£1500 Gaming build, ready for VR a few questions

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
B

Belarin

Reputable
May 17, 2015
5
0
4,510
I'm sorry this is a big post I'm hoping the extra info will help with the answers I need.
I've been planning out a new gaming rig as I have had to reduce video settings right down to the lowest on a few newer games (Dragon Age Inquisition, GTA V, Elite Dangerous etc.) and only moderate settings on many others. The systems main use will be gaming + everyday activities (web, videos, music etc.)

I currently use
Asus P5Ne-SLI
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600
4GB RAM (can't remember which)
Nvidia GTX 460
1TB Western Digital HDD
Dell monitor at 1920x1200

It's not great stuff and all quite old now but has done really well for many years, the time has come to move on though.

I may upgrade to a 4k screen at some point but for now I'm happy with the monitor I have and will be playing at 1920x1200 so I want a system that can max settings at that resolution and run at a decent framerate. Much more important to me than a 4k screen is the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive I will be getting one or the other when they release depending on how they compare, So I need a PC that will be able to cope with running games at high settings and the max resolution of the headset in 3d (game depending).

I have a budget of £1500 but I'm willing and able to go a bit over that for the right PC. I currently have 2 builds going on partpicker one built on a z97 chipset and the other an x99, Both built around Nvidia cards.
z97 Build will cost about £1360
x99 Build will cost about £1620
I've always prefered Nvidia over ATI/AMD and don't really want an AMD card though I'm not dead set against ever using them.
I've chosen the MSI boards because they have pretty good sound systems and I don't intend using a seperate sound card but am flexible there if a better/cheaper board is suggested.
I will possibly overclock a little but not to extremes so I hope the CPU cooler should be ok (I don't really want to watercool it) if not I have been told about a better one but will need to get lower profile RAM to fit it.

now some questions...
1) Would it be better to get a cheaper GPU that will max settings at 1920x1200 (GTX 970 for example at £200 cheaper) while waiting for the VR and then getting a newer better card for it? If so what suggestions?
2) Should I go with the z97 build or the x99? x99 seems more future proof but is a 6 or 8 core processor just overkill or will it help with a VR headset? I don't mind replacing the GPU later if I can make this build cheaper but don't want to do CPU and/or MB as well.
3) The MB has an M.2 slot on it that supports PCIe 10GB/s and I'm thinking it would be nice to have a 64-128GB card there for booting the OS and core apps but I've read quite a few people having troubles booting M.2 drives, so is this a good idea or not? If yes then can you suggest a good quality drive that will work as a boot with these boards?

Any other advise or suggestionswould be welcome.
 
Solution
M
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/qRTLxr
This is an X99 build, I think that is the way to go as the i5 would be a complete waste of money when you're getting a 980.
I reduced the 1TB SSD to a 500GB one because the price isn't justified IMO, this way you get a 3TB mass storage device as well.
M.2 is very expensive and really only for entusiest grade hardware, not that this inst good, but money can be spent better in other places.
It also has a water cooler, this I feel strongly about becuase when you really push the CPU you can keep temps below 50 degrees quite comfortably
It has 16GB of RAM which is OP for gaming but lets you expand to video editting if you ever want to do that!
I think you should rethink your case because £111 for a case is...
Sort by date Sort by votes
M

Mattz982

Honorable
Nov 5, 2013
748
0
11,360
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/qRTLxr
This is an X99 build, I think that is the way to go as the i5 would be a complete waste of money when you're getting a 980.
I reduced the 1TB SSD to a 500GB one because the price isn't justified IMO, this way you get a 3TB mass storage device as well.
M.2 is very expensive and really only for entusiest grade hardware, not that this inst good, but money can be spent better in other places.
It also has a water cooler, this I feel strongly about becuase when you really push the CPU you can keep temps below 50 degrees quite comfortably
It has 16GB of RAM which is OP for gaming but lets you expand to video editting if you ever want to do that!
I think you should rethink your case because £111 for a case is a lot, but case's are bought on aesthtetics mainly so if you want that then I put it in, otherwise I would suggest a Fractal Design either Arc or Define series case, I have an Arc R2 Midi and it's a great case with good airflow.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
B

Belarin

Reputable
May 17, 2015
5
0
4,510
Thanks for the reply Matt, that is a nice build and on budget too.

I originally had the Cooler Master Storm Stryker case because it looked really modable then someone put me onto the Enthoo Luxe as a better quality and internal design and looking at a few videos of it I really like it, it may be a tad expensive just for a case but is highly configurable with plenty of room and fan/radiator mounting options so I'm happy to pay the little extra for it. On which note though, I didn't really want to go with water cooling but with the amount of places on this case to fit one it would almost be a crime not to lol, I do plan on overclocking a bit too so it probably will be a better option than air cooling alone.

I went for 1TB SSD because my games folder at the moment is about 700GB, I know the SSD won't affect their performance but will reduce load times. The 1TB SSD was a big expense and I can live with 500GB, maybe even less if I put the games that don't need to load fast on the HDD (assuming I can find a way to make Steam do that).

As for the graphics card, would it be a good idea to take take the 980 now and pray it stands up to VR in 6+ months time (whenever they release) or get a cheaper card now and upgrade when the headset is available? Same for RAM, I would like 16GB (or more...max 128 on that board @_@ wow!) but lowered it to save money as at the moment no games need that much and I can easily fit more later as money/need allows.

have saved that build and might just take it, though I'll possibly swap to the Gaming version of the MB as I like the idea of better onboard sound, any reason you used the pro board or was it just for price?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

Mattz982

Honorable
Nov 5, 2013
748
0
11,360


Everyhting seems fine that you suggested, I think you should take the 980 now, although it depends when you you build this becuase the 980Ti is on the horizon as well as the R9 390X, which I think will be out in a couple months, so if you could afford one then I'd get that and just realise you may have to wait a bit for them.
It should easily handle the VR, I know that Oculus say that anything 970+ is recomended for their headset so a 980 will be fine, it is a very powerful card!
The reason I went with the 16GB is becuase the X99 is quad channel meaning that it works better with 4 of the 8 lanes filled, and you cant do thtat with and 8GB kit (4x2GB) without ending up having to change the RAM out altogether. By getting 16GB first time, you can then get another 4x4GB kit to go with it which will total at 32GB RAM which is more than plently even for high end editting rigs.

Saying all this, I've only built one computer so I dont know much!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Belarin

Reputable
May 17, 2015
5
0
4,510
Ok so I think this is gonna be the final build (most of it lined up ready to order)

Final Build

I've taken most of the parts you suggested but gone with the Gaming 7 MB for its audio and am going with the bigger 750w power supply mostly because I like the fully modular design but also because if I want to upgrade/add more I'll have room (I took an sli 980 as example and it added about 170w).

The only thing holding my back from hitting the checkout right now is the cooler while I'm sure the h100i GTX is a nice item and I'm now more tempted toward a watercooled system just because this case has so many options for it, I'm thinking if I do I'd prefer to go all out and fit a custom loop so that the GPU can benefit as well.

This however would be more expensive and I'd rather not buy into it untill I know more what I'd need, how to do it and what space I have. My question here is would a Phanteks phtc12-dx be enough to keep this cool under mild overclocking?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

Mattz982

Honorable
Nov 5, 2013
748
0
11,360


That would be fine!
But if you are interested in a custom loop then you can start with just the CPU
This kit https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-082-TL&groupid=962&catid=1532
is just a bit more expensive than the GTX but because it's custom you have the optuion to add in extra graphics cards ect.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Belarin

Reputable
May 17, 2015
5
0
4,510
All ordered and I went with the H100i GTX in the end figuring that it would at least give me an idea how a WC system would fit, look and sound.

The shop with my GPU is out of stock until thursday so I'm a little sad about that but the next cheapest shop was £120 more so I can live with waiting. I havn't put a PC together from scratch for about 8 years now I'm so excited lol.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom