First Build, Advice and Comments

[Rhok]

This is my very first build and I have been planning it for a long time now and I plan on buying parts about the end of this month. I live in America by the way. I need some opinions from people that I don't know to know that what I am getting will be worth the money. I plan to do gaming on max settings for games of all varieties of graphical intensities and I plan to do some video editing and record of gameplay, also i will be doing Photoshop and maybe some 3D modeling. I am also considering overclocking the system a bit but seen how it is my first system i will take that part slowly. I currently have 2 monitors, 1 is running at a 1600x900 and the main one is running 1680x1050.  I already have a keyboard and mouse and do not plan on buying newer fancier ones at the moment.  My budget is between $1500 to $1600, i am will to go over a bit but nothing above $1700.  And i do plan on buying everything through Newegg and my plan is to buy everything near the end of this month, and if it makes really makes a difference in pricing i am going to buy them either on Black Friday or Cyber Monday but i'm not %100 sure how big of a deal i will get on those particular days?  My current build ---- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Yy5J ----  Currently the build is slightly over budget which is one of the reasons why im asking for advice on a forum.  
FYI, i picked that motherboard mainly for the better onboard audio it has vs buying an expensive sound card ATM. Also i am a fan of Corsair and Asus as you might notice by the build but i am willing to get products from other companies if they are good.

Please feel free to ask me questions about the build,
Thank you.

[WoodenMarker]

You'd be better if you planned a little later near Black Friday. 

[Rhok]

You'd be better if you planned a little later near Black Friday. 

Do you really get better deals on newegg on days like Black Friday? I heard mixed things about it and wasn't sure...?

 

i'm constantly online looking at new parts and things that i 'could' change but i find nothing and i set a goal to have a build ready to buy 2-3 days before black friday.

[WoodenMarker]

Do you really get better deals on newegg on days like Black Friday? I heard mixed things about it and wasn't sure...?

Probably. No guarantees.

[Rhok]

Probably. No guarantees.

alright, you got any other advice i should keep in mind though as that day slowly creeps closer?

[WoodenMarker]

alright, you got any other advice i should keep in mind though as that day slowly creeps closer?

Recommended edits: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1YzaG

You might want to grab an additional 1080p display. 

The 780 is not meant for 1080p or anything lower. 

[Rhok]

Alright, i'll take your advice into consideration.  im personally an intel and NVidia fan, not so much an AMD fan. Thanks though, i do appreciate it.

[Rhok]

 

The 780 is not meant for 1080p or anything lower. 

I think im going to consider getting a 770 or a 760 then and make more room for future upgrades, im also thinking about changing the Corsair cooler to an air cooler instead, i also dont want to get a new monitor atm, i would rather get a different motherboard and get a soundcard.

[WoodenMarker]

I think im going to consider getting a 770 or a 760 then and make more room for future upgrades, im also thinking about changing the Corsair cooler to an air cooler instead...?

That's sort of what I recommended except the 7970 is neck to neck with the 770, has more vram, a wider memory bus, and is cheaper. 

[Harry_766]

If you want to save money:

1. Find equivalent CPU through AMD

2. Tone down on the amount of watts on your PCU

3. A motherboard like that isn't really needed because you can always upgrade in the future

[Rhok]

That's sort of what I recommended except the 7970 is neck to neck with the 770, has more vram, a wider memory bus, and is cheaper.

After putting the 770 into the build it brought the price down tremendously and i have done some research and found that the 770 will do much better for me the 7970, and currently the Asus 770 is cheaper the the asus 7970.

If you want to save money:1. Find equivalent CPU through AMD2. Tone down on the amount of watts on your PCU3. A motherboard like that isn't really needed because you can always upgrade in the future

I am not willing to go for AMD. I understand that i can upgrade in the future but i would still like the better onboard audio solution. Haswell has a lower power usage then the current high end AMD CPUs, at least thats what i found.

[Rhok]

Also because of the change from the 780 to the 770 i have a bit of room to maybe get an ssd?

[WoodenMarker]

After putting the 770 into the build it brought the price down tremendously and i have done some research and found that the 770 will do much better for me the 7970, and currently the Asus 770 is cheaper the the asus 7970.

I am not willing to go for AMD. I understand that i can upgrade in the future but i would still like the better onboard audio solution. Haswell has a lower power usage then the current high end AMD CPUs, at least thats what i found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmGWyAyO9mc

Check the description for graphs. The 7970 and 770 are pretty much neck to neck. 

 

The onboard audio on Haswell mobos aren't spectacular. They aren't bad at all but you should be getting a dedicated solution if you really care about sound.

Also because of the change from the 780 to the 770 i have a bit of room to maybe get an ssd?

Not maybe. Get a ssd. Downgrade everything else if you have to. It makes a bigger difference than every other part upgrade you can make. 

[Rhok]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmGWyAyO9mc

Check the description for graphs. The 7970 and 770 are pretty much neck to neck. 

Alright cool, but i looked at it on newegg and the price for a 770 is currently cheaper than a 7970. i still think im going to stick w/ the 770. 

couple questions then:

First, with the Nvidia Holiday bundle out and ending on November 26th i believe, i was thinking about getting the graphics card right away before the bundle ends, do you think it is worth it or should i just wait for black Friday and/or cyber Monday?

Second, would you have any cheaper mobos in mind, particularly from ASUS or gigabyte?  Keep in mind that im trying my best to color coordinate things and so far the theme seems to be red/blackish, so a blue mobo wouldn't exactly work to good, just saying.

Third, if you find a cheap enough mobo (but not bad) you have any soundcards in mind that you might recommend? 

[WoodenMarker]

Alright cool, but i looked at it on newegg and the price for a 770 is currently cheaper than a 7970. i still think im going to stick w/ the 770. 

couple questions then:

First, with the Nvidia Holiday bundle out and ending on November 26th i believe, i was thinking about getting the graphics card right away before the bundle ends, do you think it is worth it or should i just wait for black Friday and/or cyber Monday?

Second, would you have any cheaper mobos in mind, particularly from ASUS or gigabyte?  Keep in mind that im trying my best to color coordinate things and so far the theme seems to be red/blackish, so a blue mobo wouldn't exactly work to good, just saying.

Third, if you find a cheap enough mobo (but not bad) you have any soundcards in mind that you might recommend? 

Then you're looking at the wrong 7970's. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131468&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

The 7970/280x is pretty much official ~$300 and the 770 is $330.

I'd wait for black friday/cyber monday sales since I don't care for the games--up to you.

Again, plan later. If you have a theme in mind, I can give some recommendations.

ASRock 970 PRO3 R2.0: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-970pro3r20

Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970ads3p

ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-970extreme3r20

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga990fxaud3

 

Depends on what audio solution you have--might want to jus head over to the audio section, tell them what you have and how much you want to spend. 

[Rhok]

Then you're looking at the wrong 7970's. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131468&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

The 7970/280x is pretty much official ~$300 and the 770 is $330.

 

 Im looking at the asus's version of the graphics cards.  the graphics card that you linked is the cheapest one on the site and probably not a very good quality.

you just linked me a bunch of AMD mobo's when i said that i am not going for an AMD CPU....

[WoodenMarker]

 Im looking at the asus's version of the graphics cards.  the graphics card that you linked is the cheapest one on the site and probably not a very good quality.

you just linked me a bunch of AMD mobo's when i said that i am not going for an AMD CPU....

The price of the gpus bounce around and are not concrete. the quality is not bad. Why would I recommend a more expensive version of the same card?

My recommendation would be AMD. If you want to go intel, you can get whatever 1150 mobo you'd like.