Hey guys,

I'm trying to get more comfortable with computer hardware and I figured the best way to do this is to build my own computer. At the moment I'm only looking at building something that'll actually turn on - I don't really care if it'll run Skyrim with HD textures or not *smile*.

That said, I've picked the parts that I'm looking at purchasing. Here's a list of them:

• Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC Mate Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00K8KLW3...I1P8KVO7CHOMST)
• Case: Antec VSK-4000E 3 Bay ATX Solid Metal Construction Case - Black (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009LDNTO...I1PSC1CWB65ZHK)
• Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120-LED 120mm Quiet Edition (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00F6S0XJ...CI9MS5ZV&psc=1)
• RAM: Corsair CMZ4GX3M1A1600​C9 4GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004CRSM4...7YWJFCDY&psc=1)
• Graphics: Asus GeForce GT 610 Silent Nvidia Graphics Card 2GB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008A1C2A...I1Z7XMT1J408LJ)
• ODD: Samsumg SH-118BB 18x DVD-ROM SATA OEM Drive (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CU1DYP...I3PX18HL0K32ZR)
• CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 CPU (Dual Core 3.20GHz, Socket H3 LGA-1150))(http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KR51AK...I2FVFZ4E13QRXU)
• HDD: 250GB amazon cheapie (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000OUI8Q...I2GHN7H6RDSNFN)
• PSU: [already have one]
• CPU Cooler: [need advise]

(I think that's all the info needed. I hope I've not pissed anybody off by posting Amazon links isn't of using PC Part Picker :o)

Can you guys give me some advise? I'd like to know if I can find cheaper alternatives to these parts, if these parts aren't really up to scratch for a super basic computer or if I've actually went overboard anywhere. I also need advice on purchasing a CPU cooler. Do I need anything else? I've purposefully looked at buying a decent motherboard so I can expand this build in the future.

Thanks in advance for any help given!  

UNLEASH THE FP4  

Its a good cheap build with plenty of room for future upgrades. But can you show us what PSU you have? Need to make sure it has a high enough wattage, and has 6 pin/8 pin connectors for potentially adding a better video card in the future.  

Posted by Skill

Its a good cheap build with plenty of room for future upgrades. But can you show us what PSU you have? Need to make sure it has a high enough wattage, and has 6 pin/8 pin connectors for potentially adding a better video card in the future.

I've not got the box for it so I have literally no idea what wattage it has, and there's no stickers on it that give you a s/n or anything. It does however have a 6-pin connector

Found a sticker (lol)  

Looks like it should be fine for your GPU but I'd generally recommend something with at least 600W~ total in gaming rigs for future upgrades. Maybe consider something like this if you can spare the coin: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product...100-B1-0600-KR  

Posted by Talon

Looks like it should be fine for your GPU but I'd generally recommend something with at least 600W~ total in gaming rigs for future upgrades. Maybe consider something like this if you can spare the coin: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product...100-B1-0600-KR

Thanks Talon, I'll look at purchasing a 600W PCU if I plan on upgrading then. Also, tah for the link-up ;P  

What's your budget? This would be able to play Skyrim on Ultra.

Based on what you've provided this is the route I would go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£78.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: *MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.17 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: *G.Skill Value Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£25.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: *Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£109.52 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£29.04 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: *Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.46 @ Aria PC)
Total: £368.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-27 01:18 GMT+0000  

Nice Ems! I literally just got done building my rig and I used that same exact mobo. It's a bit flimsy however it'll do and it's definitely expandable. (CrossFire, LGA1150 chipset, upgradable to 32GB DDR3 RAM, etc) For the CPU cooler, if you aren't OCing or gaming a ton I would think that the stock fan would be enough for at least the first little bit. You can always replace the cpu fan if it happens to go out.

Your PSU is 500W and that should be enough for what you're going for. However, like Talon said, an upgrade to a 600W PSU would be ideal. I actually used a 500W semi-modular for my most recent build because I knew my rig wouldn't be too demanding.  

Posted by fp4

What's your budget? This would be able to play Skyrim on Ultra.

Based on what you've provided this is the route I would go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£78.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: *MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.17 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: *G.Skill Value Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£25.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: *Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£109.52 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£29.04 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: *Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.46 @ Aria PC)
Total: £368.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-27 01:18 GMT+0000

This looks smashing.  

Posted by Emera

PSU

That 500W PSU kind of sucks because it only has 1 PCIe connector which is a sign that it's overrated in regards to how much power it can use. Good 500W PSUs will have at least 2 PCIe (6/8 Pin) power connectors and usually have some kind of 80+ Certification.  

Posted by fp4

What's your budget? This would be able to play Skyrim on Ultra.

Based on what you've provided this is the route I would go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£78.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: *MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.17 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: *G.Skill Value Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£25.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: *Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£109.52 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£29.04 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: *Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.46 @ Aria PC)
Total: £368.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-27 01:18 GMT+0000

Wow, thanks for taking the time to put this together for me. I'm going to sift through these links now and read up on these parts and hopefully get back to you about them (if you're still up for giving me some pointers)

My budget is around £300-350 so this isn't too bad.

Posted by BboyEatsbacon

Nice Ems! I literally just got done building my rig and I used that same exact mobo. It's a bit flimsy however it'll do and it's definitely expandable. (CrossFire, LGA1150 chipset, upgradable to 32GB DDR3 RAM, etc) For the CPU cooler, if you aren't OCing or gaming a ton I would think that the stock fan would be enough for at least the first little bit. You can always replace the cpu fan if it happens to go out.

Your PSU is 500W and that should be enough for what you're going for. However, like Talon said, an upgrade to a 600W PSU would be ideal. I actually used a 500W semi-modular for my most recent build because I knew my rig wouldn't be too demanding.

Posted by fp4

That 500W PSU kind of sucks because it only has 1 PCIe connector which is a sign that it's overrated in regards to how much power it can use. Good 500W PSUs will have at least 2 PCIe (6/8 Pin) power connectors and usually have some kind of 80+ Certification.

I guess I should look at getting a 600W PSU then since I'm planning on expanding my rig in the future. And as far numbers of PCIe connectors goes, I didn't even take that into account so thanks for pointing that out.  

The GT610 is good for Watching movies or videos.Awsome if ur building a Rig for a home theater or something.
BUT
if ur making a Gaming rig,the GT610 would struggle.u would need to lower the resolution to 1366x768 or on Some cases like in most of the New titles,even 1024x768 wouldnt be enough for a smooth gameplay on medium to high settings.

Also,FP4 im not as genius as u in the Hardware stuff but isnt 600W psu a litttle too much.wouldnt a 500PSU be enough?  

Posted by MBK

The GT610 is good for Watching movies or videos.Awsome if ur building a Rig for a home theater or something.
BUT
if ur making a Gaming rig,the GT610 would struggle.u would need to lower the resolution to 1366x768 or on Some cases like in most of the New titles,even 1024x768 wouldnt be enough for a smooth gameplay on medium to high settings.

Also,FP4 im not as genius as u in the Hardware stuff but isnt 600W psu a litttle too much.wouldnt a 500PSU be enough?

I'm looking to expand in the future so I might as well start off with a PSU that has ample capability for expansion.

Thanks for tips on the video card too *smile*.  

I've had my PSU since 2008, so investing in a good PSU is always worth it. My only regret is that it isn't modular.  

nice specs