Help needed on high end gaming PC

[wayneb]

Hi Guys

I am after some advice. I have been asked to help my brother build a high spec gaming machine and after reading the feedback on the forum, it looks like I have a lot to learn on how everything works.

My brother suffered a stroke a few years back and now spends most of his time gaming and as his current PC often crashes and on it's last legs, I wanted to try and look at a PC that will be more than enough for now and offer at least 3 years future proofing.

I have a budget of around £2,500 - £2,700 and have opted to try and get the latest components, however I am sure there is more to it than this and was hoping for some feedback and advice on what would be the best build for this. Sorry, I don't have much of clue when it comes to this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance for your time looking at this.

Cheers Wayne

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM TROOPER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-4930K (3.4GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
32GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P( 4 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX TITAN - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
15x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ MODULAR TXM-850 V2-80 PLUS® (£99)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£59)
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD (£35)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 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 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NORTON 360 SUITE - 1 Year Licence for upto 3 PCs (£26) *SPECIAL*
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,680.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-2011-extreme/FtJENC_u9v/

 

[Spuff]

I haven't considered everything in your spec but I can say 32GB RAM is overkill. 16 is more than you probably will ever need for the life of PC bought now, and if you do ever reach that limit then you can just add more RAM.

 

[keynes]

The CPU, motherboard and ram are overkill. For around £2000 you can get an i5-4670 or an i7-4770 with 2xgtx 780 that will outperform the spec you posted.

 

[Cadwah]

Ok, how about something like this? Triple monitor, gaming mouse and keyboard included at around the £2500 mark...

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM TROOPER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-A: ATX, USB2.0, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE ASSASSINS CREED BLACK FLAG & MORE with GTX 660 & 7 Series GPUs!
2nd Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE ASSASSINS CREED BLACK FLAG & MORE with GTX 660 & 7 Series GPUs!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR (£159)
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
NORTON 360 SUITE - 1 Year Licence for upto 3 PCs (£26) *SPECIAL*
Monitor
AOC 23.6" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 5MS, D-Sub, DVI-D (£109)
2nd Monitor
AOC 23.6" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 5MS, D-Sub, DVI-D (£109)
3rd Monitor
AOC 23.6" WIDESCREEN LED TFT - 1920 x 1080, 5MS, D-Sub, DVI-D (£109)
Keyboard & Mouse
ROCCAT™ Isku – Illuminated Gaming Keyboard (£59)
Mouse
ROCCAT™ Lua – Tri-Button Gaming Mouse (£25)
Gaming Mouse Pad
ROCCAT™ Taito Mini Gaming Mouse Mat (£9)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,502.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/U5BCWJB6hd/

 

[wayneb]

Hi all, thanks for the feedback, as I thought, I don't have much of a clue. Your feedback is very much appreciated and helps. I'm just glad I didn't just order what I thought was best.

Hi Cadwah, many thanks for the build list, I will run this past my brother tomorrow, hopefully he will remember a some of items.

Just a quick question, he has a 24" monitor and not much space for any more, at the moment. I assume that the 2 x Geforce work together feeding the one monitor, do you need any additional cables etc, for this. The idea of 3 monitors, I am sure will appeal and maybe some rearranging is in order.

Cheers Wayne

 

[keynes]

Hi all, thanks for the feedback, as I thought, I don't have much of a clue. Your feedback is very much appreciated and helps. I'm just glad I didn't just order what I thought was best.

Hi Cadwah, many thanks for the build list, I will run this past my brother tomorrow, hopefully he will remember a some of items.

Just a quick question, he has a 24" monitor and not much space for any more, at the moment. I assume that the 2 x Geforce work together feeding the one monitor, do you need any additional cables etc, for this. The idea of 3 monitors, I am sure will appeal and maybe some rearranging is in order.

Cheers Wayne

If gaming in one monitor a single gtx 780 will be plenty. When running 2 GPUs no additional cables are needed.

 

[wayneb]

Thanks Keynes for the confirmation and your help.

Cheers Wayne

 

[Cadwah]

I'll admit I just kept adding stuff until I reached £2500, depending on what games your brother plays you could have a much cheaper machine that will work just as well for just as long. If he already has a monitor you could go for something like below: Or just go for the Vanquish Enforcer in the review section. If he plays RTS (Processor intensive) type games I might go for the i7 4770 in the following build instead...

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM TROOPER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-A: ATX, USB2.0, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE ASSASSINS CREED BLACK FLAG & MORE with GTX 660 & 7 Series GPUs!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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™ MODULAR TXM-650 V2-80 PLUS® (£79)
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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,501.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/SzK0a7q6ef/

 

[TheKeir]

This build is £500 cheaper than the one you originally posted, and you can spend that £500 on cool things like a mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse, good headset, a 144Hz monitor, or 1440p monitor, etc.

This is basically the best setup you can get for £2000, anything that outperforms this by a noticeable margin will go well beyond your budget. The only thing I can say with regard to the actual build is that Nvidia's GTX 780 Ti should come out this week, and it's faster than the 780. Therefore you might want to replace the 780s here with 780 Ti's, which should be a lot better. The Titan is a complete waste of money, a 780 will perform pretty much the same, at half the price. The upcoming 780 Ti will easily outperform it despite being set at a much lower cost too.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM TROOPER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z87: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE ASSASSINS CREED BLACK FLAG & MORE with GTX 660 & 7 Series GPUs!
2nd Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE ASSASSINS CREED BLACK FLAG & MORE with GTX 660 & 7 Series GPUs!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR (£159)
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)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,150.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/76IL_WHgyU/

 

[wayneb]

Hi TheKier

Thanks for your help. I placed an order last night, based on your recommendation with the 780 Ti's. We went with 2 of these as we can expand the monitors in the future.

Thanks also to Keynes, Cadwah and Spuff for your help in this. I felt a lot more comfortable ordering this with all your help, it is very much appreciated. My old was blown away with with the kind help, so its a thanks from him as well.

Cheers Wayne