Gaming PC €1,800

D

1. What is your budget? [€1,800]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming] All the games that I've missed out on over my current PC

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No] Have some serial numbers from MSDN subscription.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive 650 GB + DVD Drive + Corsair 550W PSU + monitor Samsung Syncmaster 2343 + mouse and keyboard]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No] Current Samsung 2K (2048X1152)

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [N/A]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [2048x1152] [Yes although only in the long term]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [No, although long term thinking about a good keyboard and mouse, current ones are good enough.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

8. How can you pay? [Debit chip and pin]

9. When are you purchasing? [In 30 days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Hopefully not, but if so Dublin]

So I've recently finished a post grad, my old PC MB died a death so I am rewarding myself.

Going onto part picker and picking from the most popular list gave the following:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($132.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($66.37 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.39 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1383.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-15 13:31 EDT-0400

Please make recommendations.
A few questions:
1. Is it worth getting the 1080 or would a 480 do?
2. The above list is with an ATX Mid tower, would it be worth it to go for a full tower? In terms of cooling and fitting the parts
3. CPU cooling, the above is air cooled but recently in threads some people are recommending an enclosed water cooler. How much extra hassle is water cooling?

K.O.Kiki

You have to use Euro prices (unless you're moving to USA?)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (€341.34 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer 120 74.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€60.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€111.27 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (€79.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€146.52 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (€468.47 @ Mindfactory)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (€92.49 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1299.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-16 01:27 CEST+0200

Case is personal preference; have a look through lists such as on tom's Hardware.

For your monitor, IMHO you would be fine with GTX 1070.

I left out the mechanical HDD, but I would recommend Hitachi over Seagate.

Have a look at this video:

to decide on whether you want i7-6700k, or drop down to i5-6600k.

D

Thanks very much Kiki for the response.
I notice that you recommended a liquid CPU cooler. How much more complicated are they compared to an air cooler?
Are there any additional things that I should be aware of in relation to those?
I'm just concerned as I don't have much experience with building and don't want to get in over my head.

IRAC War

D wrote: »

Thanks very much Kiki for the response.
I notice that you recommended a liquid CPU cooler. How much more complicated are they compared to an air cooler?
Are there any additional things that I should be aware of in relation to those?
I'm just concerned as I don't have much experience with building and don't want to get in over my head.

Water coolers (All in ones) are easier to fit than air coolers as you're mounting a lot less to the main board. Just make sure you know where the cables and tubes are going to run too - do yourself a little diagram once you've decided on the case.

D

Thanks IRAC,
I was having some issues with getting delivered to Ireland so I just switched to amazon uk.
With that switch I also had to select another motherboard as it was unavailable.
Also I decide to step up to the 1080 as I can see a monitor upgrade in the future. The EVGA brand was not available, seems to be sold out everywhere, so I switched to an MSI version. Is this advisable as I see a lot of people recommending the EVGA? I don't mind waiting an extra 2 weeks if you feel that it is worth it.

That presented the following, is it still suitable?
Comes to 1816.01 Euro.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£301.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer 120 74.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£56.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£124.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£116.01 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£129.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Video Card (£614.97 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 750D Airflow Edition ATX Full Tower Case (£134.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1571.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-17 21:29 BST+0100

K.O.Kiki

EVGA & MSI have the best customer support/warranties (and by stroke of luck, their coolers are quiet too)

Looks like a good build, prices are a bit high though.
Are you able to navigate Mindfactory?

Xenoronin

Why the added expense with the K model if you aren't overclocking?

Redfox25

The K comes with a higher base clock I believe.

D

Hi all,
Thanks for all the feedback so far.
@Kiki: I can use mindfactory, I went and split the order with only the case and GPU from amazon and the rest from mindfactory. The cost for that, including shipping was €922.37 and Amazon 870.18 for a total of 1792.55, which resulted in a difference of only €23.46 so I felt that I should just go with amazon.

Although when I went to amazon there was plenty of "not delivered to ireland" and things out of stock. So I ended up splitting the cost anyway. Everything is on its way except the GPU which is currently out of stock although it should notify me when it is back in and running.

D

Quick question, does anyone have experience with how long it usually takes for deliveries take to get from mindfactory to Ireland? My current order states an expected shipping date of the 25th (it used to be 24th but has been pushed back).

Digital Solitude

Takes about a week from shipping date

D

So the box arrived on Friday and the rest of the hardware, apart from the GPU, arrived today.
Got everything set up easily enough. There was one moment of panic when I couldn't find spacers for the motherboard, but then I realised that they were built in.
Thanks for all the help and advice!

Everything is up and running now. I used my old HDD to boot up as I haven't hooked up the new SSD or HDD.
What would the best for transferring the OS to the new SSD?
Ideally I would like to dual boot to linux mint too.

Like i said earlier I have another serial number if needed.

Digital Solitude

Clonezilla never did me any harm for totally cloning an OS.

Xenoronin

There are a load of them. If you google "free norton ghost alternatives" you'll get a load of options