Need Mobo recommendation and review my build

[Deleted]

Hi,

Budget - max 1200
Resolution - higher the better
Games / Settings Desired - ultra on wow and next expansion (+60 FPS in raid), other games such as bf3 etc on high-ultra with good FPS
Country uk
Parts that can be reused -none
Do you need an OS- yes
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc) -yes all
Misc - I am looking to run 2 monitors, one for gaming with above criteria, one for browsing web and YouTube at the same time



Please can someone smart review my picks and see if they make sense together for what I want to achieve

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£168.94 AmazoK)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£65.84 Scan)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£63.29 CCL Computers)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£65.4 Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£44.80 CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£177.99 Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case (£65.83 CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£48.02 AmazoUK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£13.18 )
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.99 Dabs)
Monitor: LG 24EA53V-P 23.8" Monitor (£130.49 AmazUK)
Speakers: Logitech Z323 30W 2.1ch Speakers (£41.32 Dabs)
Total: £955.09
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 18:10 GMT+0000)


I am a bit of a noob so need some help with specifics so I have some questions to ask

1. I know little in terms of mobo choice so basically I have picked a cheap one. I cannot really tell the difference between them. I need my kobo to be sli capable for the future, so is it? Anything else I should be careful of??

2.Monitor!!!!!!!! I am really struggling with this trying to keep cost low but not buying something useless. I need 2 of them the one I've picked I am not certain of. I am looking for 5ms or below but have heard some say I need a high hertz

3. Also I have heard an amd set might be cheaper. Is this a good idea or not?


Thanks for taking the time to read my post

[Deleted]

This is what I think you should get but I'm aware I'm going over budget slightly, I will comment below why:

Build 1

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£168.94 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Enermax ETS-T40-TB 86.7 CFM CPU Cooler (£28.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£94.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Avexir MPOWER Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£53.90 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£65.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£227.46 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£78.96 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.50 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£69.32 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor (£187.74 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2370Smh-LED 23.0" Monitor (£129.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1192.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 21:32 GMT+0000)

If you're going to SLI/CF at some point you need a better PSU so that's going cost more as you can see.

The difference between the GTX 760 and R9 280X is only ~£30 but the 280X is a much better card.

You should definitely pick IPS monitors and honestly the only one within the price range worth really mention in my opinion is the Asus one in the build but unfortunately cost a little more, well worth it though.

Speakers, any chance you could wait a month or two buying these to get better PC performance?

Yeah, this case doesn't have a window but leave money for something better performance wise.

Are you really sure you're going to want to SLI/CF? It's much better have a single powerful card which you can replace later one for a new powerful card. If you skip the SLI/CF you can save money on the PSU and motherboard and you can still get the nice monitor and your speakers:

Build 2

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£168.94 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Enermax ETS-T40-TB 86.7 CFM CPU Cooler (£28.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£65.84 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Avexir MPOWER Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£53.90 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£65.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£227.46 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£48.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.50 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£69.32 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor (£187.74 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2370Smh-LED 23.0" Monitor (£129.98 @ Amazon UK)
Speakers: Logitech Z323 30W 2.1ch Speakers (£41.32 @ Dabs)
Total: £1175.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 21:43 GMT+0000)

Lastly 2 of the cheaper IPS monitors but the bigger PSU+MB:

Build 3

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£168.94 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Enermax ETS-T40-TB 86.7 CFM CPU Cooler (£28.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£94.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Avexir MPOWER Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£53.90 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£65.40 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£227.46 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£78.96 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£12.50 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£69.32 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2370Smh-LED 23.0" Monitor (£129.98 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2370Smh-LED 23.0" Monitor (£129.98 @ Amazon UK)
Speakers: Logitech Z323 30W 2.1ch Speakers (£41.32 @ Dabs)
Total: £1176.40
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 21:46 GMT+0000)

Just an FYI, no hardware will run WoW on full ultra 25 man raid at 60+ FPS during boss fights but this will get you as close as possible.

[Deleted]

Wow thanks for the comprehensive post, you had clearly taken sone time to make this post. Very thankful.

I like your build 2 since I was just under the impression that it's a natural progression theses days yo move from single to sli inorder yo increase longevity and make the most if what you got but swapping cards in the future is fine with me.

A few was about the build if it's ok,

Is the r9 280x similar to a gtx 770? Ignoring my limit, which is best bang for buck type of scenario?

Also if you happen to know, what would be an equivalent AMD CPU to the 4670k? Is it worth considering?

Finally, are the stock CPU coolers no good?

Cheers

[Deleted]

Also if you happen to know, what would be an equivalent AMD CPU to the 4670k? Is it worth considering?

None worth mentioning no.

Finally, are the stock CPU coolers no good?

Short answer is no. Long answer is no but they will cool the CPU just don't expect any sorts of overclocking, performance setting etc. Haswell tends to run a little hot.

Is the r9 280x similar to a gtx 770? Ignoring my limit, which is best bang for buck type of scenario?

They trade blows pretty much. The AMD has more vRAM which could come in handy in a few rare scenarios with high detail textures and mods etc. GTX 770 is better if you plan on doing recording and streaming via Shadowplay. Usually go with the one that's cheapest and fit the needs, in this case that was the R9 280X and it supports the upcoming Mantle with BF4, though it's still not 100% how the performance will be.