My First PC Build

[IustoFulmine]

Hey guys, I want to get your opinions on my first build. I am planning on buying everything and completing the build at the end of this semester in December and am open to suggestions.

 

My main purpose for this build is for PC gaming, I want to be able to run my favorite game, Skyrim with as many graphical mods as possible but also want forward compatibility running the top games for the next few years at 1080p, 60 fps . Once it goes below that I plan on overclocking and then buying another GTX 970 for SLI.

 

I am also getting more into Android app development and need a rig that will be able to run various android emulators smoothly enough to test my apps on.

 

I have included the PC part picker links and breakdown, for more information on the build you can follow that link through which you can access details on each part.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MJVsvK

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MJVsvK/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card  ($385.67 @ Newegg) 

Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper ATX Full Tower Case  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Corsair CSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($97.99 @ Micro Center) 

Monitor: Asus VE248Q 24.0" Monitor  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $1562.57

 

p.s. I am not set on the EVGA FTW, I really just want the most bang for my buck and am willing to spend an extra $50 on that if it means I can top 60 fps for a bit longer

 

Thanks in advance for your input!

[Krytopsy]

Don't cut on motherboard of you will never have a descent audio experience without getting a sound card that will make your SLI setup stop working because of PCI-E lanes limit.

[Arphenyte]

Would change the 970 ACX for a STRIX one. I've heard ACX has issues, someone confirm here?

[Guest]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $229.99) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 

Thermal Compound: Innovation Cooling Diamond "7 Carat" 1.5g Thermal Paste  ($6.20 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($74.70 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $200.00) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $74.99) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($579.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $99.99) 

Total: $1525.84

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-30 13:53 EDT-0400

 

I left out the case since im not sure what kind of look you want but this should get you started

[NeatSquidYT]

Switch to an i5-4690k and get 2x 128GB MX100's to put them in RAID 0. My only suggestion.

[Arphenyte]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $229.99) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 

Thermal Compound: Innovation Cooling Diamond "7 Carat" 1.5g Thermal Paste  ($6.20 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($74.70 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $200.00) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $74.99) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($579.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $99.99) 

Total: $1525.84

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-30 13:53 EDT-0400

 

I left out the case since im not sure what kind of look you want but this should get you started

 

^ This.

[IustoFulmine]

Don't cut on motherboard of you will never have a descent audio experience without getting a sound card that will make your SLI setup stop working because of PCI-E lanes limit.

 

From what I have read, running SLI on dual x16 versus x16, x8 or x8, x8 doesn't make much of a difference. In your experience, have you seen it make a large impact on performance? and if so, is there a motherboard that you would recommend that would be better without adding too much to the build cost?

 

This one has 2 PCIe slots but can only run x8 x8, but it has 7.1 surround with a Realtek ALC892 chip and pretty solid reviews.

[jlacy222]

I personally own a EVGA 980 SC ACX 2.0 and I would say go with EVGA, compared to strix the build quality is much higher, the only con of the EVGA model is the lack of back plate which isn't needed. I have not had issues with ACX 2.0, it has kept my card cool at minimal fan speeds and is moderately quiet depending on the game and overclock you have.

[Krytopsy]

Yes 8x or 16x are minimal impact on GPU performance, SLI require both cards to work at 8x minimum so leaving no PCI-E lanes left for anything else. 16 PCI-E lanes maximum on Z97. Maximus VII Hero.

[AnnoyedShelf]

Don't cut on motherboard of you will never have a descent audio experience without getting a sound card that will make your SLI setup stop working because of PCI-E lanes limit.

PCI-E lanes are dependent on the CPU, not the motherboard.  Also, there's nothing wrong with the motherboard he chose.

[givingtnt]

Would change the 970 ACX for a STRIX one. I've heard ACX has issues, someone confirm here?

id rather give him a gigabyte g1. much more reliable and same  to better performances than the strix

[IustoFulmine]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $229.99) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 

Thermal Compound: Innovation Cooling Diamond "7 Carat" 1.5g Thermal Paste  ($6.20 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($74.70 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $200.00) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $74.99) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($579.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $99.99) 

Total: $1525.84

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-30 13:53 EDT-0400

 

I left out the case since im not sure what kind of look you want but this should get you started

 

 

This is an awesome build!

 

But, adding a case for $100 (the one I like is $119 with combos and rebate) and a monitor for $130 would put it to nearly $1800 which is a bit more than I can afford right now. In a couple of years when I graduate, I would love to go with the gtx 1180 or whatever they end up calling it .

 

I do like a lot of the other components that you have suggested and am going to seriously reconsider replacing what I have with them.

 

Do you think the i5 will limit my ability to run the emulator smoothly?

 

I had picked the i7 because, unlike a video card, I can't run dual processors to increase my power and this expand-ability of this build would be limited by that.

Do you think it would make much of a difference?

[givingtnt]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $229.99) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 

Thermal Compound: Innovation Cooling Diamond "7 Carat" 1.5g Thermal Paste  ($6.20 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($74.70 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $200.00) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $74.99) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($579.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $99.99) 

Total: $1525.84

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-30 13:53 EDT-0400

 

I left out the case since im not sure what kind of look you want but this should get you started

 

why did you keep the cooler for an h100i ?  id rather give him an h80i I have that and the 4790k and its perfect

edit :also id change the evga supernova NEX for a supernova G2 750W

[IustoFulmine]

Yes 8x or 16x are minimal impact on GPU performance, SLI require both cards to work at 8x minimum so leaving no PCI-E lanes left for anything else. 16 PCI-E lanes maximum on Z97. Maximus VII Hero.

 

What else would the PCI-E lanes be used for?

[Krytopsy]

Stop recommending what you would use and recommend what is the best for the long run.

[IustoFulmine]

Switch to an i5-4690k and get 2x 128GB MX100's to put them in RAID 0. My only suggestion.

 

I am planning on getting another 256gb MX100 and putting that in a RAID 0 in the future but I checked the price of the 128GB you suggested and might go with that as a RAID 0 with those is only $30 more expensive than one of the 256GB drives.

[Krytopsy]

PCI-E lanes are used for any card you install in your computer including graphics, sound card, wifi card, usb cards, sata cards, m.2 ssd, etc. anything you happened to need that isn't not on your motherboard already.

[Krytopsy]

I don't recommend MX100.. What will you use those SSDs in RAID 0 for ?

[IustoFulmine]

why did you keep the cooler for an h100i ?  id rather give him an h80i I have that and the 4790k and its perfect

edit :also id change the evga supernova NEX for a supernova G2 750W

 

Yeah, I want to continuously upgrade this as time goes, ie I don't plan on overclocking until it becomes an issue, at which point I'll start investing more in cooling, I like the idea of liquid cooling both the card and the processor.

 

For now, my goal is a foundation upon which I can build. So if I can save a few bucks by going without a CPU cooler and not implementing a RAID now etc. with the option of doing so in the future, it will make it easier for my wife to swallow because, even though I am the breadwinner, we all know who really controls the money 

[Krytopsy]

Don't get ripjaw they are overrated, get Dominator Platinum or HyperX Beast 1866mhz people thinking all 1600mhz RAM are made equal are wrong.

[IustoFulmine]

I don't recommend MX100.. What will you use those SSDs in RAID 0 for ?

 

Setting up the RAID would just be to boost read/write speed. I am wary of SSD reliability especially in a RAID which Is why I will be backing up them onto my HDD regularly. I plan on having my operating system as well as games and other heavy duty programs like photoshop, illustrator, android studio etc.

[Krytopsy]

And if you don't need the 4 fans controller in the H100i, the H105 gives better cooling capacity because of his ticker rad.

[Krytopsy]

Not only that but most usage people do on SSD don't use the Sequential Speed as everybody know as 550 Mb/s. Games and OS specially use Random Read and not Sequential Read where Corsair Neutron GTX, Samsung 850 Pro and Intel 730 are the best for your needs.

[IustoFulmine]

PCI-E lanes are used for any card you install in your computer including graphics, sound card, wifi card, usb cards, sata cards, m.2 ssd, etc. anything you happened to need that isn't not on your motherboard already.

 

I get that, but would running the two cards at x8 x8 eliminate the possibility of running other peripherals on the additional PCI slots? (As long as the processor has enough lanes).

 

I guess the question is, are all the lanes shared across the motherboard or do they each have an allocated amount with the PCI 3 slots sharing 16 lanes? 

[Krytopsy]

My RAID 0 SSDs are about 2 years old and keep doing well but the unreliable part of a SSD Raid 0 isn't the SSD themleves, it's the BIOS Raid utility you have to go through to install an OS instead of RAID utility in Windows which will not make your RAID 0 compatible with booting OS.