Gaming and Workstation build for £1200?

[Brad73]

Hi guys, I have been doing plenty of research (enjoyed learning all the stuff) and I would like advice on my build. If you could provide ideas for better parts, upgrades, incompatibilities, or savings elsewhere please do, I would really appreciate it. I am planning on buying and building this rig in a month or two. I intend to use it for Photo editing, a bit of light 3D rendering, and HD gaming.

Approximate Purchase Date: June 2014

Budget Range: £1100-£1400 (ex. delivery)

System Usage: Photo editing, Gaming, 3D rendering

Are you buying a monitor: No (Currently using a Dell U2414H which i highly recommend)

Parts: PC Part Picker

CPU - i7-4770K
Case - NZXT H440
Mobo - ASRock Z87 Extreme4
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16Gb
GPU - GeForce GTX 770 OC
SSD - OCZ or Samsung 240Gb
HDD - 2Tb drive
PSU - Corsair CX750
Cooler - Corsair H100i
OS - Win 8.1

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: I would like to in the future

Why am I Upgrading: Currently runnning an i7 Acer laptop. Its decent, but cannot game and struggles with any form of batch photo editing/archiving etc.

 

[STACKS ON DECK]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3pwmj
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3pwmj/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3pwmj/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($222.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($35.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($157.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $1153.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-15 08:58 EDT-0400)

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Plenty of power, upgradeable to 32GB of RAM, will max out everything with that monitor, and room for SLI in the future

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£215.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£49.31 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£95.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£104.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£99.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£107.44 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB Video Card (£407.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case (£91.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£86.22 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) (£104.44 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1375.03
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-15 14:38 BST+0100)

 

[sora]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3pwmj
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3pwmj/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3pwmj/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($222.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($35.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($157.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $1153.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-15 08:58 EDT-0400)

Just a note; this guy lives in the UK so you'll need to provide the UK version.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£166.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.20 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£106.48 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£64.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£249.98 @ Novatech)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£59.98 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£81.46 @ Dabs)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor (£137.50 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £928.52
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-16 04:48 BST+0100)

As you can see, it is a bit under budget haha.

 

[Brad73]

Wow thanks for the fast response guys! I think i will stick with the ASRock Z87 Extreme4 mobo as a couple of you have suggested that, and its reviews seem decent. However i noticed you all gave a different input for RAM. As far as I understand (which isnt much by the way) there is little difference between the Corsair, G.Skill, and Patriot memory units. (Please correct me if I'm wrong)
I also see that you all thought the CPU cooler i initially chose (H100i) was maybe a little overkill or unnecessary as you all suggested air coolers.
Also i had never heard of XFX PSU's so thanks for suggesting those I will definitely consider them in my build as they seem good value and have decent reviews too.

Thanks again everyone

 

[STACKS ON DECK]

Wow thanks for the fast response guys! I think i will stick with the ASRock Z87 Extreme4 mobo as a couple of you have suggested that, and its reviews seem decent. However i noticed you all gave a different input for RAM. As far as I understand (which isnt much by the way) there is little difference between the Corsair, G.Skill, and Patriot memory units. (Please correct me if I'm wrong)
I also see that you all thought the CPU cooler i initially chose (H100i) was maybe a little overkill or unnecessary as you all suggested air coolers.
Also i had never heard of XFX PSU's so thanks for suggesting those I will definitely consider them in my build as they seem good value and have decent reviews too.

Thanks again everyone

asrock board is a nice feature packed item and xfx PSU are mainly made by seasonic so no questions on quality . . and in contrast to h100i . you will be satisfied with even 212 hyper evo