girlfriend and i are building a new gaming computer for the first time. need advice

Amy Key

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
2
0
10,510
my girlfriend and i are building a gaming computer. she has helped build a computer in the past, but that was about 5 years ago. needless to say, we need help. even if it may be brutal we need advice. this is what we are looking at so far...
EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Superclocked with ACX Cooler 4 GB GDDR5 256-Bit
Asus Z87 PRO LGA 1150 Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4770K Quad-Core Desktop Processor 3.5 GHZ 8 MB Cache
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz
Corsair Enthusiast Series 850-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply Compatible with Core i3, i5, i7
Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM
Windows 7 Home Premium
a few other things that seem pointless to mention
liquid cooling?
anything else?
if im wasting money on anything please let me know lol
thanks for your advice!
 
Solution
Looking really nice, I like the choices. Some would say drop to an i5-4670k for gaming as there is no difference in performance between that and an i5. It's a valid point if you are looking to shave costs, but staying at an i7 if you are going to keep the machine for a few years isn't a bad investment either. I personally went with an i5-4670K.

Same point with the ram, many would say you don't need 16Gb, that 8Gb is enough. Again, valid argument, I am at 8gb now and don't consider it an issue. You can always add more later if needed, or just go for the 16Gb now. If you do video editing for example, then the argument for the i7 and 16Gb is moot, you should definitely keep them.

I'm assuming you are getting the monster power supply in...

thomasbuddy99

Honorable
May 17, 2013
10
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10,510
Okay, 2 questions: 1. Why are you spending nearly a 100 dollars more on the cpu if you're using it just for gaming? If I were you, I'd just get the i5-4670k, get a liquid cooler as you were planning, and then spend a little more on the gpu (say, upgrade to a 780)'

2nd question: Why not use windows 8.1? I know, you might "hate" the 8 interface, but the new OS DOES actually improve performance in a small number of games AND uses less Ram. On top of this, you're going to be getting faster boot times (like, 15 seconds vs 4 seconds), and overall faster application loading times.
 
Looking really nice, I like the choices. Some would say drop to an i5-4670k for gaming as there is no difference in performance between that and an i5. It's a valid point if you are looking to shave costs, but staying at an i7 if you are going to keep the machine for a few years isn't a bad investment either. I personally went with an i5-4670K.

Same point with the ram, many would say you don't need 16Gb, that 8Gb is enough. Again, valid argument, I am at 8gb now and don't consider it an issue. You can always add more later if needed, or just go for the 16Gb now. If you do video editing for example, then the argument for the i7 and 16Gb is moot, you should definitely keep them.

I'm assuming you are getting the monster power supply in case you go SLI in the future. That's just the right amount of wattage, and a very high quality PSU.

I myself went with liquid cooling on mine, the H100i from corsair. Performs well and looks great.

Finally, the graphics card. If you are just gaming on a single 1920x1080 monitor, you won't need the 4 Gb version, then again, it could be a good investment in case you need it in the future.

So you have some areas you could shave costs down if you want to, or keep as is for future proofing. Again, nice system!
 
Solution


It looks like you have been doing your home work. I would suggest only a few things. For a system like this, you can do better than 1600 MHz RAM (say CL8 in the 2000 MHz range). I would also go with a better PSU (Seasonic Gold or Platinum). And lastly, you can do better on the CPU cooling front (Noctua NH-D14 or liquid cooling). But it's your computer in the long run.