Excited Man Plans First Build! -- Your Thoughts/Opinions? (Warning: probably long-winded post with rationale)

[Dorovar]

Hey all!

 

I'm finally going to build my first PC in a month or two from now and I'm pretty excited about it. I'll be building it with my future brother-in-law who's built a decent amount of computers already so I won't be going it alone (plus a little family bonding doesn't hurt either, right?)

 

Here's what I'm thinking so far. I'm not an Intel/AMD/Nvidia fanboy either, so I'm open to any suggestions/changes/etc if you're able to persuade me:

 

 

CPU Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core $224.99 CPU Cooler Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid $99.98 Motherboard Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 $144.99 Memory Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 $85.02 Storage Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" SSD $245.80 Video Card Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Vapor-X $465.99 Power Supply Corsair 860W ATX12V / EPS12V $199.99 Optical Drive Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $49.99 Monitor Asus MX279H 27.0" $278.96 Custom Vengeance® K70 RGB Fully Mechanical Gaming Keyboard $169.99   Corsair Graphite Series 780T $189.99

                                                                                                                        Total:  $2155.69

 

This pretty much falls perfectly into my budget of $2000-2500. I'm shooting for a decent price-to-performance ratio, but willing to spend a little extra here and there. My rationale for these parts are as follows:

 

CPU - I'll be primarily gaming on this and don't feel that I have a use for hyperthreading just yet. I don't edit videos and probably won't be streaming on Twitch in the near future, so I went with the i5-4690K. Last I checked on pcpartpicker, the 4690K was $2 CHEAPER than the 4670K, so how could I refuse? I might want to try overclocking in the future, so I went with the "K".

 

Cooler - Went with the Corsair H100i as it seems to be a popular choice. First time doing the water cooling thing and doesn't seem too involved (well, at least compared to custom cooling).

 

Mobo - Here's where I wouldn't mind some more advice. It seems like you can't go wrong whichever brand you go with, but since I've read tons of recommendations for ASUS, I went with the Z97-A. I don't need a $500 mobo, and for an entry level build like mine, this should have enough solid features. The price is right, too.

 

Memory - My bro-in-law has used Kingston for years and swears by them as far as reliability goes and others seem to agree. As nice as Corsair Dominator Platinums might be, I feel like I honestly might not be able to tell the difference in performance while I'm in the middle of a game. Feel free to tell me otherwise though!

 

Storage - While most would tell me to get an 125-250 GB SSD and a 1-2 TB HDD, I'm not really a pack rat when it comes to keeping things on my computer for long periods of time. At the moment I won't need more than 500 GB, and I could always get another one in the future if I need to.

 

GPU - I had my eyes on that EVGA GTX 780 3GB Overclocked for a long time, but when I saw that the difference in performance between that and the Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X was almost neck-and-neck, I decided on the AMD. Helps that it's cheaper and also has an advantage in 1440p, which I might go with in a couple years from now. Although I can afford a 780Ti, it's not worth it to me when it comes to price/performance. That said, the Vapor-X is probably the ONLY AMD card I'd go with as reference cards are awful when it comes to heating and power consumption, plus I might as well get one of their best cooling solutions.

 

Power Supply - I didn't want to mess around here with a cheaper PSU, so I went with the Corsair AX860i. The reason I chose an 860w over a 750w is that I might go Crossfire with another 290 Vapor-X in a couple years (i.e. when Star Citizen is officially finished/released) and this one supposedly has excellent efficiency with its platinum rating.

 

Case - I'm loving the look of the upcoming Corsair 780T case. It'll have plenty of room for what I want to put in it with more to spare for expansion if I need it. Looks like it'll have good airflow, too. Should be released by the time I'm ready to build.

 

Monitor - While I'll be primarily gaming, I'd rather have the color accuracy of an IPS monitor than a 144hz "gaming monitor" that doesn't look as nice. The 5ms response time is probably as good as I'm going to get with an IPS, and having seen the monitor myself firsthand, it's a beautiful monitor (to me at least)!  As I mentioned earlier, I might go 1440 in 3+ years from now and 1080 is all I'll need in the meantime.

 

Etc. - I still have things backed up on discs and have some Blu Rays, so I'll likely get an optical drive, but it's not a priority at the time I'll be building it, though, but they're cheap enough.

I'm really looking forward to the Corsair RGB keyboards. I haven't decided on whether I'll get the K70 or K95 yet and it's been delayed, so I'll use a cheap keyboard in the meantime. If reviews are poor, I might go another route altogether. Definitely want Cherry MX Blue switches though!

 

I already have Windows 7 Ultimate, so I'll probably stick with that, and I'm loving the Logitech G502 Proteus Core mouse I got a couple months back, so I won't be upgrading there.

 

So...keeping that in consideration, what do you think of my choices here so far?

[Cheese4395]

A++. You are one of the only people who actually explain their choices and what they are going to use their computer for. Thus I think you have an excellent build here.

[Recon97]

Why would you want that crappy CPU cooler?Just bug nzxt kraken x61.

[Dorovar]

Have you had a negative experience with the H100i? Any particular differences I should know of?

[Skander1345]

The H100i is a great cooling solution. (and corsair offers awesome warranty).

Your build is fine, I would go with another PSU (evga supernovae g2 850w gold) (cheaper and better according to jonnyguru).

 

The keyboard is great (both k70 and k95) and a mouse I would suggest is the coming M65 RGB from corsair.

[brob]

@Dorovar,

 

It helps when the pcpartpicker permalink is posted. This lets one see what merchant and other options may have been set.

 

The memory kit is not optimal. For DDR3-1600 CAS <= 9 is much better. You might consider something like G.Skill Ares Series which is less expensive and offers better performance. G.Skill is a quality brand.

 

Otherwise it is a very nice build.

[Dorovar]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

When I first typed this, I inserted the link but when I previewed the post the link wasn't working. Maybe it's fine now so here it is:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/dorovar/saved/zwFbt6

[Recon97]

Thanks for the suggestions!

When I first typed this, I inserted the link but when I previewed the post the link wasn't working. Maybe it's fine now so here it is:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/dorovar/saved/zwFbt6

LOL...why do you even need 860W for that system??? Just go for 600w.

[brob]

LOL...why do you even need 860W for that system??? Just go for 600w.

 

CF.

[Dorovar]

LOL...why do you even need 860W for that system??? Just go for 600w.

 

Did you read the first post?

[Bwell]

The H100i is a great cooling solution. (and corsair offers awesome warranty).

Your build is fine, I would go with another PSU (evga supernovae g2 850w gold) (cheaper and better according to jonnyguru).

 

The keyboard is great (both k70 and k95) and a mouse I would suggest is the coming M65 RGB from corsair.

 Nice build i have to agree here with getting a evga.

 

Other then that everything looks good. 

[Dorovar]

Thanks for the input, guys/gals! I've updated my build with some of your suggestions and shaved off a hundred bucks! This build is still just an idea at the moment, but I think it's pretty solid so far.

 

Perm Link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qqNMMp

 

How does it look now?

[Flatoutnos]

Well I'll just say I have the z97-a and I love it. Best motherboard I've ever had. My favorite part is that it has lights on it so for example if your gpu isn't working a light next to the gpu will turn on telling you it doesn't work. Same for cpu and ram. Love it.

[brob]

Thanks for the input, guys/gals! I've updated my build with some of your suggestions and shaved off a hundred bucks! This build is still just an idea at the moment, but I think it's pretty solid so far.

 

Perm Link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qqNMMp

 

How does it look now?

 

Very nice!

[KPZ211997]

Thanks for the input, guys/gals! I've updated my build with some of your suggestions and shaved off a hundred bucks! This build is still just an idea at the moment, but I think it's pretty solid so far.

 

Perm Link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qqNMMp

 

How does it look now?

Nice, but are you sure 500GB is enough?

[Dorovar]

Nice, but are you sure 500GB is enough?

 

For now, yeah. I don't keep much on my computer at one time. Right now I have a 500GB and only use 250-300 of it. That said, games are getting bigger (heard the new Wolfenstein is 90GB+) so I will eventually need more, but I can always add more when I need to. Might get a couple TB of a HDD or another SSD. It will happen for sure, but not a priority at the moment.

[Dorovar]

The H100i is a great cooling solution. (and corsair offers awesome warranty).

Your build is fine, I would go with another PSU (evga supernovae g2 850w gold) (cheaper and better according to jonnyguru).

The keyboard is great (both k70 and k95) and a mouse I would suggest is the coming M65 RGB from corsair.

The M65 RGB would go great with the RGB keyboard but at the moment I'm happy with the Proteus Core. Thanks for the suggestion of the EVGA PSU! Since a bunch of you second that opinion and I've read positive reviews of it elsewhere, I've decided to go with that. Wouldn't have thought of it otherwise, to be honest.