Help choosing a pre-built/custom built gaming PC?

[Georgia1236]

Hi all,

I've been looking into buying a custom/pre-built gaming PC. I would not feel comfortable enough to build my own, and do not have the time to do so either.
I'm looking to spend around £1400-1500 (Inc VAT and OS) and I've found various builds for this price range, however I'm struggling to make a decision. I'm looking for a high end PC, which can run most games on max setting in 1920 x 1080p at the least.

I would appreciate anyone to point out bottlenecks in these builds or any changes I should make. I would also be extremely grateful if anyone would be kind enough to build me a PC on a website of their choice (Must ship to UK), as I feel you guys know a lot more on the subject than I do.

1: 3XS - Scan

• 
  CPU: * 3XS ONLY * Intel Core i5 6600K CPU
  *3XS LOGO* 16GB Kingston USB3 Pendrive for Windows Recovery Media
  RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black, PC4-24000 (3000), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 15-17-17-35, XMP 2.0, 1.35V
  SSD: 256GB Samsung SM951, M.2 (22x80) PCIe 3.0 (x4) AHCI SSD, MLC NAND, Read 2150MB/s, Write 1200MB/s, 90k/70k IOPS
  WARRANTY: 3 Year Warranty - 1st Year Onsite, 2nd & 3rd Year Return to Base (Parts & Labour)
  HDD: 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 Barracuda 7200.14 SATA III 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache 8ms NCQ OEM
  3XS Extreme Overclock - Check Build Sheet
  3XS GPU Overclock
  OS: 3XS Microsoft G15-10001 GML Win Core Logo
  PSU: 3XS Only RM550W Modular Gold Silent PSU
  LN51441 3XS Z87 Vengeance 980
  GRAPHICS CARD: 4GB EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 7010MHz GDDR5, GPU 1266MHz, Boost 1367MHz, Cores 2048, 3x DP/HDMI/DVI-I DL
  MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING, Intel Z170, S 1151, DDR4, SATAe/SATA3 6Gb/s, M.2, PCIe 3.0, SLi/CrossFire, USB3.1, ATX Motherboard
  COOLING FANS: Noctua NH-U14S Ultra-Quiet Slim CPU Cooler with 140mm NF-A15 fan for All Intel & AMD CPU's
  CASE: NZXT Phantom 410 White Mid Tower Case with 2x120mm and 1x140mm Fans USB 3 and Side Window No PSU
  LN64750 Samsung SH-224FB/BEBE 24x Internal DVD Writer Disc Drive with MDISC Support, CD/DVD Read/Write, 5.25", SATA, Black, OEM

2: Chillblast

• 
  CASE: Aerocool DS 200 Case - White
  CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K Haswell Refresh Processor 4.0 GHz (Overclocked to up to 4.4GHz)
  COOLER: Corsair Hydro Series H75 Liquid Cooler
  Generic thermal paste
  Quiet Cooling Fans Upgrade Pack
  AFG-PSU Anti-vibration Power Supply Gasket
  MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z97-A Motherboard - Haswell CPU only
  RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 2400MHz DDR3 Memory (2 x 8GB sticks)
  GRAPHICS CARD: Chillblast NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Graphics Card
  SSD: 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive
  HDD: Seagate 3000GB 7200rpm Hard Disk - 6Gbps
  Bullguard Internet Security - Free 3 Month Trial!
  PSU: FSP Premium Grade 750W PSU
  Onboard High Definition Audio
  OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
  Windows Optimisation Service
  Standard Chillblast Cable Management
  5 Year Warranty with 2 Years Collect and Return (UK only)

I have also glanced over https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/Infinity_Xtreme
Infinity Xtreme with a few upgrades (e.g upgrade to GTX 980 over the 970)

I have not had the chance to look at Overlockers UK or DinoPC yet.

Thank you very much,
Georgia Hand

P.S I am open to suggestions!

 

[jmsellars1]

They seem a bit pricey to be honest, I'd at least consider building your own. I'm actually from the UK myself, I don't mind helping you with it if you're close or we can figure out a secure way for me to build and send it to you.

If you build your own you could get a 1440P build with Freesync and have enough in the budget for the monitor.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X31 69.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£54.89 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£78.45 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£41.74 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£72.50 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£51.19 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury X 4GB Video Card (£502.04 @ Dabs)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1300 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£36.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£57.94 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£76.00 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: Acer XG270HU 144Hz 27.0" Monitor (£287.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1459.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-31 15:05 BST+0100

 

[Georgia1236]

They seem a bit pricey to be honest, I'd at least consider building your own. I'm actually from the UK myself, I don't mind helping you with it if you're close or we can figure out a secure way for me to build and send it to you.

If you build your own you could get a 1440P build with Freesync and have enough in the budget for the monitor.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X31 69.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£54.89 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£78.45 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£41.74 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£72.50 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£51.19 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury X 4GB Video Card (£502.04 @ Dabs)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1300 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£36.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£57.94 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£76.00 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: Acer XG270HU 144Hz 27.0" Monitor (£287.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1459.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-31 15:05 BST+0100

Thank you very much, I'm not too confident on the idea of building my own in the case that anything goes wrong? I'm from the East Midlands by the way! However, figuring out a secure way to build and send does sound like something I will think about, I would of course pay for shipping and also your services!

 

[jmsellars1]

Ahh OK, I'm from Wigan. Not actually that far but I don't drive.

Paypal has a 'pay for goods and services' option so you can send a payment and specify exactly what you're paying for. If you make a payment this way, the buyer and seller are both covered by Paypal.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security

There is a fee to use this, looks like it is 3.4% plus 20p

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-fees

On £1100 it is going to be around £40, I say £1100 because you could get the monitor and OS separately assuming you're happy to sort the software out yourself.


Obviously completely up to you, happy to help though.

 

[sora]

Ahh OK, I'm from Wigan. Not actually that far but I don't drive.

Paypal has a 'pay for goods and services' option so you can send a payment and specify exactly what you're paying for. If you make a payment this way, the buyer and seller are both covered by Paypal.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security

There is a fee to use this, looks like it is 3.4% plus 20p

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-fees

On £1100 it is going to be around £40, I say £1100 because you could get the monitor and OS separately assuming you're happy to sort the software out yourself.


Obviously completely up to you, happy to help though.

PayPal would definitely work!

 

[jmsellars1]

Yeah it should do, don't worry if you'd rather not do that though OP, I won't be offended. I'd be happy to just continue answering any questions.