Summer Budget Build

[Potterus]

Hi all,

 

Putting together a build to replace my gaming laptop that died a few weeks ago due to overheating issues. Took it to a couple of repair shops for a quote and was looking at a bill of £££ to get it back up and running.

 

Was fairly happy with it (i5 mobile cpu, 8gb ram, 250gb ssd, 1TB mechanical drive, GTX765m), could run most games I played (KSP, DayZ) at med/high 1080p between 30 - 50fps, That was good enough for me.

 

Decided instead of repairing a broken system and still having all the existing heat problems to deal with, that I would instead build myself a desktop system as I now have space for one. This is the first PC I have built in 10 years so I am looking forward to the challenge.

 

This will be a fairly low budget build  - £700 including a monitor. I do have a few things in my favour - I will be reusing the SSD and mechanical drive from my laptop, I already have a decent gaming mouse and I get a 5% discount on Amazon purchases through my work so that should save me a fair amount.

 

Mainly this will be about me getting a gaming PC up and running again on the budget I have while giving myself room to expand and upgrade in the future when I have some more money, which has driven some of my choices e.g. going for Z97 over H81 motherboard, giving me more features I want.

 

Current part list choice is here - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/rghydC

 

Total cost including parts not listed (basic keyboard for now, some parts for upgrade and assembly) and after discount via Amazon applied = £681.07 (as of 1st July)

 

Planned upgrade path over next 12 - 18 months:

• CPU - i5 4690k or i7 4790k, both will be overclocked
• CPU Cooler - H100i
• Ram - upgrade to 16gb
• GPU - GTX970 then get another to have 2 x 970 in SLI. Or just bite the bullet and go for a 980ti
• Case fans upgraded to Noctua or bequiet 120mm x 3
• Get a decent mechanical keyboard
• Upgrade main monitor to 1440p or 4k IPS Gsync display and use BenQ as second monitor

Any feedback or assistance in part choices would be welcomed

 

[alexhelvetica]

I would get a higher watt PSU

[Castdeath97]

I would get a higher watt PSU

It's actually enough even for a 970

[Castdeath97]

First get the core i3 4170 it is the same price and should preform just a bit better. For the graphic card go with the r9 270, it should out preform the 750ti.

[Potterus]

I would get a higher watt PSU

 

Good point! Forgot to include a higher wattage PSU in the upgrade path.

 

My look to put a Corsair CXM750 in there instead from the outset. It's £30 more but would work for now and in the future.

 

First get the core i3 4170 it is the same price and should preform just a bit better. For the graphic card go with the r9 270, it should out preform the 750ti.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Can you recommend a good aftermarket cooled version of the 270? I ask as I've had issues in the past with AMD CPUs and GPUs heat output and I want to keep the new system cool and quiet.

[Castdeath97]

Good point! Forgot to include a higher wattage PSU in the upgrade path.

 

My look to put a Corsair CXM750 in there instead from the outset. It's £30 more but would work for now and in the future.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Can you recommend a good aftermarket cooled version of the 270? I ask as I've had issues in the past with AMD CPUs and GPUs heat output and I want to keep the new system cool and quiet.

Msi twin forzr and gigabyte. Heck even power colour are alright.

[Potterus]

Msi twin forzr and gigabyte. Heck even power colour are alright.

 

I'll take a look at the options, thanks.

 

From your experience, how would you rate the software/driver experience with AMD cards? I've been fairly happy with Nvidia for the last couple of machines I've had and some of that is down to the good software experience and driver updates.

[Castdeath97]

I'll take a look at the options, thanks.

 

From your experience, how would you rate the software/driver experience with AMD cards? I've been fairly happy with Nvidia for the last couple of machines I've had and some of that is down to the good software experience and driver updates.

Its alright as i heard, they can be a litte late for game specific drivers though. But worth it for the better performance over the 750TI.

[Potterus]

Its alright as i heard, they can be a litte late for game specific drivers though. But worth it for the better performance over the 750TI.

 

Ok, thanks again for your input

[Potterus]

Hey guys! Been a few weeks since I've updated this but I've got the final parts list together and should have most of them by the weekend, very excited 

 

Here's the final list of the phase 1 setup for this build:

 

Owned parts

SSD / HDD - Owned - Plexor 256GB SSD / 1TB 2.5" mechanical drive, £0.00

Mouse - Owned - Razer Deathadder, £0.00

 

Purchased Parts

CPU - Intel I3 4150, £87.02

CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9i CPU Cooler, £33.20

Mobo - Asus Z97-PRO Gamer 1150 ATX, £97.03

Ram - Kingston HyperX 8GB DDR3 1866, £34.07

GPU - Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti Strix OC, £99.75

PSU - 430w corsair semi-modular, £37.99

Case - Corsair Obsidian 450D, £94.91

OS - Windows 8.1, £70.30

Keyboard - HP commodity keyboard (USB), £14.24

Display - BenQ RL2455HM 24" monitor, £125.83

 

Total (parts) = £694.34

 

Purchased Tools

Tools & parts - USB to SATA 22pin 2.5" HD Converter, £5.69

Tools & parts - Anti static mat, £14.20

Tools & parts - Magnetic parts dish, £4.03

Tools & parts - Anti static wrist strap, £3.33

 

Total (tools) = £27.25

 

Total (tools & parts) = £721.59 

 

I am very pleased I was able to pick up all the parts I needed for under £700 including a monitor  B)

 

Some of the choices may seem a little unusual for a full size ATX case and the current performance but bear with me, there is madness to my method  :blink:

 

At some point in the future, I'm going to turn this one PC into two PCs.

 

How? I will remove the cpu, gpu, psu, ram, mechanical drive and cpu cooler and use them to create a mini-ITX build. Buying a half decent mini-ITX H81 motherboard and matching case should be fairly cheap to complete the setup.

 

I'd like to do this so I can build an HTPC/game stream machine/under TV gaming PC so I can play games on the sofa. I'm even considering setting up as a Steam machine at first because I've always been interested in trying that out. And by choosing the 750ti, that has DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0, this should allow me to connect it to a 4k TV in the future for some UHD streaming. 

 

The ATX build will get a new I7 processor, more ram, bigger capacity psu, a 980ti and some new storage options. After spending a lot of time researching my options for a build I am also considering a custom water cooling build using EK products as I have seen some really nice examples achieve some impressive results. Not got my heart set on any particular display, will see what is hot down the line as this will be next year sometime.

 

I've Been doing some prep work this week. Using the USB to SATA connecter and an old laptop I was able to copy all the useful files off the SSD and format it ready for the build. I've also created a Windows 8.1 ISO on a USB stick for the OS install (thanks to one of Linus' NCIX videos, very helpful).

 

Will put up some updates and progress pictures as I do the build either next week or the weekend, looking forward to the challenge