Good Mid-Level Gaming Machine?

[Azzthatch]

Is this a good mid-level gaming machine? if not how would you tweak / improve it?

- COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
- Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4570 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
- ASUS® Z87M-PLUS: m-ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6.0, XFIRE
- 8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
- 2GB AMD RADEON™ R9 270 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable

Thanks

 

[keynes]

Getting an AMD CPU assuming you are in a budget, fx-6300 with the r9-270x instead

 

[4ner]

What's your budget?

 

[Azzthatch]

I'm not a fan of of AMD CPUs, they just don't compare to Intel. As for budget £750 with delivery to Spain.

 

[keynes]

For your budget an AMD CPU offers better value for money and will allow you to get a more balanced system. An intel equivalent will be better but if your budget was higher. For gaming the fx-6300 with the r9-270x wil be better than the spec you posted

 

[Azzthatch]

If I was to go with an AMD CPU, would I then be able to upgrade to say an i7?

 

[keynes]

No, different socket in the motherboard

 

[Azzthatch]

I think I will stick with the Intel CPU as I can always upgrade later.... any other thoughts?

 

[steaky360]

I think I will stick with the Intel CPU as I can always upgrade later.... any other thoughts?

Just an FYI You would only be able to upgrade within the same socket (ie socket 1150) without changing the motherboard.

 

[Azzthatch]

Just an FYI You would only be able to upgrade within the same socket (ie socket 1150) without changing the motherboard.

The motherboard states "Intel® LGA1150 4th Generation Core™ i7/Core™ i5/Core™ i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors Ready" so in theory I could pop out the i5 and whack in an i7 for example?

 

[Rakk]

The motherboard states "Intel® LGA1150 4th Generation Core™ i7/Core™ i5/Core™ i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors Ready" so in theory I could pop out the i5 and whack in an i7 for example?

As long as its a Socket 1150 i7 yes.
Noting that not all i7's are that socket, for example the i7-4820K is a socket 2011

 

[Azzthatch]

OK cool.... are 1150 socket chips readily available? what are the most common?

 

[steaky360]

1150 chips are basically the current generation (Haswell) and are readily available. If you are thinking of upgrading in a few years it may be more difficult to come across one but I can't say for sure.

 

[Onechanceatlife]

May wanna check that you have i5 4570K (the K being important) as the motherboard you have selected is for overclocking, where as the non K series can't be overclocked AKA you can save money by chosing a different motherboard. Although in all fairness you'd wanna aim to get the K series, as overclocking it will mean it'll run like a beast for the next few years! (Would need a cooler too, not sure on options on here, but something cheap like a Evo 212 will do you for small overclocks) Overclocking being dead easy nowadays anyhow!

Also i7 will show you not much performance gain per pound spent over an i5 for gaming (Unless you plan on doing 1080 streaming and video rendering?). It also depends on what gaming you're doing. For instance playing MMOs then no matter what Intel will hands down beat AMD for performance!

May want to also go dual channel on the RAM and get 2 x 4gb rather than 1 x 8gb

 

[Cadwah]

I'm not a fan of of AMD CPUs, they just don't compare to Intel. As for budget £750 with delivery to Spain.

How about this?

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte H81M-DS2V: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ R9 270X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, 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 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
3 - 4 DAY DELIVERY TO SPAIN (30 £)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: 751,00 £ including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-home-office-pc/tZARDLEbMq/

 

[Onechanceatlife]

Build above has a more suited mobo and CPU combo, although if you can stretch your budget up a notch to a K cpu series with a Z87 mobo and a cheap cooler, then you are perfectly set even more so! But to stick to your budget then yes this one is rather decent! In the future you could always add a SSD hard drive for faster boot times and general faster load times of games... But that is probably me being biased on the "once you go SSD you never go back".