Suggestions

[sick0ne]

Hello guys, after a few months of research I ended up with these parts and an idea for a monitor. I had minimum experience with PCs beforehand, and after watching several YouTube reviews I ended up sticking with LinusTechTips, Techquickie, NCIX and all that jazz, which is why I am here now asking for suggestions, if any.

 

I am currently living in Belgium and I want to use the PC for light gaming, some photo editing (Photoshop, Lightroom) and other usual multimedia activities (watching movies, listening to music, etc.). I also need to mention that I have a thing (perhaps irrational) for Intel, Nvidia, Asus and Corsair, but since I trust this community I am willing to listen to recommendations outside of this palette of brands. I also need to mention that at this point I have bought all the parts except the monitor but they are still sealed in their original boxes so I can still return them if I want to. I don't have a strict budget but I wouldn't want to go over EUR1000 for everything (excluding Windows which I already have).

 

So, here is what I have:

 

Case: Corsair 100R Silent Edition
PSU: Corsair RM550X
Motherboard: Asus Z97-K
CPU: Intel i5 4460
CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO + Arctic MX4
GPU: Asus Nvidia GTX 750ti OC Strix
RAM: 2x4GB Kingston HyperX Savage 1600 CL9 (Dual Channel)
HDD: WD 1TB Blue
DVD-RW Asus (random bulk DVD-RW)

And for the monitor I am thinking to get the Asus MX259H.

 

As you noticed I would like my system to be as silent as possible, and I don't plan on having more than the 2 standard fans, which is why I love the Silent Edition from the 100R, no other unnecessary  perforations for dust to go in through. Also, I know, I will buy an SSD as well.

So, any tips, anything I should change? Any suggestions on the monitor choice? Any other comments?

 

Thank you!

[Narnash]

why you pick up a z97 Mainboard without an "K" CPU, if you may say overcloaking isn't your thing you may choose another one to safe up money

[minibois]

I know you have a preference for Nvidia, but IMO in the budget you're in now AMD is just better bang for buck. So instead of the GTX 750 Ti I would recommend the R9 270 (or 270x or 280 or 280x or 380 depending on if you can fit it in your budget)

Your PSU can handle any of these GPU's too.

 

Doesn't the cooler you're buying not come with thermal paste? Because I think it does. And you could look into Cryorig's H7 cooler too, instead of that one (but both are good coolers)

Some might say it's not mandatory for a locked CPU, but it will be nice if your budget allows for it.

 

And as for SSD I can recommend the Samsung 850 EVO or Crucial BX200. Both good SSD's. Sandisk makes some nice stuff too. I would say at least an 256GB SSD

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

Get and H Mobo since the 4460 is locked so there's no point in a Z board (unless you're palnning to upgrade to a K Chip), Get a single stick 8GB Ram, get an RM or an SSP from Seasonic PSU, spend the extra on a better GpU, like a 960 or a 380

[sick0ne]

2 minutes ago, Narnash said:

why you pick up a z97 Mainboard without an "K" CPU, if you may say overcloaking isn't your thing you may choose another one to safe up money

Good point. At the beginning I went for the H97-plus but when I went to the shop to pick it up I saw the Z97-K on sale for only EUR5 more. Perhaps later I will upgrade my CPU and even if I don't it's still better for the extra 5 euro.

[Narnash]

9 minutes ago, sick0ne said:

Good point. At the beginning I went for the H97-plus but when I went to the shop to pick it up I saw the Z97-K on sale for only EUR5 more. Perhaps later I will upgrade my CPU and even if I don't it's still better for the extra 5 euro.

The whole thing lay in your hands, we see many people here struggling to affort 10 - 20 EUR more for better gear, if you can affort it you should go for a hot deal like that for sure. 

You CAN also look for a used i5 4670K for example (run for 155- 190 EUR in Germany), than you can even use, if you want, the Z97 Chipset.

 

And like Manibois and Lawrence discribe AMD can give you many bang for the buck, you could take a stronger AMD GPU than a cheap Pentium G3258 (new 66 EUR) OC it (it's "only" a dou core and doesn't produce that much heat, mine run on 4,6GHz in my second system and I use a cheap Scythe Topblow Cooler), the Pentium G3258 isn't that powerfull but use your LGA 1150 socket and you can take another CPU later (if you need it).

[sick0ne]

13 minutes ago, Minibois said:

I know you have a preference for Nvidia, but IMO in the budget you're in now AMD is just better bang for buck. So instead of the GTX 750 Ti I would recommend the R9 270 (or 270x or 280 or 280x or 380 depending on if you can fit it in your budget)

Your PSU can handle any of these GPU's too.

 

Doesn't the cooler you're buying not come with thermal paste? Because I think it does. And you could look into Cryorig's H7 cooler too, instead of that one (but both are good coolers)

Some might say it's not mandatory for a locked CPU, but it will be nice if your budget allows for it.

 

And as for SSD I can recommend the Samsung 850 EVO or Crucial BX200. Both good SSD's. Sandisk makes some nice stuff too. I would say at least an 256GB SSD

I do agree on the GPU, it is probably the weakest part of the system, I will try to look for a better one. Do you also have any suggestions from nVidia, just to have an idea?

 

Regarding the thermal paste, the 212 Evo does have one included but in one review Linus did the MX4 is so much better and I only paid 6 euros for it. And yes, I don't mind paying an extra 25 euros to keep my CPU cooler even if I don't OC. (Again, with the motherboard and the cooler I might upgrade at some point).

 

Thank you for the SSD tips, I will look into it.

[minibois]

3 minutes ago, sick0ne said:

I do agree on the GPU, it is probably the weakest part of the system, I will try to look for a better one. Do you also have any suggestions from nVidia, just to have an idea?

 

Regarding the thermal paste, the 212 Evo does have one included but in one review Linus did the MX4 is so much better and I only paid 6 euros for it. And yes, I don't mind paying an extra 25 euros to keep my CPU cooler even if I don't OC. (Again, with the motherboard and the cooler I might upgrade at some point).

 

Thank you for the SSD tips, I will look into it.

GTX 950 or GTX 960 (get a 4GB version if you want that one), but AMD just performs better in that price range so I would rather recommend that.

 

[sick0ne]

33 minutes ago, LawrenceBarnes2013 said:

Get and H Mobo since the 4460 is locked so there's no point in a Z board (unless you're palnning to upgrade to a K Chip), Get a single stick 8GB Ram, get an RM or an SSP from Seasonic PSU, spend the extra on a better GpU, like a 960 or a 380

Tell me more about the single channel RAM, is it really better?

As for the PSU, the RMX I bought is actually cheaper than the RM version. Either way I am really happy with the RM550X, fully modular, 7 year warranty, all Japanese parts for 90 euros. It will be very hard to convince me otherwise on this part.

 

Finally, I will indeed look into the GPU thing and keep you guys updated.

[sick0ne]

Any suggestions on the monitor?

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

54 minutes ago, sick0ne said:

Tell me more about the single channel RAM, is it really better?

As for the PSU, the RMX I bought is actually cheaper than the RM version. Either way I am really happy with the RM550X, fully modular, 7 year warranty, all Japanese parts for 90 euros. It will be very hard to convince me otherwise on this part.

 

Finally, I will indeed look into the GPU thing and keep you guys updated.

No no, don't get me wrong, dual, triple or quad channel  is always better with at least 2, 3 or 4 sticks (in the same order), but in your case, going for a single ram stick in a dual channel mobo is enough, because after all it's 8GB, but you are still not using the full bandwidth available to your CPU, this doesn't translate in real world to that much degradation in performance, specially for gaming, but usually when you go for a single ram stick in the bigging you plan to add another one down the road, and you only do that in the first place to save money since it's not that essential 

[UselessWolf]

why are you going for the old socket?