Looking for help with building a gaming computer

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patep023

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Sep 10, 2013
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So I have decided to build myself a computer. The only real reason I am building it is so I can play games on it for the next 3-5 years. Yes, I understand 3-5 years is a long time for a computer to last if it is heavily used for gaming, but I don't mind upgrading specific parts but preferably not too much as I am willing to spend as much as £1000 on this system for now.
I am currently studying at university so I would spend max of 1-3 hours playing games on average per day. I do not care much for how good the games look or running it on max settings, to me the most important factor is the FPS and how smoothly the game runs. I am more than happy to play games on low ass resolution with lowest settings just so I can get max fps. In 5 years time I would like to be able to play new games with a stable fps on lowest settings, I don't know how achievable that is. I don't tend to play games that are quite demanding such as MGS or GTA but I would like to be able to.
I do need a monitor somewhere between 19-23 inch preferably HD but doesn't need to be anything fancy so 60Hz should be enough. I would like to get an operating system too, I assume if I get windows 7 I can just upgrade to windows 10 for free and windows 7 would be the cheapest. I made a couple of builds on pcpartpicker but I am not too sure about them. See the links for the builds, first one is a bit too expensive for me I feel and I would strictly like to not go over £1000.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/F3rpkL £1078.15 Edit🙁I was just playing around with parts and this one came over £1k but I would really like my build to be less than £1k)
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PXqqZL £974.91

I really appreciate any help with this.
Many thanks
 
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£59.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£116.20 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£48.59 @ More Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (£265.95 @ Ebuyer)
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£88.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: Asus VX228H 60Hz 21.5" Monitor (£108.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1075.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 15:34 BST+0100

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant



CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£178.38 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£59.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£38.59 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£51.69 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (£265.95 @ Ebuyer)
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£88.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: Asus VX228H 60Hz 21.5" Monitor (£108.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1069.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 15:36 BST+0100

first 1 is with skylake cpu, it doesn't have a ssd though, you will have to buy that in the future or spend a little more.
second 1 is haswell, and with a ssd it's still slightly cheaper.

they are both black/red builds with a water cooled cpu and you can SLI the 970 in the future so lot's of upgradeability

i didn't go with the i7 because it isn't really needed for gaming. but you could still go with the i7 and save a bit on the cooler and case.
your build is almost identical but i woulnd't go with the corsair cx psu



 
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They are both going over my budget, I absolutely can't spend more than £1000 as I am barely stretching to £1000. A few questions:
What's the difference between the i7 and the i5?
How does this affect what I do?
What is SLI?
What's the corsair cx psu?
How important is the liquid cooling?
You're using a much more expensive power supply, how important is that?
These questions might sound very obvious but I am a bit new with this so bare with me, thanks.
 
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Go with an i5 - you've really no need for an i7 based on what you've described - stick with a 'K' model for potential OC in future.

Any official W7Sp1 will allow you the free upgrade to W10 and save a couple of quid.

Contemplated putting an R9 390 opposed to the GTX 970, but I believe OC potential is greater with the 970 (really, the 390 vs the 970 is personal preference).

Included 16GB RAM - since longevity is your ideal plan here, having 16GB should be more than adequate for 99.99% of games in the next 5 years

As far as a case goes, it's personal preference 100%. I've simply included one that is around £40 and you would simply pick the one you liked the look of best.

PSU I've listed is a Tier 1 (see here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html). Yours was a Tier 3.
I've given you 850W - which is definitely overkill at the moment, but any OC you do, or any upgrades should be more than comfortable with this PSU.

Build 1 had the SSD/HDD set up, but build 2 did not. I would suggest what I've included - a 250GB SSD (preferable Samsung), with a 1TB HDD (I've included Seagate, but WD is good too - price will dictate).

Build I've listed comes in just under your £1,000 budget - but will allow some OC down the road (likely allowing your CPU to stay relevant for 5 years).

As an FYI - neither of your builds included wifi (so neither does the one I've listed), but you can add a wireless card for anywhere between £10 - £100 (£25-£40 is likely the sweet spot). Would take you over budget, but not sure if you need it at the moment.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£178.38 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£64.06 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£70.40 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£71.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£36.95 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£244.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: Silverstone RL04W ATX Mid Tower Case (£37.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX PRO Black Edition 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£92.39 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£109.97 @ Aria PC)
Total: £998.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 15:49 BST+0100
 
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Here's my suggestion for your gaming rig, based on your detailed requirements:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£116.20 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£48.59 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£71.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£160.00 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£88.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£57.35 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: Asus VX228H 60Hz 21.5" Monitor (£108.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £984.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 15:42 BST+0100

Major changes from your initial selection:

CPU/MOBO/RAM:
As this build is going to be used for gaming, an i7, with 4 cores + hyper-threading (8 threads) is not necessary and would be a waste of money. A better value would be an unlocked i5. However, I selected the Skylake for "future-proofing", instead of the Haswell/Haswell Refresh/Haswell-E family which are bound to be superseded in the next couple of years. Intel has already announced that the Cannonlake, though it will be pushed back to 2017 (instead of the earlier planned 2016 release). From now, until then, Intel will be releasing a go-between CPU family, "Kirby Lake", which also supports LGA1151 sockets such as the Skylake. The motherboard now takes advantage of the DDR4 (not present if the CPU's were Core Haswell Refresh). With that, was also able to increase memory speeds from 1600MHz to 2400MHz, but keeping in line with the 8GB ideal RAM for gaming purposes.

STORAGE:
Replaced the SSD in one of your initial builds with a higher-quality, larger-capacity, and faster Samsung 850 EVO 250GB. Using this as your system drive (for your Windows 7) would increase performance, boot times, and load times for your PC. The reason for the increase in capacity from 120GB to 250GB is so you can install the OS as well as your frequently used games, applications, and programs. I paired it with a 1TB HDD from Western Digital, the more-affordable Caviar Blue, with 7200rpm, for your general storage and backup needs.

GPU:
Since you mentioned that you'll be gaming somewhere in the HD (720p), a GTX 970 would be an overkill. I replaced that video card with the more affordable GTX 960 which was certainly designed for FHD (1080p) entry-level gaming. This GPU can achieve high to ultra settings in most number of games (except for power-intensive games which you don't tend to play). You also mentioned that FPS is more important than eye-candy, so, this video card would be the best price-performance suitable for your exact needs.

CASE:
Am assuming, based on your parts-selection, that you might be inclined with a Black+Red color theme. A mid-tower case was selected, taking into account the critical sizes (such as interior CPU Cooler clearance and video card lengths) as well as the aesthetic look that will complement the entire build.

PSU:
I chose a high-quality Tier-1 power supply unit (the EVGA Supernova GS Series) with just the appropriate wattage that can power your entire rig. A rig built around a GTX 960 only requires a recommended PSU wattage of 430W. I got the 550W for some headroom and just in case you'll be upgrading to a more powerful GPU in the next few years. This 550W will be sufficient to power a GTX 970 or a GTX 980 rig.

OS AND MONITOR:
I chose the Windows 7 (64-bit) based on your personal preference (which was not included in your initial links of your builds). I also retained your monitor selection as is.

Overall, I was able to incorporate additional upgrades and suitable parts making your total cost for this suggested build cheaper (at £984.38 only) compared to your first initial parts list (at £1076.13) and almost in the same price range as your second modified parts list (at £981.21).

Hope this suggestion would help you!
 
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i5 vs i7 explained (sorta) @ http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp

SLI is using 2 GPUs to create a single output (think 2x 970's - buying a second one in the future would give you roughly the same output as buying a new higher end GPU).

Corsair CX is a brand/model of PSU. It's very low end and not reliable.

Liquid cooling is not necessary for most users. To be honest, if you need to ask, then you don't need it (I'm in the same position, I don't know too much about it and air cooling is fine for my needs).

It's not so much an 'expensive' PSU. It's a 'quality' PSU. I linked the Tier list in my last post - refer there.
 
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the diffrence between the i5 and i7: they both have 4 cores but the i7 has hyperthreading (it means that 1 core can do the same as 2 cores) this has benefits when doing things that take advantage of those extra threads, so something like video rendering.
If you are gaming you are using only 1 or 2 cores so there is no benefit in having hyperthreading.

SLI is a way to combine 2 graphics cards so that you have more power ( the cards have to be identical though, so gtx 970+ gtx 970) this is good to have if you want to upgrade in the future.

The corsair cx psu is a budget power supply made by corsair, its considered a tier 4 psu ( there are 5 tiers, 1=best 5=worst) a tier 4 psu is not made for a system like that and has a higher chance of dieing and that will kill your other components in your pc.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
you can read more about tiers here, you can also use this to find power supply's that suit your build.

liquid cooling allows for higher overclocks if you are planning to do that (overclocking = increasing the clockspeed of the processor so from 3.5ghz to 4ghz for example), it will generally keep the processor cooler compared to an air cooler. Water cooling is not a must though and there are air coolers that almost have the same performance as a water cooler.

this powersupply is more expensive because it's better quality, its tier 2. but you can read more about that in the link that i posted.

i will also make a build that is under 1000 pounds( I thought that 1070 pounds wouldn't be a problem since the build you posted also is around that price
 
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lol 850W when he only needs 500 ^^ (and you chose a miniATX form factor motherboard).

My suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£178.38 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£64.74 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£70.40 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£71.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£36.95 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (£269.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Silverstone RL04W ATX Mid Tower Case (£37.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: BenQ GL2460HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£114.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £974.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 16:12 BST+0100


and regarding i5 vs i7, the best and funniest explanation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8e0jnm39lE
 
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£178.38 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£88.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£39.66 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£51.69 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£244.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.03 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£127.97 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £976.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 16:15 BST+0100

this 1 is under 1000 pounds,
 
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^^ Good spot with the miniATX - don't know how I managed that!
As far as the 850W. For the pricepoint & for Tier 1, allowing future upgrades (hell, he's being given suggestions for SLI in future), I don't see the problem.

Considering your build modified mine, gave him a full ATX board & 300W less in PSU in Tier 2 (really only giving him what he needs today), I don't think the 20quid saving really justifies it, do you?

Revised build, with a full ATX board (no change in the PSU etc)
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£178.38 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.97 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£70.40 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£71.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£36.95 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£244.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: Silverstone RL04W ATX Mid Tower Case (£37.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX PRO Black Edition 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£92.39 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£109.97 @ Aria PC)
Total: £996.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 16:16 BST+0100
 
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Let us know what you decide @patep023

Just remember not to under power/quality your build. There;s just too many horror stories of people 'cheaping out' on their PSU - not something you want to do with a relatively expensive purchase!

If you have any questions, we're here to help!
 
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Exactly! Sometimes poor quality power supplies can actually set themselves on fire.
 
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The H97 board has Crossfire support (2xAMD Cards). Neither board has SLI support (2xnVidia Cards).

The Z97 board will allow overclocking (in theory, at least) - but I've heard build quality can be a bit lacking there.

For around 20quid extra, you can get a couple of really good options:
micro ATX:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-fatal1tyz97mkiller
ATX:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97sslikraitedition

Both have SLI & Crossfire support, 4xDIMM slots (supporting >3000MHz), M.2 & SATAe - and both support overclocking well.


If you really are looking between the two you listed, it'll boil down to whether you want Crossfire support, or OC potential - along with the form-factor. They're fairly even as far as quality goes.
 
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Are there any major differences between the companies that produce the ATX Z97 so
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z97anniversary
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97guardpro
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97sslikraitedition
I want to try and save money wherever I can but I don't want to do it if I am missing out on a lot.
Currently my build is http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/fDbs3C and I am not certain on the motherboard. Planning on going with a z97 atx just not sure which one
 
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