Help reviewing my new PC build and solve some doubts

[nybreath]

Hi, thank you for reviewing my build and helping out.
I want a system that I will use mainly for gaming.
I don't really have a max budget, but I d like to avoid going over 1100/1200 euro.
My main concern are for the Cooler/Case/PSU, obviously if you think I can save somewhere keeping the same value or that some piece is completely stupid I accept any suggestion.
I read on the newegg post that the antec hcg it's very good so I added it, I'm not sure if I should go for 620 or 520, the price difference is low, and I would like to be opened to add another gpu in the future.
For the cooler I initially chose the noctua dh-15, but then I thought it was too much, I don't know if I should go for the one I took in the build or the dh14, it's really hard that I will ever overclock anything.
The case for me was really hard to choose, I read the review of this zalman R1 on linus tech and it seems a really good pick for the price, it didn't really find anything better unless going over 100 euro, and the other one that seemed fine , nzxt 340, had no optical drive bay, the other one I liked was the antec three hundred two, but it didn't seem to have many differences so I don't really know...


Intel i5 4690k 232,44euro
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 65,90 e
asus Z97 pro wifi 179,20 e
G.Skill ripjaws-x 12800cl8d 1600mhz cl8 8-8-8-24 2x4gb 75 e
Gainward gtx970 phantom 1152/1304mhZ 327,50 e
WD Black 1TB 70,10 e
Antec high current gamer 620W 80+ bronze 74,60 e
Zalman R1 42,50 e
asus dvd/cd burner 16,80 e
Total 1084 euro

[DarkflameZM]

Sounds like a nice rig to me, nice pick on the ram, CL8 ftw.

Be aware the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 is freaking huge and you will need good clearance for your ram which has high heatsinks (not the highest out there but still pretty high).

I got a huge heatsink for my i7 last year and ended up getting so annoyed with it i went with a water cooling solution instead.

Also if i was you, i would go for a minimum of a silver on the PSU, with golds becoming more and more affordable, it's a bit silly to go for anything below silver efficiency!

[D1DM]

I would change the PSU because the HCG series 400-620W are group regulated. I would imagine for ~€75 you could get something better, although it is hard to say without knowing where you are buying from (link?).

[nybreath]

I would change the PSU because the HCG series 400-620W are group regulated. I would imagine for ~€75 you could get something better, although it is hard to say without knowing where you are buying from (link?).

Yeah sure I didn't know if I could put the link to the shop.
ekey.it/prod-alimentatore-pc-antec-hcg-620-high-current-gamer-620w-80-bronze-38201.htm

Some other guys said that the mobo and cpu are too high for the purpose. What do you think?

[excalibur2]

I would change the PSU because the HCG series 400-620W are group regulated. I would imagine for ~€75 you could get something better, although it is hard to say without knowing where you are buying from (link?).

Quite a few people are saying this PSU is a good buy http://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-...silent-fdb-fan so I bought one as it was going for £74.39 inc Vat and free postage, the price has now gone up and wondering if the one I bought is the same as the one sold now. h'mm the one I bought is http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cool...st-ups-2103732

[MrJim]

Quite a few people are saying this PSU is a good buy http://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-...silent-fdb-fan so I bought one as it was going for £74.39 inc Vat and free postage, the price has now gone up and wondering if the one I bought is the same as the one sold now. h'mm the one I bought is http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cool...st-ups-2103732

If you got the V850 for £74.39, you got a fantastic deal - it's basically a re-branded Seasonic x-850, which is about £150 at the moment. The only minor difference is that the Seasonic has a 7 year warranty, whereas the Coolmaster is 5. I wish I'd seen that deal though!

[excalibur2]

Well I always check with scan esp for "today only" for prices when buying, and it would be interesting to hear from members on how good is their insurance policy of paying a few pounds extra to insure that what you have bought is covered if it ruins other components. e.g a PSU bought and extra insurance is £2.60, well if the power supply ruins the mother board (not sure whether the PSU has to be faulty)..then will they replace the motherboard with a new one, with no strings or "small print" problems.

[D1DM]

Yeah sure I didn't know if I could put the link to the shop.
ekey.it/prod-alimentatore-pc-antec-hcg-620-high-current-gamer-620w-80-bronze-38201.htm

If you want to be able to SLI GTX 970s, in the future, then you will need a PSU with four PCIe connectors. Which both of the following have:

Cooler Master G650M (€77)
http://ekey.it/prod-alimentatore-pc-...-atx-48447.htm

be quiet Pure Power L8-700W (€79)
http://ekey.it/prod-alimentatore-pc-...-atx-39399.htm

Of the two, the Cooler Master is the better option because it is modular, has a longer warranty and is independantly regulated (Pure Power L8 is group regulated). The only pro the Pure Power has is that it should be quieter, but if kept cool the G650M shouldn't be noisy.

I'd say you'd have to spend over €90 to get something significantly better than the above two.

Some other guys said that the mobo and cpu are too high for the purpose. What do you think?

If you can save enough money to get a decent size SSD into the build within budget, then it might be worth getting less expensive CPU+mobo (and/or other components). Otherwise I don't see a need to change those parts.


When deciding on CPU cooler you need to bear in mind that the case will limit your choices. Zalman state on their website that the R1 can accommodate CPU coolers up to 160mm in height. The Noctua NH-U12P SE2 is supposed to be 158mm tall with the fan attached, so that should be fine.

http://www.noctua.at/images/faqs/nh_u12p_clearance.jpg
According to the above picture/schematic the max memory clearance is 40mm.

http://www.gskill.com/en/product/f3-12800cl8d-8gbxm
According to G.Skill's website, the height of the modules you have chosen is 40mm. So that would be a tight fit if the cooler overhangs the memory slots.
I personally would just get shorter modules to eliminate any potential height compatibility problems, as the benefits of heatspreaders on DDR3 modules are dubious.

For a bit cheaper you can get G.Skill Ares PC3-12800 1600MHz 8GB ( F3-1600C9D-8GAB) (€72), which is 33mm tall.
http://ekey.it/prod-ram-ddr3-gskill-...file-29216.htm

There will be no noticeable difference in performance between CL8 and CL9.

[MrJim]

If you want to be able to SLI GTX 970s, in the future, then you will need a PSU with four PCIe connectors.

I'd say you'd have to spend over €90 to get something significantly better than the above two.

Most graphics cards come with Molex adapters, so it's not a big issue, as long as the PSU is up to the job...

This would be my choice of PSU in the same price bracket:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-...mm-fan-atx-psu

[nybreath]

Thank you to everyone for the suggestions, I would have never found all those dimensions to check the compatibiliy, I'm thinking about many things I would have never thought, just awesome ty.

For the psu I have to say that I checked the tier list on newegg e choosed one within my range
community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx
My first choice was that cooler master and a corsair, but then I saw in the list the antec hcg was rated higher, I'll really consider that cooler master cause of the modular feature overall, for the wattage I checked the calculator and it was around 400w recommended with one card and 500w with 2 cards so I went for the 620. I got also some other suggestion for the XFX but I can't find it here.

The case could be a problem, the cooler as you say will fight just for 2mm...Also it seems is not listed anymore on the site. So i will just get something else.
I always thought about the Cooler Master CM 690 III, but it costs 2x times the other one, if anyone can suggest one cheaper and with a lot of space with the cooler, else I'll just have to stretch the budget.

[DanceswithUnix]

Some other guys said that the mobo and cpu are too high for the purpose. What do you think?

If you can afford it, why not?

I find it is worth spending a bit more on a motherboard, they usually still going strong when the hardware is so old no-one wants it

As for the CPU, you might find one of the Xeon chips is a better deal as long as you don't want to overclock. What you have chosen seems fine though.

[D1DM]

The case could be a problem, the cooler as you say will fight just for 2mm...Also it seems is not listed anymore on the site. So i will just get something else.
I always thought about the Cooler Master CM 690 III, but it costs 2x times the other one, if anyone can suggest one cheaper and with a lot of space with the cooler, else I'll just have to stretch the budget.

Frankly, a lot of cases will state 160mm as the maximum height.
To offset the cost of a more expensive case, you could potentially save ~€30 on the CPU cooler and still get decent performance.

The Antec P100 (€77) states that the maximum CPU cooler height supported is 170mm.
ekey.it/prod-case-midi-tower-antec-p100-usb3-nero-atx-58460.htm

Scythe Kotetsu (€37)
ekey.it/prod-dissipatore-cpu-scythe-kotetsu-12-cm-socket-intel-77511501155115613662011-amd-am2am2am3am3fm1fm2fm2-59646.htm

Positive review at SPCR: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Scythe_Kotetsu

[ekamdeep]

i would add a ssd to get max out of all the components

[nybreath]

So I found another store and made some modification, changed the mobo for a cheaper one, added an ssd and a wifi card, and didn't change the total!

1 Pz - Memoria PC ARES 2 x 4 GB DDR3-1600 - PC3-12800 - CL9 (F3-1600C9D-8GAB)
Euro 75.43 iva compresa

1 Pz - Svga GTX970 4GB Gigabyte GV-N970WF3OC-4GD retail [GV-N970WF3OC-4GD]
Euro 323.69 iva compresa

1 Pz - Gigabyte Mb 1150 GBT Z97X-Gaming 3 (ATX/Z97) 4xDDR3 2933 OC USB3.0 SATA3 [GA-Z97X-GAMING 3]
Euro 113.74 iva compresa

1 Pz - CPU Intel 1150 i5-4670K Ci5 Box (3,4GHz) BX80646I54670K
Euro 192 iva compresa

1 Pz - Geh ATX Midi oN Antec P100 2*USB 3.0 // 2*USB 2.0 [0-761345-81100-2]
Euro 69.91 iva compresa

1 Pz - Psu Enermax PC NAXN ADV 80+ - 650 W (ETL650AWT)
Euro 64.9 iva compresa

1 Pz - HD WD 3,5" 1000 GB 1TB 64MB WD WD10EZEX
Euro 50.79 iva compresa

1 Pz - SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW - 250 GB - SSD interno 2,5"
Euro 103 iva compresa

1 Pz - DVD-RW LG GH24NSB0 bulk Black SATA [GH24NSB0.AUAA10B]
Euro 14.52 iva compresa

1 Pz - in03gg Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dissipatore per CPU
Euro 61.59 iva compresa

1 Pz - Netw. WLAN PCI 300Mb TP-Link TL-WN851ND 802.11n/g/b, 2T2R, det.Ant. [TL-WN851ND]
Euro 13.49 iva compresa

Total

Euro 1083,06 iva Compresa