Build Request

[optic_Vithu]

Hi, I have a friend who has about £1000 to spend on his new custom built PC. We want some advise on the builds, and your opinion.

Requirements

16GB RAM

i7 Processor

Intel Machine

Nvidia GTX 970 Graphics card

Wireless Card

Bluray Optical Drive

SSD

 

Even if it goes up to 1500 it doesn't really matter.

Come up with the beef'st build you can get for this price please.

This is what we have decided so far, but as you can see there are 2 problems.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Vithu576/saved/bwqV3C

 

Thanks, the winner will have their build built

 

This is a gaming build, no overclocking and he wants to play on ultra settings with high FPS.

[Laputacake]

Whats it for and do they want to overclock?

[optic_Vithu]

Whats it for and do they want to overclock?

Whoops should of added that, updated the post with the information its for gaming, and no overclock

[Laputacake]

Whoops should of added that, updated the post with the information its for gaming, and no overclock

Excellent, In that case you didn't need an I7 but if your friend insists.

[Lotus]

What is the purpose? An i7 may not be the best solution, and a GTX 970 may not be the best solution. Also 16GB of memory is a lot, most things only make use of 2-3 so systems can get away with 4GB, and 8GB if you want to multitask and not close programs. I mean, if you don't overclock you might as well go with a Xeon E3-1231 V3 which is the exact same CPU as a locked i7 it just doesn't have a iGPU (not a problem since you have a dedicated GPU) and more cache (beneficial in certain workstation tasks).

[Laputacake]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£205.19 @ Scan.co.uk)

Motherboard: MSI B85-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.37 @ Dabs)

Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.31 @ Dabs)

Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.31 @ Dabs)

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.50 @ Scan.co.uk)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£59.87 @ Scan.co.uk)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£290.99 @ Dabs)

Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£67.64 @ Dabs)

Power Supply: SeaSonic EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£67.94 @ Scan.co.uk)

Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£55.52 @ Scan.co.uk)

Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£16.80 @ Kustom PCs)

Total: £1018.44

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-04 22:29 GMT+0000

[Lotus]

Pure gaming? In that case, this is what I'd do:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£130.94 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H97 Guard-Pro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£51.03 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£56.28 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£77.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.63 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£92.96 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  (£54.54 @ Aria PC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  (£9.79 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £784.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-04 22:31 GMT+0000

 

Notes:

1) The R9 290 is much cheaper than the GTX 970, and is very close in performance. Plus, if you decide you want more performance you can just slap in a second R9 290 into this build and run them in crossfire. A single R9 290 is still enough to max out games at 1080p except for poorly coded UBshit games.

2) The i5-4460 is the most cost effective gaming solution if you don't overclock. Plus, this lets you save money and get an h97 chipset, since z97 is only needed if you overclock with a K series CPU. The included stock cooler is perfectly sufficient for stock clock speeds. The i5-4460 maxes out every game currently out there at 60+ fps on ultra.

3) 8GB is more than enough for any game, even if you left some stuff going on in the background. 16GB is complete overkill. More memory doesn't speed anything up, it only matters if you have sufficient amount for the task at hand. Plus, you have open memory slots on the motherboard so you can always go higher down the road as you see fit.

4) The bluray drive kind of makes this build unnecessarilly expensive. Without it, you could just get an S340 case and call it a day. That would save you £70. That's almost 10% of the price of the build going for the bluray drive. Not worth it in my opinion.

 

If you wanted to go nuts and still stay under 1500, then this build is also possible. This would be complete overkill for gaming (i7 is unnecessary) and especially at 1080p (a single 290 is enough for 1080p gaming), but it is a killer system:

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 Nepton 240M 76.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£79.50 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G43 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£73.99 @ Dabs)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£103.21 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£77.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£69.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  (£89.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£92.96 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  (£54.54 @ Aria PC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  (£9.79 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1296.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-04 22:49 GMT+0000