You guys were an awesome help when I built my first PC a few years ago, and with a new job on the horizon, I now I require your services again The main use of the PC will be gaming at 1080p, but I'd like the potential of 2560x1440 gaming in the future. I may also be folding if I can get back into it, I managed to crank out nearly 600k with my humble phenom 955 back in the day, and I'd love to start putting out some more serious numbers with my new rig. The budget is very generous at around £1400 - £1500 for the basic hardware, although a good price/performance balance is still important to me. Here's the link to my current basket... http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/347a76656ff84ff2bba7761c4ea46132 A few things i'm unsure about... Graphics- Should I really be paying out almost £400 for a 3GB GTX 780 when I can get a 770 with 4GB and save over £100? Cooling - I just picked my CPU cooler based on the Arctic brand, if anyone's got any suggestions on this then I'd be happy to switch. Motherboard - I have almost no idea what I'm doing here, I just picked a random board that was Z series and full size ATX - help! I doubt I'll be doing overclocking anytime soon, and there's nothing I can re-use from my current computer as the jump will be way too big. Thanks in advance as always
Looks like a solid build to me Couple of points though. A 1KW PSU is more than overkill for that build. A 650w PSU like this one or the RM650 would be more than enough. I would also recommend choosing a larger heatsink, Haswell is known to run hot. The GRone case will accomodate the mighty Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power (mini review here) and it'll cool much better than the 92mm heatsink in your basket I'll let more knowledgeable Bit-Techers help you with the graphics card. Oh, nothing wrong with your motherboard choice either as far as I can see.
My reasoning behind the power supply is that I've already put plenty of money into the build, and for the sake for 40 or 50 quid I might aswell get a PSU that I know will be good for any future upgrades, I built my current PC with a 600w Gamer Series Corsair hoping that it would be future proof and I'm a bit annoyed that it's not up to the job. The heatsink you suggested seems perfect, great price and performance I'm wondering if I'll have any problems fitting it with the tall Corsair vengeance ram but from the pics in LennyRhys' review it seems ok. One of the heatsinks in that review weighed in at 2kg, I'm not sure I'd want that hanging from my motherboard! I just noticed you've got the same CPU as me, I didn't mean to bad mouth it, it's just not the best for folding For now at least, we're Phenom bro's Looks like you've got a nice overclock on it too
You could save a bit and get an i5, unless you think hyperthreading has some use for something an i7 has no other benefits really. I think a 770 4GB would do you fine. I have a 670 2GB and 1440p and even it can still run high/max settings on most titles. As far as PSU you really don't need that large unless you intend to be running 3 GPU at some point. Even with 2 card SLI a 650w is enough these days with as power efficient cards are now. For a single card set up even a 460w is plenty. For memory I would always go with low profile 1.3v. Those tall heatsinks are really good for nothing other than looks and get in the way of larger coolers more often than not. Or otherwise you could go for an AIO water set up if you don't want to worry about clearances and weighty air coolers.
As mentioned above: Your 600w PSU is fine. No reason to upgrade. Get a better cooler. TRUE Spirit 140 Power is a very good deal.
i would probably change to these bits: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-...-sata-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-atx http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-...pu-1098mhz-boost-1150mhz-cores-1536-dport-dvi http://www.scan.co.uk/products/760w...f-eps-12v-sli-crossfire-1-x-120mm-fan-atx-psu http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4tb-...ata-iii-6gb-s-intellipower-64mb-cache-ncq-oem i would save a bit of cash here and there and get 2 770's which this board and power supply will work well together and allow you to play at 1440 at high setting's, also the WD Red's are for nas drive's but if ur aware of that no probs.
Ye i would avoid the G1 Sniper i've got one and had nothing but trouble with it i know the specs look good but there's issues with the sound chip and in my experience not the best overclocking board.
