First pc gaming build - need advice.

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Rhazzarn

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May 9, 2016
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Hello, I would like to build myself my own pc and I've been thinking about the components for quite some time, trying to make compromises on my pc build, since I'm on a budget.
Here is what I got so far:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3CyFJx

So, I'm not planning on OC or doing anything fancy.
At first I was really undecisive about the graphics card and cpu, but after some time of doing research around it, I've given up on a gtx 970 to upgrade the psu and get an ssd.

At first I wanted to go with the gtx 960, but since the r9 380 showed better performance and better compatibility at higher resolutions, so I went with that. I also heard that the DX12 would give an edge to the AMD cards.

But after nitpicking every single component, the main components remained unknown to me.

The only things that I'm unsure about now are the case and the motherboard. I found this CM N200 to be quite cheap and good looking with good cooling options, but the problem was that I had already picked an ATX motherboard. So I had to pick a new mATX motherboard to fit the case.

So on to my final questions:

1. Should I stick with this motherboard/case combination, or are there any cases or motherboards you would suggest? (preferably ATX/midi towers)

2. Should I get a cpu cooler or just use the stock one? (probly no OC)

3. Is a 550W PSU good enough for an AMD card? Kappa

Thanks for the help.
 
Solution
madmatt30
That's fair enough mate , that 970 is a special deal in the UK , most 970's go for £270-280 here also.

& yes your doing right with the ssd, that 120gb evo was dreadfully overpriced, & 120gb is barely enough nowadays, you would soon be hunting for space.
I would hunt down prices on the hyperx ssd as it (at least in the uk) offers the best price/performance IMO.

The 380 nitro is a very good mid range card , if you can't afford higher tier models it won't disappoint for what it costs.

If your still going with an matx board then I personally would stick with the n200 case , its solidly made & designed & has very good preinstalled cooling , best budget matx case around IMO if you don't mind the plain looks.

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Ryan_78

Ryan_78

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Jan 17, 2016
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PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NRkDCJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NRkDCJ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£26.49 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£71.86 @ More Computers)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£23.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£31.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB NITRO Dual-X OC Video Card (£168.84 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£34.31 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£42.61 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-118CB/BEBE DVD/CD Drive (£8.75 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £618.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-09 15:12 BST+0100
There. Case is actually quite optional
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Jan 28, 2016
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No no no! :)
Don't buy a current gen graphics card at the moment, as Nvidia are releasing their new 970 and 980 replacement cards in a months time with SIGNIFICANT performance increases over their now two year old predecessors.
GTX 1070 is coming out in a months time, and has performance levels just above the Titan X according to Nvidia, although official specs are yet to be released.
I've put together this, which costs a whopping 100 pound more, but is well worth it, as it gives approximately double the graphics power and frame rate with the upgraded ram as well.
The CPU is also solid and won't bottleneck at all.
Replace the 970 with the 1070 when it releases and you're good to go, i've just stuck that in their for a price filler.
The build i've put together is quite a bit more expensive considering your budget, but if you really need to stick in the 600-700 range I can change a few things around.
But its amazing how much extra price/performance you can get if you kick that price up just a little bit more into the 700 pound range!
Well worth it, so i'd save up your pocket money for a bit longer to be able to afford this.
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/xfyFJx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/xfyFJx/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£54.07 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£49.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£52.75 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£272.28 @ Aria PC)
Case: BitFenix Nova ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£41.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-118CB/BEBE DVD/CD Drive (£8.75 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £716.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-09 15:36 BST+0100
What is your budget to get a good idea?
By the way use this to compare performance between the card mentioned above and the card I mentioned, which is above the titan X or around the same.
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-380-vs-GeForce-GTX-980-Ti
 
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R

Rhazzarn

Commendable
May 9, 2016
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So, I used the site just to show the parts, my budget is 1000€ in a god forsaken country (Slovakia). So I don't really know how much time it will take for the new graphics cards to get here. I was also wondering about buying one of the new nvidia cards, but even a 970 was quite expensive for my budget, since I wanted the whole system to be around the 800€ mark. Also to the Bitfenix case, I heard quite a lot of bad things about Bitfenix cases, though I was considering buying one because they didn't seem bad.
So you gave me a quite good idea of which way I should be heading towards, thanks for that ;) . Btw from the build you posted, should I use the stock cooler? Also I think an Asus H110M-K would be better, since I can't find the H110M PLUS on the site I'm gonna buy it from.
 
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Rhazzarn

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May 9, 2016
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The Bitfenix Nova looks good, but apparently the airflow in the case is quite bad, since the front is closed off and there are no vents on the top, leaving just the back for exhaling. Also the cages are not removable, so... And with a stock cpu cooler I'd rather prefer something that's open to airflow like the CM N200 with mesh on the front. Although it's going to be my first pc build and I'm not experienced in pc cooling, but if you think the Bitfenix Nova is just enough, then I might just go with it.
 
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Ryan_78

Ryan_78

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Jan 17, 2016
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You do realize that it is quite a sad PSU. Like do you know about quality. As of the 1070 is probably waaaay out his budget range. And he is using euros not pounds. And do not even use those boss sites. Those use synthetic benches and are not reliable. As of pairing, the r9 380 is probably more fitting.
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Jan 28, 2016
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It is one of the better quality bronze rated PSUs for the price......
The R9 380 is heavily outweighed by the GTX 1070. 150 euros sacrifice for double the performance sounds fine to me.....
Typically your GPU should be at least 30% of your budget, thats the way I see it. If you're getting an i5 6500 your CPU is going to be a little overkill for just an R9 380.
At least now I have a good idea of what OP can do with his/her money....
Sometimes justifying your own build without evidence or supporting facts isn't a great idea.
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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I think with an AMD card the minimum you want to go for is 600w, especially given you might want to overclock it.
Considering that you're not overclocking, a stock CPU cooler is fine, unless you're running the PC for 16 hours a day or rendering stuff overnight! :) However I've chucked in a H7 which is one of the better value budget CPUs.
The case should be good too, micro atx is a good size imo.
Now that you've given me a budget, I can find you a better case and PSU. build below.
Replace the card with the new GTX 1070 and you're good to go. A 550w is fine for the new Nvidia cards due to the extremely low power consumption they require.

An important question though:
What monitor are you running? Because to get the best out of even an r9 380, you'll need a high refresh rate monitor which can take advantage of the graphics power of the cards.
In your price range I'd recommend the recently released Asus MG248Q monitor, as it provides everything you need at a low price. 144hz, TN, 1080p.
You should be able to easily run every game maxed out at 144hz.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/CV2ryc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/CV2ryc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£26.49 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£46.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£49.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£52.75 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£272.28 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£29.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£66.98 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-118CB/BEBE DVD/CD Drive (£8.75 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £764.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-09 23:13 BST+0100
 
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turkey3_scratch

turkey3_scratch

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The 500B is poor quality for a gaming rig. Bronze is not very important at all. Also, not everybody wants to spend another $250 for the GTX 1070 when they can be happy with their R9 380.
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Agreed on that front, but I wasn't quite sure what budget the OP had in the original post, so I was a bit in the dark and wanted to keep the cost as low as possible. The 500B is a decent quality PSU, although you can do much better for 20-30 dollars more.
I've since updated the build in regards to the budget specified, see above, with a good quality gold rated seasonic PSU which i've used in the past and plenty of horsepower for higher end titles provided OP has a high refresh rate monitor.
In my opinion even so, the benefits of this build far outweigh the cons, of which the only one I can think of is maybe the case, although that still has a 5.25" bay drive for an ODD.
 
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R

Rhazzarn

Commendable
May 9, 2016
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So I checked and my monitor is a Samsung LT23A350. I bought a few years back for my old system. Also, I'm not sure about buying a GTX 1070, just because I'd rather have an overall good quality build instead of the whole budget spent on a card that I might not even fully utilize. So that's why I'd like to go with the r9 380.
Also what would be an adequate CPU to the r9 380? I intend to use the machine only for gaming. About the PSU, I'm gonna go with EVGA 550 G2, since other brands are unavailable in my country (or from untrusted sites). And yes I intend to keep the PC running for quite long, so I might even pick a cpu cooler.
The H7 that you suggested wasn't available in any trusted store unfortunately.
Btw I picked a different motherboard, since I read about how terrible the Asus one was.
Still I'm really indecisive about the case, the Fractal Design Core 1000 just doesn't look like something for me.
Though I really like the cases CM makes - removable cages, more cooling options etc.
So these are the parts that I'm surely gonna go with:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/49RgTW
Btw I found this 240gb SSD to be the same price as the 120gb samsung I wanted to go with.
With the rest I don't really know.
 
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madmatt30

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I assumed you were UK with posting UK links but it would seem not??

Irregardless I'll drop this build for others to look at as it gets a 970 in for just £20 than your original build without really compromising anything too much.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£170.44 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£31.16 @ More Computers)
Storage: Kingston HyperX Fury 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£56.33 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-118CB/BEBE DVD/CD Drive (£8.75 @ Amazon UK)
Other: SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black (£55.14)
Other: Zotac GeForce® GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4GB Graphics Card - ZT-90101-10P (£227.94)
Total: £692.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-10 18:09 BST+0100
 
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R

Rhazzarn

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May 9, 2016
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The thing is that I can't get a gtx 970 that cheap.. The cheapest I can get it is 320€ that is 260 pounds.
I won't build this system until the 1070 comes out, because I want to see the price at release and whether the prices of current gpus will drop or not
 
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madmatt30

madmatt30

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That's fair enough mate , that 970 is a special deal in the UK , most 970's go for £270-280 here also.

& yes your doing right with the ssd, that 120gb evo was dreadfully overpriced, & 120gb is barely enough nowadays, you would soon be hunting for space.
I would hunt down prices on the hyperx ssd as it (at least in the uk) offers the best price/performance IMO.

The 380 nitro is a very good mid range card , if you can't afford higher tier models it won't disappoint for what it costs.

If your still going with an matx board then I personally would stick with the n200 case , its solidly made & designed & has very good preinstalled cooling , best budget matx case around IMO if you don't mind the plain looks.

 
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Solution
R

Rhazzarn

Commendable
May 9, 2016
24
0
1,510
I want to stick to a mATX motherboard, so I'll go with the CM N200. I've been looking at cases for weeks now and haven't found any good one for a good price. I wanted something with good front air intake, removable cages (for good airflow) as well as some additional openings if I were to install more fans in the future.
As of the GPU, I won't build this system until the gtx 1070 out. If it comes around the 350€ mark, then I'll instantly grab one, but if it comes at a higher price, then I'll just stick to a r9 380. From my point of view there wouldn't be any value in buying a 320€ card that has half the performance of a 3xx€ card.
 
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