Looking for First Time Build Help

[DiscoPony]

I am a teenage gamer with a huge love for World of Warcraft and due to various reasons I am looking to buy a new computer. I have decided to go for a custom build but am not sure whether I am capable of building it myself.

I am from the UK and have provided the following details:

Budget - £1k-1.3k (ideally)
Resolution - 1080p
Games / Settings Desired - World of Warcraft Max settings, ideally very high fps in 25 man raids. The odd Steam game or FPS shooter, but never anything particularly taxing.
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc) Would like to eventually start a YouTube channel but I can't imagine it would be a very graphics or editing heavy set up
Country - UK
Parts that can be reused - N/A
Do you need an OS? - Win7 Preferable, open to using Win8
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? I have the standard peripherals such as dual monitors, mouse, keyboard, speakers, headset etc, but I think I will need a Wireless Card, Sound Card (?) and Optical Drive.

I don't really have much of an idea where to start, but I do know that aesthetics are quite important to me, so if it's possible could you let me know how difficult / expensive it would be to get cool (red?) lighting in a case like the NZXT Phantom 410?

As I said, I have never built a computer before but I'm a student with lots of time so I'm sure it wouldn't be that much of an issue. Budget is also fairly flexible as long as you don't go crazy but I can't imagine I'd need more than £1.2k or so.

Sorry if I've left out any details, feel free to ask away.
Many Thanks.

[Deleted]

I think this is a beast compared to what you many need to do, top end quality parts while being on the quiet side. Will run every game max settings, you can record/edit video, will handle whatever you throw at it. Went with NZXT H440 instead cause i felt with the Phantom 410 you would'nt have that big window to show off your rig, also the H440 is new model and alot better. All setup is black/red, also the aqua red led strip, added wifi adapter as you said and you don't need a sound card with this mobo. Optical drive in this case and many new ones isn't an option cause there is no bay for it. So you either buy an external one or have to go with another case to have the OD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£259.73 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 113.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£49.42 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£125.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.38 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£76.80 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£359.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT H440 (Red/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£89.99 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£83.93 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£79.61 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Intel 7260HMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£32.26 @ CCL Computers)
Other: BitFenix Alchemy Aqua 9x LED Strip 30 cm Red (£20.95)
Total: £1277.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

[DiscoPony]

Thanks a lot for the help!

I have a couple of questions.

Firstly, would a Corsair 600T White Graphite Case work? I can't link unfortunately but it's an ATX Mid Tower

If the system is a bit overkill, then will an i5-4690k processor be a bit more reasonable for me as I understand that i7 is only really useful for very heavy editing?

Lastly, are LEDs particularly hard to install? As expressed previously I'm a very novice builder so may find even simple things quite difficult to install on my first build.

[Deleted]

Yes the Corsair 600T is fine, the i5 as well. I just placed the i7 there cause you can afford it and its 500Mhz more than the i5. So alot more power in gaming too unless you buy the i5 and overclock it to 4.4GHz. Leds are very very easy to install, you just plug em to power like you would an hdd

[Deleted]

I've modified Kos' build for slightly more color-co-ordination:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£259.73 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£80.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£107.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.38 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£76.80 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card (£347.74 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: NZXT H440 (Red/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£89.99 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£83.93 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£79.61 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Intel 7260HMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£32.26 @ CCL Computers)
Other: BitFenix Alchemy Aqua 9x LED Strip 30 cm Red (£20.95)
Total: £1279.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Now, everything in there aside from the PSU and the storage drives should be red and black. A little more expensive, but that's because of the AIO liquid cooler.

[vaiix]

Yes the Corsair 600T is fine, the i5 as well. I just placed the i7 there cause you can afford it and its 500Mhz more than the i5. So alot more power in gaming too unless you buy the i5 and overclock it to 4.4GHz. Leds are very very easy to install, you just plug em to power like you would an hdd

I'm pretty sure the i5 performs better than the i7 in regards to gaming at better resolutions and graphics. The i7 only succeeds when you're at a higher fps point (200fps) so it's totally irrelevant. Claiming you gain "a lot more power in gaming" by choosing an i7 over an i5 is wrong. Save your money.

[Deleted]

No its not irrelevant. Untill the last gen it was, not anymore when the new i7 does give you that extra 500Mhz, no oveclocks and warranty. Its relevant because op wants the best he can get for wow, the reason the sticky asks for games/setting desired. If he was saying hey my main thing is dota, then that would be an entirely different thing. As i said the i5k in general is all you need for gaming when you overclock it. In this particular case i think he/she will benefit from the i7, probably won't even bother with overclocking, now whether that is worth the extra money its up to op, not us, his/her pocket and fits the budget given.

[vaiix]

No its not irrelevant. Untill the last gen it was, not anymore when the new i7 does give you that extra 500Mhz, no oveclocks and warranty. Its relevant because op wants the best he can get for wow, the reason the sticky asks for games/setting desired. If he was saying hey my main thing is dota, then that would be an entirely different thing. As i said the i5k in general is all you need for gaming when you overclock it. In this particular case i think he/she will benefit from the i7, probably won't even bother with overclocking, now whether that is worth the extra money its up to op, not us, his/her pocket and fits the budget given.

I'm probably coming across as an arse by arguing with you, and I apologise for de-railing the thread OP.

I asked for your help in another thread and hence figured I best go and read up on a lot of information before making a decision on components. Along my way I've realised that most people don't know what hyper threading is, and don't understand why spending extra money for an i7 over an i5 for a zero performance gain on games is a bad idea.

Your hyper threaded i7 won't make your games run better, hyper threading extremely efficient gaming threads I actually a really bad idea because you can't run 2 gaming threads on the same core.

Getting an i7 is a waste of money, regardless if he wants WoW to run better.

[Deleted]

Nobody talked about HT, i was reffering to pure power here. I am talking +500Mhz at stock which you might not even get with a bad i5k chip when you try overclocking. Even if there is a slight boost in performance there is no waste of money. Waste of money if up to op to decide, he/she can afford it. And lets be honest here, the average fella that asks for a pc build recommendation won't even try any occ above 4.0-4.1.

By your logic buying a TITAN gpu is of waste of money as well. Well the one's buying it....


edit: People come here and ask for rig recommendations according to the info given. So thats what i did, you don't have to agree with me, its all good. You are welcomed to propose your own build rec to op, noone's stopping you

[vaiix]

The true power (.5GHz) you're talking about actually makes naff all difference. He's going to see very little benefit, if at all (2-3fps) in certain situations. Hop off that i7 bandwagon you've boarded. The i5 4690k can easily be overclocked to 4.4GHz too, by the way.

[DiscoPony]

Hi guys.

I appreciate any discussion that people put forward.

I can't do any links so I hope this list works:

I am in the stage of finalising my list - is there anything that you would drastically advise against?

CPU Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core £157.99
CPU Cooler be quiet! Dark Rock 3 113.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing £47.99
Motherboard Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER ATX LGA1150 £125.96
Memory Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 £60.38
Storage Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" SSD £76.80
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM £38.70
Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB WINDFORCE £359.99
Case Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower £94.87
Power Supply Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V £83.93
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) £79.41
Wireless Network Adapter Intel 7260HMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 £32.26
Custom BitFenix Alchemy Aqua 9x LED Strip 30 cm Red £20.95

[Deleted]

Assuming that Corsair power supply is the RM650 you're good to go.

You may wanna look the white Corsair 500R again. I thought you wanted a red theme, this one has no window at all and has 3 white led fans, 2 at front and 1 big one on the side.

[DiscoPony]

Assuming that Corsair power supply is the RM650 you're good to go.

You may wanna look the Corsair 500R again. I thought you wanted a red theme, this one has no window at all and has 3 white led fans, 2 at front and 1 big one on the side.

Yeah it's the RM650.

I liked the look of the 500R on another build I saw, but I think you're right.

Is the NZXT case the best one to go for? Are there any good but fairly cheap external optical drives I could use if so?

Could you also let me know what cables I will need to purchase? So far on my "additionals" list I've got the BitFenix LEDs, an external drive, and Arctic Cooling MX-4 4g Thermal Compound

[Deleted]

For externals, you're paying a little more (around 30 bucks) for a good quality DVD-burner.