Advice for new build gaming PC, Budget £800 - £1000

levtweeney

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Apr 29, 2009
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Hi All

I need a new PC and I want to be able to play games with a good quality PC. My budget is £800 - £1000 (up to $1500) I really want to try building my own :pt1cable:

The only problem is I have read 600 reviews, been on what seems like thousands of websites and confused my brain to the max. Will I get a better spec PC by building it myself or would buying one from say Overclockers be the way to go?

I need a parts list that I can follow that will give me a decent rig. It needs to include things like the operating system, wires, cables, paste and any other thing needed to complete the task. Do not think "Oh he will know to buy that" because he wont hahaha

Forgot to say don't need peripherals

I only hope there is someone here that can advise me

Thanks

Kevin
 
Solution
1. The 390x trades blows with the GTX 980 see Anandtech's comparison between the two. So it will depend on which one you favor.
2. Options, OC'ing potential, and name brand pricing. Asus is generally a pretty solid and reliable option, but it usually costs more. AsRock is a more affordable option that is pretty reliable too, so keep that in mind.
3. You can use any Mobo that matches your CPU with just about any PCI-e based GPU. So as long as the Mobo has a PCI-e slot on it, you should have no issues running just about any current GPU in it.
4. Pretty much your Mobo supplies most cables that you will need for basic needs (SATA cables for HD's/SSD's/DVD drives - usually you get 2-4 of them depending on what they bundle with the...
These parts will come with everything you need to put it together and will make a great 1080p gaming rig.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor (£146.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.89 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£45.62 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£246.54 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.98 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£66.96 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Total: £783.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-18 13:52 GMT+0000

For a 1440p rig:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor (£146.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.89 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£45.62 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£374.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.98 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£76.74 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Total: £922.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-18 13:57 GMT+0000
 
Building your own system is the best option and best thing in the world. There is no discussion possible. It's the only way to get exactly your wishes in your system and make sure everything in there is quality (Depends on your selection but that's what we're here for).

Anyways, here an Asus based system with dark metallic silver, and a tint of red on the RAM, motherboard and graphics card. Other than that you'll see black colored components.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.96 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler (£16.49 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII RANGER ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£132.59 @ More Computers)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£76.56 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£61.98 @ Novatech)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.14 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 390X 8GB Video Card (£338.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case (£62.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£76.99 @ Novatech)
Total: £1003.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-18 14:05 GMT+0000

Another one with windows (Black/white themed):
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hMrCGX
 
So here is what I'd recommend (buy your own parts > pre-built):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£72.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£51.92 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£62.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card (£389.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£52.50 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£57.24 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£80.00)
Total: £960.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-18 14:20 GMT+0000

I selected 1 merchant (I usually stick with up to 3 myself here in the U.S., but you can decide what works best for you). I limit the merchants, so it is easier to deal with replacements/returns easier. As you can see you can buy the parts from multiple vendors (sometimes cheaper), but having 1 or 2 places to deal with is always a good option, especially if your new to computer building.

If you noticed above, Amazon UK doesn't have Windows 10 in stock, so I put in the going rate for it, so it is included into the final cost.
 
Thanks so much for the replies BadActor, RCFProd and Lunyone

These systems look very powerful, loving RCFProds with SSD and 16GB RAM but not sure about the Radeon Card, only ever used NVidia.

Couple of questions if you don't mind...

1.Which is better the GTX 980 or the Radeon R9 390X graphics cards?
2. The Asus Maximus motherboard is a big jump in price - Why is this?
3. Can I use the Asus motherboard with the GTX 980?
4. What about cables/wires/ties do I buy these the equipment (told you I was knew to this haha)
5. What about Thermal Paste, do I need it and if so which one?
6. Any special tools needed?

Guys I want you to know I am starting to buy items this weekend so thank you so much for help so far.

Kevin
 
1. The 390x trades blows with the GTX 980 see Anandtech's comparison between the two. So it will depend on which one you favor.
2. Options, OC'ing potential, and name brand pricing. Asus is generally a pretty solid and reliable option, but it usually costs more. AsRock is a more affordable option that is pretty reliable too, so keep that in mind.
3. You can use any Mobo that matches your CPU with just about any PCI-e based GPU. So as long as the Mobo has a PCI-e slot on it, you should have no issues running just about any current GPU in it.
4. Pretty much your Mobo supplies most cables that you will need for basic needs (SATA cables for HD's/SSD's/DVD drives - usually you get 2-4 of them depending on what they bundle with the Mobo).
5. Thermal paste isn't always needed. If you buy a CPU (most of them) they come with a stock cooler and already have the thermal paste applied to them. Obviously if you need to remove the CPU HSF from the CPU for one reason or another, you will need some fresh thermal paste, which you will have to get separately.
6. Usually the only thing that you usually need is a screw driver and maybe some needle nosed pliers (for those tough areas). Generally if you have a basic set of hand tools around the house you usually are covered.


 
Solution