rm2014wc said:
As by the title, I'm building my first PC. Will be playing games, overclocking & doing some light CAD work. I want a fairly well balanced system because come on who would want to waste money with bottle necks. So I've got a few questions and some parts i want in my build, all suggestions are welcome and will be taken into account. Even better if you could post a parts list for me thankyou in advanced for those people
1. Motherboard- These things are confusing the hell out of me, what one do i really need?
2. RAM- Do i really need high speed ram, how much difference will it make in CAD?
3. SSD- Samsung SSD evo or 840 pro helppppppp
4. GTX 770 or 780?
5. Power supply 650W or 750W?
These are the parts I want so far, welcome to adjust
PCPartPicker part list:
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/hQ3drH
Price breakdown by merchant:
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/hQ3drH/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($415.00 @ PLE Computers)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($169.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($89.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $828.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-18 10:23 EST+1000
1. Get a Z-type motherboard. Those are capable of overclocking the i7-4790k you've chosen. Make sure whichever board you pick has at the very least 1 x PCI-e 16 3.0 slot for a graphics card. If you'd like to keep your SLI/Crossfire options open for the future, make sure your motherboard officially supports SLI/Crossfire. It doesn't seem as though you'll need a particularly large number of SATA devices, so don't worry about that. Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and Asrock are all my top choices for motherboards. Get whichever one is least expensive that is sufficient for your needs ( number of potential gpus, additional slots for networks cards , sound cards, number of SATA 3, and SATA 6 headers, etc).
2. The optimal requirements for CAD aren't so different from high performance gaming and benchmarks. Either 8 - 16 GB of RAM @ 1333mhz - 1866mhz with a CAS latency of 9 is ideal (CL9). Whatever kit fits that criteria for the least amount of money is best.
3. The Samsung 840 EVO 256GB is currently the fastest SSD on the market on average. The Pro is not worth the extra money.
4. It's really up to you. If you don't mind spending the extra $150, by all means get the GTX 780. I have a GTX 770 and I plan on selling it shortly for a GTX 780 when I upgrade my monitor to 1440p. For 1080p the GTX 770 can max out 99% of all games and maintain 40+ FPS. Crysis 3, and Watch Dogs are the two games I've encountered that are the exception to that rule. And I have just about every single AAA / AA / Popular indie game you can think of.
5. For one GPU 650 is enough. For 2 GPU's 750 is barely enough. If you don't have SLI/Crossfire as an option in the future, 650 watt is fine. If you plan on doing dual GPU's, get a good brand 750 watt but I'd say 800+ just to be safe.
Other than that, your build looks pretty solid.