The 2015 PC build for Gaming and Programming

Having build my last desktop in 2011 and noticing that some things were starting to run a little slowly, I've gone for a desktop refresh. Here is what I have gone for:

CPU:

Intel Core i5 i5-4690K This is one of the best "bang for buck" CPUs that you can get at the moment. I was previously running an i7 but this new Haswell architecture i5 beats my old i5 comfortably across the board, and it also runs cooler than my old i7.

RAM:

Corsair CMY16GX3M2A1866C9R Vengeance Pro Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1866Mhz CL9 XMP Performance Desktop Memory I've been burnt in the past by cheaper RAM becoming unstable, so now I will never scrimp on RAM. This RAM supports Intel's XMP for overclocking, and has been enabled since day one without any issues.

Motherboard:

MSI Z97 Gaming 5 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard One of the cheapest parts of this build. I was very skeptical about getting a mainboard that does not have an integrated Intel NIC (this board instead opts for a Killer Networks NIC). My last mainboard had a Bigfoot Networks E2100 NIC, which out of the box was incredibly buggy and unstable. It was actually so unusable that I ended up disabling the TCIP capabilities of the card and letting the tested and reliable TCIP stack in Windows do it's thing. The Killer Networks E2100 card is now basically abandonware, and the card does not work with newer games online, and until recently wasn't compatible with the iTunes store. However, the E2200 is current and is still getting plenty of attention from Killer Networks, and I haven't had any issues with it online so far. My advice would still be to go for a tried an tested Intel NIC if you can, although I'm yet to experience any problems with the E2200 Killer Networks card on this mainboard.

One of the best things about this mainboard is the BIOS, which has fantastic user interface and give you plenty of control over overclocking features, both simple and advanced. This piece of kit was fantastic value for money.

Graphics:

MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 Gaming Twin Frozr HDMI DVI-I DP Graphics Card The more graphics memory, the better. This card lets me comfortably play the newest games (including GTA5) with the graphics settings all maxed out. It also runs quietly.

Cooling:

Corsair Hydro Series H55 All-In-One Liquid Cooler for CPU This was a surprise win for me. I previously used a Be Quiet CPU fan, which was nice and silent and kept my CPU nice and cool. However, this ready-to-rock water cooler from Corsair really impressed me, not just on the noise levels, but also on the cooling capabilities. For the first time in years, my CPU will happily idle at 25°C.

Main OS Hard Drive:

Crucial CT512MX100SSD1 2.5 inch 512GB SATA III Solid State Drive The OS hard drive caused me great pain originally. I started this build off running the OCZ Arc 100. A 480 Gigabyte SSD priced very cheaply at £120. However, this was simply too good to be true, and within a week of the new build, this SSD suffered some serious file corruption and required a reinstall of Windows, which would only go on after a hard SSD wipe (a Windows installer format was not enough). However, I decided not to proceed with the OCZ Arc 100 as a quick bit of research revealed that it was too much of an unreliable drive and has a few problems. Have a read about all of the other problems that other people had with this drive over at newegg.com. You pay for what you get, and I have sent the defective OCZ Arc 100 back for a refund, and am instead running a more highly rated but more costly Crucial SSD.

Having a hard drive fail on you is bad enough, but it's that much more hassle when it's the hard drive that contains the operating system for your battlestation on it. The Arc 100 was the only let down of this build, and it did come as a surprise as I had previously run a smaller OCZ SSD without any problems.

Operating System:

I'm running Windows 8.1, which on the 31st of July will become Windows 10 :-)

I also run a Xubuntu VM within VM Ware Player for my golang playtime. If you're an Ubuntu user, I recommend that you give Xubuntu a try. You might just prefer XFCE, like I do.