Imminent Gaming Rig Build

T

thebestbev

New Member
Hi all

So about a year ago I was intending to build a Gaming Rig. I posted on here for some help and got a lot of great feedback. however I had a bit of a money issue soon afterwards and had to reconsider whether it was the right time. I am now sure it is time I built a new PC.

This will be my first build but I have been researching for a long time now.

Here is a link to what I am looking to get

HERE

I am very happy to receive comments/suggestions. Im really eager to see if anybody may be able to help me drop the price (still imagine im going to buy in january sales so not too urgent)

I would like people's opinions on the graphics card. Im quite happy with the GTX 760 but am slightly confused about the numerous different versions. The one I have selected is about 30 quid cheaper than the others but it runs at 1.01Ghz rather than 1.08 Ghz. Is that going to make a huge amount of difference? Should i be forking out a bit more for one of the other cards? (Still quite like to buy off novatech as should note - free copy of black flag and splinter cell....

Anyhow, let me know what you all think and thanks in advance!!

Alex

Edit - With regards to gaming, I play a very wide variety of games. FPS, MMO, Strategy etc etc Im a bit of a jack of all trades master of ......

Mouse and keyboard not really fussed about at all, providing they work and have vaguely decent response times. Im more interested in it looking great and running smoothly on as high settings as possible.

I really only want the SSD drive for OS at the moment as I really need to cut costs somewhere. I may upgrade later (bigger SSD, blu-ray reader) but thats future Alex's problem. This is already pretty much the max I can afford at the moment.

I've been looking at more GPU's (R9 270X) and my minds starting to shrivel up. Theres so many cards all of which seem to do something better than another card. I like the sound of the GTX 760, everyone seems very happy with it. Compared to R9 270X and it actually seems to come out better on GPUboss with regards to framerates etc. Also with the link shared below (novatech) its 169.99 with assassins creed black flag and the new splinter cell....thats like a 75 quid saving right there no? (but at the same time.....7950.....7870....too many numbers....are these cards viable/a good idea?)

I am tempted to splash out on a better case but this has got good reviews...for a cheap case. If I were to spend more what features should I be looking at that this case doesnt have? Same with the cooler, what more should I be looking for that that one doesnt have?

EDIT AGAIN

Have altered the case to the corsair 300r and removed the cooling fans. Replaced the CPU cooler with Noctua NH-L9i 57.5 CFM
 
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It's certainly looking pretty good!

A couple of changes I'd make though:

Whilst the GTX 760 is a good card, I'm pretty sure that the new Radeon R9 270X is actually a better performer for the same kind of money (if not cheaper) than the 760 which you found. Not quite sure where you've found a 760 for £170, most I've seen are around the £200 mark and most of the 270Xs are around the £170 mark. So, check the 270X out if you want a good performing card.

Should you decide to go for the 760 you found, I don't think it will be too much slower than the other 760s.

I would advise getting a bigger SSD - at least 120GB is what I recommend. You may find that 64GB is too small. 64GB would hold Windows and a couple of programs probably, hence why I recommend 128GB. I know the SSD you've found is only £40, but I would spend the extra and get a 128GB drive. They're about £70-80 usually. Samsung, OCZ and Crucial make good drives. I've just had a look and the Samsung 840 128GB is on Amazon for £73.

Power supply looks OK but I'd probably go for the Corsair CX 600M just for reassurance. 600W will be plenty for a 760 or 270X and it's modular so that's a bonus too.

I'd also be inclined to get a better case such as the Corsair 300R or the Phantom 410 or the Fractal Define R4 or something in the £70-80 region. If you got a case like that, you wouldn't need those extra fans.

I'd only buy the aftermarket cooler if you're looking at overclocking the i5 straight away. I'm not sure about the thermal paste either, it's probably OK. You could save some money by not buying that stuff right away and instead using the stock cooler which the i5 comes with, which is fine so long as you're not overclocking.

I would also advise you buy it all from one shop if possible, just to make things easier if anything needs to be returned.

I can't really tell you about the peripherals since I don't know a lot about those, haha. :P They'll probably be OK.

I know these changes may make your rig more expensive but they would improve it. If it gets too expensive, consider changing the i5 and the Z87 board to an FX-8320 and a 990FX board - that may save you quite a bit of money whilst not losing performance in games. The 8320 overclocks very well too.
 
I definitely agree with what spirit is saying as far as a better SSD goes. I'm waiting on mine to arrive, but I bought mine with the intention on having my OS run off it and have enough space for what games I play most frequent.

I would also shell out a little extra money for a better CPU cooler. Prior to upgrading to a liquid cooling system, I had a Noctua NH-D14. I got it for 55$ when I bought it, my system ran idly at 33-36 C, hottest I saw it go was 58 when I was playing BF3. So maybe consider that.

Only other things I'd consider looking at more in depth, is your mouse and keyboard. Those are definitely 2 things that can be bought later, but if you're intentions are gaming maybe list some games you play. Might get some suggestions for mouse/keyboards from other gamers such as yourself.
 
The R9 270X is basically a 7870 XT which in turn was actually a cut down 7950. Confusing, I know, but what you end up is with a card (the 270X) which can be had for £170 or so which performs about the same as a 7950. I'd personally take the 270X over the 760 for a gaming system. I'm almost certain that the 270X is faster than the 760.

The older cards are still good, but you may as well buy into the latest stuff.

If you need to save costs, don't even bother with the SSD at all right now. Just buy a bigger one down the line.

Are you going to overclock right away? If no, you don't need to worry about aftermarket cooling. Just use the one the i5 comes with now and then buy a better cooler down the line, along with your SSD.
 
Youre right im not going to overclock right away, I could take the CPU cooler off the set up for now to save 30 quid or so. I do really want an SSD Drive though, im just so tired of waiting 5-10 minutes for the computer to boot properly. Im not looking to store any games on there at all, purely the OS. Which is why i opted for the 64GB at 6GB/s. I could always just add a second SSD in the future coudn't I?

The only thing that confuses me a bit is the GPU still.

Is this incorrect do you reckon?

CLICK

Thanks again
 
The 7200rpm HDD won't be 5-10mins on boot. Mine takes about 2mins usually with my WD 1tb 7200 rpm.

As far as the GPU goes, in all honesty you'll get more bang for your buck with AMD. However, in my opinion Nvidia cards come more game ready than AMD. When I say that, some game engines will favor nvidia. I have friends who have hated their AMD cards and vowed to never go back, but recently Ive heard AMD driver issues arent as bad as they were a few years back.

With that said, I say go AMD simply because you're on a budget and like I said you'll get more bang for your buck essentially.
 
You could get a second SSD, but you'd be better off going for one larger one now.

As for the GPUs, I think the performance is quite close. The R9 270X sits in between the 7870 and the 7950 in terms of performance. I'm not too sure about that GPU Boss site, I tend to stick to Anandtech Bench, but they haven't got benches for the 270X yet, so I compared the GTX 760 with the 7870 and the 7950.

7870 vs 760 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/857?vs=854
7950 vs 760 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/855?vs=854

The 270X is a bit quicker than the 7870 (since it's actually based on the 7870 XT which was a scaled-down 7950) and a bit slower than the 7950.
 
Mode said:
The 7200rpm HDD won't be 5-10mins on boot. Mine takes about 2mins usually with my WD 1tb 7200 rpm.
Click to expand...

No i know, but im currently on a clogged up laptop and it actually does take about 10 mins to get to normal functionality.

Spirit, ive had a look at some more comparisons, this ones very good!

HERE

It had convinced me about the GTX 760 saying that it had outperformed the r9 270X in nearly all tests....until the end. Suggests a free update could make the card much more powerful or next gen games. Any ideas? I'm starting to hear the January sales calling out for an R9 280X and a larger SSD.....
 
Yeah, a driver update could improve performance. That has happened in the past.

If you can afford a 280X then forget about both the 270X and the 760. The 280X beats them both since it's basically a 7970 GHz Edition.

If you want to buy now, the performance difference between the 270X and the 760 isn't massive, so I'd just whichever is cheapest.
 
Thanks for all your help Spirit.

I think i'll probably do that, if I can get the 280 in January for 200-210 (fingers crossed) then I'd much rather do that than get a 270/GTX 760 for 170 thereabouts.

Just like to check, theres no issue running an AMD card with the processor/motherboard ive chosen is there?
 
AMD cards will work with both Intel and AMD processors. :)

And yes, the 280X will be better than both. :)
 
Brilliant! 280X does look like its doing very well for itself and that covers me for any driver improvements in the future too!

My last question is really if anyone could suggest some decent monitors....I'm a bit stuck here.

Theres so many out there which have great reviews but also terrible reviews at the same time. I'd like a Full HD screen budget's probably 150 quid and under...but if there's something truly special.....
 
Sorry to revive a dead thread, I just thought i quick update would be nice.

I have now ordered all parts for the build....and have overspent.....by quite a margin.....HOWEVER Im very grateful for al the help given to me here (especially Spirit) I took your advice on SSD and AMD Graphics cards. HERE is my Spec

I will update you with pictures next week when parts arrive. Have gone with a red and black theme.

Main reason for the overspend was the decision to opt for the R9 290 (Couldnt resist what I deemed amazing value price/perf) and the other choice to go for a 1440p monitor.....albeit a cheap korean one.

Let me know what you think!

Edit - Keyboard and mouse are Christmas presents, wouldnt have got them ordinarily.
 
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