First gaming PC for around £800

[quentium]

Hey guys, I've been planning and saving for building my first PC for around a year now, and I have come to this part list, what do you guys think?

PCPartPicker part list:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£164.89 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£63.70 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.39 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£76.20 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£62.06 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£287.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£50.94 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£48.19 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer (£14.50 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For £0.00)
Total: £830.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-28 01:35 GMT+0000

[KeyboardDemon]

The only thing I would change is the MSI motherboard, I think the Gigabyte boards are better and offer better support should things go wrong further down the line and not because I think there is anything wrong with the MSI mobo, but other than that I think you have made some sensible choices.

[quentium]

The only thing I would change is the MSI motherboard, I think the Gigabyte boards are better and offer better support should things go wrong further down the line and not because I think there is anything wrong with the MSI mobo, but other than that I think you have made some sensible choices.

Thanks for the input, I was considering maybe getting a Gigabyte mobo, is there any merit to getting a Gaming 5 one, I hear that they are easier for overclocking, which is something I may be interested in with the GTX 970?

[KeyboardDemon]

I do remember reading an article that compared three UD mobos, I think it might have been on the Z77 or Z87 chipset but I can't find it now. However the key point to note was that the UD5 didn't overclock much better than the UD3 the only difference between them was with the features as the UD5 had more of these, such as better integrated soundcard and SLi/Crossfire support.

Check out the features, pick from the features that matter most to you and then decide based on that rather than assume that the more expensive models will automatically get better results.

[quentium]

I do remember reading an article that compared three UD mobos, I think it might have been on the Z77 or Z87 chipset but I can't find it now. However the key point to note was that the UD5 didn't overclock much better than the UD3 the only difference between them was with the features as the UD5 had more of these, such as better integrated soundcard and SLi/Crossfire support.

Check out the features, pick from the features that matter most to you and then decide based on that rather than assume that the more expensive models will automatically get better results.

Well potentially upgrading to get another GTX 970 SLi configuration is one thing I'm probably going be interested a couple years down the line, it's just a question of whether or not to get it now. So a couple of questions I had regarding that is whether or not it is better now (easier for overclocking, more reliable), and whether or not the mobos with SLi will go down in price later on?

[KeyboardDemon]

How soon do you want to buy?

There are some great package deals going as it's black Friday today, check out the main vendors, I've just seen a cracking deal on overclockers for £688, this includes a Gigabyte SOC Z97 mobo, 4790K, 8gb 2133mhz RAM, an overclocked GTX780ti and 850 watt PSU.

What res will you be gaming at? If you're only planning on 1080p then a single 970 or 780ti would be fine.

[quentium]

How soon do you want to buy?

There are some great package deals going as it's black Friday today, check out the main vendors, I've just seen a cracking deal on overclockers,

I just missed out on a really good deal on a Gigabyte Gaming 5 mobo actually, was 70 quid on scan hopefully should be ordering it today. What was that deal you saw?

[KeyboardDemon]

It's this deal.

[quentium]

It's this deal.

Oh wow that's massive... shame it's out of stock! That would probably do me good, would only need a case and ram!

[Bonebreaker777]

Oh wow that's massive... shame it's out of stock! That would probably do me good, would only need a case and ram!

Case only. The RAM was included in the deal.

[BenPowell]

Damn that price for a 970, so good considering its better than the 780 and close to the ti

[quentium]

Damn that price for a 970, so good considering its better than the 780 and close to the ti

The one in my original post? It's fairly good, some better deals I've found with the black Friday, roughly £10 cheaper, but the price in my post was before shipping also

[pledgerwood]

I would change the motherboard and Power supply. It's going to be close with only 500w.

[dudefellow]

This is more or less mine, though I was angling on spending a few quid more on a GTX 980 and going for a Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case. I haven't revised my build plans since January 7th, and won't commit to anything until about a month from now.

[Marcvs]

You just missed a steal on than Enthoo Primo, £142 @ Scan

[Bonebreaker777]

Steal at £142? Look up "steal" again in the dictionary