PC build 900euros/1,200$/750pounds - help needed - beginner

[Robotmutt]

Hi,

I have been playing games a lot recently and was looking to invest my money in a good/worth the price custom built pc as it seems to be better doing and funner. Also this means the possibility of customization and removal of certain parts in the future. I am not very experienced in this sector and require assistance and suggestions. I have about 900euro/ $1,200/750pounds to spend. I do not mind whether it slightly exceeds my money limit, I am looking for the best build I can get with that money NOT including any monitors/peripherals .etc. I have looked at PCPartPicker and do not have much of a clue where to start, I've looked at videos and have the general idea of what I need - I would prefer Nvidia over ASD. Whatever suggestions and must haves will be a great help! I am not sure what the average price for each component should be and how to balance everything out. Not to forget, I do little work, only microsoft word .etc. I will also be watching bluray films, at the moment I have a DVD drive to use and plan to buy a bluray drive in the future, I don't mind whether it is included in the overall build for the moment. At the moment I play Rust, DayZ, Metro, Bioshock, Borderlands, Skyrim and a whole list of similar games quite similar. I will also be looking to keeping this for 2 years or more and be playing games such Titanfall and possibly other mainstream games.

 

[Robotmutt]

yea the second one seems a little wierd. on a case it would be very sudden changes of color, smooth is better in my opinion. have you seen this on pcpartpicker? http://pcpartpicker.com/b/xYCJ7P

instead of all those different colored lines, you can do a single green strip diagnal on the side panel and top. obviously youd skip over the panel window but if its measured out and marked of with painters tape correctly it can look awesome

WOAH! THAT'S AWESOME! Yeah I would definitely consider it, I'm very artistic so I think I will put a day's thought into doing some creative designs spray painting certain things and I'll let you know my ideas. If I do do the painting I will upload more pictures.

 

[jshoop]

alright

now im wanting to mod up my case some..... some paint and sleeved cables, some leds. gosh, i wish i got the windowed version of my case

 

[Robotmutt]

alright

now im wanting to mod up my case some..... some paint and sleeved cables, some leds. gosh, i wish i got the windowed version of my case

Can't you buy a window side panel? I think modding your pc with paint and etc makes it unique and way cooler, f you do it well it is definitely worth it! I wish I could somehow paint the red on my gpu but it's hard to explain the material used I don't think it can be painted well, I'll look into it but I think I need to keep it red..

 

[jshoop]

yea, i can buy a side panel window. id probably get a used one though, fractal design probably charges an arm and a leg for one. im thinking of making one. im never gonna use the side fan slot so if i get the insides looking nice i can get some plexiglass type stuff and hot glue it to the inside of the panel. i can cut it out however i want it then too

maybe some green tape cut into strips on the red? green sharpie? i feel like the sharpie would distort the color, but tape might work good

 

[Robotmutt]

yea, i can buy a side panel window. id probably get a used one though, fractal design probably charges an arm and a leg for one. im thinking of making one. im never gonna use the side fan slot so if i get the insides looking nice i can get some plexiglass type stuff and hot glue it to the inside of the panel. i can cut it out however i want it then too

maybe some green tape cut into strips on the red? green sharpie? i feel like the sharpie would distort the color, but tape might work good

Yeah a used one would be good! Also making one if you did it right can be awesome cos then you can choose how much you want to see. Oh and also I've seen a few things on people with their builds on pcpartpicker about overclocking their GPUs and gaining a good amount of fps and performance. Is it out of the question with me or possible but not recommended or just not possible?

 

[jshoop]

you can try overclocking, but it would raise your temps quite a bit once you start raising voltages. using msi afterburner, you can adjust the core clock and memory clock though. one thing you can do is slowly raise your core clock and memory clock without touching voltages. raise the core clock by 15 mhz or so, then stress test it using kombuster (it comes with msi afterburner)

if it fails, bump the clock rate down a step, and stress test it for quite a bit, making sure temps are alright and theres no instability issues.

then, do the same with the memory clock rate.

make sure you get an average fps in games before and after overclocking, if it doesnt make much of a difference i would take the overclock off, since it will just make more heat for an insignificant gain.

 

[Robotmutt]

you can try overclocking, but it would raise your temps quite a bit once you start raising voltages. using msi afterburner, you can adjust the core clock and memory clock though. one thing you can do is slowly raise your core clock and memory clock without touching voltages. raise the core clock by 15 mhz or so, then stress test it using kombuster (it comes with msi afterburner)

if it fails, bump the clock rate down a step, and stress test it for quite a bit, making sure temps are alright and theres no instability issues.

then, do the same with the memory clock rate.

make sure you get an average fps in games before and after overclocking, if it doesnt make much of a difference i would take the overclock off, since it will just make more heat for an insignificant gain.

I guess I will try it's worth the gain if it works well if not doesn't matter too much. And you said 'if it fails' if what fails? and how do I know?

 

[jshoop]

while stress testing your gpu, theres a chance it will crash. its more likely that your temps will reach a higher temp before it crashes though in your case.

but for a crash, its where the gpu can't sustain what its trying to do and it will shut off. it shouldnt damage your gpu, and like i said its unlikely it will happen to you.

for temps, remember to try and keep them under 80

 

[Robotmutt]

while stress testing your gpu, theres a chance it will crash. its more likely that your temps will reach a higher temp before it crashes though in your case.

but for a crash, its where the gpu can't sustain what its trying to do and it will shut off. it shouldnt damage your gpu, and like i said its unlikely it will happen to you.

for temps, remember to try and keep them under 80

Alright. Also I think 85 degrees is like the absolute limit for my gpu, it hits 80 - 84 when playing most games so I'm comfortable with it staying in that zone rather than going above which is never does.

 

[jshoop]

yea, i wouldnt recomend it then. if you end up throwing some water cooling on the gpu, go for it. your tempswould probably be in the 60s when water cooled

 

[Robotmutt]

yea, i wouldnt recomend it then. if you end up throwing some water cooling on the gpu, go for it. your tempswould probably be in the 60s when water cooled

Yeah I think doing that would be awesome! Do you have any idea on prices and things to set me off in that direction?? Because I would love to spend time working hard this summer doing jobs to make money and buy equipment to water cool my gpu and not have to worry about temperatures!

 

[Fayzd]

if you can stretch the budget a little bit, i'd go with this build:

it has an i5 processor (one of the best for gaming), a 780(also one of the best for gaming), the corsair case, a highly rated psu, an ssd for your operating system and programs and your favorite games, and a hard disc drive for everything else. where i am it comes into $1250, which is a little more than you wanted

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3fQnw

i can probably make it a little less expensive if you want, without sacrificing much gaming performance

yes please; can you please make it around 1000? or 900?

 

[Robotmutt]

if you can stretch the budget a little bit, i'd go with this build:

it has an i5 processor (one of the best for gaming), a 780(also one of the best for gaming), the corsair case, a highly rated psu, an ssd for your operating system and programs and your favorite games, and a hard disc drive for everything else. where i am it comes into $1250, which is a little more than you wanted

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3fQnw

i can probably make it a little less expensive if you want, without sacrificing much gaming performance

yes please; can you please make it around 1000? or 900?

1000/900 alone?

 

[Fayzd]

if you can stretch the budget a little bit, i'd go with this build:

it has an i5 processor (one of the best for gaming), a 780(also one of the best for gaming), the corsair case, a highly rated psu, an ssd for your operating system and programs and your favorite games, and a hard disc drive for everything else. where i am it comes into $1250, which is a little more than you wanted

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3fQnw

i can probably make it a little less expensive if you want, without sacrificing much gaming performance

yes please; can you please make it around 1000? or 900?

1000/900 alone?

alone? I don't understand, but roughly, without os or peripers. 900- ish??

 

[Robotmutt]

if you can stretch the budget a little bit, i'd go with this build:

it has an i5 processor (one of the best for gaming), a 780(also one of the best for gaming), the corsair case, a highly rated psu, an ssd for your operating system and programs and your favorite games, and a hard disc drive for everything else. where i am it comes into $1250, which is a little more than you wanted

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3fQnw

i can probably make it a little less expensive if you want, without sacrificing much gaming performance

yes please; can you please make it around 1000? or 900?

1000/900 alone?

alone? I don't understand, but roughly, without os or peripers. 900- ish??

Oh sorry, I already have a PC and was considering adding water cooling to my GPU! http://pcpartpicker.com/b/LFf8TW

 

[jshoop]

water cooling can get pretty expensive. im not sure about prices in the uk but in the us for a full system it can be the price of a graphics card around a gtx760 or 770.

now for you, i imagine it would be less since all you would need to cool is the cpu and one single gpu. also, its in a small system so you wont need as much tubing and stuff.

i dont know as much about water cooling itself but i know the basics. ive been wanting to learn so i can set up a loop in my system too (i have so many plans for mine).

i know your gonna need 2 radiators (front and top) with fans for them (you have fans ), a gpu cooling block and cpu cooling block, a pump, a resevoir, tubing, and fittings.

id be happy to learn with you though, im very interested in water cooling

heres a few guides ive found helpful:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1406363/beginners-guide-for-water-cooling-2013

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7363/the-neophytes-custom-liquid-cooling-guide-how-to-why-to-what-to-expect

http://lifehacker.com/5940236/a-beginners-guide-to-water-cooling-your-computer

 

[Fayzd]

water cooling can get pretty expensive. im not sure about prices in the uk but in the us for a full system it can be the price of a graphics card around a gtx760 or 770.

now for you, i imagine it would be less since all you would need to cool is the cpu and one single gpu. also, its in a small system so you wont need as much tubing and stuff.

i dont know as much about water cooling itself but i know the basics. ive been wanting to learn so i can set up a loop in my system too (i have so many plans for mine).

i know your gonna need 2 radiators (front and top) with fans for them (you have fans ), a gpu cooling block and cpu cooling block, a pump, a resevoir, tubing, and fittings.

id be happy to learn with you though, im very interested in water cooling

heres a few guides ive found helpful:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1406363/beginners-guide-for-water-cooling-2013

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7363/the-neophytes-custom-liquid-cooling-guide-how-to-why-to-what-to-expect

http://lifehacker.com/5940236/a-beginners-guide-to-water-cooling-your-computer

From your earlier build; can you reduce the price to 1000-ish without cutting the gaming performance down too much?

 

[Robotmutt]

water cooling can get pretty expensive. im not sure about prices in the uk but in the us for a full system it can be the price of a graphics card around a gtx760 or 770.

now for you, i imagine it would be less since all you would need to cool is the cpu and one single gpu. also, its in a small system so you wont need as much tubing and stuff.

i dont know as much about water cooling itself but i know the basics. ive been wanting to learn so i can set up a loop in my system too (i have so many plans for mine).

i know your gonna need 2 radiators (front and top) with fans for them (you have fans ), a gpu cooling block and cpu cooling block, a pump, a resevoir, tubing, and fittings.

id be happy to learn with you though, im very interested in water cooling

heres a few guides ive found helpful:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1406363/beginners-guide-for-water-cooling-2013

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7363/the-neophytes-custom-liquid-cooling-guide-how-to-why-to-what-to-expect

http://lifehacker.com/5940236/a-beginners-guide-to-water-cooling-your-computer

I think I should keep the budget down and look to only cool my gpu and my cpu is fine as it is... If I had a overclocked cpu running high temps and should be worried then I would consider to water cool my cpu. Also the links you sent are really cool! As I have said I've been wanting to keep my budget down and keep it simple ish as it is my first build. I think I would preferably buy a core block cooler for my gpu rather than a whole block which covers it all. Also just cool my gpu with a 240mm rad which I can place in the top of my case and will have to remove the disk drive in order to do so..

 

[jshoop]

oh yea, i forgot theres no overclocking on the cpu. then just the gpu would be goo, youd only need a radiators at the top and stuff. i'll look around for water coolng distributors in italy, amazon.it might not have a great selection

 

[jshoop]

@fayzd, i think your a little late to the party. the pc is already built. as you can see theres over 200 replies in this one thread, so almost everything has been discussed and decided on for the pc itself. since its a small form factor build, the temps are high so right now we're talking about water cooling the gpu to allow for some gpu overclocking and just to keep the temps down.

 

[Robotmutt]

water cooling can get pretty expensive. im not sure about prices in the uk but in the us for a full system it can be the price of a graphics card around a gtx760 or 770.

now for you, i imagine it would be less since all you would need to cool is the cpu and one single gpu. also, its in a small system so you wont need as much tubing and stuff.

i dont know as much about water cooling itself but i know the basics. ive been wanting to learn so i can set up a loop in my system too (i have so many plans for mine).

i know your gonna need 2 radiators (front and top) with fans for them (you have fans ), a gpu cooling block and cpu cooling block, a pump, a resevoir, tubing, and fittings.

id be happy to learn with you though, im very interested in water cooling

heres a few guides ive found helpful:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1406363/beginners-guide-for-water-cooling-2013

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7363/the-neophytes-custom-liquid-cooling-guide-how-to-why-to-what-to-expect

http://lifehacker.com/5940236/a-beginners-guide-to-water-cooling-your-computer

From your earlier build; can you reduce the price to 1000-ish without cutting the gaming performance down too much?

I'm not looking to build a entire new PC, I'm only looking to add water cooling to my gpu in that PC which I build like last week.

 

[Robotmutt]

oh yea, i forgot theres no overclocking on the cpu. then just the gpu would be goo, youd only need a radiators at the top and stuff. i'll look around for water coolng distributors in italy, amazon.it might not have a great selection

Great! I will look at forums and such to see all the required components and get an understanding of it all and see if I can actually afford it! xD I always wondered, you know you buy 'blocks' for you cpu which the tubes connect to, can you buy that to connect to the back of your gpu? So rather than me buying a whole cover and removing the fans etc can I do that? I'm really not sure 😛

 

[jshoop]

i would suggest having a full block cooler for your gpu, the memory has to be cooled also. a 240mm rad will work fine.

there are some alternative methods to cooling the gpu, like the nzxt g10 bracket. they might have more types like that too, which will be alot easier then a custom loop

 

[jshoop]

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/NZXT-Kraken-G10-Review-527/

thats a review of the nzxt kraken g10. its a great product, but it doesnt cool the vrms enough. it says its fine under gaming loads, and you can put small heatsinks on the vrms to cool them. however, you can never take the heatsinks off (you use this thermal glue, alot stronger then paste)

EDIT: im gonna look around and see if theres a way to fix the vrms without heatsinks, maybe someone has done something

 

[Robotmutt]

Wow yeah that looks really simply and muh cheaper! I think, if you would like to help, we should look into a custom loop too as it seems exciting and I would like to see the prices of both alternatives.