Help Building My First Gaming PC

[TheGreenGiant99]

Hello Everyone! If possible, I would like to get some help finalizing the parts list for my first PC, oriented towards Gaming.

Parts List:
CPU - Intel i5 4670k - £139.99
CPU COOLER - H100i - £81.56
MOBO - MSI z87-G45 Gaming - £83.42
RAM - Corsair venagance Pro 16gb (2x8gb) - £122.34
GPU - Gigabyte Gtx 770 OC 4gb - £249.16
STORAGE - Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM - £61.90
-Transcend SSD340 256GB £85
OS - Windows 8.1 - £71.94
OPTICAL DRIVE - Asus 24x DVD-RW - £22.95
PSU - EVGA SUperNOVA 750G - £85.74
CASE - NZXT Phantom - £104.99

Total - £ 1216.23

I have tired to lots of research on parts, etc. but ultimately, I wanted advice for this community as this is where most of my research took me.

Points:
-I want to future proof as MUCH as possible here, e.g. -K processor, 16GB RAM, SLI capable GPU
-As this is my first real entry into custom PC's, I would like to try overcloaking my CPU (as an experiment and learning experience)
-Through my research, for SLI it was best to get the 4gb GPU
-I will be using this mainly for daily tasks and generally HEAVY gaming

Questions:
1- Is there anyway to get the same performance of this setup for cheaper? 😀
2- Are there better parts for better performance and/or compatibility? (without increasing the price)
3- I'm unsure on MOBO, what would be best for my needs?
4- What is the best cooling setup for my case? (I've read that the Windforce design on the GPU blows hot air back into the case, would a 200mm extract on the side fix this?
5- What PSU to get? And is it better to go modular, semi or non-modular?

Thank you in advance guys! Sorry for so many questions, this is all a steep learning curve for me. From what I've seen this is an extremely helpful community!

Any help at all regarding this is greatly appreciated! Thanks again!

 

[Zain Mukati]

I recommend a corsair power supply because your current supply is not as reliable as the corsair one, Ive been using the same corsair for 5
years so you might wanna get a corsair 1000 watt so you can upgrade or if you don't plan to upgrade stick with the 750 watt

 

[chicken4thewin]

Since it's your first build, maybe getting a water cooler isn't the greatest idea. Maybe go for a CM Hyper 212 EVO, they have a good record for keeping CPUs cool, and they're much cheaper than the H100i. Also, you could get a MUCH cheaper case that's the same size. A 120mm pull fan would be enough to take the hot air away from the Windforce.

 

[PepitoTV]

Given your budget this would be my suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£57.89 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z87 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£96.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£55.36 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£84.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (£369.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case (£124.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£115.06 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.69 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£81.42 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1203.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-10 22:14 BST+0100)

Main difference being the cut in the RAM to 8GB and a little savings there to push a GTX 780. Also, I put everything in a Full Tower with plenty of space and PSU juice to power the system even if you decide in the future to throw a second GTX 780 in there.

 

[TheGreenGiant99]

I recommend a corsair power supply because your current supply is not as reliable as the corsair one, Ive been using the same corair for 5
years so you might wanna get a corsair 1000 watt so you can upgrade or if you don't plan to upgrade stick with the 750 watt

What PSU would you recommend? And will it support the 'sleep' States of the new has well chips?
Thank you for your advice! And anymore would be appreciated

 

[TheGreenGiant99]

Thank you guys for the input! Regarding my budget, I would like to push it down as much as I can but keep a good performance(if that's possible?).
What would be the best way to do this?
And is the 780 worth it over the 770 OC 4gb?
And is there a good but cheaper 2x8gb ram kit?
Thanks again! And sorry for all the questions.

 

[PepitoTV]

There are reviews that say that the 770 4GB is worthless over the 2GB one, given that as you raise the resolution the card will run out of juice long before the memory becomes a bottleneck.

That said the 780 IS an improvement over the 770 and, you can find an intermediate one in the R9 290.

2x8GB kits are many, although I still don't recommend getting more than 8 for a gaming machine.

So, getting to the bottom of your question, you can take my build and swap the GTX 780 for a GTX 770 for a £100 saving and maybe get a smaller PSU and case.

Also, one thing you haven't said is what monitor resolution you will be using and what's your specific budget for this as I assumed £1200 but now it seems that is actually lower, please clarify.

 

[TheGreenGiant99]

Thanks, yeah I have read the reviews and realise that there isn't any noticeable increase, but due to the nature of SLI, wouldn't it be better to get the 4gb version? I may be horribly mistaken though
I generally plan things too big and have to downscale my plans, so budget wise, under £1000 would be lovely, and anything more would be a huge bonus
Atm I believe I play on 1920x1080, but in the future would like to move on to a bigger monitor and higher res. (not sure if I want to go multi monitor due to the break between screens? Athletically not very pleasing)
Would it be worth getting a 780 with my budget? Or get a 770 OC 2gb instead? Or 4gb?
Thanks again!

 

[TheGreenGiant99]

Sorry just a quick addition that may be relevant, the game I play mostly is Planetside 2 (if you know it) and I would like to have high settings and some PhysX eye candy if possible, but I realise this may be to much for my budget