Final Build Help

[StevenGibson1994]

Hi guys.

 

Over the past couple of month's, I have been doing research into the parts I will be using to build my first gaming system. I have been chopping and changing between platforms and I have narrowed it down to going with the z97 platform. I will be using the system for gaming, programming, web development and also running virtual machines. I will not be upgrading anything in the system until the Skylake platform comes out. 

 

I am also going to be adding a second GTX 980 a few months down the line possibly at Christmas time or in the black Friday sales if any good deals come about.

 

I have come up with the system listed below as my first option.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/9Bnsxr

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/9Bnsxr/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£206.69 @ CCL Computers) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£84.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£107.96 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  (£50.90 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.95 @ CCL Computers) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card  (£453.94 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.34 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£90.11 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £1108.88

 

Second possible build.

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

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

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£268.97 @ Ebuyer) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£84.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£107.96 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  (£50.90 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.95 @ CCL Computers) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card  (£453.94 @ Amazon UK) 

Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£74.34 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£90.11 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £1171.16

 

One of the problems I am having is I am unsure what CPU I should go for. I am also wanting to add and an SSD in the build but am not sure which one to go for.

 

If anybody could help me with the issues I am having I would appreciate it. 

[Goussy]

What are you going to be using this build for?

[itsmyjobtoknow]

850 Evo is widely used around here so I can recommend that.

 

And personally I would prefer the 4790k but that is just a personal preference. 

[Fate]

I would go for the latter because I like overclocking, and you'd get quite a bit more performance from doing so. 

If you go for the first build, drop the h100i as it's redundant for a locked CPU.

I wouldn't go 980 unless you're at 1440p or higher as it's really overkill for 1080p, and even then I'd get the 290(x) (I understand you might want to stay Nvidia, but 290's are a much better value, 970's are also a good option for <4k though). 

For the SSD I recommend 840 Evo/MX100/SP900 in no particular order.

[StevenGibson1994]

What are you going to be using this build for?

Ive listed what I will be using it for at the start of the Original Post.

[Termiux]

2 things need to change.

 

1. Add an SSD, Samsung 840 Evo or the new Samsung 850 (Instal the SO here 250Gb or more ssd)
2. Add more Ram!, if your planning to run VMs I would recommend 16Gb if not more, depending on the amount of VMs and resource allocation per VM

[CalumGiff]

Yeah go with the second build mate and add another 8gb of ram, 850 or 840 evo are good for an ssd

[StevenGibson1994]

I would go for the latter because I like overclocking, and you'd get quite a bit more performance from doing so. 

If you go for the first build, drop the h100i as it's redundant for a locked CPU.

I wouldn't go 980 unless you're at 1440p or higher as it's really overkill for 1080p, and even then I'd get the 290(x) (though I understand you might want to stay Nvidia, 290's are a much better value, 970's are also a good option for <4k). 

For the SSD I recommend 840 Evo/MX100/SP900 in no particular order.

I am not wanting to overclock anything in the system. I also am not wanting to go for the r9 290x's because of how much watt they draw from the wall compared to what the new maxwell architecture card's do. 

[StevenGibson1994]

@Termiux @CalumGiff I will be adding another 8gb RAM and I am trying to figure out what SSD I should go for. 

[CalumGiff]

850 evo

[StevenGibson1994]

850 evo

How much GB?

[CalumGiff]

about 60 quid for the 120gb one and 100 for the 240gb

[StevenGibson1994]

about 60 quid for the 120gb one and 100 for the 240gb

So you recommend going with the 850 evo.

[CalumGiff]

yeah id reccomend it