£800 ($1200) Budget Looking to build a gaming computer.

[Deleted]

Hello people!

First time poster in this sub-forum and little experience with building custom PCs but I've got friends who can help me with that. As stated in the topic my budget is 800 GBP (Currently equivalent to 1200 USD and providing this info for the people in the US that browse this forum as they are, from what I've seen, quite a few) but I am happy to go over that (up to 900 GBP) if that gets me a worthwhile amount of more bang for my buck. I am looking for your opinion and advice on parts. One thing to keep in mind is that I would like to be able to source the parts from Europe - preferably the UK or Bulgaria as this is where I am from).

I will be using this computer for playing WoW the overwhelming majority of the time (would like to be able to run smoothly on ultra settings 1920x1080 res), listening to music and watching movies sometimes all of these at the same time with occasinally running other games such as Assassin's Creed and maybe GTA V in the future (aiming for medium towards high graphics settings). As I am an engineering student I may occasionally need to do work on a CAD software, but that shouldn't be a hindrance to a gaming computer. I have been using a Dell Inspiron 7720 17R (specs: http://uk.pcmag.com/dell-inspiron-17...l-edition-7720) to do all of the above but occasional frame rate drops are starting to get to me.

So far these are the only parts that I've picked: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/TdRxQ7

I would prefer to get ASUS parts and an nVidia GPU because of personal experience and opinions I've heard but am very open to (rather looking for) criticism.

Another thing to note is I already own a monitor keyboard and mouse so I am strictly looking for PC parts and no peripherals.

Any help and opinion is greatly appreciated.

edit: I am not looking to do any Overclocking and do not think of going for SLI and should I want to upgrade I would go for a newer single card.

[Deleted]

For wow at 1080p and no overclocking i would suggest the following:
(the psu is a little too much for a 960 but its cheaper than the good 550w ones)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£233.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 87.0 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£13.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.95 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£172.74 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£56.81 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£63.31 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £878.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 11:58 BST+0100

[Deleted]

Thank you for the reply!

I have a few questions

Is there any specific reason you would go for the i7 over the i5 ? From what I've read the i7's power is not fully utilized with WoW anyway.

I don't think that I will need an HDD together with the SSD as I'm barely using 20% of my 1 TB drive currently and that's with me being too lazy to transfer downloads over to my external HDD.

Would you spend the difference of the above two components (~104 GBP) for a better graphics card such as an MSI or ASUS GTX970?

The 8 GB of ram is fine for me at the moment, but I may want to go for 16 GB in the future - should I go for an 1x8GB stick of ram now and add another one later on or a 4 x 4GB is fine?

[Deno]

For wow at 1080p and no overclocking i would suggest the following:
(the psu is a little too much for a 960 but its cheaper than the good 550w ones)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£233.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 87.0 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£13.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.95 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£172.74 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£56.81 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£63.31 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £878.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 11:58 BST+0100

Wouldn't it be better to go with a H97 motherboard with a 4790K cpu and stock fan if he won't overclock anyway? With saving money from these parts he can get a better gpu, hdd or anything he needs


@OP: go with 2x4, if you want to have 16gb later, just buy another kit. when you need 32 gb, you'll probably buy a new computer anyway

Improving the build you have in mind:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3YvtBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3YvtBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£110.24 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£274.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.98 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £833.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 12:17 BST+0100

Also, if you're never gonna overclock, buy a cheaper motherboard. I haven't changed 4690k to non-K because of the only 3€ difference:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PPwvkL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PPwvkL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£70.68 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£274.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.98 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £793.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 12:23 BST+0100

[Deleted]

@OP:
You said you don't want to get involved into overlocking, thus the i7. It has turbo at 4.4Ghz, cpu power is more important in wow that gpu. A gtx970 is wasted at 1080p@60hz and in a game like wow. Will have 0 difference compared to the gtx960. If you don't need storage drive just don't buy it and save the 40pounds.

@Deno:
First you say he would be better with a h97 then you propose an even more expensive mobo with an i5 unlocked cpu. So you need to make up your mind . He said no overcloking.

[Deleted]

If you want to play WoW, you want a CPU with highest possible Core-Clock, so you have to Overclock! I'd go with a i5-4690k or a i7-4790k and OC them to at least 4.5GHz. The i5 is probably the better Choice, because it saves you money you can spend on either a better GPU or a larger SSD.

[Deleted]

Wouldn't it be better to go with a H97 motherboard with a 4790K cpu and stock fan if he won't overclock anyway? With saving money from these parts he can get a better gpu, hdd or anything he needs


@OP: go with 2x4, if you want to have 16gb later, just buy another kit. when you need 32 gb, you'll probably buy a new computer anyway

Improving the build you have in mind:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3YvtBm
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3YvtBm/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£110.24 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£274.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.98 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £833.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-24 12:17 BST+0100

Also, if you're never gonna overclock..

Thank you for the suggested build! I really like this one mostly because the other ones you and Kostattoo suggested have a Gigabyte mobo. I've had a Gigabyte GT8600 years ago that flat out died just after its 3 year warranty expired - no artifacts, no warning signs... went straight to dying out on me. Seeing that the difference between the overclockable setup and the non-OC one is only 20 GBP I might as well take the OC one. Having in mind I don't upgrade my PC very often I might be able to get away with overclocking this setup in two years' time.

@Deno, @Kostattoo With no overclocking am I going to be okay with just the stock fans on the CPU and GPU? I also presume applying thermal paste myself when building the computer is self-explanatory.

@OP:
You said you don't want to get involved into overlocking, thus the i7. It has turbo at 4.4Ghz, cpu power is more important in wow that gpu. A gtx970 is wasted at 1080p@60hz and in a game like wow. Will have 0 difference compared to the gtx960. If you don't need storage drive just don't buy it and save the 40pounds.

@Deno:
First you say he would be better with a h97 then you propose an even more expensive mobo with an i5 unlocked cpu. So you need to make up your mind . He said no overcloking.

I struggled to find any benchmark results for recent CPUs. How great do you think the difference would be? As a note: All I expect out of the system is to not drop below 25-30 fps during raids. If the i5 can deliver on that I'd rather spend the money on a better graphics card.

[Deleted]

I don't know exactly how the i5 will be at stock. I got my cpu at 4.4, same as the i7 i proposed with a gtx770. I barely ever drop below 60fps (ultra with shadows to middle) during mythic raiding. That is because of the i5 being overclocked not because of the gpu. The gpu capped at 60fps, since no point going over without a 144hz monitor, gpu runs cool all the time. Thats the reason i told you if you want the best for wow and overclocking is a non go then i7 4790k+960 is better than i5 stock+970. A 960 will play almost all games at 1080p@60hz out there on max settings.

Another things to thing about. To get a decent cooler for overclock the i5 to 4.5Ghz would cost you like 40-50pounds. The difference between the i5 and the i7 is 60pounds. With the little cooler i got up there listed you could say the difference would be 20-30pounds. Totally worth it and you don't have to overclock but if you want to you will have the ability with the mobo i listed. The mobo i placed there is the best cheap Z97 mobo, has good sound and lan chip. The cheap h97 mobos don't have that and the ones that do come almost to the price of Z97s.

Another good choice, but you mentioned you want nvidia, is that you can fit the i7 with a R9 290 or maybe even a 290x.

Also i dunno some thing don't go together for me. Getting a very expensive cpu and/or gpu pairing it with a cheap 30pound case, eh...

[Deno]

@OP:
You said you don't want to get involved into overlocking, thus the i7. It has turbo at 4.4Ghz, cpu power is more important in wow that gpu. A gtx970 is wasted at 1080p@60hz and in a game like wow. Will have 0 difference compared to the gtx960. If you don't need storage drive just don't buy it and save the 40pounds.

@Deno:
First you say he would be better with a h97 then you propose an even more expensive mobo with an i5 unlocked cpu. So you need to make up your mind . He said no overcloking.

well, the mobo I picked is cheaper, the mobo OP picked is more expensive, I suggested that build because he picked those parts in his first post :

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Novatech) vs Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£70.68 @ Aria PC)

and if he wants more cpu power, he can go with the i7 but his first decision was with an i5, so I went with it. Also, I explained why I didn't go with 4690(non-K), because it's only 3€ more expensive, so whatever .

Combining our suggestions, drop the cooler, get an h97 mobo and if you want a better cpu, go with the i7 4790k, else you can go with a 4690k

@OP:

With no overclocking, you'll be fine with a stock cooler. even with 4690k non-OC'ed, I have no problems with running wow with 60+ fps while raiding so I think it's wiser to spend the extra money on gpu and get a gtx970. You can get better fps in other gpu-demanding games while having more than enough performance for WoW.

[Deleted]

With regards to OC, as I mentioned above I will consider it if the performance I experience starts to be unsatisfactory. This is why I will go for a Z97 mobo so that I have that option if it comes to that. With the little experience I have and from what you said I gather all it will take if I want to overclock is getting a CPU cooler and installing it. I have bookmarked all the suggested builds in here for future reference.

About the case - will that have any effect on cooling (air-flow through the case) or is it from an aesthetic point of view that you say a 30 pound case isn't a good match for the expensive components?