€1k Gaming Rig - Opinions Please!

sdanseo

Hey everyone,

First off, I'm no stranger to building, have assembled two c. €1,000 rigs in the last 5 years but have been a little out of touch since my last build. Sold this computer in January to free up time and cash for college and now that academia is almost done with forever (I hope!) it's time to look to regaining a proper gaming machine.

I'll fill out the form for clarity:

1. What is your budget?
[€1,000 contigency to max. €1,250]
2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
[High-End Gaming (BF4, FSX, a good few CPU-oriented titles) / Mixed Use / possibly some editing in the future]
3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
[Yes]
4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
[Optical Drive is all]
5. Do you need a monitor?
[Yes]
5a. If yes, what size do you need.
[24" with a view to 3x 24" in the future (not necessarily a surround system, but I get pissed off with only one, or even two monitors. I like real estate.]
5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.]
[N/A]
6. Do you need any of these peripherals?
[Decent Gaming keyboard. Have a mouse and X52 joystick already.]
7. Are you willing to try overclocking?
[Not initially, but want the rig to be able to cope when I give it a go (consideration to a H80i if room can be found in the budget]
8. How can you pay?
[Any]
9. When are you purchasing?
[End of the month]
10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
[N/A, North Dublin]

Essentially, what I want is

1. Greater performance than my older system linked above.

2. Future-proofed for at least a couple of years, excluding the possibility of upgrading smaller things like cooling, RAM, HDD and maybe GFX.

3. Want to eventually have either a 3x24" setup, or perhaps a super-wide monitor with one other to the side. The 3x24 looks more attractive to me as I'm just not into the look of the super-wide, but that's for the future when budget allows. For now, what I want is the ability to have three monitors connected, but I only need to be able to game on one of them for the time being as the budget won't stretch to a 780/790.

4. NVIDIA based graphics only, several reasons all lengthy and unreasonable and which I won't delve into. FSX is the main consideration.



I have a few things in mind and a sample list done up, basically what I'm looking for is advice on the budget and where savings could be made. I'd prefer not to overclock as I've no experience doing it bar some messing/ testing that damn near melted a CPU donkeys ago, however I'm willing to give it a go if the budget simply won't stretch to a 4770k and I suspect it won't.

What I have thus far is:

Item|Price
8GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile blau PC3-12800U CL10-10-10-27|€67.72
Cooler Master CM690 III mit Sichtfenster, ohne Netzteil|€84.49
Corsair VS Serie V650, Non-Modular, 80+|€50.39
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming, ATX, Sockel 1150|€117.05
MSI N770 TF 2GD5/OC Twin Frozr Gaming, GeForce GTX 770, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€264.99
Intel Core i5-4670K Tray,3,4 GHZ, 6MB Cache, LGA 1150, VGA|€195.40
Zalman CNPS7X LED V-Shaped CPU Cooler|€25.85
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€67.99
BenQ GL2450HM|€139.00
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€85.29
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1117.16

Opinions?

jabberwock

Very interested in what happens here. Am researching a build close to this myself.

Something that came up today was the new Z97 boards coming on to the market. Socket 1150 so can take the same cpu but will be ready for haswell refresh/broadwell cpu, Q3-Q4.

SterlingArcher

Few things .

A lot of people have been going the way of the Xeon 1230 v3 (essentially an I7 ) instead of the I5 k. This is due to newer games already having min specs of an I7(watch dogs) this is only the.start. This is because the new consoles now having 8 cores and games being made for them.

The good news for you is. You get I7 performance for 205 euro same as the I5. The gains will be as good if not better than the hassle of overclocking.

Get a different board. Not feeling the MSI ones this cycle.

Asus 770 67 euro one euro more than the MSI one.

EoinHef

Also you should run all the components through geizhals.de and get a few quid off. Could take it as a saving or put it back into the build.

Id go Xeon also if you dont want to OC

I like the msi gaming twin frozr cooler,its getting good reviews at the moment. Slightly louder at idle but quieter at load which in a gaming machine is preferable imo

The board is overkill,its high end overclocking chipset and supports dual gpu setups,so if none of that is something you think you would use you could drop it down a bit and still keep the build quality,just lose the features you wont need. You could get the new chip set (Z97)as jabberwock pointed out but your paying a premium for them at the moment. Also if you dont want to overclock i wouldnt bother.

Link to a review/overview of haswell to broadwell,so you can have a look yourself and see what you think:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7963/the-intel-haswell-refresh-review-core-i7-4790-i5-4690-and-i3-4360-tested/1


PSU is also overkill for a single gpu system but it looks decent value at that price so id probably leave it in.

Ill throw up a build tonight if someone already hasnt and can see if we can squeeze a 4770k in there and stick to a similar budget to your build in OP. Using geizhals and be a bit more budget conscious. That way might get the benefit of the i7 and still be able to overclock it a bit when it starts to feel its age

sdanseo

Cheers for the replies so far.

I like the idea of a bit of overkill on the board, I may not want to overclock initially or go dual CPU initially either, but at least with 650W and a relatively cheap SLI capable board the option is there without the need to upgrade those components later.

As for the CPU are the broadwell likely to take over completely and leave me for dust if I go haswell now? Would a Xeon be more future proof? I do like the idea of the Xeon not needing to be over clocked per se, what sort of cooling is needed there, will I get away with decent performance on air without the need for a sealed water unit at least in the short term? I'd love to keep this under a grand if at all possible so the Xeon is attractive for that reason. Does the lower clock speed sacrifice any performance compared to the 4670k or is it essentially more powerful regardless?

Lastly I think I could probably save on the monitor - is there any major disadvantage to having only VGA/DVI connections rather than a HDMI port as that seems to be the only difference between about 20 euros (except for built in speakers, which will be absolute tat anyway).

SterlingArcher

sdeire wrote: »

Cheers for the replies so far.

I like the idea of a bit of overkill on the board, I may not want to overclock initially or go dual CPU initially either, but at least with 650W and a relatively cheap SLI capable board the option is there without the need to upgrade those components later.

As for the CPU are the broadwell likely to take over completely and leave me for dust if I go haswell now? Would a Xeon be more future proof? I do like the idea of the Xeon not needing to be over clocked per se, what sort of cooling is needed there, will I get away with decent performance on air without the need for a sealed water unit at least in the short term? I'd love to keep this under a grand if at all possible so the Xeon is attractive for that reason. Does the lower clock speed sacrifice any performance compared to the 4670k or is it essentially more powerful regardless?

Lastly I think I could probably save on the monitor - is there any major disadvantage to having only VGA/DVI connections rather than a HDMI port as that seems to be the only difference between about 20 euros (except for built in speakers, which will be absolute tat anyway).

You will be fine with the stock cooler that comes with the Xeon till you have spare cash down the road.Then throw in a coolmaster hyper evo 27-30 euro.

As far as VGA hdmi goes I have a hdmi monitor and don't bother with the hdmi. But if you sell the monitor down the road having that hdmi be handy.

You can get that price down a few if you need without any huge compromising. For starters use Geizhals.de discount.

Crucial ballistic ram 8gb 1600 about 57.
A crucial 120gb ssd 57 euro.
A cheaper case -corsair carbide 300r 60 ish, antec one 50.(both good cases)

With them savings and minus the cooler you could get a second 1tb HDD or upgrade the 120 to a 250 ssd.

sdanseo

Getting to grips with Geizhals now. Confused me for a bit!

Noticed the PSU I had selected isn't 80+ certified so had to swap it out, any recommendations for a sturdy PSU under €60?

As for the Xeon, any tangible reason to bump up to the 1245 v3 for an extra €30 or 1231 for €15?

EoinHef

sdeire wrote: »

Getting to grips with Geizhals now. Confused me for a bit!

Noticed the PSU I had selected isn't 80+ certified so had to swap it out, any recommendations for a sturdy PSU under €60?

As for the Xeon, any tangible reason to bump up to the 1245 v3 for an extra €30 or 1231 for €15?

XFX 650W Are you sure you might go down the sli route?

This wattage is not quite enough for 2 GPU's imo to be comfortable but way too much for a one card system. A quality modular/semi modular 500W would be plenty for a 1 card system and fit nicer into your budget. Could always sell the 500W down the line and upgrade if you wanted to go sli,waste otherwise having all that extra wattage and 1 card

As for the Xeon id stick with the 1230 v3,not worth the extra cash for such a small boost imo.

Did my best to squeeze in a 4770k into a build there but its just not happening,so i know you probably putting a list together yourself but i thought id throw up a build i thought was a nice build. Not setup to add a second gpu but for 1080p atm its more than enough. The monitor has no speakers so keep that in mind. Also went Windows 8 as Windows 7 is out of stock.
Also went with the H87 chipset as currently all H97 boards are out of stock on HWVS

Item|Price
MSI N770 TF 2GD5/OC Twin Frozr Gaming, GeForce GTX 770, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€268.65
Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6GB/s 6,4CM (2,5") 7mm|€55.63
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€45.64
Windows 8.1 64Bit Eng Intl (SB-Version) DVD|€82.12
Corsair Carbide Series 300R, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€64.34
Corsair CX Series Modular CX500M, 500W|€53.21
Intel Xeon E3-1230v3 Bx, LGA1150|€205.09
LG 23MP65HQ-P|€145.65
8GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9|€58.90
Gigabyte H87-HD3, ATX|€76.79
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1075.01


And all the price have been run through Geizhals,could maybe save a little on the monitor but 23" is just right for a 1080p monitor imo

yimrsg

BF4 has 3gb for it's recommended settings for the gpu. Others might be knowledgeable than me but a 2gb 770 wouldn't be as future proof as a 3gb 280x to my mind. I think I read that the extra gb allows the 280x to pull away from the 770 at higher resolutions. I know you said that you were dead set on nvidia, it's just something to consider if you're aiming for a multi monitor set up or a monitor with a lot of space.

sdanseo

OK, so hours later here's what I have.

My rationale:

CPU is what it's all about with FSX so I want to have the ability to Overclock. I can't overclock a Xeon. To reduce cost in the short term, I could drop the H100i and add that later. I really don't want to drop back to an i5 at this stage, for bling factor if nothing else. With the CPU cooler - if I want to overclock an i7 properly, I want a H100i. It fits in my case.

Graphics - memory > GPU in this application, so a 4GB 760 seems reasonable. To save cash here I could always drop back to a 2GB card or a cheaper manufacturer.

My wallet doesn't like this lot but I reckon not worth half-arsing it! That said, it's all going on plastic for now. :P


Item|Price
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming, ATX, Sockel 1150|€111.71
Corsair Hydro Series H100i|€92.02
Cooler Master CM690 III mit Sichtfenster, ohne Netzteil|€81.49
Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6GB/s 6,4CM (2,5") 7mm|€61.46
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€45.64
Intel Core i7-4770K Tray,3,5 GHZ, 8MB Cache, LGA 1150, VGA|€272.54
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile blau PC3-17066U CL11|€74.89
MSI N760 TF 4GD5/OC Twin Frozr Gaming, GeForce GTX 760, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€254.56
Corsair CX Series Modular CX600M, 600W|€60.88
BenQ GL2460|€117.94
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1192.12

EoinHef

There is no OS in that build. Are you willing to spend €1300? Nothing wrong with the build you put up,just thought you wanted under €1000? Personally id go with the 280X as yimrsg said,faster and its got more than enough ram for 1080p,and 1440p for that matter.Those 4BG 760's are a waste of money imo. As long as you intend to play at 1080p 2gb is fine,3GB is preferable and 4GB is overkill

Luck100

++What EoinHef said. I'm running BF4 at 1440p with 2GB gtx 670 (SLI). No problems at all in terms of having enough memory. Absolutely no need for 4 GB at 1080p.

sdanseo

OK, so back to brass tacks with this one. The Z87-G45 motherboard is dropping like a stone in price so I'm really after it, but I'm worried that the tall heatsinks might limit compatability with a H100i (which is now something I'll probably buy as an addon later).

Does anyone know a surefire way of telling if a given case (at the minute I'm looking at a 450D, CM690II that sort of range) is compatible with both the Z87-G45 and H100i?

SterlingArcher

You not at all curious as to why the price drops like a stone?

SterlingArcher

I'll have 2 guesses... 1- MSI gaming boards are meh.

2-The new z97 boards. Are the same price as old z87 ones and have newer features..

sdanseo

Wait, HWV don't do paypal any more?

That's that option out anyway, seeing as I'm credit-card dependent for this one.

Anyone fancy taking on a build from a UK supplier with a c. £800 budget?

As for the board, any review I've read has said it's excellent bang for buck, fair enough it's on the way out but a decent enough SLI ready board for €100 sounds like future proof and value both ticked off to me?

SterlingArcher

sdeire wrote: »

Wait, HWV don't do paypal any more?

That's that option out anyway, seeing as I'm credit-card dependent for this one.

Anyone fancy taking on a build from a UK supplier with a c. £800 budget?

As for the board, any review I've read has said it's excellent bang for buck, fair enough it's on the way out but a decent enough SLI ready board for €100 sounds like future proof and value both ticked off to me?

You don't need a gaming z87 board for sli. Most boards can sli.z87 is just for the overclocking.

Z97/H97 would be better future proofing.

This is just my opinion but you may have been better off with an Xeon and h97 board. Like I said newer games will be designed for 8 cores as the new consoles are 8 cores. Watchdogs is living proof of this recommended settings I7/ amd8350.

These games made for 8 cores would make the benefit of overclocking an I5 obsolete compared to the Xeon.

I'm not pissing on your bonfire here. Just giving you another opinion. Either way your pc is going to be kicking ass.

As for the UK build. Might be a blessing in disguise. Hwvs is a roll if the dice. Customer service is how should I put it delicately. A load of balls.

sdanseo

About to pull the trigger on this combination, after a delay and a lot of extra research. Sticking with the i5 on the ground that it's good all rounder and will play just about anything I'll throw at it at more than acceptable levels for a couple of years, the Xeon is not what I want and the i7 is just out of reach budget wise.

The idea is that an SSD, additional HDD, additional RAM and better cooling will follow as upgrades, as will an additional more gaming orientated monitor which will take over as a primary display leaving the cheaper one included left as a secondary display. I'll worry about an OS in a month's time.

I have the board futureproofed for SLI - well aware that the PSU will need to be swapped out if I ever utilise that.

Any suggestions /comments before I commit?

yimrsg

What monitors are you thinking of going for in the future? The 760 mightn't be the best for a 1440 or powering 3 monitors. If you're only planning on gaming on a single 1080 then it'll do but if you want to use a high refresh rate monitor you might not get the most out of it in demanding games.

For your budget I'd be trying to squeeze in a 770 rather than the 760. For the same price of your 760 you can get a 280x which would be a far superior card to the 760 and probably edge out the 770.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/amdradeongraphicscards/amdr9280xseries/11221-00-20g.html

sdanseo

Trigger pulled. Swapped out the EVO for a Seidon sealed unit - heard mixed reviews but for the value thought I'd check it out, and I can always fall back to the stock cooler if needs be (at 3 quid extra, pointless not to grab it).

The delivery is sitting beside me here in work, will update when I get it all screwed together!

Anyone know how long you get on W8.1 before I'll have to activate it? Can't afford a key now till next month, so I'm going to just download and install it inactivated for now.

crazydom

Don't go crazy on SLI, try get a faster single GPU solution! GTX 780 Ti would be a nice card!

game4it70

sdeire wrote: »

Trigger pulled. Swapped out the EVO for a Seidon sealed unit - heard mixed reviews but for the value thought I'd check it out, and I can always fall back to the stock cooler if needs be (at 3 quid extra, pointless not to grab it).

The delivery is sitting beside me here in work, will update when I get it all screwed together!

Anyone know how long you get on W8.1 before I'll have to activate it? Can't afford a key now till next month, so I'm going to just download and install it inactivated for now.

crazydom wrote: »

Don't go crazy on SLI, try get a faster single GPU solution! GTX 780 Ti would be a nice card!

He has the pc so why give advice on a gpu now?

sdanseo

game4it70 wrote: »

He has the pc so why give advice on a gpu now?

Indeed. I never posted an update either!



For a £100 monitor that 24" is actually a bit of a beast value wise - 5ms is fine for what I need. So much so that I'm very close to shelling for two more to do a cheapy surround setup.

Amazing rig all told, couldn't be happier with it for the money.