Backstory, It's been 6 years since I put together my current budget PC. I've added a new video card a few years ago, and a SSD last year, but since then no major upgrades. Now that I'm over 30, bought a house and am getting married, I think its time to step it up a notch and join the adult world of Glorious PC Master Race.

My Current rig, Bold parts I'm going to keep and transition over.

-Cooler Master CM690 Nvidia Ed. ATX Case Thinking about using this one again to save a few bucks

-XFX nForce 750a SLI Motherboard - NVIDIA 750a SLI, Socket AM2/AM2+, ATX, Audio, Video, HDMI, DVI, PCI Express 2.0, Gigabit LAN. S/PDIF, USB 2.0, eSATA, RAID

-AMD Phenom 9500 Processor HD9500WCGDBOX - 2.20GHz, 4 x 512KB Cache, 1800MHz (3600 MT/s) FSB, Agena, Quad-Core, Retail, Socket AM2+

-2x (4 sticks) OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x2048MB)

-EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP

Sony DRU-V200S/BR DVD Rewritable Drive SATA - 20x

-Ultra LSP750 750-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, SLI-Ready, 135mm Fan, Sleeved Cables, Matte Finish

Seagate 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G

Seagate 1TB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G

INTEL 250 GB 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive


Part of me was just thinking new Motherboard, Processor and Memory. Then I realized I'd be gutting the heart of it, so why not just fo all out... I'd need fans and all that jazz... so I put together This.

CPU  -Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core                            
CPU Cooler  -Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid                              
Motherboard  -Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150                  
Memory  -G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400  
Video Card  -MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V              
Case  -Cooler Master Storm Stryker (White) ATX Full Tower    
Power Supply  -Corsair 760W ATX12V / EPS12V                      
                                                                                       

I would also buy a second video card in a few months and SLI it.

I was thinking the Corsair C70 case, it would save $50, and look just as cool. Hell, I've seen some amazing custom cases done... I'm open to suggestions.

I didn't want to hijack Roebuck's budget build thread, since this technically isn't cheap for most people (myself included). What do you guys think?

As long as you realize you are over-killing on some things like video card, etc....  I would probably look to save a couple hundred, and step up in 2-3 years.   I hate being on the forefront of computer specs since they will be mediocre by next year, and the price much diminished.  I think you are right on target with the i5, though.

I'm not rendering video, but I would like to eventually buy a 4k monitor. My primary is a 24 inch Samsung I bought last year, and my secondary is an 8 year old Samsung 32" tv. Resolution on that isn't so great

Could I step down the card and still be able to run Star Citizen at maximum?

Here is a link to the PC that I just built. Came out to $1k, but already had the graphics card.

At 1080 I think it should be possible.  Though, it depends on how much you would be stepping down.  The GTX960 isn't really worth it from the reviews I've read - for just a little bit more money you can get a lot more performance with the 970, as you plan to do.  So that would mean either going AMD, or dropping further to something like a 770.  I don't know if a 770 can do max SC at 1080; you'd have to do some research.

I have been reading rumblings that the 970 has some issues though, mostly with memory stuff - apparently the stated 4GB memory it has is really only 3.5GB.  There's some fallout going on over that right now, and it might be wise to wait just a bit longer to see what happens there.  

Also, with DX12 there might be a new batch of cards coming out here in the next few months that might adjust the prices for other cards down.  So waiting might also be wise from that standpoint.  OTOH, you could probably say that at any time of the year; there's always something new on the horizon.

ETA:  With a 4K monitor, there's obviously no way you'd be able to max anything out with a 770, or even a single 970.  I have an OC'ed 780 that basically has 970 performance, and at 1440p I can't max out the latest and greatest games like Far Cry 4 while staying above 60fps.  And that's just at 1440.  4K will be a bitch to drive maxed out.  But frankly, if I was you I would wait until you get the monitor before going whole hod on the GPU side of things.  By the time you get your monitor the cards could have dropped in price by a hundred bucks.  Who knows.

I've been doing a lot of reading today, and I think you are right.

At this point 4k is probably a pipe dream. I'm probably better off shooting for 1080 at 60fps.

If you wanna run 4k with ease get a 980 and avoid amd like the plauge. Im running an 8 core amd 9000 series processor at 5.3 ghz with dual nividia evga 780ti classifieds and I average 180 fps on every game but when i run my benchmarks intel systems with the same setup blow my pc out of the water.

imo thats a solid build.

Will tagscribe and have my 14 year old son look at your specs and get back to you LOL

Red

I've never run an AMD video card, I've been an nVidia guy for over a decade.

On the flip side, this will be my first Intel chip since the celeron days, before megahertz.

I can't complain.



Im going more over kill than you.  But there is nothing really wrong that I see.



May your temperatures be low.

Nvidias are great cards, as long as you know you wont be able to unlock the potential for that card for at least 1-2 years.





As others have said you should save yourself a few hundred dollars and go with a 750ti or a 770 since those have more power then modern games can ask for and they are half the price.





I just build a PC for a good friend of mine last week here is the pc part picker for it.





http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GrpFqs

 

I have no idea what I'm doing

Thats not the right link.



 

In a few hours, Newegg will send me my 'shipped' notice for the rest of my new rig.

Already bough the case and PSU, case is a Fractal Design Define XL full tower, PSU is an EVGA 1000w Platinum.


2 x ($329.99) MSI G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC Video C
$659.98

1 x ($579.99) Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 20
$579.99

1 x ($249.99) ASUS X99-A LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.
$249.99

1 x ($199.99) G.SKILL Value 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DD
$199.99

1 x ($54.99) DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm Lucifer V2 CPU Cooler 6 Heatp
$54.99

1 x ($4.99) Arctic Silver CMQ2-2.7G Céramique 2 Tri-Linear Cer - OEM

Keeping the HDD and monitor from my current system...WD 1T Black and a BENQ 32" 1440P monitor.

Just got into playing Skyrim and my old system is not dealing with it well...3 minute load screens are a PITA.

Very nice rig but again WAYYYYY overkill, those components on modern games is the equivalent of killing a fly with a bazooka.



 

There is no such thing as too much firepower.

Besides, overkill now may not be overkill in the near future....and I can afford it. Shouldn't have to upgrade for at least 3 years, and I'm hoping for 5...we'll see.

Exactly. Here ~~ $1850

Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor

Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler

Asus X99-DELUXE ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard

Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory

A-Data XPG SX900 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card

Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case

Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer

Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)

Asus Xonar DX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card

Intel EXPI9301CTBLK 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter

Aerocool Shark 82.6 CFM 120mm Fan

Probably a lot of superfluous/overkill parts in here

Whoa... they seriously updated PC Part Picker since last week.

I've had some wedding expenses come up lately, still haven't pulled the trigger on a new rig yet. Might have to wait until after the honeymoon.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h6Fg4D
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h6Fg4D/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($219.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($87.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card  ($349.99 @ B&H)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.98 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1117.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-16 15:20 EST-0500

You don't need the extra fan or the sound card... like at all. That case comes with 3 good fans in it you wouldnt have anywhere to put that extra fan there are no fan slots left.



Your chip is an I7 which is for video editing, if you are getting that pc for gaming you will want a quad core i5. 16gb of ram is too much, 2 years from now the most demanding games will still only call for 8gb of ram.



You don't need the CPU cooler, intel chips come with a really nice cooler.



I'm not positive because I didnt check but I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that motherboard is stupid expensive for no reason. Get a cheaper one unless you like throwing money in the dumpster.



That solid state is a little large, generally you want to get a 40-60 gig SSD and just load ONLY your operating system on it then you also install a standard terrabyte hard drive to put everything else on.



Your video card is slight overkill but that seems to be the trend in this thread. You can get a video card that will stomp any modern game for 130.00 if you want to go that route.



I didn't check if all of your parts were compatible.



 

I didn't know that. I have an i7-3770, should I upgrade to a comparable i5 or will my performance impact be negligible?

Taking notes

Technically it would be a downgrade - the i7 has hyperthreading which the i5 lacks. But the thing is that games don't use HT at all,  so there's no benefit to having it.  Therefore, pretty much every PC build site out there will rightly suggest that you just get an i5, save some money there,  and spend it on something that will actually affect gaming performance.  With an i7, you are paying significantly more for features that you will never use in a gaming environment.

The only exception would be if you wanted a 6 or 8 core CPU, as I think those are only available in the i7 flavor.  But the 3770 that you list is just a quad core like the i5s.

Just as an FYI, if you are having problems with load times for things like skyrim, the one device that will actually speed them up significantly is the one thing you don't list - an SSD.  Your load times won't go down a ton if you stay with a mechanical hard drive,  because it will bottleneck the rest of the components.

Gotchya! Goes to show I should have done more research when building my system! Let this serve as a warning to others in this thread, I could have saved some dough.

You should budget for a new mechanical drive. A Hitachi 3TB drive can be had for around $100, and will be significantly faster than your existing mechanical drives.

16 gigs isn't too much

Truth on the cooler fan

Get a 128 or bigger ssd, 40-60 is enough for an OS but aggravating micromanaging.

First of the peripherals arrived the other day. Clickity clackity goes my first mechanical keyboard.

I figured out how to use the website and tried again


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2BN3Mp
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2BN3Mp/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($227.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($114.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($75.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($349.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($61.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($19.78 @ Directron)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($96.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Wired Network Adapter: TP-Link TG-3468 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter  ($13.17 @ Amazon)
Total: $1220.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-22 13:21 EDT-0400

You can get the CPU for $199 @ MicroCenter and then you'll receive a discount on whatever MB you purchase. I would go with 2x4GB memory; I like Corsair Vengeance (my gaming setup has 16GB.. never come close to using it..) I'd personally opt for an EVGA card for the warranty MicroCenter has the 970 Superclocked on sale for $339 with a $10 MIR. I would add an SSD for the OS at a minimum (120GB) but with current prices you could add a 256 or 500 and use it for OS/Games, etc.. Add the 7200 for media/scratch. I would step up to a higher quality PSU, MicroCenter has the HX750 for $79. Drop the network card.. Unless you need a mid-size tower I'd opt for the Corsair 250D ($89.99 - $79.99 after MIR @ MicroCenter) or if you want portable the Corsair 380T isnt a bad looking case. This case would require an m-itx MB (you can add the Gigabyte Z97 mITX for $99 ($79 after MIR) if purchased with the CPU @ MicroCenter.

MicroCenter Cart:
MB: Gigabyte Z97 LGA 1150 mITX Intel Motherboard - $99.99 - $79.99 after MIR
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz LGA 1150 - $199.99
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX - $339.99 - $329.99 after MIR
PSU: Corsair HX Series HX750 Watt 80Plus Gold Certified - $79.99
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB - $209.99
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 - $74.99
HD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7,200 RPM SATA III 6Gb/s 3.5 - $69.99
Case: Corsair Obsidian 250D Mini ITX Case - $89.99 - $79.99 after MIR

total: $1,205.69 (NJ tax included) - $1165.69 after MIR.. I do not have their flyer in front of me but they usually offer a few SSD's at a discount when purchase with a CPU/MB so there may be a few bucks to save there if you purchase the SSD in the ad..

add whatever kb/mouse and os you want.. The 250D has room for a Corsair Hydro H100i if you'd like to O/C your cpu and water cool it.. MC has it for $124.99 ($99.99 @ NewEgg)

I completed it! Links Here and Here to pictures and the final specs.

Nice!

If you haven't put any fans in the side panel, I'd recommend buying or DIYing a solid side panel.  Helps airflow, heps keep dust out of the case, and it looks far better.  If you google "C70 side panel" there's a few places that sell pre-built ones (which is what I did), and some instructional vids on how to do it yourself.

It's on the list of stuff to do. This thing is so quiet compared to my last tower, even while gaming.

I saw someone that did custom bullet holes on a side panel, I kinda wonder if he didn't just shoot it

New to the whole computer building thing, but my Alienware laptop from 2011 is not doing it anymore... lol

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vnrhJx

Lay it on me, terrible picks, overkill, anything good? Help a computer building noob out!

Too much ram, 8gb is perfect for gaming anything more will go to waste. Intel chips come with nice CPU coolers so you don't need that one. Feel free to get it just know that you don't "need" it at all, your upgraded cooler doesn't add performance in any way shape or form.

You could go with a cheaper video card, there is nothing wrong with that one since it will future proof you but there are video cards that are half that price that will play all the games out right now on high settings. That is actually a great video card if you have the money to burn.

You case has no window on it for about 5-10 bucks more you could get that same exact case with a glass side on it. Which is REALLY nice IMO since you can monitor fan performance and what not.

You will need a standard hard drive as well to supplement your solid state. 250gb is NOTHING especially since some modern games can be upwards of 20gigs. Most people put there operating system and maybe 3 of their favorite games on their solid state and then you put the rest of your games on a standard terabyte hard drive.

edit: Oh I just noticed you have a Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer those have been obsolete for a few years now, the industry is just waiting for people to catch up. Everything is digital now man. You do not need that, BUT its your computer so do what you want.

Hows this for GTA v?

I already have the same case as OP, EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W, SSD and normal HD

Right now it has old AMD stuff in it

I usually keep my rigs about 4 years, an eon in PC terms to I usually go over the top when I build em.

I just put together a rig this weekend, ordered the parts anyway.

CPU:  I7-5820K
RAM: 32gb G.Skill Ripsaw PC2400
Mobo:  MSI X99S SLI
Video:  EVGA Titan X
SSD:  Samsung 850 Evo 250gb
HDD;  Seagate Baracuda 2TB 7200rpm
Case:  Coolermaster HAF 922 (an older case, but one I have had before and liked)
Cooler:  Corsair H100i
PSU:  EVGA Fully modular Gold 80+  850Watt.

Still contemplating my monitor, I know I wanna go 1440p, 144hz.  Probably an ACER XB270HU or I might hold out for a MG279Q from ASUS next month (if it lands on time).

Lol that looks like the inside of a 1950's calculator

And i got a buddy with that exact 970 rebel running gtav on ultra at 60 fps.

Dont hate.
I got a 1,000 watt ps in the bottom of it.

Got back from vacation yesterday, had plenty of time to relax and think

I put in the clear plastic window from MNPCtech and love it.

I also took out the DVD drive and ditched the case box, little fucker was pretty much garbage. Good idea, horrible implementation.

If I could change anything else about my build, I would probably have saved some money on the cooler. I realized overclocking scares me, risk vs. reward wise, so I will probably never get anything close to hard use out of the H100i cooler.

It would be nice to have that money for a monitor now.

If you have the cash, buy a magnetic Demciflex filter for the front of the case, at least.  It is so much better than having to take the case bezel off every time you want to clean the filter, and the Demciflex filters are of far better quality too.  I have them on all my intake ports because they are much finer and filter out more crap, but the front is the most essential IMO because of the difficulty of accessing the stock front filter.