€1200 build opinions

Denise90

1. What is your budget? €1200 (€1300 max)

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming mostly, basically I'd just like to be able to play most games on high settings which is a far cry from my current laptop!

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Can probably sort it

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? No

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Not right now

8. How can you pay? Debit/Credit Card

9. When are you purchasing? Beginning after Christmas

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Waterford



I have something in mind after a quick look at hardwareversand but I'm totally new to this and I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything or if I'm just wasting money on unnecessarily expensive parts. Any help is much appreciated.

i7 4790K €317.81
MSI GeForce GTX970 €368.90
Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600- 8Gb (2x4GB) €66.45
Samsung SSD EVO Basic - 250GB €109.99
Coolink Silent Saviour HDD Cooler €7.99
Seagate Barracuda 1TB €49.81
Samsung DVD RW €11.96
ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer LGA 1150 €115.49
Cooler Master Storm Trooper €131.66
XFX Power Supply 550W €55.11
Alpenfoehn CPU cooler €29.99
Gelid ICY VISION SOLUTIONS VGA Cooler €39.99

5uspect

You're overdoing the cooling. The CPU probably comes with a stock cooler which is fine unless you plan to overclock. You can get a high end cooler when you do decide to do so. You don't need the harddrive cooler or additional via cooler either.

8 Gigs of RAM is the minimum I'd recommend. I'd spring for a 512GB SSD too, they've dropped in price enough.

free_man

No need for HDD cooler (1Tb is not gonna generate heat) or video card cooler with CM Strom Trooper case.

I agree with 5suspect that get a CPU cooler when you overclock.
I spend 50 euros on a noctua cooler few years back and I have hardly used it.

You said no to peripherals so I assume you have a monitor as well.

8GB is bare minimum RAM. Spend money saved on RAM.

I don't agree with 512GB SSD. Games load fine from HDD and you will only save on loading time by moving to SSD.

Serephucus

4790K isn't needed. Grab the 4690K instead. The main difference is Hyperthreading, which games don't use anyway. There's also a bump in clock speed with the 4790, but nothing you couldn't get yourself with an OC on the 4690.

GPU is fine, though you absolutely don't need that cooler. The stock one is fine.

SSD size is grand. If you have more money, of course more is better, but the 250GB range is at a very good price point at the moment.

HDD is fine, though I'd consider a WD Red as they tend to be more reliable, or a Blue, if you want something a bit faster. (Though it won't make a huge difference). You don't need the HDD cooler either. They generate next to not heat, and as long as you have any sort of airflow over them at all, they'll be fine.

Have a look at the Z97-A from Asus as well. It's about the same price, but it's got some really nice fan control options that the ASRock doesn't have, and it's generally a nicer BIOS to work with.

You can drop to a 450W PSU if you only plan on using one 970. If you might add a second one in the future, you'll want to bump it to 600/650W.

I'd change the CPU cooler to a Hyper 212 Evo. It's pretty much the best value air cooler out there at the moment. You absolutely need one, mainly because while the stock one will do the job, it sounds like a hairdryer. A third-party one will obviously help you with overclocks as well.

Denise90

Thanks for the info guys. I was thinking the coolers might have been overkill but I wasn't sure!

I only want to use the SSD for basics, games will be on the HDD so I think 250 should do.

Thanks Serephucus for those options, I'll have a look at them. I think I will drop to the 4690, think there's about 100-ish in the difference so I could bump up the RAM to 16GB. Is there much of a difference in getting two 8GB vs four 4GB?

Serephucus

2x8 is usually better. Cheaper, and it's slightly easier on the memory controller.