Is this a good gaming pc build for a £800 ??First time pc builder sick of console gaming

[fraggle45]

Gaming pc build newbie needs help

Is this a sound build any tips or advice would be brilliant thanks


Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/RhnDGX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£143.99 @ Novatech)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.89 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£115.13 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£68.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.14 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 530 ATX Full Tower Case (£67.00 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£52.98 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (£12.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full (32/64-bit) (£84.90 @ More Computers)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £802.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 15:54 GMT+0000

 

[Barty1884]

In the UK, there's never really a "good" time, there's just a time.
Black Friday and Boxing Day/Week deals for the US (and to a lesser extent Canada) are usually good times to grab parts - especially on prior generation tech, but the UK doesn't have sales like that.....yet.

Regardless, 800quid is a decent budget at any time - and a rig put together at 800 would be substantially better than any console offerings.

What kind of games are you looking to play?

A few comments on your build:
1. A locked multiplier (non-K) CPU doesn't need a Z97 board. H97 would be just fine.
2. 16GB RAM is overkill for most games - not a bad thing necesarilly, but money could be better spent elsewhere.
3. Avoid the CX line of PSUs. Read here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
4. Most rigs don't need an optical drive. External ones are cheap if you really do.....but most can be done via USB

 

[Barty1884]

800quid you can have a Skylake build, i5, DDR4, a GTX 970 and a quality PSU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£87.60 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£44.49 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£61.98 @ Novatech)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.14 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£243.59 @ Aria PC)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.59 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£57.18 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TRENDnet TEW-805UB 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Adapter (£18.00 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £806.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 16:05 GMT+0000

 

[fraggle45]

Fps, strategy the thing about the pc is the wider spectrum of games available I'd like to be able to play the latest games at high settings do you think your build would be capable of that? thanks you for your advice and the quick reply.

 

[filippi]

Just some suggestions... Some motherboard and cpu cooler could help you overclock this Haswell CPU over @4GHz.
A nice system cooling helps w/ overclock too.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS10X OPTIMA CPU Cooler (£30.84 @ Dabs)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£78.45 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£44.49 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£42.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.14 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£246.54 @ Aria PC)
Case: Antec GX500 ATX Mid Tower Case (£39.13 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£52.80 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Total: £802.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 16:37 GMT+0000

 

[fraggle45]

That is awesome thank you for the replies. Will look into these builds, any more suggestions or tips would be cool. Btw been looking at pre built units as well, pretty sure building your own is the way to go but is there any value in these pre built units just building seems pretty daunting for a rookie such as myself. thanks

 

[Barty1884]

Building really isn't too difficult - just take your time, read your manuals & don't force anything.

Prebuild tend to have lower quality components (motherboard, PSU and even GPU).
Configuring one & having it built is a possibility, but only if you get the choice on all components (not just some).
You end up paying a premium for the assembly though, which really isn't complicated at all.

The satisfaction you get from building your own is a pretty good feeling too.

 

[madmatt30]

Just to reiterate what Barty1884 says above.
Shop bought or Amazon/eBay prebuild - no mate asolutely not
Custom build where you pick components - yes a decent option if you are unwilling to build your own.
£800 from overclockers will get you a solid custom i5 skylake build with top quality components but for that budget you'll be dropping a tier on the GPU to a 960 or r9 380 - still good cards but you have to compromise for the building fees & the 3 year rtb warranty.

 

[fraggle45]

Thanks for all the replies going to go ahead and order these parts. Thanks again for the help

 

[madmatt30]

Which build mate ?- post your finished parts list - there may be a couple of better options just to get you the best value for money - not everything is picked up by partpicker UK reliably.

 

[Barty1884]

Absolutely agree with madmatt30 here! PCPP for the UK only captures a fraction of the range of prices out there. If you've decided on components (and let us know which build you're using or using as a basis), then take a little while & shop around for each of them.

 

[madmatt30]

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Antec+True+Power+Classic+Power+Supply+-+550W+?productId=65039

Quick example which won't show on partpicker - not the absolute greatest deal but its still less than an xfx comparable bronze model whenbthis one is gold rated & is tip-top quality.

Its about minimising sources & delivery costs in my book too.when most UK firms charge £7-10 delivery irregardless of item numbers grabbing as many items from one supplier as possible can save an awful lot of moolah over the course of a build.

 

[fraggle45]

Awesome thanks again guys going to look through and draw up a draft tomorrow will post on before ordering maybe spend the weekend hunting for deals. Haven't really thought about overclocking is that something I should consider?

 

[fraggle45]

Ok so I drew up this lists, think i took into account the factors from the previous comment how's this
build look think I could play elite dangerous on high settings? Thanks again for the tips

 

[Barty1884]

So close, but you cheaped out on the PSU - not pricewise, but on quality.
Both options that were provided are within 1-5quid of the CS and much, much better units

 

[fraggle45]

Sorry bud what's the c-s?? Do you think I should copy the two previous builds mentioned like for like. Don't wanna spend unless I have to. Is this I5 not suitable sorry noob questions

 

[Barty1884]

The power supply, the Corsair CSM is not a good option. Your CPU is perfect

 

[madmatt30]

Your build is coming out at around £900 mate - this is what I'd do personally - its from 2 suppliers so saves on delivery etc
Better cooler , better PSU , better GPU - compromised slightly on the case but the z3 is incredible value for money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK THEMIS 65.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£19.88 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£87.60 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£41.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£65.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.97 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£258.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£35.38 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£12.95 @ Aria PC)
Total: £901.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 07:48 GMT+0000

^ that build is 100% overclockable which is not a necessity - skylake i5's are strong enough at stock.

 

[madmatt30]

At £800 you can drag yourself back to an haswell build as you had originally.
Once again all from aria & Amazon & all components are good quality.
£100 saving here over the skylake & in all honesty at stock speeds performance difference is negligible - stick those 2 systems side byvside & you wouldn't be able to tell any difference.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£148.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£75.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£33.09 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£62.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£36.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£243.59 @ Aria PC)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£40.50 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.49 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£12.95 @ Aria PC)
Total: £802.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 08:29 GMT+0000

 

[fraggle45]

Ok thank you again gonna go ahead and order these parts today pretty much as above which looks awesome just with this badass Orange case and WiFi adapter how's this look

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/bf9bBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/bf9bBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£148.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£75.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£33.09 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£62.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£36.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£243.59 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange ATX Mid Tower Case (£65.94 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.49 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link Archer T4U 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Adapter (£18.48 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £833.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 09:05 GMT+0000

 

[madmatt30]

Its all good mate - case is user dependant - I personally don't like that corsair but that's me - good case just the looks don't suit me.

Its pre-order only at the monkate though - none in stock.

 

[fraggle45]

Well like you said case is personal preference ii will have to find another but the hardware inside is all good. Thanks again for your help everyone who has commented I have really appreciated your input have made the process a lot easier on my behalf.

Thank you all again will order today and hopefully won't have any problems with the construction of I do I've got you guys. Peace

 

[madmatt30]

That haswell build was based around keeping as close as possible to £800 mate.
If you're happy with the £830 mark then heres a colour matched red/black build
The kendomen is hands down the best £60 case on the market - if you like the looks at all its a great buy - the preinstalled cooling makes it insane value for money.

DEEPCOOL KENDOMEN ATX PC case 1 *USB 3.0 +2*USB 2.0 Ports 7pcs expansion slots With side-window Red LED fan Support ATX/MicroATX/MINI-ITX motherboards https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00V62IUG2/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_wK0Owb0SM9YHJ

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£148.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£62.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£36.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£243.59 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.49 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£74.94 @ Aria PC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£12.95 @ Aria PC)
Total: £770.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 09:42 GMT+0000

My advice is stick with the twin aerial tplink pci-express adapter.
I use one of these with a virgin superhub 2 & on a different floor through 3 walls its still pulling upwards of 90mbs download speeds & very low latency.
The USB adapters will not manage that.

 

[madmatt30]

That asrock fatality is a great featured & great looking board - looks amazing with red ram installed in the kendomen.

 

[fraggle45]

Am liking the red look