New gaming rig

[DotDotBoom]

Hi,

I've finally decided to make myself a custom PC after much debating and this is all completely new to me. I've put a through rigs together through pcpartpicker and i'd love for you guys to help me out if possible. The PC will mostly be used for web building as that is my day to day job but I'm also a casual gamer, so I'm after something that also has the ability to run games efficiently enough. Budget wise is anything from £600 to £800 including the OS.

I've put below a few I put together (I'm not sure if they're any good!)

Rig 1:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/JoshyPM/saved/8H6xFT

Rig 2:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/JoshyPM/saved/Nvg48d

Like I say guys any help to improve these would be greatly appreciated!

 

[0x1eef]

You forgot to include a case.
Changed CPU for better price/performance ratio, also GPU and Storage, and good (and cheaper) PSU.
Also don't know why do you need an optical drive, but nevertheless included it in build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.26 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.34 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£70.68 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£52.20 @ Kustom PCs)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.95 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£167.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£64.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£51.54 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer (£12.36 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £773.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-17 23:42 BST+0100

 

[barto]

0x1eef has a better build. Better GPU. The decrease in CPU speed will not be noticeable. The aftermarket CPU fan isn't needed unless it's desired. If the case isn't needed, you can drop the case and CPU cooler to possibly squeeze a 970 GTX in the build.

 

[DotDotBoom]

You forgot to include a case.
Changed CPU for better price/performance ratio, also GPU and Storage, and good (and cheaper) PSU.
Also don't know why do you need an optical drive, but nevertheless included it in build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.26 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.34 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£70.68 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£52.20 @ Kustom PCs)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.95 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£167.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£64.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£51.54 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer (£12.36 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £773.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-17 23:42 BST+0100

Cheers for that, and I was just picking all my parts before the case haha.

Just a few questions:
Would it not be worth just going the extra for a 4690?
Would I be able to build this with the Fractal Design Define R5 case? (that was looking like it was going to be my choice of case)

 

[DotDotBoom]

0x1eef has a better build. Better GPU. The decrease in CPU speed will not be noticeable. The aftermarket CPU fan isn't needed unless it's desired. If the case isn't needed, you can drop the case and CPU cooler to possibly squeeze a 970 GTX in the build.

Thanks for your suggestion it's much appreciated! to be honest I think i'd rather spend extra money on a better cpu than gpu as I wouldn't warrant splashing out for the gpu. The games I do play aren't high demanding and usually rely on CPU power efficiency more than anything. I don't have the case yet, just planning out my components first before deciding.

 

[barto]

Thanks for your suggestion it's much appreciated! to be honest I think i'd rather spend extra money on a better cpu than gpu as I wouldn't warrant splashing out for the gpu. The games I do play aren't high demanding and usually rely on CPU power efficiency more than anything. I don't have the case yet, just planning out my components first before deciding.

Well, I'm going to put this to bed real quick. For gaming, Intel CPU frequency pretty much doesn't matter.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/5

Thus, it's not worth it. You only buy faster CPUs if you want to overclock or if the non gaming application benefits from a faster CPU. But even then, we're talking about a very small benefit.

 

[DotDotBoom]

Thanks for your suggestion it's much appreciated! to be honest I think i'd rather spend extra money on a better cpu than gpu as I wouldn't warrant splashing out for the gpu. The games I do play aren't high demanding and usually rely on CPU power efficiency more than anything. I don't have the case yet, just planning out my components first before deciding.

Well, I'm going to put this to bed real quick. For gaming, Intel CPU frequency pretty much doesn't matter.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/5

Thus, it's not worth it. You only buy faster CPUs if you want to overclock or if the non gaming application benefits from a faster CPU. But even then, we're talking about a very small benefit.

Ah right, I'm sorry not all that clued up was just the general assumption I had but thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[0x1eef]

I went for 4690 because why not. Wanted the fastest i5 (i7 would be overkill for me). Not much of a gamer, though, but a developer.
Define R5 is a nice case, although I do not like the door thingy. It will fit your mATX board. But it's quite expensive for your 800-pound build.

 

[DotDotBoom]

I went for 4690 because why not. Wanted the fastest i5 (i7 would be overkill for me). Not much of a gamer, though, but a developer.
Define R5 is a nice case, although I do not like the door thingy. It will fit your mATX board. But it's quite expensive for your 800-pound build.

Don't mind paying extra for a quality case really plus I've heard it has great cable management. I think I'm going to go with what you linked me there as it seems to be what I'm after for a first build really. Just to make sure they'll no bottle-necking at all with this system?

 

[0x1eef]

Arc Mini has great CM, too (just like the Midi I own).
No bottlenecks.

 

[DotDotBoom]

Arc Mini has great CM, too (just like the Midi I own).
No bottlenecks.

Great stuff! are the any other options opposed to the GPU you put in the rig? the reviews don't sound too great for it.

 

[0x1eef]

What can I say? That may be true. Go for EVGA SuperSC ACX 2.0+ or MSI then, those seem to be a good cards.