First build, general use and some gaming

Hi all, I have been lurking around on the forum for a while now and researching what it is I need and want out of a PC. I have mostly had laptops up until now but I crave something a bit more powerful, quicker and I would also like to have a multi monitor set up (not for gaming though, I will use just one monitor for that). I work as  an engineer and I am also working towards an online degree in Computing and Design and the PC will get used for both of these things.

The PC will be used for;

Visual studio, Microsoft access/excel/word etc. A bit of Java in Eclipse.

Some light CAD/CAM work (mostly just for viewing existing files not creating new ones).

A bit of photo and video editing but nothing fancy.

Gaming at 1080p on a single monitor.

I'm completely new to pc gaming (only played console up until now) and to be honest I don't know what kind of games I will end up playing but I am getting board of console titles so I'm looking to play some PC exclusives and also some of the lesser known games (any recomendations are welcomed, I mostly play single player games).

As for gaming settings, I'm not looking to max everything out so medium to high settings at playable frame rates on a 1080p monitor is all i'm after.

 

I have all the peripherals I need.

I live in the UK (so all in £).

I will possibly over clock in the future.

As for budget £600-700 ish, less is good though.

Must have SSD and the GPU does not have to be high end as I can upgrade in the future if required.


This is what I came up with;

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sv4GwP

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£173.94 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.97 @ Amazon UK)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£97.16 @ Scan.co.uk)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£57.53 @ Ebuyer)

Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£51.99 @ Amazon UK)

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£135.99 @ Ebuyer)

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (£74.63 @ CCL Computers)

Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.00 @ CCL Computers)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.46 @ Aria PC)

Total: £687.67

My reason for picking these parts is that if I really get into gaming on the PC and I want to get better settings and FPS or play at a higher resilotion then i can just swap out the GPU for something higher end and I'm good to go.

I would appreciate any feed back on this build, anything I could cut the cost on or if i should spend a bit more in places. I am especially unsure on the motherboard and PSU. Also if anyone can recommend a cheeper case that will work well and is good for a first time builder that would be great.

Also I will be using a wireless internet connection, does the motherboard have wireless built into it or do i need to buy a wireless card?

Thanks

Shaun

 

I will be using windows with this build ether 7 or 8.1 not sure yet.

Well only get the k processor and aftermarket cooler if you know you're going to oc because otherwise it's money wasted.  Also mostly only the mini itx boards have built in wifi on them most full sized boards don't so you would need a ,wireless card if you're going to want to connect wirelessly.  

To be honest if you're going to play online games if you can get a wired connection long ethernet cables can be had for pretty cheap and you'll thank me in the end trust me. Normally you always want to spend more on your video card if you want to maximize your gaming performance as its pretty much always the limiting factor in your system so I would get something a little better but that's up to you and how much of an importance it is for you.

Thanks for the tips, I might just stick with a wired connection then as I don't have to be wireless.

If i'm not going to over clock would something like this be better.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/96q9Bm

 

That looks a bit better. but for the video card i think you should try and get something cheap around the 7970/680 second hand off ebay. Also the pentium g3258 (i think) looks really good but since you have the money get the i5 it will last you alot longer. Everything else looks good but im sure there will be some people who could make that build even cheaper. I wouldn't recommend the FX series as you cant upgrade and they are only good for some games like BF3,crysis,metroLL etc.

I might have a look at the pentium as it will probably be good enough for what i need, Im only looking to do some light gaming.

 

Yeah the pentium actually is pretty awesome for the money as long as you don't plan on going any higher than a gtx760 or equilvalent it will serve you well.  Here is the idea of the price with that build also you can oc the cpu with the stock heatsink and that board if you decide to get a little performance out of it. http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/gfvCK8