General Purpose Build (£1000)

[staffsMike]

I haven't done this for a while and so I'm trying to get back into the loop.

I have been asked to build a new PC which is not for anyone thing in particular but it needs to have (and these are out of my hands)
Core i7
16GB RAM
A ~500GB SSD
Reasonable Graphics Card
Silent (or as near to as possible)

My thoughts are..

CPU: Intel 4970 (not K unless there is a good reason other than over clocking)
Mobo: H97 (open to suggestions based on experiences
RAM: 16GB DDR 3 probably middle of the road pc1600 (open to suggestions again)
GFX: Tempted by the palit passive cooled 750GTX Ti (needs to be a nvidia GTX for occasional use with shield tablet)
SSD: Crucial 500GB (not sure I trust Samsung from what I have been reading recently)
HDD: Western digital 2GB black
Case: Nanoxia deep silence 1 (like what I have read and seen especially the chimney)
PSU: I am thinking corsair,~500w, semi modular, gold rated but will settle for cheaper bronze jobs.
HS+F: I like the look of the Be Quiet Pure rock (would like recommendations but must be quiet/silent not that fussed about the cooling as the CPU won't be stretched often)

Don't care too much about optical drives but if you know of a particularly nice one feel free to add it in. Don't need a Windows license.

Would love to hear suggestions especially on noise related items.

[shaithis]

If you want a non-K CPU, then you might as well get a Intel "Xeon E3-1231 v3" it's the same as the i7-4790 apart from no integrated GPU, runs cooler, higher binned...and costs £40 less.

Get a WD Red or Blue instead of the black.

Take the £40 saved from the CPU plus the £20 from the HDD and upgrade the GPU to a 760

[staffsMike]

Well thats a curve ball. Shall have a good think about that.

Is the 760 a big boost? It really won't be used very often.

[JoeOfJoedonia]

I recommend the SilverStone Strider Gold 550W Full Modular for £65, gold rated and fully modular.

For RAM have a look at "Corsair CMY16GX3M2A1600C9R Vengeance Pro Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 XMP". Good CAS latency for the price.

[staffsMike]

Well it is mostly ordered now. Decided to change things up a little as I decided I wanted the option to overclock even if I don't bother.

Ended up with

CPU: i7 4790K
HSF: Scythe Kotetsu
Mobo: Asus z97 Pro WiFi ac (need WiFi anyway)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 1600MHz CAS 8 (1.35v)
GFX: Asus 750ti Strix (I couldn't quite put my faith in the palit kalmx and couldn't stretch to the 960 Strix.. This cooler better be worth it)
SSD: Crucial MX200 500GB
PSU: Coolermaster V550s (based on being a rebadged seasonic with gold rating and good reviews)
Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence One (yet to be convinced but it was a good price and ticks the boxes on paper)

Hoping for near silence and reasonable temps...we shall see.

[staffsMike]

Just thought I would update as it is built now but slightly different.

The nanoxia came but it was rusty and had several broken clips which caused too many problems so went back and I swapped it for the Phanteks Enthloo Evolv (mATX , mini ITX) and it is a brilliant case. If anyone needs something smallish and quiet this is a great case. I haven't had much time to tweek the fans but the motherboard kicks them down to a gentle speed it is as near silent as I believe computers get on air cooling (without going crazy on expensive fans).

The motherboard was changed to a z97 I plus (min ITX) which seems great so far and socket placement is excellent. The only problem is the HD audio cable does not reach the header but it won't be used either way so I'm not fussed.

The scythe cooler doesn't have many reviews other than (spcr) but it is fantastic. It had taken a bit of a beating in the box so some fins needs straightening but it's keeping things very cool and quiet so far.

I think this is the first build where there is nothing I would change on reflection which is nice.

[mjallan123]

Any pictures of this build?

[staffsMike]

Any pictures of this build?

I'll sort some out in the next day or so. It is easily the best case for hiding shoddy cable work but I will need to tidy up a bit for beauty shots.

I couldn't live with the knackered scythe cooler either so a replacement is on the way.

A full atx version of the case is being released soon along with the mini itx version which is already out ,(shame its plastic) but I will defiently be using Phanteks on my next build after this experience.

[Bonebreaker777]

The nanoxia came but it was rusty and had several broken clips which caused too many problems...The scythe cooler doesn't have many reviews other than (spcr) but it is fantastic. It had taken a bit of a beating in the box so some fins needs straightening but it's keeping things very cool and quiet so far.

Where did you get those items from? One is rusty, the second is beaten.

[staffsMike]

Where did you get those items from? One is rusty, the second is beaten.

Nanoxia came from Novatech but I don't blame them really. It was double boxed from the factory so the blame is with them IMO.

The cooler was an Amazon market place jobby as it was the only one I could find for a sensible price.. Again well packaged and unopened as far as I could tell but seriously beaten down one side. I didn't notice until the thing was in which was annoying.

[Bonebreaker777]

When I seen ITX MB, I initially thought that you went for a LP cooler in ITX only case.

Shame about the factory let-down and the improper Amazon market handling.

[staffsMike]

Its the mATX and ITX version of the case. I picked an ITX board as I know it will be downgraded to HTPC status at some point so I figured its size would be beneficial and it had everything I needed (and more). I almost went for the maximus vii but it was overkill.

Its not immediately obvious but the board has a wireless card preinnstalled which I needed anyway and it was nice not to have to fork out for a separate wireless ac card.

The case is actually quite big (for what it is) but its smaller than the Antec P180 mini it replaces which is nice. However we had already drawn on the desks cable tidy where we would need to cut out to fit the nanoxia in so I guess size didn't really matter I just like the look of the Phanteks and had given up on the nanoxia dream.