Is this build balanced?

[Imakuni]

So, I've been planning on buying a new rig and have a blast at gaming. BUT, I also take part in BOINC related projects, and I'll leave the PC operating at about 16/7, so the machine will also need to be optmized for that, although only as a secondary objective.

 

Things to bear in mind:

1- Energy here costs 0,86 U$D/kWh. Have a picture of an electrical company and my wallet been thrown at them. Gotta get the lowest power consuming parts as possible.

2- Any *good* electronic here is imported from somewhere else. Import taxes are a wooping 60%. Yeah, a 320 U$ part is now a 512 U$ one. More wallet throwing.

3- I'll link the pieces to the place I'll buy. Though you guys might not be able to read portuguese, at least you can see the beautifull image of the pieces...

 

Rig:

• Processor: Intel i5 4690k
• Graphics card: GTX 970 Gigabyte G1 Gaming
• Memory: In doubt here. I want 16Gb. I can go 4x4gb G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 or 2133mhz OR 2x8gb Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz (I'm afraid of cooler blocking..). These 3 options are the exact same price. Lastly, for 7 more bucks I could also get 2x8gb G.Skill Ripjaws 1600mhz.
• MOBO: Again, in doubt, due to not being sure if I'll use quad or duo channel memory. Cheapest half decent option is GA-Z87M-D3H. I'll use that as a base line. For 12 U$ more than that, I can get ASROCK H87 Pro 4. For 15 U$ more (than the GA-Z87), I could get GA-H97M-HD3. And last, for 18U$ more (than the GA Z87), I can go ASROCK H97M. My pocket is not willing to go further than that.
• Storage: I already have a kingston v300 120gb. I'll just add a HD Seagate SATA III Barracuda 7200 1TB ST1000DM003 for extra storage. I could also go HD Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA III for 5 U$ more, if it is a better HD.
• Power Supply: Seasonic 650W S12G-650 80 Plus Gold. Calculator said I need a bit more than 600W. And the energy price said I MUST get 80 Gold Super High Efficiency. And It's actually the cheapest one.
• Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper T4 - RR-T4-18PK-R1 or Cooler Thermaltake Contac 21 CLP0600 have the same pricing. For +6 U$ I get into Thermaltake Tt NIC L31 120mm CL-P001-AL12RE-A or Thermaltake Nic F3 CLP0605, both at the same price. Last, for 18 U$ more than the T4, I can step into CoolerMaster Hyper 212X RR-212X-20PM-R1.
• Case: PCYES Wolf. I'm afraid about the cooler height, but aside for that, it's cheap, has accrilyc window, SSD slot, card reader, has a good look... It is a good case.... right???

 

Question: is the build well balanced? I'd appreciate opinions (particulary on the mobo) about the choices, as well as possible lower/tad-bit-higher cost parts that can achieve about the same performance. Love y'all for the help :wub:

[79wjd]

If you're only gaming then 8gb of Ram is enough.

Go for a Z97 board. Pretty much any Z97 board from Asus, MSI, or Gigabyte. Just get whichever one supports the features you want (SLI/XFire, x number of sata ports, etc...)

An EVGA G2 750w psu is likely cheaper and an excellent psu.

For a cooler, get a Cooler Master hyper 212 or a Seidon 240m/NH D14/NH D15 for heavier overclocking. 

 

For the case, something like Fractal Design R4, Phanteks Enthoo Pro, Corsair 450D, Corsair Air 540, NZXT S340, NZXT Source 210, NZXT H440 

[Imakuni]

An EVGA G2 750w psu is likely cheaper and an excellent psu.

 

Actually, costs 40$ more, and from what I've seen, has a lower efficiency than the Seasonic. Am I right there?

 

Go for a Z97 board

 

Is there THAT much of a difference from the ones I listed?

 

If you're only gaming then 8gb of Ram is enough.

 

A single stick of 8 gb is ok? Lowest I have is G.Skill Ares 1600mhz or HyperX 1866mhx, both for the same price.

[PhantomDragon]

Is there THAT much of a difference from the ones I listed?

 

 

Go for z97 for overclocking and the better upgrade path since z97 will be compatible with next gen Broadwell processors. 

[79wjd]

Actually, costs 40$ more, and from what I've seen, has a lower efficiency than the Seasonic. Am I right there?

 

 

Is there THAT much of a difference from the ones I listed?

 

 

A single stick of 8 gb is ok? Lowest I have is G.Skill Ares 1600mhz or HyperX 1866mhx, both for the same price.

Welp, okay than. P.s. the 'energy calcuator' is stupid; a 650w psu is enough for two 970s. (650w is still a good place to buy it, since less is just silly )

 

Well, Z87 boards need a bios update to use a 4790k. Now that bios update might come pre-installed, it might not -- depending on when the board was packaged. If it does NOT include the update, then you'd either need a USB-flashable bios (pretty much all asus boards have this, otherwise only high end/expensive boards have it) or you need a prey haswell refresh chip. Just...do yourself a favor get a z97 board. 

 

A single 8gb stick is fine, however motherboards work in dual channel -- i.e. two sticks of identical memory will be faster than a single stick. (two 4gb sticks will be faster than one 8gb stick)

[Demons Wrath]

Praise be tomshardware!

Brazil
Mega Mamute <--- caters more to gamers
Kabum
Oficina Dos Bits <--- caters more to office PCs but sells gaming parts
Balão De Informatica <--- Best Buy type store that sells PC parts
E Armasem
Sysconn <--- huge selection, sells lots of gaming and overclocking specific components
The Terabyte Shop
X5 Computadores
Chip Art Informatica
Big's Online
Compu Job <---- sells pre built rigs and PC parts

 

 

Now then, you have the basics down already, some generic tips then: For the mobo, I would suggest Z97 or H97. If you plan to SLI in the future, then get an SLI compatible Z97 board. Both Z97 and H97 both come with minimum six Sata3 ports unless they're mITX. If you're determined to only have one GPU ever, then choose H97. For the cooler, choose: Cooler Master Hyper 212, Zalman CNPS10X, NZXT Respire T40, Deepcool Gammaxx 300/400. Bascially look for any 120mm tower cooler, they all pretty much perform the same, so choose the cheapest. For RAM, if you choose the H97 boards you cannot use RAM faster than 1600mhz so keep that in mind. Seagate barracuda is fine. Of all the 970s choose the cheapest with a good cooler. Try not to choose a blower cooler if you can, they're not as quiet. For the PSU you should consider getting up to 750w if you want to SLI in the future and look for Gold or better ratings for power efficiency. For brands, look for Antec, be quiet!, Cooler Master, Corsair, Enermax, EVGA, Fractal Design, FSP, NZXT, OCZ, Seasonic, Silverstone, Super Flower, Thermaltake, XFX, Zalman. Just choose the cheapest quality piece you can find. For the case choose something decent but inexpensive. Look for the Zalman Z3 Plus, Cooler Master N400/N600/N200 for mATX, Corsair SPEC-2 or -3 or 200r. Make sure you find out how many fans come with it and how many mounting points it has. Try to fill up all the intakes in the front and top, then consider the sides.

[Captain_WD]

So, I've been planning on buying a new rig and have a blast at gaming. BUT, I also take part in BOINC related projects, and I'll leave the PC operating at about 16/7, so the machine will also need to be optmized for that, although only as a secondary objective.

 

Things to bear in mind:

1- Energy here costs 0,86 U$D/kWh. Have a picture of an electrical company and my wallet been thrown at them. Gotta get the lowest power consuming parts as possible.

2- Any *good* electronic here is imported from somewhere else. Import taxes are a wooping 60%. Yeah, a 320 U$ part is now a 512 U$ one. More wallet throwing.

3- I'll link the pieces to the place I'll buy. Though you guys might not be able to read portuguese, at least you can see the beautifull image of the pieces...

 

Rig:

• Processor: Intel i5 4690k
• Graphics card: GTX 970 Gigabyte G1 Gaming
• Memory: In doubt here. I want 16Gb. I can go 4x4gb G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 or 2133mhz OR 2x8gb Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz (I'm afraid of cooler blocking..). These 3 options are the exact same price. Lastly, for 7 more bucks I could also get 2x8gb G.Skill Ripjaws 1600mhz.
• MOBO: Again, in doubt, due to not being sure if I'll use quad or duo channel memory. Cheapest half decent option is GA-Z87M-D3H. I'll use that as a base line. For 12 U$ more than that, I can get ASROCK H87 Pro 4. For 15 U$ more (than the GA-Z87), I could get GA-H97M-HD3. And last, for 18U$ more (than the GA Z87), I can go ASROCK H97M. My pocket is not willing to go further than that.
• Storage: I already have a kingston v300 120gb. I'll just add a HD Seagate SATA III Barracuda 7200 1TB ST1000DM003 for extra storage. I could also go HD Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA III for 5 U$ more, if it is a better HD.
• Power Supply: Seasonic 650W S12G-650 80 Plus Gold. Calculator said I need a bit more than 600W. And the energy price said I MUST get 80 Gold Super High Efficiency. And It's actually the cheapest one.
• Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper T4 - RR-T4-18PK-R1 or Cooler Thermaltake Contac 21 CLP0600 have the same pricing. For +6 U$ I get into Thermaltake Tt NIC L31 120mm CL-P001-AL12RE-A or Thermaltake Nic F3 CLP0605, both at the same price. Last, for 18 U$ more than the T4, I can step into CoolerMaster Hyper 212X RR-212X-20PM-R1.
• Case: PCYES Wolf. I'm afraid about the cooler height, but aside for that, it's cheap, has accrilyc window, SSD slot, card reader, has a good look... It is a good case.... right???

 

Question: is the build well balanced? I'd appreciate opinions (particulary on the mobo) about the choices, as well as possible lower/tad-bit-higher cost parts that can achieve about the same performance. Love y'all for the help :wub:

 

 

Hello there Imakuni and welcome to Linus Tech Tips forum

 

The build looks pretty balanced with just a couple of things that need to be changed.

 

As @WhiteJaguar77 pointed out, Z-boards are designed for overclocking and, since you are getting the K-version of the 4690, I'm assuming that you would like to OC the CPU. Also, that is a 97 CPU, so a Z97 would be the perfect motherboard, although a Z87 would also do the job, but you would probably need to update the BIOS before you run the CPU.

 

Also, for overclocking, you would need a custom CPU Cooler as the stock one probably wouldn't be sufficient enough. The ones that you are looking at are all good IMHO and would do the job.

 

For the memory, I would recommend you get 2x8GB (if you are going for 16GB total) to get a better use of the dual-channel support of the motherboards (they don't have quad-channel support). For gaming 8GB total would be more than enough so IMHO you would be better off getting 2x4GB of memory.

 

For storage, depending on how much storage space you need and how you are planning on using it, I would suggest WD Blue (up to 1TB) and either WD Black or WD Green (for over 1TB, depending on if you are planning on working pretty actively with files and programs off of that HDD or use it simply as a secondary storage space). Here are a couple of links:

WD Black: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=760

WD Green: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=780

 

Everything else seems pretty balanced and good. I like your PSU choice (being sufficient enough for this build and still leaving you room for future upgrades and being highly-certified).

 

Hope this helps,

 

Captain_WD.