Build suggestions?

[raultherabbit]

Hi LTT folks.  I am looking for a little bit of advice.  I've been putting together a build for my wife's new PC.  It started when she saw the Razer edition H440, and was supposed to be a simple swap into the new case.  It quickly turned into a complete rebuild.

 

The issue I'm looking for help with is the CPU.  I have a 4690K picked out, but I'm not sold on it.  She doesn't heavily play games, but she does do enough with her PC (finance, school, graphics design and art via photoshop, maya and some other random programs, then games like Goat Simulator, Scribblenauts, TF2, Torchlight 2) that I'm not 100% sure an i3 would be enough without hiccups.  She currently uses a i7 860.  Why bother updating it?  Well, at 5 years old and sitting in a cramped, undercooled Dell box, the PC is starting to show some signs of unstability, despite being given a new HDD and fresh install of windows 7 a few times in the past year.  Also, thought about getting a new motherboard for the proc but with a dead socket upgrade path I decided an upgrade was the better choice.  Also, because hey why not, she's always had hand-me-down stuff and this time I'd rather have her get a new PC.

 

Anyway, rambling.  I have no problems grabbing the 4690K, as I believe it will last quite a while with how she uses her PC, but I am open to suggestions.  I was looking into an i3 4360, and then the i5 4460, and at that point said F-it why not 4690k and be done with it.  I was also thinking of an SSD but she's convinced it isn't necessary.  I may sneak one into her build anyway...

 

The rest of the components are already purchased, and she's getting my GTX 760 (couldn't sell it, otherwise it would be a 750ti for better efficiency and quietness, oh well) also using her new WD Blue 1TB drive from her current PC, as that drive is only 3 months old.

 

Sooooo what do you think?  Horrible?  Wasting money on a Devil's Canyon?  That H440 Razer box is beautiful.  She likes the idea of a green and black build, so I'm going to also be repainting the heat sinks on the motherboard and looking into some green and black or dark grey cable extensions for the case.

 

[PCPartPicker part list]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BXPC99) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BXPC99/by_merchant/)(

 

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690k) | $199.99 @ Micro Center 

**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $28.98 @ OutletPC 

**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97hd3) | $82.98 @ Newegg 

**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml8gx3m2a1600c9g) | $71.98 @ Newegg 

**Power Supply** | [EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10500kr) | $29.99 @ NCIX US 

 | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

 | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $451.92

 | Mail-in rebates | -$38.00

 | **Total** | **$413.92**

 | Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2015-02-19 12:46 EST-0500 |

[Lolzious]

Looks fine

[johngo90]

I'd say if you don't mind going with an i5-4690k then go for it! Honestly she would probably be okay with an i3 or lower i5 variant, but being able to OC the cpu for the future will give you more breathing room. 

 

I can't speak highly enough about SSD's though. If you can manage to sneak one in, i'd say go for it!

 

My mom likes to stream her asian shows and such, I threw an SSD into her core2duo E8400 build, and she even commented how much faster the PC was. 

 

Build looks good to me otherwise. Ppl may not like the PSU you chose, but for $30 you get what you pay for. 

[Superfichtig]

@raultherabbit if you dont mind the loss of overclockingability this is what i would go for:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($175.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T4 70.0 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler  ($19.99 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($81.99 @ Directron) 

Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($57.97 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($87.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($54.09 @ Newegg) 

Total: $478.02

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-19 13:38 EST-0500

 

The lack of OC the system may not be that relevant because an i5 4440 is a great CPU anyway and wont "bottleneck" you at all. However you will gain a huge performance improvement due to that SSD with enough capacity for OS and favorite programms and games.