Need advice on first PC build ($2000US)

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cammandapanda

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May 12, 2014
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I'm a noob at building computers and this is my first computer build so it might be absolutely horrible. i want a semi-gamiing computer ( im not a hardcore gamer or anything, just casual). please give any feedback or recommendations for my PC. here are my specs:
CPU-
Intel Core i7-4770K
CPU Cooler-
Swiftech H220
Motherboard-
Asus Maximus VI Extreme
Memory-
G.Skill 16GB
Storage-
Samsung 500GB SSD
Seagate 1TB 7200RPM
Video Card-
MSI GeForce GTX 760
Case-
Corsair 650D
Power Supply-
Corsair 750W
 
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alan0n

alan0n

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For a casual gamer that is a pretty good machine. If you ever want to jump the fence and become a hardcore gamer you would really only need to bump your GPU or even go SLI.

In short, the machine you have spec'ed here will play just about anything you throw at it. Perhaps not on max resolution at ultra detail, but not on minimum either.
 
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i7Baby

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You've spent a lot of money on top end stuff.

Your cpu is much more powerful than you want to drive that graphics card.
I'd suggest you drop down to an i5 4670k and jump up to a GTX 780
You won't need a water cooler - especially for the i5 - because it won't put out that much heat.
Just use an air cooler eg Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO - cheap and good reviews.
And the Asus Maximus is at least $100 more than you should be spending on a motherboard.
Try an Asus Sabertooth Z97 - http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_1491&products_id=27536
A good mobo with plenty of features - including the newer Z97 chipset
For storage, you should keep the 500GB ssd for games and add a 120gb ssd for the OS - which you also haven't listed.
And you could jump up to a 2TB Seagate Barracuda hdd
The case is fine
The power supply is a bit more than you need and not as good as an Antec HCG 620M

So that's my first go - think about it. Then put it together in PartPicker.
 
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Traciatim

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If it's a gaming rig, personally I would switch to the i5-4670k, drop the SSD to 250GB or so, drop the RAM to 8GB, drop the PSU to a good quality 550 (unless the one you picked is cheaper), drop the water cooling for a cheaper air cooler like a 212 evo or something fairly simple... and then sink all that savings in to the beastliest video card you can afford (290x, 780, 780ti). You'd end up with a much better gaming experience than with the i7 and a 760.

If you have some other non-gaming reason for the i7 then it makes sense, but in the vast majority of games the i5 and i7 perform very similarly to each other, but the 760 and a 780 are leagues apart.

 
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Poprin

Poprin

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Could I just ask, is this PC purely being built for gaming?

When you say you are not a hardcore gamer, do you mean you play Indy games? Or do you play the latest titles but on a casual basis?

What resolution is your monitor?

From what your requirement's appear to be it looks like you are throwing $2k of cash at $1k worth of requirements!
 
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Parthu Revanth

Parthu Revanth

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Apr 13, 2014
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($334.98 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-Pro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($167.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($104.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($499.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 550D ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($93.50 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $1783.39
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-12 08:38 EDT-0400)
 
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Beezy

Beezy

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I'm a casual gamer and my 900$ pc I built is more than I'll ever need. 2000$ is a huge budget for just playing some games every now and then...

Regardless take the advice given above..
I5 is a better idea. I7 is for gamers who also video edit, stream, or render 3d scenes/animations.

8 GB ram (2 x 4gb 1600 MHz cas 9)

770gpu minimum for that budget or ur really screwing up .

More smaller ssds are better (less eggs in one basket).

Motherboard is massive overkill

Psu should be seasonic, xfx, or antec. At your total budget you shouldn't have such a cheap psu in there
 
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HiTechObsessed

HiTechObsessed

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For $1,100 you can get the performance of an i7 for future-proofing, a 280x which will max out anything now, and will last a very long time for casual gaming, and the rest of the system is good quality. You definitely don't need to spend $2000 for what you're looking for.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Gelid Solutions CC-Siberian-01 51.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($9.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.12 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($289.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: OCZ ZT 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $1157.02
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-12 09:43 EDT-0400)
 
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cammandapanda

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IS this better?
CPU
Intel Core i7-4770K
CPU Cooler
Corsair H100i
Motherboard
Asus Maximus VI Formula
Memory
G.Skill 16GB
Storage
Samsung 256GB SSD
Seagate 1TB 7200RPM
Video Card
MSI GeForce GTX 780
Case
Corsair 650D
Power Supply
Corsair 650W

BTW thanks everyone for answering, its really helped me a lot. Maybe i wasn't clear on this, but what I mean by "casual gamer" is that i don't play games all day long, and am not a pro gamer or anything; however, i do still play some graphic intense games like Titanfall and Minecraft...
 
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Poprin

Poprin

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First of all... lol on the graphic intensive games statement. Titanfall and Minecraft are on opposite sides of the spectrum!

If this is a pure gaming build, I would strongly suggest saving money on the i7 unless you just want it to show off to your mates as I can totally understand. The only reason I chose an i7 over an i5 for my machine is because of encoding media. For gaming alone an i7 is just overkill. You do seem however to be totally set on your original build and if that's just what you want and you've got the cash then go for it. You only live once.

However, I noticed comments above ref not needing such a big SSD. Not sure what the reasoning behind that is. Let me just tell you now, my Samsung 512gb 840 pro is one of the best pieces of hardware I have ever bought. It is fast as hell and I don't have to keep moving installations of games around like I did on my 128gb Intel 330 (which was a decent SSD btw). If you can afford the 512gb go for it, I would swap the i7 for an i5 and have a bigger SSD if it was me.
 
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Beezy

Beezy

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im not saying performance wise, the bigger SSD isnt as good as more small ones, im saying it from a risk standpoint. IF hes not under warranty anymore, and the drive isnt backed up and explodes for whatever reason, you just lost half a terabytes worth of (potentially) important data. people who use their PC's for work now all about that risk. there's an entire industry for those people, for backing up data physically or onto "clouds" .

if you have 2 or 3 120GB SSDs and consider the same scenario, you will have only lost a portion of your data.

i just think its less headache to replace. consider at the least a 30 or 60 GB SSD for the OS alone
 
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Poprin

Poprin

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I would have to completely disagree with you.

Backing up important data is imperative, regardless. I have cloud backup and an unRAID server at home. However the only important data in my case is documents and photos. The game installations on another SSD would be as much use as a chocolate teapot if the OS SSD failed. Besides SSD's are pretty reliable now and no more of a risk really than a traditional HDD. Having multiple SSD's is just going to be a pain the backside IMO with no tangible advantage whatsoever.
 
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HiTechObsessed

HiTechObsessed

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I agree. SSDs I would consider more safe than HDD's now, especially since they have no physical parts moving inside. If you drop a HDD from 6" onto tile, you're most likely toast. Doing the same with an SSD just gives you a blemish.

And the argument about too much space makes NO sense in general anyway. What about the vast majority who have a single 1TB or more platter based drive?

On top of that, the 256 840 Pro and 250GB EVO are much faster than their 120/128GB counterparts, so that part didn't even make sense anyway.
 
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