Is this system good? Are all parts compatible?

Chris Denton

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Mar 30, 2014
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I want to get a new computer, for gaming ofc, and I found this nice website where you can throw parts together to make a computer. I decided to make my own and came up with this:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Hzpst6
I want to know if this system is good and whether all parts are compatible with each other. Any help would be appreciated!
 
Solution
It's wasting a LOT of money. Gimme just a second and I'll write up why.

1) You don't need an i7. The only difference between an i7 and an i5 for gaming is hyperthreading, which gives such a negligible benefit in such a small handful of games that it's ridiculous. Don't bother with that, get an i5 for a hundred pounds less.

2) I would just get a Hyper 212 EVO for cheaper instead of that thing, and then either pocket the difference or spend it on a nice fan or two.

3) I personally don't like MSI's boards very much, but I know motherboard options vary wildly from location to location. If you have (cheap) access to AsRock, get the z97 Extreme 4, it's a very good overclocker. In any case, get a z97 chipset motherboard anyways, to...
It's wasting a LOT of money. Gimme just a second and I'll write up why.

1) You don't need an i7. The only difference between an i7 and an i5 for gaming is hyperthreading, which gives such a negligible benefit in such a small handful of games that it's ridiculous. Don't bother with that, get an i5 for a hundred pounds less.

2) I would just get a Hyper 212 EVO for cheaper instead of that thing, and then either pocket the difference or spend it on a nice fan or two.

3) I personally don't like MSI's boards very much, but I know motherboard options vary wildly from location to location. If you have (cheap) access to AsRock, get the z97 Extreme 4, it's a very good overclocker. In any case, get a z97 chipset motherboard anyways, to have all the goodies.

4) Great pick on the memory, can't argue there. I would only say that there are cheaper 8GB kits out there, and there's no reason to get anything above DDR3-1600. You aren't going to notice the difference in speed.

5) Good to see you know your storage requirements, but see if you can work a SSD in there. Seriously, having a 90GB or 120GB ssd gives such a crazy improvement to how smooth and responsive the computer feels that it's ridiculous.

6) Great pick on the graphics card; I can see that you like MSI, and that's fine for graphics cards.. but ditch the 4GB card. There's no reason to have that much VRAM unless you intend to game at 1440p or 4K, and a single 770 won't do 4K worth anything, and in order to get good framerates at 1440p, you'd turn the settings down just enough so that you wouldn't need more than 2GB of VRAM anyways. Save the money, get a regular card instead of the ripoff with bonus VRAM that's never going to get used.

7) I've never heard of the Comrade, but I like BitFenix quite a lot. However, that's a very cheap case, so know what you're getting into. The side panels are going to be utterly frustrating, it's probably unpainted aluminium on the inside, and the front panel will be prone to breaking. That's going to be true of any case that cheap.

8) You're going overboard on the power supply there, mate. That PSU would be sufficient to power TWO GTX 770s, much less one. You only need a 550w power supply of reputable quality... and could even use a 500w PSU without any struggle, but 550w gives you a little more overhead for overclocking. I personally really like the Seasonic G-550, but there are cheaper options out there.

9) There's absolutely no reason to buy windows 7 Professional. Just get home premium for less money. (I personally would absolutely get windows 8.1 for the actually functional bluetooth, the fact that it can be transferred from computer to computer, unlike windows 7, and that it doesn't have artificial RAM limits like windows 7 does.) Do a little research... but after ten minutes of customization and getting used to pressing the windows key, windows 8 is bloody fantastic... the people who don't like it are the ones who just tried the metro apps and want something to complain about.

Anyways, that's my advice. Oh yeah... if you do get a cheap case, it will have only one or two fans, and they'll be cheap and noisy. Consider paying a little bit more to buy yourself two or three good fans to replace them and make the thing a lot quieter and cooler.
 
Solution

Chris Denton

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Mar 30, 2014
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A great response. Exactly what I was looking for.
I've read what you said and come up with this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hwJ4YJ
Windows 8 is pretty expensive on there, so I plan on getting that elsewhere.
Is this one any good?
Edit: I have an SSD in my PC currently which I plan on transferring over.
 


there won't be much of a change, one just supports a higher RAM frequency and both are z97 boards anyway so not much of a change, if you plan on gaming on your PC, I'd recommend you get a better GPU, as that's going to be the decisive factor on your gaming experience,
 
Alright, Looking at your second build there, and knowing that you already have a SSD, it looks like a pretty dang good build.

The only thing that I would look at is the reviews on the Corsair CSM - I don't know who that's made by, but it's not a Seasonic OEM, so check it out for reliability.

Also, I wouldn't necessarily listen to legend - there is a BIG difference between those two motherboards beyond just their specs. The AsRock is going to be a lot more reliable, will overclock way better, and has a better warranty.

Also, while he's right that the GPU is what's going to make the biggest difference to your gaming experience...

Come on, dude. He's getting a 770. With a 1080p, 60Hz monitor, he's going to be able to play basically anything out there on ultra. He doesn't need a 780 unless he's doing something different than standard, which he would know about.
 


Yeah true, I'm not saying the 770 will be bad for him, but if he has enough money , he should go for a 780, because the 770 has 2gb of vram, if I'm correct, whereas the 780 has 3gb of vram, which is more suited if he wishes to add more monitors or get a higher res. monitor, but if the OP isn't planning to go any higher than 1080p and one monitor, then sure, a 770 would be fine and he could spend the money on LED's , games etc
 
Two monitors is not going to make any difference for gaming. If he had three monitors, and wanted to game on all three at once in surround, then you're correct that the extra VRAM would be nice. However, I have a 2GB 670 and a 1440p monitor, and the only game I see any issues with is modded skyrim.

You're correct that a 3GB 780 might be a good investment, though - it just depends on the OP's concerns for the future.
 


Yeah it's just that watchdogs is now nearly utilising more than 3gb of vram I hear so maybe in the future more games will follow suit, but who knows, a 770 will do him fine for one monitor at 1080p:)
 


Ah, fair enough... though from what I've read, a lot of that is just due to not being coded particularly well.

 


Yeah, it's quite demanding even of the best gpu's
 
That's a very strong build, but I wouldn't go with the Pro 3. If you can afford it, get the Extreme 4 - it's a much nicer board that overclocks way better and has better features.

You can also go down to DDR3-1600 RAM, which is not going to make a noticeable difference for anything but benchmarking, and will save you a little bit of money.
 

Chris Denton

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Mar 30, 2014
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My friend said this:
"Do you plan to OC? If not, drop the cooler."
"High end parts are tested to run on stock cooling. Otherwise they wouldn't be high end at all."
Should I, or is that a bad decision?
 


He is absolutely correct, and that was my bad.

Because you had a cooler, an overclockable CPU, and a motherboard that allowed it, I presumed that you were overclocking.

If you don't want to overclock, you can save quite a bit of money by doing the following:

1) Ditch the cooler. $30 isn't bad if you want the computer to run quieter and cooler, but if you aren't overclocking, the stock cooler will be sufficient. (But it will be what a number of us would consider noisy.)

2) Don't pay the premium for an overclockable CPU. Get an i5-4590 instead.

3) Don't pay the premium for a motherboard that can overclock. Get an H97 motherboard instead; I recommend the AsRock z97M Anniversary, or the Z97E-ITX if you want a small form factor computer.

That being said, overclocking is fun and will make you feel more like you have a massive beast of a computer.
 

Ytyoussef

Distinguished
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html get an XFX 550W PSU for about the same price, the corsair CS series isn't good. If you're not overclocking drop the unlocked processor and just get a 4690. I would still get the CPU cooler as it's quieter and the cooler your components are the longer they will last. (Even though it's kind of irrelevant, as by the time it fails, it would be outdated).