Question for PC enthusiasts

[Dark Drakan]

Case: Personally, I prefer Corsair cases to Coolermasters', but you can't really go wrong wither way. I'd certainly consider going for the slightly cheaper Corsair Carbide 300R over the Storm Scout II, though. But that's just me.

Will definitely look into that, case is one part that was merely a placeholder as it was only suggestion I had received

CPU: Both great, but I'd go for the 4790K in a heartbeat as it's only a tenner or so dearer than the 4770K. But if you want to save a heckuva lot of money and sacrifice minimal performance, buy a last gen CPU and save, like, £100 or so.

I will see what overall cost is and see what sort of wiggle room I have within my budget. CPU and GPU are parts that I want to get as much as I can for the money. Reason I opted for the 4790k was that it wasnt much more expensive than the 4770k.

GPU: I prefer Nvidia cards, but AMD ones tend to be quite a lot cheaper and offer similar performance. I'd begrudgingly go for the 280X in this case, but save some cash and go for the XFX model. There's a chance it might come down in price even more soon, as I bought one about a week ago for £190. If money is no issue, go for the GTX 780, but the GTX 770 will offer you slightly weaker performance for around £100-£150 less. Also, I'll say this for AMD's modern Catalyst Control Center software: it's bloated as frig.

I have had less issues with nVidia cards over the years so I am more inclined towards them even though the prices are a sore point. Im waiting on the GTX 800 series reveal and if the rumoured price is actually true so going to hold off as long as I can on picking a GPU.

RAM: Prefer Corsair RAM, but for plain gaming it shouldn't be an issue. I would consider opting for RAM with lower (read: better) latency speeds if you intend to muck about with video editing and or multi-task with a billion programs running at once.

I dont tend to have loads of programs running at once and cant say I have ever edited any videos as of yet. Would mainly be gaming I do on it and that would be the most taxing process I would use it for on a regular basis. Doesnt seem to be THAT much is the price though Scott suggested a brand that was £30+ cheaper for 8GB and could actually get 16GB for less than £11 more than the 8GB of brand I listed above all savings add up in the end.

PSU: Looks good. Bit pricey, though. My older generation Corsair AX1200 cost the exact same amount (£99.99 as of this post), but that'll likely because my PSU is only certified 'Gold' and not 'Gold Plus' like the one you have in mind. This is another instance where going 'last gen' could save you 30 or so notes. To be honest, the only reason I went for the AX1200 was because I at one time wanted to go for either a Tri-SLi or triple CrossFireX set-up, something which a RM850 couldn't handle, but thankfully I came to my senses.

Had 2 power supplies die on me in the past and one that just wasnt up to task so want to make sure I get it right this time and opt for a reputable brand with decent performance.

HDD: Which model? Unless it's been superseded since building my last PC, WD's 'Black' range was their cream of the crop, and 'Green' was their, well, 'greener' offering which lacked in performance but didn't consume as much power. I've used both Black and Green WD HDDs in the past (two WD Blacks, now that I think about it) and had one fail in less than a year. I lost a lot of friggin' data and I was not happy. Backup frequently was the harsh lesson I learned from that experience. Samsung Spinpoints are a great alternative; I've had 3 of those bad boys and one is still going strong in Angel's computer - after 6 years or so.

The one Aaron recommended was the WD1003FZEX Caviar Black but im definately no expert with HDD's as I have always had the ones that came with my systems and never had one fail (yet). My old one is still going in my 9 year old rig.

SSD: I love Crucial SSDs. I've had 2 Crucials (one 128GB and one 256GB) and 1 Kingston (can't remember the model number but it's in use in Sharon's computer now) and all were fantastic, but after Crucial released a firmware update last year, they rocketed up in speed. It was a really big thing in hardware coverage circles. The SSD you're looking at is the model up from mine, and I would imagine that it'll be great. SSDs are also so much more affordable now!

Again not an area im well versed in as they didnt really exist when I was playing around with PC's (showing age now). Prices are getting better by the week and im going to have to go purely on recommnedations on this as I have no clue.

OS: I prefer Windows 7, but would really encourage you opt for Windows 8, even though it is a bit of a muddled OS. Prices between the two are very similar, but Windows 8 is supposedly improved in most areas and will obviously be supported for longer.

Just my two pennies!

Original thought was Windows 8 as I always try to go for latest for that reason and best security updates too.

Cheers for all the suggestions and everything will be taken into account too, just keep updating my notes everyday. :laugh:

Anyone have any monitor recommendations? Saw some nice 26 inch ones for decent prices.

 

[Dark Drakan]

So I bit the bullet and ordered some parts and so far the parts I have in my hand are:

Case: Corsair Carbide 200R just wanted cheap durable case (plus it had extra fan mount location compared to 300R and its slightly longer & taller)
PSU: Corsair RM850
DVD Drive: LG 24x DVD Burner
SSD: Crucial CT120M500SSD1 120GB M500 SATA

Ordering the Motherboard next and that shall be the Asus Maximus VII HERO and the processor which is the Intel Core i7-4790K.

 

[Pale Rider]

I didn't read all of the post, so apologies in advance.
Here are my thoughts;

Processor: If you're going to use it mostly for gaming, there's very little need for an i7, Core i5 will serve you very well. If you're video editing and stuff, that i7 is a beast.

Motherboard: The motherboard you selected is awesome, but you may wanna have a look at ASRock Z97 Extreme 6. It's cheaper and equally good.

RAM: Any 1600Mhz, preferably 8gb. More if you're into editing etc.

Since following are my suggestions on your already ordered item, you may skip it if you want

Case: I've always had an entirely different suggestion on this. Buy any cheap case that has one or two spaces for side fans and one for the exhaust, then buy fans separately. It's gonna cost around 20-30$ and provide better cooling. Yes, I'm not brand conscious when it comes to cases.

PSU: That could be an overkill depending upon your graphics card.

SSD: This is rather a case of convenience than usage. Foster booting time (3-4seconds instead 9-15seconds), lesser waiting time during loading games etc. Price and performance isn't balanced.

I'm sorry that I come across as cheap (although, I prefer the term price-sensitive) but hey, I'm a student and money doesn't come easily.

Last thing, are you not going to buy a graphics card?

 

[Dark Drakan]

I didn't read all of the post, so apologies in advance.
Here are my thoughts;

Processor: If you're going to use it mostly for gaming, there's very little need for an i7, Core i5 will serve you very well. If you're video editing and stuff, that i7 is a beast.

Motherboard: The motherboard you selected is awesome, but you may wanna have a look at ASRock Z97 Extreme 6. It's cheaper and equally good.

RAM: Any 1600Mhz, preferably 8gb. More if you're into editing etc.

Since following are my suggestions on your already ordered item, you may skip it if you want

Case: I've always had an entirely different suggestion on this. Buy any cheap case that has one or two spaces for side fans and one for the exhaust, then buy fans separately. It's gonna cost around 20-30$ and provide better cooling. Yes, I'm not brand conscious when it comes to cases.

PSU: That could be an overkill depending upon your graphics card.

SSD: This is rather a case of convenience than usage. Foster booting time (3-4seconds instead 9-15seconds), lesser waiting time during loading games etc. Price and performance isn't balanced.

I'm sorry that I come across as cheap (although, I prefer the term price-sensitive) but hey, I'm a student and money doesn't come easily.

Last thing, are you not going to buy a graphics card?

I'm going for a decent gaming rig that's going to last a while so that's why I opted for the i7 4790k & the SSD is just going to have windows & the odd game here & there on it. The case was only about £44 anyway & was the cheap option. Wanted a decent powered PSU incase I decide to SLI my GPUs in future. GPU isn't noted as haven't decided on one yet with the new reveals from nVidia & AMD around the corner & the likely price drops of older ranges. Haven't decided on RAM brand yet either as there are sales on all the time. Likely going for 8GB for now though as I don't do any video editing.

 

[Pale Rider]

I'm going for a decent gaming rig that's going to last a while so that's why I opted for the i7 4790k & the SSD is just going to have windows & the odd game here & there on it. The case was only about £44 anyway & was the cheap option. Wanted a decent powered PSU incase I decide to SLI my GPUs in future. GPU isn't noted as haven't decided on one yet with the new reveals from nVidia & AMD around the corner & the likely price drops of older ranges. Haven't decided on RAM brand yet either as there are sales on all the time. Likely going for 8GB for now though as I don't do any video editing.

Core i5-4690K is one beast of a processor too and it is as future proof as it can get. Saving the money on processor can give you like 100-120$ extra which can be invested into your graphics card with better returns, but if money ain't your problem, i7 is untouchable. I don't know but if your decision to buy i7 is because of the new generation of consoles have 8 cores CPU, then let me tell you, those 8-core CPU are still weaker to this and last gens Core-i5s.

RAM is still what I said earlier, buy any branded DDR3 1600MHz and it'll serve you good. 8GB is enough for gsmes.

GPU: I also been reading rumors about next batch of cards coming soon, so, if you can wait, just WAIT.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Core i5-4690K is one beast of a processor too and it is as future proof as it can get. Saving the money on processor can give you like 100-120$ extra which can be invested into your graphics card with better returns, but if money ain't your problem, i7 is untouchable. I don't know but if your decision to buy i7 is because of the new generation of consoles have 8 cores CPU, then let me tell you, those 8-core CPU are still weaker to this and last gens Core-i5s.

RAM is still what I said earlier, buy any branded DDR3 1600MHz and it'll serve you good. 8GB is enough for gsmes.

GPU: I also been reading rumors about next batch of cards coming soon, so, if you can wait, just WAIT.

It was either the 4690K or the one below I was going for but price difference between them wasnt great so thought I might as well opt for that one. I heard AMD and nVidia have new cards around the corner so im biding my time until they are announced to see if there are any price drops for the Radeon R90x or the Geforce 780Ti anytime soon.

 

[Dark Drakan]

I have ordered my RAM (Hyper X Fury Black 8GB) and my HD (Western Digital 1TB Black). Will order my motherboard either tomorrow or early next week and then follow that with my CPU or GPU. I have decided on an nVidia EVGA GTX970 for my GPU and just waiting until it comes in stock at Amazon or my local retailer (Overclockers UK). So far I have my Case, SSD, DVD Drive and PSU with the RAM and HD being delivered today so not too many parts left before I can get back online full time instead of only being able to browse at work (like now) or on my phone when im at home.

Final Specs will be

Case: Corsair Carbide 200R
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero
PSU: Corsair RM850 Plus Gold
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K (Quad Core 4Ghz)
GPU: nVidia EVGA GTX 970 (4GB) (Plan to SLI it down the line too)
RAM: Hyper X Fury Black (8GB)
SSD: Crucial CT120M500SSD1 120GB
HD: Western Digital 1TB
Optical Drive: LG 24X DVD Burner
Windows: 8.1

Havent decided on monitor as of yet.

 

[Maxman]

I have ordered my RAM (Hyper X Fury Black 8GB) and my HD (Western Digital 1TB Black). Will order my motherboard either tomorrow or early next week and then follow that with my CPU or GPU. I have decided on an nVidia EVGA GTX970 for my GPU and just waiting until it comes in stock at Amazon or my local retailer (Overclockers UK). So far I have my Case, SSD, DVD Drive and PSU with the RAM and HD being delivered today so not too many parts left before I can get back online full time instead of only being able to browse at work (like now) or on my phone when im at home.

Final Specs will be

Case: Corsair Carbide 200R
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero
PSU: Corsair RM850 Plus Gold
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K (Quad Core 4Ghz)
GPU: nVidia EVGA GTX 970 (4GB) (Plan to SLI it down the line too)
RAM: Hyper X Fury Black (8GB)
SSD: Crucial CT120M500SSD1 120GB
HD: Western Digital 1TB
Optical Drive: LG 24X DVD Burner
Windows: 8.1

Havent decided on monitor as of yet.

Holy ****, those are some impressive Specs :O

Are you building a Nuclear PC ? O_O

*aliens come down to earth*

*aliens see Dark Drakan's Final PC SPECS*

Alien : Son of a bitch, and we thought our Tech was more advanced, well ****, dunno about you guys, but am outta here

*goes back to ship and, takes off from the earth in full acceleration *

 

[Dark Drakan]

Holy ****, those are some impressive Specs :O

Are you building a Nuclear PC ? O_O

*aliens come down to earth*

*aliens see Dark Drakan's Final PC SPECS*

Alien : Son of a bitch, and we thought our Tech was more advanced, well ****, dunno about you guys, but am outta here

*goes back to ship and, takes off from the earth in full acceleration *

Was actually a step down from my original specs as I wanted a more realistic budget. Case was just a budget case, can add more HD's in future & maybe a larger SSD & can upgrade RAM, Add CPU cooler & overclock CPU & add another GPU & another monitor down the line too.

 

[Dark Drakan]

I had hit a cash flow problem over last few months with Christmas sneaking up on me and I ran out of money. However there are some decent deals on at moment and with Jan sales around the corner so hoping to save some cash on some components I still have to purchase. Im going to try and make as much extra cash as I can in the next few weeks with wages/overtime and selling things I no longer need to get my last parts purchased as soon as possible.

Parts I have left to purchase are:

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K
GPU: nVidia EVGA GTX 970 (Heard EVGA are bringing new model out in Jan)
Windows (8.1 maybe)
Monitor (yet to decide on)

I have a spare keyboard and mouse I can use but will purchase better ones a little later down the line.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Finally been a little more progress on my build and ordered myself an Asus Maximus VII Hero Motherboard which should arrive in next few days. Only CPU/GPU/Windows and Monitor left to purchase now and im ready to go.

 

[Dark Drakan]

This will be the final specs of my rig after some alterations (thanks to @Steve Powell) to save some cash and still get best bang for buck I can, parts in red I still have to purchase (though will get another 8GB RAM down the line too & another HD)... Monitor is still undecided however...

Case: Corsair Carbide 200R
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero
PSU: Corsair RM850 Plus Gold
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K (Quad Core 3.5Ghz)
GPU: nVidia MSI GTX 970
RAM: Hyper X Fury Black (8GB)
SSD: Crucial CT120M500SSD1 120GB
HD: Western Digital 1TB
Optical Drive: LG 24X DVD Burner
Windows: 8.1 or 7 (both free upgrade to Windows 10)
Monitor: BenQ GL2450HM LED TN 24-inch Widescreen (PLACEHOLDER WHILE I RESEARCH)​

 

[Maxman]

I think you should go Windows 7 :3

 

[Dark Drakan]

I think you should go Windows 7 :3

I think I will personally as I have used it (on it at work right now) and I like it and im used to it, plus its a little cheaper and can also be upgraded to Windows 10 when that releases. Just got to find a copy on Amazon and I will order it.

 

[Maxman]

I think I will personally as I have used it (on it at work right now) and I like it and im used to it, plus its a little cheaper and can also be upgraded to Windows 10 when that releases. Just got to find a copy on Amazon and I will order it.

you should go with the 64 bit version
Games these seem to be dropping 32 bit as Support , at least to my knowledge

 

[Dark Drakan]

you should go with the 64 bit version
Games these seem to be dropping 32 bit as Support , at least to my knowledge

As far as im aware my specs support 64 bit so its likely I would be anyway, it was something I was going to be looking into when I got home to double check.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Ordered Windows 7 Professional yesterday for £30 from Ebay so now I only have my CPU and monitor left to purchase and I have all the components ready to start building (still got to pick up Ethernet Cable but that can be done at any time). I will be purchasing another 8GB of RAM too but the build can start before that arrives and can slot it in afterwards. Still deciding on the monitor at the moment and waiting to see @Steve Powell's suggestion on an Asus monitor. So final specs without monitor are as follows...

Case: Corsair Carbide 200R
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero
PSU: Corsair RM850 Plus Gold
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K (Quad Core 3.5Ghz)
GPU: nVidia MSI GTX 970
RAM: Hyper X Fury Black (16GB) (8GB still to purchase)
SSD: Crucial CT120M500SSD1 120GB
HD: Western Digital 1TB
Optical Drive: LG 24X DVD Burner
Windows 7 Professional (free upgrade to Windows 10 in summer)​

 

[Dark Drakan]

Been a long road but my final component will be ordered tonight (monitor) and then my build can start FINALLY! Final specs for my rig are as follows and will be built very soon:

Case: Corsair Carbide 200R
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero
PSU: Corsair RM850 Plus Gold
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K (Quad Core 3.5Ghz)
GPU: nVidia MSI GTX 970
RAM: Hyper X Fury Black (16GB)
SSD: Crucial CT120M500SSD1 120GB
HD: Western Digital 1TB
Optical Drive: LG 24X DVD Burner
Windows: 7 (will upgrade to Windows 10)​

 

[xMobilemux]

I still need to upgrade my RAM, CPU and Motherboard but currently jobless lol.

 

[Dark Drakan]

I still need to upgrade my RAM, CPU and Motherboard but currently jobless lol.

Might get around to playing some DayZ and Ark soon too, what setup have you got currently then and what would you like?