Advice Needed: office/gaming system around £800

monoped · Sep 19, 2016

Initially i was looking to build a new work PC and a purchase a console for the office.

After seeing that I'd need an expensive graphics card to run 3x dell 25" ultrasharp screens over displayport, I'm starting to reconsider the console... It seems like it's going to be more cost effective to turn the office machine into a dual purpose office/gaming machine.

I initially looked at the following:
3x DELL U2515H Monitors (25" because i'm only 1m away from them while working)
i5-6500
16gb ram
250gb ssd
2tb hdd
rx470 4gb gfx card (gfx needs 2x displayport v1.2 minimum)

After looking for around a week now, i'm not sure which motherboard to buy, if i should stretch to getting an rx480 8gb card (3x displayport), if i should upgrade the i5-6500 to a i5-6600k etc etc

There is some room to increase the budget considering the console won't be purchased now.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice/guidance here.

Scottray · Sep 19, 2016

The only reason to upgrade to the "K" version is if you plan to overclock. If that is the case, you'll need a Z170 motherboard. If you're not going to OC, then a B150 or H170 motherboard will work for you. Then, it's just a matter of the features and ports that you need. I personally prefer GigaByte motherboards.

FD2Raptor · Sep 19, 2016

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B150M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£70.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£66.04 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£61.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 4GB G1 Gaming Video Card (£215.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Inwin 503 BLACK ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.97 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £798.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-20 04:21 BST+0100

This RX480 4GB does feature 3xDP. Although there's limited stock (alternative if you can't wait is Palit GTX 1060 6GB JetStream [£249.98 @ Scan.co.uk]; and if RX480 is a must, Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 G1 Gaming 8GB [the last one at £254.92 @ CCL Computers; you can save £20 by swapping the SSD to the 750 EVO to make up portion of the price difference), and since the U2515H is a 1440p screen, you'd probably want a more powerful card and the i5k+Z170 board+CPU cooler (since k CPU doesn't come with one) if you want to game at its native resolution.

monoped · Sep 20, 2016

FD2Raptor :

Looking at what you've said the k processor and z170 board sounds like the better option.

Is there any specific gfx I should go for if I would like the option of using sli/crossfire in the future?

It doesn't have to be the rx 480 (I don't have a preference) I just want a minimum of 2 displayport v1.2 for the screens

Also we can increase the budget if absolutely necessary... just bear in mind that i wanna buy some games after the build

monoped · Sep 20, 2016

FD2Raptor :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B150M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£70.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£66.04 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£61.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 4GB G1 Gaming Video Card (£215.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Inwin 503 BLACK ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.97 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £798.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-20 04:21 BST+0100

This RX480 4GB does feature 3xDP. Although there's limited stock (alternative if you can't wait is Palit GTX 1060 6GB JetStream [£249.98 @ Scan.co.uk]; and if RX480 is a must, Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 G1 Gaming 8GB [the last one at £254.92 @ CCL Computers; you can save £20 by swapping the SSD to the 750 EVO to make up portion of the price difference), and since the U2515H is a 1440p screen, you'd probably want a more powerful card and the i5k+Z170 board+CPU cooler (since k CPU doesn't come with one) if you want to game at its native resolution.

I've added everything i like so far

I'm missing a mobo / gfx, would you be able to assist there? Also if you have a better idea about which monitors I should use i'm open to suggestions

the more this list stays under £2k, the happier i'll be

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/f9c34C

FD2Raptor · Sep 20, 2016

For an SLI-capable build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£213.34 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£39.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£123.95 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£66.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 750 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£60.97 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£61.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card (£368.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case (£54.51 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Antec TruePower Classic 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£82.06 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 25.0" 60Hz Monitor (£275.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 25.0" 60Hz Monitor (£275.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 25.0" 60Hz Monitor (£275.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Other: LiteOn EBAU108 8x External DVDRW (£17.70)
Total: £1918.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-20 14:27 BST+0100

A bunch of parts was changed:
The i5 to i5k, the Cryorig H7 cooler (color matching, and solid performance; although if you don't mind the noisier+color mismatch with its blue LED fan, the Deepcool GAMMAX 400 (£17.99 also at ebuyer) is a solid, more budget-friendly choice for the i5k), and the Z170-A is a very good Z170 board that does support SLI (unfortunately all the cheaper-enough-to-worth-trading-down are not available in stock, some don't even have an estimate available date).

A GTX1070 is the lowest option from Nvidia that can support SLI (the MSI Tiger OC is £153 more than the Gigabyte RX480 4GB G1 Gaming, representing ~52% the total increase in the PC innards cost), with a change in PSU to one that is powerful enough to support a future SLI configuration (albeit losing the modularity of the SuperNOVA G2) and a case that can be upgrade to provide a strong enough cooling solution for a SLI config (1x120mm front+1x120mm aft included, and upgradable to 3x120mm front+2x140mm top to offer enough cooling performance for a 2xGTX1070 SLI config; plus a separated PSU compartment so that it can hide the excess cables from the cheaper but still good, SLI capable, PSU).

The LiteOn USB DVD-RW is included since you had one on yours, and since the Phanteks case doesn't have any 5.25" bay, an USB solution was picked instead.

Without the SLI requirement:
Either the MSI Z170A PC MATE (£93.86 @ AmazonUK [the last one]) or the ASRock Z170 Pro4 (£91.31 @ AmazonUK [6 left]) are solid choice for the i5k. (total cost down by £30.09-32.64; PSU unchanged from the non-k build and therefore total cost down by another £11.09; the Deepcool GAMMAX 400 is another £22; tally up the saving: £63.18-65.73 bringing the cost to: £1852.72-1855.27).

monoped · Sep 20, 2016

FD2Raptor :

For an SLI-capable build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£213.34 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£39.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£123.95 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£66.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 750 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£60.97 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£61.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card (£368.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case (£54.51 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Antec TruePower Classic 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£82.06 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 25.0" 60Hz Monitor (£275.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 25.0" 60Hz Monitor (£275.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 25.0" 60Hz Monitor (£275.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Other: LiteOn EBAU108 8x External DVDRW (£17.70)
Total: £1918.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-20 14:27 BST+0100

A bunch of parts was changed:
The i5 to i5k, the Cryorig H7 cooler (color matching, and solid performance; although if you don't mind the noisier+color mismatch with its blue LED fan, the Deepcool GAMMAX 400 (£17.99 also at ebuyer) is a solid, more budget-friendly choice for the i5k), and the Z170-A is a very good Z170 board that does support SLI (unfortunately all the cheaper-enough-to-worth-trading-down are not available in stock, some don't even have an estimate available date).

A GTX1070 is the lowest option from Nvidia that can support SLI (the MSI Tiger OC is £153 more than the Gigabyte RX480 4GB G1 Gaming, representing ~52% the total increase in the PC innards cost), with a change in PSU to one that is powerful enough to support a future SLI configuration (albeit losing the modularity of the SuperNOVA G2) and a case that can be upgrade to provide a strong enough cooling solution for a SLI config (1x120mm front+1x120mm aft included, and upgradable to 3x120mm front+2x140mm top to offer enough cooling performance for a 2xGTX1070 SLI config; plus a separated PSU compartment so that it can hide the excess cables from the cheaper but still good, SLI capable, PSU).

The LiteOn USB DVD-RW is included since you had one on yours, and since the Phanteks case doesn't have any 5.25" bay, an USB solution was picked instead.

Without the SLI requirement:
Either the MSI Z170A PC MATE (£93.86 @ AmazonUK [the last one]) or the ASRock Z170 Pro4 (£91.31 @ AmazonUK [6 left]) are solid choice for the i5k. (total cost down by £30.09-32.64; PSU unchanged from the non-k build and therefore total cost down by another £11.09; the Deepcool GAMMAX 400 is another £22; tally up the saving: £63.18-65.73 bringing the cost to: £1852.72-1855.27).

Thanks so much for the reply and recommendations!!

It's cured my week long headache

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