First GAMING PC Build.

[TheForetold1]

Hi, I am a big gamer but have not been able to play the latest demanding games seeing my gaming laptop is getting old, so in order to play these latest games decided to build a PC. With an absolute maximum budget of £450 / $680.69, I have created this build using my knowledge of tech and comparing to other existing builds that have good reviews. The game I wish to play the most is the upcoming Star Citizen (I will overclock if needed - please say).

Here is the build (case has 4 case fans): http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/DYdpP6

(Please give constructive criticism and change the list as you please but do not say "AMD is is worthless get Intel" for my friend has a crazy good AMD PC. You must say why please)

Thank You

 

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

I suggest getting a 1 TB hard drive and getting an SSD, it really does boost your performance http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2qbWQ7 This is £27 over your budget, however if you were to get a 120gb SSD instead of a 240 which I have put in there then you should be able to get it in your budget unless you can go slightly over, I know how frustrating budgets are!

 

[logainofhades]

Power supply is a low quality unit. The 860k is a pretty low end chip, with no upgrade path. GTX 960 really cannot make much use of 4gb, I would go with a less expensive 2gb model. I would go with this. More consistent performance, a better power supply, can be upgraded to an i5 4xxx, i7 4xxx, or Xeon 1230v3, later on.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£88.92 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£59.92 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury White 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£34.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£149.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Thermaltake VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case (£24.31 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.81 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £449.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-30 18:25 BST+0100

 

[filippi]

The i5 4 cores w/ high ipc will help a lot Star Citizen gameplay.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£138.54 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£30.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£27.36 @ Dabs)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.74 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card (£155.84 @ Aria PC)
Case: Thermaltake VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case (£24.31 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.81 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £449.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-30 18:28 BST+0100

 

[geofelt]

Your build will not meet the minimum requirements of star Citizen as described here:
http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=5490&game=Star%20Citizen

I doubt that you can do it with your budget.

But... the requirements may change. Your graphics card is close, and should be able to run at lesser settings.

The X4-860k will need to be overclocked and still may not do the job.
Unknown is how much the game depends on a single fast master core, or how well threaded the implementation is.
Here is an interesting comparison of the X4-860K as a gamer:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1017-best-budget-gaming-cpu/

The big reason to go with intel and lga1150 is that you will have a cpu upgrade path using the same motherboard. The X4-860K has none.

 

[logainofhades]

I think game debate has those min requirements wrong. http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/star-citizen/11834

 

[TheForetold1]

The i5 4 cores w/ high ipc will help a lot Star Citizen gameplay.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£138.54 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£30.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£27.36 @ Dabs)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.74 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card (£155.84 @ Aria PC)
Case: Thermaltake VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case (£24.31 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.81 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £449.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-30 18:28 BST+0100

So this £449.57 build you made will run Star Citizen fine?

 

[logainofhades]

Yea, filippi's build has a better CPU, than mine. I focused more on motherboard, than I probably should have.

 

[TheForetold1]

Yea, filippi's build has a better CPU, than mine. I focused more on motherboard, than I probably should have.

Okay then, thanks for the help. Ill go with his build add add a cooling fan: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£16.50)