First time build, can you help optimize it? £700 budget

[Mubariz123]

Hi, im fairly new to this scene and threw this build together. I would appreciate if I could get some help making it more efficient and maybe cutting some costs to get it below £650, thanks!
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/DydqP6

Edit: I would mainly use the PC for Gaming, and would be using dual monitors.

 

[Scremin34Egl]

non overclocking rig

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£63.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£58.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£215.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.20 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£44.11 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.32 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£36.00 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £644.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

[mapesdhs]

Mubariz123 writes:
> Edit: I would mainly use the PC for Gaming, and would be using dual monitors.

Ye gods that RAM is expensive! Find a used kit on eBay instead. Also, the 256GB MX100 is not
much more than the 128GB GS (or the 128GB is less, as is the EVO 128GB).

More importantly though, forget those dumb OEM packs from normal sellers, there are eBay
etailers with loads of original unused Win7/Pro/64bit OEM packs with COA available for about
40 each, save you 30 straight away, eg. see:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251561426201

I bought ten packs way back, they work fine. The discs come from unsold generic
business desktops which are being recycled.

Ian.

 

[Mubariz123]

Hey thanks for your answers so far, this is nearly identical to the original post for a lower price, what do you think?
https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/weekly_sales_II
Thanks Again

 

[Scremin34Egl]

Hey thanks for your answers so far, this is nearly identical to the original post for a lower price, what do you think?
https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/weekly_sales_II
Thanks Again

I would still build it myself. It would eventually work out much more once you start customizing it and you don't have much of a choice with the parts

 

[Mubariz123]

But knowing me i'd mess something up, this way I get a 3 year warranty, I would be happy to go up to £700 with customizations, but not sure which customizations to go for.

 

[Scremin34Egl]

But knowing me i'd mess something up, this way I get a 3 year warranty, I would be happy to go up to £700 with customizations, but not sure which customizations to go for.

Their are plenty of youtube videos to help you, it's not hard

 

[mapesdhs]

Heck, I'd be happy to build it for you. Btw, I've never had good experiences with Kingston
RAM, that's the 1st thing which looks out of place in their spec list. Also, for gaming,
and if it's within budget, I'd say it's worth beefing up the GPU, as to an extent atm the
CPU is kinda overkill for the GPU you've selected (at least a 760 instead). Plus, that's
not the mbd I'd use either, better off with a decent ASUS like the VII Ranger, at least
give you some future headroom to grow & expand the spec. Worst of all, for a spec
list containing overclockable parts, the PSU is totally wrong - something their selector
system ought to flag up as being a possible issue (it doesn't).



Scremin34Egl is right though IMO, better to do it yourself, and if it were me I'd be
exploiting other sources for certain items to reduce costs further, especially a decent
SSD and PSU.

Ian.