Gaming Build Suggestions/ Recommendations please :)

[nthomas14]

Looking to build a gaming rig with an SLI configuration to run max settings ideally on pretty much everything (potentially 4k support, though understandably not max settings on that resolution).

This is what i have so far:

ASRock Mod 1150 Z97 Extreme6 ATX Motherboard £126.75

Gigabyte Nvidia GTX760 OC 2GB WF3 PCI-E Graphics Card (x 2) £352.66

EVGA SuperNOVA 1000W 80 Plus Modular Gold Power Supply £116.98

Intel Core i5 4670K Quad Core Retail CPU (Socket 1150, 3.40GHz, 6MB, Haswell, 84W, Intel Graphics, BX80646I74770, 4th Generation Intel Core, Turbo Boost Technology 2.0) £164.98

Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL9 XMP Performance Desktop Memory Kit Black £76.95

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive £83.99

Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Case (ATX, M-ATX, Supports Bottom PSU Installation and Aperture for Cable Management, Anti-Vibration Rubber Stand) £56.50

Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x SATA Internal Blu-ray Player DVD/CD Burner
Combo Drive £38.99

Total £1,017.80

My primary concern is compatibility and overspending in certain areas and under spending in others...

1) I have never done an sli rig before and wondered if the two 760's there would run okay despite being OC'd

2) Is 1000W PSU over kill?

3) Is gaming RAM necessary?

Any other comments on improvements and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for your time!

 

[filippi]

2GB gpu for sli is not a good idea right now. Really bad idea for 4k support.

 

[nthomas14]

Hey filippi, thanks for your response do you have any alternate suggestions?

 

[filippi]

This 😀

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£134.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£56.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.56 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£77.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.50 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card (£337.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£67.34 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£80.46 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£38.78 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £965.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-13 01:33 BST+0100

 

[nthomas14]

thanks man! Just started looking into the 290x series as opposed to sli config.

As my ideal is to keep parts through amazon as i have prime ^^

Thinking of this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-290X-TRI-X-Graphics-PCI-E/dp/B00HFA45FY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1410568492&sr=8-3&keywords=290x

or...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Nvidia-PCI-E-Graphics-Card/dp/B00D388T3Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410569327&sr=8-1&keywords=Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+780+Ti+OC+Windforce+3GB#productDetails

i think the 1tb hard drive as well is a good idea too

How come you went for a cheaper mobo? I've always been a bit wary of lower cost mobo' s I've had bad experiences in the past..

And also what's the advantage of the case you went for?

Thanks for your response!

 

[filippi]

Sapphire AMD R9 290X TRI-X OC Graphics Card is a great option! Just as XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Black Edition Double Dissipation.
See:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150700&cm_re=XFX_R9-290X-EDBD-_-14-150-700-_-Product

Hard choice indeed!


MSI H97 PC MATE is good for a CrossFireX if you ever need. Maybe a Z97 would be a good option for a overclockable cpu upgrade?

Now Fractal Design Define R4 is a beaultiful thing. Really. 😀

 

[nthomas14]

Thanks man! I'll only be able to build at the end of this month when money comes in =) buuuut im thinking if Amazon keeps the price of the GTX 780 OC at the price they have now.... (which is unlikely 😛)

That would be a bargain buy! As it is a better all round card according to benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2014-vga-charts/compare,3602.html?prod%5B6948%5D=on&prod%5B6967%5D=on

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Nvidia-PCI-E-Graphics-Card/dp/B00D388T3Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410569327&sr=8-1&keywords=Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+780+Ti+OC+Windforce+3GB#productDetails

 

[logainofhades]

Z97 > H97 for Crossfire.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£134.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£66.20 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.56 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£74.39 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.50 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Tri-X Video Card (£349.55 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£51.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£76.40 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£38.78 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£71.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £964.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-13 02:01 BST+0100

 

[logainofhades]

Thanks man! I'll only be able to build at the end of this month when money comes in =) buuuut im thinking if Amazon keeps the price of the GTX 780 OC at the price they have now.... (which is unlikely 😛)

That would be a bargain buy! As it is a better all round card according to benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2014-vga-charts/compare,3602.html?prod%5B6948%5D=on&prod%5B6967%5D=on

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Nvidia-PCI-E-Graphics-Card/dp/B00D388T3Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410569327&sr=8-1&keywords=Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+780+Ti+OC+Windforce+3GB#productDetails

Your benchmark was for the 780ti, you are looking at a 780. Two different models. Even an R9 290 is faster than a 780.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1036?vs=1068

A 290x more so.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1036?vs=1059

 

[nthomas14]

Brilliant! Thanks for pointing that out logain completely missed that small detail the 290x it is! Appreciate the input!

 

[nthomas14]

thanks for the help after researching and your suggestions i have come back with the following build

Like to know your thoughts for improvement:

Intel Core i5-4690K CPU
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KPRWB9G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
£169.99

Cooler Master Hyper 412s http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00634R3L6/ref=ox_sc... £28.99

OR

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00634R3L6/ref=ox_sc... £24.96


G-Skill 8GB Ripjaws X
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0050119O0/ref=ox_sc... £63.00


Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E391OX6/ref=ox_sc... £83.99

Asus Z97-PRO WI-FI AC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K80MYSI/ref=ox_sc... £139.00

WD 1TB 3.5 inch
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0088PUEPK/ref=ox_sc... £39.99

Sapphire AMD R9 290X TRI-X
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HFA45FY/ref=ox_sc... £354.54

OR

MSI AMD R9 290X
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HQJBWIM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC...
£337.99

OR

EVGA Super NOVA 850W
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J299ALA/ref=ox_sc... £103.21

Fractal Design Define R4
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008NFWNFO/ref=ox_sc... £76.09

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 £69.99

Pioneer BDC-207DBK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0083R9QFC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC...
£39.95

Rough total £1100.

Depending on which GPU and CPU cooler i go for.

 

[filippi]

Very good build! But imho get new i5-4690K

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i5-4690K-Processor-Graphics-LGA-1150/dp/B00KPRWB9G/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1410925902&sr=1-1&keywords=i5+4690K

 

[nthomas14]

thanks for spotting that added and replaced! Thank you for your help !

 

[filippi]

Now is perfect! I use CM Hyper 212 EVO in my own rig. It has really great price/performance.

Asus Z97-PRO WI-FI AC has 6+2 digital PWM. Very good MOSFET, capacitor and inductor quality.
You should expect very easy overclock.

good luck mate 😀