Gaming / all purpose build - 1200e

Wossack

Hey all,

1. What is your budget? [€1200ish]
2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [gaming, general purpose]
3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]
4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [No]
5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes, but separate budget]
5a. If yes, what size do you need. [27"]
5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1440p]
6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [No]
7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]
8. How can you pay? [cc, paypal, bank transfer etc]
9. When are you purchasing? [within 1-2 weeks ideally]
10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [dub]


I guess my biggest requirements are 1440p gaming, at quiet or near silent, in a reasonalby small form factor (mATX - thinking prodigy m. Maybe mitx...).

Misc thoughts:
i5 is grand for my needs methinks
I'd prefer aircooling over water or AIO solutions.
Don’t need much in the way of storage, and think I'd get away with just a 256G SSD (I have a NAS, and a couple of spare 500G HDs if necessary).
Small case, and aircooling, so thinking modular PSU.
Graphics card - prefer a single, but no preference to AMD or nvidia
Monitor wise, Im thinking ViewSonic VP2770, or Dell U2713HM.

Im sure theres more, so lemme know if more details needed - thanks!

Wossack

Where I am so far.. missing cooler and psu. Cooler needs to be under 160mm in height, and PSU needs to be under 160mm in depth due to length of GPU (27cm).

I can swap for a normal Prodigy & an mITX board which would give me 175mm max height for CPU cooler, but mATX probably gives me more options in future.. hrm

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-4670K Tray,3,4 GHZ, 6MB Cache, LGA 1150, VGA|€200.70
8GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€68.49
ASUS Z87M-PLUS (C2)|€107.90
MSI R7970 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC Boost Edition, 3072MB DDR5, PCI-Express|€346.49
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB SATA 6Gb/s|€199.99
BitFenix Prodigy M - schwarz, ohne Netzteil|€77.99
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1020.55

Could save 50e by going for the 840 evo, over the pro, so might go with that depending on budget

Table above might have a mistake or two in it - I had to put the html together manually as the .js is blocked in work unfort

indough

I have a black mitx prodigy and a modular 550W Silverstone PSU (ST55F-G) with the braided cable set for sale if that interests you. €150 for both.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=328

Wossack

thanks for the offer - Ill keep it in mind if I go that route

BloodBath

If you want silence and matx don't get the prodigy. Get a silenced case. €350 for a 7970 is just silly as well. You can get them as cheaply as €220 and a single one really isn't enough for 1440p.

I'd get a 1tb wd blue for games as well. 250gb ssd space is nothing. You would be better off with a 120gb ssd and a 1tb hdd. Use the ssd for windows and non games programs and the 1tb wd blue for games. It's most likely a lot faster than your old hdd's.

This is what I'd go for. Use http://geizhals.de/ to get the discounts shown below.

You can even add a second card down the line if you want more power.

Item|Price
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked w/ACX, 3GB DDR5, PCI-Express|€457.35
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€197.56
ASRock Z87M Extreme4, Sockel 1150, mATX|€99.86
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€26.06
8GB-Kit G.Skill Ares PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24|€66.62
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€84.43
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€49.98
Corsair CX Series Modular CX750M, 750W|€75.39
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Define Mini|€78.70
3 x FRACTAL DESIGN Lüfter FD Silent Series R2 FD-FAN-SSR2-120, 120mm|€24.75
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1179.69

Wossack

good shout bb, thanks

monster card that - I may have underestimated 1440p requirements hah

got a case recommendation? and/or thoughts on a PSU?

BloodBath

No bother.

I have a case and psu in the build. You could get a better gold or plat rated psu if you want a more energy efficient one.

Wossack

looks good! will have a proper mull over it this evening, but that looks very well

Wossack

ordered just now, but forgot my aib cardreader, so cant do transfer till this eve

corsair psu just went out of stock, so since Im paying my own electricity bills these days and all, went for a gold rated psu >.>

on the monitor front, Im going for the Dell methinks. Theres a nice asus one too (PB278Q) and it was between those in the end, but Dell is slightly cheaper, and better out of the box Ive read (comes precalibrated etc)

BloodBath

Nice best of luck. Let us know how you get on.

Wossack

Sadly, the evga superclocked just went out of stock..

Have asked em if I can sub in: 'PNY GeForce GTX 780 XLR8 OC 3072MB GDDR5'

Hopefully no problem

Wossack

this all arrived last week, and I put it together over the weekend

No probs at all, in fact, smoothest build Ive ever done tbh! Nothing dead on arrival (phew). Built it in the living room, and had it together and playing darksiders 2 on the telly there in 2-3 hours or so - including all the cable management

Little noiser then I'd like, but lotta fans in there. I think I'll get a 5.25" fan controller, to tweak the speeds manually - though now I think of it, I dont think I installed the asrock motherboard application, so could be missing out on some auto-speed-tweaking features there.

The monitor is a beaut - but a small bit of bleed at the bottom/middle, so going to have a think about that, and possibly RMA it. Bought from Amazon, so should be very straight forward if I decide to do so.

BloodBath

Hi thanks for the update.

You should be able to reduce the case fan speeds through the bios or through the Asrock board utility software. Any of the ones connected to the board at least. A fan controller will also do the job.

What monitor did you get?

What way did you configure the fans? I'd have 2 intakes in the front, 1 intake in the bottom or side, 1 exhaust in the rear and 1 exhaust up top.

Wossack

got the dell u2713hm in the end. It was between that and the new iiyama xb2779qs - but the latter is a glossy screen, so decided against it (computer desk is prone to getting glare where it is)

fans Ive 2 front, 1 rear, and an extra put on the cpu cooler. Im between putting last on either top, or side, and leaning towards top. Was gonna see if CPU or GPU needed air more, and ive not gotten into stress testing just yet (its looking CPU ~52degrees, GPU ~70) - no overclock yet.

BloodBath

Adding a second fan to the cpu cooler does very little as the rear exhaust is so close to it anyway. It can cause turbulence as well as there is 2 fans blowing onto the rear exhaust and the rear exhaust can't keep up with the airflow being blown at it so it just deflects back into the case.

Having more and better airflow throughout the case usually gives better results overall. I'd configure it the way I suggested.

70c is hot for a non overclocked gpu. Try adding a fan to side or bottom to feed the gpu some fresh air and a second exhaust to the top to deal with the 3 intake fans. It needs to be somewhat balanced.

Wossack

Good call - Im gonna get a fan controller and reorg the fans I think. Same as above with 1 moved from cpu to top exhaust, and that last one on the side intake.