Advice on first ever build gaming PC

SevenOfNine

Honorable
Jul 27, 2013
1
0
10,510
Hi all,

I'm looking to build my first ever PC, with a view to using it mainly for gaming and hoping that it will last a decent amount of time. However, being a complete newbie I'd really appreciate any advice on parts etc that anyone can give me, particularly on the GPU and cases. Ideally I want quite a small case (because I don't have a great deal of space) but I'm worried about things fitting in.

Approximate Purchase Date: September/October

Budget Range: 500-800 GBP

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, surfing the internet, watching films, using word processors/spreadsheets

Are you buying a monitor: I already have a monitor

Parts to Upgrade: everything!

Do you need to buy OS: Yup

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Anything UK based so amazon.co.uk , scan.co.uk (any others)

Location: UK (England)

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, NVIDIA GPU (though could be convinced otherwise). Planning to get an SSD to run the OS (and maybe a couple of games) and a HDD for storage.

Parts I'm thinking of so far:

CPU
Intel Core i5 3570K Ivy Bridge
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/29-4intel-core-i5-3570k-s-1155-ivy-bridge-quad-core-34ghz-5-gt-s-dmi-650mhz-gpu-6mb-smart-cache-34x-


Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-Z77N WIFI Mini ITX 1155
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z77n-wifi-intel-z77-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-raid-pcie-30-dvi-i-hdmi-mini-itx
or
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z77-d3h-usb-30-intel-z77-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-a

Overclocking: Yes but not right away

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Ideally I'd like something compact, but I'm having issues trying to work out what will fit into the small (micro ATX) cases. I'd really appreciate assistance with choosing a GPU since I haven't a clue how to decide how much to spend on it/what I actually need.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I've never actually owned a desktop PC! (though I use one at work) and I'd like to transfer from console based gaming to PC gaming

This is long, sorry! Any help much appreciated.

 
Solution
Good choices on the motherboard, not sure if this case suits what you want, or if the video card is beefy enough. 800 is a little tight. Here's something to get you started.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1lmf2
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1lmf2/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1lmf2/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£59.98 @ Dabs)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard (£85.97 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk...

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
Good choices on the motherboard, not sure if this case suits what you want, or if the video card is beefy enough. 800 is a little tight. Here's something to get you started.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1lmf2
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1lmf2/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1lmf2/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£59.98 @ Dabs)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard (£85.97 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£106.94 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£59.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card (£130.00 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£60.73 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.52 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (£12.97 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£66.78 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £867.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-28 00:05 BST+0100)
 
Solution