PC Build £600-£700 advice please

[Shootingbut]

I would like to build a PC but don't know what kind of components to buy. i know that i want about 8GB of ram, probably a quad-core with quite a fast clock-speed otherwise i would prefer more cores if it is better for gaming, probably a radeon 7870 tahiti or a gpu with similar performance but for better value / better quality.I don't really know what case to get although i have a few ideas, i also don't know much about the psu or what fans to get so would like help with that . carrying on hdd and DVD drive from last PC. any help is very appreciated

 

[X79]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£83.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£77.17 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£41.77 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£319.99 @ Dabs)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£65.99 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (£67.19 @ Aria PC)
Total: £704.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 20:59 BST+0100)

There you go mate. Superb performance; even the Queen would agree.

Motherboard is SLI compatible, so once the FPS starts to drop, you head down to the shop and get yourself

another GTX 770 for SLI; the PSU is ready for this as well. If this isn't something you're into, drop the

motherboard and PSU a bit lower to save some cash. No HDD and DVD drive as you mentioned.

Likewise this will also provide for some superb performance:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£83.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£70.25 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£41.77 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£219.00 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.98 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (£67.19 @ Aria PC)
Total: £583.16
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 21:02 BST+0100)

There's room for a CPU cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO and also a 120GB Samsung 840 series SSD if you want.

 

[Shootingbut]

Looks like a good build. Will these systems be solid for gaming on and recording/streaming whilst talking to mates on something like skype. Streaming / youtube might be somewhere i want to explore in the near future. Looks like a very good build for me if this could be an option. Update: i already have win7; i trust these are decent quality products

 

[X79]

Excellent, no windows!

If you're a heavy multi-tasker, more RAM will please you:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£83.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£70.25 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£99.50 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£219.00 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £573.70
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 21:21 BST+0100)


But since windows isn't needed (hurray again) that frees up more space!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£151.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H87-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£82.84 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£99.50 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£219.00 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £654.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 21:23 BST+0100)

This build would definitely rock. Plenty RAM, great GPU, great CPU and a motherboard

capable of SLI, if that ever becomes relevant for you. You'd only have to give the PSU a wee

upgrade and you'd SLI just fine. No overclocking however.


And yes, they're quality parts. I never pick brands which aren't very widely known and not held

in high regard in some manner (some brands might be bad at PSUs, but might be good at GPUs, so you

only pick their GPUs, if anything, for example.)

 

[Shootingbut]

Wow thx you have been a great help. I might end up getting a 600 or 650 w psu just incase i do a small bit of overclocking. I feel rly stupid for asking but whats sli?

 

[X79]

No worries mate.

No need to feel stupid; if you've got a question, these forums are one of the best places to pose them.

SLI is simply when you take two or more Nvidia GPUs and put them on the same motherboard; connected

by a little "SLI bridge" that comes with the GPU. This makes the GPUs in question function more like one GPU,

yet providing more power. Some GPUs scale better and worse, when you add more. For instance if you've got

a GTX 670 and it provides a 100FPS at 1920 x 1080 resolution (A.K.A Full HD) in a given game, it might provide

50 more, if you add another GPU. Thus it "scales" pretty well when you add another. Other GPUs might only give

a handful more FPS or barely any. Adding another GPU requires a motherboard which is SLI or CF ready. It also requires

more power; which was why I mentioned the thing about the PSU in my last post. It can also generate more heat and such.

Generally, adding two or more cards together (Some motherboards allow for as much as 4 way setups) can add more power

to your build. What's neat about it is that you can take two midrange GPUs and SLI them and thus rival or surpass the performance

of a more high-end and expensive single GPU.


As for CF, it refers to CrossFire X and it's exactly the same deal as SLI; Except it pertains to GPUs made by AMD; such as

Radeon 7970, Radeon 7850 etc. etc. etc.)

I would recommend upgrading the case too, if you feel like it. Some cases are better suited than others for various

things. That case from the last build, is meant for quietness mostly. Cases are personal preference too; so it's kind of

like a placeholder for you to pick a different one, if you'd like.

 

[Shootingbut]

if i got 2 cheaper but fx/sli capable gpus would they give better performance for the same amount of money than one decent one?

 

[X79]

That depends on which GPU. But ones like GTX 670 certainly do give a lot of added performance from what I've seen.

However generally it's advised that you get a single GPU, rather than go dual GPUs, as it's not hassle-free going SLI/CF

necessarily. This is due to you becoming reliant on correct driver support from Nvidia/AMD and in the games you play.

So if you have the choice; it's normally best to pick a single GPU. Two can end up costing as much as one as well.

There's also a slight risk of added problems.

 

[Shootingbut]

Thank you for your time. Would i be able to get more for my money if i wait a while until next gen components are releasedby amd , intel amd nvidia. I thought that this would be happening fairly soon and that prices of older components by the same companies would significantly drop after the next gen releases.

 

[X79]

Well it sounds like you're not coming from a previous rig, which would be bad if for example you already had

a GTX 660; because then I'd recommend that you wait, since there wouldn't be a significant enough performance

gap between the 660 and GTX 770 for or GTX 760 or whatnot for instance. If you're wanting a PC right now, you can

go right ahead; yet if you're fine with waiting a few months or more, then that certainly can't hurt either. Now I don't know

when AMD will be releasing their new GPUs, but I expect it to be no later than around september, as as I've heard Nvidia

will be laying off releasing any thing else for a few months going forward. I don't think you've mentioned any games that you

play or intend on playing, but a GTX 760 for instance, would do you well. Oh and no problem. Glad to help.

 

[Shootingbut]

Th only things im carrying forward from my old pc is dvd drive and hdd. Dont think i will need any more help. Will return here with my final specs and price for the build

 

[Shootingbut]

When you said the intel cpu , i was wondering. It has a lower clock speed and less cores how then is the i5 better than the amd?

 

[X79]

Alright.

Because from benchmarks Intel gets (even if only slightly a lot of the time perhaps) more FPS.

That's why I said more or less cores didn't necessarily equate more or less performance.

I suppose the bottom line is that it's different architectures. So perhaps if you look at it in the sense

that you might have X amount of cores, but perhaps each isn't as powerful. However more cores is getting

popular, as games and other programs start to take more advantage of them. Note, it's not because what AMD

makes is bad either. Their FX-8350 can go neck and neck with an i5 -3570K.

 

[Shootingbut]

Probably going to get amd cpu, gtx 760 gpu ,the asus mother board, i can get some pretty cheap samsung ram that still works well but might still go with corsair, 700 w corsair builder series psu i think amd i am doing some research on cases at the moment. In total about £ 600

 

[X79]

Cool.

I'd say you need 550W max.

 

[Shootingbut]

This is the type of ram i was thinking of getting Samsung Electronics Extreme Low Voltage 30nm UDIMM 8 Dual Channel Kit DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM MV-3V4G3D/US

 

[X79]

Seems okay, but I'm no expert on RAM. Remember to get 2x4 at least.

 

[Shootingbut]

Cool.

I'd say you need 550W max.

Im normally using all the usb for my printer headphones and gaming keyboard. 550 w wouldnt leave much room for sli/fx later or a little bit of overclocking

 

[Shootingbut]

Seems okay, but I'm no expert on RAM. Remember to get 2x4 at least.

Yeah im probably going to get 8 gb at first. How many slots does the motherboard have. Duncan33303 from youtube seems to like this ram

 

[X79]

I don't know which motherboard you're referring to now.

If motherboards in general, usually 4 slots, color-coded to whether they support dual-channel or higher channels

of RAM or not.

 

[Shootingbut]

Ok sorry for not being clear i meant the asas m5a. Just looked at pricing for the ram i specified and decided to go for the corsair ram

 

[Shootingbut]

600 w psu for my build maybe then? I don't think id need it modualar. Whats the advantage of a modular psu?

 

[X79]

The M5A has 4 memory slots and can max out at 32GB RAM if that's what you mean.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97r20

I don't know what you've put together, but usually 600W is definitely enough.

There's 3 typs of PSU:

1) Non-modular

2) Semi-modular

3) Fully-modular

---------------------------------

1) ALL possible cables you could possibly use come pre-attached to the PSU.

2) Only some cables come pre-attached.

3) None come pre-attached.

Usually you'd prefer modular because if you're trying to fit things nicely into a case, it's

a huge drag if you've got 40 cables that you've somehow got to stow away. It can be messy, tricky

in cramped cases and can also disturb the airflow depending on your setup. Whereas with a modular

PSU, you yourself decide which cables you want to use and that's that. Fully modular costs more though.

 

[Shootingbut]

Cpu: amd fx ...
Gpu: geforce 760
Motherboard: asus m5a...
RAM: 2x4 gb , 2x2 gb corsair vengance
Psu: 600 w modular corsair. Not sure which model
Case: Yet to decide
HDD: 1 tb wd hdd not sure on model
DVD: standard dvd r/w drive

 

[Shootingbut]

Going or the amd over intel as next gen games and programs are taking advantage of more cores. I believe then that because the amd has 6 cores and intel has only 4 the amd will work better with these games and programs. Please correct me if i am wrong as i will revise my amswer if so