My Second Ever PC Build

[MichaelZeuner]

So a quick back story, I'm 18 years old living in Canada going to Wilfred Laurier University for Computer Science. Its time for a new machine as the first PC I built was when I was in grade 9 (4 years ago). When I built the computer, I built it for as cheap as I could and cut corners I shouldn't have cut, anyway a friend of mine is going to buy the old PC from me so I dont mine buying a whole new rig instead of upgrading. The plan is to keep the PC between $1500 and $2000. I am currently using one 27" 1080p monitor, however I have another 27" 1080p monitor at home. I only have one currently because my desk at school isnt big enough for two, so next year I may be using both monitors with my new build. I am also toying with the idea of buying a 2k res screen (in which case I would sell the other two monitors and only have the one 2k display). I want to make sure that my new build is able to withstand two 27" 1080p screens or a 2k screen (probably 27") so I have the choice to do what I want. This PC will be used for gaming and just general purpose use. 

 

The current components I am thinking about are the following (all prices are in the Canadian dollar):

Case: NZXT H440 Mid Tower (probably blue) - $130

CPU: Intel Core i5 4690k (planning on overclocking a bit) - $260

Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 2 ATX - $190

Memory: Kingston Hyper Fury 16GB (Black or Blue) - $176

GPU: XFX Radeon R9 290X - $400

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 80 Plus Gold 850W (Modular) - $130

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB - $60

SSD: Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB - $144

 

Components: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/DHDnjX

 

The SSD will have windows 8.1 or windows 10 tech preview on it as well as a few games that I am playing the most (probably shadow of moridor and assassins creed unity), the HDD will be holding most of my games as well as all of my files and programs. I want to try to make this build more upgradable then my last build was, that's why I am looking at a ATX board as well as the case I picked (plus I like the look of that case). I am doing this if I ever want to add another GPU or liquid cool my whole machine but neither of these ideas are in the near future, just something I might do in the future.

 

One question I am wondering about is, do I need 16GB of memory for gaming or would 8GB satisfy this build? I am also wondering about after market cooling for the CPU, what is a good cooler for my money, do I need an after market cooler or will the stock heat sink satisfy a bit of over clocking? Finally will all of these components work well together or is there anything you guys would recommend I change to decrease cost and/or increase performance?

 

Any advice you can give me to help me build the best machine I can within my budget is greatly appreciated! Thanks a tone,

 

Michael

 

[007agentHP]

dont get an r9 290x get a gtx 970. once you get the gtx 970 downgrade the psu to 750w because even with a 970 sli, that will provide enough power. a cpu cooler, a cooler master hyper 212 evo is good if you want to keep it inexpensive. go with noctua one if money is not an issue

[MisterDeadeye]

16GB is quite a bit for just gaming, but you can never have too much RAM. I say keep it because you're majoring in CS, and you might need it.

As far as coolers go, the stock one won't net you very much if any overclocking ability. A cheap option is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, but there are several other standard air coolers that would work fine, Noctua is pretty well known for that.

Everything looks pretty good. I'd suggest switching to a 750W power supply, but I'm also not the kind of person who runs 3-way Crossfire or SLI, so it's unnecessary in my computer. Your mileage may vary.

[MattWakey]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.99 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.79 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($133.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($174.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($626.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: NZXT H440 (Blue/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $1853.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 16:05 EST-0500

[Guest]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($246.98 @ DirectCanada) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($32.79 @ DirectCanada) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($124.99 @ NCIX) 

Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($93.00 @ Vuugo) 

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($115.98 @ DirectCanada) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($57.95 @ Vuugo) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($398.69 @ DirectCanada) 

Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($124.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($114.99 @ Newegg Canada) 

Total: $1310.36

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 16:20 EST-0500

[FearMe]

ENDLESS EXPANDABILITY

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($246.98 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H240-X 90.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($169.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($82.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($87.95 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card  ($626.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: NZXT H440 (Blue/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $1684.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 16:26 EST-0500

[brob]

...

The SSD will have windows 8.1 or windows 10 tech preview on it as well as a few games that I am playing the most (probably shadow of moridor and assassins creed unity), the HDD will be holding most of my games as well as all of my files and programs. I want to try to make this build more upgradable then my last build was, that's why I am looking at a ATX board as well as the case I picked (plus I like the look of that case). I am doing this if I ever want to add another GPU or liquid cool my whole machine but neither of these ideas are in the near future, just something I might do in the future.

 

One question I am wondering about is, do I need 16GB of memory for gaming or would 8GB satisfy this build? I am also wondering about after market cooling for the CPU, what is a good cooler for my money, do I need an after market cooler or will the stock heat sink satisfy a bit of over clocking? Finally will all of these components work well together or is there anything you guys would recommend I change to decrease cost and/or increase performance?

 

Any advice you can give me to help me build the best machine I can within my budget is greatly appreciated! Thanks a tone,

 

Michael

 

The ssd should be used a primary program storage, not the hdd. A less expensive ssd will not noticeably affect performance.

 

8GB of memory should be quite sufficient for the usage described.

 

A Hyper 212 EVO will do a decent job cooling the cpu. The stock cooler is not sufficient for overclocking an i5.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($246.98 @ DirectCanada)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($32.79 @ DirectCanada)

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($154.79 @ DirectCanada)

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($85.98 @ DirectCanada)

Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($105.85 @ DirectCanada)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($57.95 @ Vuugo)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($427.09 @ DirectCanada)

Case: NZXT H440 (Blue/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($129.99 @ NCIX)

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ NCIX)

Total: $1371.41

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 16:45 EST-0500

[MichaelZeuner]

The ssd should be used a primary program storage, not the hdd. A less expensive ssd will not noticeably affect performance.

 

8GB of memory should be quite sufficient for the usage described.

 

A Hyper 212 EVO will do a decent job cooling the cpu. The stock cooler is not sufficient for overclocking an i5.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($246.98 @ DirectCanada)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($32.79 @ DirectCanada)

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($154.79 @ DirectCanada)

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($85.98 @ DirectCanada)

Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($105.85 @ DirectCanada)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($57.95 @ Vuugo)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($427.09 @ DirectCanada)

Case: NZXT H440 (Blue/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($129.99 @ NCIX)

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ NCIX)

Total: $1371.41

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 16:45 EST-0500

If I should be installing programs to the ssd I think I should go with a 512 GB SSD to make sure that it doesnt get filled as I am in CS and I will need several different programs installed for school as well as several programs for enjoyment. What 512GB (or around that size) SSD would you guys recommend?

[brob]

If I should be installing programs to the ssd I think I should go with a 512 GB SSD to make sure that it doesnt get filled as I am in CS and I will need several different programs installed for school as well as several programs for enjoyment. What 512GB (or around that size) SSD would you guys recommend?

 

Mushkin Chronos 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

A-Data Premier Pro SP900 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive