Looking to build a good pc for medium gaming and possibly photo editing in the future

[joseph9012]

I am trying to build a pc excluding the monitor for under £800 (£600/700 would be better) I am going to use it for medium gaming and photo editing in the future. Want it to last a long time if possible and still be able to play games in smoothly in 5-10years+. I mostly play CS GO at the moment and i know this is massively over powered for CS GO but i might play more cpu and gpu intensive game in the future so want to be prepared.

I have to builds that are £523 and £728. Theses is just a rough idea and would like any improvement and which one to go for (I would prefer the 2nd option if it could be made cheaper in any way). I am going to worry about a monitor and cooling the cup later once i have the main pc but any suggestion would help.

All the parts are cheaper from Newegg is this a good place to buy computer parts?
Also i don't have much experience in computer building so wondered how hard it would be (never built one before but could possibly get a friend to help if i get stuck)?

here are the builds, the fist 4 components in both builds are almost certain. I have also broken down the expensive parts so i could see the main price difference.

£40 in win 503 case
£63 samsung ssd drive 250gb
£39 WD blue hhd drive 1tb
£44 HyperX FURY 16GB ram
£68 ASUS M5A97 motherboard
£36 power 600w
= £290
£113 amd fx 8350 cpu
£120 gtx 950 graphics card (or 960)
= £223
Total WITHOUT cooling and monitor
= £523

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/fyL8hM
£40 in win 503 case
£63 ssd drive 250gb
£39 hhd drive 1tb
£44 16gb ram
£106 motherboard
£47 powe supply 750w
= £339
£218 intel i7
£225 GTX 960 4gb
= £443
Total WITHOUT coling and monitor
= £782

I might be missing a few parts so please tell me if this is the case

I already own Razer ouroboros and Razer deathstalker, so no need for keyboard and mouse.

price difference (if u want)

£38 motherboard
£47 power supply
= £49
£105 cpu
£105 graphics card
= £210
total differance
= £259

thanks any help appreciated.

 

[Barty1884]

Playing smoothly for 5-10 years is a bit subjective really. Requirements & efficiency change - dramatically over that kind of timeframe.

You have options.
1. build what you need now and keep it below budget
or
2. blow the budget & build a rig that is capable of photo editing and demanding games in future.

Really, it depends how likely the photo editing is going to be. If it's a bit of a hobby, and something you do occasionally, you can get by with an i3 (ideally an i5). If it's something you want to do professionally, or quite often, an i7 or Xeon would be the better deal.

You're not included a cost in your PCPP build for the SuperNOVA GQ 1000W or Windows 10 Home - do you already own these? Including a Windows license you can transfer?
Also, the one build link you did provide, doesn't match the price summary you included?

Option #1 - Suitable for your needs at the moment, and would be ok for minimal editing (although not particularly snappy)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£97.98 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£81.56 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£28.49 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£68.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked Video Card (£153.70 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.50 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£70.58 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£72.22 @ More Computers)
Total: £642.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-14 21:41 BST+0100

Option #2 - Perfect for your needs at the moment, and would be ok for occasional editing

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£26.49 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.62 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£36.10 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£68.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked Video Card (£153.70 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.50 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£70.58 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£73.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £790.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-14 21:40 BST+0100

Option #3 - A longer-term option, suitable for editing, but on older tech.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£226.26 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£69.43 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£49.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£68.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked Video Card (£153.70 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.50 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£70.58 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£73.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £781.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-14 21:33 BST+0100

Option #4 - A longer-term option, suitable for editing etc. Latest platform, but over budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£273.38 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£26.49 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.31 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£57.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£68.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked Video Card (£153.70 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.50 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£70.58 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£73.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £885.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-14 21:38 BST+0100

Option #5 - A monster. Perfect for almost anything you can throw at it. But smokes the budget by a long way.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£323.77 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£169.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£117.57 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£123.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card (£398.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Nova ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: SeaSonic EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£72.64 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£73.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1372.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-14 21:37 BST+0100

 

[joseph9012]

Barty1884

Thanks for the help

Option 2. sound better (blow the budget).

I am taking photography A-level so nothing too serious as I can and use school computers if i need to.

On the version i wrote (not the link) I included the power supply which i changed to 750W.

I hopefully get windows for free, if i can't exclude that from my budget as i'll buy separately.

The price summary I included was from Newegg which has all the parts cheaper. Please could you tell me if this is a good site to buy computer parts from thanks.

ok option #1 would not be good enough i don't think and if i was to buy an i3 (unlikely) i think i would spend a bit more and get amd fx-9350 in my build 1.

option #2 look good for a cheaper option

option #3 the tech is probably a bit old as i want this to be able to run smoothly in the future (5 years)

option #4 looks similar to my second build so a likely option.

option #5 as you said over budget.

Would i be able to build a pc (never built one before) how hard is it? I know a bit about pc's.

thanks again

 

[Barty1884]

I have no idea. Newegg is good in the US/Canada, but I never used them when I lived in the UK.
It'll depend where it's shipping from as far as time/shipping goes as to whether it's a good option.
They're reputable though, nothing to worry about there.

As an FYI, the only think "old" about Option #3 I gave is the CPU (and DDR3 since DDR4 is becoming more common). The Xeon E3-1231 is somewhat comparable to an i7. Falls a little short as far as raw performance goes compared to Skylake i7's, but it;s a quad core + HT and clocked at decent speeds. It'll give you 5 years. It'll give you 5 years better than any i5 available today.

Building a desktop is not too difficult. Give yourself a full day to do it your first time around.
Read the manuals that come with each component. Take your time. If you get stuck............stop! Ask here at that point. Don't guess, don't force anything. Better safe than sorry.

 

[joseph9012]

Thanks for all you help I think I will be able to make a decision now on the main pc.

Any help on a monitor under £200 (I was thinking http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824022039&cm_re=Samsung_LS27D590CS-_-24-022-039-_-Product http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SE510C-27-Inch-Curved-Monitor/dp/B00TF0XQNO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460706484&sr=8-1&keywords=27+samsung+curved+monitor) Is this a good monitor for gaming other than slightly slow refresh rate.

Also if you know any water cooling full kits under £150 (the ones you build and fill up not the ones you leave and do nothing with) would also help a lot thanks.

Thats all now I think so thanks for all the help if you could just answer the last two questions.

 

[Barty1884]

Under 200quid you're not likely to find better than 1080p / 60Hz. That pricepoint, you'll probably find very few >24" too. So the Samsung seems like a decent option for the price........doesn't appear to be in stock though?

As far as the cooling kits, I'm definitely not qualified to answer that. Not my area of expertise at all. I suspect 150 may be a little low for full cooling kits of any great quality but, again, I'm not sure.

 

[joseph9012]

ok thanks for you help I will get the samsung and am going to get an aio water-cooling kit for about £100

 

[Barty1884]

Which AIO were you thinking of? The NZXT Kraken X61 is near universally liked:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-cpu-cooler-rlkrx6101

 

[joseph9012]

Which AIO were you thinking of? The NZXT Kraken X61 is near universally liked:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-cpu-cooler-rlkrx6101

I was thinking
- SWIFTECH H140-X CPU
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SWIFTECH-H140-X-CPU-Intel-Watercooling/dp/B00TFVTE9I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460731881&sr=8-1&keywords=H240-X+CPU+Liquid+Cooling+Kit

I only choice this one because I like the idea of having an aio and the traditional old method of having a reservoir and pump that not attached directly to the cpu.
I can also customise this one if I need to in the future and add more pipes or a gpu cooler.

I you know any other like this I'm open to ideas as I have not fully decided but around £100 is my budget.

Also as there is no fan attachment in the top of my case and it need to be on the top could i just drill holes on the top to attach it as it comes with lot of screws?
Thanks

 

[Bearmann]

Joseph, I would go with something like this. If you want to play games smoothly for several years I would recommend a higher end GPU. For Photoshop, there will be no benefit, however the i5 6500 will still be quite capable for many years to come. Since you won't be overclocking, the stock cooler will have you covered. I'm not a fan of the Inwin case. I really like a case that has a removable hard drive cage so that there is direct airflow straight back to the GPU. I assume that Newegg does not have an outlet in the UK? Wouldn't it be better to buy locally in case you have to return something?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£162.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£77.92 @ More Computers)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£51.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£68.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£272.28 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.97 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £793.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-15 16:45 BST+0100

 

[joseph9012]

Joseph, I would go with something like this. If you want to play games smoothly for several years I would recommend a higher end GPU. For Photoshop, there will be no benefit, however the i5 6500 will still be quite capable for many years to come. Since you won't be overclocking, the stock cooler will have you covered. I'm not a fan of the Inwin case. I really like a case that has a removable hard drive cage so that there is direct airflow straight back to the GPU. I assume that Newegg does not have an outlet in the UK? Wouldn't it be better to buy locally in case you have to return something?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£162.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£77.92 @ More Computers)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£51.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£68.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£272.28 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.97 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £793.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-15 16:45 BST+0100

Thanks i'll consider it and I think I will change the case

 

[Bearmann]

In addition to Corsair, I would take a look at the Fractal, Phanteks, and NZXT cases.

 

[joseph9012]

In addition to Corsair, I would take a look at the Fractal, Phanteks, and NZXT cases.

ok thanks for the help