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First Time Builder, Heavily researched setup for a low/mid-high end gaming PC, Final advice & check needed

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May 20, 2013 12:14:43 PM

Greetings forum, long time PC gamer here finally sick of playing low spec on my laptop. Managed to scrape together £1000 for a setup and found the UK prices were horrible in places compared to the american market, quite jelly. In any case, I've got a proposed list of components which I'll link below.

http://www.ebuyer.com/lists/list/180241

I'll add comments to the list of components on the site as well as here to explain why I chose them and here's the advice I really need:

-Compatibility: I think everything looks like they'll work together, but if anyone is kind and willing enough to run the tedious task of checking to assist me, I would be extremely grateful.

-Gaming outlook or "Future Proofing": One of the main aims of my system was to be able to keep running games at their maximum settings for at least the next couple of years, so it most certainly is the biggest factor. I understand we're at the end of a console cycle right now but from what I see, the 680gtx still outperforms the PS4 on the unreal engine and by assumptions, and I literally mean just assumptions alone, the 670gtx should be fine for said period of time since it's only marginally inferior to the 680.

-Price: I'm trying to keep it at under £1000 right now and struggling, I've already given up on dual monitors to start with and an SSD, the case I'm also considering cutting back on. As egotistic as it sounds though, I'd prefer to have one with a window and tidy cable management with good air flow. That's asking for a lot when you're not willing to fork out so much money, I understand. Nonetheless, advice in this area would also be greatly appreciated. The second aspect to this is the economic standing of my setup, for example, is the 670gtx likely to drop in price rapidly within the coming month? The time frame I plan to buy all this will be within the week or at most the month.

-Wiring: I've received mix advice from friends on this, generally the consensus is that all the wiring i'll require will come with the components but I'd still like to know just to be safe.

-Dimensions: I guess this also goes with compatibility but I'm worried about whether everything will fit. As I am a first time builder, there's only so much I can trust myself on measurements with assembly especially since my maths... well let's not go there. (Humanities degree ftl)

Some notes:

-I don't plan to overclock for some time (Around a year, very unlikely any less than that unless I'm unhappy with performance), should heat be an issue?
-I like to think I know a fair amount in this field, but there is always room for knowledge no matter how well read you are, with that said I'm assuming that there are no bottlenecks in this setup, please inform me if this is not the case.
-I chose building my own computer as opposed to buying one from FreshTechSolutions since they appear to use less reputable manufacturers for their components and I have had a friend experience great customer service difficulties with them after a PC he bought from them had a graphics card failure. I suspect this was a wise choice, unless there are people vouching for them.
-I already have a logitech wireless mouse and keyboard set I dished out £100 for so gaming peripherals aside from a monitor are all accounted for.

List of components and why I chose them here, or a link to each component at the retailer I plan to buy from on the address above.
Spoiler

i5 3570k chosen over the AMD FX 8350 for gaming purposes, unsure but iirc the AMD model is better for streaming which I do not do professionally.

Corsair 8gb red vengeance (4gbx2) 1866mhz RAM chosen, fins may be an issue with fitting.

Toshiba 2tb 3.5 Int Sata 7200rpm Hdd. Standard hard drive, no SSD to remain at the budget mark

Asus P8Z77-V LX Socket 1155 Chosen over the gigabyte motherboard purely on the basis that I prefer Asus to Giga, however this may be subject to change. Z77 over the Z68 as the Z68 mobo has no PCIE3 support for the 670gtx

MSI GTX 670 OC Edition 2GB chosen a 670gtx over a 680gtx for budget value, though may be changed for a 7970 AMD.

Samsung SH-224BB SATA DVD drive since its a standard disc drive, most gaming is done on steam/download services now. Will add a blu ray player in the future as I like to watch anime.

CM Storm Enforcer Case Chosen for good cable management, airflow, fan setup and EGO! (dat window)

Corsair TXM 850W Modular PSU though unsure if 850W is necessary but sitting on the safe side.

Philips E-line 247E4LHSB LED LCD 23.6" HDMI monitor. Tis a Standard 24" monitor. I'm personally very content with just 1080p. Will dual monitor in the future.

ThermalRight Silver Arrow SB-E SE Cooling Fan since the motherboard doesn't appear to come with a CPU fan so I decided on this, unsure if it fits the dimensions for the mobo/case with the RAM sticks having fins.


Total Cost is at £1050, would prefer to cut but £50 is not too much to go over for such a setup. Compromises can be made but I'd prefer to keep things as they are bar a few components.

More about : time builder heavily researched setup low mid high end gaming final advice check needed

a b 4 Gaming
May 20, 2013 12:42:31 PM

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor (£99.95 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£61.80 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£38.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£105.55 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£59.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (£309.99 @ Dabs)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£86.62 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.47 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£142.50 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £994.18
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 20:40 BST+0100)

I went with AMD to give you some of the things you wanted like an SSD and windowed case. The FX-6350 will overclock well should you decide to, and this should make for a nice gaming computer.
May 20, 2013 12:52:24 PM

Transmaniacon said:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor (£99.95 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£61.80 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£38.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£105.55 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£59.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (£309.99 @ Dabs)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£86.62 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.47 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£142.50 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £994.18
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 20:40 BST+0100)

I went with AMD to give you some of the things you wanted like an SSD and windowed case. The FX-6350 will overclock well should you decide to, and this should make for a nice gaming computer.

Many thanks for the reply. The ssd is something I can add in the future hence Why it wasn't a priority though I should have mentioned that.

Is a 550w Psu is for that CPU and not mone I assume but is there some room to cut for me there?
Related resources
May 20, 2013 12:59:31 PM

If you want a good cheap case, have a look at the Zalman z9 plus. Costs around 45 pounds. Additionally if you are willing to work for it you can get a 7970 (IMO better than a 670) for £250-270 off eBay.

If you are willing to wait the 700 series of nVidia cards comes out very soon and so may lead to a drop in price of gpu's. If you are willing to wait a bit longer, the release of has well may see cpu's drop in price (maybe not intel cpu's but maybe you could get a cheap 8350).

Also bear in mind that the longer you wait the cheaper the other components may get so waiting a few weeks might be a good idea. If you did all this and dropped the sad you could likely get your pc for around £800- 850

I hope that helps
a b 4 Gaming
May 20, 2013 1:02:49 PM

I say get an SSD now otherwise you will have to reinstall Windows on the SSD, and then you will have a bunch of windows files on your storage drive that are a pain to get off. The 550 watt is plenty for a single GPU and it will work well. There isn't much else I can trim off of there. You could drop down on the case, but if you want a window, it is a good quiet option.
May 20, 2013 1:03:09 PM

NappySlapper said:
If you want a good cheap case, have a look at the Zalman z9 plus. Costs around 45 pounds. Additionally if you are willing to work for it you can get a 7970 (IMO better than a 670) for £250-270 off eBay.
If you are willing to wait the 700 series of nVidia cards comes out very soon and so may lead to a drop in price of gpu's. If you are willing to wait a bit longer, the release of has well may see cpu's drop in price (maybe not intel cpu's but maybe you could get a cheap 8350)

I hope that helps


How's the 7970 better and do you mean the ghz version?
May 20, 2013 1:04:59 PM

Transmaniacon said:
I say get an SSD now otherwise you will have to reinstall Windows on the SSD, and then you will have a bunch of windows files on your storage drive that are a pain to get off. The 550 watt is plenty for a single GPU and it will work well. There isn't much else I can trim off of there. You could drop down on the case, but if you want a window, it is a good quiet option.


Thank you this is something that I have and still am considering. how's the lifespan on ssds right now?
May 20, 2013 1:08:33 PM

Although it is my personal opinion, the 7970 just seems to have better game performance. When over clocked it can beat a gtx 680 and yes you can get the 7970ghz edition for about £270 as I just did haha !

If you want more info toms has a ranking for gpu cards and it shows the 7970ghz edition higher than the 670 :) 
May 20, 2013 1:11:53 PM

On ssd's, although they can definitely be MUCH faster, are those 20 seconds or so of loading times reduced really worth 100 quid?

If you didn't have a budget I would say go for it but i would personally buy a better CPU as you will see better gaming performance
May 20, 2013 1:16:00 PM

NappySlapper said:
On ssd's, although they can definitely be MUCH faster, are those 20 seconds or so of loading times reduced really worth 100 quid?

If you didn't have a budget I would say go for it but i would personally buy a better CPU as you will see better gaming performance


This was my line of logical thinking Yes. thank you for the advice. How about my other questions in the first post such as compatability and Other wires
May 20, 2013 1:19:51 PM

As far as I am aware you get all the wires needed for installation with your case and components. The only thing I would say is that if you are to buy a graphics card off eBay , check with the seller to see if they will provide the wires needed.
May 20, 2013 1:22:32 PM

NappySlapper said:
As far as I am aware you get all the wires needed for installation with your case and components. The only thing I would say is that if you are to buy a graphics card off eBay , check with the seller to see if they will provide the wires needed.


My final concern is that the CPU fan won't fit with the rest of my components. any advice on this?
a b 4 Gaming
May 20, 2013 1:27:00 PM

Check the height of the CPU cooler, and then check the allowable clearance for the case. I would wager just about anything will fit in that case so you should be good to go. Your motherboard will come with all the cables needed.
May 20, 2013 1:32:11 PM

On the topic of the motherboard, it may be a good idea to use some of the money saved from not having an ssd to getting a different mother board. The 99fx is probably a better one for about 25 quid more though I could be wrong here
May 20, 2013 1:36:40 PM

NappySlapper said:
On the topic of the motherboard, it may be a good idea to use some of the money saved from not having an ssd to getting a different mother board. The 99fx is probably a better one for about 25 quid more though I could be wrong here


What makes a 99fx better from my choice? Apologies for ubernub questions
May 20, 2013 1:38:13 PM

NappySlapper said:
On the topic of the motherboard, it may be a good idea to use some of the money saved from not having an ssd to getting a different mother board. The 99fx is probably a better one for about 25 quid more though I could be wrong here


Also l should note that I'm still sticking to my guns on all my original choices
May 20, 2013 2:18:47 PM

The 99x would be better for over clocking in the future I believe . Also if you want to reduce costs then the 7970 from eBay , Zalman z9 plus case and drop the ssd to get maybe a 8350 CPU or even has well (though this would mean a different motherboard)
May 20, 2013 3:57:30 PM

Also there wasn't much price difference between 1600 and 1866 for the ram so I chose the latter. I'm assuming there will be no problems with that unless there's some kind of incompatibility
May 20, 2013 3:57:31 PM

Also there wasn't much price difference between 1600 and 1866 for the ram so I chose the latter. I'm assuming there will be no problems with that unless there's some kind of incompatibility
!