlackWatch42nd]

Hello all,

First off I'd like to thank you for viewing this topic and even considering coming to my aid, much appreciated. I'm basically tired of my laptop wiring away with it's cores sitting around 70 degrees Celsius whilst running a game like WarThunder (high graphics) on the lowest settings possible. It's time for a desktop, and I want to custom build one through a website like PC parts picker. However I'd greatly request your help in doing so, here is my situation:

I live in London, UK and my budget is around £1,200. Although I'm prepared to go over budget if you feel I'll need more money for quality.

My aim is for high end gaming hoping to get around 80Ffps through directx 11 on high settings if that helps. As I said the game is war thunder and is easily one of the best graphical games in the market at the moment so the better GPU the better although I really don't have much money to play with.

I'm only planning on running one monitor. I may well begin recording however I don't feel 2 monitors are necessary at the moment.

A gaming keyboard is not necessary however a gaming mouse might be appropriate I don't know what would your opinion be? I'm also on the fence whether I should buy a joystick or not. I'll see when I've set up the desktop. I will also need an operating system perhaps windows 8.1 though it's up to you whatever you think I should get I'd be happy to look into.

Again I'd like to reiterate how grateful I am for any help and will await all if any response.

Thanks, Joe.

[lx_srs]

Instead of me telling you, design one at pcpartpicker.com. In terms of CPU, I'd go with an Intel Core i5-4690k, and something along the lines of a GTX770 or R9 280X for the GPU.

[brob]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£152.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£69.44 @ PC World Business)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£58.55 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£74.40 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card  (£190.66 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 350D Window MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.42 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£74.99 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£79.89 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor  (£179.94 @ Aria PC)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-OSMIUM Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M90 Wired Laser Mouse  (£75.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1149.96

[WoodenMarker]

Are any peripherals included in the budget?

[TheBlackWatch42nd]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchantCPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£152.99 @ Aria PC)Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£69.44 @ PC World Business)Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£58.55 @ Ebuyer)Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£74.40 @ Aria PC)Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£38.70 @ Aria PC)Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card  (£190.66 @ Ebuyer)Case: Corsair 350D Window MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.42 @ Amazon UK)Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£74.99 @ Ebuyer)Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£79.89 @ Amazon UK)Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor  (£179.94 @ Aria PC)Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-OSMIUM Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M90 Wired Laser Mouse  (£75.99 @ Amazon UK)Total: £1149.96

Brob, thank you for this list. However do you think that perhaps a weak I7 processor would be better than a powerful I5? Most likely otherwise I will go with this it seems fantastic and is exactly the answer I wanted.

Annoyed shelf thank you as well for replying however I also require guidance on the rest of the system. I apologise for my lack of knowledge in this area but I really don't want to slip up. This is a lot of money for me.

WoodenMarker no peripherals are included.

[brob]

Brob, thank you for this list. However do you think that perhaps a weak I7 processor would be better than a powerful I5? Most likely otherwise I will go with this it seems fantastic and is exactly the answer I wanted.

Annoyed shelf thank you as well for replying however I also require guidance on the rest of the system. I apologise for my lack of knowledge in this area but I really don't want to slip up. This is a lot of money for me.

WoodenMarker no peripherals are included.

 

In gaming systems the gpu is much more important than the cpu. In fact one can have a very well performing gamer with a less powerful cpu. If you have some unused budget, consider getting a more powerful gpu.

 

If you want someone to see your reply you have to either quote their message, as you did mine above. Or, preface their screen name with @ as in @WoodenMarker.

[TheBlackWatch42nd]

In gaming systems the gpu is much more important than the cpu. In fact one can have a very well performing gamer with a less powerful cpu. If you have some unused budget, consider getting a more powerful gpu.

 

If you want someone to see your reply you have to either quote their message, as you did mine above. Or, preface their screen name with @ as in @WoodenMarker.

Thank you my friend

@WoodenMarker

@AnnoyedShelf

I also noticed I don't have a cooler. Which one should I look into?

[lx_srs]

Thank you my friend

@WoodenMarker

@AnnoyedShelf

I also noticed I don't have a cooler. Which one should I look into?

Unless you plan on overclocking, you may as well just use the stock one.  My goto cooler for overclocking however is the Corsair H110.

[Guest]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card  £269.99
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal  £185.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail  £173.99
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard  £119.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Case (CC-9011049-WW)  £91.99
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 SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black  £62.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC)  £61.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003)  HDD  £39.98
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler  £29.99
Total : £1,209.58 (includes shipping : £14.75).
 
 
 
 

[TheBlackWatch42nd]

YOUR BASKET

1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card  £269.99

1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal  £185.99

1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail  £173.99

1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard  £119.99

1 x Corsair Obsidian 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Case (CC-9011049-WW)  £91.99

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 SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black  £62.99

1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC)  £61.99

1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003)  HDD  £39.98

1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler  £29.99Total : £1,209.58 (includes shipping : £14.75).

 

Thank you my friend. I was worried about the idea of not including a cooler and can't see a free stock one as aforementioned. However in what ways is this combo better than what @brob suggested? Perhaps a hybrid of both choices would best suit my needs.

[Guest]

Thank you my friend. I was worried about the idea of not including a cooler and can't see a free stock one as aforementioned. However in what ways is this combo better than what @brob suggested? Perhaps a hybrid of both choices would best suit my needs.

Hi

 

Brobs build has a few things such as a Keyboard and Mouse which I didn't include in my spec, as you said you didn't need peripherals. It is also £60 cheaper than my spec.

 

The main differences:

 

my spec has an unlocked cpu which means you have the option to overclock should you wish. This is a good way to squeeze out extra performance.

 

The graphics card is superior to the 280X. At 1080P a 280X is a very capable card, although the 290 in my spec will work well with the 144Hz monitor. You should be able to get a lot higher than 60FPS in most games.

 

The case is personal preference, although the case in my spec is ATX whereas the other spec has a micro atx case. Both will do the job fine, so it depends on what size case you want.

 

 My spec has a non modular power supply whereas the spec by brob has a fully modular which means you can just use the cables you need, rather than have all of them connected to the psu. I have an XFX psu in my pc and they are very good. The only thing that would put me off buying one now is the warranty support. It is pretty poor for UK customers and one of the reasons that Overclockers uk stopped selling them.

 

I included an aftermarket cooler, which will perform better than the stock intel one. If you don't overclock i would still buy it, as it will be quieter.

 

Both specs have the same SSD and operating system.

 

I think that about covers it 

[TheBlackWatch42nd]

@lee32uk that's my perfect answer I understood all of that thank you. And perhaps I should drop the keyboard and mouse and go for a better CPU? There's a lot I've heard about the I7. And maybe get the as us maximus VII hero for the motherboard? I'm think of 1440hp gaming now because if I'm going to buy a desktop I may as well spend an extra few bucks from getting a cheaper keyboard and mouse on something that'll get me 1440hp on dirext11 at 60ffps.

I'll go with your choice of cooler as well I may well do some over clocking so long as my processor can handle it.

Thanks again, Joe.

[TheBlackWatch42nd]

Or looking at my CPU and GPU perhaps I need to upgrade the ram. 8GB seems reasonably low for 1440p.

[Guest]

@lee32uk that's my perfect answer I understood all of that thank you. And perhaps I should drop the keyboard and mouse and go for a better CPU? There's a lot I've heard about the I7. And maybe get the as us maximus VII hero for the motherboard? I'm think of 1440hp gaming now because if I'm going to buy a desktop I may as well spend an extra few bucks from getting a cheaper keyboard and mouse on something that'll get me 1440hp on dirext11 at 60ffps.

I'll go with your choice of cooler as well I may well do some over clocking so long as my processor can handle it.

Thanks again, Joe.

If it is purely a gaming rig, then I would stick with the i5. Also the sniper is an excellent board for the money. The on board audio is second to none.

 

Review here - http://www.play3r.net/reviews/motherboards/gigabyte-g1-sniper-z97-review/

 

Also Gigabyte have very good UK warranty support should you need it.

 

The Alpenfohn cooler will allow you to overclock the cpu so no worries there.

 

If you decide to go down the 1440p route from the start, then you will probably need a crossfire setup to get 60FPS on some games, depending on how high you have the settings.

 

This link is pretty good for comparing cards: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU14/815

 

Just choose a card, or two cards from the dropdown menu and compare them.

 

For gaming 8GB system Ram is fine 

[TheBlackWatch42nd]

@lee32uk Okay my friend I think I'll go with your recommendations. Thank you very much, so I'll use PCpartpicker to build it and gigabyte for my warranty.

Joe.

[Kodey116]

Hello all,

First off I'd like to thank you for viewing this topic and even considering coming to my aid, much appreciated. I'm basically tired of my laptop wiring away with it's cores sitting around 70 degrees Celsius whilst running a game like WarThunder (high graphics) on the lowest settings possible. It's time for a desktop, and I want to custom build one through a website like PC parts picker. However I'd greatly request your help in doing so, here is my situation:

I live in London, UK and my budget is around £1,200. Although I'm prepared to go over budget if you feel I'll need more money for quality.

My aim is for high end gaming hoping to get around 80Ffps through directx 11 on high settings if that helps. As I said the game is war thunder and is easily one of the best graphical games in the market at the moment so the better GPU the better although I really don't have much money to play with.

I'm only planning on running one monitor. I may well begin recording however I don't feel 2 monitors are necessary at the moment.

A gaming keyboard is not necessary however a gaming mouse might be appropriate I don't know what would your opinion be? I'm also on the fence whether I should buy a joystick or not. I'll see when I've set up the desktop. I will also need an operating system perhaps windows 8.1 though it's up to you whatever you think I should get I'd be happy to look into.

Again I'd like to reiterate how grateful I am for any help and will await all if any response.

Thanks, Joe.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/KXDRgs

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/KXDRgs/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£169.98 @ Ebuyer) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo 43.1 CFM CPU Cooler  (£16.67 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£69.44 @ PC World Business) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£58.55 @ Ebuyer) 

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£74.40 @ Aria PC) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£38.70 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card  (£158.99 @ Aria PC) 

Case: Corsair 350D Window MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£84.81 @ Amazon UK) 

Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£74.99 @ Ebuyer) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£79.89 @ Amazon UK) 

Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor  (£179.94 @ Aria PC) 

Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-OSMIUM Wired Gaming Keyboard  (£79.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Keyboard: Zalman ZM-K500 Wired Mini Keyboard  (£29.99 @ Ebuyer) 

Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M90 Wired Laser Mouse  (£75.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £1192.33

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 top of your budget but no difference between 280 and 280x. the cpu cooler will help keep it cold under load in games.and i added a zalman mechanical keyboard same as @brob 

[WoodenMarker]

Sorry for the late reply. This thread was buried under several tabs I'm responding to.

How's this look? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/DdPwkL