Need feedback on $3000 build (first build)

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2wkpZ) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2wkpZ/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2wkpZ/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54670k) | $229.99 @ NCIX US
good
**Motherboard** | [Asus SABERTOOTH Z87 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-sabertoothz87) | $234.99 @ Amazon
this is fine. the thermal armor is a joke though and you may want to remove. another option would be the hero board.
**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmy8gx3m2a1866c9) | $96.76 @ NCIX US
good.
**Storage** | [Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7pd256bw) | $214.00 @ B&H
good.
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd2002faex) | $146.98 @ OutletPC
fine but be aware drives larger than 1tb have higher failure rates. i'm on my 5th rma of 1.5 and 2tb drives.
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-03gp42884kr) | $719.99 @ Newegg
good card. the gigabyte one may have a better cooler with 3 fans though. in any case either of them are better than the ref design.
**Wireless Network Adapter** | [TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/tp-link-wireless-network-card-tlwdn4800) | $42.92 @ Amazon
your choice.
**Case** | [Corsair C70 Gunmetal Black (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-c70gunmetalblack) | $138.98 @ Newegg
**Case Fan** | [Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition 39.9 CFM 120mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050001ww) | $15.53 @ Newegg
**Case Fan** | [Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm Fans](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050002ww) | $24.99 @ NCIX US
**Case Fan** | [Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050009ww) | $16.99 @ Amazon
**Case Fan** | [Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050009ww) | $16.99 @ Amazon
your choice.
**Power Supply** | [EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120pg0650gr) | $64.99 @ Microcenter
i would go with an xfx, seasonic, antec psu or perhaps a corsair hx series myself but some of the evga ones arent terrible. if you plan on overclocking the system or future upgrading like sli i'd raise it to 750.
**Optical Drive** | [Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-optical-drive-drw24b1stblkbas) | $19.98 @ OutletPC
your choice.
**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615) | $94.98 @ OutletPC
are you sure you want windows 8.1? its pretty bad and has quite a few bugs/issues. your choice.
**Monitor** | [Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pb278q) | $557.58 @ Newegg
your choice.
**Keyboard** | [Corsair Vengeance K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-keyboard-ch9000019na) | $119.99 @ Amazon
your choice.
**Mouse** | [SteelSeries Sensei RAW Wired Laser Mouse](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/steelseries-mouse-62155) | $53.89 @ Amazon
your choice.
**Headphones** | [Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Headphones](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/audio-technica-headphones-athm50) | $139.95 @ Amazon
awesome headphones. i own a pair.
**Other**| SteelSeries QcK Gaming Mouse Pad (Black)| $9.88
you should get one like my signature link . semi-joking...... anyways this is your choice.
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $2960.35
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-05 20:37 EST-0500 |


you forgot a cpu cooler. i'd get at minimum a hyper 212 evo (or 212 +). if you want serious o/c then i'd go big air you could get a nh-d14. or go with a corsair or nzxt water loop.

How much storage do you need? Samsung's 750GB SSD is $400, if you dumped your HDD and added the amount to your SSD, you would have to pay $50 more, but avoid the hassle of two hard drives and have it all on an SSD. In addition (though I'm less sure of this), the 780 Ti with 8GB of system memory seems like a mismatch in that you will hit a RAM bottleneck before your GPU is really being taxed. What if you went from a 780 Ti to a 780, save $200 like that, buy a second set of that RAM with $100 from the GPU savings to bring your memory up to 16GB, and furthermore use $50 from the GPU savings to get you to the 750GB Samsung SSD?

if your not worried about money then just upgrade to 4x8Gb= 32Gb of ram and ur set.

the thing is... ssd are very expensive for the amount of space they give you. having a 250 and a 1tb gives you 1.25tb of space while going with just a ssd gives you 750gb only at a $200 increase in price. not very effecient. i think the 250gb+1tb is best.

the 780ti + 8gb system memory is NOT a mismatch. 8 gigs of ram is more than enough for gaming. in fact only 8gb (2x4gb) is suggested for gaming by almost every single person around here for gaming for that very reason. now i will say that going with 16gb isnt a bad choice only that it is likely wasting money. in the future if ram is really an issue (again i'm 99.9% sure with just gaming that you will never need more than 8 for just gaming at least for the lifecycle of this pc) then you could always add another 2 sticks at that point in time.

going with 16gb of ram and a 750gb ssd is a bit overkill and isnt worth dropping a 780ti for. running at 2560x1440 is going to need that 780ti.

edit: the only reason for having 16gb of ram is if you do some heavy multi-tasking like that other guy. if you dont go so overkill as that (32 tabs, many progams plus gaming all at once) its not required. i'm still running on 6 here and i've never hit my max and i run games, photoshop and many tabs at once as well.

@op its completely up to you if you want to take that advice but i think you're going to be perfectly fine as is!

oh.. not sure you care but gskill ripjaws x 1866 cas9 ram in 2x4gb is on sale at newegg for $68 with promo code (i ordered some a few days ago). its a few bucks cheaper than yours but its bright red.. not sure if it matches

just built a $413 a10 apu build for a relative... and even for that price i managed to have it all match

black on black with a little bit of red. hey.... thats part of the fun. so i get you totally. my own tower matches too (i went with a rog motherboard so i had to get red on everything to make it match)

The RAM discussion can go back and forward. ssddx is right in that there is a strong consensus that 8GB is adequate and likely more then this pc would need during it's life for gaming. On the other hand, based on researching other people's builds while deciding on my pc, and going through pretty much every pc maker out there before deciding to build my comp myself, I would maintain that 8GB RAM with a 780 Ti is unusual in that 8GB memory tends to be the starting point for more expensive rigs, whereas the 780 Ti is arguably at the top of GPU single-card food chain.

In any case, alt-tabbing out of Planetside 2 with 1 Chrome tab open had me using between 4.9-5.3 GB of RAM with 5-7% CPU use while having PS2 minimized. I'm running 4930K with GTX 780 and 16 GB of RAM. My full build is here.



Going with the larger SSD and forgoing the HDD really is a judgment call. As ssddx points out, HDD's get you a lot more bang for your buck. If you have that much data you regularly access then getting an SSD for the OS and some games really is the best you can do. But if you were going to put say 400 GB of movies on your comp from day 1, and you may or may not watch 30% of them over the next several years, you should really consider whether you want to forgo that 500 GB in increased SSD space for game/other software installations by going with the 250 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD instead of the 750 GB SSD.

why would you downgrade from a well known brand like asus to something like qnix? sounds kind of silly to me.

yes.... the 8gb of ram argument could go either way. it is true that 8gb is the suggested amount for gamers and also true that people with a huge budget also normally go with 16gb. it is also true that in gaming systems the ram goes mostly unused and is mostly there for piece of mind. it is also true that the op could upgrade the ram in the future if it was ever a problem and it is also true that sometimes it can be hard to find matching ram sticks in a year or two if that happens. quite a bit of things are true.

the op just needs to make a decision on if they feel it is a worthwhile investment for them. honestly i feel that going either route is completely valid. considering the budget and fact that its going to be a 2560x1440 system it might not be a worthwhile investment even if there isnt a real demand for it. again, the ops choice.

If I were in your shoes I would get the 16 GB ram, either by spending more or finding the money somewhere else in the system (though not the GPU, I now see that your monitor will be 1440p, so the GTX 780 Ti should distinguish itself from the regular 780 particularly well). I think this is especially true if you plan to keep this system a long time. Also, are you big on MMOs? Those pretty much universally have some sort of downtime/travel time/etc where you would be alt-tab out to do other stuff. If the answer to this is yes, it cuts in favor of going with the 16 GBs.

Finally, Xbox One and PS4 have 8 GB of RAM, whereas Xbox 360 and PS3 had 512 MB. I think it's fair to say that this console hardware boost will ultimately result in pc games getting heavier on memory usage.

Anyway, were you aware this 27 inch 1440p monitor existed? It's been well received and could save you quite a bit. They have a guaranteed zero dead pixel order you can also place for a bit more.

Oh yeah and I noticed I have the wireless card you're getting and have to say I'm very pleased with it so far, it works great. I think my internet is faster now with my desktop in a slot under my desk then my old laptop just sitting on my desk.