Help with PC Build (1,500€)

vokepasa21

1. What is your budget? [€1,500]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Internet/Light usage of Adobe CS Package] (Aiming to play upcoming AAA games in high/ultra, GTAV, Witcher 3, etc)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes] (Reddit)

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

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080.] [Yes]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [No]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Visa Debit/Paypal]

9. When are you purchasing? [Within 14 days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Cork City. I should be okay, planning to order from Hardwareversand which seems to be the goto website here. I’ve never mounted a CPU fan before and I see they don’t ship it mounted. A bit nervous about that since I don’t want to damage CPU, but willing to give it a try.]


With a 1,500 € budget, I’m not sure if I should go for a x99 machine, or should I stick to a z97, which allegedly provides same or even better gaming performance, and perhaps use the spare budget to get something like a better monitor? (my current monitor is a 21” Samsung) I’m open to suggestions about that!

Thanks!

vokepasa21

Any thoughts on the below build?

Intel Core i7-4790K Box, LGA1150 321,79 €
ASUS Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac), Sockel 1150, ATX 178,90 €
be quiet! Dark Rock 3 56,97 €
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9 68,17 €
Corsair Carbide Series 400R, ATX, ohne Netzteil 104,49 €
be quiet! Pure Power L8 CM 630 Watt 80,55 €
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, 4GB GDDR5 349,90 €
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's 51,18 €
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s 109,99 €
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz 11,96 €

Going for a mid-high end z97 build for 1,500, any recommendations or advise welcome.

Thanks.

BloodBath

That looks pretty solid to me. Maybe overspending on the board and processor a bit.

With that budget I'd be looking at going for a nice 27" 1440p monitor at least.

An overclocked 970 will handle it with ease.

vokepasa21

Thanks, BloodBath.

I agree the processor and board are on the expensive side, and I'm not sure it's worth the extra money. I understand for gaming an i5-4690K would perform nearly as well as the i7-4790, and as of now we can't tell if it's worth spending on potential future proofing (which is always a mirage in the end of the day) and multi-threading, so not sure if the build I posted is a bit of an overkill (you can get a decent x99 build for that price too, although I'd have to compromise on some of the other components). Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Do you have any recommendations for monitor? I might have to wait a few months until I can save some more if I end up spending my whole budget, but seeing as G-Sync monitors should in theory become more affordable this year, that might be a good thing.

BloodBath

I'm in the same boat. I've been itching to upgrade from 1080p for a good while now.

The cheaper 2560x1440 or 2560x1080 overclockable Korean monitors are tempting and can be got for about €250 + €50 or so customs charges if it's picked up.

I'd find it hard to justify spending €400+ on the branded ones with 4k being pushed as the new standard this year with prices not much higher at the moment and rapidly falling.

It's kinda bad timing. Another year or so should see 27-28" 4k IPS/PLS 60HZ Panels in the €300-350 region that support Free-Sync.

You're looking at 450-500 now for the cheaper ones + €200 if you want G-Sync.

Then the problem is a single 970 is not really enough to run that resolution well. SLI is the way to go at the moment.

So maybe the best thing to do for now is stick with 1080p and your single 970 and when you have the funds grab a second 970 and a 4k monitor in a years time.

BloodBath

Just looking myself at the moment.

The likes of this can be got for €420 + delivery already but it's a TN panel and won't support FreeSync.

http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/28Zoll--71-12cm--Samsung-U28D590P-schwarz-silber-3840x2160-1xDP-2xHDMI-1-_954717.html

It's already in an affordable price range though. These monitors were triple the price 12 months ago. Give it another 12 months.

Review here. -Edit- Just noticed it's not the same model. The link is the P model and the review is the D model. Not sure what the difference is.

shamelessidiot

vokepasa21 wrote: »

Any thoughts on the below build?

Intel Core i7-4790K Box, LGA1150 321,79 €
ASUS Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac), Sockel 1150, ATX 178,90 €
be quiet! Dark Rock 3 56,97 €
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9 68,17 €
Corsair Carbide Series 400R, ATX, ohne Netzteil 104,49 €
be quiet! Pure Power L8 CM 630 Watt 80,55 €
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, 4GB GDDR5 349,90 €
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's 51,18 €
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s 109,99 €
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz 11,96 €

Going for a mid-high end z97 build for 1,500, any recommendations or advise welcome.

Thanks.

With a €1500 budget you could easily get a GTX 980 in there. Dark Rock 3 is a decent CPU cooler but really the Hyper 212 matches it at a lower price. The NH-U12S from Noctua is a better CPU cooler at the DR3 price.

A few euro over budget but here is what I'd go for personally (if I had to have a 4790K): http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/shjJP6

vokepasa21

Thanks for the comments. For the record, after having a further look at reviews for some of the components, this is what I've ordered:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Box, LGA1150
MoBo: ASUS Z97-A, Sockel 1150, ATX
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, 4GB GDDR5
Ram: 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9
PSU: be quiet! Pure Power L8 CM 630 Watt
CPU Cooler: NOCTUA NH-U14S
Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Black, ATX
SSD: Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s
HDD: WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's

Already shipped and on its way with UPS! Should have it next week, here's hoping it arrives safely, can't wait!

@ shamelessidiot I'm starting to think I might not have given the 980 enough consideration...but it's done now! I'd say I'll go for a 2 x 970 on SLi in the future when I need more horsepower. I'm particularly happy I went for the NOCTUA NH-U14S, it seems to have a very compact size, doesn't get on the way of the RAM slots, and the reviews are great. I'm not planning to do any serious overclocking to the CPU (not in the mid term at least) so I'm hoping that Noctua will keep the CPU cool enough.

@ BloodBath That seems like a great monitor, a bit over my screen budget though, I was planning on something around the 300€. I know for that price I definitely will not get anything with G-Sync, but as you said in your previous post, it might be a good idea to stick to 1080 for a little longer. I'll probably get a 1080p 144hz monitor soon enough, since my current monitor won't do my new PC justice. Not sure if I'd go for a 24" or 27" though, some say the pixel density on a 27" 1080p is too low, although I tend to sit back from my PC, and also use it to watch TV/film, so the extra inches are tempting and I think the bigger pixels wouldn't bother me that much. I don't think I want to go for 1440p as that'd push the 970 a bit too much, I mean it would be okay now but probably in about a years time I'd need to either compromise on graphic quality settings or add another 970 to keep the performance...

Tough choices indeed :P Hopefully some drops in monitor prices in the next couple of months will help us make our minds up!