Ordering soon, any improvements of my rig?

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Whumberstone

Active member
Pretty much done designing my budget gaming PC and at the moment i'm happy with how it looks. Just want some other peoples advice who are no doubt more experienced than me to make sure it all checks out :D

Some questions i have about my build are:

- Is there any obvious bottle-necking that i haven't picked up on

- Not 100% certain if I've chosen the best case, can you recommend a more suitable one for less than £50. More concerned about cooling and compatibility than aesthetics

- Are there any ways i could noticeable improve the build for a small cost, or chose a cheaper part here to get a better part there

- Finally should i stick with R9 380 or go GT 960, there is always conflict in views although from research the Radeon seems to come out on top


Specs

Case SHARKOON VG4-W GAMING CASE (Green LED)

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4590 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM) 8GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card 4GB AMD RADEON™ R9 380 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 12, Eyefinity

1st Hard Disk 120GB SAMSUNG 650 SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 450MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER

Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND


Thanks in advance for any input
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Do you have a budget? I would upgrade the cpu cooler, drop the ssd to get a better gpu
 
W

Whumberstone

Active member
keynes said:
Do you have a budget? I would upgrade the cpu cooler, drop the ssd to get a better gpu
Click to expand...

Budget is around £650, I've been told i really don't need an aftermarket cooler. So atm i kind of already over budget a little.

Alright so if i dropped the 250GB SSD, i'd have enough to either upgrade to a R9 390 or a GTX 970

Is it worth dropping the SSD for this? and if so which GPU would be better? (haven't researched either card) Would my cooling system be ok for this GPU? Also i would have to upgrade my PSU with these graphics cards, pushing price up even more
 
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keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
I think you need to research on how good the Intel cpu coolers are, I wouldn't go with the standard cpu cooler for a gaming rig especially if you are concerned about cooling. Considering the main use is gaming and your budget I would drop the ssd for a better gpu. You wouldn't need the upgraded thermal paste unless you are planning to overclock your cpu.
 
W

Whumberstone

Active member
I guess it can't hurt to have a better cooling system. Sadly my budget won't stretch to improving the GPU + power supply as well as the cooling system :/

I'll stick with the 380 and maybe upgrade down the line when I can afford it. Thanks for the advice
 
J

J4M35

Member
Case
InWIN G7 BRUSHED EFFECT DARK GREY CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM)
8GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - 3D Vision Ready

1st Hard Disk
1TB WD BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler (£29)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)

USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - 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 7 to 9 working days

Price: £765.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/FPK8XkGqVH/
 
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W

Whumberstone

Active member
Would probably need an SSD card on top of that at least for the OS.

Also the 380 is better than the 960, the CPU isn't noticeably better in gaming performance than the other Haswell i5s compared to the cost and i can't overclock my cpu anyway so i probably don't need that motherboard. The PSU is also a higher than i need although it's not an issue.

Thanks for the suggestion but I think that's a downgrade from the current setup (slightly different from the original)

Case SHARKOON VG4-W GAMING CASE (Green LED)

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4460 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM) 8GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card 4GB AMD RADEON™ R9 380 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 12, Eyefinity

1st Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler

Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
 
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W

Whumberstone

Active member
£29 pounds more sure seems like a lot just for a different HDD, I don't think my budget will stretch to that sadly. I don't know much about what makes a HDD better than another but i think £29 could be used better elsewhere perhaps
 
J

J4M35

Member
The GTX 960 may be a slight downgrade in terms of performance, but it is more reliable, less hot, cheaper and less power hungry than the R9 380. I didn't include an SSD because they are expensive and not technically necessary. I chose the i5 4690 because it is the best non–unlockable 4th gen i5 CPU. I went for the 550W PSU just to be on the safe side. As for the case: the In Win is less fugly and of a higher quality than the gross Sharkoon, which frankly looks gross lol ;)
 
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W

Whumberstone

Active member
On my budget £42 between the CPUs is probably more than a little when you're not going to notice a difference (maybe 1-3fps) unless you use benchmarks. You're right about the case, I was looking at the inWIN but it was out of stock (and still is) so i changed. Not really bothered about aesthetics too much though
 
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