Advice on a new gaming PC - UK - ~£1000

[Deleted]

Hi everyone! I could really use some help from the wonderful community here:

I am looking to replace my trusty PC. Previous (very helpful) advice here was that it was better to start from scratch given my outdated (2009!) build but I got an Xbox One for Christmas last year so postponed this update. I'll list my current components below:

Budget: ~£1000 (GB Pounds sterling)

Resolution: 1920 x 1080p

Games / Settings Desired:
GTA V, HOTS, WoW and to be able to play new releases for maybe the next 3-5 years if possible at smooth frame rates on decent (but not necessarily mind-blowing) settings.

Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc):
GoPro video editing

Country:
UK

Parts that can be reused:
This is my current rig (Can't post links yet annoyingly) don't laugh!

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: stock
Motherboard: Asus M4A78LT-M Micro ATX AM3 Motherboard
Memory: OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
External Storage: Seagate Backup Plus 3TB USB 3.0 Desktop 3.5 inch External Hard Drive
Video Card: Palit GeForce GTS 450 1GB Video Card
Case: Xigmatek Asgard Pro (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit)

Do you need an OS?
Yes, Windows 7 or 10

Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?
I have all peripherals but interested in suggestions for a new primary monitor to make this work, Expecting this to be extra.

I am benchmarking against this Overclockers build for £991.90, sorry can't post hyperlinks yet.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Z170-E Intel (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit
SSD Storage: Samsung 250GB 750 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive
Internal Storage: (None needed, use current External HD)
Graphics Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1050Ti Mini 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express
Case: BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black Window
Power Supply: Cougar STX 550W 80 Plus 230V EU Power Supply - Black
Optical drive: OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)

I'd prefer to buy pre-built and happy to pay a few bucks for someone else to get it right as I've never built from scratch.

What would you buy in my situation? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Triggered Fridgekin]

If you're going for the 1050 Ti you may as well should get the RX 470 or 1060 3GB. I'm also not sure about the quality of Cougar products especially when it's the Power Supply which is where you should absolutely pay for quality.

The Neos is an awful case when it comes to cooling too so I'd stay far away from it and pick up an NZXT 210 if not having USB 3.0 on the front isn't a big deal. 212X is also unnecessary since it's (from what I recall) literally an extra fan for push/pull which might yield a degree or two lower temps but you're paying $10+ or more for it on average when the Evo is generally more than enough providing you don't buy a terrible case and have bad fans. For fans, you could throw in some generic Cooler Master Sickles and buy some air filters for all your intakes providing your case doesn't have them for all mounts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£209.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£29.98 @ Amazon UK)
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC MX-2 4g Thermal Paste (£4.74 @ Eclipse Computers)
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£87.60 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£82.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£91.98 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 470 4GB NITRO+ Video Card (£185.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£34.56 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£78.96 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£17.94 @ YoYoTech)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan (£6.98 @ Novatech)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan (£6.98 @ Novatech)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan (£6.98 @ Novatech)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan (£6.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £852.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-21 19:26 GMT+0000

Can take out the fans if you want but the S210 is a beast when it comes to how many it can fit. Windows 7/8/10 Pro OEM keys can be bought for £20 or so on g2play.net and kinguin.

Overall, saving money and you'll get more out of it. If you want to really hug your budget though, I would throw money in to the video card or just use some of the left over money to pay someone to put it together for you.

[Deleted]

Thanks so much Fridgekin, that is phenomenally helpful advice! I have a couple of follow-up questions if you don't mind?

GPU: I'm keen on an Nvidia card as I have an Nvidia shield tablet and would like to gamestream to it on the move but I'll look at the 1060. If I could spend more on the GPU what would be the differences between the 1060 3gb / 1060 6gb and 1070? I'll take a look at some benchmarks but interested in your informed view!

Case: Thanks for the advice on the Neos, will avoid, but looks like the NZXT210 doesn't have USB3.0 or a 2.5" mount for the SSD, do you have a recommendation for a decent case that has 2x front USB3.0 ports and can mount the SSD and optical drive?

CPU: I'm assuming the 3.5GHz i5 you've listed is more than enough and the 3.9GHz I had listed was overkill, what's the performance impact?

Very many thanks again!

[Triggered Fridgekin]

GPU: If I were to go with a 1060, I would take the 6GB version simply due to the extra memory, full GP106 featureset and the potential resale value in the event that you decide to sell it in the future. If your goal is to stay at 1080p and 60hz with very high+ then I would almost say that, barring extreme outliers and conditions, a 1070 can be overkill. Here's a comparison video from a very reputable source. If you can spare the dough (~£380), I'd get a 1070 simply because I would rather have that extra horse power for GPU-bound titles, settings and opens the door to a more consistent 1440p performance if you ever go that route but it all comes down to personal preference, individual game performance relevant to you and cost.

Alternatively, some would suggest the RX480 8GB for superior DX12/Vulcan support but games such as Ashes of the Singularity and DOOM are exceptions at this point. That could change in the future but right now, it's not something I would lose my sleep over especially if you picked up a 1070.

Alternatively alternatively, you could wait to see what AMD has up their sleeve with Vega which should be out in a couple months... maybe.

Case: If you want to spend a little more on the case, I definitely recommend the NZXT S340 but you'll have to get a USB optical drive since it doesn't have any drive bays. I use this case and it's absolutely wonderful.

CPU: The 3.9GHz they advertised is the turbo boost speed of the 6600K where one processor will essentially auto overclock when put under load. However, it won't do this if you overclock your K series processor which I am always for especially when buying a K series chip. Certain games such as WoW which are CPU bound (even if only single threaded) can see fairly noticeable improvements unless you use FPS limiting software or Vsync and you're already at that threshold (if you get 60 fps with fps limit/vsync at 3.5GHz, you won't see any difference with 4.4GHz for example).

[Deleted]

Many thanks for the advice and explanations Fridgekin, I really appreciate it.

Any suggestions on a decent case that has 2x front USB3.0 ports and can mount the SSD and optical drive too? It's tough to know what to look for in terms of airflow design etc without a lot of build experience.

Really appreciate your help and welcome other advice too!

[Fascinate]

Many thanks for the advice and explanations Fridgekin, I really appreciate it.

Any suggestions on a decent case that has 2x front USB3.0 ports and can mount the SSD and optical drive too? It's tough to know what to look for in terms of airflow design etc without a lot of build experience.

Really appreciate your help and welcome other advice too!

The newest and best case designs do not have optical drive bays, and i agree with this trend. The only situation i can envision where someone would want an optical drive is if they watch blu rays on their PC, but i see in your build you have a standard dvd drive, what are you planning on using this for?

[Deleted]

I have various old games, CDs and DvDs I want to use in the PC and would rather have an inbuilt Optical drive. Any recommendations for a decent case?

[Fascinate]

I have various old games, CDs and DvDs I want to use in the PC and would rather have an inbuilt Optical drive. Any recommendations for a decent case?

This case is on quite an outstanding sale at scan:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3...se-cc9011028ww

You really cant find any better for the money.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

The 350D is a great case but you'll need to get an mATX board which you can find here.

For an ATX case which has an optical bay, I would absolutely recommend this case.

[the boar]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

ah these were £90 on monday, i grabbed one for £96 yesterday. guess the price went back up a little but even £114 isn't too bad. something worth considering if you want more space anyway~

[Fascinate]

The 350D is a great case but you'll need to get an mATX board which you can find here.

For an ATX case which has an optical bay, I would absolutely recommend this case.

Thats quite a bit more expensive than the 350D. The enthoo pro series also has a design flaw where a large portion of the intake (sides) are not dust filtered.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Thats quite a bit more expensive than the 350D. The enthoo pro series also has a design flaw where a large portion of the intake (sides) are not dust filtered.

They're not filtered? Most reviews and impressions which I've read make it a point to say it's a full height front dust filter so it would seem odd that such an oversight would exist and not be mentioned.

Edit: Just as I post that, I found it mentioned in the overclock.net forum by several posters. That is a truly bizarre oversight. You can fix it with some custom filter strips but still, bizarre.

[Fascinate]

They're not filtered? Most reviews and impressions which I've read make it a point to say it's a full height front dust filter so it would seem odd that such an oversight would exist and not be mentioned.

Oh it has a filter, but look at the design of the front panel on the pro and the pro m the cutouts on either side have no filter behind them, it will be going straight into the case.

[Svisalith]

The HOTS engine loves RAM performance so if you're playing with CPU OC there can be significant benefits from RAM speeds above 3000mhz (which is a pretty good baseline speed to buy for a 6600k)

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Oh it has a filter, but look at the design of the front panel on the pro and the pro m the cutouts on either side have no filter behind them, it will be going straight into the case.

Definitely see it now. I assumed it was like the S340 where the filter attaches to the case directly over the fans but is actually mounted to the front panel. I'm surprised because Phanteks makes great cases.

I'd still consider it though if making your own mesh filters isn't an issue but I understand that's not something everyone wants to do when shelling out that much cash.

[Deleted]

Definitely see it now. I assumed it was like the S340 where the filter attaches to the case directly over the fans but is actually mounted to the front panel. I'm surprised because Phanteks makes great cases.

I'd still consider it though if making your own mesh filters isn't an issue but I understand that's not something everyone wants to do when shelling out that much cash.

Thank you guys very much, this is exactly the reason I asked for advice, I wouldn't have thought about that, great point on dust vents and I was considering that Enthoo pro range. I'll look at the corsair, do you guys have any views on micro atx vs full? I'm currently micro and it seems to limit upgrade options a bit. Any full atx cases to recommend given the requirements?

- - - Updated - - -

The HOTS engine loves RAM performance so if you're playing with CPU OC there can be significant benefits from RAM speeds above 3000mhz (which is a pretty good baseline speed to buy for a 6600k)

That's really helpful to know mate, cheers, I was wondering about the difference that would make, 3000 isn't that much more expensive so good to know is worth it.

[Deleted]

The newest and best case designs do not have optical drive bays, and i agree with this trend. The only situation i can envision where someone would want an optical drive is if they watch blu rays on their PC, but i see in your build you have a standard dvd drive, what are you planning on using this for?

I consider the R5 and Phanteks enthoo pro to be the best cases and both have optical drives.

https://www.cclonline.com/product/17...indow/CAS1885/

Sadly the R5 has shot up in price, but it has everything and more compared to other cases which have actually tried to take away features, then again cases will always be subjective and per user experience, power users tend to need the extra feature set.

The pretty cases tend to only work if you don't put a lot of hardware in it and start to use braided cables so you have to do some cable management which in all fairness is only to make things look pretty and doesn't affect airflow as much as people think it does, the physics behind it just doesn't work like that when you have intake fans and the fluid is being actively worked on.

[Fascinate]

I consider the R5 and Phanteks enthoo pro to be the best cases and both have optical drives.

Those both have dust issues, the problem with the enthoo pro series is detailed above and the R5 the optical drives are also completely unfiltered. Because there are no fans directly intaking air behind the optical its not horrible, but if you are running an air cooler or even the rear case fan to a lesser extent will pull unfiltered air in that area.

No case is perfect, but to me the H440 is as close as it gets. (top should be open with a full magnetic filter covering the top).

[Deleted]

Those both have dust issues, the problem with the enthoo pro series is detailed above and the R5 the optical drives are also completely unfiltered. Because there are no fans directly intaking air behind the optical its not horrible, but if you are running an air cooler or even the rear case fan to a lesser extent will pull unfiltered air in that area.

No case is perfect, but to me the H440 is as close as it gets. (top should be open with a full magnetic filter covering the top).

You are assuming air as a fluid when exerting positive pressure only flows in one direction, if the air is being fed by the intakes, this will generate positive pressure for the air cooler to feed on and work, it won't pull in air from the gaps its no where near and any vented areas will have air being pushed out due to the intakes.

Even Jayz2cents shows this off in one of his videos, when using positive pressure, all gaps showed air being vented out, this won't draw air in, positive pressure will fill the whole cavity, air flow in a case does not follow a linear flow from in to out, the aerodynamics of a case doesn't work like that....

https://youtu.be/a12aDCxrcts?t=458

[Fascinate]

You are assuming air as a fluid when exerting positive pressure only flows in one direction, if the air is being fed by the intakes, this will generate positive pressure for the air cooler to feed on and work, it won't pull in air from the gaps its no where near and any vented areas will have air being pushed out due to the intakes.

Even Jayz2cents shows this off in one of his videos, when using positive pressure, all gaps showed air being vented out, this won't draw air in, positive pressure will fill the whole cavity, air flow in a case does not follow a linear flow from in to out, the aerodynamics of a case doesn't work like that....

Pressure is no where near high enough in a case to have that kind of effect. The intake on the R5 is so open i guarantee dust gets in behind the optical drive covers, especially if you have a cooler design like the hyper 212. Go ahead and look closer at the gap behind the optical drive cover on the R5, and how free flowing the intake design is on the sides of the front panel.