Console gamer's 1st build

R

Rickin10

New member
HI all! Joined this forum because I’m about to drop the second largest amount of money I’ve ever spent in one go and thought it’d be a reasonable idea to get some expert advice.

I’m a long-time console gamer (uk) looking to build my first PC. I’m on a 1080 monitor at the mo but plan to get a 2500k in the not-to-distant future. I’ll be primarily gaming, using emulators , doing some video editing and photoshop and will be overclocking. I’ll possibly be looking at getting into creating my own games and mods .

I’ve done quite a bit of research and come up with the following:

Fractal Define R4
Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Sapphire r9 290 Tri-X
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8Gb
Crucial m500 240Gb
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply.
Corsair Vengeance K65
Steelseries Rival

I just have a few questions

1)I have the 290 Tri-x on pre-order from amazon as I got this for a relative steal at £340 during the bitcoining madness as I believe this is the best non-reference 290, particularly for quietness and temperature. Is this correct?

2)Will the cooler and the psu be enough?

3)Any advice on RAM? I’m having trouble understanding what I should be looking for. From what I can gather they’re much of a muchness. Is it better to have higher or lower voltage?

4)Is the mobo okay? I’ve heard there have been some problems with Gigabytes recently. Any other recommendations?

5)Does the above build limit my ability to upgrade in the future in any way?

If you’ve made it this far thanks for reading. Any answers and comments/advice/suggestions about anything regarding my build would be very much appreciated.
 
First off, welcome to OC3D! You've put together quite a good rig, although I would swap the XFX PSU for a Corsair or SeaSonic one because they're more reliable. 8 gigs of ram is enough for gaming, although if you are rendering video's or running other intensive programs I'd recommend you get 16gb. The mobo is great for overclocking and I find it looks good :)

If you get a psu with somewhat more watts you would be good for future upgrades.
 
Greetings! Now i'm not the most qualified, the Xfx psu's are supposed to be pretty good (oem of seasonic) but my main word of caution would be of if you had to rma it, Xfx can be a pain (read a few nightmare stories) Seasonics are nice and a few of the corsairs are great (mainly the ones that are also oems of seasonics - some aren't) There are a few Seasonics that are 600w or so if you wanted to make sure (and 500w too) but also gold etc, aswell as bronze.

There are a few nice coolers around the price range of £30 (and probably more) such as: thermalrights true spirit 140 bw, Alpenföhn's coolers (brocken/Matterhorn etc..) and Raijintek EreBos. Some though, from what i read don't come with extra pins for a second fan, so best to check that out really too (oh and some of these are huge, to fit in a case- best to check)

Looks pretty solid though man! Hope it helps!
 
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Rickin10 said:
Yes. At least I intend to. I've been led understand it's quite simple.
Click to expand...

uh, i guess someone explained it a bit wrong to you then.
don't get me wrong, i don't want to talk you off, but there's a lot you have to keep in mind.
if you want to do some overclocking i'd go with a better CPU cooler

Rickin10 said:
Thanks for the responses. Regarding the psu pcpartpicker.com reckons that my build will use 448w. Stupid newbie question: will overclocking use more wattage?

Or would this be better: Corsair Builder Series CX 600 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply Unit http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Bui...8&qid=1393154008&sr=1-2&keywords=600+watt+psu

Also can someone give me some advice on RAM because I feel like i'm choosing based on colour.
Click to expand...


Yes, power draw will increase when your components are overclocked

What's your budged? That PSU is not bad but if your budged allows it, I'd take a look at Corsair's RM series

As long as you choose a reputable brand going for RAM that fits your colour scheme is fine
 
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As for RAM, 1600MHz is considered the sweetspot for gaming, although you might see a little improvement getting 1866MHz. Anything above that is pointless for a gaming rig.

The CAS Latency (CL) is supposed to be kept as low as possible. Most 1600MHz will have either CL11 or CL9. The CL11 kits are kind of poor, so make sure you get a CL9 one (My 1600MHz Vengeance kit is CL8, but you won't see that very often).

The voltages are also supposed to be kept as low as possible. 1.35 Volt is considered "low voltage RAM" and you might be able to find some of these when you get a 1600Mhz kit. I know Corsair do a few low-profile ones.
1.5 Volt is average and perfectly fine for your configuration, 1.65 Volt is a bit high and you'll generally only see this on 2133MHz+ kits. Deffinitely don't get a 1600MHz kit with a voltage that high, just get 1.5 or below.

It is best to stick with 2 sticks of RAM, in your case 2x4GB. This will put less stress on your memory controller as 4 sticks will do, and it also leaves you with the possiblity of upgrading later.

Most RAM chips come from the same factories anyway, so there won't be much of a quality difference as long as you buy from a respectable brand like Corsair, G.Skill, Kingston, Crucial, Avexir, GeiL, Mushkin, Patriot or Adata.

TL;DR:
Get a 1600Mhz/1866Mhz kit with CL9 at 1.5 Volt or lower and any 2x4Gb kit with a heatspreader that you like and doesn't interfere with a tall heatsink, if you get one :)
 
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Cru said:
uh, i guess someone explained it a bit wrong to you then.
don't get me wrong, i don't want to talk you off, but there's a lot you have to keep in mind.
if you want to do some overclocking i'd go with a better CPU cooler
Click to expand...

What else do I need to keep in mind?

Cru said:
What's your budged? That PSU is not bad but if your budged allows it, I'd take a look at Corsair's RM series
Click to expand...

My overall budget was around £800.... It has somewhat spiralled to a grand and, ahem, some change :lol: But the more I researched the more I decided I'd rather spend more now and have no regrets so I've allowed some generous wriggle room.

barnsley said:
Ah right, personally I'd go for either the RM550 or the cx750m just to be on the safe side as those 290s oveclock very well but do enjoy a good chunk of power.
Click to expand...

If i'm overclocking a 290 roughly how many more watts will I be pulling? What benefits does the RM series give over what I selected?
 
Feronix said:
As for RAM, 1600MHz is considered the sweetspot for gaming, although you might see a little improvement getting 1866MHz. Anything above that is pointless for a gaming rig.

The CAS Latency (CL) is supposed to be kept as low as possible. Most 1600MHz will have either CL11 or CL9. The CL11 kits are kind of poor, so make sure you get a CL9 one (My 1600MHz Vengeance kit is CL8, but you won't see that very often).

The voltages are also supposed to be kept as low as possible. 1.35 Volt is considered "low voltage RAM" and you might be able to find some of these when you get a 1600Mhz kit. I know Corsair do a few low-profile ones.
1.5 Volt is average and perfectly fine for your configuration, 1.65 Volt is a bit high and you'll generally only see this on 2133MHz+ kits. Deffinitely don't get a 1600MHz kit with a voltage that high, just get 1.5 or below.

It is best to stick with 2 sticks of RAM, in your case 2x4GB. This will put less stress on your memory controller as 4 sticks will do, and it also leaves you with the possiblity of upgrading later.

Most RAM chips come from the same factories anyway, so there won't be much of a quality difference as long as you buy from a respectable brand like Corsair, G.Skill, Kingston, Crucial, Avexir, GeiL, Mushkin, Patriot or Adata.

TL;DR:
Get a 1600Mhz/1866Mhz kit with CL9 at 1.5 Volt or lower and any 2x4Gb kit with a heatspreader that you like :)
Click to expand...

Ahhh, thanks so much for this. Best explanation I've read. Much appreciated!

Sorry, Cru, I posted the above before I saw Feronix's contribution.
 
Rickin10 said:
If i'm overclocking a 290 roughly how many more watts will I be pulling? What benefits does the RM series give over what I selected?
Click to expand...

R9 290 = one pcie x16 slot = 75w one 6pin pcie power connector = 75w one pcie 8pin power connector = 150w = a maximum total of 300w meaning you can not pull more than 300w's with that card no matter how much you oc.

CX units are as cheap as i'd like to go on power supply's the RM units are gold rated and have much higher quality components and efficiency,however the RM units seam to be haveing some quality control issues at the moment and ive been seeing a alarming amount of people complaining about them.
See here --> http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=123484
 
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cooperman said:
CX units are as cheap as i'd like to go on power supply's the RM units are gold rated and have much higher quality components and efficiency,however the RM units seam to be haveing some quality control issues at the moment and ive been seeing a alarming amount of people complaining about them.
See here --> http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=123484
Click to expand...

With that in mind, should I steer clear of corsair? What are the recommended brands? From previous posts I take it XFX are not one.

Also should I be looking at getting a modular psu for my Define R4 or would space not be an issue?
 
corsair AX units, XFX ones are good you just have to make shure thay are not older vershons that do not support haswell low power states, seasonic units (all xfx units are seasoinic) super flower power units are all good solid power supplies.

Modular or semi Modular psu's will help a lot with cable management and you whont have bundled up balls of spare cables tie'ed up siting in side your case.
The R4 has plenty of space inside and thay are good case's to work in.

If you whant to check out the OEM's of a psu there is a good link here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913-10.html

And a helpfull list of psu's in diffent areas of quality listed here http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

Ignore anything from OCZ there quality is all over the place and thay have gone bust so there will be no RMA avalable with them
 
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As Cooperman said;
What you should understand is that when you buy a PSU, there's very little chance it's actually made by the company you're buying it from. Rebranding happens a lot in this industry so that might make picking a proper unit a bit more difficult.

Seasonic are considered one of, if not the best OEMs on the market. They sell units themselves, but brands like Corsair and XFX also buy units from them, slap their own design on it and sell it. Corsair also rebrands from some other OEMs like Flextronics on their high-end AXi series (while the regular AX series are Seasonic).

You see there is a difference in all of their series and that's where the price difference comes from. This does not make their low-end series (CX, VS, CS) bad but it's always best to aim for the best you can afford. Corsair also offer epic warranty, so that makes me a fan of them.

A newcomer is Super Flower which seems to be surprisingly good judging from the reviews. They sell their own units, but they may be hard to find and cost a pretty little penny.

Brands that I would recommend getting:
Corsair, XFX (new units), Seasonic, BeQuiet!, Super Flower.

Other brands worth considering would be:
Cooler Master, Antec, Fractal Design, NZXT, Silverstone.

Please note that there are obviously more brands out there that are decent quality and that some brands do have very good units, but also below average quality. Always do your research and look up reviews.

Truth is that you're going to have to spend a bit more on a PSU then you were planning to. Don't ever skimp on a power supply cause in the end, it's the thing that delivers power to all your other components. You'll want a good quality one.

As for the modular part; Deffinitely get a modular unit. The R4 offers plenty of space to hide the cables, but not having to hide the ones you're not using at all just makes it a breeze. There's also semi-modular which would work fine too as you'll usually need the non modular cables (24pin, 8Pin EPS and 8 or 6pin PCI) anyway.
 
Firstly welcome to the forums dude.

Secondly I'd go for the Corsair XMS3 series ram (9-9-9-24) I found it perfect for Photoshop work also it performs excellent in games too.

While the Gigabyte UD3 boards had teething problems they have since been ironed out with the new revisions making Gigabyte motherboards a great choice, they still hold the lowest RMA rate of all manufacturers and have brilliant customer service you should also take a look at Asus formula boards.
 
Wraithguard said:
Firstly welcome to the forums dude.

Secondly I'd go for the Corsair XMS3 series ram (9-9-9-24) I found it perfect for Photoshop work also it performs excellent in games too.

While the Gigabyte UD3 boards had teething problems they have since been ironed out with the new revisions making Gigabyte motherboards a great choice, they still hold the lowest RMA rate of all manufacturers and have brilliant customer service you should also take a look at Asus formula boards.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, particularly about the mobo - puts my mind somewhat at ease.

As for the psu, the best option I've found so far seems to be a Corsair RM Series RM650 80 Plus Gold 650W for £84. I was considering getting an 850w for potential crossfire upgrades but the only real options are out of stock. I doubt a 750w would handle a couple of 290s. Is it just me or are there comparatively fewer options in the uk?

Damn, I have problems deciding on one piece of electrical equipment, but putting together something that has over 10...? I feel like my brain is going to implode! :lol:
 
The RM series are really good! There's a review on the main site if you want to have a look.

Don't go for the XMS3 ram though, the only kits are either 1333MHz, which is a bit slow, or 1600MHz but those kits use 1.65v so it's not the best RAM out there.

You could have a look at Corsair Vengeance, Vengeance Pro or Vengeance LP (Low Profile) if you want a tall heatsink on your CPU.
 
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