New Build. Advice please :)

[lauriegreen18]

Hi all, I'm looking into building a gaming PC for the first time. I have chosen my components but I'm unsure about compatibility and whether or not this is a good setup.

I will include the specs of the build I am looking to buy, any advice regarding compatibility or alternate components would be welcome,

Thanks guys!

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 660TI Direct CU II DC2O 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x ASRock 990FX Extreme4 AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £127.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6350 Black Edition 3.90GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £107.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316GM1600HC11DC01) £95.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020063-UK) £65.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Prolimatech Megahalems Rev C CPU Cooler £42.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard III Windowed Gaming Case - Black £32.99
3 x Arctic F12 Pro Case Fan - 120mm £3.98 (£11.94)
Total : £848.84 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[Knufire]

Is 850 pounds your budget?

What are you using the computer for?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Get CL9 RAM instead of CL11.

Get a Blue/Black HDD instead of the Green.

Make sure you have a good fan for that heatsink.

If you can squeeze it (since you're gaming, and assuming 1080p, grab a 760 instead of the 660Ti)

 

[idkfa]

Why CL9 RAM? Since he didn't tell us yet what the build is used for, I would have said 8GB is sufficient. cheap 1600/1886, 2x4GB RAM. I doubt if the build is used for gaming that you would see any benefits from CL9 over CL11 (assuming CL9 is more expensive of course, otherwise take CL9).

+1 for the 760 GTX. Seems to be a good bang for the buck choice.

 

[EarthDog]

That is the norm, DDR3 1600 CL9. Anything slower than that may hold things back just a bit. CL11 timings are REALLY slow for DDR3 1600.

The difference between 1600 CL9 and CL11 is a couple dollars, with the CL9 actually being a couple dollars cheaper.

 

[lauriegreen18]

Is 850 pounds your budget?

What are you using the computer for?

Yes, I wouldn't want to spend much more than this.

I plan to use the PC for gaming.

 

[lauriegreen18]

Get CL9 RAM instead of CL11.

Get a Blue/Black HDD instead of the Green.

Make sure you have a good fan for that heatsink.

If you can squeeze it (since you're gaming, and assuming 1080p, grab a 760 instead of the 660Ti)

Why Blue/Black HDD instead of Green?

Why 760 instead of 660Ti?

What fan would you suggest? I was being foolish and assuming the heatsink included a fan...

Sorry if I appear nooby, I'm fairly new to this...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Why Blue/Black HDD instead of Green?

Why 760 instead of 660Ti?

What fan would you suggest? I was being foolish and assuming the heatsink included a fan...

Sorry if I appear nooby, I'm fairly new to this...

The Green drive is slower and meant just for storage. Blue/Black are faster.

The 760 is faster than the 660Ti, at the same or lower price.

Just grab a 212 EVO.

Also, since the PC is for gaming, 8GB (2x4GB) instead of the 16GB you listed. For gaming even 8GB can be considered overkill.

Don't worry about being nooby as long as you're willing to learn

 

[dudleycpa]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=8&subid=2429

Looks to me that the 50 pounds memory that is listed on that page listed as "this week only offer" is what you should be looking at.

Cheers Mate!

 

[Theocnoob]

Dont use that case fan you have selected. They aren't easy to install. Use a normal type mounting case fan that has a full frame.

 

[lauriegreen18]

The Green drive is slower and meant just for storage. Blue/Black are faster.

The 760 is faster than the 660Ti, at the same or lower price.

Just grab a 212 EVO.

Also, since the PC is for gaming, 8GB (2x4GB) instead of the 16GB you listed. For gaming even 8GB can be considered overkill.

Don't worry about being nooby as long as you're willing to learn

So with your changes in mind I have edited my build slightly. Thoughts on this one?

I was intimidated by the amount of 760's available and ended up selecting one pretty much at random, can you suggest a good one?

Thanks for all your help guys, keep the feedback coming!

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 760 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE GPU Keyring £199.99
1 x ASRock 990FX Extreme4 AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £127.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6350 Black Edition 3.90GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £107.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020063-UK) £65.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £54.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £47.99
1 x Prolimatech Megahalems Rev C CPU Cooler £42.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard III Windowed Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
3 x Arctic F12 Pro Case Fan - 120mm £3.98 (£11.94)
Total : £818.80 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[lauriegreen18]

Dont use that case fan you have selected. They aren't easy to install. Use a normal type mounting case fan that has a full frame.

Thanks.

Which fan would you recommend?

 

[dudleycpa]

Two thoughts.

1) I apologize for not asking this first - Any particular reason you are going AMD (CPU and motherboard) over Intel? If it is for max performance on a reasonable budget we understand that. Just suggesting you could go Haswell and 4670K(?)

2)199.99 British Pound Sterling sounds about right for a GTX 760. KFA2 - not familiar with that brand. EVGA in Europe?

You also have 2 CPU coolers in you basket!

Long Live Britannia!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

This 760 has one of the best coolers on the market. My 770 with it is all but silent, and it stays very cool

That PSU isn't the best quality, give this one a look (modular is a must once you've had it once, its awesome quality, might check amazon's UK site for it since its out of stock right now)

You have two CPU coolers listed right now, take the Megahalems off since it doesn't have fans.

Like OCNoob said, those Artic fans will be tough to install, look at these.

 

[lauriegreen18]

Two thoughts.

1) I apologize for not asking this first - Any particular reason you are going AMD (CPU and motherboard) over Intel? If it is for max performance on a reasonable budget we understand that. Just suggesting you could go Haswell and 4670K(?)

2)199.99 British Pound Sterling sounds about right for a GTX 760. KFA2 - not familiar with that brand. EVGA in Europe?

You also have 2 CPU coolers in you basket!

Long Live Britannia!

DOH! Silly me, I'll remove the other cooler

And yes, max performance on a reasonable budget. Haswell and 4670K? Could you explain the advantages of these components please?

This 760 has one of the best coolers on the market. My 770 with it is all but silent, and it stays very cool

That PSU isn't the best quality, give this one a look (modular is a must once you've had it once, its awesome quality, might check amazon's UK site for it since its out of stock right now)

You have two CPU coolers listed right now, take the Megahalems off since it doesn't have fans.

Like OCNoob said, those Artic fans will be tough to install, look at these.

Thanks so much to all of you, keep the feedback coming!

So again, with your suggestions in mind this is my current build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2765-KR) £215.99
1 x ASRock 990FX Extreme4 AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £127.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6350 Black Edition 3.90GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £107.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £54.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £47.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard III Windowed Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
3 x Xigmatek XAF-F1252 Whiteline Fan - 120mm £8.99 (£26.97)
Total : £816.92 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Looks like that's all to me, got a monitor/mouse/keyboard already?

 

[lauriegreen18]

Looks like that's all to me, got a monitor/mouse/keyboard already?

Yeah dude, I've got heaps of peripherals.

In terms of compatibility, will this all function together well?

 

[Knufire]

Based on the opinion of several English posters here, Scan.co.uk is generally regarded as the place to shop at over overclockers.co.uk. Much, much better customer service from what I've heard.

I think you can do a bit better for the price, same core components but you can definitely get a better cooling solution in there.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yeah dude, I've got heaps of peripherals.

In terms of compatibility, will this all function together well?

Should be flawless

Just shop around for your best prices on parts, let us know how the build goes!

 

[dudleycpa]

DOH! Silly me, I'll remove the other cooler

And yes, max performance on a reasonable budget. Haswell and 4670K? Could you explain the advantages of these components please?

Thanks so much to all of you, keep the feedback coming!

So again, with your suggestions in mind this is my current build:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC ACX 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2765-KR) £215.99
1 x ASRock 990FX Extreme4 AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £127.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6350 Black Edition 3.90GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £107.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £54.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £47.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard III Windowed Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
3 x Xigmatek XAF-F1252 Whiteline Fan - 120mm £8.99 (£26.97)
Total : £816.92 (includes shipping : £11.75).

4670K and Haswell

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-470-IN 197.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...ktdetailseite&emcs2=CP-470-IN&emcs3=MB-235-MS 116.99

For 79.00 pounds more your are getting about 20% more performance in games. TechRadar