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.
