New Build opinions after failed cursed build

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jamiewhite

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Dec 12, 2011
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So I've started a couple of threads on here, unfortunately mostly pertaining to the colossal meltdown my previous PC had. The graphics card, ram, hard drive (mechanical) and possibly the motherboard and/or the power supply have all failed.

As a result, I've decided to figuratively throw this PC out the window (sell it all on ebay) and buy brand new all over again from elsewhere with the help of loans from my partner, parents and now finally a new job.
So whilst my budget isn't unlimited per se, it can stretch to meet my needs. Though I'm very conscious and guilt ridden so for their sakes and mine, I'd like to keep it between 500-800. I've specced up a few different builds and it's mostly between 600-700.

I'll be using my PC for gaming, music/video editing and streaming/uploading on Twitch and Youtube. I always mess with things. I've always dabbled with overclocking, I erred on the safe and boring side like "overclocking" my ram up to it's max as the bios underclocked automatically, MSI AfterBurner on the GPU and a bit of CPU overclocking. I enjoy the experience as much as the apparently paltry performance gains.

The old build had an i5 2500K, Corsair Vengeance Blu LP 8GB (2x4GB) and a GTX 770 (which will carry over for now).

I think this new one's a pretty solid build, I just need second opinions to finalise it and maybe any advice for stuff like where to buy? I've been told to go to, and never had any problems with, Amazon.



So anyway, here's my prospective build:

MOBO: ASRock Z97 Extreme4
http://goo.gl/VhFbQx
OR
MSI Z97 Gaming 5
http://goo.gl/ai6Bi0


CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K
http://goo.gl/KH8lLk


CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H60
http://goo.gl/KwLJLN


RAM: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL10 XMP Memory (CML16GX3M2A1600C10)
http://goo.gl/5lA0Kf


PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 750W Gold
http://goo.gl/ASxThl


Case: Corsair Carbide 330R
http://goo.gl/WeK9iT




* Is it worth upgrading to the H100i or should I just stick with the H60?
I definitely want to get rid of my broken, crappy Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. It's bulky and so cheaply made, I don't know why it's the most highly rated cooler.


I have all the peripherals like the mouse, speakers and monitors already. The only thing I don't have is the keyboard but it's a tad expensive and overkill to not wait till it comes down, is on offer or I have wages to waste XD

Keyboard: Corsair Gaming K95 RGB Cherry MX
http://goo.gl/CDoj7z




Thanks guys.








EDIT:

(Took this lot out as it's probably a barrier for people getting through to my actual spec choices, above is the TL;DR below is the original unadulterated post)

So I've started a couple of threads on here, unfortunately mostly pertaining to the colossal meltdown my current/previous PC had. The graphics card, ram, hard drive (mechanical) and possibly the motherboard and/or the power supply have all failed.

It started with the GPU, then the RAM and HDD, then everything went and it stopped working at all. Even the CPU Cooler and Case have got broken bits. I've spent the last 11 months replacing parts, RMA'ing them and, more recently, convincing companies to replace the items like for like with brand new sealed versions.
I may have to seek advice from Trading Standards in regards to 90% of the items I purchased from the reseller failing in the first 3 years. If you're interested it was Overclockers.co.uk that I bought all these items from (and have purchased from before without issue mostly). Their response is "There's nothing we can do, take it to a local professional" said the downright unfriendly and disinterested "tech support".

Should I mention that it cost nearer £1500 in the end? That I pretty much had a meltdown myself and I'm struggling with anxiety issues? I'm considering writing a post/article on the dangers of a self-built machine especially for first timers.

So far I've managed to get a brand new GPU, RAM and Motherboard from RMA'ing. I'm working on the PSU and I need to sort out the HDD and case.

As a result, I've decided to figuratively throw this PC out the window (sell it all on ebay) and buy brand new all over again from elsewhere with the help of loans from my partner, parents and now finally a new job.
So whilst my budget isn't unlimited per se, it can stretch to meet my needs. Though I'm very conscious and guilt ridden so for their sakes and mine, I'd like to keep it between 500-800. I've specced up a few different builds and it's mostly between 600-700.
 
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In my opinion if you can afford the i7 then go for that however an i5 should also be more than ok for what you need. As for the cooler i'd say you'd be fine with a single 120mm. i have a FX 8350 and AMD are known to get alot hotter than Intels and 1 120mm seems to work fine for me. (nice GPU btw we have the same xD) 🙂
 
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If you get the 4690k it would need BIOS 1.30 to support it. This is the latest BIOS

1150 Core i5 i5-4690K (C0) Haswell-R 3.5GHz 6MB 88W P1.30

If you get the 4790 it should work out of the box

1150 Core i7 i7-4790 (C0) Haswell-R 3.6GHz 8MB 84W All

You may have more chance of it turning on with the 4790 than the 4690K

Because if the mobo doesn't have BIOS 1.30 on it (If you get the 4690K), you'll have to either take it into a shop and get them to update it.

Or you'll have to buy a CPU it supports first then flash it

 
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i5 4690K = 4 Cores / 4 Threads
i7 4790 (K??) = 4 Cores / 8 Threads

Streaming and Video editing do get a performance boost from more threads.

Keep an eye on the K and non-K versions of the CPU's. You mentioned you wanted to OC and the 4790 you linked can't be overclocked. Look for the K version.

The bigger the radiator the cooler it wil get as the heat will have more surface to dissipate from. Also the reason the Cooler Master Evo 212 is the highest rated cooler is because it's the best for the buck.
 
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Yeah at the price it is on the Gold Box deal I could get it from the US and not be much worse off, shame I can't get the K version as that's way more expensive.
I definitely love the minimal look/impact of the Corsair Hydro series and I do intend to go mini-ITX in the future.
I would love to go AMD but I just can't risk lagging behind, wasting money or messing with this anymore. Twitch was about to start going really well for me and then this happened, I just need a PC to get back on track asap 🙁

Don't even talk to me about the GPU >_< I had a GTX 580, that went kaput so EVGA replaced it with a 680 that went kaput, so they replaced it with another 680 that went kaput (I kid you not, it has been an awful year) and then they upgraded me to the 770. It's a real beauty and half the price my 580 originally was -_-
Ideally though I'd like a 970 😀

You have good taste though, that sounds like a sweet build. What I'd have if I had the guts to go AMD.
 
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Christ! Thanks for warning me of this! I remember reading this (maybe on Amazon reviews) but totally forgot and didn't realise it was this CPU/Board.
That's a pretty big consideration. Do you know offhand if the MSI gaming 5 has this issue?
 
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Wow you really have literally been through hell and back. What a cock up. Yeah do love the 770. for the price you cant really go wrong. Yeah if your Mobo is set up for Intel then i'd stick with it. Im only AMD cos thats what the PC came with and i didnt want to mess around changing the Mobo and stuff so thought i may aswell get one of the best AMD do. Well good luck with it anyway. seems like you know what your doing and let us know if you have any more problems or questions :-D
 
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Will it be that noticeable though? Between those two CPU's will I see a big impact for the big price difference? (Although the Amazon Gold Box deal makes it £40 cheaper and only £30 more expensive than the 4690K)

Yeah, I got the 2500K so I could overclock but I figured if it's on a deal and an i7 the locked 4790 might be a worthy choice. Overclocking was really easy but it was more of a hobby thing than a serious performance squeeze.

The Cooler Master fan clips that keep it on the heatsink just fell apart, which of course affects the noise and maybe heat performance. It's clearly the best for cheap but I was very dissappointed. It's so bulky as well, I didn't think/know about this when I first got it but it completely blocked the first ram slot and I had to frankenstien my ram and take of the heat spreaders/fins.

Will the H60 be a big difference from the Hyper 212 Evo?

Sorry to just pummel you with questions 3:
 
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It's been a long one, with personal stuff on top I'm not doing too great. But I've moved home and getting some much needed support :)
I upgraded my partners build mid-way through this year as well and I converted her to Team Red 😉 for the price and the fact that she photoshops more than she games AMD is perfect.

Thank you man. It means a lot that people take the time to read or reply and help.
 
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Another possible suggestion: You might never had heard of it but dont let that put you off but i use this fan: http://goo.gl/UdJOxr its surprisingly quiet and as i said i have an fx 8350 which are known to get pretty hot and this thing keeps it at around 25 -30 idle so i can vouch for it being really good. just another idea and its not expensive either
 
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no problem mate. glad i could 🙂
 
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I definitely want to go the Liquid Cooling route. Mainly for the clearance in my case but also the extra cooling I assume I'll get. My Hyper 212 Evo is frigging massive, I had to butcher my ram to fit it in.
I've also got an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro sitting around. I'm going to sell both to help pay for the Corsair Hydro.

I'd like an Evga Hadron Hydro in the future, that's my dream build. That, some LED's and a 980 maybe :)
http://goo.gl/0n9ZDp
 
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Ah right fair enough, I'd never trust myself with liquid cooling lol but yeah you'll definitely get better cooling than using air. and hey dreams do come true lol (as long as you have the money that is xD)
 
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LMAO I wish someone would've said that to me when I was growing up. I might have had more realistic expectations XD You can do anything you want to... if you have shedloads of money lol.

I am a bit nervous about the Liquid side of it. I haven't looked too much into their failure rate or things like that >_< I don't dare.
 
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They're pretty safe I think if you do it right. Personally i just don't like the idea of water being that close to my pc lol. But that's just me
 
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I have no idea about the MSI mobos. Never put any of these together. I usually build ASUS mobos.

Its a bit tricky with the latest Intel CPU's because I would say most mobos would need an update before you use the CPU

The only mobos that I know of (that you can flash) would be the ASUS mobos that support ASUS BIOS flashback (if the BIOS didnt support the CPU)

Even if the mobo doesnt have the right BIOS, with this feature all you need is the PSU. And it doesnt have to be running to flash the BIOS


 
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It seems I could whittle my life away searching for motherboards. There are so many yet so little to distinguish them, or so much that it no longer matters. You end up missing out no matter what you buy and in thhe end, so long as it's got lots of high speed USB and SATA (and good overclocking headroom for me) it literally doesn't matter so far as I can tell.

I end up going to the front page of here, Tech Radar and Linus Tech Tips and just picking the one they all mention in their best of's ^_^ The common denominator and not the most expensive or feature filled.

I need bucket loads of USB ports (that was a plus side to my old one, 10 rear IO USB ports!), I only need 2-3 SATA (internal not eSATA. And I know they come with 6-10 most the time anyway) and other than that I'd love a Killer ethernet port if it's actually not just marketing speak.
 
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Yes, it will be noticable if you have the 4790 instead of the 4690K. Especially when you are video editing / rendering which will seriously reduce your rendering times. Also leaves the option open to do some streaming while you are doing the video editing / rendering. All in all you will notice more performance and will leave more room for multitasking.

Yes, liquid cooling (i suspect it's the Corsair H60) is overall better then air cooling.
 
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Better off getting an x99 mobo, if you can afford it . ie: Like this.

You wouldn't run out of sata ports thats for sure lol 18 SATA and 8 internal USB and 8 at the back

That MSI killer ethernet port is just marketing hype I think. I've seen plenty of posts in here, with windows crashing because of its driver

Its like all the crap programs, MSI , ASUS, Gigabyte, and Asrock make to make USB ports charge Ipods / Ipads faster

Programs that let you overclock in windows.

The only thing these programs will do is crash your system.

 
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Holy crap... I've never seen so much SATA in my life! That's ridiculous, who would need that much storage on a consumer board?

Thanks for alerting me to the Killer software/driver issues. Looking it up quickly brings some alarming stuff up quickly :/

So, realistically now ;P out of the MSI Gaming 5 and ASRock Extreme 4 What do you think would be better?

If you've got any alternatives let me know. I'm completely open. And thanks again!
 
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Unfortunately, it's not my day (READ: Year) and the 4790 deal has now gone. It had over 10 hours left on Amazon's Gold Box but they all sold out >_< doh! I wasn't even considering that in all my deliberating and time wasting -_-

Though it is Black Friday soon, I may find some good deals. I'll be purchasing it all that weekend anyway but with this deal turning up I posted immediately so I could get some quick advice and grab it.

The price difference without an offer though is too much 🙁

Okay I'm set on the H60 then :)
 
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STOP DOING THIS TO ME PAUL

XD lol
Unless Black Friday throws another spanner into the works it's going to be the i5 4690K.

I'll be holding out till Black Friday (next weekend) if for nothing other than to see if any of the parts I've already chosen are cheaper. But there might be some deals like with the 4790 earlier tonight that sway me.
I've waited since last December so a little longer won't kill me... will it? 😀
 
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If]http://www.msi.com/support/mb/Z97-GAMING-5.html#support-cpu]If this is the MSI youre talking about.[/url]

It needs BIOS 1.0 to support the 4790 which is the 1st BIOS. So that would work.

Core i7 Haswell Refresh i7-4790 100 3.6 1M 8M C0 84 HD Graphics 4600 1200MHz 7917v10.zip

And BIOS 1.2 for the 4790K

BIOS Core i7 Haswell Refresh i7-4790K 100 4.0 1M 8M C0 88 HD Graphics 4600 1250MHz 7917v12.zip

And BIOS 1.2 for the 4690K

Core i5 Haswell Refresh i5-4690K 100 3.5 1M 6M C0 88 HD Graphics 4600 1200MHz 7917v12.zip

You cant really tell WHAT BIOS is on a mobo unless it's got a sticker on it. Saying what BIOS version is on it

I know ASUS mobos have stickers on them. The BIOS version MAY also be on the box

BUT you would have to go instore to look. You wouldnt really know if you buy it online

 
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I'm pretty dead set on the Case, CPU Cooler and PSU. And unless a proposed CPU is an i7 upgrade on a deal/offer, I'm pretty sure of that too.
So the only things I'm in the dark truly about are the Motherboard and RAM.

The motherboard is a complete pain to me. I couldn't decide for the life of me. I just want lots of rear USB, ethernet and 1 x PCIe x16. I don't care about on board graphics ports (I know I will if the GPU goes but what the hell), I don't need eSATA or any gadgets like that though I would love some CMOS buttons on the rear IO.
Unfortunately, the few unique things I do want only come on high end boards and the rest of the things I want come on all boards anyway just in different flavours with more bloat than I want.

The RAM I wouldn't know where to start. I've had 4 lots of Corsair Vengeance Blue, first 4 x 2GB that I was not impressed with and one stick broke. Then I upgraded to 2 x 8GB, which has blown through everything I had.
I know a lot of builds seem to avoid Corsair but at the 16GB price range they're all roughly the same and Corsair Low Profile modules suit my needs best. Unless there's some other awesome 1600 mhz cheap 16GB kits out there?

As I said I've already got bits from my previous PC sitting around. An EVGA GTX 770 w/ ACX Cooling, A Samsung Evo 250GB SSD and a WD Blue 1TB drive, a Razer Deathadder, 2 x 21.5 Acer monitors, BOSE desktop speakers.
It was a mean setup. The PC itself was i5 2500K, Hyper 212 EVO, the RAM mentioned above, Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3, Corsair TX 750W Bronze PSU, and WD Velociraptor drive. All in a Fractal Design Define R3
:'(
It was great as a gaming rig, a linux tester and a Hackintosh </3
 
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