Need help reducing the price of my Micro atx build please !

3403321 · May 25, 2014

I am building my first pc so i have little idea what i am doing. I have chosen parts through doing research but the total cost comes to approx. £750 which is too much. I am just a student. I want the pc to be quite small and im not interested in overclocking. Too scared. Here is my parts list. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Qy2D
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Qy2D Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Qy2D/by_merchant/ Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Qy2D/benchmarks/
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.94 @ Scan.co.uk) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£53.56 @ Amazon UK) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.73 @ Ebuyer) Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£55.89 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC) Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card (£159.98 @ Novatech) Case: BitFenix Colossus Micro MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£81.65 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.99 @ Amazon UK) Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£11.48 @ Scan.co.uk) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£83.00 @ Amazon UK) Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£10.94 @ Amazon UK) Total: £741.10
Ideally i would like to get the price down to under £700. cheers

swifty_morgan · May 25, 2014

buy ram in pairs.......... you really can't do much./ maybe a cheaper case and drop the ssd. ..or an AMD build?

animal · May 25, 2014

You would probably need to downgrade your CPU/mobo selection or get a cheaper GPU.

andrei65 · May 25, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£83.82 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£57.46 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£55.89 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.50 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£149.64 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: BitFenix Colossus Micro MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£81.65 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.26 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.79 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £702.19
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-25 13:50 BST+0100)

3403321 · May 25, 2014

How are the parts, are they appropriate ? Or is anything overkill ? cheers

andrei65 · May 25, 2014

Wait a sec i'll make you a way better build with a 280x/290
And at that budget , i'd go for an AMD mATX build and spend the money towards a bigger mATX case and a better gpu

3403321 · May 25, 2014

Would swapping over to a mini itx motherboard lower the performance of the rig ? What is the disadvantages of swapping to andrei65's build ?

andrei65 · May 25, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£76.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£39.76 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£57.46 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£45.19 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.50 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card (£295.19 @ Aria PC)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£31.44 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.26 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.79 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£10.94 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £703.31
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-25 14:03 BST+0100)

Go for AMD and you'll get a 290 .

andrei65 · May 25, 2014

3403321 :

There won't be many disadvantages with swapping to my build
You have a way waaay better gpu , a cpu that is less performing than the 4690 to be true , but it won't affect gaming performance at all , as it's strong enough
you'll have a little bit less performing ssd , just a little bit , but again you won't be able to really remark that
you'd have a better hdd
you'd get a cheaper and less better looking case , though it allows you to get a beast gpu
the hole build requires more power
mini itx won't reduce the performance of your build
and i can't think of any other disadvantage/advantage

but this build will definetly destroy the build you first thought of
though if you want an intel cpu you'd have to downgrade to a 280x

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£30.90 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£57.46 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£45.19 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.50 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£215.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£31.44 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.26 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.79 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£10.94 @ Dabs)
Total: £664.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-25 14:10 BST+0100)

or you can get a 290 if you sacrifice the ssd

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£30.90 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£57.46 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.50 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card (£295.19 @ Aria PC)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£31.44 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.26 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.79 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£10.94 @ Dabs)
Total: £699.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-25 14:11 BST+0100)

it's really up to you , do you want to sacrifice an ssd for a 290 or do you want to keep the ssd and downgrade to a 280x , or do you want an amd build , and keep the ssd along with a 290
you have plenty of choices and i'll let you decide

3403321 · May 25, 2014

What am i sacrificing if i go AMD ? Most people i have talked to have warned me off it. This computer will be for general use as well as gaming.
Does having a SSD make a huge difference to performance ? I am completely new to building pc's but i am slowly learning what i need. What sort of difference will a 290 make over a 280.
I want to pc to look nice too so i will probably spend a bit more on the case eventually but I am just focussing on the inside at the moment
Thanks for your help !

andrei65 · May 25, 2014

You're sacrificing a little bit of performance which isn't really noticeable
It will make a huge difference , windows will boot faster , it'll open programs that are on the ssd faster , but it won't make any difference in gaming
Take a look at these benchmarks
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1068
you can see the 290 is performing a lot better , so it's a huge difference in most games imo but it gets really hot so i suggest you go for an atx build for better airflow , or watercool it
or just get a 280x instead

3403321 · May 25, 2014

could i reduce the storage ??

andrei65 · May 25, 2014

You could but that would be a waste of money , you'd just win 5$ if you go for 500GB
So i suggest not but you can do so if you really want those 5$ lol !

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