Building for a Friend

[Splash Bottles]

So I was tasked with building a comp for a friend. I have the base specs of a good gaming comp that I drew up and I was looking for some constructive criticism. Trying to keep around $1600-$2000.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Gutyr999/saved/6dGH99 <Builld

[Mao_Zedong]

I would get this. If you want to get better performance, go sli on those 970s, if the performance of one is fine, stick with that.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($256.89 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($34.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($164.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($75.67 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($75.67 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Crucial M550 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($115.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($89.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($398.50 @ Vuugo)
Case: Thermaltake Chaser A31 Snow White ATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.50 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: OCZ ZT 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.29 @ Amazon Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.98 @ DirectCanada)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm  Fan  ($16.57 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $1522.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-12 21:47 EST-0500

[zlolslavez]

i7  might be overkill for a computer only used for gaming, also, if possible, try to find a 2x8 kit of ram rather than 4x4.

 

edit: Generally, if you just have something like OS, and commonly used programs such as Internet Browsers, highly played small-sized games, daily used software, on your SSD, speed won't matter, but it doesn't cost much more to invest in a higher-named brand to acquire such speeds. Crucial, as suggested by the name, is a brand that generally sells products that you would only need, but not want, and due to that have lower prices and lower performance. I would aim for something that cost slightly more, for a huge performance boost. Even though those high speeds would only kick in while doing stuff such as moving large files, its nice to have when you hit around Year 2+ in a computer, when it takes longer to boot up, to continue to boot at normal speeds, where slower drives may begin to slow down. This is seen alot more in HDD than SDDS, but should be taken into consideration.