First time PC gaming build - need advice

[AncientDog]

Hello everyone, this is my current build spec for my gaming PC. Every opinion and advice are appreciated. I am going to buy all the parts from Scan except for the monitor.

Asus Z97-PRO GAMER Intel Z97, S1150, DDR3, PCIe 3.0 (x16), Quad SLi, Quad CrossFireX, D-Sub (VGA)/ DVI-D / HDMI, ATX

4GB Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 GAMING, PCIe 3.0, 7000MHz GDDR5, GPU 1203MHz, Boost 1354MHz, Cores 1664, DP/HDMI/DVI-D/DVI-I

OR

4GB MSI GTX 970 GAMING Twin Frozr 5, PCIe 3.0, 7010MHz GDDR5, GPU 1140MHz, Boost 1279MHz, Cores 1664, DP/HDMI/DVI/DVI-D

Intel Core i7 4790K, LGA 1150, Haswell, Quad Core, 4GHz Base, 4.4GHz Turbo, 1200MHz GPU, 84W, CPU, Retail

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Blue DDR3 PC3-12800(1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.5V

1TB WD Blue WD10EZEX SATA III 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache 8ms OEM HDD

240GB SanDisk SSD PLUS, 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, Read 520MB/s, Write 350MB/s 81K IOPs

600W Corsair Builder Series CX, Non Modular, 80 PLUS Bronze, 1x120mm Fan, ATX, PSU

Thermaltake Versa H23 Mid Tower Gaming Case with USB 3.0 All Black Interior 120mm Fan w/o PSU

Now is the question part, I have several questions regard to to this build:
1. I'm aiming for 1080p only, is the 970 enough for the next 3 years? Or maybe I should get 980?
2. Is the PSU enough for whole system? And what about the rail thing, I have no idea about that.
3. Can all the part fit in that Thermal case? I only use the case for 1 year (then go aboard) so is there any better case?
4. I still need a CPU air cooler ~ £30. any good one around?
5. Between the 2 cards above, which one is better?

Thanks for reading.

 

[That Guy In The Shirt]

Hello everyone, this is my current build spec for my gaming PC. Every opinion and advice are appreciated. I am going to buy all the parts from Scan except for the monitor.

Asus Z97-PRO GAMER Intel Z97, S1150, DDR3, PCIe 3.0 (x16), Quad SLi, Quad CrossFireX, D-Sub (VGA)/ DVI-D / HDMI, ATX

4GB Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 GAMING, PCIe 3.0, 7000MHz GDDR5, GPU 1203MHz, Boost 1354MHz, Cores 1664, DP/HDMI/DVI-D/DVI-I

Intel Core i7 4790K, LGA 1150, Haswell, Quad Core, 4GHz Base, 4.4GHz Turbo, 1200MHz GPU, 84W, CPU, Retail

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Blue DDR3 PC3-12800(1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.5V

1TB WD Blue WD10EZEX SATA III 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache 8ms OEM HDD

240GB SanDisk SSD PLUS, 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, Read 520MB/s, Write 350MB/s 81K IOPs

600W Corsair Builder Series CX, Non Modular, 80 PLUS Bronze, 1x120mm Fan, ATX, PSU

Thermaltake Versa H23 Mid Tower Gaming Case with USB 3.0 All Black Interior 120mm Fan w/o PSU

Now is the question part, I have several questions regard to to this build:
1. I'm aiming for 1080p only, is the 970 enough for the next 3 years? Or maybe I should get 980?
2. Is the PSU enough for whole system? And what about the rail thing, I have no idea about that.
3. Can all the part fit in that Thermal case? I only use the case for 1 year (then go aboard) so is there any better case?
4. I still need a CPU air cooler ~ £30. any good one around?

Thanks for reading.

I have a few things to say about your build. For starters you don't need an i7 processor if the primary purpose of this pc is gaming. You can save $100 by getting the i5 4690k processor instead and you wouldn't see any difference in performance from this build. You should use that money to get a better psu, as Corsair's CX series is a rather low quality series of psus. If I were you I'd go with one of EVGA's G2 psus at say 550w or 650w. You could also get just about any XFX psu or Seasonic psu at a minimum wattage of 550w. It wouldn't even cost you that much more either. I'd suggest the Rosewill Capstone G550 (link here: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-power-supply-capstoneg650). It's a high quality semi-modular psu that's 650w, so that should be plenty for your build. A gtx 970 would probably be fine for 1080p gaming for 2-3 years if you want to max out everything and still hit 60fps, though after that you'd certainly need an upgrade to keep up with that kind of performance. If I were you I'd consider maybe getting an r9 390 instead, similar price and performance, but you can grab an 8gb VRAM model that would be better for future proofing (ex. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr939g1gaming8gd). I don't know much about that case, so I don't know if everything would fit in it, but if you want a quality case for around $50, check out the NZXT S340, it's a great case for the price, my friend has it with a very similair build to the one you have posted, and he is very pleased (link here: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-cas340wb1). And as for the cpu cooler, you don't NEED to get one if you don't want to, most cpus come with a stock cpu cooler that'll do the job just fine. If you want an aftermarket cooler though, you can't go wrong with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, it's a budget cooler that has great cooling for the price (link here: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2). Other than the suggestions I made your build looks just fine, but I really would suggest going with the changes I have listed. If you don't live in the US and wish to see the prices of these products in the currency of your country just go up to the country selector on the top right of the page and select your country or the nearest country to you on the list. I hope I was of some assistance, if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask me.

 

[marmiteonpizza]

600W Corsair Builder Series CX, Non Modular, 80 PLUS Bronze, 1x120mm Fan, ATX, PSU

Two things about the PSU: I'd get one with more wattage (750W should suffice) and I'd also get one with a certificate of 80+ platinum or gold, not bronze.

I still need a CPU air cooler ~ £30. any good one around?

The Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo is a brilliant CPU heatsink, I get glorious temps from it and it's well within your budget of £30.

Between the 2 cards above, which one is better?

The Gigabyte GTX 970 due to its slightly faster base clock speed of 1203MHz and overclocked speed of 1354MHz.

 

[krusha03]

Hello everyone, this is my current build spec for my gaming PC. Every opinion and advice are appreciated. I am going to buy all the parts from Scan except for the monitor.

Asus Z97-PRO GAMER Intel Z97, S1150, DDR3, PCIe 3.0 (x16), Quad SLi, Quad CrossFireX, D-Sub (VGA)/ DVI-D / HDMI, ATX

4GB Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 GAMING, PCIe 3.0, 7000MHz GDDR5, GPU 1203MHz, Boost 1354MHz, Cores 1664, DP/HDMI/DVI-D/DVI-I

OR

4GB MSI GTX 970 GAMING Twin Frozr 5, PCIe 3.0, 7010MHz GDDR5, GPU 1140MHz, Boost 1279MHz, Cores 1664, DP/HDMI/DVI/DVI-D

Intel Core i7 4790K, LGA 1150, Haswell, Quad Core, 4GHz Base, 4.4GHz Turbo, 1200MHz GPU, 84W, CPU, Retail

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Blue DDR3 PC3-12800(1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.5V

1TB WD Blue WD10EZEX SATA III 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache 8ms OEM HDD

240GB SanDisk SSD PLUS, 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, Read 520MB/s, Write 350MB/s 81K IOPs

600W Corsair Builder Series CX, Non Modular, 80 PLUS Bronze, 1x120mm Fan, ATX, PSU

Thermaltake Versa H23 Mid Tower Gaming Case with USB 3.0 All Black Interior 120mm Fan w/o PSU

Now is the question part, I have several questions regard to to this build:
1. I'm aiming for 1080p only, is the 970 enough for the next 3 years? Or maybe I should get 980?
2. Is the PSU enough for whole system? And what about the rail thing, I have no idea about that.
3. Can all the part fit in that Thermal case? I only use the case for 1 year (then go aboard) so is there any better case?
4. I still need a CPU air cooler ~ £30. any good one around?
5. Between the 2 cards above, which one is better?

Thanks for reading.

Hi and welcome to TPU. Do you have a current PC, if yes please fill in your system specs because you never know what you can re-use and save some cash. Also since you mentioned scan I assume you are from the UK but it is helpful for other members if you fill in your location as well. Finally it is good to state your budget because alternative better builds can be suggested then and people here often use partpicker. It has build in compatibility filter (so you dont have to worry about question 2 and 3) and can find the lowest prices in UK from a database of retailers (unless you are fixed on using only SCAN but that can also be adjusted). See your current build here:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£249.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£142.74 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£39.70 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£54.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£268.00 @ Aria PC)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.50 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£56.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £901.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-04 10:34 BST+0100

For example partpicker tells me a CM Evo 212 which is one of the best mainstream coolers will not fit in a H23. If you buy from different vendors you save about 35 pounds and 600 watts is more than enough because the system will use about 350W maximum without overclocking, which brings me to another question. Do you plan to overclock the system?

Two things about the PSU: I'd get one with more wattage (750W should suffice) and I'd also get one with a certificate of 80+ platinum or gold, not bronze.

Bronze PSUs are perfectly fine and a 750W for this configuration is overkill. Even with 2x970 in SLI the system will use less than 500W without overclocking. However if the price difference is not big he could get a better one

 

[marmiteonpizza]

Bronze PSUs are perfectly fine and a 750W for this configuration is overkill.

Ah, my apologies!
Obviously I need to touch up on my knowledge of PSU's

 

[krusha03]

@AncientDog since you didn't answer my question I will give you two builds. One for the current 935 pounds and one for 1100 pounds (you mentioned that you could get a 980 which is about 100 pounds more than your 970 giving a budget of about 1050)

Build 1

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£304.94 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£161.34 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£43.79 @ More Computers)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£54.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Armor 2X Video Card (£369.98 @ Novatech)
Case: Cougar MX300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £1093.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-04 16:00 BST+0100

Build 2

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£113.19 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£43.79 @ More Computers)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£54.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Armor 2X Video Card (£369.98 @ Novatech)
Case: Cougar MX300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £937.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-04 16:16 BST+0100

 

[AncientDog]

I have a few things to say about your build. For starters you don't need an i7 processor if the primary purpose of this pc is gaming. You can save $100 by getting the i5 4690k processor instead and you wouldn't see any difference in performance from this build. You should use that money to get a better psu, as Corsair's CX series is a rather low quality series of psus. If I were you I'd go with one of EVGA's G2 psus at say 550w or 650w. You could also get just about any XFX psu or Seasonic psu at a minimum wattage of 550w. It wouldn't even cost you that much more either. I'd suggest the Rosewill Capstone G550 (link here: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-power-supply-capstoneg650). It's a high quality semi-modular psu that's 650w, so that should be plenty for your build. A gtx 970 would probably be fine for 1080p gaming for 2-3 years if you want to max out everything and still hit 60fps, though after that you'd certainly need an upgrade to keep up with that kind of performance. If I were you I'd consider maybe getting an r9 390 instead, similar price and performance, but you can grab an 8gb VRAM model that would be better for future proofing (ex. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr939g1gaming8gd). I don't know much about that case, so I don't know if everything would fit in it, but if you want a quality case for around $50, check out the NZXT S340, it's a great case for the price, my friend has it with a very similair build to the one you have posted, and he is very pleased (link here: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-cas340wb1). And as for the cpu cooler, you don't NEED to get one if you don't want to, most cpus come with a stock cpu cooler that'll do the job just fine. If you want an aftermarket cooler though, you can't go wrong with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, it's a budget cooler that has great cooling for the price (link here: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2). Other than the suggestions I made your build looks just fine, but I really would suggest going with the changes I have listed. If you don't live in the US and wish to see the prices of these products in the currency of your country just go up to the country selector on the top right of the page and select your country or the nearest country to you on the list. I hope I was of some assistance, if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask me.

Thank you for your advice.

Two things about the PSU: I'd get one with more wattage (750W should suffice) and I'd also get one with a certificate of 80+ platinum or gold, not bronze.

The Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo is a brilliant CPU heatsink, I get glorious temps from it and it's well within your budget of £30.

The Gigabyte GTX 970 due to its slightly faster base clock speed of 1203MHz and overclocked speed of 1354MHz.

Thanks, your suggestion is much appreciated.

Hi and welcome to TPU. Do you have a current PC, if yes please fill in your system specs because you never know what you can re-use and save some cash. Also since you mentioned scan I assume you are from the UK but it is helpful for other members if you fill in your location as well. Finally it is good to state your budget because alternative better builds can be suggested then and people here often use partpicker. It has build in compatibility filter (so you dont have to worry about question 2 and 3) and can find the lowest prices in UK from a database of retailers (unless you are fixed on using only SCAN but that can also be adjusted). See your current build here:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£249.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£142.74 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£39.70 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£54.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£268.00 @ Aria PC)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case (£26.50 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£56.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £901.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-04 10:34 BST+0100

For example partpicker tells me a CM Evo 212 which is one of the best mainstream coolers will not fit in a H23. If you buy from different vendors you save about 35 pounds and 600 watts is more than enough because the system will use about 350W maximum without overclocking, which brings me to another question. Do you plan to overclock the system?


Bronze PSUs are perfectly fine and a 750W for this configuration is overkill. Even with 2x970 in SLI the system will use less than 500W without overclocking. However if the price difference is not big he could get a better one

So if I am going to use the EVO 212, what case should fit for it? Moreover I will not use the case after 1 year so I don't need an expensive one, just the right one.

About OC, I think I will let the mobo to overclock automatically (if it is possible). Otherwise, I will let it be.

And what about the rail of the PSU thing? Is the "Corsair CX 600W" good enough?

 

[horik]

@AncientDog since you didn't answer my question I will give you two builds. One for the current 935 pounds and one for 1100 pounds (you mentioned that you could get a 980 which is about 100 pounds more than your 970 giving a budget of about 1050)

Build 1

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£304.94 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£161.34 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£43.79 @ More Computers)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£54.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Armor 2X Video Card (£369.98 @ Novatech)
Case: Cougar MX300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £1093.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-04 16:00 BST+0100

Build 2

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£113.19 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£43.79 @ More Computers)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£54.29 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Armor 2X Video Card (£369.98 @ Novatech)
Case: Cougar MX300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £937.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-04 16:16 BST+0100

Only thing i would change in those 2 options is GPU, i think an GTX970 would be enough for 1080p.

 

[AncientDog]

I did find another budget case, its name is "Sharkoon VG4-V Gaming Case". I see the maximum height CPU cooler of this case is 160mm, just meet the requirement for the CM 212 Evo. Will there any hinder with the cooler performance if I use this case?

 

[n-ster]

Do you need that 1TB Hard Drive? Personally I would pay a bit more and get a 480-512GB SSD instead. This build has semi-fanless GPU and PSU, with very quiet Case and CPU cooler, and the HDD is removed to have higher performance and eliminate that noise-source. The M.2 slot is free so that when NVMe becomes cheaper, it will be an easy upgrade later on. It has higher quality components (notable case and PSU) and is geared towards silence:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.38 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£68.98 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£68.36 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £942.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 20:36 BST+0100

Spoiler: If you want to buy everything from one source (here Aria PC)

Small compromise on the SSD
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£198.18 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£31.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£89.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£137.50 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.95 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£69.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £940.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 21:24 BST+0100

If you have a higher budget and want an i7 5820K/X99, I'd go with 4x4GB RAM to take advantage of quad-channel RAM. Upgrading to X99 would be somewhere along the lines of £160~£200 extra.

 

[EarthDog]

Two things about the PSU: I'd get one with more wattage (750W should suffice) and I'd also get one with a certificate of 80+ platinum or gold, not bronze.

Why? Truth be told a 500W PSU would be plenty for his system, even with overclocking. Do the math... 90W CPU (say 120W overclocked which is generous). The 970 is a 150W card. Give 20% overclocking there (remember NVIDIA has power limits) so ~180W there. Give another 100W for the system and at PEAK with both the CPU AND GPU running 100% (which is F@H territory, not gaming/normal use), that is 400W. Realistically, that will be a 350W PC with an overclock. THere isn't remotely a need for 750W PSU (unless the OP is planning on getting multiple GPUs). And not going to get into the efficiency part...

Ah, my apologies!
Obviously I need to touch up on my knowledge of PSU's

PSUs and how much power a system can draw.



Id go with post # 16... either of them.

 

[That Guy In The Shirt]

Do you need that 1TB Hard Drive? Personally I would pay a bit more and get a 480-512GB SSD instead. This build has semi-fanless GPU and PSU, with very quiet Case and CPU cooler, and the HDD is removed to have higher performance and eliminate that noise-source. The M.2 slot is free so that when NVMe becomes cheaper, it will be an easy upgrade later on. It has higher quality components (notable case and PSU) and is geared towards silence:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.38 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£68.98 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£68.36 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £942.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 20:36 BST+0100

Spoiler: If you want to buy everything from one source (here Aria PC)

Small compromise on the SSD
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£198.18 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£31.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£89.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£137.50 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.95 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£69.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £940.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 21:24 BST+0100

If you have a higher budget and want an i7 5820K/X99, I'd go with 4x4GB RAM to take advantage of quad-channel RAM. Upgrading to X99 would be somewhere along the lines of £160~£200 extra.

For a gaming pc I don't think going with the X99 platform is a very cost effective method. All you need for gaming nowadays is an i5 processor, and there's nothing to suggest that that will necessarily change in the next couple years, as it's unlikely that DX12 will be more cpu reliant than DX11. If he wants an i7 he could get one without going X99 anyway. And While a large SSD would be nice, it should be noted that with the amount of space games take up nowadays, a 1TB HDD is beginning to become the minimum on a gaming pc. As someone with a 2TB HDD, I still intend to get another HDD because my games have almost taken up the entire thing. Granted I own a ton of games, but still, eventually he's gonna run out of space, especially if he only gets around 500GB. Just saying that it's something the OP should certainly consider.

 

[EarthDog]

as it's unlikely that DX12 will be more cpu reliant than DX11.

I believe they stated that more cores helps in DX12...

 

[n-ster]

That's why I went with the i5, but if he's going to go with an i7, X99 makes more sense than Z170 IMO, but my comment was mostly to warn about quad channel RAM anyways.

Storage space is really dependant on personal use. 480-512GB is enough for me, and it can be for a lot of people in my experience. I don't feel like size of games is the limiting factor, at least not if you use Steam, and instead most people with storage issues have a lot of movies, pictures and or music. With cloud storage (OneDrive, Amazon prime photos), streaming services (Spotify, Netflix), and external storage (2TB 2.5", 4~8TB 3.5“) nowadays, it's very feasible to stay SSD only. I'm in the process of reducing noise in my system, I've gone ahead with removing the optical drive, favoring an external drive instead. Once you get used to SSD speeds and quietness, HDD and ODD are very annoying.

I think the benefits really outweigh the limitations, but again, depends on the person

 

[That Guy In The Shirt]

That's why I went with the i5, but if he's going to go with an i7, X99 makes more sense than Z170 IMO, but my comment was mostly to warn about quad channel RAM anyways.

Storage space is really dependant on personal use. 480-512GB is enough for me, and it can be for a lot of people in my experience. I don't feel like size of games is the limiting factor, at least not if you use Steam, and instead most people with storage issues have a lot of movies, pictures and or music. With cloud storage (OneDrive, Amazon prime photos), streaming services (Spotify, Netflix), and external storage (2TB 2.5", 4~8TB 3.5“) nowadays, it's very feasible to stay SSD only. I'm in the process of reducing noise in my system, I've gone ahead with removing the optical drive, favoring an external drive instead. Once you get used to SSD speeds and quietness, HDD and ODD are very annoying.

I think the benefits really outweigh the limitations, but again, depends on the person

Fair enough, those are really good points. I myself tried to create as quiet of a build as possible, went with a Fractal Define R5 and an Ashura cpu cooler, so for the most part it's silent, but those HDDs, ugh. That is one thing I've always found annoying about hard drives, can't wait for SSDs to become the standard. Whatever OP thinks is best for his/her scenario I guess, it really is personal preference.

 

[peche]

Asus Z97-PRO GAMER Intel Z97, S1150, DDR3, PCIe 3.0 (x16), Quad SLi, Quad CrossFireX, D-Sub (VGA)/ DVI-D / HDMI, ATX

reaplced with Gigabyte z97X ud5... or any other gigabyte board like gaming 3 or 5...

The Gigabyte GTX 970 due to its slightly faster base clock speed of 1203MHz and overclocked speed of 1354MHz.

this! another reason to keep and stick with gigabyte,

Do you need that 1TB Hard Drive? Personally I would pay a bit more and get a 480-512GB SSD instead. This build has semi-fanless GPU and PSU, with very quiet Case and CPU cooler, and the HDD is removed to have higher performance and eliminate that noise-source. The M.2 slot is free so that when NVMe becomes cheaper, it will be an easy upgrade later on. It has higher quality components (notable case and PSU) and is geared towards silence:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.38 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£68.98 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£68.36 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £942.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 20:36 BST+0100

Spoiler: If you want to buy everything from one source (here Aria PC)

Small compromise on the SSD
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£198.18 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£31.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£89.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£137.50 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.95 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£69.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £940.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 21:24 BST+0100

If you have a higher budget and want an i7 5820K/X99, I'd go with 4x4GB RAM to take advantage of quad-channel RAM. Upgrading to X99 would be somewhere along the lines of £160~£200 extra.

almost perfect list!

 

[AncientDog]

reaplced with Gigabyte z97X ud5... or any other gigabyte board like gaming 3 or 5...

Any different between two brands?

 

[krusha03]

Any different between two brands?

Some people are brand loyalist and will swear that brand A is better than brand B. I honestly couldn't care less about the brand. Look at the specification of each board, read reviews and make informed choice. BTW you never mentioned what is your budget

 

[AncientDog]

My budget is around £1000, still looking for some other option...

 

[peche]

Some people are brand loyalist and will swear that brand A is better than brand B. I honestly couldn't care less about the brand. Look at the specification of each board, read reviews and make informed choice. BTW you never mentioned what is your budget

correct due several bad experiences with some brands, also the fact that i have always used gigabyte boards.... i cannot recommend another board, or a board that i wont use,

Regards,

 

[n-ster]

My budget is around £1000, still looking for some other option...

Do you need that 1TB Hard Drive? Personally I would pay a bit more and get a 480-512GB SSD instead. This build has semi-fanless GPU and PSU, with very quiet Case and CPU cooler, and the HDD is removed to have higher performance and eliminate that noise-source. The M.2 slot is free so that when NVMe becomes cheaper, it will be an easy upgrade later on. It has higher quality components (notable case and PSU) and is geared towards silence:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.99 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.38 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£68.98 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£68.36 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £942.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 20:36 BST+0100

Spoiler: If you want to buy everything from one source (here Aria PC)

Small compromise on the SSD
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£198.18 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler (£31.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£91.20 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£89.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£137.50 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£251.94 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.95 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£69.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £940.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 21:24 BST+0100

For what it's worth, I built a system almost exactly like this one for a client last week and... I've never seen a client so happy in my life lol. The semi-fanless not to mention badass looking GPU is definitively the star in the show though. If you have any specific questions that you'd want to ask the owner of such a system, I'll be happy to find out the answer for you. He didn't care about silence, but now that he has a silent build, he loves it