Gaming Build ~€650

jamescd

Hi folks,

It's coming up to January now so need to get the parts picked out, etc. Will hopefully be buying next week or the week after.

1. What is your budget? ~€650 incl. delivery

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming and watching movies mostly

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No, have Windows 7 Retail

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Have already bought a Corsair Carbide 100R Case and 120GB Sandisk SSD. Have parts from my current PC that I can re-use (such as a couple of HDD's and a 600w PSU), but they're over 5 years old so I think I'll just buy new ones. Just for the peace of mind like. The only ones' I'll re-use are the DVD drive as I'll need it to install Win 7 and probably one of the newer HDD's in my current PC.

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? 2x 24 inch (1920x1080) monitors. I'll only be using one when I'm gaming though, the 2nd is just for running other programs on the side.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Nope

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Not really

8. How can you pay? Debit Card, PayPal, Bank Transfer

9. When are you purchasing? Next week or the week after

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? It's been 4+ years since I last built a PC but I think I should be grand.


Intel Core i5 4460 4x 3.20GHz - €179.22
ASRock B85M B85 Pro3 - €52.97
8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 CL9 Dual Kit - €35.94
4096MB Sapphire Radeon R9 380X Nitro Aktiv - €243.34
1000GB Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 - €46.32
500 Watt Be Quiet! System Power 8 (80+ Bronze) - €49.05

Total = €606.84

Just need someone to have a look over to make sure everything's compatible and whatnot. Better alternatives without jacking up the price too much are most welcome.

Is 500W enough for the 380x + 3 hard drives (SSD + the 1TB Seagate HDD and a 1.5TB HDD from my current PC) ? And is Be Quiet! reliable enough ?

Also there is a XFX R9 380x that is about 16 quid cheaper, but it's "Available", rather than "Stocked". Will that be shipped separately (and another delivery charge I suppose) if I go for that one ?

Finally, from reading on here it appears there is a PayPal charge. Is MindFactory reliable enough to do a bank transfer so I can save on the PayPal charge ?

Digital Solitude

Build is fine

Hard drives and SSDs are negligible, your PSU is fine

BeQuiet are fine

I wouldn't use Bank Transfer, you've no recourse in case of **** hitting the fan

Devilfish698

Sorry rather than start a new thread, but would this play grand theft auto at a good setting withs mods?

jamescd

Thanks

Just quickly put together a Skylake build. Thought it'd be a lot more expensive but it's only about 12 quid dearer

Intel Core i5 6400 4x 2.70GHz - €184.23
MSI H110M PRO-VH DDR4 - €57.94
Crucial 8GB DDR4-2133 CL15 Single - €37.85

Would that be a better alternative for only about 12 quid more ?

Digital Solitude

Depends on the mods, vanilla graphics youd be looking at High settings, 60fps

jamescd

jamescd wrote: »

Thanks

Just quickly put together a Skylake build. Thought it'd be a lot more expensive but it's only about 12 quid dearer

Intel Core i5 6400 4x 2.70GHz - €184.23
MSI H110M PRO-VH DDR4 - €57.94
Crucial 8GB DDR4-2133 CL15 Single - €37.85

Would that be a better alternative for only about 12 quid more ?

Any thoughts on this or is the Haswell build better ?

Digital Solitude

Sorry missed that post.

Not sure actually, they'd be fairly close together. Think the Haswell would be a little faster

Edgarfrndly

An alternative option would be the AMD FX-8350, which is in around that price range. You can also overclock it down the line, should you want to. Or even the AMD FX-8320, which you could get combined with a cooler master hyper 212 for around the same price-range as the above processors.

Have a look and see if you can find any comparative benchmarks.

Digital Solitude

Not worth talking about at this budget, no AMD processor is

jamescd

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Sorry missed that post.

Not sure actually, they'd be fairly close together. Think the Haswell would be a little faster

Hmmm yeah, the 6400 has the advantage of DDR4 but the 4460 has a higher clock speed. Now I'm caught in two minds lol

I'm thinking though if I go with Skylake, I can keep the mobo + RAM and just upgrade the processor in a year or two for a performance boost ? Or can I still do that with the Haswell ?

Edgarfrndly wrote: »

An alternative option would be the AMD FX-8350, which is in around that price range. You can also overclock it down the line, should you want to. Or even the AMD FX-8320, which you could get combined with a cooler master hyper 212 for around the same price-range as the above processors.

Have a look and see if you can find any comparative benchmarks.

Thanks for the suggestion. But tbh, I'm not too familiar with AMD. Every PC I've bought (including laptops) has always been Intel

Digital Solitude

Go Skylake I'd say, there's going to be literally zero benefit from either, but a more up to date system. Get 2400mhz RAM though

jamescd

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Go Skylake I'd say, there's going to be literally zero benefit from either, but a more up to date system. Get 2400mhz RAM though

Thanks. I think the mobo I picked out only takes 2133mhz RAM. Will have a look at mobos that take 2400mhz RAM

Eoinmc97

Go Skylake, the IPC and the memory controller outpaces the Haswell line-up. The Core i5 6400 can be BCLK OC'd to pace with the Core i5 6600K.
The newer chipsets also offer better storage options and more PCI-E lanes.
For €12, go for it.

The AMD R9 380X will hit 60 FPS Ultra on GTA V, because it is a shader intensive game. It actually paces upto the GTX 970, but that's because GTA doesn't scale well due.

Edgarfrndly

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Go Skylake I'd say, there's going to be literally zero benefit from either, but a more up to date system. Get 2400mhz RAM though

And a more expensive motherboard, and more expensive ram. The mobo will be almost 100 extra alone compared to the one he selected. Ram probably an extra 15 to 20 euro more expensive. And for what? To have a low tier skylake processor that won't really add much more performance to the comparative haswell processors?

TBH - if I were the OP, I'd save up a little longer, add another 150 or so to his budget and get a 6600K and a z170 mobo, with a cooler master hyper 212 if he wanted to future-proof his system a little better. He won't have to upgrade it for a very long time.

He might save some money in the short term for a lesser quality build, but in the long run - he won't have to fork out on a new pc as soon.

Digital Solitude

RAM is gonna be about €10 extra, motherboard is dependant, you can't throw a figure at it. For the sake of €20-30 there's no harm going Skylake

Saving for a 6600k is going to be overkill IMO, it'll expand the lifespan of the PC a little with overclockability, but by the time a 4460/6400 is bottlenecking you, a 6600k won't last a whole while longer I reckon, better get the PC off the ground now.

Also the fact a 390 with a 6400 will stand better than a 380X with a 6600k

All the above is dependant on the price difference at the end of the build, and if OP would have to actually save to bump the build up a notch, he does have a max budget for a reason.

Is the 380X really that powerful? I had no idea, would have estimated it between a 280X and 290

jamescd

Had a look at all the H110, B150 and H170 boards but none of them take 2400mhz RAM

The cheapest I could find is this ASRock Z170 Pro4S at 99 quid. Is 2400mhz worth the extra 40+ quid that I'd need to spend on the mobo ?

Eoinmc97 wrote: »

Go Skylake, the IPC and the memory controller outpaces the Haswell line-up. The Core i5 6400 can be BCLK OC'd to pace with the Core i5 6600K.
The newer chipsets also offer better storage options and more PCI-E lanes.
For €12, go for it.

The AMD R9 380X will hit 60 FPS Ultra on GTA V, because it is a shader intensive game. It actually paces upto the GTX 970, but that's because GTA doesn't scale well due.

Thanks, yeah I'm leaning towards the Skylake build

Edgarfrndly wrote: »

And a more expensive motherboard, and more expensive ram. The mobo will be almost 100 extra alone compared to the one he selected. Ram probably an extra 15 to 20 euro more expensive. And for what? To have a low tier skylake processor that won't really add much more performance to the comparative haswell processors?

TBH - if I were the OP, I'd save up a little longer, add another 150 or so to his budget and get a 6600K and a z170 mobo, with a cooler master hyper 212 if he wanted to future-proof his system a little better. He won't have to upgrade it for a very long time.

He might save some money in the short term for a lesser quality build, but in the long run - he won't have to fork out on a new pc as soon.

Is it easy to overclock ? Is there no risk to it ? I haven't got a clue how to overclock lol

Can I not just upgrade the GPU in a year or two ?

Digital Solitude

jamescd wrote: »

Is 2400mhz worth the extra 40+ quid that I'd need to spend on the mobo?

Can I not just upgrade the GPU in a year or two ?

Nope, its kinda the base standard speed though. I have a feeling Eoin knows more than me here so I'll leave it to him to explain if he can :pac: Go 2133mhz or Haswell

You can upgrade the GPU whenever you want

jamescd

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Nope, its kinda the base standard speed though. I have a feeling Eoin knows more than me here so I'll leave it to him to explain if he can :pac: Go 2133mhz or Haswell

You can upgrade the GPU whenever you want

Thanks. I'll hit the sack and think about it. I'll post any updates/changes (if any) I've thought about tomorrow

jamescd

So I decided to open up the case, just to have a look at it. And lo and behold, it's damaged. This build isn't off to a great start



As you can see, the underside of the case is bent upwards. The bottom most drive tray is actually obstructed by it so it's difficult to take out. The side panel also won't close properly because of it. I've printed a return label off Amazon and I'll be dropping it off in the post office Monday.

Edgarfrndly

jamescd wrote: »

Is it easy to overclock ? Is there no risk to it ? I haven't got a clue how to overclock lol

Can I not just upgrade the GPU in a year or two ?

Yeah man, it's relatively easy to overclock. Lot's of videos on youtube that show you how. A cheap cooler master hyper 212 would be more than enough for a 6600K.

It will really extend your performance. Don't be afraid of it. If you're really unsure, I'm sure one of the local boardsies would give you a hand anyways.

Did you order everything in the end?

jamescd

Edgarfrndly wrote: »

Yeah man, it's relatively easy to overclock. Lot's of videos on youtube that show you how. A cheap cooler master hyper 212 would be more than enough for a 6600K.

It will really extend your performance. Don't be afraid of it. If you're really unsure, I'm sure one of the local boardsies would give you a hand anyways.

Did you order everything in the end?

Not yet, it's just the case and SSD that I bought separately off Amazon.

Still can't make up my mind

I want it ordered by Monday though so I'll have to come to a decision before then

grindle

Eoin mentioned it up the thread but people are missing the point for whatever reason: There's no point getting a 6600k.

Not because the 6400 is just as good out of the box, but if you're overclocking anyway the 6400 can be overclocked to the same level as a 6600k.
6400 + Z170 = best value for Skylake builds by a long shot at the moment.

jamescd

grindle wrote: »

Eoin mentioned it up the thread but people are missing the point for whatever reason: There's no point getting a 6600k.

Not because the 6400 is just as good out of the box, but if you're overclocking anyway the 6400 can be overclocked to the same level as a 6600k.
6400 + Z170 = best value for Skylake builds by a long shot at the moment.

Can I overclock the 6400 with this mobo?

MSI Z170-A PRO - €110.65

BLCK OCing won't cause any damage to any of the parts right ? Can you point me to a good guide on how to do this. I'd like to have a look before I commit.

challengemaster

jamescd wrote: »

Can I overclock the 6400 with this mobo?

MSI Z170-A PRO - €110.65

BLCK OCing won't cause any damage to any of the parts right ? Can you point me to a good guide on how to do this. I'd like to have a look before I commit.

It's not going to be using base clock overclocking. A bios update rolled out last month that enabled non-K cpu multiplier overclocking on all Z170 chipset motherboards. AFAIK Asrock is the only one to officially release a signed bios update thus far (SKY OC bios), the rest are unofficial as of now.

Eoinmc97

jamescd wrote: »

Had a look at all the H110, B150 and H170 boards but none of them take 2400mhz RAM

The cheapest I could find is this ASRock Z170 Pro4S at 99 quid. Is 2400mhz worth the extra 40+ quid that I'd need to spend on the mobo ?



Thanks, yeah I'm leaning towards the Skylake build




Is it easy to overclock ? Is there no risk to it ? I haven't got a clue how to overclock lol

Can I not just upgrade the GPU in a year or two ?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18709079
That's a link to geting a pretty amazing clock on the Core i5 6400. It explains everything needed.
The cheapest Z170 board is €100, and DDR4 at 2400mhz will cost about €2 more than DDR3 1600.

IMO, this is the best value CPU and Mobo combo out there. Because upgradability is going to be nice with Kaby Lake coming out next year sometime, but even then, Skylake should last about 8 years when DX12 picks up and CPUs only become nescessary for VR.
This BCLK overclocking is now serperate from HDDs and the PCI-E bus, so fire away!


MSI, ASRock, Gigabyte and ASUS are the official ones now.

challengemaster

Eoinmc97 wrote: »

This BCLK overclocking is now serperate from HDDs and the PCI-E bus, so fire away!

It is, but you still cannot push the BCLK past 103mhz and have it stable. The best way to overclock is still multiplier oc.

Eoinmc97

challengemaster wrote: »

It is, but you still cannot push the BCLK past 103mhz and have it stable. The best way to overclock is still multiplier oc.

The SRT controller on Skylake is moved onto the DIE itself, this seperates itself from the FRT controller in the chipset. Check online and see, many people have gotten 4.4GHz stable clock on the 6400 with BCLK OCing.

You're thinking of the old way, where the PCI bus and Storage interface was all changed. Those days are gone with Skylake. Read the post I linked.

jamescd

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I thought about it, but decided to go with the original Skylake build so I can stick to my budget.

Intel Core i5 6400 2.70GHz
MSI H110M PRO-VD Intel H110 DDR4
Crucial 8GB DDR4-2133 DIMM
XFX Radeon R9 380X Double Dissipation XXX OC 4096MB
Seagate 1TB Desktop HDD ST1000DM003
Be Quiet! 500W System Power 7 Bulk 80+ Silver

Total = ~€654 including delivery and PayPal charge

Changed to the XFX version of the 380X instead as it's around €17 cheaper. It's not in stock, but they're expecting stock to arrive on the 8th of January. Since I'll most likely be upgrading the Graphics card in the future, I decided to get the Silver rated version of the PSU which was only around €8 more. Apart from that, everything is the same. Came to around €654 so only went over by €4

Expected dispatch date is 01.08.2016. Probably just waiting on the Graphics Card. Also, Amazon are dispatching a replacement case hopefully tomorrow (status is "Shipping today" on my account).

So uh, fingers crossed I get everything next week. I'll post pics when I get em. Thanks for all the help lads

Edgarfrndly

Nice one man Enjoy.

jamescd

So it seems the PSU has gone out of stock........and also an additional SATA cable I ordered (wasn't sure how many would come with the motherboard). They were both in stock at the time of ordering.

Good news is they're back in stock on 01.08.2016, so it doesn't really make a difference (since I was originally waiting on the Graphics Card anyway). So hopefully stock for the Graphics Card, PSU and SATA cable will all arrive tomorrow.

quainy

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Not worth talking about

The comment could have stopped here for most AMD processors

jamescd

Just been shipped. Tracking says I should expect it to arrive on Wednesday. Happy days

jamescd

Just received it Arrived at almost exactly 6PM, thought it wasn't gonna come today.













Have to go out to watch the footie in a bit, might just leave the assembly for tomorrow. Probably won't have the motivation for it later when I get home after we get hammered by the Pool :pac:

Eoinmc97

Hard drives are bieng shipped in bags now?
Oh.

jamescd

Eoinmc97 wrote: »

Hard drives are bieng shipped in bags now?
Oh.

Yeah it came in that bag, plus a generous wrapping of bubble wrap. PSU too came without a box, again with just some bubblewrap.

jamescd

I've assembled it outside the case just to see if everything's working, and thankfully everything seems to be.











Had a fright, when it wouldn't POST at first. All the fans would turn on but nothing showed up on the screen. Turns out I just forgot to plug in the 4 pin/8 pin CPU power connector :pac:

Processor, mobo, RAM, GPU, SSD, and PSU seem to be all working great. Only one I haven't plugged in to test is the HDD. I'll probably leave the rest till tomorrow though. Would it be fine just to leave it as it is sitting in the open until I have the time to put everything together in the case tomorrow ?

jamescd

Have it in the case now and setup in my room. It's whisper quiet when not gaming, sometimes I think the PC has gone to sleep because of it. Played a bit of Shadow of Mordor on Ultra and it's still barely audible. Don't think the GPU fans go up past 30% even when gaming. My old PC was starting to sound like a plane taking off when gaming :pac:

Defo very pleased with it, thanks for the help lads