Noob needs help :D

[SoRWaR96]

Hi there I'm new to this forum, but been looking at it for keep some time as I want to build a gaming/media pc. I will be using it to play some of the newer games and cod4 promod 😄 and to record gameplay and edit, you know the youtube stuff...

I'm trying to stay around £1400. Has anyone ordered parts from amazon.com and have it shipped to the uk if so did you have any problems? also if you know any international company that is reliable and ship to the uk it would be appreciated as the cost would be less 🙂 If ordering internationally is not so great then I'll just have to have a look around and see where I can get parts the cheapest.

So far the list below is what I have decided:
- COOLERMASTER STORM TROOPER ( Is this case good? and can I use water cooling with it?) or Cooler master HAF X full gaming tower. what would you suggest personally I like the storm trooper because of the fan controller option correct if im wrong but that will allow me to decide what fans to use or turn on?

- Intel Core i7 3930K (Its a k series so it's easy to OC? what stable speed am I looking at if OC'd?)

- ASUS RAMPAGE IV FORMULA or the extreme (don't know what's the difference and if it's worth it, also if there's a better or newer card please suggest it. Also will be over-clocking my processor)

- CORSAIR 4X 4GB VENGEANCE 1866MHz (Can anyone tell me what ram to get, would like 16-32gb any higher would be just waste imo and would like it to be 1833mhz or higher. What would be better 16gb 1833mhz or higher or 32gb 1600mhz?)

- OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (VTX3-25SAT3-120G) or OCZ Technology Agility 3 240 GB Internal Solid State Drive 2.5" SATA 600 SSD

- 1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200RPM 32MB CACHE (any better ones for around max £80 on HDD or might get another ssd or get a larger sdd and use a external hhd for space or upgrade later)

- ATI READEON HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 or a 2gb GTX 670 (Can OC this, will it be better than 680 if OC'd? or 2gb GTX 680) could you give me some frame rate comparisons and which one you would you get also if I can buy from amazon.com it'll most likely that I buy either a GTX 680 or 690 but you guys are the experts 😄

- CORSAIR TX650M MODULAR POWER SUPPLY ( I'm not too sure about this, saw some others like Corsair AX850, CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold 1200W, Seasonic X-1250 but I honestly don't know 😕 recommendations would help 😄

- Corsair H100 or H60 (Is the H100 any good? and how hard is water maintenance, does is water cooler require no maintenance as it would be a bonus)

- Fans ( Im not too sure which fans are good or will fit, could you guys find me which ones I can use please. I would like coloured fans if its around the same price but It just needs to be good and reliable that would make me happy 🙂


Please tell if there's any compatibility issues or anything I can adjust to make the build better. Also I might be missing some parts in my setup e.g case fans and stuff if notice anything missing please could you tell me and what additional parts I may need. Sorry for being long-winded but I'm fairly new to this only had one gaming rig and I sold it two months later 😕

Thank you for reading, All help will be appreciated 🙂

[SoRWaR96]

Anyone help?

[Silver_Wolf]

Hey There and Welcome!

Pricing I can't help you much with as I don't know what parts go for in pounds but here is my few cents I can throw at you to assist :).

Lets start with the PSU I am now 100% on this but I don't think 650w will be enough for your build I personally run an 850w PSU and have no issues at all so you shouldn't need to go any higher than that.

Graphics Card: I would suggest going for a GTX 680 and OCing that if you buy the more expensive brands their cooling is better but if you plan to Water Cool it as well then that won't matter much. I wouldn't go for the 690 as although they are better they are over double the price of a 680 at least in AUD they are and personally I don't find them to be worth that much.

If you want your HDD to be your main drive then I would suggest WD Caviar Black although it is a more expensive drive it will give you probably the best performance you can get from a Mechanical SATA drive. I would advise against 2 SSDs as you will be severely lacking in storage space unless you add a NAS or similar.

Intel CPU's are usually good to overclock however I have found that if you really want to overclock it to the maximum then you will be limited with a ROG board as to how far it can be overclocked although I believe they do make it easier at the same time.

Hope this helps you.

[Zka17]

OK, let's go step by step... 🙂

Case: I personally would go with the HAF X, but this really is up to you... What do you like...

MOBO and CPU: the Formula with the 3930k is a good combination, if money matters, you don't need to go with the Extreme... You will be able to OC this too... How much? That depends... on your luck of how good chip you can get... and on the cooling of it...

Memory: You may want to consider the Dominator family of memory kits from Corsair, or go with GSkill on a X79 platform... Vengeance is known to cause trouble... You can select appropriate kit for your mobo by checking the QVL on Asus website or you also can check GSkill's RAM Confingurator...

Storage: a 120GB SSD + a 1TB HDD combination is good enough...

VGA: better is better 🙂 I would try to fit in the budget a GTX 680... later on you can get an other one for SLI if is not enough...

PSU: for a single VGA, go with the Corsair AX850! if you're planning SLI in the future + OC'ing, you may consider even higher...

CPU cooler: definitely go with the H100! It's absolutely no maintenance required (despite blowing out the dust from it's radiator) and you will need it's cooling capacity for a 3930k when OC'ing (H60 is too modest for it)

Fans: there you have several choices... do you want fans with LED or without? You want silence or performance? Check out the new Corsair fans...

[SoRWaR96]

Thank you for your help guys 🙂

Couple of things I need clarified:

- Will the corsair AX850 be enough if I OC'd the processor and graphics card or will I need a better PSU?

- What amount of ram would I need for gaming and video editing? and specific models would help also higher frequency is it worth it? like if I buy 16gb or 32gb 1833mhz would there be be much difference in higher mhz?

- Fans, what's the difference between silent and performance fans can't I get both? If not I would prefer performance fans as long they aren't too loud. In regards to leds as I have said it would be bonus could you maybe link me both led and non-led fans that are compatible for the case so I can decide.

- What motherboards would you recommend to use with the i7 3930k and are better for over-clocking.

Sorry I know im asking a lot, but I hope you guys can help 🙂

Edit- After all the recommendations I have decided to go with HAF X or mostly likely the NZXT Phantom case (Just looks awesome lol anyone know if the spacing is good on this case? and whether I will be having any problems)

Also don't I need a Sound card or something or does that come with motherboard?

Another thing could someone answer my question in my OP about amazon and shipping to the uk.

[Homiestar]

Regarding the cases, I would go for the HAF X, I heard the storm trooper has issues like when you touch the side of the case, it turns off the computer ect.. I would go for the HAF if your choosing between the two.

Just to be safe, I would go with a 850W PSU, always better safe than sorry! Especially like Zka mentioned, if you plan to OC and get more GPU's for xfire or 3 way sli, you will need the exra power! ( I use Seasonic 860w platinum)

The corsair watercooling units require no mantinence at all, except dusting radioator like Zka mentioned, I have the H70 Core, which is the H80 without fans, Seems to do the job, just make sure you get an aftermarket thermal paste, like arctic silver or whatever is your preference!

I'm with Zka on the memory, Vengeances do cause trouble..

Fans.. Whatever you like! I use the cooler master LED fans, but may get a cold cathode tube later on and get better fans.

Good Luck with your build! 😄

[kkn]

the mobo have built in soundcard ( outputs on the back ) 5.1/7.1 or optic, stereo out, mic in+.
memory go whit one kit and not 2-3 difrent sticks since they would not have the same specs ( 4x4gb kits mabye ).
OS = ssd, keep it as mutch free of space as posible, the more you add to it the slower it gets and life spand drops.
storage = hdd, cheeper per gig compared to ssd.
psu = i would say a minimum of 850w, but if your going to get a second card i would get a 1000/1200W psu ( ONLY if your planing to add a second card ), but it will fit ok for a oc'ed cpu.
mobo and cpu im not shure but thats up to you.
i have seen a few ppl whit Gskill for memory on this forum, but go whit what zka17 sugest's.
and try out amazon in the uk?? http://www.amazon.co.uk/
try whit 16 gig of memory first, , or some one else can post a recomendation of more. ( im always a overkiller on memory my self so ).

[SoRWaR96]

I am having some problems atm so I might need to decrease the budget maybe get a cheaper processor or graphics card as they are the most expensive in my build.

New build:

Case: NZXT phantom full gaming tower £100

Processor: want one that is good and has a good OC around 4.6+ price around 350 max (maybe the i7 3770k or might get something cheaper)

Mobo: ASUS RAMPAGE IV FORMULA (250 the cheapest I could find) or the extreme version for (£300) is the extreme version worth it also aren't there any other mobo that are also good for OC?

Ram: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G-Skill-Ripjaws-Z-Series-Memory-16-GB-DDR3-1866-MHz-RAM-4-x-4GB-DIMM-240-p... (feel free to recommend others)

Rest are the same, I have enough money to buy either i7 3930k with gtx 670 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-018-KF or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-21197-00-40G-Graphics-GDDR5-Converter/dp/B006TX48XC/ref=sr_1_7?ie=U... I could get i7 3770k with gtx 680 it would either the asus or the evga 680

or I could get a i7 980x or i7 980 if anyone know wheres to get one for around 350ish a link would be appreciated as if I got one mobo would be cheaper and what I save from there will go towards GPU.

[Silver_Wolf]

I can definitely recommend Corsair Dominator GT ram its very expensive as its 2133 mhz however it will give you very good performance.

As for the amount 16 gig is going to be heaps. I run 16 gig and I multitask like crazy without a game running I sit around 29 -30% of my ram usage and a game will boost that a bit higher but never gets close to 100%.

I have built a PC for a friend of mine using an NZXT Phantom, cool looking case and good cooling just be warned not to spill liquids in it. Another one to look at is the Aerocool X Predator, its a large case and has plenty of space inside as well as looking awesome. If you want to look at cases www.pccasegear.com has a large range of cases although the prices are in AUD and I don't think they ship to the UK it will allow you to take a look at them and make your decision easier

You don't need a sound card as like kkn said your mobo will actually have sound built into it however you will see better quality sound from a sound card if you are willing to invest into a decent set of speakers or headphones.

If you want to overclock it to the ultimate levels your better off with a cheap gigabite motherboard. However if you want a better quality board any of the Asus ROG boards will work really well.

As for fans the difference is all in the name. Performance fans are louder and have more air flow as they spin faster. Quiet fans spin slower and have less airflow but are quieter. Once again pccasegear (linked above) have a good listing of fans that can assist you in your search

[Zka17]

Starting with the end... the Core i7-980Xs are extreme CPUs for LGA1366 sockets... they are expensive (around $1000 USD)... on the other hand you would need to change your mobo and memories too...

On the same subject, the Core i7-3770k is an Ivy Bridge CPU for LGA1155 sockets... the Rampage IV Formula has a LGA2011 socket... the cheapest CPU for that socket (2011) will be the 3820...