New Build Advice - £1000 machine

[Knightoid]

Hi All,

Not posted on these forums before but I follow TomsHardware quite regularly when looking at what system to get.

Basically my budget is around £1000 (maybe a little more for a monitor as well) my requirements are a small quite gaming machine - ideally mATX and as quite as possible as it may have to end up being located in my bedroom (baby on the way stealing my office ) The main game I see coming up that I want this to run at full spec is Rome Total War 2.

I have a general good idea about components so I have put a build together just wanting some advice if I could do any better or what parts to swap and change etc.

Current machine: i5 760, GTX260, 4GB RAM

New Build proposed parts:

Mobo: ASRock Z87M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (no idea about which brand is better these days)
CPU: i5 4670K (not planning on OC'ing but may do later and don't think I need an i7)
GFX: MSi Twin Forzer 760 (dunno which brand to go for to be honest but I read somewhere that this one was good and quite)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
HD1: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (I read this is the best)
HD2: Seagate Momentus XT 750GB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Not sure why really just that it was a Hybrid drive so might be a bit quicker)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case (looked nice and mATX)
PSU: Fractal Design Integra R2 650W (Could I get away with a smaller PSU?)
DVD: Cheapest DVD/RW available at the time
Cooling: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer 81.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (never done water cooling before so don't know if this is any good or if it will make it any quieter)

This all comes in for around £950 depending on which retailers I goto (normally a mixture of ebuyer.com and amazon.co.uk )

Monitor: - budget for monitor is errm... cheapest for the spec I want
Currently I have a 20" Samsung 1600x900 monitor but to be honest I want to get rid of this and go for a 24" 1900x1200 monitor.
This one looks pretty good but not sure:
http://www.ebuyer.com/414465-s24c450bw-24-led-1920x1200-vga-dvi-height-adjust-swivel-pivot-ls24c45kbw-en


Thanks in advance for reading all this and any advice would be appreiciated

 

[chulex67]

Yeah good system, the only changes i would do would be.

HD2: Seagate Barracuda STBD2000101 or Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 , solid drives. You dont want Hybrid Drives.

HD1: Now, many people like Samsung 840 Pro series SSD, why? because they are stable, they are cheap, and they got a good customer service. Thats the good Side, The Bad side, its that the Samsung 840 Pro Series are a new type of drive That use TLC Storage, Now what its TLC Storage??, well its used mostly on cheap tablets, cheap usb sticks, sd cards and cheap media players. How Does this affects you? In Nothing mostly, Samsung made a good job with their Software, and drivers so it balance the SSD. In my personal opinion I would rather get a GOOD piece of hardware, than a BALANCED piece of Hardware. Corsair Neutron and Crucial SSD are faster in write and read speeds. Check them out.

Psu: Now, you are going with a non modular psu for a mini atx case as the Fractal Define Mini?, No man, you want a Modular PSU, I dont own this case, but helped build one with a CX500 Corsair, and Omg, theres not enough space behind the motherboard. Try to Find any Fractal, Corsair, Antec, Seasonic or PC power and Cooling, those are good brands, but if you can go Seasonic.

Cooling: I would rather go with Something like Corsair H60, because most people buy them and there is alot of Tutorials and Videos about them. They are good too, cheap and good performance.

 

[Knightoid]

Thanks Chulex67,

HD2: To be honest wasn't sure what the hybrid drives were like - I don't need 2TB so I'll go with the Barracuda 1TB drive I think: ST1000DM003

HD1: On the Samsung 840 Pro I've read some reviews and benchmarks regarding the Corsair Neutron and everything seems to suggest the Samsung is better. To be honest there doesn't look like a lot in it but I think I'll stick with the Samsung

PSU: Thanks for the heads up on limited room in the case! Would this 520W provide enough power? SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze or do I need to go with something a bit more beefy such as: SeaSonic SS-650AM

Cooling: Swapped for the H60 - cheers - Not done water cooling before so not sure what to use