Hello! I'm looking to build a new computer over the summer.

[Kuroneko]

Uh! Hello! I just joined this forum, as I've just started getting into building and learning more about computers. I'm Kuroneko, or you can also call me Tanner. As of now, I'm currently saving up some money to build a computer during the summer before I go to college. I think I've got a fairly decent build... but I'm not entirely sure if I'm missing anything or if I could get anything better.

Preferably, I want to say within the $1,600-$1,700 range but still get a decent enough build to help me not only game, but livestream and eventually edit/render YouTube videos fairly quickly. I only want to play games at 1080p without lag is basically my goal. I'm still deciding whether I should go with the 780 or R9 290.

Here is my build as of now:

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 500R - ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-D3H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128591

Processor/CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116901

Graphics Card/GPU: EVGA ACX Cooler 03G-P4-2784-KR GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130918

Power Supply/PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148545

Cooling: Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

2x Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm Case Fans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608004

Hard Drive/HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834

Solid State Drive/SSD: SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147193

If you could help me out, it'd be awesome!

Edit #1: Switched out from H100i to Noctua NH-D14

Edit #2: Added an SSD and two new case fans

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

That build seems reasonable, but there are a few things to consider.

1) Intel just refreshed the Haswell line-up and introduced the Z97 PCH. It isn't a huge upgrade, but if you're spending this kind of money then you should really wait just a little while and see what new boards the refresh offers.
2) Ditto on the CPUs. The 4770k has been displaced by one clocked about 100 MHz higher. It isn't a huge upgrade, but it does offer some improvement.
3) Why go with the H100i? The performance is slightly better than high end air coolers, but the noise differential is pretty huge. The Corsair fans are crazy noisy, the management software is...backwards, and the octopus of wiring is a pain. My personal experience would lead me to either recommend a custom loop, or an air cooler.
4) You're going with a 780 graphics card, which doesn't make a lot of sense. One 1080 monitor doesn't generally take that much juice. Cutting it down to a 770 and going with a 4670k would yield enough extra money for a decent SSD. It isn't a necessity, but SSDs make booting a lot nicer, and they keep data access times to a minimum.
5) The 850 watt power supply is a bit overkill. Even a 700 watt supply would allow you quite a bit of extra power capacity. Depending upon pricing, you should consider that as a place where you can cut a bit of price, and better meet whatever budgetary consideration you've got.

Even if you completely disregard all of this advice, the quoted build is very reasonable as a gaming rig.

 

[RCoon]

@ne6togadno @BarbaricSoul

Call and they shall come

 

[ne6togadno]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Csla

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Cszn

@RCoon
i am on vacation till 8.05. stop pointing at me and barbaric lazy tard . you too know how pcpartpicker work

 

[RCoon]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Csla

@RCoon
i am on vacation till 8.05. stop pointing at me and barbaric lazy tard . you too know how pcpartpicker work

You guys have a far more imaginative mind in terms of possible build scenarios, I wouldn't like to infract upon your austisticartistic mind with my dribble

 

[Vario]

Uh! Hello! I just joined this forum, as I've just started getting into building and learning more about computers. I'm Kuroneko, or you can also call me Tanner. As of now, I'm currently saving up some money to build a computer during the summer before I go to college. I think I've got a fairly decent build... but I'm not entirely sure if I'm missing anything or if I could get anything better.

Preferably, I want to say within the $1,600-$1,700 range but still get a decent enough build to help me not only game, but livestream and eventually edit/render YouTube videos fairly quickly. I only want to play games at 1080p without lag is basically my goal. I'm still deciding whether I should go with the 780 or R9 290.

Here is my build as of now:

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 500R - ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-D3H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128591

Processor/CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116901

Graphics Card/GPU: EVGA ACX Cooler 03G-P4-2784-KR GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130918

Power Supply/PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148545

Cooling: CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Extreme Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181032

Hard Drive/HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834

If you could help me out, it'd be awesome!

Looks like a good build, if you want to save money you could drop to 8GB of ram without any noticeable difference. Why no SSD? If you don't have a monitor yet, 1440 monitor would be the way to go with 780.

edit: then again if streaming a lot maybe 16 is the way to go on that. For gaming, 8GB is plenty.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

That build seems reasonable, but there are a few things to consider.

1) Intel just refreshed the Haswell line-up and introduced the Z97 PCH. It isn't a huge upgrade, but if you're spending this kind of money then you should really wait just a little while and see what new boards the refresh offers.
2) Ditto on the CPUs. The 4770k has been displaced by one clocked about 100 MHz higher. It isn't a huge upgrade, but it does offer some improvement.
3) Why go with the H100i? The performance is slightly better than high end air coolers, but the noise differential is pretty huge. The Corsair fans are crazy noisy, the management software is...backwards, and the octopus of wiring is a pain. My personal experience would lead me to either recommend a custom loop, or an air cooler.
4) You're going with a 780 graphics card, which doesn't make a lot of sense. One 1080 monitor doesn't generally take that much juice. Cutting it down to a 770 and going with a 4670k would yield enough extra money for a decent SSD. It isn't a necessity, but SSDs make booting a lot nicer, and they keep data access times to a minimum.
5) The 850 watt power supply is a bit overkill. Even a 700 watt supply would allow you quite a bit of extra power capacity. Depending upon pricing, you should consider that as a place where you can cut a bit of price, and better meet whatever budgetary consideration you've got.

Even if you completely disregard all of this advice, the quoted build is very reasonable as a gaming rig.

Pretty much everything ol'hass said. Here's is my build suggestion- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Cspe

 

[ne6togadno]

You guys have a far more imaginative mind in terms of possible build scenarios, I wouldn't like to infract upon your austisticartistic mind with my dribble

that is not excuse for your laziness

 

[Vario]

Pretty much everything ol'hass said. Here's is my build suggestion- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Cspe

probably should do 2x8 instead of 4x4 ram. That Asus mobo you picked is almost $100 more than the GB he selected.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

probably should do 2x8 instead of 4x4 ram.

Yeah, your right. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3CsJr

That Asus mobo you picked is almost $100 more than the GB he selected.

It's only a suggestion. ne6togadno's and my build suggestions, plus anyone else's, should be combined to get the best bang for the OP's buck. If the OP want to spend less on the MB, he/she can select the board from Ne6's build

 

[Hood]

You picked good components that will all work together, and I for one approve of some overkill in certain components, such as PSU and GPU. Sure, a 500 watt PSU may power everything, but I want some room for future upgrades and enough headroom so it isn't running flat out trying to keep up. Same with GPU, better to have too much than too little, if you can afford it. You have time to refine your choices, and many will change before you actually place your order, because of the new boards and CPUs (Z97 & Haswell Refresh). Asus is my first choice for motherboards, they are tested and validated more extensively, and have better RAM support and the best BIOS in the business. Corsair is also an excellent company that provides top-quality components and great support, good choices there. If you're not overclocking, or not much, you can benefit from higher frequency RAM (2400 MHz is the sweet spot now, priced similar to 1600). Pushing the CPU OC on Haswell may require lower RAM frequency, and won't go as high as Sandy Bridge or Ivy bridge because of heat issues, so pick your RAM accordingly. Have fun building it, and keep reading reviews about each part until you're sure it's what you want. BTW, no modern build is complete without an SSD, even a cheap one will make the whole system feel snappier, so budget at least $100 for it.

 

[Vario]

Theres also the new Haswell stuff coming out
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7873/new-haswell-k-overclocking-enhancements

"Devils Canyon"

As part of the Intel press conference call this week, it was announced that a new Haswell processor will come to market to help adjust some of these issues. This new processor will be a fully unlocked Haswell core, codename ‘Devil’s Canyon’ and should be out mid-year (note, Computex is in June). The features that Intel is promoting are the improved thermal interface material, an updated packaging and 9-series chipset support.

 

[Kuroneko]

That build seems reasonable, but there are a few things to consider.

1) Intel just refreshed the Haswell line-up and introduced the Z97 PCH. It isn't a huge upgrade, but if you're spending this kind of money then you should really wait just a little while and see what new boards the refresh offers.
2) Ditto on the CPUs. The 4770k has been displaced by one clocked about 100 MHz higher. It isn't a huge upgrade, but it does offer some improvement.
3) Why go with the H100i? The performance is slightly better than high end air coolers, but the noise differential is pretty huge. The Corsair fans are crazy noisy, the management software is...backwards, and the octopus of wiring is a pain. My personal experience would lead me to either recommend a custom loop, or an air cooler.
4) You're going with a 780 graphics card, which doesn't make a lot of sense. One 1080 monitor doesn't generally take that much juice. Cutting it down to a 770 and going with a 4670k would yield enough extra money for a decent SSD. It isn't a necessity, but SSDs make booting a lot nicer, and they keep data access times to a minimum.
5) The 850 watt power supply is a bit overkill. Even a 700 watt supply would allow you quite a bit of extra power capacity. Depending upon pricing, you should consider that as a place where you can cut a bit of price, and better meet whatever budgetary consideration you've got.

Even if you completely disregard all of this advice, the quoted build is very reasonable as a gaming rig.

Thank you for the advice,

1. Yeah, I saw that. However, I'm not entirely sure about the release date of this. If it releases before I get my money, somewhere in July, then I'll switch out with it. I still want the k series in case I ever decide to overclock.

2. Same as above.

3. Personally, the noise of the fans won't bother me too much. I normally have sound-cancelling headphones most of the time. Plus, it takes much less space within the computer than it does with air coolers. With the custom loop, I would rather not work with that until I get more experience with building.

4. Yeah, I guess you can say that it is a bit overkill, but I want something that'll last for a while, and the 780 is worth the extra cost personally. I may switch it with an AMD equivalent, but I'd rather stick with the green team, as I've used them on all my PCs.

5. I want something in-case I need to upgrade or want to SLI/Crossfire one day.

Once again, thank you!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Csla

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Cszn

@RCoon
i am on vacation till 8.05. stop pointing at me and barbaric lazy tard . you too know how pcpartpicker work

Thank you for these. I might switch and mix/match some of these with my build. I may switch to AMD if it comes to it.

Looks like a good build, if you want to save money you could drop to 8GB of ram without any noticeable difference. Why no SSD? If you don't have a monitor yet, 1440 monitor would be the way to go with 780.

edit: then again if streaming a lot maybe 16 is the way to go on that. For gaming, 8GB is plenty.

SSD's aren't really on my list of priorities at the moment. I might still get one if the price of some of the components drop. I'd rather stay with 1080p, I'm not much of a resolution junkie and I'd rather prefer FPS.

Pretty much everything ol'hass said. Here's is my build suggestion- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Cspe

You picked good components that will all work together, and I for one approve of some overkill in certain components, such as PSU and GPU. Sure, a 500 watt PSU may power everything, but I want some room for future upgrades and enough headroom so it isn't running flat out trying to keep up. Same with GPU, better to have too much than too little, if you can afford it. You have time to refine your choices, and many will change before you actually place your order, because of the new boards and CPUs (Z97 & Haswell Refresh). Asus is my first choice for motherboards, they are tested and validated more extensively, and have better RAM support and the best BIOS in the business. Corsair is also an excellent company that provides top-quality components and great support, good choices there. If you're not overclocking, or not much, you can benefit from higher frequency RAM (2400 MHz is the sweet spot now, priced similar to 1600). Pushing the CPU OC on Haswell may require lower RAM frequency, and won't go as high as Sandy Bridge or Ivy bridge because of heat issues, so pick your RAM accordingly. Have fun building it, and keep reading reviews about each part until you're sure it's what you want. BTW, no modern build is complete without an SSD, even a cheap one will make the whole system feel snappier, so budget at least $100 for it.

Yeah. I'll get the new chipset/processors if they release before I get the money. Otherwise, this'll work fine for me. The motherboard is still in decision at the moment. SSD's aren't much of priority at the moment, but I will definitely get it if I can find a little budget.

Theres also the new Haswell stuff coming out
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7873/new-haswell-k-overclocking-enhancements

"Devils Canyon"

Yep. Going to check and see if they release before I get the money.

Thank all of you for replying. I'll keep this updated based on changes.

 

[Hilux SSRG]

If you plan on gaming at 1080p:

I suggest you drop down to the EVGA SC gtx 770 2gb . That 780 will not last more than a 770 really.

And use the saved $150 to purchase a SSD for OS/Steam/Games.

Some good SSD reviews HERE.

 

[Devon68]

Maybe something like this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3CIod

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Haswell-e and x99 out in June just wait. You will be able to get those same parts for cheaper, or get a better rig in a few months.

 

[Kuroneko]

Thank you all for the feedback. I've decided to switch out the H100i for the Noctua NH-D14. However, is this thing usable on a vertical case? The fact that it weighs about 1.23 kg makes me wonder (Approx ~2.7 pounds) is a bit much, considering the force of gravity might cause something in the long term? Or will it just be fine and it's just me being paranoid...

 

[BarbaricSoul]

It has a back plate that is mounted on the underside of the motherboard, thus spreading the heat sink's weight out over a larger area of the motherboard. I have a NH-D14 on my 2600k and a heat sink extremely similar to the NH-D14 on my 3930k, both in conventional cases. Absolutely no issues.

 

[Kuroneko]

It has a back plate that is mounted on the underside of the motherboard, thus spreading the heat sink's weight out over a larger area of the motherboard. I have a NH-D14 on my 2600k and a heat sink extremely similar to the NH-D14 on my 3930k, both in conventional cases. Absolutely no issues.

Thank you very much for telling me.

I think the only aspect of the thing I'll change is the CPU cooler.

I'm still undecided on the motherboard and the CPU, as the new Haswell Refresh is coming soon. Also, there might be a price drop on a certain GPU later on in the year, which could allow me to get a SSD. Thank you all for your suggestions and advice.

 

[quantumqtip]

ssds are cheap, simple to install, and - well, why would anybody go to the bother of trying to build a halfway decent rig but choose dumping the ssd as the place to cut corners? i don't think anyone in the world actually prefers the flawed design of the easily trashed previous generation-style mech hd to the affordable, readily-available, and redesigned to outperform itself every other week or so ssd... i'm probably just missing some obvious piece of logic inherent to your decision to wait to buy the ssd; please - humor me - and explain.

ok, 3, 2, 1... flame!

 

[BarbaricSoul]

ssds are cheap, simple to install, and - well, why would anybody go to the bother of trying to build a halfway decent rig but choose dumping the ssd as the place to cut corners? i don't think anyone in the world actually prefers the flawed design of the easily trashed previous generation-style mech hd to the affordable, readily-available, and redesigned to outperform itself every other week or so ssd... i'm probably just missing some obvious piece of logic inherent to your decision to wait to buy the ssd; please - humor me - and explain.

ok, 3, 2, 1... flame!

An SSD in a gaming computer only net faster map/level loading times. Other than that, the game will play the exact same if the computer has a SSD or not. SSD should be the very last thing you spend money on when building a computer. That's my opinion atleast.