Budget Gaming Midi tower Build! £730 suggestions!

[MayronWoW]

Hi, I am trying to plan components I will need for a Midi Tower Gaming PC that would cost me below £730. I can go over if seriously needed but I would rather not. I want to be able to play all games on high to ultra and I do use software such as Photoshop and video editing software. I need at least 1 USB 3.0 port at the front and do not plan on buying a second graphics card. I have never ever done Over Clocking before so I hope I have picked a good case and CPU fan to handle it.

I do not need an Operating System as I have a SSD with it already installed on! I still need another storage drive to run steam games on (I have a lot of steam games so the SSD is not big enough). The case I have selected has many fantastic reviews and has everything I need so I do not think I will want to change it unless you give me a very good reason. I was thinking about the fractal designs but I don't think the minimalism style is for me so there is no need to mention that. The graphics card looks interesting but not heard of a Viper-X so unsure how much difference it is compared with a standard 7950 or even the GTX 660Ti. Also I have never ordered from pixmania before so I am unsure about that card. I just linked it because I saw others on this forum interested in it

This is my current list:

CPU: Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K - £167
Ideal CPU:Intel 3rd Generation Core i7-3770K - £252.49

MoBo: ASRock Z75 Pro3 Motherboard - £67.00

RAM: Corsair 16GB 1600MHz CL10 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Kit - £101.67

Storage: Western Digital 1TB - Caviar Black(3.5 inch) - £66.69

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 Titanium Pearl + Windowed - £92.81

Video Card: EVGA NVIDIA GTX 660Ti FTW Signature Edition 2GB - £ 246.50

PSU: 550W XFX Pro Core Edition 80PLUS Bronze - £48.17

Optical Driver: Samsung dvd-burner sata sh-bulk s222bb - £15.95

Total = £891.28

Thanks for reading or helping!

[yurano]

Go Z77.

Don't bother with 2133 RAM, get 1600.

Slightly expensive case.

[MayronWoW]

Go Z77.

Don't bother with 2133 RAM, get 1600.

Slightly expensive case.

Okay thanks for the answer. I didn't know whether the faster RAM would be better or not but apparently it makes near to no difference what so ever so I picked this instead:

Patriot PVI38G186C9K 8GB (2x 4GB)

Also the case has a fantastic review and has everything I need which suits me perfectly.

[Deleted]

Your total is ~£750 not £697 unless you're getting something cheaper than what you're listing. I have the following tweaks/suggestions:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£166.79 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£66.95 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£55.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card (£207.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£76.79 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£47.68 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (£13.26 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £705.43
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-28 13:46 GMT+0000)

If not the Fractal case I'd recommend the Corsair 400R

7870XT performance is only slightly behind 7950 (5-10%).

[MayronWoW]

That is a nice build list you have there but I have a few questions.

I am not too bothered about the minimalistic style that the fractal cases have an was very happy with my case choice especially after reading the review from Bit-tech. The Corsair 400R is slightly more expensive and instead of having another USB 2.0 (which would be useful for me) it has a firewire port which I do not need so was wondering how it was a better choice.

Also I don't understand how the ASROCK Z75 is a better choice. And the RAM is much more expensive compared with this one which I was thinking of swapping my original choice for: Patriot PVI38G186C9K 8GB (2x 4GB)

Thank you though, the graphics card you mentioned is so much cheaper. Would that be a better choice than a GTX 660Ti?


EDIT: Also your optical drive I had a look at before but if you actually click on the Amazon link then you see that it is actually £17. I guess PCPartPicker is out of date

[Deleted]

Just stick with your case choice then. The Fractal and Corsair case is better quality overall, better cable management as well but honestly you'll be fine with your choice and if that's what you like then go for it.

Main reason I picked the RAM I did is that it's low profile which makes it fit with your CPU heatsink for sure. It's possible the Patriot might not fit but I don't know for certain.

Z68 is an older generation motherboard. Going with a Z75/Z77 makes more sense with an i5-3570k and you're sure no BIOS/UEFI update is needed.

Edit: RAM, It's partpicker again... they were listed for £45 but they're actually £56 I didn't know that when i linked it.

[MayronWoW]

oh okay thank you for clearing that up with me. It was just because I noticed that the one I picked had 4 SATA 6b/s and the ASRock has only 2 and I have 3 drives (1 SSD and 2 HDD with the one I am buying). I forgot to check about the RAM, I must have linked the wrong one as I was sure I found a low profile one but now I cannot re-find it so yes I will go for the one you suggested

[Deleted]

Only SSD's benefit from SATA III so unless you plan on adding more than two SSD's to your system (unlikely?) then you're fine.

These RAM don't look like much but they just like any other RAM:

Kingston 8GB 1333MHz £34.38

Otherwise:

Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600MHz £48.54

Just look around you might be able to find some cheaper.

Edit: here we go... Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3 1600MHz £42.43

[MayronWoW]

Okay that is good to hear. I also found this low profile ram which is only £35: Corsair (CML8GX3M1A1600C9) Vengeance Low Profile 8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz CL 9 Performance Desktop Memory Black not sure why its so cheap, must be something wrong with it ^^

If I buy cheaper RAM and the case that is £10 cheaper couldn't I get the original graphics card in my list and still be in my budget? Would you recommend that?
Thank you again for your help, I appreciate it!


EDIT: Just seen your edit and will go with the last link you posted

[Deleted]

That one RAM stick (1x8GB) that's why it's cheaper, check the ones I linked/edited in for £42.43. I would just stick with the 7870XT but hey if you have extra by all means get the 7950, maybe it'll last you slightly longer in the long run.

[Xecks]

you might have to reinstall windows if youre getting a new mobo and chipset.

[MayronWoW]

Well I am no expert with graphic cards so if you think its worth just down grading slightly to that one you recommended then I will trust you. As long as its going to be better than my old GTX 560Ti which I had to sell to my brother then that is great to hear

And to Xecks, I did not know that but I still have the disk so that should be fine. Is a bit of a pain I must admit but oh well. If it needs to be done I have no choice. Just not looking forward to re-installing everything :/ Just last time I did a OS re-install, half my games decided not to work so had to restart them all.

[Deleted]

Performance comparison: 7950 vs 560ti (7870XT would be slightly behind that)

Sapphire 7870XT review

[MayronWoW]

How on earth is the 560Ti better. I was told through other forums and by friends that SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 7950 Vapor-X- 3 was better than the GTX 660Ti and according to the NVIDIA preformance website page the 660Ti is much better than the 560Ti. So this has really confused me.

Also the 560Ti is much cheaper than the SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 7950 Vapor-X- 3 by up to £40 difference or more :S


Have I misread the website you linked or something? Is high bad? ^^

EDIT: videocardbenchmark.net says that the GTX 660Ti is the best performance card out of the below 4 but the site you linked me, anandtech.com says that the GTX 660Ti and the GTX 560Ti are identical. I am very confused :/

Now I am not sure which would be the best card to buy out of these 4:

GTX 660Ti
GTX 560Ti
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Vapor-X- 3
Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£166.79 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£84.49 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£44.78 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£68.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (£216.98 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.57 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Fractal Design Integra R2 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£46.95 @ Ebuyer)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (£13.26 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £714.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-28 16:25 GMT+0000)

I chose the 2133MHz memory because of the costing, and that should run anything, provided you already have an OS. IF you don't, you can get the £172 7870XT and use the savings to buy the OS.

[Deleted]

videocardbenchmark.net is a horrible website/benchmark and useless.

How on earth is the 560Ti better.

Where do you see this?

The link I provided you the 7950 has better performance in pretty much every single test. Stick with either of the AMD cards, you decide if the extra cost is worth the +5-10% performance.

---------- Post added 2013-03-28 at 05:32 PM ----------

<SNIP>

I get the feeling you haven't read the whole thread.

[Deleted]

Oh! And by the way, there's a 2TB Barracuda for slightly less than the Caviar Black in my build.

[Deleted]

Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT

I completely forgot about this one:

Club 3D 2GB AMD HD7870 Joker Graphics Card £171.62

Even cheaper and still great performance. Personally I do like the Sapphire card more but there is a ~£30 difference.

[n0cturnal]

I am not too bothered about the minimalistic style that the fractal cases have an was very happy with my case choice especially after reading the review from Bit-tech. The Corsair 400R is slightly more expensive and instead of having another USB 2.0 (which would be useful for me) it has a firewire port which I do not need so was wondering how it was a better choice.

Keep in mind that this review is 3 years old and the case design has come a long way since. Why do you need more than 2 USB ports in the front?

[MayronWoW]

Where do you see this?

lol my mistake I read the graph wrong. I looked at the two graphic card names with the bars underneath under the Bench Results title and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 822MHz/1644MHz/4.008GHz 1GB GDDR5 was higher so I misread all the tests below some how lol terrible error on my part. Nearly had a heart attack!

---------- Post added 2013-03-28 at 04:50 PM ----------

Why do you need more than 2 USB ports in the front?

Because I use 1 memory stick and 1 External HHD for college/ university work and the other for listening to music on my headset. Sometimes I use other devices such as my iPhone charger wire or a tablet as well so I need at least 3. 2 would drive me mad.