Appraise my future PC - with a catch...

[Epis]

Hi there folks. I've been finalising the parts list to the new mid-high end PC which I am hoping to get within six months. Please keep in mind that I live in Australia and the prices are often higher than in the US.

 

I want you guys to go through this list and see if you can improve upon it in any way. The catch? I want you to be as nit-picky as possible and if needed suggest alternate components and explain why.

 

So here is the list:

• Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro [AU$115] -- Looks good, it's also pretty much the most fully featured case in that price range.
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W Gold [AU$239] -- Good enough to power any single GPU system. However, I don't really like the red PCIe cables. If the SuperNOVA G2 750W was in Australia I would pick that instead because of the all black cables and higher wattage. I also considered the Corsair RM550/RM650 because of the very low noise but chose not to use it because of the inferior cables.
• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VII Ranger [AU$225] -- There are cheaper options out there but I chose this one mostly because of Fan Xpert 3 and because of ASUS's generally good warranty.
• CPU: Intel Core i5 4670K [AU$269] -- Most likely to change this to the 4690K because why not.
• RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4GB DDR3 1600 [$99] -- Not the greatest performance, but it's cheap and looks better than any of the other similarly priced RAM. (RAM in Aus is much more expensive than in the US)
• GPU: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 Windforce 4GB [AU$449] -- Pretty cheap for a 290.
• SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB [AU$179] -- I will also be using a 1TB HDD from my current PC
• CPU Cooler: NZXT Havik 140 [AU$69] -- This particular CPU cooler seems to be overlooked but from the reviews that I've seen it performs very well, especially considering its price.

Total: AU$1554

 

 

I would greatly appreciate any suggested changes, as long as you can explain why. I would also like to keep the total cost under AU$1600

[SAV1OUR]

as close as i could get to $1600

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($269.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

CPU Cooler:  Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($39.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

Motherboard:  MSI Z97 MPOWER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($299.00 @ CPL Online) 

Memory:  Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($99.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

Storage:  Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($159.00 @ PLE Computers) 

Video Card:  Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X Video Card  ($519.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

Power Supply:  Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($159.00 @ CPL Online) 

Other: pro($115.00)

Total: $1658.00

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-09 22:00 EST+1000)

[DarrenP]

Hi there folks. I've been finalising the parts list to the new mid-high end PC which I am hoping to get within six months. Please keep in mind that I live in Australia and the prices are often higher than in the US.

 

I want you guys to go through this list and see if you can improve upon it in any way. The catch? I want you to be as nit-picky as possible and if needed suggest alternate components and explain why.

 

So here is the list:

• Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro [AU$115] -- Looks good, it's also pretty much the most fully featured case in that price range.
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W Gold [AU$239] -- Good enough to power any single GPU system. However, I don't really like the red PCIe cables. If the SuperNOVA G2 750W was in Australia I would pick that instead because of the all black cables and higher wattage. I also considered the Corsair RM550/RM650 because of the very low noise but chose not to use it because of the inferior cables.
• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VII Ranger [AU$225] -- There are cheaper options out there but I chose this one mostly because of Fan Xpert 3 and because of ASUS's generally good warranty.
• CPU: Intel Core i5 4670K [AU$269] -- Most likely to change this to the 4690K because why not.
• RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4GB DDR3 1600 [$99] -- Not the greatest performance, but it's cheap and looks better than any of the other similarly priced RAM. (RAM in Aus is much more expensive than in the US)
• GPU: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 Windforce 4GB [AU$449] -- Pretty cheap for a 290.
• SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB [AU$179] -- I will also be using a 1TB HDD from my current PC
• CPU Cooler: NZXT Havik 140 [AU$69] -- This particular CPU cooler seems to be overlooked but from the reviews that I've seen it performs very well, especially considering its price.

Total: AU$1554

 

 

I would greatly appreciate any suggested changes, as long as you can explain why. I would also like to keep the total cost under AU$1600

Hi OP. How're you today?

 

Let me start off with saying, you're in the right direction. Although a few improvements could be made. 

 

That motherboard is built more for extreme overclockers, more like people who use Liquid nitrogen to benchmark their CPU's. I would recommend a different motherboard. Such as the Z97 Asrock extreme4 or extreme6, Although you stated you want FanXpert3. So in that case, ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark1. You than get some fancy thermal armour, and an all around very solid motherboard. 

 

As far as everything else is going, I think you're doing pretty good. Except don't buy that crappy CPU cooler. It's garbage. Buy something like the Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler. It's around 75-80 dollars. I'd also highly suggest getting the 4690K. 

 

My 2 cents. 

[Epis]

Hi OP. How're you today?

 

Let me start off with saying, you're in the right direction. Although a few improvements could be made. 

 

That motherboard is built more for extreme overclockers, more like people who use Liquid nitrogen to benchmark their CPU's. I would recommend a different motherboard. Such as the Z97 Asrock extreme4 or extreme6, Although you stated you want FanXpert3. So in that case, ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark1. You than get some fancy thermal armour, and an all around very solid motherboard. 

 

As far as everything else is going, I think you're doing pretty good. Except don't buy that crappy CPU cooler. It's garbage. Buy something like the Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler. It's around 75-80 dollars. I'd also highly suggest getting the 4690K. 

 

My 2 cents. 

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll keep them in mind.