New to Building Computer, Under-budget, Please Help!!!

Hello All,

I have been trying to build a new computer for myself (I have been pricing parts over the past 2 weeks at Microcenter and online) and because I am fairly new to building computers I have a friend who is helping me with the labor portion. I have "built" a computer on CyberPowerPC and I want to get feedback on the design. Currently with pricing from Microcenter and online, along with a few good deals, I am about $300 under budget, which is fantastic and unusual!!! However, I want this computer to last me a good 4-5 years, so I don't want to go cheap and I don't want to go crazy either.

I am looking for suggestions on what to UPGRADE, or even DOWNGRADE.

As I said I am very new to this and I want to make sure I am doing the right thing before buying all the stuff. I will be using this computer for 2 main purposes...Gaming and Work.

I play the typical games, Diablo III, Skyrim, DOTA 2, Bioshock Infinite, etc...
I am also a Chemical Engineer and I use a program called ChemCad, which is a lot like AutoCad, for work. This program causes my current 4 yr old PC to be very slow.

Here is the current build...

Case: Thermaltake Level 10GT Full Tower Wide Body Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window (White Color)

Internal USB Extension Module: None

Neon Light Upgrade: 12in Liquid Neon Thunder Pattern Light (Blue Color)

Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Maximum Enermax 120MM Case Cooling Fans for selected case (Maximum Silent Operation) (1,000 RPM Black Color with No LED Enlobal Magnetic Barometric Bearing 17 dBA)

Noise Reduction Technology: Sound Absorbing Foam on Side, Top And Bottom panels, and more(1)

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-4670 3.40 GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1150

Performance Tuning Protection Plan by Intel: None

Venom Boost Fast And Efficient Factory Overclocking: No Overclocking

Cooling Fan: CyberPower Xtreme Hydro Liquid Cooling Kit 240MM w/ XSPC Rasa 750 RS240, Dual Fan(CPU & GPU Liquid Cool Capable, Extreme Overclocking Performance + Extreme Silent at 18dBA)(All Venom OC Certified)

Coolant for Cyberpower Xtreme Hydro Water Cooling Kits: High-Performance Coolant powered by Koolance (Blue Color)

Motherboard: [CrossFireX] GIGABYTE Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Ultra Durable 4 Plus, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16 (1 Gen3, 1 Gen2), 2 PCIe x1 & 2 PCI (Pro OC Certified)

Intel Smart Response Technology: None

Memory: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Vengeance)

Video Card 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

Power Supply Upgrade: * 750 Watts - Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2 80 Plus Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready

Hard Drive: 250 GB SAMSUNG 840 Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 540MB/s Read & 250MB/s Write (Single Drive)

Data Hard Drive: 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200 RPM HDD (Single Drive)

Hard Drive Cooling Fan: Vigor iSURF II Hard Disk Drive Cooling System (1 x System)

External Hard Drive (USB3.0/2.0/eSATA): None

USB Flash Drive: None

Optical Drive: LG 12X Internal Blu-ray Drive & DVDRW, 3D Playback Combo Drive (BLUE COLOR)

Optical Drive 2: None

External Optical Drive: None

Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

Extra Thermal Display: Aerocool Touch 2000 Dual Bay Touch Screen Fan Control


Again I am looking for suggestions on what to UPGRADE, or even DOWNGRADE.

If you have any suggestions or experience with these items, please let me know your opinion. As I said I am willing to spend $300, maybe 400 more if it means I will be happy in the long run. I have been researching this for weeks, but thats nothing compared to the experience many of you have!!!


Thanks for any help!!!

Jim