£745 Gaming PC

[Atuleon]

Hi,

Is there anyway I can shave £20-£50 off the below build without loosing out on lot's of performance. I need a monitor, mouse and keyboard. My budget is £700.00, and the quote below is currently for £745.00. For example, I was thinking of maybe changing the HDD to a Seagate, instead of Caviar Black, or going for a cheaper case? Open to suggestions, as long as they don't noticeably effect the performance.


BUDGET: £700.00
CURRENT QUOTE: £745
USE: For playing games such as "Feed the Beast - Direwolf20", which is very processor and RAM heavy, and then the standard: Skyrim, Assasins Creed, MMORPGs, FPS, RTStrategy, etc


Case
PCS DOMINATOR 6806B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4460 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Monitor
ASUS VE228TR 21.5" LED DISPLAY, D-Sub, DVI-D
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS S300 USB MEDIA KEYBOARD
Mouse
PCS S300 USB OPTICAL MOUSE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Atuleon]

Hi,

Can anyone give any tips on how to improve this for the same price, or reduce the cost? We are looking to order tomorrow, but would really be thankful for any feedback, good or bad. Thanks in advance.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

Pretty much what I'd choose, although I wouldn't get the absolute cheapest keyboard and mouse there is when it's being used for gaming.

Here's an intel build that's slightly cheaper:

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4460 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Case PCS DOMINATOR 6806B BLACK CASE
Motherboard ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB) Fine for the games you mention, although heavily modded minecraft with a good texture pack can need 16GB, such as FTB Infinity with Sphax x128
Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ R9 270X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable Nearly on par with the 960, if you can afford the 960 then go with it, it'll be a lot cooler and quieter
2nd Graphics Card NONE
1st Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm) Could get the standard 1TB HDD, but i'd advise against it, it'll be slower at booting etc
2nd Hard Disk NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor ASUS VE228TR 21.5" LED DISPLAY, D-Sub, DVI-D
2nd Monitor NONE
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity Adapter / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse LOGITECH® K120 USB KEYBOARD
Mouse LOGITECH® OPTICAL USB MOUSE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Cable Tidy NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £606.67
Price £728.00


And an AMD build:

Processor (CPU) AMD FX-6300 Six Core CPU (3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+) Worse CPU
Case PCS DOMINATOR 6806B BLACK CASE
Motherboard Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AM3+ (ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card NONE
3rd Graphics Card NONE
1st Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
3rd Hard Disk NONE
4th Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Extra Case Fans NONE
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Fan Controller NONE
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor ASUS VE228TR 21.5" LED DISPLAY, D-Sub, DVI-D
2nd Monitor NONE
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity Adapter / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse CM Storm Devastator Keyboard and Mouse
Mouse NONE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Cable Tidy NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £603.33
Price £724.00 Only £4 cheaper, not really worth it

Out of the two i'd choose the Intel build, but consider spending the extra on the 960, it'll be worth it

 

[SpyderTracks]

I would go by GeorgeHillier's advice on this, I'm not so good with configurations, I'm sure he'll lead you right.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

Also, forgot to add, I've had seagate drives before and had no problem with them, but yet again it's only a £4 saving, considering that WD drives have a much lower failure rate and will perform better I would stick with the WD HDD.

 

[Atuleon]

Thanks so much George/Spyder, I agree with your advice to spend the extra £7 and go with the spec in my post. I will go for the 2TB Seagate instead of the 1TB Caviar Black, as they have the same stats, and the double storage will be ace. Thanks bud.

 

[Atuleon]

PCI-E 1.0 x16

Hi,

I just noticed that the motherboard only had "PCI-E 1.0 x16". Would it be better to downgrade the CPU and GPU but get a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot on the motherboard?

Kind regards,
Stu.

 

[Atuleon]

Hi, we want to place the order today, so it is picked up by PCSpecialist, first thing tomorrow morning. Is anyone able to advise on the below:


Is a GTX960 in a PCI-E 1.0 x16 slot bottlenecked much, (I hear just a couple of percent)? Which would be the better option out of the below

OPTION 1 (PCI-E 2.00 x16)
GTX960 in PCI-E 2.00 x16 and AMD FX-6300 Six Core CPU (3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)

OPTION 2 (PCI-E 1.00 x16)
GTX960 in PCI-E 1.00 x16 and Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4460 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache

 

[Atuleon]

Any specialist able to advise please? Need help.

Unfortunately, we can't spend any more on the machine. Thanks, I am not sure which would be best:
- PCi-E 2.0 x16 slot with R9 270X & i5
- PCi-E 1.0 x16 slot with GTX960 & i5

 

[keynes]

it would be better to stick to one thread. I am afraid I haven't seen benchmarks for the PCI 1.0 performance but the best gpu is the GTX 960. If you are concern then you need to compromise in the cpu and get an AMD cpu.

 

[Atuleon]

Thanks - We are ordering it today, so just trying to tie down any bottlenecks. Cheers Keynes.

If anyone else knows anything about PCI-E slots, please advise. Thanks very much! ^^

 

[GeorgeHillier]

From what i've read it should be fine with the 1.0 slot. It may be affected by 5% max, but nothing major. I would stick with the i5 and 960 personally

 

[Atuleon]

Final Thoughts?

Hi Sejhop - unless anyone objects - order one of the below.
OPTION 3 is the best by far. Then it's a hard choice between OPTION 2 and OPTION 1. Personally I would go for OPTION 2 over OPTION 1.


OPTION 1 - £716.00
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-6350 Six Core CPU (4.2/3.9GHZ - 8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Case
PCS DOMINATOR 6806B BLACK CASE
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 LE R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
ASUS VE228TR 21.5" LED DISPLAY, D-Sub, DVI-D
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

OPTION 2 - £749.00
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4460 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Case
PCS DOMINATOR 6806B BLACK CASE
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ R9 270X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
1st Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
ASUS VE228TR 21.5" LED DISPLAY, D-Sub, DVI-D
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

OPTION 3 - £777.00 (Exactly the same as 'OPTION 2' but with the better graphics card):
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
You should get a free copy of "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt", which is worth £40.00 - so it's good value to go for option 3 instead of 2 if you were going to buy this game anyway.. and you're basically getting a free upgrade of your graphics card. Just phone PCSpecialist to confirm before you order.