Finally building a new gaming beast - need some advice

[jtobiasm]

Corsair H80i is the best thing I've bought

cpu stays breezyyy

[[ptx]]

Got nagged at on IRC till i decided to go for GTX 970 instead, gonna get a MSI GTX 970 Gamer 4G. Thanks for info on memory.

3 more questions - i'm not quite sure, but, right now all DDR3 memory is of the same slot type, right? Also, how big a PSU is it worth getting? And that latency = CL, right? Is CL11 okay?

[Kafein]

3 more questions - i'm not quite sure, but, right now all DDR3 memory is of the same slot type, right? Also, how big a PSU is it worth getting? And that latency = CL, right? Is CL11 okay?

Anything DDR3 will work on DDR3 slots, yes.

For a single GPU setup and one or two disks I'd get a high quality PSU around 550W (look for the efficiency grades). More power if you want to add stuff. I think there are tools around that can tell you roughly how much power you will need based on a list of parts.

About latency and RAM performance I've heard conflicting information over the years. I think the best might be to look for benchmarks of the specific kit you are interested in. There are definitely some great kits around if you want to up your game and go 16Gb or 32Gb, now that DDR4 is out. It might sound silly, but it won't cost you much, improve multitasking and increase the lifetime of your SSD.

[Molly]

Alright, made my first list for price comparison.
This seemed a good choice:
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Gonna update this in here close to Christmas again...

[Christo]

Einkaufswagen

Haha, this shit is why I like german 

[Kafein]

What is the actual name of the CPU?

[jtobiasm]

You might aswell get a z-97 MOBO molly for like an extra £10

[Molly]

What is the actual name of the CPU?

E31230V3

You might aswell get a z-97 MOBO molly for like an extra £10

That's fine tuning which I gonna do when I prepare the actual purchase. Right now I am just curious about the price developement around Xmas, curious if there actually is a price raise before it and a drop after it. Like a big change around 50€... I don't care if there are like 20€ more or less on the tap... not that strictly bound to the 500€ budget.

I'll get everyone involved again when I really gonna buy.


Edit: Found those...

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[Kafein]

E31230V3

Looks like a very slightly slower 4770K with no integrated GPU. Might be a little risky if you don't have a spare GPU. Of course that means you need a mobo with DVI output if you want to be able to use the integrated graphics for whatever reason.

[Dalhi]

Looks like a very slightly slower 4770K with no integrated GPU. Might be a little risky if you don't have a spare GPU. Of course that means you need a mobo with DVI output if you want to be able to use the integrated graphics for whatever reason.

If I have learned anything on this forum then it is to never listen Kafein when it comes to picking up pc parts.

[Molly]

If I have learned anything on this forum then it is to never listen Kafein when it comes to picking up pc parts.

Care to elaborate?

[Dalhi]

To be honest I doubt if there is a point in buying cpu that uses Hyper Threading if you are a gamer, unless you do some rendering and some more proffesional stuff you really won't benefit that much from it. I don't know if you have a SSD drive, but it sure is worth to consider buying one.
I believe that i5 4460 or 4590 will perform pretty much same like xeon E31230V3, but you will save some cash. Also getting motherbord with z87/97 chipset if you your are planning to buy locked cpu is a waste of money. another few more euros in your pocket if you buy mobo with h97/87 cheapset. Or even something cheaper. it's not like more expensive motherboards will give performance boost, cheaper ones just lack few features that you won't ever use.

[Christo]

I'm looking at motherboards, and been thinking:

Can you get away cheaper with a non-Z series Mobo if you don't care about overclocking and SLI that much? Or there are other big losses?
That seems like their biggest selling point.

[Vibe]

Few things:

16GB ram? wud
Get H97 mobo ("Z" mobos are for overclocking, as are "K" for processors).

[Senni__Ti]

A couple of questions, that i didn't really figure out by myself:

• Planning on getting a GTX 980 - but there's a whole bunch of variants for this, with greatly varying prices. Which one would be best? Was reading reviews about Zotac AMP!, some say it's awesome, other's say it's meh.
• Going for DDR3 memory, since DDR4 (together with a mobo and CPU to support it) seems way of an overkill. Going for 8GB initially, might upgrade later - is it worth it to go above 1866Mhz memory?

Might have more questions later. Thanks in advance.

EVGA ACX and Asus STRIX are very good aftermarket coolers and brands.

I prefer the STRIX design, but it disperses the heat inside the case, ACX seems to kick a bit more out the back. (it's also slimmer if that's a factor)
They both have great warranties and have good OCing potential (they have a decent average ASIC, due to their better binning of chips).

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/K4PRCJ
The 250gb 840 evo is better than the 120 in write speeds (aswell as being bigger), if you can afford it go for that.
You may be able to find a gtx 780 or 780ti for about the same price as a 970, worth looking for.
Case is all about taste, so you can pretty much ignore that .
I didn't include case fans etc, depends on case.

You won't find 1600MHz ram a bottleneck, I haven't felt the need for faster RAM.