# [SOLVED] Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)



## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

Good morning all.

I'm looking to build a new Gaming rig (Within the next 6 months touch wood, should nothing actually blow up between now and then). If there's something epic due to be released in the next 6 months, please let me know, so that I can delay the rig building.

I've had 3 rigs over the past 15 years. All of which have seen me through 5 years with only a few parts replaced here and there. All built by the same friend of mine, who I don't have much contact with anymore sadly (so here I am). I have another friend who's pretty clued up, and will build my system for me, but I'd like to gather some input here before I start putting together a shopping list.

Requirements: Gaming (Run all current titles on Ultra spec pref, and 25 man Warcraft)
Budget: £1000
Not required: Peripherals. Hard Drives. Operating System.
Notes: PC wont be travelling to LANS or anything, so size/weight are unimportant. 

To begin with, the 3 x Cases that I've been eyeing up are

Coolermaster HAF X
Fractal Design R4
NZXT (Not sure which model is currently best)

Can anybody make any solid part suggestions, case feedback or any of the other? Below is the shopping list that I'm starting with but I'm open to feedback.

Intel Core i5-4570, Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti, Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) - Gaming PC April 14 - Readycheck's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Thank you very much in advance. Hoping to become a regular visitor to these forums. I'm a software nut but when it comes to Hardware, I'm pretty useless


### Below are the specs of my Girlfriend's new PC selected and built by the friend (9 months ago) that will possibly be building my new system. From the shopping list, you can tell me if you have faith in his ability or wouldn't trust him with £1000 of my money ###

120GB Crucial M500 2.5" 6GB/s Inter 1 £76.12
2GB Gigabyte GTX 660 Windforce 2X, 1 £127.66
Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus, Black M 1 £53.91
600W Corsair Builder Series CX CP-9 1 £47.60
"Z77 Gamer" Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Ivybridge Overclocked Bundle 1 £316.66

After VAT and some other rubbish bla bla it came to £880.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

We have a Suggested Build List. All listed use top quality known compatible components:http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f255/tsf-hardware-teams-recommended-builds-2014-a-668661.html


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Change the motherboard to a Asus or Gigabyte brand for better quality.

Change the ram speed to 1600mhz.

Change the GPU to a GTX 760 and make it either evga or Asus branded. 

That is all the changes you need to make.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*



Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Change the motherboard to a Asus or Gigabyte brand for better quality.
> 
> Change the ram speed to 1600mhz.
> 
> ...


I don't doubt you, but can you explain why please? Would save me £300 on the Graphics card granted. Personally, I'm no hardware expert but I don't see the point in buying a £500 graphics card, because when games are released that require that much raw power, the card will surely be old and burning out by then regardless? I could be wrong. I'm only using 1 monitor atm so I don't need overkill.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Could you also suggest possible replacements for the pieces you mentioned please so I can update my list?

Could anyone also recommend a mid-range SSD drive just to use as an install directory for say 5-10 games. Assuming it would need to be around 100gb. Warcraft wont be installed on it.

Already got a good quality 120GB in my other rig to server as my OS drive, and 2 x 2TB drives to use as my storage drivers.

Thank you for your input


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Have you looked over our Suggested Build List?
You can use it to reference top quality brands for any components.



Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Change the motherboard to a Asus or Gigabyte brand for better quality.
> 
> Change the ram speed to 1600mhz.
> 
> Change the GPU to a GTX 760 and make it either evga or Asus branded.


G.Skill or Corsair for 1600MHz RAM.
SeaSonic-XFX-Antec HCG for the PSU. 620W minimum for a GTX670 or GTX760.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*



chiefxx17 said:


> Change the motherboard to a Asus or Gigabyte brand for better quality.
> 
> Change the ram speed to 1600mhz.
> 
> ...


Asrock doesn't have the quality and performance that you'll get from an Asus or gigabyte motherboard 

Intel CPUs are designed to function with 1600mhz memory speeds. Anything faster runs off the motherboard which adds a load on the board. 

A GTX 780 Ti is extremely overkill. A GTX 760 will do the job just fine. 

.



Readycheck said:


> Could you also suggest possible replacements for the pieces you mentioned please so I can update my list?
> 
> Could anyone also recommend a mid-range SSD drive just to use as an install directory for say 5-10 games. Assuming it would need to be around 100gb. Warcraft wont be installed on it.
> 
> ...


The build guide will show you good parts and brands. 

Stick with Samsung, Corsair, SanDisk or Intel for SSDs.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Intel Core i5-4570, Asus GeForce GTX 760, Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) - Gaming PC April 14 - Readycheck's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Revised. Can you give the thumbs up? PC wouldn't boot this morning so it seems god wants to me to place the order. 

Can you confirm this will play current games with no problem at all, and smash large event like a 25man warcraft raid etc? I'd like it to last me 5 years, even if it;s going to be showing it's age by then

Thank you so much for the help


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Looks good, it will game just fine.

I would not be afraid of using faster ram the memory controller is on the CPU not the motherboard 1600 is the standard speed but they will run 1866 or 2133 just fine.

What are you using for a hard drive?


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

At the moment I have 

Crucuial M5000 120GB SSD

Still in the box. Should I be using something else? Friend of mine mentioned that a newer generation is out and mine may be a little outdated for the build


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

If you already have it by all means use it, check for any updated firmware first on the Crucial site. My only concern would be the size it's a tad small, usually you see 120's in conjunction with a larger platter drive.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*



Wrench97 said:


> If you already have it by all means use it, check for any updated firmware first on the Crucial site. My only concern would be the size it's a tad small, usually you see 120's in conjunction with a larger platter drive.


Well I actually have 2 of those HDs, 1 in the box and 1 about 9 months old. The idea was going to be,

SSD 1: 120GB (Windows / Warcraft)
SSD 2: 120GB (Game installs)

And then I have my 2 old standard hard drives for all my storage. 1.5TB a pop for all my music and video etc.

Would that setup be ok or would you recommend a different or faster SSD for Windows / Games? I'm in for a penny so I'm in for a pound at this point. The Large SSD storage drives are an expense I can't afford so I'll stick with old rubbish for just storing my old junk.

Friend of mine mentioned to me that my Crucial may be SATA2 and SATA3 is now out, which is quicker? All over my head though sadly.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

And should I keep this RAM or upgrade the speed again? 2 conflicting suggestions


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Going to order the parts this afternoon for hopeful delivery on Thursday or Friday

Should I change the Ram and will I need any Thermal paste to build it? Not even sure what it does, but I remember I needed it to build my partner's rig.

Thank you for the help

Intel Core i5-4570, Asus GeForce GTX 760, Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) - Gaming PC April 14 - Readycheck's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker United Kingdom


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

The parts list looks good.
The Intel boxed CPU will come with a thermal pad pre-applied on the heatsink so no paste will be required.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Someone told me I could drop the motherboard down an H87 if I'm not overclocking but at £750 im pretty satisfied if it will give me options in the future

Thank you for your feedback and input.

I appreciate it


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Or perhaps swap it for 

Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87 @ $144.99

Recommended on your build list. although I'm not sure wether to skimp another £100 if it will limit my options further down the line. should i be aiming for the better board to overclock?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

The Asus Sabertooth is a nice board but it all depends on what you want to do, if you looking to run stock speeds with a single video card a H81 or B85 board will do just fine, the more you want to play with clocks and performance the better the board you need.
For stock or mild oc's with multiple cards the Z87x ud3 will work.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

The Asus or Giigabyte you list are fine and are top quality but do not purchase a Mobo just for OC'ing. OC'ing will not yield any notable performance improvement with a 3.2GHz CPU.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

That being said,

If I swapped the £250 Sabertooth for the £150 Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87

would i notice any difference with my current part list? in a nutshell, what are the advantages to the more expensive saber tooth


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

The Sabertooth has 2 PCIe x16 3.0 and 1, 2.0 slots where the D3H has 1 3.0 and 1 2.0 slot.

The D3H has 6 sata ports where the ST has 8 6 intel and 2 asmedia.

The ST has a little better audio chip Realtek ALC1150 vs ALC892
The ST has a better lan chip Intel vs Realtech

The ST has more robust power section to control CPU and motherboard power.
And the ST has more chassis fan headers and better fan controls.

Your parts selection will work on either board.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

going to keep the sabertooth then and aim for the £750 build. ordering now.

*thank you so much* for all your feedback and help. very much appreciated. really great answers and put my concerns to rest. debit card time


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Friend of mine suggested I swap the GFX card for

MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming Edition Overclocked Nvidia Graphics Card - N760 TF 2GD5/OC - Scan.co.uk

Thoughts? Conversation below

"Gaz: 1006mhz vs 1085mhz core - 1072 vs 1150 clock - single fan vs dual fan - and HDCP ready for 2nd card, not yours
Gaz: for £2 extra
Gaz: oops missed multi monitor support too"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EJ751NQ/?tag=pcp0f-21

VS

MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming Edition Overclocked Nvidia Graphics Card - N760 TF 2GD5/OC - Scan.co.uk


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Yes I had not noticed before the Asus card was a "mini" a full size card would better fit your usage.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

anyone know if the psu will come with all cables needed or if i need to buy them seperately?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

All good quality PSU's will come with sufficient cabling. The only possible concern is with some cables not being long enough for some cases that use bottom PSU mounting.
The problem will only be a concern when attempting to route the PSU wiring to hide cables.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

does my case fall under that category by any chance? would like to keep the cables relatively tidy and out of site for the sake of the window if at all possible. my partner uses Corsair CP-9020048-UK Builder Series CX 600W Power Supply (PSU) - Scan.co.uk which serves her well


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*



Tyree said:


> The problem will only be a concern when attempting to route the PSU wiring to hide cables.


As noted before, using the lower quality Corsair PSU is not recommended but your money-your choice.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

do i have a workaround of a psu that will easily hide the cables and fulfil my needs, like a fully modular psu of higher standard than the corsair? nutshell, powers my system and looks tidy. now all sat in my basket ready to press buy. just want to make sure this psu is perfect for my needs. if its going to look a mess i may revert to the non-window case. or could i just buy some longer cables to enable hiding them


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

Elaborate on "workaround". All good quality PSU's will have about the same length cabling. 
Your case is a Mid-Tower and I "doubt" there will be any cable length problems. I only mentioned the "possible" issue to make you aware.


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## Readycheck (Mar 24, 2014)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

ok no problem. it's all purchased. can stop bugging you now 

thanks


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Rate My Build (£1000 Budget)*

No problem what so ever and I apologize if I wasn't clear. :smile:
Best of luck with the new build.


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