Need advice on new £1500+ gaming/rendering/recording build

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niallcowie

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Mar 27, 2013
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Hi, I have a budget of £1500-2000 and am aiming to build the best pc gaming rig possible for the amount of money I have available, , I need to know what will be good for running on a duel/multi screen setup that I can also use to render videos for youtube and play games at max settings. please give me any advice on what components you think I should buy. thanks

I have already chosen SLI gtx 780s as my cards so if anyone knows parts that would specifically help these cards in SLI that would be great too!

cooling is important!
 
If you need help with every part, that translates to "I lack sufficient knowledge, so I'd like assistance".

If so, why have you already picked a 780? It might not be the best option. I'll assume you don't want to

OC, yes?


I'll start the thread off with:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£143.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£74.97 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£78.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£145.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£64.80 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (£599.00 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case (£130.19 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.97 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.94 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£68.39 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1385.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-12 13:09 BST+0100)

Solid contender too. A GTX 690 is way expensive.

You could make this build cheaper, but I'll wait for some replies. A GTX Titan is also out of the

question. This build can go SLI too. However if you add a 690 then:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£143.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£74.97 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£78.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£145.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£64.80 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card (£798.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case (£130.19 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.97 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.94 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£68.39 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1585.71
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-12 13:13 BST+0100)

Which is still within your budget. It's just so expensive by far most people avoid it.

It's a very good GPU though. Two GPUs in one. But it can be argued that cheaper GPUs

in pairs will do better. This build is just pretty extreme:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£143.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£74.97 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£290.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£145.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£64.80 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card (£798.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case (£130.19 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.97 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.78 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£68.39 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1797.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-12 13:15 BST+0100)

That's utter luxury really. Needless to say it would run two monitors easily; depending on the resolution.

You're also correct in that cooling is important. Hence the case is a HAF case. High Air Flow.

Which games do you intend on playing? And what's your resolution?
 
An Intel X79/GTX 780 Build. Can upgrade to 4930K (6 cores vs 4 cores) which brings the total to £1812.32.

CPU: Intel Core i7-4820K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor (£248.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£22.85 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard (£168.94 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£100.97 @ Dabs)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£168.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£48.36 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (£540.27 @ Dabs)
Case: Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case (£130.00 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£125.97 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-208DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£61.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1617.32
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-12 17:01 BST+0100)
 
If you've got a budget that high, there is no reason to even remotely consider AMD FX. Intel X79 might be an ideal option but that all depends on if you plan on doing any heavy duty Autodesk work or not. Also things like Dominator Platinum RAM is an absolute no - a completely absurd waste of money and there is zero need to pay 3 x more the price for a fancy heat sink, especially with RAM prices as volatile as they are, that is just not the place to spend any extra money on a rig.

I would do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£248.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£107.52 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£148.05 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£100.19 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£158.63 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£115.68 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) (£319.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) (£319.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: NZXT Phantom 630 (Gunmetal) ATX Full Tower Case (£136.61 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£134.52 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £1803.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-12 17:59 BST+0100)

Use the difference on a nice wide format monitor - either 2560 x 1080 or 2560 x 1440. Dual GTX 770 will simply crush anything that comes before it - a 690, 790, Titan, pretty much anything except dual 780s or dual Titans.
 




sorry forgot to say ive bought two 780s to run in SLI. games I'll be playing are arma 3 crysis 3 metro last light etc, high end graphics games. also some MMOS

 



I didn't go for the evga 780 as I found the MSI version £140 cheaper, so going to run two 780s in sli for £960. I'm not including the second card as part of my budget as ive already paid for it with a tax rebate.

 
You may want to look into Ivy Bridge-E if you are doing some serious rendering(something as a job or similar) if it is just a hobby, i recommend the i7 4770k(or you can go i7 4820k which is an overclockable IB-E CPU but has only 4 cores which is the same as the 4770k. They are also the same price but 4820k can just use more ram)
 



OK then take the build I proposed and take out the GPU then. It will be around £1100 and that will give you more than enough money to add a nice wide format monitor.
 




Awesome! thanks so much for taking the time to send all this info my way I really appreciate, Could I just ask if you think what boulbox is saying about possibly getting an i7 4820k is a good or bad idea?
 


It is just a choice. I personally would go the i7 4770k route because the motherboards will be cheaper(saves a bit more money) and it would honestly be all i would need for minor rendering and stuff(even the i5 4670k would suffice for me as gaming performance is pretty much the same).

I would choose the i7 4820k if i would need more ram and such or on a budget rendering build(for professionals, the 4930k would be more preferred) and 2011 boards have better SLI/CFX scaling past 2-way vsing 1150 and 1155.
 


Thanks! thinj I'll go for the 4770k!
 


Honestly I've been looking at getting a 4820K but now I find out that my motherboard doesn't support it right out of the box, so I'm getting a 3820. But the reviews I've been reading about Ivy Bridge-E have not been the most positive, in fact showing that (as much as I hate to admit) Sandy Bridge-E actually in fact does clock higher than IB-E. The 4770K and the 3820 both perform about the same.
 


yea, saw a few benchmarks SB-E vs IB-E vs Haswell. Haswell winning in most-all in games and SB-E vs IB-E are pretty much the same.
 


I would not get a 3820, because it lacks the K. Without overclocking the Chip is not really an option (IMO), because cheaper Haswell/Ivy Bridge Chips can easily be overclocked and be faster.
 


I can't exactly afford a 3930K at the moment so that's out of the question. I would like to get the 4820K but I would have to return my motherboard, but seeing as how I got it for free that might be a bit difficult. :lol:

The 3820 does have an unlocked multiplier but most motherboards limit the CPU's overclocking capabilities.
 



They are both LGA 2011 so your motherboard will most likely just require a BIOS Update. Some motherboards can update their BIOS without a CPU (mine for example). Which motherboard do you have. I might be able to find out if it needs an Update and whether or not it will be able to do so without a CPU.
 


Completely agree 100%, especially since the reviews I've been reading about IB-E say that there's no difference between IB-E and SB-E, and there's no difference between the i7-3820 and the i7-4770K. I'm upgrading to X79 next week and I'm only doing so because I got the motherboard for free.
 


nice. What kind of motherboard did you win?
 


I didn't really win one, I scored a unit for review - it's an MSI X79-GD45 Plus. I'm planning to pick up the CPU on Monday and install it in my work rig on Tuesday. I'll be setting this up with an i7-3820 (purchasing), a Sandisk Extreme II (in use), a GTX 660 (in use), a Hyper 212 Evo (purchased), a Seasonic X750 Gold (in use), and it will be housed in my Corsair 500R.

Can anyone recommend a good monitor to buy for the rig?
Click to expand...

Depends how much you want to spend and what resolution you want.
 


price £200-600 max would rather somewhere in the middle

 


I can recommend an IPS panel from Korea through eBay. I own this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-YAMAKASI-CATLEAP-2703-LED-27-2560X1440-WQHD-IPS-DVI-Monitor-Tempered-glassl-/110920266460?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item19d35cf2dc

There are many more. Some can even be overclocked to 100+Hz.
 
I think I have decided to go for 2 or 3 yamakasi catleap monitors, does anyone know what the best value monitor in the range is and whether i need to buy any seperate parts to make it compatible with my sli 780s?
 
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