New Dual Boot Workstation/Gaming Desktop £750-1250 all included

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

achilleasatha

Reputable
Jul 18, 2014
4
0
4,510
--------------------New Dual Boot Workstation/Gaming Desktop-----------------------
Approximate Purchase Date: Next 2-3 days (everything on my basket just need to checkout)
Budget Range: £750-1250 all included
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Code development locally and remotely, Gaming, Media Center.(note that my linux usage is currently perfectly covered by a shitty laptop, so all considerations in this thread lean heavily towards the gaming part)
Are you buying a monitor: Yes
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon & Newegg
Location: London, United Kingdom
Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, ASUS GPU, ASUS mobo (open to discussion)
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: No (possibly after 4-5 years and a complete upgrade)
Your Monitor Resolution: 1080p HD, 2-5ms
Additional Comments: Mostly playing Wildstar, LoL, WoW and occasionally older games.

-------------------Parts--------------------------
CPU: Intel i5 4690k / Intel i7 4790k (Newegg £146/205)
Mobo: ASUS Z97 Pro (Newegg £110)
GPU: ASUS GT 740 GDDR5 1GB / ASUS GTX 750 ti GDDR5 2GB (Newegg £58/99)
Cooling: Noctua D14 (Newegg £59) -same price as D15 but no availability
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 1600MHz CL10 16GB (2x8GB) (Newegg £90)
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB (Amazon £83)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm (Newegg £41)
PSU: Corsair CX750M Modular 750W (Amazon £69)
Case: Corsair Spec-03 White (Amazon £47)
DVD Burner: Samsung 24x (Amazon £12)
-----Undecided as of yet-----
Monitor: £80-150 range, undecided yet will buy from store after viewing (1080p HD, 2-5ms)
Accessories: Keyboard/Mouse/Mousepad £60-145 (open to suggestions)

Total (without monitor & accessories): £715 (i5, GT 740) £815 (i7, GTX 750 ti)
Grand Total: £855-1110

----------------Thoughts-------------
1) I expect to build a rig that will last me 4-8 years with possible upgrades of up to £200-600.
2) I have heavily invested in a good CPU & Mobo with decent cooling to be able to OC (I do not intend to be changing these in the next 4-6 years) and have left open the possibility of major upgrades to GPU/RAM etc.
3) I could go up in price a bit and invest in higher freq. memory, a Samsung 840 Pro, Hydro-cooling, but I think I will not be getting any benefits from those at my level of usage. (open to discussion)
4) Things that worry me are a) the case is a bit on the cheap side, should I invest in a few high quality extra fans and dust filters to ensure longevity? b) will the Noctua be enough for reasonable OCing?

Many many thanks in advance to whoever replies to my post. Things I am currently considering and I would highly appreciate input are:
----------Questions--------
a) i5 vs i7 is it worth the extra money?
b) do I need to invest in something more than the GT 740 to get 60fps constant on the games I play on high settings (not ultra-high)? (Wildstar, LoL, WoW - these aren't the most demanding of games out there)
c) If I can cut down on price on something that will not make a noticeable difference at my level of usage please let me know!
d) Feel free to suggest me monitors/mouses/keyboards am considering everything at the moment from a wide range of prices/capabilities.

---------------------------MANY THANKS--------------------

Achilles
 
Solution
numanator
For the PSU, the list you posted was from last june. The EVGA G2 model is relatively new and definately haswell ready (if I can find some documentation that mentions it). Basically the older Supernova NEX versions were Haswell ready and the G2s are better products than their predecessors. I wouldn't worry too much about the sleep states, any good PSU manufactured since Haswell came out will be ready for it.

Review of the 850w G2: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=377

Edit: ^ comes with a 10 yr warranty too (with online registration)
Sort by date Sort by votes
numanator

numanator

Honorable
Nov 14, 2013
2,094
0
12,960
You mentioned dual boot, what OS are you planning on dual booting?

Also, a good way to look at prices/compatibility is using pcpartpicker.com

CPU- At this time, a majority of games do not take advantage of the i7's Hyperthreading (4 cores, 8 threads vs the i5's 4 cores, 4 threads). If more games start to use more cores/threads then the i7 will start to shine. It is up to you if you want the i7 (also has a larger cache). I am not sure if your code development involves any rendering or CPU intensive processes that would take advantage of the i7 either.

GPU- Definitely want at least a gtx 750 ti 2GB DDR5 graphics card. If you plan to play more graphically intensive games at high FPS then this could be upgraded some more. If you were planning on SLI for a graphics upgrade in the future, the 750 ti does not support SLI.

SSD- The Samsung EVO is good, no need for pro

PSU- I would recommend a different PSU, the Corsair CX uses cheap chinese capacitors that have higher failure rates, lower heat tolerance. Overall not something you want in a good gaming PC. Also, your current setup would only need a good quality 500w power supply, for a more powerful single GPU setup 650w, for a powerful Dual GPU setup 850w in general.

CPU Cooler- The noctua NH-D14 is a top of the line Air cooler, should be able to get a nice OC with that. I would recommend looking for RAM without a heatsink to avoid any potential issues/conflicts. Keep in mind, the D14 is quite big. Double check that it would fit in your case.

Some good PSU options:

Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.98 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

achilleasatha

Reputable
Jul 18, 2014
4
0
4,510
On the development side I wouldn't worry about anything 90% of my work is done remotely on very powerful servers/supercomputers I just use my PC as a terminal (as I said I am more than ok at the moment with a £400 laptop on that side.

I might get the i7 at the moment as £60 ain't that much on top of everything.

I don't want to spend a ton of money at the moment on GPU's. If I ever go for an SLI setup I will change both of my cards and do a £600-800 overhaul but not within the next couple of years. So the GTX 750 ti for now will do. Even if I have to compromise with a bit lower settings.

I wasn't fond of the CX750M either the problem is I have read that Haswell chips have some compatibility issues with PSUs in general because of the "deep sleep" mode they go into when idle. I have found this list for compatible PSUs (none of those you have suggested are on it)
http://techreport.com/review/24897/the-big-haswell-psu-compatibility-list#xfx

The UK seems to have a very limited market on PSUs...

I don't really know if that list is up to date or accurate and if this is really much of a problem for Haswell chips/PSUs compatibility... If anyone is more knowledgeable on this please do let me know...

Concerning the CPU cooler and the case here is what I have:
Heatsink Dimensions: 160 x 140 x 158mm
Fan Dimensions: 140 x 140 x 25mm & 120 x 120 x 25mm
Yielding a total height of 208mm

Cases:
Spec-03: Product Dimensions 18.5 x 44.5 x 44 cm
Spec-01: Product Dimensions 47.5 x 24.1 x 53.1 cm

This probably means that it won't fit in the Spec-03 case but should be ok to go in the Spec-01 case. How much extra space (+headroom) would you advise to have in there? It's been a long while since my last build and I am not sure how much space is taken by the mobo fitting on the back of the case (an educated guess would be 2-3cm from back of case to surface of the CPU)...

Many thanks for your reply!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
numanator

numanator

Honorable
Nov 14, 2013
2,094
0
12,960
For the PSU, the list you posted was from last june. The EVGA G2 model is relatively new and definately haswell ready (if I can find some documentation that mentions it). Basically the older Supernova NEX versions were Haswell ready and the G2s are better products than their predecessors. I wouldn't worry too much about the sleep states, any good PSU manufactured since Haswell came out will be ready for it.

Review of the 850w G2: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=377

Edit: ^ comes with a 10 yr warranty too (with online registration)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom