Will it give me what I need?

[NoIdea]

I have not put together a PC before and the options are fairly daunting. All I really want is a relatively future-proof gaming PC that can sit by the side of my TV and I can play games with my son on, without it dominating the living room. Therefore a wireless set up would be perfect, but as I said, I am new to all this so not sure where to start. I have a configuration put together below that seem to be accepted without shouting at me that I have the wrong case (then tell me which is the right case!?!?! Arghh). Any advice would be gratefully received. I tried asking a specialist from PC Specialist, but to say they were unhelpful would be unfair to the genuinely unhelpful people out there.


Case
NZXT PHANTOM 240 WHITE GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-5930K (3.5GHz) 15MB Cache

Motherboard
Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5: ATX, LG2011, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, XFIRE/SLI

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X PREDATOR QUAD-DDR4 2400MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 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 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£89)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)

USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 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)

Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK270 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£22)

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 3 to 5 working days
Quantity 1

 

[keynes]

If it is just for gaming ther are a lot of things I would downgrade (cpu, motherboard, cpu cooler, ram) and if you are gaming on a tv you won't benefit much for the gtx 980 unless you plan to use a higher resolution monitor. You may also want to consider at least silver warranty for £5

 

[NoIdea]

I thought I would need all those in order to get a decent gaming experience. I have a 4k TV, is that not a high enough spec? What would you recommend as a decent gaming build then?

P.S. Thanks for replying.

 

[keynes]

Sorry didn't know it was a 4k tv. For a 4k tv I would go with 2 x GTX 980s and an i7-4790 (non-k) with the triple copper heatpipe cpu cooler but that depends on your budget and the type of games you play.

 

[LFFPicard]

As Keynes mentioned if you can let us know a budget and the kind fo games your looking to play then we can advise better on a spec for you.

 

[NoIdea]

Well in the end I decided to go for a laptop because of the lack of space at home. I should have asked you guys for some advice but foolishly I went ahead. It is not too late to change anything so I would be grateful if you could cast your eyes over the below and let me know your thoughts?

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790S (3.2GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Samsung Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS (1 x POWERED) + 1 e-SATA/USB 3.0 PORT COMBINED
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
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
Browser
Google Chrome™
Carry Case
Wenger Legacy 17’’ Triple Case
Mouse
Microsoft Sculpt Touch Bluetooth Wireless Mouse
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Headsets
Razer Tiamat 2.2 Gaming Headset
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Promotional Item
FREE DYING LIGHT DIGITAL VOUCHER with GTX 965M / 970M / 980M GRAPHICS!
Quantity
1

 

[SlimCini]

Get the silver warranty.

You couldn't squeeze a few extra £ to add an SSD as the primary drive?

EDIT... just seen the start of this thread. How much is this octane compared to that desktop build you had at the start?

 

[NoIdea]

I did actually go with the Samsung EVO SSD and the 1TB Scorpio Blue in the end, for some reason my cut and paste went south! I can't remember what the damage was on the desktop rig, but it would have been close to £2k or slightly above I would have thought. The laptop comes to circa £1600, but bear in mind that I have some extras in there like the carry case, headphones and mouse.

 

[NoIdea]

I have taken your advice and gone with the silver warranty, cheers!

 

[SlimCini]

Any reason why you've gone from a desktop 980 to a laptop 970m and not the 980m?

 

[keynes]

For £1600 I would go with at least the gtx 980m. The laptop will struggle with the 4k tv you got if you are still planning to use it.

 

[NoIdea]

I won't be using the 4k I think. The wife was not impressed that I was planning to take over the front room! Is there a huge difference between the 970 and 980? All the reviews were very positive about the 970, so I thought that would suffice?

 

[MiniPCNut]

Lack of space? you should look into a Gaming mini PC. Those can be pretty small, very powerful and very quiet as well as offering you more upgrade options than a laptop. Some of their cases are 207mm x 240mm x 401mm (Approx H x W x D).

 

[NoIdea]

I was seriously thinking about that option but it would have resulted in having to use the TV or buy another monitor, and as I explain above 'her indoors' was not keen on me setting up the living room into my own space. We live in an old cottage in the country and I have a couple of kids, hence the lack of room.

 

[NoIdea]

So I'm into my 5th Working Day and still at Pre-Production stage? The estimate of 4 to 6 working days is unlikely, methinks!

 

[MiniPCNut]

I was seriously thinking about that option but it would have resulted in having to use the TV or buy another monitor, and as I explain above 'her indoors' was not keen on me setting up the living room into my own space. We live in an old cottage in the country and I have a couple of kids, hence the lack of room.

Ive been into laptop gaming for years but got fed up of the restrictions due to the expense of upgrading MXM, the reduced performance and the last straw was the industries move to BGA (soldered on components). New GPU's cost as much as a mid level new laptop too and often you are locked out due to the Bios. The GTX 970 / 980M is a great mobile GPU but as Ive seen with my first gaming mini PC, there is nothing quite like the fully fledged one.

If I was going to get a laptop, I would get one with the capability of using an external GPU though.

 

[NoIdea]

Laptop dispatched. Exciting.