Gaming PC UK budget £800

[Luda1066]

Hey guys this is my first post, looking to build my first gaming PC and looking for help within the selected budget.

I will not require a keyboard, mouse or monitor plus i already have a Shark Thermaltake va7000bwa tower if you find a better option this would be appreciated.

Also I would prefer an i5 processor rather than an i7.

If it helps I will be looking to run total war games or MMORPGS.

Thanks in advance

 

[jmsellars1]

Hi, I'll need to know a few more things to give the best recommendations:

- Any brand preferences?
- Any case preferences? Small/full size? Quiet/high air flow? Flashy/understated?
- Do you plan to overclock?
- Do you upgrade frequently or do you plan to?
- How much storage do you need? Just games or tons of photos/movies as well?
- Do you use the PC for anything other than gaming and general browsing?
- Any other general preferences? ie. prefer/avoid water cooling or prefer single/multiple graphics cards?

 

[Luda1066]

Hi jm,

- I don't have any brand preferences.
- I would prefer a mid tower with high air flow, it doesn't need to stand out.
- No plans to overclock.
- I don't plan on upgrading frequently only when necessary.
- Only need storage for games and music.
- No it will only be used for gaming and browsing.
- I would avoid water cooling and want only a single graphics card.

If you need to know anything else just ask

 

[jmsellars1]

OK, I would go for this:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/pp9fLk
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/pp9fLk/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£141.19 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.40 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£37.24 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£72.37 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card (£263.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£75.09 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £651.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-04 10:23 BST+0100


- That CPU is the best gaming CPU for £140 hands down, there's a Toms article called best gaming CPU's for the money, if you want to verify that.

- 8GB RAM is more than enough for games and 1600Mhz is the fastest RAM supported by that CPU.

- Nothing fancy bout the motherboard, just a good price and has everything you need. USB3, SATA 3 etc.

- Went for SSD only since you don't seem to need much storage. If you need more, you could up it to 500GB or add a hard drive. Samsung is a very reliable brand for SSD's, I've had one for years now.

- That graphics card is super overclocked out of the box so it is around 20% faster than stock. EVGA also tend to be quite good. The GTX 970 is also a great price/performance option, not far behind the 980 for a lot less cash. Should destroy any game at 1080P and does well at 1440P as well. Google GTX 970 gaming benchmarks to have a look if you want. Generally 30FPS+ is playable.

- Only the best will do for the PSU in my opinion, read a review of any Seasonic PSU and you will see they're the best in the business. Not cheap but you're basically buying reliability here so not a good place to skimp. EDIT: Also you only need like 350-400W+ for this build so 550W is more than enough power

- Didn't include a case because you already have one and they are very much personal preference. Any mid tower should be fine, just look at some reviews and see which one you like the look of most. The Fractal Design Define R5 is a good understated one, Coolermaster HAF 922 is more of a flashy high air flow case. NZXT Phantom 410 looks pretty cool as well. Antec Three Hundred is a good cheap case.

EDIT: If i was to buy a mid tower now, I'd probably get a nice Aluminium one from Lian Li or Silverstone, like this:

http://www.cclonline.com/product/178839/PC-A55A/Cases/Lian-Li-PC-A55A-Aluminium-Midi-Tower-Case-Silver/CAS2195/?gclid=CIz16MWQj8cCFQX3wgodGGQOyQ

 

[sora]

OK, I would go for this:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/pp9fLk
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/pp9fLk/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£141.19 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.40 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£37.24 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£72.37 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card (£263.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£75.09 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £651.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-04 10:23 BST+0100


- That CPU is the best gaming CPU for £140 hands down, there's a Toms article called best gaming CPU's for the money, if you want to verify that.

- 8GB RAM is more than enough for games and 1600Mhz is the fastest RAM supported by that CPU.

- Nothing fancy bout the motherboard, just a good price and has everything you need. USB3, SATA 3 etc.

- Went for SSD only since you don't seem to need much storage. If you need more, you could up it to 500GB or add a hard drive. Samsung is a very reliable brand for SSD's, I've had one for years now.

- That graphics card is super overclocked out of the box so it is around 20% faster than stock. EVGA also tend to be quite good. The GTX 970 is also a great price/performance option, not far behind the 980 for a lot less cash. Should destroy any game at 1080P and does well at 1440P as well. Google GTX 970 gaming benchmarks to have a look if you want. Generally 30FPS+ is playable.

- Only the best will do for the PSU in my opinion, read a review of any Seasonic PSU and you will see they're the best in the business. Not cheap but you're basically buying reliability here so not a good place to skimp. EDIT: Also you only need like 350-400W+ for this build so 550W is more than enough power

- Didn't include a case because you already have one and they are very much personal preference. Any mid tower should be fine, just look at some reviews and see which one you like the look of most. The Fractal Design Define R5 is a good understated one, Coolermaster HAF 922 is more of a flashy high air flow case. NZXT Phantom 410 looks pretty cool as well. Antec Three Hundred is a good cheap case.

EDIT: If i was to buy a mid tower now, I'd probably get a nice Aluminium one from Lian Li or Silverstone, like this:

http://www.cclonline.com/product/178839/PC-A55A/Cases/Lian-Li-PC-A55A-Aluminium-Midi-Tower-Case-Silver/CAS2195/?gclid=CIz16MWQj8cCFQX3wgodGGQOyQ

+1; This is a solid build under 700 quids that should handle most things you throw at it!

 

[Luda1066]

The build looks brilliant jm!

I've got a 500 GB HDD that I will add to it and will just use my existing tower as see no issues with it although that NZXT one does look awesome!

I'm Going to be ordering the parts in the next week and will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again for your help and your in-depth explanation!

 

[jmsellars1]

Cool, no problem. Keep us updated