First system, upgrading later, budget at max for now, advice ?

[Troy]

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
NZXT PHANTOM 240 WHITE GAMING CASE
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-PRO GAMER: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd 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 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy Rx
Wireless/Wired Networking
DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD
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 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 4 to 6 working days
Promotional Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Quantity
1

 

[keynes]

It is difficult to provide advice without knowing thebintended use. Is it for gaming? Planning tonoverclock your cpu? Adding a 2nd gpu? Gaming wih one monitor? 1920x1080 resolution?

 

[Troy]

Sorry for that post, im brand new here and to PCs too,. Its for gaming mostly, with a view to ultimately run 2 screens, overclocking a very real possibility and another graphics card too, to match or replace with higher spec eventually as in a 980 or whatever is new out at the time of upgrading, thnx

 

[keynes]

Overclocking won't bring any noticeable gains for gaming. If you wish to add a 2nd gpu I would consider a full tower case and upgrading the psu. You could also benefit from a caviar black as the secondary drive since it is faster than the standard drive.

 

[Troy]

I understand that (just !) thank you .... as it stands with this set up, at what detail can I expect with current bench marking games (as in frame rates and definition) thank you for your attention so far Keynes ...

 

[SlimCini]

Just google 970 benchmarks. That will tell you. Have you checked out the review Minerva for £999?

 

[Troy]

Yes matey I just have thnx, but my son has his heart set on that particular case and a friend suggested the internal components will mostly gaming in mind .... maybe you could tell me if I can achieve beyond 1080 with a suitable monitor ?? Ive noticed that a reply is reliant on a lot more detail before a complete answer can be given, but I could fine tune this even further if required based on the max budget of £1250ish

 

[SlimCini]

Yes matey I just have thnx, but my son has his heart set on that particular case and a friend suggested the internal components will mostly gaming in mind .... maybe you could tell me if I can achieve beyond 1080 with a suitable monitor ?? Ive noticed that a reply is reliant on a lot more detail before a complete answer can be given, but I could fine tune this even further if required based on the max budget of £1250ish

Does the £1250 max budget include a monitor? If not, then get a good 1440p monitor and then this would game much better than an i7/970 build:

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Case
NZXT PHANTOM 240 WHITE GAMING CASE
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, XFIRE/SLI
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd 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 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,251.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/HX20sxhyXg/

 

[Troy]

Budget is for tower only, no monitor etc, your answer has helped me a lot and to rethink how I can approach this better (although I have found another £100+ for it now) :rockon: thanx SlimCini


Stop press !! ...

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R5 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-PRO GAMER: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd 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 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD
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 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 4 to 6 working days
Promotional Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Quantity
1

My final adjustment ... budget at absolute max now for Tower only ... would appreciate an opinion, good or bad guys, thank you once again ...

 

[Troy]

The above system ordered today, thank you for the help ...... very much appreciated :surrender: cant bloody wait now !!!

 

[SlimCini]

Cav black hard drive and some Arctic thermal paste wouldn't go amiss. For gaming you don't need that speed ram so could save money there. I'd also abandon wireless and just get a pair of homeplugs.

That case is also not designed for gaming and you'll get poor cooling which isn't a good idea with a cpu unlocked for overclocking and a 980 gpu. I'd change the case.

 

[Troy]

Yeh had a chat with Ash at PCS today before I parted with the cash and we (and my mate) tend to generally agree on this spec. I hovered over the paste for a while (Budget beyond the wife now !!) As for connectivity, I have home plugs running off 75mgb to cover upstairs, shows a restriction at a max of 35mgb, I am in the process of hardwiring Cat6 cable down to homehub5 router, should get the full flow then. the wireless card is for my son to use the rig at his mates too, if I ever get him out of the house or im not on it .... muchos thnx again buddy for your wise words again ...

 

[SlimCini]

Fair enough. Still not convinced by that ram or the case. The ram will have no effect unless overclocking but at least won't have any disadvantages apart from cost. The case... Hmm... I wouldn't have a silent case for a gaming pc. Can't believe someone at pcs was recommending that? I thought your son wanted that white case anyway?!

 

[Troy]

To give Ash at PCS his due, he did explain some issues as to cost balanced with performance. Balanced with my only remaining money, that was the most long term cost effective view, for me that is. The case was my sons second choice after some deliberation between us (I prefer it tbh), as I am sure you will understand when children are involved and also cant see the true value of money yet !??!? ....
Ps ... As most eager, early gamers, I am regressing and I don't know who is more excited ... My Son at 12 or me at 47 ... :helpsmilie: