First Full Custom Gaming Build (Advices much appreciated)

[Ultragunner]

Greetings folks,

 

As I'm about to graduate from uni, instead of going on a fancy graduation trip, I've decided to go all out and put together my dream gaming PC.

 

As this is my first full-custom build, so please do give me advice and recommendation on the parts, thank you very much.

 

My budget is ~$3000, now let's get right down to business

 

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7 4790K ($399)

 

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 280mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler ($159)

 

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VII Hero Motherboard ($269)

 

Graphics: MSI Geforce GTX 980 Gaming 4GB ($699)

 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-2133C11D-16GZL (2x8GB) 16GB DDR3 ($215)

 

Solid State Drive: Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB SSD ($139)

 

Hard Drive: Western Digital WD Green 4TB WD40EZRX ($179) 

 

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe White ($189) (or the Corsair Carbide Air 540 ~ $189)

 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W G2 Gold Power Supply ($149)

 

Cable Kit: PCCG Sleeved Cable Extension Kit White ($39) 

 

Additional Lighting: Phanteks Multi Coloured LED Strip 2m ($25)

 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 64bit OEM ($115)

 

 

 

All of these are prepared to run the glorious: AOC U3477PQU 34in Ultrawide WQHD IPS Monitor (3440x1440 21:9 ratio) with plenty of room for expandability, and perhaps a custom water-cooling loop in the future

 

I plan to get everything from https://pccasegear.com/

 

 

*NOTE: I'm from Australia so the pricing is a bit different from in the US or Canada, not to mention the exchange rate between USD and AUD.

 

*NOTE 2: any of the parts can be subjects to change as I haven't pulled the final trigger yet 

 

Please give me your opinions, comrades!! 

 

*UPDATED: recently got a deal of a MSI 980 for $699, not bad, eh 

[AlwaysFSX]

Don't waste your money on a formula board, get a black or baracuda series drive instead (2tb max per drive), white case will look tacky if everything doesn't match, get a second 980.

Just my thoughts.

[Ultragunner]

Those are some fair points, I do consider getting a black case instead of the white, storage is just as you said and I was thinking about getting a dedicated SSHD for game storage while a "normal" HDD for other things like pictures, videos...etc...

 

About the 2nd 980 though, it would be a bit over-budget, here in Australia 1 single 980 costs at least $700 @_@, not to mention all the issues with heat, power and game compatibility   , but I still consider the option of going SLI, but perhaps not right now....*sob*

[T.E.D]

Nice, I'm graduating uni soon as well . I suppose if you're going to do a custom loop later anyway, I'd go with a big tower air cooler as it's cheaper and cools as well as any AIO. I have http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_23&products_id=18376 and besides trouble working around the cpu socket my 4.0GHz(conservative I know) 2600k doesn't go above mid 60 degrees. The D14 is $24 more and D15 $40.

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

If you don't mind, I might tear this build apart a bit. Btw, a lot of your hyperlinks are messed up

I tried putting all of that together in a cart on PCCG, but it went waaaay over budget for some reason, even with my different, cheaper parts.

 

Here's an Imgur album of all the changes I made.

 

Colour scheme
 

Your colour scheme seemed a bit out of whack and with the Luxe, a good colour scheme will make it look 100x better. I gave it a white one since you already had white cables and a white case.
 

Motherboard

 

The Z97-PRO will match a white-themed build (somewhat) and give the same performance at a better price. After I added this, I wasn't sure if this would be better than the Z97-A. If you think the Z97-A would better suit your needs, you could get that and squeeze a 256gb ssd in.

 

Graphics

 

The Gigabyte GTX 980 just seems a bit overpriced to me. The EVGA ones perform just as good and their service is 10x better, but it's still cheaper.

Memory

Changed the colour to better suit the build. Black would look good too.

Storage

I've never met a gamer that needed 4tb, changed it to 2tb. As I said before, you could squeeze in a 256gb if you change the motherboard to the Z97-A but I doubt you'll need it if you're just installing a few games, programs and the OS to your ssd.

 

Power Supply

 

Seasonic is well known for their great power supplies and have been for a long time. 650w is fine for a single GTX 980/970, if not a bit overkill. The X-650 is a bit overkill still, but it looks great and will last you a long time so whatever.

 

You can see all the other changes I made in the Imgur album I made. I hope this helps!

 

Edit: Just realised you changed the memory in your post to a red coloured kit, the hyperlink confused me in the end. If you're going for a red/white scheme, the Hero would be fine.

[Ultragunner]

^ thank you for the great suggestions 

 

Yeah, I'm also considering a 980 form EVGA (waiting the review from Linus  ), that Seasonic PSU was on my list from the start until I came across the EVGA PSU review from JonnyGuru http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=380, not to mention it's cheaper (and the overkill 10 years guarantee doesn't hurt either  )

 

Now I seriously dunno what color scheme to go with the Luxe, I even go back and forward between the Black and White version of the case. What do you guys think? IMO, the LED looks only just a tiny bit better and brighter in the white.

 

So red/white/black or only white/black???? :rolleyes:  (haha) I don't think it matters much but I've got the extra LED strips so may as well make the whole thing look good in various light colours.... 

 

I wasn't really concerned about which motherboard to get.....until I start digging further (poor me), I really like the onboard fan control of Asus but MSI and Gigabyte's boards look quite nice themselves.... :rolleyes:

 

BTW, I fix the links in the OP, my bad for not noticing lol

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

^ thank you for the great suggestions 

 

Yeah, I'm also considering a 980 form EVGA (waiting the review from Linus  ), that Seasonic PSU was on my list from the start until I came across the EVGA PSU review from JonnyGuru http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=380, not to mention it's cheaper (and the overkill 10 years guarantee doesn't hurt either  )

 

Now I seriously dunno what color scheme to go with the Luxe, I even go back and forward between the Black and White version of the case. What do you guys think? IMO, the LED looks only just a tiny bit better and brighter in the white.

 

So red/white/black or only white/black???? :rolleyes:  (haha) I don't think it matters much but I've got the extra LED strips so may as well make the whole thing look good in various light colours.... 

 

I wasn't really concerned about which motherboard to get.....until I start digging further (poor me), I really like the onboard fan control of Asus but MSI and Gigabyte's boards look quite nice themselves.... :rolleyes:

 

BTW, I fix the links in the OP, my bad for not noticing lol

 

No problem mate, I'm happy to help where I can

Yeah EVGA makes great graphics cards but I've heard bad things about their power supplies. Seasonic has had a great reputation for as long as I've been interested in computer hardware, so they're the ones I trust the most honestly, even though they're a bit more expensive. If you're going to use the power supply cover that comes with the Luxe, this would be a good choice. Those stickers kind of look a bit bad to me so that's why I didn't suggest it at first. That's the power supply I'm going to use in my build though, since I don't feel like the badly designed stickers would bother me.

I'd say go with whatever you like best. The only issue with white cases I have is the dust. I had a mate that got a white NZXT Phantom (can't remember the model) which didn't filter out the dust very well. Thankfully it didn't have a huge window on it because the dust looked disgusting on the white parts. I'm pretty sure the filters on the Luxe are good but I'd want to be 200% sure about them before I got a white case.

And yeah, go with whatever you like best. I reckon white LEDs with coloured RAM/cables/heatsinks/etc. looks the best but you're the one who's going to have it in the corner of your eye most of the time, so it's up to you

I've only ever heard good things about Asus boards honestly, I just don't like the look of the Z97 boards myself. I reckon they'd look fine in a white/black themed build with those champagne-coloured heatsinks though. MSI has a pretty good reputation with motherboards as well, just like their graphics cards, but Gigabyte gets some bad reviews occasionally.

If you want to see how different parts look in real life, a good way to do it is to go on PCPartPicker and find the exact model, then look at the builds posted there with said part. Sometimes coloured parts have slightly different shades/hues of the same colour, so they sometimes clash.

[khchewy]

You honestly could build a watercooled rig for 3000AUD

Idk if you would want to make such a big leap though haha

 

But actual advice, what are you using the rig for? Why do you need a 4790k

You can get 2400MHz memory at pccg for $6 less - see wishlist

In my opinion (just me), I think ROG boards have a lot of stuff that I personally wouldn't need

I went with a Z97X-UD5H-BK from Gigabyte because it has pretty much everything I need and extra testing yay and nice colouring to fit with my planned build yay

[khchewy]

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=373412&action=wish_lists

This wish list is actually more or less what I want to build by early next year

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

You honestly could build a watercooled rig for 3000AUD

Idk if you would want to make such a big leap though haha

 

But actual advice, what are you using the rig for? Why do you need a 4790k

You can get 2400MHz memory at pccg for $6 less - see wishlist

In my opinion (just me), I think ROG boards have a lot of stuff that I personally wouldn't need

I went with a Z97X-UD5H-BK from Gigabyte because it has pretty much everything I need and extra testing yay and nice colouring to fit with my planned build yay

 

He said up the top of his post somewhere that it's a gaming PC. I don't think there's much benefit with 2400mhz RAM over 1600mhz or 1866mhz if you're not using an APU.

 

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=373412&action=wish_lists

This wish list is actually more or less what I want to build by early next year

 

Monitor bro, he needs one

[khchewy]

He said up the top of his post somewhere that it's a gaming PC. I don't think there's much benefit with 2400mhz RAM over 1600mhz or 1866mhz if you're not using an APU.

 

 

Monitor bro, he needs one

oh lol HAHA

dang

oh well

 

apparently BF4 benefits from high speed memory

lol

one among many, but ripjaws Z 2400 kits aren't really much more expensive than 1600 kits idk why

sorcery

 

holy balls 1/3 on the monitor

[Ultragunner]

You honestly could build a watercooled rig for 3000AUD

Idk if you would want to make such a big leap though haha

 

But actual advice, what are you using the rig for? Why do you need a 4790k

You can get 2400MHz memory at pccg for $6 less - see wishlist

In my opinion (just me), I think ROG boards have a lot of stuff that I personally wouldn't need

I went with a Z97X-UD5H-BK from Gigabyte because it has pretty much everything I need and extra testing yay and nice colouring to fit with my planned build yay

Thanks a lot guys 

 

Thankfully the monitor is not included in the budget (I'm getting it from someone else   )

 

Although I'm aware that $3000 is plenty for gaming rig, and even 2xGTX 980 is possible, but I really want to build a well-balanced and versatile machine (with more inclination towards gaming). I find that the 34" inches 21:9 3440x1440p monitor is perfect for me (cudos to Linus for his review  :lol: ).

 

I would consider a custom loop in the future, but perhaps not right now, but thanks for the great list @khchewy. 

 

About the mobo though, I did consider the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition, but then I recall the excellent fan speed and temp management of Asus' boards.

 

What are your experience with motherboards from Gigabyte, or any other manufactures?

[khchewy]

Thanks a lot guys 

 

Thankfully the monitor is not included in the budget (I'm getting it from someone else   )

 

Although I'm aware that $3000 is plenty for gaming rig, and even 2xGTX 980 is possible, but I really want to build a well-balanced and versatile machine (with more inclination towards gaming). I find that the 34" inches 21:9 3440x1440p monitor is perfect for me (cudos to Linus for his review  :lol: ).

 

I would consider a custom loop in the future, but perhaps not right now, but thanks for the great list @khchewy. 

 

About the mobo though, I did consider the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition, but then I recall the excellent fan speed and temp management of Asus' boards.

 

What are your experience with motherboards from Gigabyte, or any other manufactures?

I haven't personally tried a wide range of motherboards, I mostly read reviews and ask people - which is where I get the indication that ROG motherboards are a bit unnecessary

The last motherboard I had didn't have a bios that enabled me to tweak the fans, I basically just used speedfan and stuff

So, sorry but I can't really answer that question with actual experience of Gigabyte fan control

 

But once I get the rest of my components I can give you an update if I remember

[-TesseracT-]

A PC for 3000$ and you've only got one 980? Or is that with the monitor?

[Ultragunner]

A PC for 3000$ and you've only got one 980? Or is that with the monitor?

Nope, $3000 for the rig alone. And yes, I'm aware that two 980 is entirely possible, but I'm still on the fence (or you could say skeptical) for using SLI (or X-fire with AMD).

 

Also, although many cheaper components could be in the rig (for an extra 980) like a i5 instead of i7, slower ram, cheaper mobo, less storage, cheaper cases....etc...but I really want a balance and nice looking build, not just one with the raw graphic horse power.

 

Of course, I'm still very open about going 980 SLI if that is really necessary   

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

Thanks a lot guys 

 

Thankfully the monitor is not included in the budget (I'm getting it from someone else   )

 

Although I'm aware that $3000 is plenty for gaming rig, and even 2xGTX 980 is possible, but I really want to build a well-balanced and versatile machine (with more inclination towards gaming). I find that the 34" inches 21:9 3440x1440p monitor is perfect for me (cudos to Linus for his review  :lol: ).

 

I would consider a custom loop in the future, but perhaps not right now, but thanks for the great list @khchewy. 

 

About the mobo though, I did consider the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK Black Edition, but then I recall the excellent fan speed and temp management of Asus' boards.

 

What are your experience with motherboards from Gigabyte, or any other manufactures?

 

Oh shit, I didn't realise. I'll redo my whole build for you if you like! That changes a lot actually

 

Nope, $3000 for the rig alone. And yes, I'm aware that two 980 is entirely possible, but I'm still on the fence (or you could say skeptical) for using SLI (or X-fire with AMD).

 

Also, although many cheaper components could be in the rig (for an extra 980) like a i5 instead of i7, slower ram, cheaper mobo, less storage, cheaper cases....etc...but I really want a balance and nice looking build, not just one with the raw graphic horse power.

 

Of course, I'm still very open about going 980 SLI if that is really necessary

 

The thing is though, with hardware these days (for gaming rigs), there's a point where the more you spend on certain hardware, the less you get back in terms of performance. For example: in a lot of games, you only gain a few frames per second with a 4790k over a 4690k and you're spending ~$100 more. If you're doing video editing though, that's a completely different story... Graphics cards do most of the work with games, so it's more important to spend up on the graphics processing.

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

Here's my new build for you! It would handle any games you throw at it with that monitor very nicely

[T.E.D]

If you live in one of the city centres, MSY might be good to check for comparative prices for some of the parts, like ram. I'd stick with a board with a nice audio solution, anything above the 892 realtek.

[Ultragunner]

If you live in one of the city centres, MSY might be good to check for comparative prices for some of the parts, like ram. I'd stick with a board with a nice audio solution, anything above the 892 realtek.

Can you suggest any board with good audio for me, please? I'm clueless in this area...

[Guest King of Old School]

Can you suggest any board with good audio for me, please? I'm clueless in this area...

How much are you willing to spend on the board 

[Ultragunner]

How much are you willing to spend on the board 

$200-ish, no more than $300 AUD though

[T.E.D]

Can you suggest any board with good audio for me, please? I'm clueless in this area...

Anything with the realtek 1150 chip or similar, good capacitors and pcb separation. It's the main advantage high end ASUS boards have over their lower stuff as the Z97-A has just a 892 Realtek chip whcih can be found on pretty much most boards. All the Gigabyte, MSI and ASRock boards in the $179+ price range has a good audio soltion. All the ROG do as well.

[Ultragunner]

*UPDATED*

 

Just got a deal of a MSI GTX 980 for $699 (AUD), not bad eh? 

 

P.S: I'm thinking of getting the Corsair Air 540, I really like the look and form factor, but it frustrates me to no end when I see some few basic features missing from such a great-looking case