I think we are all getting ahead of ourselves, and need to address the important basics first.

OP. What colour led fans do you want?

Having said that I think for the OP I’d be tempted towards the Gladiator. It raises the component level across the board (I’d rather have a standalone SSD but, that’s OK), makes the very useful jump to a K series full beans overclocking processor, comes factory overclocked and with a lot more potential, lots of spec choices. Scraps in just over £1000 with the nvidia 960, a decent 27 inch monitor and keyboard.

That sounds like a good call

I wouldn’t get a 960 new now; the new AMD RX 480 is on par with the 980 for £200 – it’s the current go to “non-silly money” card to have!

I can’t believe no one has mentioned second hand! I’ve got an i5 4670k going spare – a socket or so out of date but more than enough for modern gaming, leaving more budget for the GPU 😉 also overclockable!

Email in profile if interested, free + postage to a good home.

Yip, like i say I don’t know what today’s good gpu is, the 960 is just the one in the MSI so I used it for the price comparisons.

I was only trying to bait you into reliving your PC-nerd glory days 😉

Thats Currys tower sucks, I wouldn’t be paying that money for a 960.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned second hand! I’ve got an i5 4670k going spare – a socket or so out of date but more than enough for modern gaming, leaving more budget for the GPU also overclockable!

If the op doesn’t want it I’d be very interested…will sling you an email. My home rig is currently rocking a haswell pentium so that’d be a solid upgrade for me!

some great info thanks
it’s helped to look at some of the sites suggested to get to grips with the various package options

Just for fun I made up a basket at CCL, I managed to include a Nvidia970, a 144hz monitor and an i5, also a decent mouse and mat.
I am missing a keyboard and maybe a second case fan and If I was buying my self I would be reading reviews on the mother board, RAM and SSD, I don’t know if they are good enough or 100% compatible.
Just positing this as a rough guide and may have forgotten something,

£995

View post on imgur.com

Have to admire spending £45 on a mouse, £30 on a mousemat and nothing on a keyboard 😆

Mousemat? Is it 1995 again?

Everyone has a keyboard already don’t they!?

Mousemats a very important piece of kit 😀

Only to people who sell mouse mats. Got the keyboard dust cover and extended warranty as well?

Have to admire spending £45 on a mouse, £30 on a mousemat and nothing on a keyboard

Could buy a PS3 for that…

Nowt wrong with a decent mouse mat.

I have an ancient S&S Steelpad, it’s great. It’s just not quite as useful as a keyboard 😆

(having said that, never got the posh keyboard thing, this one’s a Dell from, oh, 10 years ago or something? Wired, clicky keys, doesn’t do anything clever, certainly doesn’t light up… Perfect. I got pissed off with a flash logitech keyboard I had when it turned out it didn’t work at all without drivers, so you couldn’t install windows with it. **** off!)

Gigabyte M6800 is a perfectly good wired gaming mouse btw and costs a tenner. There’s a wireless one that’s just a wee bit more. Mouses are a matter of taste though… Mind you also very easily replaced so a nice place to save money on day 1.