Help cutting costs/improving parts in a beginner PC

[rocketship92]

I have been thinking of getting a gaming pc for a while now and I want to play games along the lines of Skyrim/BF3 etc. Hence I've been looking at a building a PC capable of playing these but with some future proofing which will cover me for new games over the course of the next 2/3 years if possible. I will be playing a max resolution of 1080p (on my bedroom TV) and would like a frame rate of 45+ for the games mentioned. I doubt I will be overclocking. My budget is £500 but pushing the price closer to £450 is more than welcome. I have been reading up on gaming PCs recently outside of work (which has resulted in a few late nights) and have come up with the following combination (Note: did not use PC parts picker as it often listed greater prices than I could find elsewhere). Is this a good combination or can I cut costs by using cheaper parts more suited to my purpose?

CPU: Intel i-5 4590 3.3GHz Quad Core (£117.77 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-P33 Intel B85 (Socket 1150) Motherboard (£34.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (£38.27 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA (£41.22 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270 TWIN FROZR GAMING OC 2GB GDDR5 (£132.98 @ Novatech)
Case: Zalman z9 PLUS (£44.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: RAIDMAX Cobra RX-600AF-B 600W ATX 12V v2.3/EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE (£38.27 @ Newegg)
Optical: Samsung 224DB 24x DVD Re-Writer - SATA - Black - OEM (£12.98 @ Novatech)
OS: Windows 7 PRO (£39.99 @ Mr High Tech)

The total price of this build comes in at £500.97 and I'm fairly certain it all works together. Is this a good build? Or are there cheaper parts I could use to bring costs down? I chose the motherboard because PC part picker alerted me to some issue with H81 motherboards and BIOS needing updated. I would get a H81 if I knew how to solve that issue! Also alternatively I noticed this video card: SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 270X Dual-X OC 4GB GDDR5 (£159.98 @ Novatech), Obviously 4>2, but is it worth the extra £30? I have no real preference for case only that I wish for it to be black and a bit understated (not really fussed on LEDs). Front USB 3.0 slots are not necessary but would be welcomed!

So what do you's think? Have I over estimated my requirements or do I have a build sufficient to cover my needs for the next few years?

 

[g-unit1111]

You don't want a Raidmax power supply - they're widely considered among the worst of the worst. If you're not going to overclock you could cut down on the CPU a bit and then upgrade your GPU.

 

[rocketship92]

How about Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply? I can pick it up for £46.26 at Amazon, or should I just get the non-modular version for £4 less?

What suggestions do you have for cutting down on the CPU? Ideally I was looking for a quad-core CPU and the one I listed was one of the cheapest I could find. Do you think I should consider a non-Intel CPU?

 

[soullStream]

Use that cpu, its not a K edition and isn't OC'able so I would still use it. If you are purely gaming then use an i5. The 270x will play BF4 on Ultra with an average around 50fps, and similar games although crysis 3 you might have to tone it back to just high settings. (If you really want spend the extra 100 pound and get a r9 280 http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/amdradeongraphicscards/amdr9280xseries/r9280x-dc2t-3gd5.html
I reccomend the Asus as even though it doesn't have the best performance it has the best cooling and is the quietest, so you sacrifice minimal performance for better cooling and a quieter card.)
Also go for the modular PSU, cable management for $4 is worth it. Trust me I didnt go for modular and regret it big time! And yeah the corsair are a great power supply but you can't really go wrong with any big name (antec, corsiar, seasonic etc) and always make sure it has an 80+ bronze rating at least.

Also with the next gen of games and 4k future proofing is a term that is hard to recommend, but yes it should play most games at reasonable frame rates over the next few years especially if you were to upgrade to a 280x.

Edit: The link you provided for your ram was out of stock. Heres the instock ram for same price http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313345&cm_re=ddr3_1600_8gb-_-20-313-345-_-Product

 

[rocketship92]

Use that cpu, its not a K edition and isn't OC'able so I would still use it. If you are purely gaming then use an i5. The 270x will play BF4 on Ultra with an average around 50fps, and similar games although crysis 3 you might have to tone it back to just high settings. (If you really want spend the extra 100 pound and get a r9 280 http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/amdradeongraphicscards/amdr9280xseries/r9280x-dc2t-3gd5.html
I reccomend the Asus as even though it doesn't have the best performance it has the best cooling and is the quietest, so you sacrifice minimal performance for better cooling and a quieter card.)
Also go for the modular PSU, cable management for $4 is worth it. Trust me I didnt go for modular and regret it big time! And yeah the corsair are a great power supply but you can't really go wrong with any big name (antec, corsiar, seasonic etc) and always make sure it has an 80+ bronze rating at least.

Also with the next gen of games and 4k future proofing is a term that is hard to recommend, but yes it should play most games at reasonable frame rates over the next few years especially if you were to upgrade to a 280x.

Edit: The link you provided for your ram was out of stock. Heres the instock ram for same price http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313345&cm_re=ddr3_1600_8gb-_-20-313-345-_-Product

Thanks for the RAM link. That GPU looks great but spending an extra £100 is a bit of a push on my budget, but I will consider it. With 3 festivals this summer it's likely I'll have to stick to my £500 budget unless I can cut down on my expenditure when I'm away or sell some of the crap I've collected over the years on eBay.

 

[soullStream]

Honestly the 270x will do just fine if you can't afford it. Like I said i've seen it average between 50-60fps with a minimum of 40fps in BF4 on ultra so i wouldnt really bother if money is tight to get a 280x, the 280x will just perform better in games in a year or two

 

[rocketship92]

Also do I need a sound card for this PC? I have no high-tech audio equipment and I will mostly be using HDMI as my video connection. I don't think I need a wireless card as I should be able to take one from an old PC I have in my house.

 

[soullStream]

Nah sound cards are a waste of money and dont provide better sound than your mobo generally (sometimes worse).
Check this video for more in depth explanations aha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0