Gaming build - Thoughts and suggestions?

[athirj]

These are the parts that I am thinking of buying and would like some suggestions of any possible price cuts that wont effect performance.

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB - £319.99 from Overclockers
AsRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard - £101.98 from Amazon
Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU - £165.14 from Amazon
WD 1TB Green Desktop Drive - £55 from Ebuyer
Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB Vengeance - £47.90 from Amazon
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case - £63.09 from Ebuyer
Powercool 750W Modular PSU - £49.98 from Ebuyer

Total - £803.08

Any suggestions welcome

 

[mikerockett]

Here's a build for you. Slightly cheaper, better PSU, good CPU cooler and better HDD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£164.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.00 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£101.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£42.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£283.14 @ Aria PC)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.95 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£66.98 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £804.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-05 15:23 GMT+0000)

 

[geofelt]

Your build is essentially good.

Some thoughts:

1. Buy a cpu cooler. Something like a cm hyper212; they are not expensive. You bought a "K" and paid a 5% price premium over a 3570, and should overclock to get a 25% performance boost.
A basic cooler will let you do that.

2. Buy the low profile version of ram. It will avoid any interference with cpu coolers. 1.5v ram does not need any heat spreaders at all.

3. A 7970 needs only a 550w psu. You should be able to save something there. But, beware of a cheap psu. I don't know about powercool.
Here is a tiered list of PSU's sorted by quality.
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx
See if you can't find a tier 1,2, or possibly 3 unit from the list. I might overprovision a bit and look for a 600-650w unit.

4. How many expansion slots do you really need? Like most of us, only one for the graphics card. Look at a smaller, cheaper M-atx motherboard like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-Z77-Motherboard-Instant-Charger/dp/B007RS70YW/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1360079367&sr=1-4

5. The HAF 912 is a popular case. But, see if you can't find a cheaper one you like. For decent cooling, look for at least two 120mm intake fans or the equivalent in output.

6. The WD green is not a fast drive for the os It slows down to 5400rpm to conserve energy. . Black would be better.
Better yet, see if you can't find a place in your budget for a 120gb ssd, and defer on the hard drive. Everything you do will be so much quicker. 120gb is enough for the os and a handful of games.
Samsung and Intel would be my first choices.

 

[g-unit1111]

4. How many expansion slots do you really need? Like most of us, only one for the graphics card. Look at a smaller, cheaper M-atx motherboard like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-Z77-Motherboard-Instant-Charger/dp/B007RS70YW/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1360079367&sr=1-4

5. The HAF 912 is a popular case. But, see if you can't find a cheaper one you like. For decent cooling, look for at least two 120mm intake fans or the equivalent in output.

6. The WD green is not a fast drive for the os It slows down to 5400rpm to conserve energy. . Black would be better.
Better yet, see if you can't find a place in your budget for a 120gb ssd, and defer on the hard drive. Everything you do will be so much quicker. 120gb is enough for the os and a handful of games.
Samsung and Intel would be my first choices.

The HAF 912 is a great case and the European version is pretty sweet with added LED fans and clear window.

I would get a full ATX board - no reason not to.

And I definitely agree about the hard drive but I wouldn't purchase an Intel drive. Get a Samsung 830 or OCZ Vertex 4 instead.

 

[athirj]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will be buying the build that was suggested along with an SSD

 

[g-unit1111]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will be buying the build that was suggested along with an SSD

The best SSDs on the market right now are the Samsung 840 Pro, the OCZ Vector, Plextor PX-M5 Extreme, and the old favorite Crucial M4, as long as you get one of those you're good.

 

[athirj]

The best SSDs on the market right now are the Samsung 840 Pro, the OCZ Vector, Plextor PX-M5 Extreme, and the old favorite Crucial M4, as long as you get one of those you're good.

I'm pretty new to the whole SSD thing, how much of an improvement in performance is it?

 

[geofelt]

I'm pretty new to the whole SSD thing, how much of an improvement in performance is it?

You will be very pleased. Windows install may take 10 minutes instead of an hour.
Files open instantly.
everything will feel so much quicker.

 

[g-unit1111]

I'm pretty new to the whole SSD thing, how much of an improvement in performance is it?

Everything involving read - write cycles will be drastically improved - as long as you keep your SSD under 80% capacity. Overloading an SSD can cause read - write cycles to be distorted and the speed can drop over time. As long as you're aware of this then you're fine. I won't build a system without an SSD now.

 

[athirj]

Everything involving read - write cycles will be drastically improved - as long as you keep your SSD under 80% capacity. Overloading an SSD can cause read - write cycles to be distorted and the speed can drop over time. As long as you're aware of this then you're fine. I won't build a system without an SSD now.

I've added the Crucial M4 64gb to my build. Is that enough storage? It's cheaper than I thought at £55.

 

[g-unit1111]

I've added the Crucial M4 64gb to my build. Is that enough storage? It's cheaper than I thought at £55.

128GB would be better if you can afford it - 64GB will barely hold OS and a few programs these days.

 

[geofelt]

I've added the Crucial M4 64gb to my build. Is that enough storage? It's cheaper than I thought at £55.

If your budget will allow, get 120gb. 64gb will hold the os and not much more. As g-unit1111 said, when a ssd approaches full, it takes longer to do an update.
120gb will let you hold the os and a handful of games.

 

[athirj]

Hmm any suggestions on cheap 128gb ones?

 

[g-unit1111]

Hmm any suggestions on cheap 128gb ones?

Newegg cut the cost on the OCZ Vertex 4 to $99 but the deal is today only, I'm not sure how long it will last.

 

[geofelt]

Hmm any suggestions on cheap 128gb ones?

Sign up with newegg for their daily deals e-mail. They are constantly having promotions for 120gb ssd's for about $99

 

[g-unit1111]

Sign up with newegg for their daily deals e-mail. They are constantly having promotions for 120gb ssd's for about $99

Oh I forgot the OP is in the UK so that won't work. :lol:

 

[mikerockett]

The 128gb crucial M4 is 79.99 at Aria PC at the moment.