1000e-1500e Gaming PC Build

MagicIRL

1. What is your budget? [€1000-1500]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Programming]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes ~ Currently on Win7 64bit OEM, not sure if I can reuse that on a new machine?]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [I can, but for the sake of this, lets assume I can not]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080] [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] [No]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]

8. How can you pay? [Paypal/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [When I've got the build finalized and look up part reviews myself]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin ~ I would only need help on the overclocking side. Tried to OC my current rig and just had awful problems.]
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BloodBath

How does this look? Didn't include a dvd or hdd as you said you have those already. 16gb's is overkill and wasted for gaming. Gaming is not using anywhere near that currently. Even 4gb of ram is enough so you have headroom with 8.

The cpu has hyper threading which at the moment isn't being used but with the new consoles using 8 thread cpus I would say we should be seeing more multithreaded games in the near future.

The board supports sli so you can add another 670 in future if you wanted. Your current 600w is definitely enough for the current build. I'd say it's even enough for sli but you would need adaptors for additional 8 and 6 pin vga connections. These would come with the graphics card anyway.

You should be able to use your oem key for a fresh install but I don't know for sure.


Item|Price
Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€154.93
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€303.24
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming, ATX, Sockel 1150|€134.39
8GB-Kit G.Skill Sniper PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28|€60.44
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 Windforce 3X OC, 2GB DDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€369.82
Samsung SSD 840 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€140.79
Corsair Hydro Series H100i|€105.70
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1288.30

Serephucus

I'd ditch the H100, swap the 600T for a DS1, and add these:

Item|Price
XSPC Acrylic Dual 5.25” Reservoir with Alphacool VPP655 / Laing D5 Single Edition : Pump Bundle|£100.56
XSPC RayStorm CPU Waterblock for Intel : RayStorm Intel|£51.98
EK FC680 GTX DCII CSQ Full Cover Waterblock for Asus NVIDIA GTX 680 DirectCU II Graphics Cards : Nickel Acetal|£74.50
8 x 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD Tubing : Black Nickel|£27.26
3 x XSPC 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD (13-19mm) High Flex Tubing : Clear / UV Blue|£8.96
2 x Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 120mm Single Radiator : Full Copper|£69.19
Shipping|£19.07
Total|£ 351.53 (€410 approx.)



Bumps you about €60 over budget, but well worth it, IMO.
(The two 120mm rads are placeholders for 2x240 rads, they're just out of stock at the moment)

MagicIRL

Thanks for both, guys. I don't think I need such a dedicated liquid cooling system for the rig to be honest, especially consider that I'm on a single card with everything at factory speed (bar the CPU, but I may save that for a later date before over-clocking as I had a mare of a time trying to do it previously)

MagicIRL

How easy are those full cooler system to install? Having never previously done it, I've only experience using a Corsair H60 on my current CPU. But for 60e extra, I'm sorely tempted!

Serephucus

The CPU is basically the same. You install the block. The GPU is a little more work, in that you have to take the stock cooler off, but if you can remove and re-install something like a H60, it won't be much of an issue for you. Then you just screw in your fittings, cut your tubing to length, and fill the whole thing up.

If you need a hand with it or something, I'm in Rathfarnham/Balinteer, and happy to help out.

MagicIRL

I assume I would remove all the case fans then as well, if everything is being liquid cooled? Or would I just leave them as is?

Serephucus

You'd mount the case fans to the radiators. The two I specced for you each take two 120mm fans (though you don't have to use them, entirely depends on noise levels, temperatures, etc. but you will need at least a couple). I actually forgot to add in two extra fans, as DS1 only comes with 2x120s in the front, and a 140 in the back, so you'd need an extra two for the 2x120 radiator in the roof.

MagicIRL

I can;t seem to find this DS1 case?

Serephucus

Sorry; short-hand.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Midi/68207/Nanoxia+Deep+Silence+One+Dark+Anthracite%2C+ATX%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article

Comes in a couple of colours too.

MagicIRL

And why that case over the one I linked above, for example?

Serephucus

Because the 600T isn't quite as good for watercooling. It can fit about the same arrangement, but you need a 200mm rad in the front, instead of a 240.

(Actually, I'll be selling my 200mm rad, and two fans, as soon as I can get my hands on some distilled water. If you do want the 600T, we could sort something out.)

MagicIRL

Bump!

Debating dropping down to the i5 as opposed to the i7 and over-clocking the i5. I just don't see me needing the i7 and all it's cores for gaming. We're a very very long way off a game even beginning to use all of an i7.

Only problem is, having never overclocked before, where the hell would I start?

Serephucus

Perfectly reasonable thing to do. As for overclocking, you bump the CPU multiplier (default of 35, I think) up to 36, then boot into windows. From there, run a stress test like Prime95 or Intel BurnTest, and keep an eye on your temperatures. If it fails, increase your core voltage in the BIOS by one notch, and test again. Continue until you hit a speed you're happy with, or until your temperatures reach a point you're not happy with. It's really very easy. If you take the time the stress tests take to run out of the equation, it's only a few minutes of work.

MagicIRL

I tried this with my current rig, but it seemed to over clock my RAM also, which I didn't want.

Gumbi

MagicIRL wrote: »

I tried this with my current rig, but it seemed to over clock my RAM also, which I didn't want.

AMD system? Changing the multiplier as you would in k unlocked Intel CPUs does not affect the RAM at all.

Also, there's a way to OC without affecting your RAM (which will end up being unstable at higher clock speeds than that for whic it was rated), I did it for my Phenom II.

MagicIRL

Yeah, AMD. Thing went ballistic. Screen resolution went static, kept crashing, had to just revert to standard speed. As long as the Intel chip doesn't do the same, I should be cool!

Gumbi

MagicIRL wrote: »

Yeah, AMD. Thing went ballistic. Screen resolution went static, kept crashing, had to just revert to standard speed. As long as the Intel chip doesn't do the same, I should be cool!

If you did it correctly it wouldn't have happened with the AMD one either

MagicIRL

Never had a bigger fright in my life. Thought I just wrecked my entire system. Learnt myself a lesson that day :P

Serephucus

Anything 2500K or later overclocks quite a bit differently than processors before it. What are you running currently?

MagicIRL

AMD FX-6100.

MagicIRL

Am I blind or does hardwarevarsand not sell PSUs? O.o

Also, is it true that Haswell boards/CPUs require specific power supplies?

Danger781

MagicIRL wrote: »

Am I blind or does hardwarevarsand not sell PSUs? O.o

Also, is it true that Haswell boards/CPUs require specific power supplies?

They do.., Under case -> Accessories I believe

MagicIRL

Thank you!

Danger781

MagicIRL wrote: »

Thank you!

Bit of a strange place to put the category.. took me a while to find it when I was searching for one :pac:

marco_polo

MagicIRL wrote: »

Am I blind or does hardwarevarsand not sell PSUs? O.o

Also, is it true that Haswell boards/CPUs require specific power supplies?

Sort of but pretty much any semi decent PSU of the minimum standard you should be looking at will have no bother.

The entire product ranges from the likes of BE Quiet, Super flower, seasonic, antec etc to name but a few will be just fine.

Even for a non certified PSUs it requires a very unlikely crossloading scenario to even potentially be an issue in a haswell system.

MagicIRL

Thanks.

I've come up with a slightly revised version of the previous build based on my own preference for certain brands based on experiences in the past etc.

Danger781

MagicIRL wrote: »

Thanks.

I've come up with a slightly revised version of the previous build based on my own preference for certain brands based on experiences in the past etc.

Seems like a lot of money for a 1TB HDD?

MagicIRL

That's what I thought! I'm going to source all these parts on other sites too, but for the sake of keeping the list together, I just linked hardwarevarsand.

MagicIRL

MagicIRL wrote: »

Thanks.

I've come up with a slightly revised version of the previous build based on my own preference for certain brands based on experiences in the past etc.

Any other opinions on my above build amendments?

tuxy

MagicIRL wrote: »

That's what I thought! I'm going to source all these parts on other sites too, but for the sake of keeping the list together, I just linked hardwarevarsand.

1TB hard drive

http://www.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/53882/Seagate+Barracuda+7200+1000GB%2C+SATA+6Gb+s.article