New Build SOS

[MikalMooni]

Hey everyone, 

I was planning on doing an upgrade to my fairly old HP platform, but quickly discovered that an all-out new build was necessary. I had a goal of, by the end of the summer, assembling my first ever DIY PC build, hopefully around the MATX form factor and featuring a 650 watt power supply with an NVIDIA GTX 970 graphics card from PNY. 

I have already purchased and stress-tested the other components, so now it's only a matter of picking the CPU, MOBO and memory to match. From here, I guess it gets interesting. I've been exploring a wide variety of options, both from AMD and Intel alike, but came across a stumbling block I couldn't overcome. What, if anything, is the absolute BEST value for $700 - $950 CAD right now, especially considering the kind of gaming I want to do?? I would be playing anything from the original Mass Effect Trilogy, all the way up to the Witcher 3, and was hoping to have 16 GB of High Speed (2100+) DDR3 RAM as a non-negotiable, unless a step was made to the DDR4 standard. Also, I had hoped to add an additional 970 in the future, or even make an upgrade to two 980TI cards if necessary. 

My big issue with DDR4 now, though, is the quality and compatibility that the MOBOs you can find today offer - frankly, nobody you can buy up here seems to be doing a spectacular job of it right now, and that really dissuades me from approaching anything in the MATX LGA 2011 - v3 architecture. I'm no real Red, Blue OR Green fanboy right now, but I just figured that I should reach out, instead of make some terrible decision now that I can't rectify. 

 

Currently, my PC is as follows, to show you an idea of what I DON'T want to purchase, AT ALL. 

 

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Windows 8.1 64-bit (With NO intention to upgrade anytime soon)

 

AMD A10-6700 APU

 

2x 4gb DIMM DDR3 Hynix/Hyundai @ 1600 mhz

 

GTX 970 @ 1680x1050 target resolution (2nd GPU would power 1440p)

 

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If you've taken the time now to read through the post to this point, then thank you for your patience, and I would greatly appreciate a hand with this decision. 

 

Thanks again, 

 

- Mike. 

[MikalMooni]

- Damn. Didn't notice new builds and planning thread on forum page. Apologies, for the slight mistake in location. 

[Pizzatime6]

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

I would personally do this for the rest of the parts for your build. 8gb of ram is more then enough for gaming so is the 1600mhz speed. Also in spending less on ram and the cpu you can get a second 970. Also a 4690K will not bottleneck sli 970 either and give good performance. However if you want more power you can swap it out and buy a 4790K instead if you need hyper-theading and can always buy more ram in the future. This will set you up for 1440p gaming for sure.

[rtpb5642]

Wait so what do u have currently that you can already use? Do u need mouse keyboard etc?

 

If u already have the 970 then:

 

i5 4690k

Any RAM (really anything 1600mhz+ IT DOESENT MATTER)

Any seasonic 600+ watt power supply

Any Z97 motherboard

 

Single 980ti or dual 970 can handle 1440p no problem

[rtpb5642]

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

I would personally do this for the rest of the parts for your build. 8gb of ram is more then enough for gaming so is the 1600mhz speed. Also in spending less on ram and the cpu you can get a second 970. Also a 4690K will not bottleneck sli 970 either and give good performance. However if you want more power you can swap it out and buy a 4790K instead if you need hyper-theading and can always buy more ram in the future. This will set you up for 1440p gaming for sure.

That link shows nothing.

[Pizzatime6]

basicallt it had a Second gpu for 320, a 4690k for 220, and 8gb of ram for 40 bucks from Ripjaws X series 1600mhz, and a asus maximus vii gene. I love these asus boards. I have never had a issue with bio's or part comparability with them. I'm sure other brands are great too thats just what I have stuck with. Though for the price of two 970's you could get a evga 980ti. Might be worth looking into!

[MikalMooni]

To Recap, I already have a monitor at 1680x1050p, Keyboard, Mouse, GTX 970, EVGA nex650g PSU, hard drive (Would probably get new HDD and Windows install, with other money), and enough left over to pick up/ build(or mod) a case for it all to go into. 

I gave the memory recommendations because while I do intend to use the system primarily for gaming, the extra room & speed leave extra headroom for poorly optimized PC ports (Batman AK, M.E.T. as examples) AND do multitasking/video rendering. 

If I were to buy a new GPU, it would be holiday season or later, and should not be considered in the price of the parts at this moment. Even if I were to pick up another GTX 970 now, I would set aside other moneys to do it. If it isn't obvious by now, Money isn't exactly the issue here, I just want to be an informed shopper.