My First Build - looking for constructive criticism

[kibex55]

Hello Everyone, (I know this is a lot of information, I understand if it is too long for some haha)

 

I have been contemplating building my own PC for the last couple years now and am finally expecting to have the kind of money I will need to buy all the parts at once soon. As a bit of a background, I am a US college student about 6 months away from finishing my degree. I major in Multimedia Design and Development and hope to work in 3D environmental design for things such as games and/or animations. I will also possibly be working with web page design, video/image editing, programming, and illustration. I would also like to record my gameplay, edit, and upload to YouTube/stream to twitch.

 

I want to build a high-end gaming and workstation PC in the price range of about $1500 to $2000, including some peripherals, that will be able to last me for several years and will be fairly versatile in general. As of this point, I have been doing a lot of research, consulting my computer enthusiast friends, revising, and have come up with a parts list with pcpartpicker.com.

 

I would like to note a few things before I get to the parts list though:

 

one, I already have a mouse, so I do not yet intend to get a new one.

 

two, I am expecting to be able to have Windows 7 provided for me by my school for free. ( I do not like Win 8 and might be interested in Win 10 at some point in the future if it proves to be a reasonably good OS)

 

three, I am pretty set on the case. I really like the Carbide Air 540 by Corsair and was a part of my original builds, but recently my attention has been brought to the newer Air 240, the mATX form factor case, and I really feel that, after consideration, the benefits of having an mATX form factor fits my plans for this build. My thought process goes as such: I do not intend to have more than 2 graphics at any point, I like that it will be fairly compact and portable, and I will be able to save some money without hindering my expectations of the build quality.

 

four, there are several parts that I currently do not yet intend to buy and might possibly upgrade to later. At this time, 16 GB of RAM will be plenty (but I enjoy the thought of possibly upping that to 32 in the future), I am comfortable with a single powerful graphics card (with option of adding a second later down the road, probably SLI), and I do not intend to OC this build at this time and have been advised by a few people that I do not specifically need a replacement CPU cooler at this time (but am considering added components such as a closed loop liquid cooler for the CPU). Also, I am considering replacing all fans with Noctua, or possibly some other quiet set with LEDs built in, at some point.

 

five, I would like WiFi compatibility as well as possibly an HD gameplay recorder for my consoles.

 

The current build as it stands is: ( http://pcpartpicker.com/user/kibex55/saved/wfsj4D )

 

             CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core (I think this is a bit overkill but I like the idea of going big with the CPU, have considered a xeon but if I do want to OC later then I am told that it is not good for that and the base clocks are more important than amount of cores for games so it better to go with i5 or i7)

 

MotherBoard: MSI Z97M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1150 (really like this board, "decent" price with a lot of features)

 

             RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 (price range possibly around 80 to 180, i would like to keep the color similar to the board unless another RAM is significantly efficiently valued)

 

              SSD: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" SSD (I would like an SSD for boot and frequent programs speeds, maybe 120 up to 256 so I can hold OS, programs, and some frequent games, reasonable price range seems around $80 to $140)

 

              HDD: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM (looking at around 1 to 3 TB for my first HDD, price range around $60 to $120)

 

              GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 (I was originally looking at the MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V, but I feel like the case might have a height problem with that one. I am looking for a card with maybe 3+ GB, probably Nvidia 900 series or a very powerful 700, like the 980/970 or 780ti. My price range is very dependent on performance. I could say possibly between $240 and $560, with going over $400 needing to be very worth it. if I go over $400, I will likely need to cut back on expending on something else like maybe the CPU, but I would rather keep that pretty powerful because of the editing I plan to do)

 

             Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower (love this and the Air 540 case, don't think I will be willing to change to any other)

 

              PSU: Rosewill 750W ATX12V / EPS12V (price range seems reasonable around $60 to $140, gold seems fine, I would like to keep it at least semi-modular)

 

         Monitor: Asus VG248QE 24.0" (definitely interested in a high-end monitor within the price range of about $100 to $300, I would like to get a G-sync monitor, but they are way too much, maybe I could upgrade later down the road. For now, I would like something around 24" with a high refresh rate, low response. 16:9 is completely fine, but I just can't help but consider something like 21:10 (maybe something like LG 25UM64-S). also, I would be interested in a monitor that has HDMI in and out so I can play games without any added latency and run the output from the monitor into my computer so it can record. at least some reasonably good freedom of movement would also be nice.)

 

     WiFi Card: Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 (seems a bit over the top, but with the builds price range I am being a sucker for the pricey good looking stuff haha)

 

 *HD Capture: AVerMedia C985 Live Gamer HD * (like I said, I would be interested in getting a good HD capture card for a reasonable price like around $80 to $180, this one looks good with decent software available, HDMI pass through, minimal latency, audio ports, adapters, and 1080p 60fps recording, etc.)

 

      Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 (I am looking for a good quality, easy to clean keyboard, probably with a number pad and even a few M keys, this one looks great. I am probably just going to go with the cherry mx red and add rubber o-rings to shorten the distance and quiet the bottom out since I bottom out often.)

 

alternatively, I am still considering going above and beyond by getting the Air 540 case and going with a bigger build with an ATX board and possibly even 2 graphics cards (though that sends me over my price range). I have a secondary build list with this setup here (http://pcpartpicker.com/user/kibex55/saved/Ngn7YJ )  just in case.

[MicahK555]

Well I have the same wifi card and keyboard you listed and I can attest that both are great. I am curious however why you are wanting a a capture card though. If your buying an Nvidia graphics card it will come with Geforce Experience and Shadowplay which allows you to record all your game play and even your desktop screen. Is there a specific reason why you want a capture card? Personally I think shadowplay is already fantastic.

[teddyteddyteddy]

if you want to have sli 970's in the future, you might want to go with an atx build instead of micro atx.  you don't want non reference cards squished together like they would be on a matx board

[kibex55]

Well I have the same wifi card and keyboard you listed and I can attest that both are great. I am curious however why you are wanting a a capture card though. If your buying an Nvidia graphics card it will come with Geforce Experience and Shadowplay which allows you to record all your game play and even your desktop screen. Is there a specific reason why you want a capture card? Personally I think shadowplay is already fantastic.

 

Hey, no problem, I did mention "as well as possibly an HD gameplay recorder for my consoles" in number five of my notes before I start the parts list. to elaborate, I wish to be able to record any possible gameplay I want to from my video game consoles like my Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and even more retro stuff if the occasion so happens, so I wanted to have some way of recording that. Xbox One has a recording feature but it mostly works either as a game stream to twitch or a passive 30 second record, I think it also has an active 30 min record? not sure, but it only records the game and game audio, no chat or UI, so I want to be able to record that in for with 1080p60fps as well as custom camera input. I have considered a decent monitor with a passthrough feature though so I have minimal latency. generally just going through my options.

[MicahK555]

Hey, no problem, I did mention "as well as possibly an HD gameplay recorder for my consoles" in number five of my notes before I start the parts list. to elaborate, I wish to be able to record any possible gameplay I want to from my video game consoles like my Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and even more retro stuff if the occasion so happens, so I wanted to have some way of recording that. Xbox One has a recording feature but it mostly works either as a game stream to twitch or a passive 30 second record, I think it also has an active 30 min record? not sure, but it only records the game and game audio, no chat or UI, so I want to be able to record that in for with 1080p60fps as well as custom camera input. I have considered a decent monitor with a passthrough feature though so I have minimal latency. generally just going through my options.

Woops. sorry, I missed the console part. Can't really offer much for console recording.

[stconquest]

Your build is good, really good.  You can save a bit of money and go fully modular with this:  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-m12ii620bronze

 

SLI 970s would be pushing it (620w) though.

 

 

These are Seasonic internals apparently:

650  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1650bbefx

750  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bbefx

850  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850bbefx

 

I actually have been running an 750 XFX PSU for two years... no problems at all.

[kibex55]

Your build is good, really good.  You can save a bit of money and go fully modular with this:  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-m12ii620bronze

 

SLI 970s would be pushing it (620w) though.

 

 

These are Seasonic internals apparently:

650  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1650bbefx

750  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bbefx

850  http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850bbefx

 

I actually have been running an 750 XFX PSU for two years... no problems at all.

Hmm, I think I do want to stick with a gold rating though, The way I pick parts for this build when I do not have a preference is I look up 5, 4, and no Star rated items and look for qualities that are mid to high quality within reason. I usually find videos by Linus that help me decide on what fits for me. For the Power supply I like the idea of getting something fairly high-end that will last a long while and is properly compatible with my components, like how the haswell CPU can go pretty low power so I want to take advantage of that. Gold just seems nice so I am not over doing it too much but gives me comfortable reliability. I have been looking at the fully modular too, I do like the idea, just didn't care to be so adamant about it if I find something relatively cheap that happens to be semi. fully modular also allows me to buy fully custom sleeved power cables if I so desire to go so flashy cosmetic too with the red and black theme I have going on so far. all n all, The build is within my price range so far, so I am not stressing it too much. thanks though

[stconquest]

Hmm, I think I do want to stick with a gold rating though, The way I pick parts for this build when I do not have a preference is I look up 5, 4, and no Star rated items and look for qualities that are mid to high quality within reason. I usually find videos by Linus that help me decide on what fits for me. For the Power supply I like the idea of getting something fairly high-end that will last a long while and is properly compatible with my components, like how the haswell CPU can go pretty low power so I want to take advantage of that. Gold just seems nice so I am not over doing it too much but gives me comfortable reliability. I have been looking at the fully modular too, I do like the idea, just didn't care to be so adamant about it if I find something relatively cheap that happens to be semi. fully modular also allows me to buy fully custom sleeved power cables if I so desire to go so flashy cosmetic too with the red and black theme I have going on so far. all n all, The build is within my price range so far, so I am not stressing it too much. thanks though

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bbefx

[xvantok]

Give me a minute or 2 and I'll see what I can do with 2k!

Edit: can I change you round to a NZXT H440? Available in all good colours!

[kibex55]

Give me a minute or 2 and I'll see what I can do with 2k!

Edit: can I change you round to a NZXT H440? Available in all good colours!

if I were to consider any other cases, they would probably have to be around the same square shape and probably also have the similar build where some of the components, like HD bay and PSU are on the other side of the motherboard mounting wall.....sooo.....no.....sorry haha good try though

[kibex55]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bbefx

thanks, Ill certainly consider it

[kibex55]

btw, I posted a copy of this to tek syndicate just for more audience, here is the link https://teksyndicate.com/forum/build-pc/my-first-build-looking-constructive-criticism/192524#comment-1823614

[ClakeyD]

Well this is exciting! I actually found you're post on Teksyndicates website (don't have an account over there yet though).

 

First off you've got a really well rounded price/performance build, so offering input is already a bit hard .

 

Peripherals - Do you already have some sort of audio setup? If not are you planning on purchasing one with your build? Do you prefer a multi speaker set up or headphones+mic/headset?

 

Ram - Corsair has great ram, but I was curious if you were just looking for the color/brand name on those? Or would you consider something like... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4YU2AH8933&cm_re=g.skill_trident_16gb-_-20-231-589-_-Product Its a bit higher in price right now, but they usually pair that in combos with tons of other products. They look fairly similiar in color, and are actually 2400ghz vsghz 1600 on the Corsair. When I got mine I think I ended up paying 140 with the combo included.

 

Storage - Sp600 pretty damn good ssd for the price. If you end up going on the higher end i'd recommend Samsungs new 850 evo's. I think for a 256gb its somewhere around 135~. One of the fastest SSD's on the market right now.

 

Powersupply - My first ever build actually used a Rosewill powersupply. Nothing special, but ended up dieing after 2 and a half years. Left a sour taste in my mouth. I'd recommend checking out Corsair's power supplies. They usually have fairly good sales going on them. https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-hx750 something along those lines.

 

Wifi card - It does look pretty badass. I mean for a wifi card. But you could spend a fraction of that price and get nearly identical performance. Those savings could then be put towards somethings like fans, or upgrading one of your current components.

 

Like I said you already have a really balanced machine, you could ignore everything i've said and still have a kickass rig. Having said that, when I was planning my pc there were some things I didn't think about while planning it out. I probably would have done some things differently had I thought of them. So I don't know if you've considered these variables or not but...

 

Are you planning on buying all of your stuff from one retailer? Or just the best prices for each product? And are you buying them all at the same time, or waiting for a big sale on each part? Are you actually going to print out/fill in and mail the mail-in rebates? (I Sure as shit didn't haha)

[xvantok]

Are you sure you need such an overkill Wirless adapter card? Since when have you needed a 1.2 GBPS speed. My wifi max is 12mbps!

[kibex55]

Well this is exciting! I actually found you're post on Teksyndicates website (don't have an account over there yet though).

 

First off you've got a really well rounded price/performance build, so offering input is already a bit hard .

 

Peripherals - Do you already have some sort of audio setup? If not are you planning on purchasing one with your build? Do you prefer a multi speaker set up or headphones+mic/headset?

 

Ram - Corsair has great ram, but I was curious if you were just looking for the color/brand name on those? Or would you consider something like... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4YU2AH8933&cm_re=g.skill_trident_16gb-_-20-231-589-_-Product Its a bit higher in price right now, but they usually pair that in combos with tons of other products. They look fairly similiar in color, and are actually 2400ghz vsghz 1600 on the Corsair. When I got mine I think I ended up paying 140 with the combo included.

 

Storage - Sp600 pretty damn good ssd for the price. If you end up going on the higher end i'd recommend Samsungs new 850 evo's. I think for a 256gb its somewhere around 135~. One of the fastest SSD's on the market right now.

 

Powersupply - My first ever build actually used a Rosewill powersupply. Nothing special, but ended up dieing after 2 and a half years. Left a sour taste in my mouth. I'd recommend checking out Corsair's power supplies. They usually have fairly good sales going on them. https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-hx750 something along those lines.

 

Wifi card - It does look pretty badass. I mean for a wifi card. But you could spend a fraction of that price and get nearly identical performance. Those savings could then be put towards somethings like fans, or upgrading one of your current components.

 

Like I said you already have a really balanced machine, you could ignore everything i've said and still have a kickass rig. Having said that, when I was planning my pc there were some things I didn't think about while planning it out. I probably would have done some things differently had I thought of them. So I don't know if you've considered these variables or not but...

 

Are you planning on buying all of your stuff from one retailer? Or just the best prices for each product? And are you buying them all at the same time, or waiting for a big sale on each part? Are you actually going to print out/fill in and mail the mail-in rebates? (I Sure as shit didn't haha)

great to hear from you

 

ok, so, I guess I'll just go down the list.

 

I was simply going to use the speakers provided in the monitor for any audio outside of using my Gaming headset I have, the Turtle Beach XO Fours (which have a mic built in). If I feel that this is insufficient and I really want better quality audio outside my headset then I will invest into a pair of decent quality speakers or maybe even a small sound bar if that would work best. I could say maybe 20-100$ if need be.

 

For the RAM, I am just familiar with the quality of the Corsair so I figured it would be a fine enough choice for starting RAM. I don't think I will be needing super high speeds. 1600-2133 seems within my acceptable speed vs value vs quality vs price. none the less, when I was looking for RAM I was considering higher speed ram around 2400 but the voltage was exceeding 1.5 and pcpartpickers compatibility notification said that the CPU might not be able to utilize all the RAM past 1.5 volts....idk...but the price should stay within 80 to 180. If I can find some reliable and quality RAM around 150 then so be it.

 

For storage, I was actually advised to change a cheaper SSD, A-DATA, for that one since I was advised it wasn't so reliable, and I was thinking I could drop the SSD size from 256 to 128 and allow myself to get better quality RAM in place for size since I was going to have a large HDD to store everything else on and 128 should be fine for most all my frequently used programs and a few games I am playing frequently at that time. I looked again and so far I think I might just bump the RAM up to the vengence pros at 1866 speed for only a little more in price.

 

 thanks for the recommendation on the power supply, I have heard mixed reviews on the Rosewill PSUs, so yeah, I'll just go with the corsair for now, seems like a good price.

 

For the WiFi Card, I agree, it is quite a bit overkill. Can anyone find me a good, multi-band, WiFi + Bluetooth (I forgot to look into cards with Bluetooth before) card that doesnt look like crap? I would prefer it to be internal or maaaaaaybe a USB (but I don't like the look of the WiFi+bluetooth sticks, I would rather have a little desktop or wall/case mount one that sits with the antennas out....sorry, I know I am picky, but I want this build to be spot on haha)

 

Finally, No, I don't care to buy all from one retailer, unless I can find someone to sell it to me with a discount or something for ordering altogether. which, I do not want it pre-built, I would like to build this myself, probably with friends to help keep from screwing anything up, and possibly even record the build. pcpartpicker shows the price of each item at its lowest found price and allows me to order it from that provider, I am completely fine with waiting as long as it takes to get all my parts in the mail, but I will be ordering them all at once none the less, no I will not be waiting for sales on each item, I want to build it within a reasonable time, not wait a year lol. It even says that the CPU, at the price shown, is actually found at a retailer several miles away from me and I have to go pick it up from their store, so whatever.

 

As of this time, this is what the build looks like: ( http://pcpartpicker.com/user/kibex55/saved/wfsj4D )

 

Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core

MSI Z97M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1150

Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866

Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" SSD

Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0

Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower

Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V

Asus VG248QE 24.0"

Corsair Vengeance K70

 

and I am looking for a good WiFi+bluetooth card for either internal or tabletop with USB plug in. also, maybe an HD camera for recording my face while recording gameplay.

[kibex55]

actually, someone recommended a similar PSU for a similar price and it was Fully mod. so how about I just go with that? ( XFX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V )

[Guest]

actually, someone recommended a similar PSU for a similar price and it was Fully mod. so how about I just go with that? ( XFX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V )

That is a very good Seasonic made unit based on their G series.

[ClakeyD]

great to hear from you

 

ok, so, I guess I'll just go down the list.

 

I was simply going to use the speakers provided in the monitor for any audio outside of using my Gaming headset I have, the Turtle Beach XO Fours (which have a mic built in). If I feel that this is insufficient and I really want better quality audio outside my headset then I will invest into a pair of decent quality speakers or maybe even a small sound bar if that would work best. I could say maybe 20-100$ if need be.

 

For the RAM, I am just familiar with the quality of the Corsair so I figured it would be a fine enough choice for starting RAM. I don't think I will be needing super high speeds. 1600-2133 seems within my acceptable speed vs value vs quality vs price. none the less, when I was looking for RAM I was considering higher speed ram around 2400 but the voltage was exceeding 1.5 and pcpartpickers compatibility notification said that the CPU might not be able to utilize all the RAM past 1.5 volts....idk...but the price should stay within 80 to 180. If I can find some reliable and quality RAM around 150 then so be it.

 

For storage, I was actually advised to change a cheaper SSD, A-DATA, for that one since I was advised it wasn't so reliable, and I was thinking I could drop the SSD size from 256 to 128 and allow myself to get better quality RAM in place for size since I was going to have a large HDD to store everything else on and 128 should be fine for most all my frequently used programs and a few games I am playing frequently at that time. I looked again and so far I think I might just bump the RAM up to the vengence pros at 1866 speed for only a little more in price.

 

 thanks for the recommendation on the power supply, I have heard mixed reviews on the Rosewill PSUs, so yeah, I'll just go with the corsair for now, seems like a good price.

 

For the WiFi Card, I agree, it is quite a bit overkill. Can anyone find me a good, multi-band, WiFi + Bluetooth (I forgot to look into cards with Bluetooth before) card that doesnt look like crap? I would prefer it to be internal or maaaaaaybe a USB (but I don't like the look of the WiFi+bluetooth sticks, I would rather have a little desktop or wall/case mount one that sits with the antennas out....sorry, I know I am picky, but I want this build to be spot on haha)

 

Finally, No, I don't care to buy all from one retailer, unless I can find someone to sell it to me with a discount or something for ordering altogether. which, I do not want it pre-built, I would like to build this myself, probably with friends to help keep from screwing anything up, and possibly even record the build. pcpartpicker shows the price of each item at its lowest found price and allows me to order it from that provider, I am completely fine with waiting as long as it takes to get all my parts in the mail, but I will be ordering them all at once none the less, no I will not be waiting for sales on each item, I want to build it within a reasonable time, not wait a year lol. It even says that the CPU, at the price shown, is actually found at a retailer several miles away from me and I have to go pick it up from their store, so whatever.

 

As of this time, this is what the build looks like: ( http://pcpartpicker.com/user/kibex55/saved/wfsj4D )

 

Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core

MSI Z97M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1150

Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866

Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" SSD

Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0

Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower

Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V

Asus VG248QE 24.0"

Corsair Vengeance K70

 

and I am looking for a good WiFi+bluetooth card for either internal or tabletop with USB plug in. also, maybe an HD camera for recording my face while recording gameplay.

Hell yea man I love first builds. Everyones always so excited to get the rig running. 

 

The built in speakers on the monitors aren't phenomenal by any means, but hell you don't need a headset to get a system running haha. 

 

The ram I linked is actually the ram i'm using in my system right now, i'm using a 4770k (4790k arrives in a few days) and i've had no problems with getting my ram to the 2400 rated speeds. Regardless though Corsair's ram is great, and will be a sexy looking addition to your build.

 

I agree your choice on the ssd The A-Data sp600 really isn't that bad, but Samsung makes the best ssd's on the market in my humble opinion. You chose samsung's 840 series (still amazing), but samsung's 850 series just came out. It seems they run around 5-10 dollars more on most places and you get a slight performance increase and a few more features. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e120bam . I've become addicted to the ssd's speeds, already tempted to replace my 500gb hdd with another 500gb ssd .

 

As far as the power supply goes I don't have a massive amount of experience with them, i'm only comfortable with 3-4 of the brands . Haven't heard much about xfx aside from their r9 280/290 gpu's, and their warranty support which is pretty damn good. 

 

I will get back to you on the wifi card, haven't looked at any of them in ages. 

 

A local store that sells the 4790k?? Do you live next to a Microcenter?! Sooo jelly. Unfortunately a lot of hardware prices went back up due to black friday/christmas season ending, but not by a huge margin. 

[kibex55]

I was looking and came across a pci-e WiFi and Bluetooth card ( http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-in-1-PCI-E-port-Bluetooth-4-0-Wireless-LAN-Wifi-Adapter-300Mbps-network-card/1832780637.html ) but it seems outdated/foreign, anybody know of something more up-to-date?

[kibex55]

haha apparently  https://www.google.com/maps/dir/North+Wales,+PA/550+E+Lancaster+Ave,+Radnor,+PA+19087/@40.1286777,-75.317662,11z/data=!4m16!4m15!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c6a30b95b22845:0xebe8ee38d5372141!2m2!1d-75.2782317!2d40.2109404!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c695395ce38b97:0xbff11962cc7d6f77!2m2!1d-75.3700336!2d40.0400532!2m1!2b1!3e0

[kibex55]

also, I am not set on the monitor. some I am currently looking at are:

 

Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor  (16:9, 144hz, 24", 1ms, built in speakers)

BenQ RL2460HT 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (16:9,  60hz, 24", 1ms, built in speakers, hdmi in and out*)

LG 25UM64-S 60Hz 25.0" Monitor     (21:9*, 60hz, 25", 5ms, built in speakers)

[kibex55]

Also, would you guys be interested in seeing any videos I make of this build? I am really interested in recording the build process to make a little amateur adventure/how to/first build walk through etc.

[stconquest]

Also, would you guys be interested in seeing any videos I make of this build? I am really interested in recording the build process to make a little amateur adventure/how to/first build walk through etc.

Always.

[kibex55]

I think I indeed will go with the LG 25" ultrawide ( LG 25UM64-S 60Hz 25.0" Monitor ), I believe it will suite me well. It doesn't have as high of hz as the Asus, but I haven't even used a 120hz monitor yet and I don't think I need to stress that so much. the BenQ is still tempting though with the hdmi out, but hopefully I won't even be able to notice the latency with the capture card pass through. 

 

another note, I am starting to debate back and forth the different values of the mATX and ATX sized Carbide Air Cases (Air 240 vs 540). I altered the large build to have just the one GPU and the prices are very similar at this point. which, if I go with the bigger build and go with the case i have selected at this time ( Asus Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac) ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ) then I don't have to get a WiFi receiver... hmmm....

[kibex55]

I searched through PSUs again and am looking to bring it closer to around 100 or less. what do you guys think of these?

 

EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

 

compared to what I have now ( XFX XTR 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply )

 

looks like evga is a good value PSU, anybody know if their PSUs are any good or anybody know of any real issues?