First Gaming/3D Software PC Build Help/Suggestions

[SnakeZ]

Hey all this is my first Custom PC build. I'm Irish, so I'm buying all my parts of http://www.amazon.co.uk all parts include tax and free shipping. Since this is my first build I want it to be flexible for future improvements such as over clocking mabye sli etc. As of this moment I want to play games such as Battlefield 4, Thief 4, DayZ Standalone and Elder Scrolls Online. I also will be using various design software such as Adobe and 3D software. I also will not be over clocking at the moment and just want to build the PC and run from out of the box. I was wondering will this setup (Specs) below be sufficient for these games and software and will it be a good buy, wondering what you guys think? I have around 1550€ ($2100) (£1340) to spend.

CPU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE i5 3570k
MOBO - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE ASUS Sabertooth Z77
RAM - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Corsair Vengeance 16gb 2x Sticks
GPU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE EVGA GF GTX 680
SSD - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Samsung 840 250gb
HDD - Have one spare at home
PSU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Corsair HX750w
DRIVE - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3FTJ2BGLE278D ASUS Optical Drive
OS - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Windows 8

This lot accumulates to 1300€ ($1760) (£1125) of my budget. BTW prices are higher here in Europe.

Plz don't complain about me buying Windows 8, I have Win8 Phone and I like the new layout so ill be buying it. Just want to know dose all Win7 software, games etc run on Win8? I assumed it dose.

For my last 250€ ($340) (£215)

Monitor - http://www.amazon.co.uk/BenQ-RL2240...UTF8&colid=S1TBCW2J4ZFR&coliid=I2304ZRTC7RH7B Cheap and good quality so.

Case - I'm not sure but mabye http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-Eleve...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1360153097&sr=1-1 Plz suggest cases.

Thank you for your help, comments, criticism etc.

 

[lehtv]

Mobo - overpriced, you can get all the important features, including SLI/crossfire, decent integrated sound, decent overclockability, for a lot less. Check out Asrock Z77 Extreme4 £102

RAM - what sort of Adobe and 3D projects do you do? Asking because 2x4GB could very well be sufficient for now. The regular Win 8 will also support only up to 16GB RAM so leaving two slots open for an upgrade to 32GB wouldn't benefit anything unless getting Win 8 Pro. In addition, that Vengeance RAM is way too tall for most aftermarket coolers. Look for standard profile kits like almost any Crucial or Patriot kit, some Kingstons, Vengeance LP, G.Skill Ares.

GPU - not worth it over a GTX 670, and unless you're biased towards AMD, I would strongly recommend a 7970 or a 7950 3GB instead. Much better bang for buck especially with OC, and the 3GB of VRAM and higher memory bandwidth is nice for Crossfire.

Case - 1100 is awesome but if you feel like having other options, check out HAF 922 USB 3.0, Corsair C70, NZXT Phantom 410, Fractal Design R4 to name a few.

Monitor - small for such a high end build. Check out Dell U2412M 24" 1920x1200 IPS £213, or at least an Asus VE247H

The rest - good

Finally - what about other UK shops? Scan and Aria usually have better pricing than Amazon, I've noticed.

 

[SnakeZ]

Thanks for your input lehtv,

I am just wondering will I need an after market CPU cooler or will the stock be just fine, I will not be over clocking soon so it will not get very hot but if I do over clock or need it without over clock this should do the job? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Mast...I7T8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360163872&sr=8-1 Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212

New setup (Specs)

CPU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE i5 3570
MOBO - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z77-Extreme...Y4A6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360163450&sr=8-1 AsRock Z77 Extreme 4
RAM - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMZ...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1360163359&sr=1-1 Corsair Vengeance 8gb 2x Sticks
GPU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-GTX-67...LVGC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360163478&sr=8-1 EVGA GF GTX 670 FTW
SSD - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Samsung 840 250gb
HDD - Have one spare at home
PSU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Corsair HX750w
DRIVE - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3FTJ2BGLE278D ASUS Optical Drive
OS - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE Windows 8

That lot comes to 1100€ ($1490) (£950)
Saving me 200€ ($270) (£170)

Will this setup be sufficient for said games in my original post?
BTW I'm a Nvidia/Intel Fanboy lol so that's why I go with the GPU etc.

 

[scragnoff]

Here's a great performance benchmark on the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/cm_hyper212_evo/4.htm. Overclockers Club gave it a Gold Award, with no cons.

As for the GTX 670, the better card would be Gigabyte's (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Ge...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1360244853&sr=1-1), based on a performance benchmark by Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-test-review,3217-16.html. It costs the same as the one manufactured by Asus.

Battlefield 4, when it comes out this year, will use the same Frostbite 2.0 engine that also powers Battlefield 3. This means, if you're the type of gamer that wants to max out every detail of graphics, you're going to want a high end video card. That said, the GTX 670 can handle that. Here's a link showing the performance of the card against other cards running Battlefield 3: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/11/12/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-review/3.

Regarding cpu choice, this might lean towards what you would be doing most of the time. If you're mostly gaming, then an i5-3570 (the i5 and i7 have comparably similar performances) would be sufficient. However, if you are seriously into 3D designing, then the i7-3770k, or even the i7-3820, would be recommended.

If you're still considering builds, this is a good site to go to: www.logicalincrements.com. Just be sure to change the country dropdown-list to UK. They even have a great comparison article between the i7-3770k and the i7-3820 (http://www.logicalincrements.com/articles/i7-3770k-vs-i7-3820/).

 

[lehtv]

The CPU cooler is not needed until you OC. It shouldn't be difficult to replace later, but if you want to go with the purpose of overclocking some time soon (it's easy as pie), the 212 Evo is good bang for buck but I'd also check out Thermalright's Macho and True Spirit coolers.

The RAM you picked is still tall profile and will interfere with almost any CPU air cooler.

Apart from that, looks good.