Help Building Budget Gaming PC

chris_shadez · Jul 18, 2014

Looking to build a new PC, Could do with some advice on parts/bottlenecks and changing parts as a result.

The Parts are in this Link;
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/chris_shadez/saved/VQNgXL

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£229.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£64.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£109.49 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£121.65 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (£87.13 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.98 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1110.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Budget £1100 GBP ($1880 USD)
Based in England
Some Retailer Overrides due to out of stock or extra courier charges not included in price shown here, Have UK Amazon Prime

Additional info;

Games: WatchDogs/Battlefield4/League of Legends
Video Editing
Will occasionally connect to 7.1 sound system, through amplifier if possible?
Dual Monitor setup, occasionally 3rd monitor (TV)
Use alot of external USB 3.0 hdd's/pen drives, often 2-3 at same time

Possible Future Upgrades: 2nd GPU (SLI), +1-2 250GB SSD
Not likely to Overclock but may do so in late future

Look forward to hearing from you

Outlander_04 · Jul 18, 2014

Use a socket 1150 cpu and motherboard . There is no point buying 3 generation old hardware

A 4770K is CHEAPER by $20 , and a 4790K is the same price

DSzymborski · Jul 18, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£229.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£121.65 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Video Card (£324.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper ATX Full Tower Case (£136.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£60.06 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1132.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Went 30 over - you can always come down a little on the GPU to a 290, but that's a really good price on a 290x.

Some definite waste in the initial build. There's no real point to paying for a small, 10K RPM hard drive when you already have a SSD. The RM isn't really a great PSU and you don't need that much wattage. Left your case the way it is since those tend to be a personal decision, but you still have room to come down a little on it if you wanted to and still get a great case. You also want the newest generation CPU/MB chipset, since you're not getting any savings from your selections. I run a 3770k in my main rig, it's a great CPU, but I built it in 4/13, not 7/14!

chris_shadez · Jul 18, 2014

@Outlander_04 updated thanks, not been tech savvy in a while so didn't notice

DSzymborski · Jul 18, 2014

Slight change. My dumb eyes (it's late) though that was the DD XFX 290x, which is why I got excited at the price. The current high-end AMDs run quite hot and loud and I wouldn't recommend the ones with the reference design.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£229.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£121.65 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper ATX Full Tower Case (£136.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£60.06 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1107.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

chris_shadez · Jul 18, 2014

@DSzymborski Yes i was hesitant on PSU size, opted for the larger incase i decide to buy a 2nd GPU > would 650w still be enough?
Tower> wouldn't mind other recommendations, not sure if full tower is really needed vs mid tower, nice aesthetics, plenty filtered circulation, front usb3.0 headers
Seems this will be my first amd gpu, no interest in overclocking a beast of a card for now so seems good

DSzymborski · Jul 18, 2014

chris_shadez :

If you're going for a 2nd GPU, 650W would not be enough. I'm personally recommend single-GPU solutions whenever possible, but I'll add some more juice. Here's an updated build, with a different PSU chosen, using some of the savings on coming down on the case a little to keep you under budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£229.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£121.65 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (£87.13 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: SeaSonic EVO Edition 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£88.62 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1086.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available'

At this price level, you can also consider a more aggressive cooling solution.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£229.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£121.65 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (£87.13 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: SeaSonic EVO Edition 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£88.62 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1125.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

chris_shadez · Jul 18, 2014

Pretty happy with that, though would the Noctua cooler block ram chips with fins/dissipaters?
A 1TB Drive really is 4x what i need, a shame there's near no price difference in downgrading

DSzymborski · Jul 18, 2014

Generally speaking, RAM with heat spreaders will have a tendency to have trouble in the first slot with the Noctua (and other large heatsink fans). Slots 2 & 4 should be fine though and given that you're starting with 16 GB, I don't expect you to need to upgrade.

If it's still a worry, there closed loop cooling solutions or you can use lower-profile RAM - 40mm is the magic number for height to not run into the Noctua heatsink. To be honest, the heat spreaders are mainly aesthetic.

chris_shadez · Jul 18, 2014

The heat spreaders on this ram are removable for a height of 39mm
Thanks alot, looks ready to start purchasing
Though just to get an idea, what would you compromise on if i were to cut £100 off budget for an LED monitor?

DSzymborski · Jul 18, 2014

For this build, if I had to squeeze out £100, in order of preference.

- Back the PSU back to 550-620 - better to impact a future solution that you may never use before decreasing actual performance
- 4790k ---> 4690k ---> 4590 ---> 4460
- If backed down to a non-k processor, Z97 motherboard ---> H97 motherboard
- 16 GB RAM ---> 8 GB RAM
- R9 290 ---> GTX 770 ---> R9 280x

chris_shadez · Jul 20, 2014

Decided i shall stick with single GPU for a couple years at least, Could you suggest a suitable lower wattage PSU

I may also swap out the RAM to 8GB CAS 8 (2x4GB) ((http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c8d8gab)), hearing in other forum posts here and benchmarks elsewhere, that they didn't notice much of a performance boost between 8GB vs 16GB. Hopefully i don't notice the performance difference of cas7vs8

Should I use the thermal paste provided with the Noctua or the Arctic MX-2 i have laying round?

p.s. Messed up my parts list editing original post working between different computers, hopefully rectified to as discussed

chris_shadez · Jul 21, 2014

should i get a second case fan? the front has 1x 200mm but can have 2

DSzymborski · Jul 21, 2014

200m fan is pretty big - I'd wait to see what my temperatures are before worrying.

PSU wise, you can go down to the xfx 650 or 550 or the Antec HCG 620 - those tend to be the best deals.

There's really not much difference between good thermal pastes. As long as it's thermal paste and not Branston Pickle, you'll be fine.

chris_shadez · Jul 22, 2014

No doubt i'd love to show off the Noctua to scare visitors, as with the original case i picked, i like the aesthetics,
But is it really worth it/cost effective over the 212Evo when not overclocking the cpu? Wouldn't a 212 (-£40)and 2nd case front fan(+£10-20) help more in this situation. whichever you think is the best option

Budget of £1100 is settled fine, maybe if the above seems worth it, some other improvements could be made.

Already started purchasing parts, HDD/optical/peripherals/monitor done, still slightly inquisitive as you see

so not all at once

DSzymborski · Jul 22, 2014

chris_shadez :

A 212 works just fine (I have 'em in 3 of my rigs as I don't generally aggressively overclock).

chris_shadez · Jul 22, 2014

Fab, where do you think the remaining £35 is best spent (hidden delivery cost and price change accounted)

DSzymborski · Jul 22, 2014

What's the state of the build now? I'm not sure exactly what config you're up to now, so not quite sure where to 50 pounds is best spent!

Since we have an ongoing discussion on this stuff, you can generally get me faster at my email (my tom's hardware handle @gmail.com) or on Twitter (my tom's hardware handle). I sometimes lose track of threads here after awhile.

chris_shadez · Jul 22, 2014

Link is still same as in top of original post, always saving changes there http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/chris_shadez/saved/VQNgXL

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£229.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£109.49 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£121.65 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card (£269.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (£87.13 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.98 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£13.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1042.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-23 03:17 BST+0100

DSzymborski · Jul 22, 2014

Not a lot of obvious places to throw an extra 50 in there. Perhaps go to the Extreme6 if you want the eSATA port and a few extra SATA/USB ports. Or start looking at mechanical keyboards, which are wonderful for gaming. And typing. And looking cool. And everything else.

chris_shadez · Jul 22, 2014

well thanks very much for all your assistance

Help Building Budget Gaming PC

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