New gaming PC max 1200€

Keimps

Hey all,

So I'm looking to buy a new gaming pc.
Now at the moment I have my build in mind which I am thinking of getting through Dinopc. They will put it together which saves me a lot of time and of course I know it will work and I will have garantue on their build.

Now I always here a lot of people say that the cheapest PC to get is to build it yourself, but I am having doubts I can get a PC with the same or better specs for less/the same money if I buy the parts seperately.
Therefore I am looking for your advise

I'll start off with the usual form:

1. What is your budget? [€1000-1200]

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

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes, Windows 7 64bit. Home should be enough]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Nope]

5. Do you need a monitor? [Nope, I will get the ASUS VG248QE, 1080p, 144hz]

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? [Credit Card]

9. When are you purchasing? [Hopefully by the End of July, possibly one month later]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Balbriggan, but I have a colleague who would be able to help]

I will be using it for gaming and I would like to get a monster PC which will be future proof and can run any game easily and most on ultra settings.

The PC I have in mind now has the following components:

(EDIT: LINK now working)
http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=1717
Customized into:

- CPU: NEW! Intel Core i5 4670K
Dinopc will overclock it to 4.3Ghz.
- CPU Cooler: NEW! Corsair H60 2013 Water Cooler
- Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit)
- Motherboard: NEW! Gigabyte Z87X-D3H
- RAM: NEW! 8GB Corsair 1866mhz Vengeance (2x4GB)
- Hard Drive: 2TB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s
- Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
- Graphics card: NEW! NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB
- Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
- Case: Corsair Carbide 500R White
- PSU: 600W Corsair CX
- Warranty: 3 Year SureCare Warranty

In total: £1,027.92 -> 1200€ (ex 30£ delivery).

I am interested in an SSD, but I do not find this essential so I will be adding this in a later stage.

Then I have two 'doubts'. I could still go for a GTX 760 as the 770 will probably be overkill for most games I play. But on the other hand it is very nice to be ready for the new generation games.
With the mobo I am also ready for an SLI 770.
Going down to the 760 will save me around 130€.

The other thing is the PSU, reviews on newegg seems to be indicating it is a decent PSU, but for an SLI setup I would obvisouly need more. But then again, that would be something I could change if I would get a second GPU.

So guys (and girls?),

Would you be able to setup a better system for the 1200€ if you pick the parts seperately?
Or the same specs for a less expensive price.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated
Advise on the build itself is of course also more than welcome!

Thanks!

BloodBath

That's a great pc for the money to be honest.

If you want to squeeze an ssd in there and make some adjustments for sli, better case and psu then here's a cheaper alternative. I don't think Haswell is worth the extra cost over Ivy.

Item|Price
ASRock z77 Extreme3, ATX|€109.19
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€202.90
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.52
ASRock Z77 Extreme3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€109.19
8GB-Kit GeIL Enhance Corsa PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 (DDR3-1333)|€54.11
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 AMP! Edition, 2GB DDR5|€259.00
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€84.70
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.69
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 700W|€79.28
LiteOn iHAS124-04 schwarz SATA|€16.90
MS Windows 8 64bit (SB-Version) Englisch|€84.92
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€94.63
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1199.97

thewayiam

Thats i5 and am3+ motherboard so not compatibale

thewayiam

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€202.90
ASUS H61M-A, Sockel 1155, mATX, DDR3|€49.11
8GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24|€63.80
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€32.06
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€58.34
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.69
ASUS GTX780-3GD5, 3GB DDR5|€624.20
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€84.70
MS Windows 8 64bit (SB-Version) Englisch|€84.92
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1275.71

I'd got for something like this just for pure power and forget about extra coolers and stuff for a while

BloodBath

Sorry not sure how I managed that. I just read the extreme 3 it seems. Here's the intel board.

Your board doesn't support overclocking while the cpu does. 680's are horrible value as well.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/67918/ASRock+Z77+Extreme3%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+ATX.article

Keimps

Thanks so far.

The SSD really is something of the future for me. So I can get the best PC for my budget. In a few months I'll buy a ~250GB SSD.
A GTX 780 obviously seems very very nice, but I don't want to end up with the cutting on the rest of the PC.
A good quality case is something I would really want, so I know it will last and my big GPU will fit as well. It leaves room for upgrading in the future.
Also the mobo has to be decent so I can use it for overclocking if wanted and it has to support SLI.

The reason that the build I posted includes a Hasswell is because I couldn't select a 'normal' one. So there is no need for that obviously

Keimps

So, I arranged a nice build on hardwareversand, but how do you link the builds from the site like you guys do?

EoinHef

Its a script that a boards member created to make it easier to display builds
Link and info here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056303834

Keimps

So I managed to get a Windows 7 copy from my friend so I won't be needing that anymore

I've made this build, which saves me money and seems pretty awesome I think.

Item|Price
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.52
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€202.90
Corsair CX Series Modular CX750M, 750W|€83.98
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Arctic White|€93.50
Samsung SH-224BB bare schwarz|€17.19
WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 3 8,9cm(3,5")|€75.45
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 Windforce 3X OC, 2GB DDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€368.62
ASRock Z77 Extreme3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€109.19
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€62.63
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1065.29

What are your thoughts?

SterlingArcher

Is there any reason your sticking with ivy, and not haswell ? Looking at New haswell CPU they are not much more expensive? And the new mobos they come with tend to have more USB 3.0 at same price.

BloodBath

It's more cost effective. Going Haswell adds at least €50 on to the build. More if you go for an expensive cooler. Ivy gets good clocks with a cheap 212 evo.

What do you need more than 4 usb3's for? Or more than 2 sata 600? Unless you plan on raiding a load of ssd's or something.

SterlingArcher

just curious myself thought haswell was better for overclocking mind you only from what I read have no personal experience with it.

Portlawslim

That asrock mobo has loads of USB 2/3 slots on it plus the fractal r4 has four USB's on the top panel 2x USB 2and 2x USB 3
I know because I have both

Nice build btw

Monotype

Haswell overclocks worse but is better per clock. I'd go for Haswell on account of the newer board features and better upgrade path, but the reality is that it costs more and won't get you any better performance.

I'd get the WD Blue drive instead of black. Blue is faster; the black line is old.

BloodBath

Please stop saying that. You will not upgrade using that socket if you buy a 4670k.

The last 4 generations of i5's have had less than a 10% improvement between each. Broadwell won't be any different.

The lifetime of a cpu like that overclocked would be around 4-5 years as well. There would be at least 2 socket revisions in that time.

Monotype

I was saying what I would do, not what I'd recommend to do. We haven't seen the next generation anyway - Don't forget that there's a lot of new stuff integrated into the CPU this time, heat could be improved and we might see better overclocks. People should absolutely be still aware of their options rather than them coming back a week later and saying, "Why didn't you tell me there was a newer CPU?".
*Edit: Forgot to mention the improved motherboard features - more SATA 6Gbps and USB3 ports (again not of tremendous value, I know).

I've been on dead sockets before and it's no fun. Replacement boards or CPUs dry up fast and there are often unexpected changes in the tech world in performance and price.

As I've said before, the pattern is consistent over the past few generations but that doesn't imply a rule. We can argue about it all day, but I'm still going to mention it so that the posters that come here know what's out there.

Of course, if you work for Intel or have insider information, I will gladly no longer contribute what I consider pertinent information to add to your posts.

Keimps

Thanks for all comments, although they might make me doubt, I appreciate the,

I'm still thinking of sticking with the Ivy cpu. Bloodbath basically provided good reasons for it
When I will be upgrading my CPU I will do this together with the mobo and it will (hopefully) at least be 3 years down the road. If I would now get a haswell, I think the upgrade time frame would be exactly the same as it would be with an Ivy one, right?
What is the better software that would help me now with a Haswell, which it wouldn't on an Ivy?


I've changed the PSU to a better quality one (Seasonic M12II-750, 750 Watt, 80PLUS Bronze), just so I will be fine when I will add a second GPU.
The CX corsair I selected before is their budget model.

Also I am changing the case. Although I like the R4, I wanted something a bit more attractive.
I will probably go for the NZXT Phantom.
I would like to go for the Phantom 530 , but I haven't been able to find a release dat on that case

I will possibly change the mobo as well, to a Asus Z77-V, but not sure about that one though, as it is quite a bit more expensive than teh Extreme4 or the Z77-V LK.
It's just that I've read good things about the asus mobo and that it blows away the Extreme4 from Asrock and the Z77-V LK version of Asus.

Also I've changed the RAM as the one I selected is 'high' in size which may possibly influence a large CPU cooler.

Keimps

Monotype wrote: »

I've been on dead sockets before and it's no fun. Replacement boards or CPUs dry up fast and there are often unexpected changes in the tech world in performance and price.

Hmm, could you explain this a little bit more?
Let's say I would go for an Ivy now, when would you think that socket would be 'dead' and how would this influence my pc etc?

Thanks

Gumbi

Keimps wrote: »

Hmm, could you explain this a little bit more?
Let's say I would go for an Ivy now, when would you think that socket would be 'dead' and how would this influence my pc etc?

Thanks

You won't be able to upgrade your CPU without getting a new motherboard.

Personally, I'm not convinced Monotype. It doesn't like like there'll be huge leaps in CPU power in the next few years (limits of silicon and the age of laptops/smartphones/tablets etc.); moreover, the fact that Intel seem to change socket every 2 years doesn't leave much in it either.

Keimps

So basically that's like that the people now who are already on Ivy bridge cannot get a new haswell CPU.
If that's all, then that doesn't worry me so much. I'm sure I can last at least 2-3 years with this cpu/mobo combination.

Then when an upgrade would be really 'needed' I will have skipped the whole haswell and will go for the 'broadway' (or whatever will then be released). Which will probably be a different socket than haswell as well, so even if I would go for haswell now I would still need to make that same change (if I understand it correctly).

So sticking with Ivy it will probably be then

Monotype

Keimps wrote: »

Thanks for all comments, although they might make me doubt, I appreciate the,

I'm still thinking of sticking with the Ivy cpu. Bloodbath basically provided good reasons for it
When I will be upgrading my CPU I will do this together with the mobo and it will (hopefully) at least be 3 years down the road. If I would now get a haswell, I think the upgrade time frame would be exactly the same as it would be with an Ivy one, right?
What is the better software that would help me now with a Haswell, which it wouldn't on an Ivy?

Well then there's no reason to go with Haswell. I'm just putting it as a suggestion there for the sort of person who sticks with a motherboard for a very long time. Say, come 2016, when they're looking for an upgrade and they just want to plonk in a 5770K with no trouble of switching motherboards.
The actual benefits of Haswell are few - there's circumstances where it can encode faster, but software hasn't implemented it yet. The motherboards are a little better - more USB 3 ports and SATA 6Gbps connections. But this is not of great value when you've already got a few of each.
The 3570K suits you better and you should invest the extra money elsewhere as Bloodbath suggested.

Gumbi wrote: »

Personally, I'm not convinced Monotype. It doesn't like like there'll be huge leaps in CPU power in the next few years (limits of silicon and the age of laptops/smartphones/tablets etc.); moreover, the fact that Intel seem to change socket every 2 years doesn't leave much in it either.

I'm not throwing it out saying that everyone should switch to Haswell. I'm not convinced myself either that Intel will pull any rabbits out of the hat. However, Broadwell should stick to the same socket. Technology can change fast in the space of two years. It's unlikely, I certainly agree, but not impossible. Hyperthreading is seemingly becoming more valuable recently so a 5770K upgrade could be possible from a 4670K, or Intel might even throw in a 6-core into the 1150. DDR4 is likely to be coming for Skylake, so you'd be doing a motherboard+CPU+RAM upgrade if you wanted to switch after that.

I know there's a lot of 'if's and 'maybe's there, but it's not my intention to say Haswell is the best way or to stir up trouble or even say that Ivy Bridge isn't worth while. Heck if you wanted to keep your options open, AMD is actually starting so show more promise.

Keimps wrote: »

So basically that's like that the people now who are already on Ivy bridge cannot get a new haswell CPU.
If that's all, then that doesn't worry me so much. I'm sure I can last at least 2-3 years with this cpu/mobo combination.

Yeah, exactly, you'll be fine.

Then when an upgrade would be really 'needed' I will have skipped the whole haswell and will go for the 'broadway' (or whatever will then be released). Which will probably be a different socket than haswell as well, so even if I would go for haswell now I would still need to make that same change (if I understand it correctly).

So sticking with Ivy it will probably be then

No, you'd be waiting until Skylake.

Ivy Bridge -> Haswell -> Broadwell -> Skylake

Haswell and Broadwell should have the same socket, which is what I'm saying. Skylake would be your next upgrade. It'll probably be DDR4 as well.


Edit: Don't forget the WD Blue instead of Black.

Keimps

Monotype wrote: »

No, you'd be waiting until Skylake.

Ivy Bridge -> Haswell -> Broadwell -> Skylake

Haswell and Broadwell should have the same socket, which is what I'm saying. Skylake would be your next upgrade. It'll probably be DDR4 as well.

This is very interesting. Is it an assumption made (by whomever), or is it a certainty that Broadwell will also use the 1150 socket?
If it would be an assumption, what happened for example if we look back to the CPU that we had before Ivy? Was that the same 1155 socket as Ivy as well?

Because then we would be talking about a ~4-5 year span for Skylake's new socket.

Edit: Don't forget the WD Blue instead of Black

Are you sure about this?
Because what I've been reading all the time is that the Black is the performance drive and best pick for gaming.
The Black is optimized for performance at the expense of noise and power consumption, the blue is a general use drive, designed to be a good balance of performance, power consumption, and noise, and the green is designed to use as little power and make as little noise as possible at the expense of performance.

It would actually be nice to have a quiet drive though as my system will probably be quite quiet

EDIT:
1TB Black: ~75€
1TB Blue: ~ 56€

Monotype

Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge used the same socket. 1155.
I think there was information leaked about Broadwell being 1150. They could always change their minds, they don't even announce their release dates until they're nearly on top of us.

Yeah, if the pattern continues, the new Skylake socket could last another two generations.


Yeah, I'm sure about the WD Black, unless they secretly released a new one. There was a new Blue at the end of last year some time. It's considerably faster. The black is supposed to be faster - it's a high end product with a longer warranty. However, they're slow to update it.
It's quite a considerable difference - I think the old drives topped off around 130-140MB/s while the new ones can nearly reach 180MB/s. I can dig out results if you really want them.

Edit: Here's the results anyway.

WD Black - WD1002FAEX - http://www.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/37168/WD+Caviar+Black+1TB+SATA+3+8%2C9cm(3%2C5).article
WD Blue - WD10EZEX - http://www.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/62133/WD+Caviar+Blue+1TB+6Gb's.article

First one there is the black. Next two are the blue. Threw in the second blue on because I thought the results were pretty good, but there's always variations in the drives.

Keimps

Thanks monotype, that's really interesting.

Even saves me money, so a more than welcome tip hehe

Let's say, hypothetically, I would go for a haswell i5 k version. What mobo would you recommand to go with that?
The cpu 4670k itself is only 7€ more expensive than the 3570k.
I would also be concerned a bit about bugs as it still very new, right?

Monotype

I wouldn't be worried about bugs really. It would be rare enough that we'd see anything. Although they did recall half the boards when Sandy Bridge was released.
The cheapest board for SLI in stock is the Z87-G45 Gaming which is €138.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/79672/MSI+Z87-G45+Gaming%2C+ATX%2C+Sockel+1150.article
There's a regular G45 which was much better value but seems to have clean disappeared, although the next one up, the GD55 is €122 but out of stock.

Save your money, I think. Not worth it this time.

Keimps

Cool, thanks.

Will be going with the initial 3570k
Is the Z77 Extreme4 decent for overclocking (of course considering the fact it will have a decent cpu cooler)?

Sort of the only little doubt I then still have is the mobo.
I'm considering 3:

ASUS P8Z77-V LK
ASRock Z77 Extreme4
ASUS P8Z77-V

Now the first two are at the same price (~120€), but the last one, asus z77-v, is around 30€ deerer.
I have heard that it is a lot better and that both the 'cheaper' ones are not good for overclocking.
Thought I might get some opinions on that here as well?

Then I'm almost done and will just have to wait two more weeks, to order my machine

Monotype

Yeah, they'll all overclock well. No point in overspending. They'll all do the similar speeds as it's more based on the CPU rather than the board with these CPUs.

Keimps

Sorry for bumping the thread but it seemed to make more sense than to create a new one.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to buy my PC yet, but the good news is I finally will do so.
Friday week I will get my salary and most of it will be going out to hardwareversand straight away

Anyway, I have changed quite some things so would like to get your opinion on it of course.
Decided to downgrade some parts to go with a better GPU.
After reading a lot of reviews and forums and after thinking about what I want and need I have done the following:

Dropping my monitor down to a Dell ultrasharp 2312u, to save around a 100 euro.

Then computer wise:
Going for an ivy i5 3470. I don't think I really want to overclock anyway. Never done it and I probably won't anyway.
In two years I'll just upgrade to the new intel chip, thus skipping the next one after haswell.

Upgrading my GPU to make it as future proof as possible. Going for a GTX 780 Super Jetstream, from Palit. Have read some awesome reviews about the card; it is performing equal to a TITAN.... that should last me a few years at least

Anyway here is what I have:

Item|Price
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€52.20
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€144.36
LogiLink SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 0.5m|€0.67
8GB-Kit G.Skill Ares PC3-17066U CL11-11-11-31|€71.16
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€76.76
Intel Core i5-3470 Box, LGA1155|€160.61
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz|€17.37
CM Storm Enforcer - black, ohne Netzteil|€72.72
Palit GeForce GTX 780 Super Jetstream 3GB mit GeForce Experience|€552.87
be quiet! Pure Power L7 530 Watt|€54.14
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1225.17

This excludes the monitor which I will buy from Amazon probably, depending on where I can get it cheapest. Will be 200euro max anyway.

So I'm just a little over my budget now which is 1200€ for the computer only.

Now in case I would be getting this 780, would my 530W PSU suffice?

Then of course the question would be if I do myself justice by going with teh GTX 780, which is an insane amount of money at 550€.
Would it be better to just go with a nice GTX 770 of max 350€ and then think of upgrading in 2 years to a new GPU.

Basically thinking of 'futureproofing' would there be a lot of difference in going with the 780 now, over the 770.

Supposing that the Crysis 3 engine is the heaviest one they will use for what, the coming 1 or 2 years?
Then when they go to the next one, it might be time to upgrade the GPU even if I would have a 780?

If I check the stats now for Crysis 3 bankmarks (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GeForce_GTX_780_Super_JetStream/13.html)
it's quite a big difference between the 2, and the 770 'only' gets 32fps on the 1080p resolution (which I will be using)

Any thoughts on this would be more than welcome

Monotype

Overclocking those CPUs is dead easy and very little risk. I wouldn't rule it out completely.

You don't need fast RAM like that as it won't make a bit of difference when you're not overclocked.

The 780 is kinda poor value. A graphics card is about the least future-proofable thing in a PC. What about getting an SLI board, PSU and a 770 or something for SLI in the future? A single 770 is well more than you need at that resolution. Or as you said, just get the one and upgrade later.

BloodBath

Here's a build I knocked up for someone else earlier. It would be a bit more powerful than the one you have listed. Gtx 780's aren't great value. A pair of 660ti's would have around the same performance and use the same power for €150 less. You won't need the extra graphics memory for 1080p.

You can get the faster 4670k then with a decent cooler for some overclocking. If you remove the assembly and any other items you don't need you can upgrade the ssd to 250gb and maybe the case to the DS1.

Item|Price
ASRock Z87 Pro3, Sockel 1150, ATX|€94.38
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€210.54
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€30.43
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660Ti OC, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€399.80
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€65.40
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€84.39
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€54.81
Nanoxia Deep Silence Two Anthracite, ohne Netzteil|€83.10
2 x Nanoxia Deep Silence 140 - 1100|€16.98
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 700W - bulk -|€80.52
Samsung SH-224BB bare schwarz|€17.18
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
ASUS PCE-N15|€14.90
Rechner - Zusammenbau|€20.00
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1194.74

Keimps

Does sound interesting, two 660ti's.
But I'm afraid that not all games fully support the SLI. So in case a game is not able to use the SLI setup I'm basically screwed.

Plus I won't be able to upgrade then to add a second 770, in case I would go for a 770 one.

BloodBath

Pretty much every modern game supports sli. There may be some older titles that have issues but they will usually run fine on 1 card anyway. There might be 1 or 2 exceptions to the rule but they are rare.

Anyway it's a good rig either way. I know which way I'd go.

Keimps

Aha.

How about games that are just being released? Normally takes a while before patches get released to get it optimized for SLI no?
And will the 660ti SLI support be the same in two years in comparison to a 770 or 780?

Guess I have just always heard and read the it's better to have a single GPU than to have a SLI setup.

Keimps

Aright.
Might just stick with my GTX 770 then and go for the overclocking processor and board:

Item|Price
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 Windforce 3X OC, 2GB DDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€343.36
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€52.20
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€144.36
LogiLink SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 0.5m|€0.67
8GB-Kit G.Skill Ares PC3-17066U CL11-11-11-31|€71.16
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz|€17.37
CM Storm Enforcer - black, ohne Netzteil|€72.72
ASUS Z87-A (C2)|€118.42
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€202.70
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€27.71
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM|€199.00
be quiet! Pure Power L7 530 Watt|€54.14
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1326.12

How's this?

Fatal Except1on

Why would someone recommend a WD Blue over a WD Black?
Black's are premium drives, more so than the Blues. They are aimed specifically at enthusiast users: gamers, video editors, etc.

They also come with a 5 year warranty which is a HUGE bonus.

That said, I suppose the blues are 1TB/platter whereas the blacks are 500GB/platter, may have an effect on performance. Hmm.

BloodBath

I'm not sure if they have been updated yet but the older blacks were running slower than the newer single platter blues. Some of the older blacks are still 3 platter drives. The blues are far better value anyway.

If you're planning on adding a second card in future then you should get the 700w psu I suggested. The board is overkill otherwise. There are cheaper boards that support sli as well. For a moderate overclock on the processor you don't need a high end board not that that Asus is high end but it is pricier than some.

Monotype

Fatal Except1on wrote: »

That said, I suppose the blues are 1TB/platter whereas the blacks are 500GB/platter, may have an effect on performance. Hmm.

May have an effect? Look up a few posts where I linked results of the speed differences. That's very significant. I agree that warranty is important, but when you're paying that much more and getting a much slower drive...

Keimps

BloodBath wrote: »

If you're planning on adding a second card in future then you should get the 700w psu I suggested. The board is overkill otherwise. There are cheaper boards that support sli as well. For a moderate overclock on the processor you don't need a high end board not that that Asus is high end but it is pricier than some.

What mobo would you suggest if I want to go with a cheaper one which is still good for overclocking and supports SLI?

I'll think about the PSU as I'm not yet sure if I really want to go SLI. I just like to have the option. That probably all depends on when the newer cards get out and/or when my (then) current GPU needs upgrading. Might be better to go with a single new GPU then, than to go with a second one.

Keimps

Will my 530W PSU be sufficient for my rig (when it will be just a single 770 gpu)?
Including if I want to overclock my system?

Gumbi

Keimps wrote: »

Will my 530W PSU be sufficient for my rig (when it will be just a single 770 gpu)?
Including if I want to overclock my system?

It'd be perfect. A bit overkill, but no harm in that.

BloodBath

TBH I'd go with the dual cards in my build and the 700w psu + board I recomended.

The only changes you would have to make is drop to a 120gb ssd and drop the ram to the same performance ram I linked and the board I linked.

All you are losing there is 120gb of ssd space which you really don't need. 120gb is loads for your os and programs. Use the 1tb hdd for games.

2 x 660ti's will be miles ahead of a 770gtx which is only slightly better than a single 680 gtx. For the rare game that doesn't support sli the 660ti isn't far behind a 770 in performance.

Have a look at these benchmarks. Those are stock 660ti's outperforming a titan and miles ahead of the 680gtx which the 770 is very close to.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_titan,4.html

Keimps

According to these website the Asrock z87 pro3 is not SLI compatible...

http://uk.hardware.info/productinfo/185770/asrock-z87-pro3#tab:specifications
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z87pro3

Then I was looking for information on SLI etc, and found that almost all SEGA games do not support SLI.
Like Rome 2 for example.
Most new releases games do not support SLI and have to wait for like a month before a patch comes out to fix it.

Then what people are saying as well is that the percentage of people playing, using SLI are like 1% compared to the single GPU users, so developers don't really care for those gamers, are at least their priorities obviously lie with the big single GPU users.

I'm just a little bit scared I am gonna get frustrated if games won't work with SLI. Or if I get a new release game and I have to wait a month before I can play it with my SLI setup.

Then, if i would still decide to go with two 660ti's. wont it be better to go with 2x gtx 760?

Cheers!

Monotype

I think it's probably because Sega focuses the bulk of games on consoles. There are some horrific ports that are more like a half finished product. Even TW Rome 2 is supposedly written with the new consoles in mind, though I haven't played it myself.
The 760 would be a smidge better than the 660ti, but those 660tis are good value and better quality cooling than on the lower end 760s... You can get a reasonable 760 starting at about €30 more or ~€60 for SLI.

BloodBath

Good spot. It looks like HWVS has the info completely wrong for that board. It must be taken from the extreme 3.

Sloppy developers in that house. Only 2 cpu cores being used and no SLI support from launch despite previous versions of total war supporting it. You're going to run into a cpu bottleneck before a gpu one with Rome 2 anyway.

There will be games where SLI won't work but 660ti's are very capable cards. If you don't like the idea of possibly waiting for a profile on a new game then don't go for it.

They are usually quick at releasing profiles for the bigger games often releasing the profiles before the game is even released.

AntDub

Hey Bloodbath, you're alway helping out people with builds so thought you'd be the best to send this to so you can pass it on everytime.

Windows 7 Pro is going for €34.80 on the below site.

http://www.pcfritz.de/software/betriebssystem/windows-7-professional/10264/windows-7-professional-64-bit

OP, if you're going down the 660Ti x 2 route let me know as I can sometimes get these through work at a decent price.

On Friday they had 3 x MSI NVIDIA GTX660Ti PE 1097MHz 6008MHz 2048MB 192-bit DDR5 GPU's ( N660TI-PE-2GD5/OC ) going for €170 each, might even be able to get a little more knocked off.

BloodBath

Yeah cheers for that Ant. I've been using that for a while now. Helps a lot for the budget builds.

That's a great offer as well. 660ti's at €170 is a steal.

AntDub

BloodBath wrote: »

Yeah cheers for that Ant. I've been using that for a while now. Helps a lot for the budget builds.

That's a great offer as well. 660ti's at €170 is a steal.

I know, I've a 660 SC myself but will be getting a 670 at the price this guy is offering, 660Ti's popping up all the time at great prices.

Shame to let them go to waste if someone is doing their 1st build.

AntDub

BloodBath wrote: »

Yeah cheers for that Ant. I've been using that for a while now. Helps a lot for the budget builds.

That's a great offer as well. 660ti's at €170 is a steal.

Just looked into this a little more, might be best to avoid this company for now, see below article.

www.pcwelt.de/news/Windows-7-Raubkopien_bei_PC_Fritz_beschlagnahmt-Microsoft-8212089.html

Keimps

Oops, that doesn't sound good.
It was also too good to be true at that price...

Keimps

Ordered speakers and monitor just now (at amazon)

Dell Ultrasharp 2312u
Creative T20

Finally my computer is getting close!

Keimps

Made some adjustments.
Had some extra money so I could order the monitor already, leaving some extra money for my pc.

Ended u with this build now, very happy with a sick gaming PC in my opinion
Super GPU, nice haswell cpu with overclocking abilities with a good mobo for overclocking as well and SLI ready (you never know in the future), with a decent cpu cooler (evo 212).

Only thing I will later have to buy is a 3TB HDD for media storage etc.

All for the price of 1330€ in total.
(the geizhals saves me 80€!)

Item|Price
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.12
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€51.63
2 x LogiLink SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 0.5m|€1.34
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz|€15.48
CM Storm Enforcer - black, ohne Netzteil|€72.61
Palit GeForce GTX 780 Super Jetstream 3GB mit GeForce Experience|€552.87
Seasonic S12II-520, 520 Watt, 80PLUS Bronze|€53.11
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€145.52
ASUS Z87-A (C2)|€118.21
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€202.70
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-17066U CL11|€67.84
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€27.57
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1330.99

Only thing is that a few items state 'Delivery date unknown', but normally hardwareversand restocks very quickly as to what I've seen so I'm sure they're all available when I order thursday.
Would it make sense or give advantages if I 'order' now and wait till Friday with the payment (I won't have the money before Friday)??