£1200 Build

[Laptopgamer]

Hello, this is one of my first posts here. I have been watching techtips for a while now and browsing the forums every so often, seems like a really cool community. As with many people on this thread, I am building my first computer and would like to make sure I get the right components.

 

1. Location: UK    Budget: About £1200   Retailer: I would prefer to buy all components from Scan to make things a little less complicated. As PcPartPicker was showing slightly out of date prices and did not have all components from Scan I manually edited the list below. Either way the prices work out similarly regardless of retailer so I don't mind having lists with different retailers suggested. Color Scheme: Preferably white and silver.

 

2. Aim: 1080p Gaming (maybe 1440p if I can afford it) and Photoshop work along with everyday use.

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£251.00 @ Scan.co.uk) 

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£110.38 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£106.76 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  (£133.39 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£98.21 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£40.78 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£55.98 @ Scan.co.uk)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card  (£102.75 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case  (£119.53 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£79.98 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer  (£13.78 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£69.37 @ Scan.co.uk)

Total: £1233.35 (with the addition of a multi-card reader £11)

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-01 09:42 BST+0100 and edited by poster for prices from Scan

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/r7bWJx

 

Monitor: (not to be included in price)

I am still unsure what monitor to buy, I should have a budget of £350 ish. I will perhaps post this on the monitors section but what are the generally agreed minimum specs for fps gaming (refresh rate and response etc)? or can anyone recommend a good 1080p or 1440p monitor at the right price?

 

Peripherals: (not to be included in price)

Keyboard: waiting for k70 RGB...

Mouse: Already have a logitech g600

Headset: Already have Astro a40 headset

 

Here is some of the reasoning for various parts:

 

i7 instead of i5 would leave more money for a graphics card, however I think a 750ti is enough for 1080p. As GTX 800/900 series seem not too far off, I intend upgrade later, and i think an i7 should still be useful?

x61 Kraken seems to be the best performing all-in-one liquid cooler and it has white fans, so why not.

Mobo: z97-A seemed like a pretty standard choice.

WD green is for long term photo storage.

Enthoo Luxe: someone mentioned this on these forums and it seems like a pretty good case. I was hesitating to get a h440 instead, but I prefer the looks of the Luxe.

 

 

Thank you for reading, and for any suggestions, also... does anyone know how to change a forum username? 

[ShadowCaptain]

i7 instead of i5 would leave more money for a graphics card, however I think a 750ti is enough for 1080p. As GTX 800/900 series seem not too far off, I intend upgrade later, and i think an i7 should still be useful?

 

 

If you are just gaming there is almost no benefit to the i7, grab the i5 and get a better GPU, you also only need 8gb of ram for normal gaming, drop to 8gb and spend it on the GPU, (you can always buy another 8gb later)

 

the 750ti is fine if you want to play medium settings at 30fps at 1080p, a GTX 770 or R9 280x is needed to max out 1080p properly on ultra at 1008p 60fps

 

The rest is ok though I guess

 

Sure the 900 series are coming but not sure what to expect from it

[Laptopgamer]

If you are just gaming there is almost no benefit to the i7, grab the i5 and get a better GPU, you also only need 8gb of ram for normal gaming, drop to 8gb and spend it on the GPU, (you can always buy another 8gb later)

 

the 750ti is fine if you want to play medium settings at 30fps at 1080p, a GTX 770 or R9 280x is needed to max out 1080p properly on ultra at 1008p 60fps

 

The rest is ok though I guess

 

Sure the 900 series are coming but not sure what to expect from it

ty for the response. The 780 that I could get instead of an i7 and 16gb is very tempting, although getting a better monitor could also be worthwhile. I now have much to think about 

[ShadowCaptain]

ty for the response. The 780 that I could get instead of an i7 and 16gb is very tempting, although getting a better monitor could also be worthwhile. I now have much to think about 

 

Yeah I live having a 1440p monitor, but then you definitely need a better GPU

 

It really depends how you want to balance your build

 

Is it primarily used for gaming?

[Laptopgamer]

Is it primarily used for gaming?

 

yes

[ShadowCaptain]

yes

 

Will do a quick build including a new monitor

[ShadowCaptain]

yes

 

Just a quick draft (as I am at work so dont have time to check everything)

 

(you can add in water cooling, extra ram, etc etc down the line, but since you have a budget, you are best to fit the best components possible, also includes a great PLS 1440p monitor (i use it myself)

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£164.00 @ Aria PC) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£24.86 @ CCL Computers) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£87.56 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£71.76 @ Scan.co.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: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Tri-X Video Card  (£299.15 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  (£87.13 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£79.98 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  (£83.31 @ Amazon UK) 

Monitor: AOC Q2770PQU 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  (£339.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Total: £1371.31

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-01 11:12 BST+0100

[Laptopgamer]

ty for the suggestions, the monitor looks really good. The build is very different from my original, but it does show how choosing more budget oriented components can boost performance while removing some of the overkill parts had originally...

[Over9000Dude]

What about a gtx 1080

[Herman Mcpootis]

1 hour ago, Over9000Dude said:

What about a gtx 1080

why are you replying to a thread 2-3 years old?

[Over9000Dude]

idk