Gaming PC Build advice request.

UsefulG

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Gents, I've been lurking in here for a week or so because I'm looking to get back into PC gaming after about 9/10 years of console only.

I'm would like to build a new PC capable of playing BF4 and other first person shooters at 60fps at 1440p on a monitor but ultimately to use with an occulus rift for gaming so 1080p would suffice. The priority order for me would be

1) Performance
2) Quiet running
3) Overclocking potential
4) Cost

I have my old Lian Li PC-65 ATX Mid Tower case which I'd like to reuse but apart from that I would be starting from scratch. I am looking to build an i7 4770k based system but I'm a little stumped by which motherboard, PSU, RAM and GPU to buy.

I have done some research on PCPartpicker on motherboards, which of these would be the best option;

ASUS MAXIMUS VI EXTREME C2
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z87

What CPU cooler would you recommend? Should I be looking at water-cooled or air cooled?

Zalman CNPS10X
Corsair Hydro Series H80i
Noctua NH-D14

Which RAM should I look at and what frequency would be best? My last (10 year old) PSU had a very noisy fan would a fan less PSU be possible?

Lastly but not least the GPU, I would prefer a single card rather than multiple cards, which would give me the best bang for buck with the components listed above?

Thanks in advance.
 
Gents, I've been lurking in here for a week or so because I'm looking to get back into PC gaming after about 9/10 years of console only.

I'm would like to build a new PC capable of playing BF4 and other first person shooters at 60fps at 1440p on a monitor but ultimately to use with an occulus rift for gaming so 1080p would suffice. The priority order for me would be

1) Performance
2) Quiet running
3) Overclocking potential
4) Cost

I have my old Lian Li PC-65 ATX Mid Tower case which I'd like to reuse but apart from that I would be starting from scratch. I am looking to build an i7 4770k based system but I'm a little stumped by which motherboard, PSU, RAM and GPU to buy.

I have done some research on PCPartpicker on motherboards, which of these would be the best option;

ASUS MAXIMUS VI EXTREME C2
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z87

What CPU cooler would you recommend? Should I be looking at water-cooled or air cooled?

Zalman CNPS10X
Corsair Hydro Series H80i
Noctua NH-D14

Which RAM should I look at and what frequency would be best? My last (10 year old) PSU had a very noisy fan would a fan less PSU be possible?

Lastly but not least the GPU, I would prefer a single card rather than multiple cards, which would give me the best bang for buck with the components listed above?

Thanks in advance.

any of those mobo would be fine tbh, get whichever you can grab in a daily deal.

the noctua nh-d14 would be your best option.

ram, any known brand with a decent warranty at 1866 mhz or above.

There are fanless psu's but they top out at around 500 watt so wouldnt give you much leeway, a decent psu shouldnt interrupt you with the fan anyway.

780 is really your best option for 60fps at 1440p on most games, followed by the r290, followed by the r280x/7970, thats in performance and price order.
 
Thanks @Chox1988 the noctua looks pretty big, is there any issue running it on a vertically orientated board with gravity pulling it off.

Silly question but it looks huge.
 
Thanks @Chox1988 the noctua looks pretty big, is there any issue running it on a vertically orientated board with gravity pulling it off.

Silly question but it looks huge.
Shouldn't be as most CPU coolers are mounted this way
 
I have one on my rig and I was worried too.....make sure you get the right mounting kit with it. The mounting kit is what holds the cooler in place rather than the standard mounting points, this spreads the load on the motherboard rather than it concentrating on the CPU.

This is the top of the mounting kit, the cooler sits on the curved sections: http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/akg/Air_Cooling/D14/Noctua_D14_amd_top_brackets_sm.jpg

And this is the bottom, the curved sections are connected to the X piece to spread the load out: http://www.guru3d.com/miraserver/images/2009/noctua-nh-d14/IMG_9606.jpg
 
Thanks @Chox1988 the noctua looks pretty big, is there any issue running it on a vertically orientated board with gravity pulling it off.

Silly question but it looks huge.

the mounts are very strong, i wouldnt worry about those, i'd be more concerned if it fit in your case.
 
the mounts are very strong, i wouldnt worry about those, i'd be more concerned if it fit in your case.

This, 100%, its a bloody huge cooler so needs a rather big case!

Is a hammer still an essential part of a PC build kit?

Depends on how much you like to drink while you build :) and how many times you cut yourself trying to run cables past the razor sharp noctua cooler.....not that I'd know about that myself.....
 
I sacrificed blood fiting the Noctua NH-D14
 
I must be out of it, did Nvidia take over ATI then? I remember the good old Radeon GPUs.
No,

I'm saying, Don't get a AMD/ATI card as you get more out of more games by going Nvidia! AMD/ATI is only a good choice if you have a limited budget and don't mind missing out on some cool effects on a few games.
 
I'm looking at the 780s on PCPartsPicker (I love that site, it didn't exist when I was self building but what a boon) and the different manufacturers quote different clock speeds on the cards.

I presume that is down to some factory over clocking on the quicker cards, is that right? Would it be better to go for a stock card and over clock myself or go for the factory jobs?
 
I'm looking at the 780s on PCPartsPicker (I love that site, it didn't exist when I was self building but what a boon) and the different manufacturers quote different clock speeds on the cards.

I presume that is down to some factory over clocking on the quicker cards, is that right? Would it be better to go for a stock card and over clock myself or go for the factory jobs?

decent brand with a non stock cooler and oc it yourself. msi gigabyte and evga are decent brands :D
 
No,

I'm saying, Don't get a AMD/ATI card as you get more out of more games by going Nvidia! AMD/ATI is only a good choice if you have a limited budget and don't mind missing out on some cool effects on a few games.

I understand, thanks for the advice. I'm looking at the 780s, I definitely want the cool effects. :)
 
I'm looking at the 780s on PCPartsPicker (I love that site, it didn't exist when I was self building but what a boon) and the different manufacturers quote different clock speeds on the cards.

I presume that is down to some factory over clocking on the quicker cards, is that right? Would it be better to go for a stock card and over clock myself or go for the factory jobs?
Yes basically.
Amd still produce the best cards within a budget of up to £300. After that its about nvidia. The r9 290x is as quick as a 780 depending on review but run hot and noisy
 
I have the CPU, Cooler and motherboard on order. Just the RAM, GPU and power supply to go.

I'll be going for Corsair low profile RAM to go with the Noctua (I have a few mm between it and the window on the case, I think) but which PSU should I go for?

Which PSU brands are good? What is the minimum power rating I should look for?
 
Antec, xfx, seasonic and some corsair. Superflower are recommend on here So well
 

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