My build - Know next to nothing, need help and advice if possible

G

Geltza

Member
Hey there. First time trying to pick parts for a PC. I'm planning on doing a lot of gaming but I don't think I'll ever take it as far as needing to overclock or anything, I'd just like a fast and powerful PC (for my budget) that I can do my video editing on and can play at least some games at max settings as I am looking to get more into gaming.

My budget is about £900 but I can stretch to £950

This is what I have so far and I have no idea how good or bad it is! I've read a few sites and tried to use what little knowledge I do have, but any help would be much appreciated! I'd really like to know if there's anything I need to upgrade or if anything I have selected is pointless or rubbish and can be removed or replaced. Thanks :)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Case
COOLERMASTER K350 GAMING CASE
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - DVI, HDMI, 3 DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SEAGATE SSHD, SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM (64MB + 8GB SSD 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
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N DUAL-BAND 450Mbps PCI-E CARD (£28)
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 Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £943.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
S

Spuff

Expert
This is what I'd go for with £950 (if I wanted 2TB storage):

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Case
InWIN GT1 BLACK GAMING CASE
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-E: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
120GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/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 (£69)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
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 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 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £948.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/cxFT_NyWr2/

That's immediately better gaming performance with a much nicer PSU that will stand you in good stead for the future.
A 120GB system drive is enough for Windows, your applications and at least one big game (expect GTA which might not fit on).
8GB RAM is fine at the moment for gaming.

Alternatively 240GB HyperX SSD if you want to fit GTA or several games on plus 1TB storage and adding more later if you need it.
 
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S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
i7 for your editing and 970 for your gaming easily achievable for <£950:

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Motherboard
ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 360MB/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 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly 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 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £936.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-home-office-pc/jeaMwVGhAE/
 
G

Geltza

Member
Spuff said:
This is what I'd go for with £950 (if I wanted 2TB storage):

...

That's immediately better gaming performance with a much nicer PSU that will stand you in good stead for the future.
A 120GB system drive is enough for Windows, your applications and at least one big game (expect GTA which might not fit on).
8GB RAM is fine at the moment for gaming.

Alternatively 240GB HyperX SSD if you want to fit GTA or several games on plus 1TB storage and adding more later if you need it.
Click to expand...

Thank you, it's greatly appreciated! I have a couple questions if that's ok

I hope you don't think I'm being condescending asking this stuff, I'm actually still trying to learn all this stuff :)

1. What are the advantages of having the HDD you picked over the SSHD?
2. How much of a difference is there between the two motherboards? And how important is the motherboard?


SlimCini said:
i7 for your editing and 970 for your gaming easily achievable for <£950:

...

Price: £936.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-home-office-pc/jeaMwVGhAE/
Click to expand...

Thank you! Is the 970 that big of a step up from the 960 then? And also, I've noticed to the two people that have replied so far that you have both put:
"Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)"

My PC will be located in my room whilst my router will be in my room, that's why I chose the wireless card in the build I was doing. Is it much worse having to use the wireless card over what you chose? (Sorry if that's a stupid question)
 
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S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
If they're both in the same room why do you need wireless? Even if they weren't I'd suggest homeplugs instead of wireless.
 
G

Geltza

Member
Sorry that meant to say my PC is in my room but my router is downstairs in my living room. So is it really as simple as buying a homeplug, plugging it in upstairs and plugging the other end into the computer?
 
S

Spuff

Expert
The choice of GPU is what will make the biggest difference for gaming performance. If you were able to game for a while with the 960 and for a while with the 970 you would definitely appreciate the bit more the 970 can do.
In terms of quality all the motherboards PCS offer are fine. The practical difference in boards mainly is the expansion slots and drive connections they have.
The ASUS® H81M has one x16 slot and three x1 PCIe slots. The x number equates to the size of the slot. A GPU has a x16 connector, although most other cards you might want to put in will be x1. The board I suggested has more and offers the possibility of SLI. It also has 4 drive connections at the fastest SATA (the standard type of drive connection) drive speed plus a sexy M2 connection, the H81M only has 2 at the fastest speed, but that fastest speed is only any use to an SSD.
What you need and want and how you anticipate the future for your PC only you can decide.

I left the wireless card out because we didn't know what type of internet connection you would want and it would add a few pounds to the build. A wired connection is always best if you can do it.
With homeplugs the signal is routed through your electrical wiring. You do just plug a unit into a plug socket that will provide you with the wired ethernet connection. The router will also need to be connected to a homeplugs unit in the room it is in.
 
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G

Geltza

Member
Thank you for explaining it all! So if I was thinking that I'd maybe wanted to add any extra cards in future or just have more speed it'd be best to go for the Z97? Now if I wasn't planning on overclocking at all would it be better to go with the Z97-P or would it generally be better to just go for the Z97-E which says has SLI and Xfire (whatever Xfire is)

Also thanks for the help with connection help. I'm not sure if a wired connection would be possible for me just now but the homeplugs option sounds like a good choice
 
S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
You've got a few decisions to make then. If you are planning to SLI and therefore want an SLI ready motherboard then you're going to need an 850W PSU to power a future second 970. And that, with an i5-4690 and 970 will take you over budget.

Are you able to save up a few hundred and buy in a few months?

For just £100 over budget you could have a 970 build capable of taking a second 970 in future (or for £200 over budget you could swap to an i7 to help your editing):
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Case
CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-E: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 360MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£109)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly 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 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,053.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/wYULhrH8nT/
 
G

Geltza

Member
Well I have a laptop just now and it's really on it's last legs and was hoping to get a PC around the start of August which would mean working with budget I have unfortunately! Which has me torn as seeing that build it obviously looks more future-proof than the one I was going to get.

Sorry for all the questions, these are my last!

1. If I wanted to change your build to something I could get now, would it be better going for the cheaper Z97 motherboard or swap to the H81 you posted originally?
2. For future reference: how much difference is there between the normal HDD, the caviar green HDD and the caviar black HDD to the average PC user? Would it be worth trying to squeeze out the extra money to upgrade to either of the caviar ones?

Cheers for all your help by the way!
 
S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
Geltza said:
Well I have a laptop just now and it's really on it's last legs and was hoping to get a PC around the start of August which would mean working with budget I have unfortunately! Which has me torn as seeing that build it obviously looks more future-proof than the one I was going to get.

Sorry for all the questions, these are my last!

1. If I wanted to change your build to something I could get now, would it be better going for the cheaper Z97 motherboard or swap to the H81 you posted originally?
2. For future reference: how much difference is there between the normal HDD, the caviar green HDD and the caviar black HDD to the average PC user? Would it be worth trying to squeeze out the extra money to upgrade to either of the caviar ones?

Cheers for all your help by the way!
Click to expand...
1. Depends if you think you want to SLI in future or not. Basically, if you want to upgrade this PC in anyway then the H81 isn't your best bet. But if you want a PC to last a while without upgrading or going inside at all then go for the H81.
2. I'd go for either the cav black (increased reliability at increased cost) or the regular 7200rpm SATA. I wouldn't go for the green. I would get the cav black as long as paying for it didn't mean sacrificing CPU or GPU.
 
T

t-dome

Active member
1. You should order 2 memory modules - 2 with 4 GB or 2 with 8 GB. This will get you dual channel which is much faster.
2. WD Black harddiscs are good but much too expensive - I recommend any 7200 RPM hard drive that is cheaper.
 
G

Geltza

Member
Thanks for the help SlimCini! At last I've got my final build and will save up for a few weeks and hope this laptop lasts until then. Cheers to those that helped and were patient and didn't make a fool of me for not knowing much haha! Repped you all :)
 
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