Gaming PC spec advice

[Conovar]

Hey guys, would appreciate any advice/improvements on the following spec. I've heard overclocking is not really needed for most games, but I am mainly buying this for Rome 2 TW which I understand is quite CPU intensive? Also a bit lost on which motherboard to get - I'm not planning to SLI in the future. Would like to keep to around £1,500, but could go up to £1,700.

Could anyone recommend a 22"-24" Monitor for gaming @ < £200?

Thanks

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-4670k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.20GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® MAXIMUS VI GENE: RoG, PCI-e 3.0, SATA 3.0, USB3.0, THX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£79)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£69)
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Gaming Mouse Pad
Corsair Vengeance® MM200 Gaming Mouse Mat Compact Edition (£12)
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,536.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[keynes]

If you are not planning to sli you could get the z87-k which should offer the similar performance for your intended use and it is cheaper. I wouldn't worry about adding chassis fans, the case you selected will offer good cooling for your spec but you could add more fans if you which later on which can match the colour scheme of your case.

 

[athosg82]

Hey there,

As a first let me show you my new rig which i expect to arrive next week.

Case InWIN G7 BRUSHED EFFECT DARK GREY CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® Z87M-PLUS: m-ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6.0, XFIRE
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling Corsair H40 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Power Cable 1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 8 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor AOC E2752VQ 27" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 2MS, HDMI, DP
Speakers LOGITECH S120 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Quantity 1
Total Order Price Ex VAT £963.33
Total VAT Amount £192.67
Total Order Price £1,156.00

Remarks:
- Our rigs are very similar apart from the graphics card and some accessories. I'm not sure how yours got almost 30% more expensive. Mine also includes a 27" monitor.
- For this rig, a GTX 780 is an overkill. Don't expect to see its full performance unless you do some heavy duty CPU and ram overclocking. I would suggest a 760 or 770 at most. Overall value of the 780 is very bad.
- Save on prebuilt-overclocking and do it yourself after you get the rig
- my 27" AOC monitor at 2 ms is at 185p. Could go for 1 ms but that would really bump up the price. Not sure if you want it so big.
- You seem to be greatly concerned about cooling. At your overclock levels you don't need to spend so much money on cooling.
- Who uses a bluray drive on a PC unless they have a big screen. Unnecessary cost in general if you ask me. Many companies (such as Netflix) stream movies for a very low cost and amazing quality or you could go for the pirate's way.

Overall, for 1500 you could get a much more powerful rig. My advice is to drop some unnecessary accessories and take the responsibility of fine tuning your machine afterwards.

 

[Rakk]

- Our rigs are very similar apart from the graphics card and some accessories. I'm not sure how yours got almost 30% more expensive. Mine also includes a 27" monitor.

Yes, the graphics card is the main difference, the 780 is a good £300+ more than the 760, so that is exactly where most of the price difference is from

 

[keynes]

- Who uses a bluray drive on a PC unless they have a big screen. Unnecessary cost in general if you ask me. Many companies (such as Netflix) stream movies for a very low cost and amazing quality or you could go for the pirate's way.

I got the same size screen as you and use my blu ray player quite often, for watching movies in 3D and other films where I can notice the quality over DVD or streaming online.

-

Our rigs are very similar apart from the graphics card and some accessories. I'm not sure how yours got almost 30% more expensive. Mine also includes a 27" monitor.

Looking at your rig you could save some money if you go for a full atx motherboard with more expansion slots and slightly cheaper as well as the triple copper heatpipe CPU cooler. Not really sure what your intended use is but I would have use the fast track money to get the gtx 770 and/or a caviar black drive .

 

[athosg82]

I got the same size screen as you and use my blu ray player quite often, for watching movies in 3D and other films where I can notice the quality over DVD or streaming online.

-
Looking at your rig you could save some money if you go for a full atx motherboard with more expansion slots and slightly cheaper as well as the triple copper heatpipe CPU cooler. Not really sure what your intended use is but I would have use the fast track money to get the gtx 770 and/or a caviar black drive .

Thats some great advice right there. If i go for the 770 though i will also have to upgrade to a 650W PSU. It is something i am willing to consider for future upgrades though...