Looking to build my first gaming PC

Cr4pSnip3r

1. What is your budget? €700, but that's not tight, you can go above if needed.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming (e.g. Civ V, Cities Skylines etc.)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes, no need to put this in the budget, though.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Unfortunately not!

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes, but don't include this in the overall budget!

5a. If yes, what size do you need. Uh... surprise me...?

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Mouse, but again, don't include this in the budget price! I've got more money for this stuff.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Not yet, I don't think.

8. How can you pay? Paypal? Credit Card? Does it matter? Fairly certain I can pay however needed, bar with my blood.

9. When are you purchasing? ASAP, I suppose.

Digital Solitude

Gaming PC two weeks before college? I like it. What course are you doing, may be influenced if you'll be using it for course work.

i5 4460 €185
B85M motherboard €70
1tb HDD €50
8gb RAM €50
mATX case €50
R9 270X €170
500w PSU €60
120gb SSD €60
€695 total

This'll play absolutely anything at at least medium 1080p60

Put €150 or so into a monitor, I got a 24" BenQ 2450 last week I'm pretty happy with

Windows is €20 from Reddit

If you've got the cash, I'd get a Mech keyboard and a good mouse atm, maybe around €150-200 for the pair, though I'm still using a €15 mouse so not necessary.

You could drop to an i3 for essentially no performance impact in most games, and jump to a second hand R9 290, which is a serious card. Second hand 280X is also a jump, sold mine for €150 a few weeks back so they're easy to pick up for that price.

Any questions, ask away, I can post brands if you want.

*Edit* specced an mATX build for no reason, its basically just a smaller motherboard and case, shout if you'd want a full size one

Cr4pSnip3r

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Gaming PC two weeks before college? I like it. What course are you doing, may be influenced if you'll be using it for course work.

i5 4460 €185
B85M motherboard €70
1tb HDD €50
8gb RAM €50
mATX case €50
R9 270X €170
500w PSU €60
120gb SSD €60
€695 total

This'll play absolutely anything at at least medium 1080p60

Put €150 or so into a monitor, I got a 24" BenQ 2450 last week I'm pretty happy with

Windows is €20 from Reddit

If you've got the cash, I'd get a Mech keyboard and a good mouse atm, maybe around €150-200 for the pair, though I'm still using a €15 mouse so not necessary.

You could drop to an i3 for essentially no performance impact in most games, and jump to a second hand R9 290, which is a serious card. Second hand 280X is also a jump, sold mine for €150 a few weeks back so they're easy to pick up for that price.

Any questions, ask away, I can post brands if you want.

*Edit* specced an mATX build for no reason, its basically just a smaller motherboard and case, shout if you'd want a full size one

Curious, would I be buying parts from all over the place?

Digital Solitude

Nope, if you use mind factory then you'd get the case elsewhere, everywhere else you're sticking to the one site, like Amazon, kingcase, alternate

Cr4pSnip3r

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Nope, if you use mind factory then you'd get the case elsewhere, everywhere else you're sticking to the one site, like Amazon, kingcase, alternate

Much obliged, Digital! What will you be starting next month? (college)

Digital Solitude

Believe it or not, Electronic Engineering and Computing :pac: Quite a few people have told me it should be right down my alleyway.

No worries mate, feel free to post any other queries

Cr4pSnip3r

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Believe it or not, Electronic Engineering and Computing :pac: Quite a few people have told me it should be right down my alleyway.

No worries mate, feel free to post any other queries

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UNJRG78/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=39QZP25Y9FBUA&coliid=I16U80WSP89D3S

Is that a suitable case?

Digital Solitude

Yeah it should be sound

Cr4pSnip3r

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Yeah it should be sound

Cheers

Wright

That build seems fine. RAM seems a bit low, can two sticks be had for that? Make sure you don't just run off one stick OP, as dual channel performs better generally.

A few more suggestions; cheap windows licences are available for about €40 online BUT you are of course now a student! Check with your college about getting you a cheaper licence and a .edu address.
For hard-drive, Western Digital and HGST currently have the lowest failure rates. If you need to shave some cost off, drop down to a 500/750GB here. You can always just use an external for movies etc.
For SSDs, budget wise you're not going to be looking at Samsung anyway but their 840/850 line have been having issued lately so I recommend you go with a cheaper brand, maybe Sandisk.
Put a lot of consideration into what motherboard you are going with. You don't need a Z board, they're for overclocking which the processor above won't do, but don't cheap out on it either. Look at some H97 boards.
Also something else you need to research is what graphics cars you go with. Many brands release the same card with extra features. I recommend Gigabyte Windforce or Asus.

Good luck.

Lu Tze

Cr4pSnip3r wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UNJRG78/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=39QZP25Y9FBUA&coliid=I16U80WSP89D3S

Is that a suitable case?

I really like the look of that case actually, seems to have decent cable routing options which I haven't seen in most budget cases. Will have to look up a review

Cr4pSnip3r

Wright wrote: »

That build seems fine. RAM seems a bit low, can two sticks be had for that? Make sure you don't just run off one stick OP, as dual channel performs better generally.

A few more suggestions; cheap windows licences are available for about €40 online BUT you are of course now a student! Check with your college about getting you a cheaper licence and a .edu address.
For hard-drive, Western Digital and HGST currently have the lowest failure rates. If you need to shave some cost off, drop down to a 500/750GB here. You can always just use an external for movies etc.
For SSDs, budget wise you're not going to be looking at Samsung anyway but their 840/850 line have been having issued lately so I recommend you go with a cheaper brand, maybe Sandisk.
Put a lot of consideration into what motherboard you are going with. You don't need a Z board, they're for overclocking which the processor above won't do, but don't cheap out on it either. Look at some H97 boards.
Also something else you need to research is what graphics cars you go with. Many brands release the same card with extra features. I recommend Gigabyte Windforce or Asus.

Good luck.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/39QZP25Y9FBUA This is what I have atm, I've no problem adding more RAM if needed, or going with two 4GB sticks.

Digital Solitude

2x4gb is what most people use, but stick with the 1x8 imo, as it means you don't need to bother selling your 4gbs if you want to add more. Solid looking build so far

Wright

Cr4pSnip3r wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/39QZP25Y9FBUA This is what I have atm, I've no problem adding more RAM if needed, or going with two 4GB sticks.

The pound is whack at the moment, I recommend finding a european alternative like German or Italian amazon.

Cr4pSnip3r

Wright wrote: »

The pound is whack at the moment, I recommend finding a european alternative like German or Italian amazon.

Nothing I've found is very convenient. Approaching this fairly expensive and confusing task whilst using a German site or even two different sites in different languages will make my head explode.

Digital Solitude

Cr4pSnip3r wrote: »

Nothing I've found is very convenient. Approaching this fairly expensive and confusing task whilst using a German site or even two different sites in different languages will make my head explode.

Google Chrome?

Digital Solitude

Pretty much everything bar PSU is universal anyways. *edit* the names like, you can buy a PSU anywhere, they just aren't called that in Germany

Wright

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Google Chrome?

Exactly.

The euro to pound right now is pretty bad. Chrome will auto-translate German and Italian. Even on mobile. Very nifty.

Just make sure you buy a keyboard in an area that uses QWERTY. I tried using an AZERTY keyboard before. Took me five minutes to write a short email lol.