First time at building a gaming rig

[Hadashi]

Ok, I've been doing my research to try and build a good solid gaming and Photoshop PC that will last a few years and be upgradable, but this is all very confusing. What I would really like to do is get a good powerful motherboard and processor combo that I can then build on, but I am having a hell of a lot of trouble working out which ones to get. I do intend to overclock the system a little bit at some point but I don't want to do that until I need to and I have read up on it. My budget is about £2000 ish. Here is what I have so far:

• Cooler Master Storm Stryker full tower gaming case (may be incompatible with the CPU cooling, mostly using it because it has a sturdy handle on top)
• Asus P9X79 Socket 2011 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard (Not sure which one would be best)
• Toshiba 512GB 2.5 Solid State Drive: Read: 552 MB/s Write: 512 MB/s
• Intel Core i7 3820 3.6GHz Socket 2011 10MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

• Patriot 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2133Mhz C11 Black Mamba Dual RAM Kit

• Corsair H100i Hydro CPU Water Cooler

• Corsair AX860i Fully Modular 860W PSU

So what does everyone think? I have messed around with computers before, but this would be my first full build.

 

[Hadashi]

Sorry, to clarify, I was wondering if that was all compatible and if there were better models I could buy. I'm getting the motherboard and processor quite cheaply so it doesn't matter too much about the price of those two.

 

[ssc456]

ok £2k for a budget is a nice budget but you don't want to be buying 3rd gen i processors like that i7 you have posted.

Go for this processor: Intel Core i7 4770K 3.50GHz Socket 1150 8MB Cache.. | Ebuyer.com
and this motherboard: Asus Z87-Deluxe Socket 1150 VGA HDMI DisplayPort ATX.. | Ebuyer.com

Personally i generally go for a bit cheaper motherboards even on this kind of budget but i've put a much higher end board in as you seem like a guy that wants the best of everything.

 

[Hadashi]

Ok, that sounds good. :3 How come I shouldn't buy third gen though? I thought they were the new ones?

 

[ssc456]

Nope we are onto 4th gen now!!

 

[Hadashi]

Oh, 0k then. X3 Well that looks like a good board and processor so I will get those. I'm wondering how I should cool it though - I was thinking of getting the storm Stryker case since it looks good and has a handle, but I'm not sure I could mount the Corsair H100i Hydro CPU Water Cooler on it. Is this a good choice for a cooler and could I get it in the case? If you think so I will order them right now.

 

[ssc456]

I think what you need to ask is do you really need water cooling?

I have to say that while there is still a market for it it has reduced quite significantly, there isnt the performance gains to be made overclocking these new i processors as there was back in the Pentium days.

You can push them quite comfortable with a decent air cooler.

 

[ja6on]

yeah im pretty sure that the h100i will fit nicely in that case (in the top of the case facing up)

 

[Hadashi]

Well I would like to overclock it a little bit at some point, but the main reason I would like this particular kit is because it takes the heat right off the processor and ejects it out of the case instead of just blowing it away from the processor. This should keep everything a bit colder and (hopefully) extend the lifespan of the electronics. This kit also connects to the motherboard so you can monitor the temprature and adjust the output, which should mean I can raise or lower the cooling if I need to. When it comes to cooling processors I think a little bit of over-engineering is a good thing, and it doesn't hurt that I have found an ex-display version that is going cheap. ^.^ That's just my thoughts on it though.

 

[Hadashi]

By the way, what graphics card or cards do you think I should put in that?