Looking for opinions on this budget gaming rig

Discussion in 'Building a new PC' started by soulquarian14, May 18, 2014.

  1. soulquarian14

    soulquarian14 Member

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    Hello everyone,

    I'm a first time DIY-er looking to build a budget (~£500 / $800-900) gaming rig within the next month. I've spent the last week reading guides on the site, and others, and have put together the prospective set-up below. I'd like to play current titles comfortably (worth noting: I don't plan on over-clocking) and maintain that comfort for a couple of years. I've avoided high-end components as I've read that noticeable performance improvements diminish towards the top. When the time comes to upgrade, I'd like to do so with as few components as possible so I guess I'm more concerned with a non-restrictive core setup where I can swap out / drop in components that will keep the machine up with the demands to come. As such, highlighting any glaringly restrictive choices below would be greatly appreciated. Likewise, if I've gone overboard with any components.

    I realise that going into this with the above mentality might be flawed, so please call me out on that if it's the case. My last gaming desktop was built by an old friend back in '05. I plan to re-use the case, optical drive and HDD from that.

    CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 LGA 1155 3.2 GHz
    Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme 4
    GPU: Sapphire Radeon R7 265
    Memory: TeamGroup Vulcan 8GB (x2 4GB) DDR3 2400MHz Dual Channel
    SSD: Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6Gb/s
    PSU: EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular

    I think the PSU might be an over-board item, but it was chosen based on the Newegg PSU calculator which recommended 776W for this setup, so I thought a couple hundred extra watts might be a wise choice.

    Any thoughts would be very helpful.
     
  2. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    is the old drives ide or sata interface as that motherboard might not have ide on it?
     
  3. soulquarian14

    soulquarian14 Member

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    Thanks for your reply. CrystalDiskInfo tells me the interface is SATA.
     
  4. Hrdrk20

    Hrdrk20 Regular member

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    The only items you don't have on your list:

    CPU cooling fan
    CPU Thermal cooling compound (IMPORTANT)
    DVD rom
    Win 7 Ultimate (found at the usual places ;)
     
  5. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    Hrdrk20,
    cpu heatsink fan assembly & compound comes with cpu.
     
  6. john179

    john179 Active member

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    Would recommend an Corsair Hydro H60 cooler as a budget cooler well worth the money currently using one in my budget pc.
     

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