£1300 Gaming build

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SeriesA

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I'm looking to build a PC for around £1300, but i am having trouble picking out parts.

This will be my first build and i will have a go at overclocking, both the CPU and GPU.

I am running a 1920x1080 monitor, but i am planning on upgrading to three in the future, i do not need windows, and if a mass storage drive cannot fit in with the build i have one i can re use.

I do have a few things that I know I want, for example
Case: NZXT H440 - White (ASAP after release - If anyone has any info on release that would be great)
GPU: NVidia 780 (Need help on deciding on brand tho)

The main concern i have is a colour scheme, because i like the white and black look, but i have been looking and i cant seem to find anything to go with the look i want, i will also be using white LED strips for this build, and as its my first build i want it to look as good as i can in the price bracket.

Thank you for any help in advance
 
If you can find a R9 290 cheaper than a 780 then i advise going down that route. The Sapphire Tri X cooler is by far the quietest cooler on the market and still can OC like crazy and get close to the 780ti in performance. I only mention this because iirc someone a few days ago listed prices and a 290 was as cheap as a 780, but 290's perform better.

I would look into a 4670k, 290(or 780 if you are completely set on it), H440, 120GB ssd(should re-use your old HDD and get a bigger SSD), MSI GD mobo series/Gigabyte UDH series, and lastly a 750watt PSU or if you plan on Xfire/SLI in the future with either the 290 or 780 then a 850watt PSU.

Let me know if i forgot anything:)
 
Thanks for your reply

I have heard that about the r9 290, but the only concern is will it fit in with my white black theme I want, but then I suppose the orange shroud will not be very visible

Also the only thing I can see you left out was cooling for the cpu
 
The cooler shows very little gold on the top. Most cards have some kind of color on the top anyway though.

If it was me i would only get a cheap AIO or air cooler. Then in the future i would watercool because of the H440 being very easy to do so in. Would also make it easier to get that white/black theme.

If you stick with only sealed loops then check out the H105 or h100i. Pretty sure the H105 can fit in the top iirc.
 
In terma of pure performance, would I be better off with an overclocked r9 290 tri x or a 780 overclocked aswell?
 
I was not paying attention in a maths lecture earlier thinking about a hypothetical build that came out at around that price. I actually watched toms 250D review last night, then had a dream about sleeping with one, maybe don't ask. I know it's kind of not what you asked for at all but I was just thinking how freaking sweet it would be :) If it were someone else i'd recommend a different PSU and SSD but that's just what I was thinking at the time.

https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=593c03d0aa1640d0b13a8f87962d7398

JR
 
Thanks for your suggestion and i actually quite like that build, but i am not really a fan of itx builds, but i suppose you could swap that case with an atx case, and the mobo with a maximus hero
 
I thought you probably wouldn't want to go with a ROG ITX build from your OP and it's actually quite an expensive little board. I think a 4670k and 780 would do nicely teamed up with a 240GB SSD probably a Samsung EVO and a H100i too. I guess if your thinking about triple 1080p you'll be adding in another card later on, so probably go with an AX860.

Something like that - https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=07673179237b4feab9ad044cf78e8110

(I just put the case because its the same price as a H440)
 
Went on pc part picker to see the best price for all the parts, and come up with this

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£86.50 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£147.69 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB ) DDR3-1866 Memory (£133.97 @ Dabs)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£123.68 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (£389.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT H440 ATX Mid Tower Case (£104.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£149.38 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1296.80
 
That's pretty nice if you saved enough to get the 16GB Vengeance Pro 1866 kit. I'm not sure if that's the exact graphics card you would want to go for, I just popped it in because it was inkeeping with the colour scheme and came with a backplate. The MSI gaming OC for a bit less or a Classified for a bit more might be nice options for that red accent white/black colour scheme, or even the ACX superclock, whatever you like I guess. Nothing wrong with the asus though, just watch out it's not a bit too fat for SLI in the future.
 
Im still a bit confused on the graphics card tho, what would be better for BF4, dayz, titanfall, and newer titles upcoming?

Also the r9 290 is about £40 cheaper, so that could go towards a mass storage drive like a WD black

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB

Sapphire Radeon tri x R9 290 4GB Video Card
 
Well in BF4 an R9-290 should be ahead because of the mantle support but with most other games they trade blows with each other. Sometimes the 780 will be ahead sometimes not. My friend tried out my reference 780 and then a Gigabyte R9-290 Windforce and after bought an MSI 780 Lightning. The 290 had a serious problem and ran very hot (94c) and in my opinion the cooler didn't seem that great but it could have been a screwed up chip. We played a couple of games on each of them and they were all very similar but the nVidia cards always looked a lot smoother to the eye even when they were putting out less frames. Just from my biased impression of not many cards (a 290 and 6 780's lol) I would go with a 780 but don't let me sway you. Some of the overclocking software is really nice for the 780's like precision X and afterburner but the gigabyte amd software is terrible, it can't even extrapolate a fan curve it just increases it in huge 10% steps. That's just what I think and i'm obviously biased, read a few reviews look at some numbers and see what you think.
 
if in the future i was to sli/crossifre one of these cards, and run triple, or 1440p monitor setup, what card would you recommend?
 
JR23 said:
Well in BF4 an R9-290 should be ahead because of the mantle support but with most other games they trade blows with each other. Sometimes the 780 will be ahead sometimes not. My friend tried out my reference 780 and then a Gigabyte R9-290 Windforce and after bought an MSI 780 Lightning. The 290 had a serious problem and ran very hot (94c) and in my opinion the cooler didn't seem that great but it could have been a screwed up chip. We played a couple of games on each of them and they were all very similar but the nVidia cards always looked a lot smoother to the eye even when they were putting out less frames. Just from my biased impression of not many cards (a 290 and 6 780's lol) I would go with a 780 but don't let me sway you. Some of the overclocking software is really nice for the 780's like precision X and afterburner but the gigabyte amd software is terrible, it can't even extrapolate a fan curve it just increases it in huge 10% steps. That's just what I think and i'm obviously biased, read a few reviews look at some numbers and see what you think.
Click to expand...

I hope he made sure the card was in the OC bios mode...

and the R9 290 Tri-X card is without a doubt the better card here.. its the coolest 290 around and the quietest card on the market. OCs like a champ and in Xfire it has the best scaling along with better frame pacing than the HD7xxx cards.
 
NeverBackDown said:
I hope he made sure the card was in the OC bios mode...

and the R9 290 Tri-X card is without a doubt the better card here.. its the coolest 290 around and the quietest card on the market. OCs like a champ and in Xfire it has the best scaling along with better frame pacing than the HD7xxx cards.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it wouldn't even idle nicely with the fans on 100% it was still at 43c it clearly had a massive problem, not wishing to sidetrack the thread. There's no way all 290's are that bad otherwise they wouldn't sell any at all so i'm sure its a sensible option for the OP. I personally would run away like the irrational fanboy that I am, but that normally costs me a lot of money, but i'm happy. My first pair of 780's on release day were £1100 so they all seem like bonkers value to me :)
 
This is the parts i have picked out, let me know what you think, i have picked a black, white and blue theme, and i was planning on painting the shroud that comes with the EVGA 780 either white, or blue (opinions?)

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.00)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£86.50 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£121.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB ) DDR3-1866 Memory (£139.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£123.49 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (£399.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: NZXT H440 ATX Mid Tower Case (£104.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans (£22.00)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£130.00)
Total: £1297.57
 
If you can still get the 290 Tri-X card for cheaper than the 780 then i would advise that card and paint the shroud as well to white.

If you plan on Xfire/SLI ever in the future then i would up the PSU but other than that it all looks solid to me.
 
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