About to finalize the ordering process. Thoughts?

kaylyk

Reputable
Aug 20, 2014
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4,510
Alright guys, with your help and some research on my own I have decided on a build for my new gaming PC. I would like to know what you all think, especially the video card. Reviews for it are astounding and it's cheap enough to allow me to sli sooner rather than later. I didn't include case fans or any color mods in the build but will be bought separately. Thanks for any feedback!

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/hepcat2299/saved/kDKKHx
 
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I'm not really big on the PNY RAM, I've owned it, and I haven't had great luck with it. Another note about the RAM, haswell LOVES faster RAM. The sweet spot for haswell is right around 2133 without any heavy duty overclocking. Performance gains in just about everything are through the roof when going from 1600 to 2133 RAM. The price really shouldn't be a huge difference. Mind if I ask why the 16 GB kit? Unless you're doing some pretty heavy duty video editing or photoshop, you really don't need more than 8 GB. I would certainly go with G.Skill Ripjaw X (comes in red or blue) whether you decide on 8 GB or 16 GB.

If you're planning to SLI, you're definitely going to want a larger PSU. Even if you're going to wait a year to go SLI, 1000w...

wildfire707

Distinguished
Nice, but you have some older hardware on the list. On the motherboard you can get the Z97 Extreme4 (new version) for less money. You would be better off with the Crucial MX100 over the M500 - it is newer, faster, and has more space (256GB versus 240GB) for the same price.

Why Windows 8.1 Pro? Unless you want the BitLocker drive encryption or domain features, there is no reason to choose Pro over the Standard edition.
 

gizzard1987

Honorable
Aug 7, 2013
320
1
10,860
I'm not really big on the PNY RAM, I've owned it, and I haven't had great luck with it. Another note about the RAM, haswell LOVES faster RAM. The sweet spot for haswell is right around 2133 without any heavy duty overclocking. Performance gains in just about everything are through the roof when going from 1600 to 2133 RAM. The price really shouldn't be a huge difference. Mind if I ask why the 16 GB kit? Unless you're doing some pretty heavy duty video editing or photoshop, you really don't need more than 8 GB. I would certainly go with G.Skill Ripjaw X (comes in red or blue) whether you decide on 8 GB or 16 GB.

If you're planning to SLI, you're definitely going to want a larger PSU. Even if you're going to wait a year to go SLI, 1000w EVGA would be a solid investment, and it won't hurt a thing. If you stick with the 850 and do much overclocking, and SLI, you're going to be pushing right around the borderline of the 850w "safe zone". I would certainly look into around 1000w from any of the tier 1 selections for a build like this. Tier List Here

I'm not certain I would go with that HDD as you can get a WD Black Series for few dollars more which has a 64 MB Cache vs a 32 MB in the Hitachi, and 5 years of warranty over the possibility of getting a 5 year old drive, as a few of the reviewers from the only Amazon seller's page has stated that they were stuck with on their defective drive. The SSD should be fine, but you might look into a bit more money for an x210 as they seem to be the caviar of SSDs in bang for your buck atm. SSD Reviews Here

You mentioned getting more fans for the case, I really don't think it's necessary. That case has 3 rather large fans already, which already provide great cooling solutions. Now, once you get the SLI going, you might look into 2 top mounted fans for exhaust but until then, I think you should be just fine.

Your motherboard should be upgraded to the z97 version as it will save you the headache of bios and possible feature loss for the haswell refresh.

In referense to your choice of graphics card, I personally have not used the EVGAs since like early 2000s, but I've read nothing but great things on all of their superclocked ACX models. If I'm not mistaken, they are one of the few manufacturers that allow you to basically burn up the card OCing and will still stand behind their warranty. Don't quote me on that though.


CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 KILLER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Sandisk X210 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($179.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($78.23 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Dual Superclocked ACX Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 760T Black ATX Full Tower Case ($129.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($146.81 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill N600PCE 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1551.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-29 03:02 EDT-0400

UPDATE: Here's my updated parts list as well.
 
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kaylyk

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Aug 20, 2014
11
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4,510
Wow, great information guys. Every time I'm about to order I end up waiting and changing things, lol. And changing the fans is just for a color theme right now. As for the OS, I didn't really know much about the different versions so I chose the biggest one lol. But if standard is good enough then that is what I will get. Thanks guys.