Advice on first desktop build (£1200 budget)

[ratva]

Hi All,

 

I'm currently a laptop owner but as I currently treat it as a desktop (using an external monitor/keyboard/mouse, and always having it plugged in) I thought I should try and get a desktop.

I've been reading some tips on the forum, but any advice on how what build to use would be appreciated! I'm currently in the UK, and have thought of this build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/zBmtnn
Largely they are popular components that seem decent, however I am happy for any suggestions.

I game a little - many things like Elite Dangerous and some simple non-intensive games currently, but I would like something capable of supporting VR (vive) games in the future if I decide to invest in that. I also do some casual photoshop work and so I definitely appreciate some good processing power when stitching together large RAW images, etc. I don't have immediate intentions to overclock, but it would be nice to try once I'm a bit more comfortable, especially if I feel like I could benefit from it with future more intense programs/games. I might be open to trying some twitch streaming (likely for fun now and then, not as a full career), but I believe that requires capture cards etc that I don't need to think about now as long as the option still exists. I'm hoping to have this computer last me for at least 5-6 years without really dragging me down.

 

Currently the build is coming up to £1400. I think £1000 - £1200 would be great if I can get the price down a bit.

• CPU - 6700K (£295) - I want the performance and opportunity to overclock.
• CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo(£30) - Please let me know if I can get something cheaper or need something better.
• MoBo - Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX (£180) - I saw the Z170 Pro Gaming for £130 too but I was just able to figure out that the I/Os were slightly different and the components on this are slightly different. Happy to switch if people recommend it. Also I saw that sound cards and network cards are listed on the PC part picker website - would I need any of the separately? I would like bluetooth and wireless built in as I often can't get an ethernet over to my room.
• RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£70) - I figured using 2 of the slots will let me expand if I need more later on. Currently I manage fine with 16 GB RAM so I'm happy just buying that much to begin with. This seemed better value than some others. Is 2400 MHz good enough or should I go for the 2666/3000 MHz sticks?
• Storage - (1) Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£128) AND (2) Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£57) - I have a 420 GB SSD in my laptop - with cloud storage I use 350 GB of this quite happily. I can cut down to a 250 GB SSD I think  since I'll have the HDD as well, if that is recommended.
• Video Card - Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card (£450) - I think I don't need the 1080 since it doesn't seem like I can justify £200 extra. Plus, the 1070 seems really powerful.
• PSU - EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£77) - Recommendations? The website says the build will only use 362W, but I know each PSU has an efficiency curve to consider.
• Case - I have no idea!!! Any recommendations? Priorities are under £75 cost, something that can keep everything cool and quiet. Windowed side panel would be nice but realistically the computer won't be in sight most of the time. For now I picked Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case (£57) as a placeholder. Something like "NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case Windowed with Noise Insulation for PC" on Amazon UK is really attractive, but a bit too expensive for my liking.
• Optical drive - I'm tempted not to put one in but maybe some cheap Bluray reader.
• Wired/Wireless network adapters - I think I would need a wireless, but that the wired network stuff is included in the motherboard? Am I right? And what about soundcards?
• Presumably I need to buy some cables to power everything, and some ESD safe tools, but is that it?

Thanks in advance for the help!
Avtar

[Vadise]

I didn't have much luck with that CPU cooler or it's older brother. The cooler blocks off one memory slot unless you are using low profile RAM.

You could probably take a look at the Corsair Obsidian 450D for a case, it is what I am using and it looks tidy and sober, yet it has a nice side panel without looking flashy. Plus it includes removable dust filters in every intake.

For connectivity, the motherboard includes an Ethernet port. And if you are unsure if you are going to need WiFi, or will only use it very occasionally, just get one of those TP-Link USB nano adapters, tuck it in a rear USB port and forget about it.

The PSU includes the power cables. And motherboard includes SATA cables. Optical drive is optional, you can get an external USB drive later on if you find that you need one. Or if your laptop has a drive already and you don't use it often, you can just share it over the network and use it that way.

 

[AdmiralMeowmix]

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/93Crxr/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7

 

It's a bit more costly BUT it's been praised as being better than the 212 for Price and performance.

 

You also don't want a NEX Power supply, that's the old version of it the new version is much better.

 

You don't NEED wireless if you're gonna be near your router with it all the time. If not then wireless would be good unless you want to string a long ethernet cable around your house.

 

You also don't need a soundcard unless you're an audiophile or working in music. But my recommendation would be the ASUS Strix SOAR, it's only $99 and very good in my research. But to even get any quality out of a sound card you need some pretty good headphones.

 

 

2400 will be find for the RAM. 3000 is really only needed if you're hardcore into gaming or doing some extensive CAD or computing work.

 

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/2RPfrH/hitachi-internal-hard-drive-0f10311

This is a much better HDD and a lot more reliable than Samsung.

 

 

[ratva]

Thanks for the advice!

 

I've updated the part list (also I checked the stick of each component so the prices are a bit more accurate now): http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/zqb3yf

Unfortunately the cost is coming out at £1431. It's a bit of a stretch but it's doable. I'd ask if anyone recommends the Asus Z170 pro gaming motherboard instead for £50 less or a different board, or if it's worth investing in the maximus? 

 

I'll definitely change the CPU cooler to the H7 then.

 

Thanks for the case recommendation - I hadn't thought about removable dust filters but that's definitely something I'd appreciate if it's not standard on most cases.

 

I do think I'll mostly rely on Wi-Fi as (at least in my current fan) I'd need a cable across most of the house to reach the router (And I'm renting so I can't screw clips into the walls to keep the cable neat). I picked the gigabyte one as it also has Bluetooth which I use fairly often instead of trying to transfer small things via the cloud.

 

I've found the G2 equivalent of the PSU - I checked Jonny guru for the efficiency charts and I reckon (from the expected power usage) that the 650W unit will give me roughly the sweet spot for power efficiency, so I'm happy to go for that.

 

I can't find the Hitachi hard drive in the UK. Is the Seagate 2TB HDD not recommended? Could you recommend something similar, preferably in a similar price point?

 

I do a tiny bit of CAD work but usually simply stuff so I think I'll stick to 2400 MHz RAM. No one has commented on the motherboard, GPU or CPU so I'll keep them as is, too. I'll skip the sound card for now, but thanks for the recommendation!

 

Thanks again!

 

Edit - added full component list:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£293.88 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  (£33.16) 
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£187.98 @ Ebuyer) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£69.32 @ More Computers) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£128.28 @ Aria PC) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£57.54 @ CCL Computers) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card  (£446.16 @ More Computers) 
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case  (£104.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£87.15 @ CCL Computers) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter  (£23.04 @ BT Shop) 
Total: £1431.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 22:32 BST+0100

[Guest]

Seagate hard drives are fine. 

 

A few changes I would make:

 

The Gigabyte board would be a good cheaper alternative.

 

Added some slightly faster low profile Ram.

 

Gigabyte G1 is also cheaper than the Asus. The G1 is a very good gpu.

 

You only need 550W for a single GPU.

 

You also won't need the wired network adapter as the motherboard has a built in ethernet port. 

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£104.01 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£75.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card  (£416.28 @ Aria PC) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£70.97 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £667.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 12:55 BST+0100

[Guest]

9 hours ago, AdmiralMeowmix said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/2RPfrH/hitachi-internal-hard-drive-0f10311

This is a much better HDD and a lot more reliable than Samsung.

 

 

You mean Seagate ? They are fine by the way.

[ratva]

9 hours ago, lee32uk said:

The Gigabyte board would be a good cheaper alternative.

 

9 hours ago, lee32uk said:

Gigabyte G1 is also cheaper than the Asus. The G1 is a very good gpu.

Thanks for those!
Quick question - I'm guessing there's no reason to get a GPU and mobo from the same manufacturer except for matching aesthetics, right? 

 

9 hours ago, lee32uk said:

You only need 550W for a single GPU.

Okay great! I definitely won't be going for dual GPUs any time soon.

 

9 hours ago, lee32uk said:

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£75.99 @ Ebuyer)

I'll be honest, I just picked the other one because it looks a bit nicer to me, and didn't realise the prices were so similar when going to faster RAM. Is there any reason you would stick to a slower speed? The same RAM is slightly cheaper if I go for the 3000 MHz sticks. Also, other than price and appearance, would you recommend the Corsairs over the Gskill Ripjaws for any reason, if I were to go for a faster Gskill set?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£75.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£74.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£82.02 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £233.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 22:30 BST+0100

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, ratva said:

 

Thanks for those!
Quick question - I'm guessing there's no reason to get a GPU and mobo from the same manufacturer except for matching aesthetics, right? 

 

Okay great! I definitely won't be going for dual GPUs any time soon.

 

I'll be honest, I just picked the other one because it looks a bit nicer to me, and didn't realise the prices were so similar when going to faster RAM. Is there any reason you would stick to a slower speed? The same RAM is slightly cheaper if I go for the 3000 MHz sticks. Also, other than price and appearance, would you recommend the Corsairs over the Gskill Ripjaws for any reason, if I were to go for a faster Gskill set?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£75.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£74.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£82.02 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £233.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 22:30 BST+0100

No you don't have to go with the same manufacturer for the gpu and board. You don't really see that much of the gpu when it is installed anyway (Only the edge and backplate). A lot of them also have LED's so they can fit in with a lot of colour themes.

 

Faster Ram can give you a few extra fps in some games. I personally would go for 2666MHz or above. Just play it safe though if you go with an air cooler and get low profile ram such as the Corsair LPX or Kingston Fury/Savage etc. Some tall ram can have issues with coolers if they overhang the ram slots.

 

This is a nice kit:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AG9F84M/?tag=pcp0f-21

[ratva]

-duplicate-

[ratva]

Apologies, I had written a proper reply last night but the site crashed before I could send it.

I didn't realise the Gskill ram was a full cm taller, but that makes sense. Low profile it is!

I'm pretty happy with all the recommendations you all have given me so far. =)

The last few questions, if that's okay:
I found the mobo advertised faster speeds via the M2 port. There is a SSD that I can get for £20 more that would fit in it (see list below) though the advertised speeds are almost the same as the SATA SSD. Would you recommend either of them above the other? (Both SSDs are in the list below but I'll only buy one). I also keep hearing the term "NVME SSD" - is that different?

In terms of cooling, I decided I liked the case below a bit more than the Corsair 450D (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9JvRsY/corsair-case-cc9011049ww) And it's also a bit cheaper (£72 with two front fans and one rear fan). Would these (And the CPU cooler) be enough? I probably won't overclock in the immediate future, though potentially will try in the future if I need it.

For the RAM I went for the one you recommended (which looks nicer to me) but at 3 GHz. There aren't any disadvantages to the higher frequency other than cost, are there?

And finally - what tools should I get for assembling this pc? I can get an esd wrist strap from a friend, but other than that are normal screwdrivers fine? And I was thinking of using cable ties to keep things neat but I've heard about "sleeves" - should I invest in these? Are they just to group individual wires together?

Thanks again for all the help! The price is £100 less than what I started with and I think most of the components are now better. =)

Current build (but only one of the two SSDs)
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£293.88 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£33.16)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£104.01 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£89.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£129.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£140.97 @ BT Shop)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£57.54 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card (£415.66 @ More Computers)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case (£59.83 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.97 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter (£23.04 @ BT Shop)
Total: £1419.00 (minus the cost of one of the SSDs)
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-05 20:07 BST+0100

[Guest]

The NVMe SSD's such as the Samsung 950 PRO are much faster drives. You also have PCI-E SSD's like the Intel 750. They usually have much faster read/write speeds than the likes of the 850 EVO. For general usage they are probably not worth the extra, but if you were doing Video Editing/Rendering etc or running heavily modded games then it would be worth the extra. It might be of benefit to you for Photoshop as you would be working with large files ? but I am not 100% sure.

 

The M.2 850 EVO is pretty much the same speed as the regular SATA 850 EVO as far as I know. It is just the form factor that is different.

 

There shouldn't be any disadvantages with 3000MHz Ram. I would say that 2666MHz - 3000MHz is about as far as you need to go.

 

The Enthoo Pro M only has 1 x rear fan. I would just get a couple of extra PWM fans for the front.

 

http://www.phanteks.com/Enthoo-Pro-M.html

 

 

You should only need a Phillips screwdriver and maybe a flat blade, and a pair of snips. I would just use cable ties as they do the job. I think the case has some built in at the back of the motherboard tray.

[Guest]

Here is the layout. You have 2 headers on the right so they should both reach to the front fans.

 

 

[ratva]

16 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

It might be of benefit to you for Photoshop as you would be working with large files ?

I've noticed the working size go up to 15 Gb, but usually the working size for me won't be larger than 1 GB when stitching things together. To be honest, I'm not yet a super heavy user, so I won't use photoshop to justify something if I won't notice a big improvement otherwise.

 

16 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

Samsung 950 PRO

Ah I see. I probably can't justify the extra cost for that range of products right now, but thanks for enlightening me on that!

 

16 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

The Enthoo Pro M only has 1 x rear fan. I would just get a couple of extra PWM fans for the front.

Sorry, I didn't overwrite the default link, but the link on Amazon http://amzn.to/2ceaHhK has some options for 2 fans at the front too =)
I'm not sure if they're "good" but I haven't read any bad reviews commenting on the fans.

 

16 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

2 spare 4 pin headers

Wouldn't I need 3 if there are 3 fans in total? Or would the front two share one slot? Sorry, I'm sure Linus/Look have some basic builds I should (re)watch to figure all of this out!  Nevermind, i see fan header 1!

 

16 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

pair of snips.

Should I expect to be cutting any wires?! Or do you just mean for the cable ties/tape..? I'm guessing it will be obvious once I buy the parts, but yeah. And also I guess the thing to do is plug EVERYTHING into the mobo before turning on the power and test it before installing anything into the case?

[ratva]

11 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

You have 2 headers on the right

Never mind! I see another header on the left!!

[Guest]

I guess if you like Green LED fans then they should be ok. Yeah the board also has a header on the left for the rear fan.

 

No the snips are just for things like cable ties....don't go cutting any wires 

 

You can build outside the case if you want (On top of the Motherboard box), but I have never bothered doing that. Just double check that everything is plugged in before you switch on and you should be fine. So the 8 pin ATX, 24 pin ATX, GPU connector/s, SSD, cpu fan and case fans, and Front panel headers.

 

I would leave the HDD disconnected until you have installed Windows on the SSD. 

[ratva]

Edit: should I mark this post as solved now?

 

1 hour ago, lee32uk said:

No the snips are just for things like cable ties....don't go cutting any wires 

*Sighs with relief*

 

Okay, I think we got this. I'm just waiting for the Amazon seller to tell me which fans come with the case (I'd like quiet ones, so I'll look for something else if they seem a bit loud). Any recommendations are welcome, but I'll post on the air cooling section if I need to, otherwise =)

 

Thank you all for all the help!

Build I'm planning on buying for more than a £100 saving over the original plan (+£15 for a case with 2 extra front fans, or a bit more if I buy them separatedly):

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£293.88 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  (£33.16) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£104.01 @ CCL Computers) 
Memory: Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£89.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£129.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£57.54 @ CCL Computers) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card  (£414.55 @ More Computers) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case  (£59.83 @ CCL Computers) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£70.97 @ Amazon UK) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter  (£23.04 @ BT Shop) 
Total: £1276.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-06 23:44 BST+0100

[Guest]

These 120mm Cryorig fans look good for the price. They are not LED though.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/mYJkcf/cryorig-case-fan-qf120silent

 

http://www.dvtests.com/cryorig-qf120-performance-and-qf120-silent-test-and-review/

 

Or if you want 140mm then something like the Akasa Apache (They are more expensive though).

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/wbBv6h/akasa-case-fan-akfn062

 

[ratva]

Thanks for the recommendations @lee32uk.

 

I notice they're all 4 pin PWM, whereas a lot of what I had seen so far was only 3 pin. I just had a look at the mobo manual and all the headers are 4 pin headers, so it's a good thing! I know 3 pin fans would still fit, but I would need 4 pin fans if I wanted the mobo to be able to control their speed (not just on/off), right?

 

I'm fine not having LED fans if I can get quiet ones that keep my system cool. I was looking at the Corsair AF140 Quiet Editions but they only come in 3 pin varieties from what I could see. I was looking at the cryorig XF140 (I assumed 2 140cm fans would be better than 2 120 cm fans) but they use 120 cm mounting holes so they couldn't actually sit next to each other at the front of the case. Weird.

 

Anyway, I'm fine spending £20 on 2 Akasa's if that will keep my case cool (with help from the back fan that comes with the case, the Phanteks PH-F140SP, though it only has three pins). For now I'm thinking of having the front fans suck in (since they won't be obstructed in the front) and the back one push out of the case (because it'll be hard to pull air in from near the wall..).

 

Exciting! Thanks for all the help once again!

[Guest]

Yeah PWM fans are controlled automatically by the motherboard. You can still control 3 pin fans though either in the bios or with software.

[ratva]

20 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

Yeah PWM fans are controlled automatically by the motherboard. You can still control 3 pin fans though either in the bios or with software.

Good to know! I'll start ordering components and mark this as solved once I've got all the component orders placed. =)