(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Hey guys,

I'm thinking about building my own PC from scratch for my 18th and i was wondering what people thought of the following setup: You must login or register to view this content.

I'm good with computers, however I'm a software guy, not a hardware guy so I was hoping that people could recommend some changes such as better parts

I'd love to hear any recommendations to change or add to the build! I'd preferably like to keep the budget under £1500 if possible though I'm looking to squeeze as much power out of the computer to last for a good few years without need of upgrading.

EDIT:
Computer usage: Gaming, Programming, Video Editing, Photoshop, Cinema 4D Renders and general day to day usage really.

Games: Anything from the almighty Steam library really and a few external games, but to name some specifics: DayZ, Arma 3, DotA2, Sid Meier's Civilization V, Portal 2, Battlefield 4 and League of Legends.

(I currently play DotA 2, Civ 5, Portal 2 and League of Legends on a i5 laptop with HD Graphics 4000 if that's worth mentioning, the others are planned games)

Programming software: Visual Studio (Windows Desktop) and IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate.

It may be worth noting I often have around 10 windows open for multitasking.

An i5 performs better the only problem some people have is the cost. AMD CPU's are more budget orientated meaning that people who have stricter budgets will tend to go AMD as you get more performance for your money however there are some trade offs such as higher TDP

Try not to look at just clock speeds. The lithography (manufacturing process) plays a part in the performance, Intel's latest CPU's (Devils Canyon) are on 22nm while AMD is abit behind still using the 32nm process which is getting abit old. So a 3.5ghz CPU on 32nm will not perform as fast as a 3.5ghz CPU on 22nm.

AMD does like to market that their CPU's have lots of cores however this isn't good as it seems. Though it has more cores they are weaker cores and games don't make use of all 8 cores (yet) so you shouldn't get an AMD CPU just because it has 8 cores. This also applies to the i7's which have hyper threading meaning they have 8 threads however games can't make use of them. Hopefully this has cleared up your questions

A 8 core amd is just 4 cores 4 threads like a i5 only actual 6 and 8 core would be from Intel

When watching a video regarding the processor I picked they made the claim that it is possible to "power down" some of the unused cores and use that power on the cores that are actually being used (or something along those lines) which they claimed "boosted performance"

Would the fact I do a lot of processor heavy multitasking (at least for my current i5) justify the need for more cores with that clock speed or not?

(I can't remember the title of the video for the life of me but I know it was to do with Newegg)

As mentioned before, no hardware guy here, I think in the video I watched they showed the internals of the FX8350 (also eight core) and it seemed to have 8 electronic components that looked identical so I assumed they were the cores, if I can find the video I'll post a screenshot or something

All fx series CPUs are indeed 4 cores 4 threads. Same as a i5 the Intel 6 core CPUs actually have 6 cores, also how much ram do you have? That could also be while your so sluggish in some things and GPU helps also since they do a load of work in productivity apps like Photoshop etc

In my original build 16GB RAM and 4GB GDDR5 on the GPU

In my current laptop I have 6GB RAM and however much memory the Intel (i5) HD Graphics 4000 has, it handles things moderately well but will often just gives up entirely.

You don't need a soundcard. If you want to spend money on audio, get a DAC/amp, not a soundcard.

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CPU: You must login or register to view this content. (£236.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: You must login or register to view this content. (£24.94 @ Scan.co.uk)
Thermal Compound: You must login or register to view this content. (£20.24 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: You must login or register to view this content. (£84.60 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: You must login or register to view this content. (£134.52 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: You must login or register to view this content. (£238.52 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: You must login or register to view this content. (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: You must login or register to view this content. (£57.90 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: You must login or register to view this content.
Monitor: You must login or register to view this content. (£219.99 @ Ebuyer)
Wireless Network Adapter: You must login or register to view this content. (£19.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: You must login or register to view this content. (£19.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Headphones: You must login or register to view this content. (£85.00 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Razer DeathStalker - UK Layout (£69.99)
Other: WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive - Caviar Blue (£39.99)
Other: Logitech G502 Proteus Core Tunable Gaming Mouse (£60.56)
Total: £1397.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-07 17:33 BST+0100

Thanks for the advice!
The sound card was recommended to me by my neighbour who's a bit bonkers for PC so I was like "Okay then"