New Gaming PC build (€500-€700)

gav_69

1. What is your budget? 500 but can stretch to 700

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Purely for gaming. Want to be able run the latest games smoothly.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes


4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes I can reuse my old hard drive + i have a new power supply + dvd rewriter + key board, mouse and monitor and my old gaming case is in perfect nick as well.

5. Do you need a monitor? No have a pretty decent one at the moment.

5a. If yes, what size do you need.

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? No I have most peripherals but would need another hard drive.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes but never done it before

8. How can you pay? Credit card

9. When are you purchasing? As soon as i have a decent list of components

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Based in castleknock/carpenterstown.

Hey Guys, really wanna give building my own gaming pc a go. I want to get decent enough parts. I think what i need is the following

Motherboard
Memory
Hard drive
Graphics
Processor (i5 if possible)

I think i can reuse the rest of the stuff I have above.

My main aim would be to build a gaming pc that can run all the new games smoothly ( cod ghosts, BF4 etc)

Any help on the above would be great.

Cheers,
Gav

BloodBath

Something like this should do nicely. If you want to spend the extra you could upgrade the processor to a 4670k or xeon e3 1230v3. You will need to add a cooler for these and change the board to a z87 if going with the 4670k.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-4570 Box, LGA1150|€169.75
MSI B85-G41 PC Mate, ATX, Sockel 1150|€66.43
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-12800U CL11-11-11-28|€67.78
MSI N760 TwinFrozr 2GD5/OC, 2GB DDR5|€232.05
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€53.38
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€608.38

gav_69

Thanks very much Bloodbath. I complete novice at this, had my last computer built by Komplett, but wanna do this one myself. So just have a couple of questions.

Should i go for the intel i5-4670 from dabs for 204.90 (http://www.dabs.ie/products/intel-core-i5-4670-s1150-3-4ghz-6mb-haswell-quad-core-processor-8NFY.html?src=3)

Item PricIntel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150 €204.90
MSI B85-G41 PC Mate, ATX, Sockel 1150 €66.43 - Changed the moterboard to this (http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=79672&agid=2241) is this a good one
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-12800U CL11-11-11-28 €67.78 - Is this memory good.
MSI N760 TwinFrozr 2GD5/OC, 2GB DDR5 €232.05 would i better off put an extra 30 quid and getting the 4 GB one (http://www.hardwareversand.de/4096+MB/89428/MSI+N760+TwinFrozr+4GD5+OC%2C+4GB.article)
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's €53.38

gav_69

Hey Bloodbath, does this look ok to you now:

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-12800U CL11-11-11-28|€67.78
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€53.38
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€204.92
ASUS Z87-C (C2)|€112.12
MSI N760 TwinFrozr 4GD5/OC, 4GB|€279.84
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€737.03

BloodBath

If you go to http://geizhals.de/ you can get a discount. You have to search for each part and then select hwvs from the list of sellers. It will give you a link with the discounted price. add to the basket. do it for each item.

Higher spec with a cpu cooler for over €100 less.

I'd maybe grab this ssd with the money saved.

Or grab a western digital 1tb blue hdd if you need more space. It's probably a lot faster than your old drive. Or for the same price as above you could get both.

Item|Price
XFX DD RADEON 7970 925M 3GB D5 2x mDP HDMI DVI|€218.87
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€198.27
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€26.04
ASRock Z87 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€88.01
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9|€65.66
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€615.84

markbreen17

Do not buy a gtx 760 4gb! They don't have a high enough memory bus for it to make any difference. I would go with a 7950/7970, or an r9 280x

gav_69

Thanks a million for all the help bloodbath, its really appreciated. So i think i got the list together, used your advice above:

Item|Price
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€49.98
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€198.15
Kingston SSD V300 120GB SATA III|€70.90
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9|€65.66
XFX DD RADEON 7970 925M 3GB D5 2x mDP HDMI DVI|€218.69
ASRock Z87 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€87.94
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€26.05
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€736.36

So I think Ill go ahead with. One quick question, does the motherboard make a big difference, am I good with the one above.
Thanks,
Gav

BloodBath

Great build for the money. The board is great for the price.

I have the same one from the last gen, the z77 pro 4 and I have 0 complaints. Running at 4.5ghz here on a 3570k.

The xfx cooler on the 7970 isn't great but it's a good bit better than the stock cooler and you can't complain for that price. It's still a lot better than a 760 gtx.

gav_69

Hey Bloodbath, again thanks for all the help. I have that list ready to go (got it down to 726 including shipping . Just noticed two things thou, the graphics and the ssd both have availability as yellow and it has discontinued line under it. Ive never bought anything from this site so wondering if it actually means they have stopped selling them or are waiting for stock, I sent them a mail with the same.

One other thing i wanted to ask you about that slipped my mind. My old computer has windows Vista, i think i gotta get off that, should I get windows 7 or 8?

BloodBath

I'm not sure to be honest. I think it means they have stock but once it's gone it won't be restocked but I could be wrong. I'd make sure they have some before ordering.

Yes time for an os upgrade. I'd say 7 would be the safest option. 50% of people hate windows 8 but bf4 is supposed to perform better in W8. I have my doubts about this though. Windows 8.1 improves things a bit but a lot of people still hate it.

SterlingArcher

Personally I'd go windows 7. It is has been fine tuned.

8 is a toss up. And one with so little gains to warrant risking on it.

gav_69

Thanks Sterling/bloodbath, ordered a copy of windows 7.

One of the items fell thru on me. Its the graphics card, one of the main components to my build. Doesnt look like HW will be stocking these in anymore. Would you know of any other good alternatives, wanna get a good one.

Thanks,
Gav.

gav_69

Is this a good one:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/sapphire-technology-amd-radeon-r9-280x-950mhz-3gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-oc-vaporx-90MX.html?refs=55570000-4294942406&src=3


or this one:

http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/product/zkb-01com/80013702/asus-radeon-r9280x-dc2t-3gd5-3gb-pci-e/details.aspx

Thanks,
Gav

gav_69

I went ahead and got this one:

ASUS R9280X-DC2T-3GD5, AMD Radeon R9 280X, 3GB DDR5

Hope I made the right choice, or should i have gone for this one:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/msi-amd-radeon-7970-1050mhz-3gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-twin-frozr-oc-8ZLT.html?q=7970&src=16

Hoping theres not to much of a diff and R9280X is on par with the 7970

EoinHef

gav_69 wrote: »

I went ahead and got this one:

ASUS R9280X-DC2T-3GD5, AMD Radeon R9 280X, 3GB DDR5

Hope I made the right choice, or should i have gone for this one:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/msi-amd-radeon-7970-1050mhz-3gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-twin-frozr-oc-8ZLT.html?q=7970&src=16

Hoping theres not to much of a diff and R9280X is on par with the 7970

No, you made the right choice. The 280x is replacing the 7970, so should perform slightly better. You've basically bought the newer version of a 7970.

That Asus model has a very good cooler aswell so double good job:)

gav_69

Awww thanks a million Eoin, thats great news for me. Youve made my day now

nice one