Gramps is finally going for it ! ~ $800 build. Advice required!

[Krabbers]

Hello everyone,

A bit about myself:

First of all I would like to apologise for creating another 'similar type' thread. But since I have some specific details about what I am looking for in the build, I could not find a good answer ( yes, i read quite a few threads so far ) and I am not experienced enough to pick bits and pieces myself.

Have decided accept the challenge and try to build a PC since the laptop I'm currently using is getting old. DANGER Never built a system myself and have little to no knowledge about computer hardware. Hoping to rely on the help of good people in this forum.

Type: Gaming/every day use ( currenty Rust/dayZ on my mind )
Budget: Preferably around 500 GBP / 800USD. Considerable up to $1000 if performance changes significantly.
Parts: only interested in the 'core box' No need for OS/Monitor/keyboard/speakers/etc. Will be using SAMSUNG S22C300 Monitor 22" 16:9 LED 1920 x 1080 1000:1 250 cd/m² 5 ms HDMI
Location UK mainland (Glasgow). Wondering if it is best to get items myself from the shop as I read some comments about shipping could damage parts like GPU .. ?

Preferences

- Rather quiet build with good cooling
- Somewhat sturdy (quality parts) rather than extra performance but cheap and poor quality - materials. Not looking for too crazy performance that I won't be able to use
- Possibly be using 2 monitors with hdmi connections
- Could wait maybe a month or more if some new hardware release pushes the prices down
- Will be setting this up myself ( oh god... -_- ) as little as possible unnecessary wires (something to do with motherboards ? )
- Haven't used dvd/dc drive for the last couple of years. Not sure if it is still needed :?


Final word Appreciate any advice and/or build suggestion or comment

 

[DeadGraphics]

I will get back with a build

 

[Seeking Solace]

Here's some ideas for you. not necessarily the best options, and I'm far from an expert, but hopefully you'll find something you like.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.37 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.61 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£189.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.98 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.72 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £597.82
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-13 16:39 BST+0100)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£68.62 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.61 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card (£157.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.98 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.72 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £556.32
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-13 16:43 BST+0100)

 

[DeadGraphics]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3r0iG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3r0iG/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3r0iG/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£48.92 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£60.00 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£45.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.69 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £600.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-13 16:46 BST+0100)<----- Around $1006 definitely worth it. GTX 760 plays games on ultra
The PSU (Power Supply) is modular which means you only need to plug in the cables you need so that will reduce cables in your system. It is also 80+ Gold so it is very efficient. Great build and I think is worth the extra pennies

 

[animal]

Here is one to look over:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI Z87M GAMING Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£94.97 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£75.60 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Novatech)
Case: NZXT H440 (Red/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£89.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £628.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-13 16:45 BST+0100)

I didn't include an optical drive as they weren't listed using UK setting. Also, did not include a GPU since I was unsure whether you are going with a single or dual monitor set-up. For a single monitor rig, 2GB Vram is sufficient, but if you are going dual monitor, I'd recommend 4 GB Vram. Can get either on the GTX 760/770 cards. Very limited on finding cards with more than one HDMI output, but there are adapters to convert DVI or Display Port to HDMI that aren't real expensive. Tried looking for AMD GPUs, but again, according to pcpartpicker UK version, can't find any 280X models.

 

[Krabbers]

Thank you everyone for replies! I will put some time to analyse in a moment !

To specify about the dual monitors: I would play games only using one monitor and use second monitor for work purposes. Does it still require a more powerful GPU than usual, or the problem is mostly with finding GPU with 2 connections ? ( animal, thanks for the idea. Adapters are no problem to me, yeah )

EDIT: I did some research on CPUs and ended up being pretty confused.
Regarding the given builds, am I correct to say that AMD FX6300 is pretty much the same ( performance wise) as Geforce i5-4440 ?
And when comparing AMD FX6300 and geforce i5 4760k, is the difference significant enough to pay 2.5x times the AMD price ?
What about overclocking ? Is it something i should really consider ? ( from these 3 options, only 4670K is overclockable. correct ? )
=2017&cmp[]=1921&cmp[]=1781]http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2017&cmp[]=1921&cmp[]=1781 Does 'turbo speed' in here means Ghz with overclocking ? or am i mistaken ?

Given the suggestions, I am really leaning towards the AMD FX6300 because of its performance/price ratio ( also heard that games mostly need powerful GPU and CPU has just to 'fit in' well ?). But given my lack of knowledge, and the fact that I am sitting at 2Ghz it is hard for me to 'feel' how much is really enough and I am afraid that by trying to save a bit I will end up having to upgrade in up to a year time or so. :/ What about the upgrade possibilities ? If i decide to upgrade my ( asssuming i buy AMD ) CPU into one of intel, I will also have to change the motherboard because of different connection ?

Sorry about the mess, but there are a lot of things that I don't fully understand 🙁

 

[Krabbers]

Having checked out the builds, would like to thank you guys again. Currently I sort of prefer AMD based builds by Seeking Solace and DeadGraphics. ( Need to understand more about the performance of AMD compared to intel to really make a choice, so I am not left behind again in a year time or so )
Animal, Really like your build , but given that I include a GPU, I exceed the budget by around 40% (assuming (630+270)/0.6forex = ~ $1400


Couple more questions I am concerned:

How important/useful is ssd ? ( given that I buy a 240gb ssd for 80GBP, I could skip internal hard drive, since I have been using 150 Gb for all of my operations for the last 3 years (I simply delete movies after I watch them 😀 ), would that be possible since I don't really need any more space, and if I do, I can buy Internal drive at any time ?)

Memory speed. Is there a significant difference between DDR3 1600 and 2133 since the price difference is just around 20 pounds ?

 

[Seeking Solace]

EDIT: I did some research on CPUs and ended up being pretty confused.
Regarding the given builds, am I correct to say that AMD FX6300 is pretty much the same ( performance wise) as Geforce i5-4440 ?
And when comparing AMD FX6300 and geforce i5 4760k, is the difference significant enough to pay 2.5x times the AMD price ?
What about overclocking ? Is it something i should really consider ? ( from these 3 options, only 4670K is overclockable. correct ? )
=2017&cmp[]=1921&cmp[]=1781]http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2017&cmp[]=1921&cmp[]=1781 Does 'turbo speed' in here means Ghz with overclocking ? or am i mistaken ?

Given the suggestions, I am really leaning towards the AMD FX6300 because of its performance/price ratio ( also heard that games mostly need powerful GPU and CPU has just to 'fit in' well ?). But given my lack of knowledge, and the fact that I am sitting at 2Ghz it is hard for me to 'feel' how much is really enough and I am afraid that by trying to save a bit I will end up having to upgrade in up to a year time or so. :/ What about the upgrade possibilities ? If i decide to upgrade my ( asssuming i buy AMD ) CPU into one of intel, I will also have to change the motherboard because of different connection ?

I might be wrong about some of this, so take what I say with a pinch of salt:
-For a budget build, AMD offers the best price/performance ratio. Cheaper CPUs offer the chance to put more in more of your tight budget to a graphics card, which would be harder to do with an Intel/Nvidia budget build.
-AMD runs hotter than Intel, so if you are considering overclocking, you want a good after market air cooler to get a slight overclock and then a watercooler would help you push it, which would be true of Intel also, I threw a decent cooler into the AMD build to get it a bit quieter and cooler. I believe you can overclock the FX CPUs. Arguably, overclocking is for enthusiasts, and you might not notice much of a difference.
-From what I'm reading about AMDs roadmap, your upgrade possibilities will include and end at the FX8350 chip. You'd need a new motherboard for the 9590 which MIGHT be the last of the FX series. I'm not certain but I've been reading AMD are focusing more now on their APUs. Intel, arguably, offer better upgrade options. That's not to say the FX series won't offer good gaming systems for maybe at least another two years while AMD catches APUs up.

How important/useful is ssd ? ( given that I buy a 240gb ssd for 80GBP, I could skip internal hard drive, since I have been using 150 Gb for all of my operations for the last 3 years (I simply delete movies after I watch them 😀 ), would that be possible since I don't really need any more space, and if I do, I can buy Internal drive at any time ?)

Memory speed. Is there a significant difference between DDR3 1600 and 2133 since the price difference is just around 20 pounds ?

An SSD will boot your OS and run your programs faster than a HDD, it has no moving parts, which is why it is still running more expensive than HDDs. I'd say go for the 240GB SSD and get a HDD later on if you feel you need it.

I doubt you will see much of a difference in memory speed between 1600 and 2133, a good low latency 1600 is probably not much of a difference from a more expensive 2133. Personally, I'd stick to a decent set of well reviewed RAM.

 

[Krabbers]

Thanks for explaining.
I will probably be looking at one more budget type with ADM and more intel based build, and see the whole picture. It is always good to have a high end computer, but since for the most part the upgrade is for enjoyable gaming experience, I see myself being more conservative with the budget.

 

[Seeking Solace]

This might be a good option for you:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£149.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.37 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.61 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £613.07
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-14 03:48 BST+0100)

 

[sora]

This might be a good option for you:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£149.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.37 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.61 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £613.07
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-14 03:48 BST+0100)

+1, this is a solid build that should definitely max out DayZ and Rust.

 

[Krabbers]

Thanks for another advice!
While checking out the prices and builds I came up with interesting theory that build in US dollars is cheaper than build in GBP. ( according to pcpartpicker ).

To test this i have picked exactly the same parts but in US website ( probably means when buying and shipping from the states )

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3rwyU) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3rwyU/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3rwyU/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54670) | $204.99 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-h87pro4) | $91.48 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c9d8gab) | $67.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct240m500ssd1) | $119.99 @ Amazon
**Video Card** | [MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-n760tf2gd5oc) | $259.98 @ SuperBiiz
**Case** | [Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcadefr4bl) | $100.00 @ NCIX US
**Power Supply** | [XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1450sx2b9) | $61.98 @ SuperBiiz
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $906.41
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-14 09:09 EDT-0400 |

Regarding the build in GBP, 613/0.60 = $1021.

Do I understand correctly, that if I ship parts from the US, I save up to ($ 1021 - $ 906 = $ 115 ). Or is there any extra shipping fee hidden or something I do not really understand ? ( maybe pcpartpicker is not using up to date forex rates ?) please comment

 

[Seeking Solace]

I honestly have no idea, and you've got a fair few different sites to be ordering from. I guess you could test out your theory by taking an order as far as checkout to see what the shipping would be.

 

[AMDThunder]

This might be a good option for you:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£149.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.37 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.61 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £613.07
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-14 03:48 BST+0100)

+1 to this build as well. I was wondering why we were listing all the OC parts. I wouldn't recommend a 1st timer worry about OC. Lets get past the first build first! Saves on the budget to boot!

Scour newegg for combo deals. Especially if wanting to get the SSD. Was going to link a great one for you, but it says unavaliable. Even after switching to UK.