First Time Building a New PC

[LesSwanepoel]

Hey all

I've decided to build a new pc since the old one is getting pretty tired now. I've not got much experience with building my own system but I have upgraded the odd component in my time. I intend on using the pc primarily for gaming and would like it to last at least a few years. I would like to try and overclock the CPU but I've not done it before so I'd need to learn how to do so which leads to to ask the question, Is it even worth overclocking or will the standard processor be fine?

Since I haven't really kept up to date with my knowledge of all the hardware I'm not sure if I've picked the best parts or not. If it seems I've gone overboard on any of them and could have picked a cheaper more suitable part I would very much appreciate the advice. I'm also happy to spend a little more on any of the components if needed. Also I'm not 100% sure which version of windows to go for as I'm still running Vista (so anything should be an upgrade right?).

Here is a link to a system I have picked parts for:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/33iiN
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/33iiN/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/33iiN/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£83.88 @ Amazon UK)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste (£11.27 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£113.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£65.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£61.56 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£112.76 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£237.60 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£89.40 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (£16.90 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£79.81 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1113.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-03 13:14 GMT+0000)

 

[sadams04]

You are in good shape. My thoughts are below.

Thermal Compound - Good choice and all, but the H100i will have you covered here with a quality compound. Not necessary to buy AS5, but it is cheap.
SSD - 120GB is fine, but do yourself a favor and go with the 250GB model now. A cheaper option, but still a good one, is the Crucial M500.
HD - No need for a "performance" drive like the WD Black when you have an SSD handling the majority of your workload. Look toward a Seagate 2TB to save on the budget (or add to the SSD budget)
Optical - You have a good sized budget so I would try to squeeze in a BD-RW instead of the DVD-RW.

Enjoy that build!

 

[sora]

Love that build in my opinion. I personally love the 120GB since it is definitely enough to load the OS and load a few games on.

 

[LesSwanepoel]

Thanks for the replies. I did have a look at changing the SSD to 250GB and changing the other HD to a 2TB Seagate disk. This saved me enough money to get a BD-RW for only £10 more which is quite tempting.