Gaming System - Please Review...

Hi All,

I've put together a gaming system with my budget of 2K (dont need monitor or peripherals)...

Please can this be reviewed and advice given on parts I can swap for better performance, I'm looking for performance over price so I'm not worried about parts costing more, Novatech is my choice of retailer as I want to collect in person:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£269.99 @ Novatech)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£57.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£169.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.99 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (£589.99)
Case: NZXT H440 Designed by Razer™ ATX Mid Tower Case (£124.98)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£140.00 @ Novatech)
Total: £1682.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-15 19:49 BST+0100

I understand you have £2k to blow on a gaming rig, just a couple of issues I can see with your choices..

1: Memory, you don't need 32GB of RAM, 8GB would be sufficient maybe 16GB if you wanted too... but 32 is way over kill.

2: PSU? Are you planing on going SLI? 1000W is far to big if your not.

Id swap out the Noctua Cooler for a AIO Liquid cooler possibly a Corsair or Fractal unit, lose 16GB of memory, Add a 1TB mechanical drive, switch the RM1000 for a 750W unit.

To add to what Wraith said, I'd swap the RM1000 for a higher quality unit like one from Seasonic. Then you could go for something between 650 and 750W.

Thanks guys, can the mobo/cpu/gpu combo be improved at all?

Also the choice of memory? Corsair, G-Skills, Kingston?

Thanks again.

Posts merged - Please do not double post

Wraithguard said:

I understand you have £2k to blow on a gaming rig, just a couple of issues I can see with your choices..

1: Memory, you don't need 32GB of RAM, 8GB would be sufficient maybe 16GB if you wanted too... but 32 is way over kill.

2: PSU? Are you planing on going SLI? 1000W is far to big if your not.

Id swap out the Noctua Cooler for a AIO Liquid cooler possibly a Corsair or Fractal unit, lose 16GB of memory, Add a 1TB mechanical drive, switch the RM1000 for a 750W unit.

Click to expand...

I may go SLi in the furture, would the 750W still be sufficient if I did?

Could have just used your old thread.

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=71710

Yeah...could of.

Briggsy said:

I may go SLi in the furture, would the 750W still be sufficient if I did?

Click to expand...

SLI'd you'd be looking at roughly 700W of power draw, so to be on the safe and quiet side you'd be looking at a 850W Unit.

Wraithguard said:

SLI'd you'd be looking at roughly 700W of power draw, so to be on the safe and quiet side you'd be looking at a 850W Unit.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm going for the:

Corsair Professional Series AX860 ATX Power Supply — 860 Watt 80 PLUS® Platinum Certified Fully-Modular PSU

Briggsy said:

Thanks, I'm going for the:

Corsair Professional Series AX860 ATX Power Supply — 860 Watt 80 PLUS® Platinum Certified Fully-Modular PSU

Click to expand...

I'd consider going with the RM 850i instead. It's a newer unit and quieter than the AX series. It's still a very good PSU but for a much lower price.

Here's Tom's review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqIxweDOw6k

The AX860 is a Seasonic and the RMi is a CWT, so the AX is considerably "better" in terms of quality and probably performance.

For PSU's I would stick with either a Seasonic unit or a Superflower unit if available to you. Best two brands you can get.

As others have said, drop down to 16GB of memory, I'd change the Noctua cooler to an AIO from either Corsair or Fractal. If you have spare money after changing these I'd seriously look into a 1TB size ssd. 512GB for OS and games isn't enough. I've filled my 1TB ssd with nearly 400GB already and that's strictly for games. It's always better to have more than enough than just barely enough. With games becoming larger and larger it's better to have more than enough anyways.

Also, this is strictly my opinion and I know others WILL disagree, but I'd consider a Fury X or even a Fury(when released-very soon) over a 980ti. You would have enough room for the AIOs on the Fury X and most definitely enough room for two aircooled Fury's. With the Fury you could get one now and then another rather quickly and certainly saves far more than two 980ti's. I know money isn't an issue but it's being smart with it that counts.

I'd take on board the other guys comments about the cpu cooler and drop 16GB of ram, then you'd have enough left of your budget to get another 980ti. For a gaming system this where you'll get the best performance.

You could shave more than £100 or so by getting the components from elsewhere.

Hi All,

I think I have the final version of my build complete, let me know what you think? Is there anything I could change to improve performance?


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£269.99 @ Novatech)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i GTX 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£109.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£169.99)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£154.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (£599.99 @ Novatech)
Case: NZXT H440 Designed by Razer™ ATX Mid Tower Case (£124.98)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£145.00 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM (64-bit) (£158.99)
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2014 Stealth Edition Wired Gaming Keyboard (£114.98)
Keyboard: Logitech G13 Wired Gaming Keyboard (£59.99)
Mouse: Razer Razer Naga 2014 Wired Laser Mouse (£69.98)
Headphones: Razer KRAKEN 7.1 CHROMA 7.1 Channel Headset (£89.99)
Other: Samsung SE-506CB (£59.99)
Total: £2308.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-23 19:40 BST+0100

Wraithguard said:

SLI'd you'd be looking at roughly 700W of power draw, so to be on the safe and quiet side you'd be looking at a 850W Unit.

Click to expand...

Well now you've scared me for 980Ti SLI since having an HX750i... Why Wraith, why?

Wraithguard said:

1: Memory, you don't need 32GB of RAM, 8GB would be sufficient maybe 16GB if you wanted too... but 32 is way over kill.

Click to expand...

I'm with Wraith on this one, I went from 8GB to 16GB and now finally to 32GB, but that is just because I wanted it and I have a bit of an tab issue so to speak, so I easily use up 16GB hehe ...
Although, 16GB will be plenty for your usage

List looks good, but a couple of points.

1. With regards to the RAM, I personally run 16GB of Corsair Dominator Platinums, and for gaming, most games are happy with 6GB, but for some newer, unoptimised games (B:AK I'm looking at you!) they need the 16GB. Like I said, unoptimised, or broken if you want to go down that route.

2. I've heard many people say, Tom included, that it's better to get the most powerful single card you can, then SLIing things. I was running a GTX 780 until a few weeks ago, and based on nVidia's current road map, I don't see you needing anything other than 1 980ti for a while.

Oh, and why have you got 2 keyboards on your list?

Thanks Mondo...

I will defo run just one 980ti for a while, as regards to the keybords I use the g13 for solely gaming and the other I just like the look of for use as a normal keyboard