Need help with a custom build

Bradley Kars · Sep 3, 2014

I'm looking to build a great gaming pc/media center for $2000 or less. I already have a 4 tb external hard drive so memory isn't to much of an issue yet.
My current build idea is

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0

MSI Z87-G45 Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Pro Gaming with Killer Networking & Sound Blaster Intel Motherboard

XFX Double D FX-787A-CDFC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

SILVERSTONE Strider Gold S Series ST75F-GS 750W ATX 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Intel Core i5-4670K Haswell Quad-Core 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I54670K

Crucial M550 CT256M550SSD1 2.5" 256GB SATA 6Gb/s MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C10D-8GTX

Seagate Hybrid Drive ST2000DX001 2TB MLC/8GB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s NCQ 3.5" Desktop SSHD

Corsair Vengeance K95 CH-9000020-NA Black/Metal USB Wired Gaming Mechanical Keyboard (NA)

Logitech Trackman Marble 910-000806 Gray USB Wired Optical Mouse

Logitech G930 USB Connector Circumaural Wireless Gaming Headset

Pioneer Blu-ray Burner SATA BDR-209DBK

Cooler Master Hyper N520 - CPU Cooler with Copper Base and 5 Heatpipes

But I've never worked with hardware at all before so I know this isnt the best I can do, btw im very partial to MSI.

Oh ps my media center sections built around xbmc and im going to be doing most my gaming with my wireless 360 controller.

MeteorsRaining · Sep 3, 2014

A much, much stronger build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($338.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($705.38 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($156.81 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1965.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-03 13:41 EDT-0400

Bradley Kars · Sep 3, 2014

What about MSI for the video card how are they?

Bradley Kars · Sep 3, 2014

And I already have OS so i dont need that

MeteorsRaining · Sep 3, 2014

They're good, but what I included is the best GTX 780 Ti card, both performance wise and cooling wise. EVGA makes the best GTX GPUs, generally speaking, and that one will smoke any game! MSI is good too, but EVGA is just better at this

Bradley Kars · Sep 3, 2014

Do you think I need a sound card?

MeteorsRaining · Sep 4, 2014

The MoBo has a pretty powerful one, and you wouldn't need another until you want to go like all pro with 7.1 surround or are a part of extreme audiophile gang

Bradley Kars · Sep 4, 2014

MeteorsRaining :

I'm looking at Audio-Technica ATH-M50x head phones and a good 7,1 surround. I was also wondering if modern TVs work perfect for monsters as I was planning in having this as my living room TVs dedicated input.

Bradley Kars · Sep 4, 2014

So this is my new current build (I also got a few suggestions from an old college roommate)

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($179.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($370.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($705.38 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($156.81 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1941.10

And I have the option to add up to 3 more of thouse 3tb hard drives for movies TV and music

MeteorsRaining · Sep 5, 2014

Bradley Kars :

You can't compare FX 8 to i7 in terms of performance, you can't use 970 MoBo in a $2k build, 990FX is specifically made for FX series, you'll never going to need 32GB for gaming atleast for 10 years. D14 or H100i cooler will easily beat H80i in cooling and D14 is best overall for quietness. Not a recommendable $2k build.

Bradley Kars · Sep 5, 2014

MeteorsRaining :

Bradley Kars :

You can't compare FX 8 to i7 in terms of performance, you can't use 970 MoBo in a $2k build, 990FX is specifically made for FX series, you'll never going to need 32GB for gaming atleast for 10 years. D14 or H100i cooler will easily beat H80i in cooling and D14 is best overall for quietness. Not a recommendable $2k build.

I've been told over and over that gaming and i7 dont get along so I switched to i5 than everyone started telling me that amd and i5 are so close to equivolent that the and price is far superior to the i5 price tag.

MeteorsRaining · Sep 5, 2014

i7 is far better than i5, but the difference is not really seen in gaming. But the fact that i7 and gaming don't go along well is total nonsense. 4.4GHz w/Turbo boost is enough to smoke any game, CPU wise. its just that most of the time getting an i5 with an af cooler does the trick. But if you can afford the i7, then why not? Also, games are becoming more multi-threaded optimized by each new release, so don't be surprised if the i7 gets better results than i5 a couple of years from now.

Bradley Kars · Sep 7, 2014

Better?

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 9 AC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($267.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($102.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($699.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($156.81 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2016.71

Bradley Kars · Sep 7, 2014

Part of me still wants to switch to the msi video card so I can use the same program to control it as the motherboard but if I were to switch

A what's the best msi video card?

B would switching to me really hamper my performance?

MeteorsRaining · Sep 8, 2014

You should go with gaming 7 (still a beast MoBo) and use the bucks saved to get H100i and a better case.

Its not hard to control the card, everything sits in pretty good.

The best MSI cards are Lightining but sadly 780 Ti doesn't have that verison so the best MSI is Gaming version. A very very good GPU, but just a bit below EVGA. Nah it won't really hamper performance but the temps/ noise is a bit louder than EVGA.

Bradley Kars · Sep 10, 2014

Okay I think I've fiannly got a good build what does everyone think?

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($288.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($102.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($629.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($164.95 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1909.86

Bradley Kars · Sep 10, 2014

Also what would be the best way to add built in bluetooth support, I don't need WiFi and I don't wanna pay so much extra to upgrade to the gaming 9 so how else can I add built in bluetooth.

MeteorsRaining · Sep 10, 2014

The build looks good, and just add a Bluetooth adaptor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320166

Bradley Kars · Sep 10, 2014

Anyway to toss it inside so I don't have to sacrifice a port?

MeteorsRaining · Sep 10, 2014

You have 10 USB ports on rear and 6 on front, sacrificing one won't take much will it?

Bradley Kars · Sep 10, 2014

I guess not...

Need help with a custom build

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