Build Advice Please

[s_kinton]

Its been around 6 years since I last built a gaming PC, based around a Intel Q6600 and 8800GT nvidia card! With the release of Elite: Dangerous and a few others, I'd like to build a modern PC to play at high resolution (hence 4K monitor).

Open to feedback on all aspects - better components/reliability/price etc. All components were picked on Scan as a starting point, but open to others. CCL are 20mins from me so may be a good option.

Money is not too much of an issue here, but the premium for the latest and greatest is never worth it to me. e.g. 980 graphics card of top of the line i7.

Already have peripherals and OS

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Red Low Profile, PC3-14900 (1866) £70.56
550W Enermax Triathlor Hybrid Modular 80PLUS Bronze £58.26
Intel Core i5 4460, S 1150, Haswell Refresh, Quad Core, 3.2GHz £141.78
Aerocool Dead Silence Black/White Cube Tower MicroATX Case £59.57
28" Asus PB287Q LED 4K UHD Gaming Monitor £407.98
Asus Z97M-PLUS Intel Z97 £101.98
4GB Gainward GTX 970 £261.56
250GB Samsung 840 EVO Basic SSD £86.39

Total: £1198.46

[Domestic_Ginger]

I think the mobo is s1150, you'll need a 4xxx chip. Never sure about this. Definately get a haswell over ivybridge. May be worth looking to see when the refresh on the i5s is going to be.

Ram is a bit slow. 8gb should be fine.

176 quid seems a bit steep for a 3570k.

Re PSU. Power flower and seasonic have some nice ones in that price range.

I've only ever bought a monitor from ccl and the service was very good.

Semi helpful. Managed to lay off buying anything for a while.

[DanceswithUnix]

If this if for elite, I wonder if 4K is the best way forwards.

You could buy three 24" 1080 monitors with IPS panels with money to spare, it would be less work for the graphics card so better frame rates and yet would be very immersive.

[s_kinton]

I think the mobo is s1150, you'll need a 4xxx chip. Never sure about this. Definately get a haswell over ivybridge. May be worth looking to see when the refresh on the i5s is going to be.

Ram is a bit slow. 8gb should be fine.

176 quid seems a bit steep for a 3570k.

Re PSU. Power flower and seasonic have some nice ones in that price range.

I've only ever bought a monitor from ccl and the service was very good.

Semi helpful. Managed to lay off buying anything for a while.

Thanks for the help! What speed RAM should I go for? Single, dual or quad channel make a difference?

If this if for elite, I wonder if 4K is the best way forwards.

You could buy three 24" 1080 monitors with IPS panels with money to spare, it would be less work for the graphics card so better frame rates and yet would be very immersive.

Thanks. This had crossed my mind actually! Will investigate - would certainly be cheaper than the 4K panel as I already have a 24" 1080p that could be used.

[Ttaskmaster]

Thanks. This had crossed my mind actually! Will investigate - would certainly be cheaper than the 4K panel as I already have a 24" 1080p that could be used.

David Braben himself said in an interview that he still plays in 1080.
I have a 27" 1080 and the game looks great to me, though I'll likely be getting a Rift eventually.
1440 is far more common in high end games, if not the current standard and will be much better for anything else you might want to play.

I personally think 4K will be a flash in the pan, as companies are already talking about how they're doing products in both 5K and even 8K!

[Domestic_Ginger]

With regards the ram; you want 1.5v then fastest speed then lowest timings. Hukd is a good place to have a look. Retailers sem to have offers on and off. This says 1.5 and 1.65v in the description.......
http://m.cclonline.com/product/15738...1-65V/RAM1980/
If you are not over clocking then a cheaper mobo may be useful as long as you get the features you want.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1150

[herulach]

I'd say 4K with a single 970 might be a bit on the optimistic side? I haven't seen any elite benchmarks, but I've tried BF4 at 4k (using DSR) on a single card and it was only averaging 50-60 fps. Playable, but not something I'd be designing a system around. For my money a 1440 Ultrawide is probably the sweet spot for a balance between desk space and display area.

Speaking of optimism, you have an ATX board in a micro atx case.

If you're getting a non K CPU and don't ever see needing SLI then a cheaper H97 board might be a bit better choice. If you can see yourself getting SLI in the future then you might as well grab a 750/800W PSU now as the cost differential is going to be better than selling yours later.

[abaxas]

Also, remember that larger monitors come with gaming disadvantages due to eye movement.

If you want to win, don't buy a large monitor.

[Ttaskmaster]

Also, remember that larger monitors come with gaming disadvantages due to eye movement.
If you want to win, don't buy a large monitor.

^ This, to some extent at least.
I personally find 27" to be the optimum size for my immediate visual range at the distance I sit from the screen. Others will have different preferences.

I also find that the higher your resolution, the smaller stuff is and the more you keep having to crane forward to see the little icons. I see my better-furnished friends doing this all the time on their insanely-rezzed monitors.
So bar this in mind if you're wanting to use the PC for a lot of internet or other non-gaming functions too!

[krazy_olie]

With regards the ram; you want 1.5v then fastest speed then lowest timings. Hukd is a good place to have a look. Retailers sem to have offers on and off. This says 1.5 and 1.65v in the description.......
http://m.cclonline.com/product/15738...1-65V/RAM1980/
If you are not over clocking then a cheaper mobo may be useful as long as you get the features you want.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1150

I have that ram in 2x8GB.
If I were doing the build again I would go for crucial but this was going cheap at the time... This can run 1600@1.5v, 2133@1.6, 2400@1.65, those are the official configurations, anyway. at default when you plug it in it sets itself it 1600@1.65 so you need to manually set it or enable the XMP profiles. I have it manually set to the 2133mhz settings(xmp does weird things on my motherboard).

I think Full HD and QHD are where it's at for the mainstream at the moment. The single GPU performance just isn't there for 4k yet.

[shaithis]

Also, remember that larger monitors come with gaming disadvantages due to eye movement.

If you want to win, don't buy a large monitor.

Size is relative to distance from the screen though.....