New computer on a ~750 - ~1000 budget

Theov

Theov

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The time has come to get a new computer. I find myself annoyed by low performances from time to time and I can't play games released after 2007. Right now, I like to play games on one monitor and watch youtube or football on the other.
I hope someone here can help because I don't know what's good and what the possibilities are.

I just need a new system; I already have 2 monitors, a keyboard/mouse and speakers.

Budget is in the 750 - 1000 range.

So basically I need (this is a configuration from a test-website):

By the way, I've adjusted the setup a bit and since my new contract is signed, I'm going to order soon :)

Mobo: Asus H87M-PLUS
Processor: Intel Core i5 4570 / 3.2 GHz
Graph Card: MSI N660 Gaming 2GD5/OC or Club 3D Radeon HD 7870 '13 Series
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 2x4 DDR3
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO Basic
Power supply: XFX Core Edition PRO550W
Midtower: Corsair Carbide Series 500R

Suggestions, tips, remarks?
 
And you won't need a Z series chipset board without overclocking, either.

A EUR 50 board would do as well in that case, and a i5-4570 will be only marginally slower than a 4670.


Either 660, 660ti or 760 are reasonable choices for a gaming card, but I think you will be quite happy with even a 660 (non-ti).
(The 760 would be about 25% faster, the 660 ti halfway in between)

The PSU is a bit oversized, a 400-450W unit will do as well, with some headroom, provided it's decent quality.
From be quiet, a 450W Straight Power E9 will most likely last longer, run more quiet and consume a bit less energy, for a similiar price.

Regarding the case, you might want to have a look at the Antec Three Hundred Two instead.
 
tokala said:
And you won't need a Z series chipset board without overclocking, either.

A EUR 50 board would do as well in that case, and a i5-4570 will be only marginally slower than a 4670.
Click to expand...
but it is slower... right? I don't know if I'm overclocking, do I have to tell the thing to overclock and does it bring any risk?
If it's a one time thing, I'll do it. Or does the processor do it by itself?

What board would you recommend when I'm not overclocking?
I know some things about computers, but I have no idea what a motherboard does apart from holding it all together. So what would I look for if I'm buying a i5-4670 and a 660 vid card?

Either 660, 660ti or 760 are reasonable choices for a gaming card, but I think you will be quite happy with even a 660 (non-ti).
(The 760 would be about 25% faster, the 660 ti halfway in between)
Click to expand...
do you know what the difference is in performance?
The PSU is a bit oversized, a 400-450W unit will do as well, with some headroom, provided it's decent quality.
From be quiet, a 450W Straight Power E9 will most likely last longer, run more quiet and consume a bit less energy, for a similiar price.

Regarding the case, you might want to have a look at the Antec Three Hundred Two instead.
Click to expand...
thanks, I'll check it out.
 
Mobos are feature-specific. If you don't need a lot of bells and whistles and don't plan on having a bunch of HDs and dual GPUs (and don't plan on OC'ing), a cheaper B or H series motherboard will give you all the basic things you need if you go the intel route.
 
I've come up with this:

[edit]see above[/edit]

Am I missing something? I have a DVD player, mouse, monitors, keyboard, speakers etc.

This is €893,19 (or $1222)
or €821,19 / $1123 with the other mobo
 
illram said:
The ASRock is an AMD mobo. So no.
Click to expand...

So for the processor I chose, what would you recommend? All I can find is that it needs a 1150 socket... but then ASRock produces those too.

And as for overclocking, what are the pros and cons. Is it just that the is that it's faster but also produces more heat?
If that's the case wouldn't you instead of a cooler just buy a more expensive processor?
 
OC'ing is a niche thing. Enthusiasts do it to see how much power they can crank out of their chip. Some people really don't want to upgrade their PC and want to get the last little bit of juice out of it after a few years. Personally I never got into it--too many headaches (Cooling concerns, instability, component damage) and I am more of a set it and forget it builder. Although these days it seems like mobo manufacturers are making it very simple to OC.

Would I recommend OC'ing to a first time builder? No. If you want to explore that world, I encourage you to do that, but if I wanted to buy components that I could just stick together and turn on and not worry about, I would not OC. I would buy an H87 1150 motherboard with a non-K Intel i5 4670 and call it a day. Manufacturer doesn't matter a whole lot, just pick one that has the features you need and doesn't seem like a lemon from newegg reviews (once in a while there is a dud, it happens). No need for an aftermarket cooler in that case either.
 
illram said:
OC'ing is a niche thing. Enthusiasts do it to see how much power they can crank out of their chip. Some people really don't want to upgrade their PC and want to get the last little bit of juice out of it after a few years. Personally I never got into it--too many headaches (Cooling concerns, instability, component damage) and I am more of a set it and forget it builder. Although these days it seems like mobo manufacturers are making it very simple to OC.

Would I recommend OC'ing to a first time builder? No. If you want to explore that world, I encourage you to do that, but if I wanted to buy components that I could just stick together and turn on and not worry about, I would not OC. I would buy an H87 1150 motherboard with a non-K Intel i5 4670 and call it a day. Manufacturer doesn't matter a whole lot, just pick one that has the features you need and doesn't seem like a lemon from newegg reviews (once in a while there is a dud, it happens). No need for an aftermarket cooler in that case either.
Click to expand...
The computer I have now is overclocked but a friend of mine did it. It was a one time thing.

Yes, I'm a set it and forget it type... I bet the overclocked K is faster, but I doubt I'll notice and it saves me a cooler too.
Thanks.

So see the link for my setup:
[url]http://azerty.nl/winkelmandje/winkelmandje/?legen=1&product%5B425856%5D=1&product%5B434780%5D=1&product%5B398419%5D=1&product%5B624214%5D=1&product%5B620116%5D=1&product%5B634348%5D=1&product%5B621183%5D=1[/URL]
Would this work and am I missing something?
 
A SSD?

Seriously, that's the one component where you will notice the difference in everyday usage.

You will never be able to notice the difference between a 4570 and a (non-OC) 4670, and under realistic game settings there will in most cases not even a measurable difference.

In most games you will not notice a difference between a 760 and a 660 either, both will be fast enough for high(est) settings on a standard single monitor setup (1080p).

But a SSD will deliver that Wow! effect like back in ye goode olden days the floppy disk vs. tape drive, or harddisk vs. floppy.
 
^^ What they said, and also lose the cooler. No need; stock heatsink is fine if you're not overclocking.
 
Alright. Lose the cooler. Add an SSD. Lose the HDD, because I have enough storage at home. I'll run my OS and programs (games?) on the SSD and when I'm downloading I'll do that to the HDD.

"http://azerty.nl/winkelmandje/winke...620116]=1&product[634348]=1&product[621183]=1

Have any tips on what SSD to get? Is it smart to get a 'small' cheap one and buy one in 2 years again when the technology has improved, or am I safe to shell some extra money and get a big one right away?
 
Your average user will be able to use an SSD seemingly forever, barring random catastrophic failures that will randomly occur in any electronic device. Tech is always improving but right now it is still pretty great; reliability and lifespan concerns are largely overblown. If you have important data you should back it up regardless of your storage medium.

Buy a big one now and don't worry about it. I am not up to speed on the latest but it's not necessarily the manufacturer, it's the memory controller and firmware they use. Many manufacturers use the same stuff. Find the size/price you want and google it for reviews. With that said Samsung and Intel generally made good ones back when I was looking for one to buy two years ago, but things might have changed since then.
 
Theov said:
Have any tips on what SSD to get? Is it smart to get a 'small' cheap one and buy one in 2 years again when the technology has improved, or am I safe to shell some extra money and get a big one right away?
Click to expand...

Not much point in waiting.
I would suggest to go with a SSD with a controller chip from either Marvell, Samsung or Intel, that Plextor has a Marvell chip, but looks a bit expensive.

You should be able to get a ~500GB Crucial M500 or Samsung 840 for about 300 EUR, 250 GB for about 150 EUR.
 
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