New build planning

JoshArgent · January 4, 2015

Hi,

I'd like to build a new gaming/work PC for when I go to uni this year.

I've never built my own PC before but I have tincered about with my current machine a bit in the past. (adding graphics cards, HDDs etc)

Requirements:

- My budget is around the £1000 mark

- I'd like to be able to play current and future game titles.

- I want it to be as long lasting as possible

My current selection of hardware:

- Intel Core i7 5820K CPU

- MSI X99S SLI Plus Intel X99 Motherboard

- Zotac GTX 970 4GB GPU

- 8GB Crucial DDR4 Unbuffered NON-ECC RAM (easily expandable in the future)

- WD 2TB Green HDD

- Corsair CX750 750W PSU

I'd really appreicate any tips and advice in regards to this hardware. If someone could take a look at it and make sure its all compatible and that I'm not missing something that would be great too.

Thanks,

Josh

ilikemacandpc · January 4, 2015

X99 is overkill and overpriced for that budget and purpose. Give me 20 minutes.

This is quite high end and will last for years:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£173.94 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 113.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£29.99 @ Aria PC)

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£104.99 @ Ebuyer)

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£62.66 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£83.10 @ Scan.co.uk)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£278.99 @ Ebuyer)

Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£85.61 @ Ebuyer)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£77.38 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £950.60

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-04 19:35 GMT+0000

CaptainSteve109 · January 4, 2015

get an SSD

you wont regret it

250gb will be enough for windows and some games

c0d0ps · January 4, 2015

Hi,

I'd like to build a new gaming/work PC for when I go to uni this year.

I've never built my own PC before but I have tincered about with my current machine a bit in the past. (adding graphics cards, HDDs etc)

Requirements:

- My budget is around the £1000 mark

- I'd like to be able to play current and future game titles.

- I want it to be as long lasting as possible

My current selection of hardware:

- Intel Core i7 5820K CPU

- MSI X99S SLI Plus Intel X99 Motherboard

- Zotac GTX 970 4GB GPU

- 8GB Crucial DDR4 Unbuffered NON-ECC RAM (easily expandable in the future)

- WD 2TB Green HDD

- Corsair CX750 750W PSU

I'd really appreicate any tips and advice in regards to this hardware. If someone could take a look at it and make sure its all compatible and that I'm not missing something that would be great too.

Thanks,

Josh

Unless you gonna sli that 970 I would say that 650w psu is enough.

dadasmithywinkle · January 4, 2015

-snip-

Wait and see what ilikemacandpc cooks up, but that will be a powerhouse. Only two things that you're missing are the case and the OS.

Sadistic_Potato · January 4, 2015

I don't entirely see why you went with a 5820K, unless you're doing graphical work. In that case, you should get a GTX 750/Ti and get at least 16GB of RAM. Also I noticed that you have no CPU cooler.

In fact, here's a build that I consider would be much better all-round for gaming, and a bit of work.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£244.94 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.34 @ Scan.co.uk)

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£110.39 @ Aria PC)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£56.57 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£46.84 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card (£419.99 @ Ebuyer)

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.35 @ Scan.co.uk)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£63.31 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £1060.67

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-04 19:33 GMT+0000

JoshArgent · January 4, 2015

X99 is overkill and overpriced for that budget and purpose. Give me 20 minutes.

Its the cheapest motherboard I could find which supports the processor and DDR4 RAM

get an SSD

you wont regret it

250gb will be enough for windows and some games

I have a 128GB SSD on my current machine and although there was a slight performance increase I really didnt like storing files on a seperate drive. It's always annoying when I install software and have to select my other HDD too.

Unless you gonna sli that 970 I would say that 650w psu is enough.

I'd guess so. I don't think the price difference was too extreme so I just picked the first one which offered the correct power

phamhlam · January 4, 2015

i5-4690K would be enough for a long time. i7 if you want more power.

Motherboard doesn't matter much. Just pick one you like and would fit the i5 4690k.

Drop the HDD and get a 512GB SSD since you don't like storing on separate drives. 512GB ssd are cheap now.

Get a more reliable power supply like Seasonic SSR-650 which is highly rated and performs amazing.

Get two stick of memory to take advantage of dual channel.

Your GTX 970 is good.

Cases are personal. I recommend the NZXT H440 or Fractal Design R5.

JoshArgent · January 4, 2015

Appreciate the help and suggestions guys!

The reason I'm wanting a high-end processor is because my current i5-2320 @ 3.0 GHz is always maxed out when I'm gaming and doing other cpu hungry tasks. My biggest regret was the slightly cheaper CPU so I wanted to make sure this time I get the best I can afford.

JoshArgent · January 4, 2015

i5-4690K would be enough for a long time. i7 if you want more power.

Motherboard doesn't matter much. Just pick one you like and would fit the i5 4690k.

Drop the HDD and get a 512GB SSD since you don't like storing on separate drives. 512GB ssd are cheap now.

Get a more reliable power supply like Seasonic SSR-650 which is highly rated and performs amazing.

Get two stick of memory to take advantage of dual channel.

Your GTX 970 is good.

Cases are personal. I recommend the NZXT H440 or Fractal Design R5.

I'll definetly look into a larger SSD. What with cloud storage for documents I'd probably be okay with a smaller drive.

c0d0ps · January 4, 2015

i5-4690K would be enough for a long time. i7 if you want more power.

Motherboard doesn't matter much. Just pick one you like and would fit the i5 4690k.

Drop the HDD and get a 512GB SSD since you don't like storing on separate drives. 512GB ssd are cheap now.

Get a more reliable power supply like Seasonic SSR-650 which is highly rated and performs amazing.

Get two stick of memory to take advantage of dual channel.

Your GTX 970 is good.

Cases are personal. I recommend the NZXT H440 or Fractal Design R5.

Ehm ..

Did you just call Corsair not reliable?

Or did mean that 750w version?

phamhlam · January 4, 2015

Corsair brand some reliable PSU. I just think the CX750 is good if you're on a budget but the Seasonic SSR 650 is amazing according to johnnyguru. It is also semi modular. Why not spend more for a way better PSU?

JoshArgent · January 4, 2015

Okay so after making some adjustments this is what I have:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£293.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 113.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£29.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£156.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£82.90 @ More Computers)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£255.59 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case (£63.60 @ Kustom PCs)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£66.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.60 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£13.06 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1184.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-04 20:00 GMT+0000

I'd like to try and bring the price down some how though.

January 4, 2015

Stick with Z97

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£244.94 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.34 @ Scan.co.uk)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Novatech)

Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£65.99 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.98 @ Amazon UK)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£269.98 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case (£62.00 @ Aria PC)

Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.00 @ CCL Computers)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.60 @ Amazon UK)

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£13.06 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £1053.88

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-04 20:09 GMT+0000

phamhlam · January 4, 2015

The two best way to cut down cost would be to get a cheaper case i.e. Fractal Core 2300 or cut down to a quad core i7 and z97 mobo instead of 6 core and x99.

You can also get a Corsair CSM550 PSU since the most that build will draw is 350W.

JoshArgent · January 4, 2015

I've been looking at the i7-4790K as an alternative processor to the i7-5820K.

They seem to perform similarly in benchmark tests although the extra cores does help the 5820 outperform in some of the tests: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-5820K-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790K

I'd like to know how much benefit the extra 2 cores will bring to gaming and software development (what I'll be doing at uni - I'd guess lots of applications running at once)

Also the 5820 has much more l3 cache, will this offer a boost for gaming?

And theres DDR4 memory which apparently out performs DDR3 by 50%.

Which one should I get?

January 4, 2015

I've been looking at the i7-4790K as an alternative processor to the i7-5820K.

They seem to perform similarly in benchmark tests although the extra cores does help the 5820 outperform in some of the tests: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-5820K-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790K

I'd like to know how much benefit the extra 2 cores will bring to gaming and software development (what I'll be doing at uni - I'd guess lots of applications running at once)

Also the 5820 has much more l3 cache, will this offer a boost for gaming?

And theres DDR4 memory which apparently out performs DDR3 by 50%.

Which one should I get?

For gaming the i7 4790K should be better due to the higher core speed. As for Software development then it depends if the software you use will make use of the extra cores.

Also if you go with 2 x 4GB DDR4 then you are only getting dual channel. The X99 platform makes use of quad channel i.e 4 x 4GB or 4 x 8GB etc. You can run it with 2 sticks of Ram, but you are not getting the full benefit.

JoshArgent · January 5, 2015

For gaming the i7 4790K should be better due to the higher core speed. As for Software development then it depends if the software you use will make use of the extra cores.

Also if you go with 2 x 4GB DDR4 then you are only getting dual channel. The X99 platform makes use of quad channel i.e 4 x 4GB or 4 x 8GB etc. You can run it with 2 sticks of Ram, but you are not getting the full benefit.

So you're saying the i7 4790K will actually be better for my system needs than the more expensive i7 5820K?

Thats quite good news really because that means I can get a slightly cheaper motherboard and don't have to shell out for expensive DDR4 RAM.

If I don't need the X99 what cheaper alternative motherboard would you recommend?

January 5, 2015

So you're saying the i7 4790K will actually be better for my system needs than the more expensive i7 5820K?

Thats quite good news really because that means I can get a slightly cheaper motherboard and don't have to shell out for expensive DDR4 RAM.

If I don't need the X99 what cheaper alternative motherboard would you recommend?

The i7 4790K should be fine for your needs. The board in my spec above is a good solid choice. You can't really go wrong with Gigabyte.

JoshArgent · January 16, 2015

Thanks for your help everyone. I'm planning on purchasing my parts tonight. Could someone knoledgable please give this list a once over before I commit please?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£258.27 @ Ebuyer)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.97 @ Amazon UK)

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver Arctic Alumina Premium Ceramic Polysynthetic 14g Thermal Paste (£8.25 @ Amazon UK)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£92.87 @ Scan.co.uk)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£68.00 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.98 @ Amazon UK)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£275.85 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.23 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.78 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£11.49 @ Ebuyer)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£72.99 @ Amazon UK)