First HTPC/Light Gamer Is this too much for what I need?

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CRUSHEQUITY

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http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CRUSHEQUITY/saved/KJbRsY

Been putting a few lists together and im learning a lot in the process. I decided to go with the i5 instead of the i7. Decided I definitely didn't need a $500 gpu. Although I am curious how much difference between this superclocked gtx 750i opposed to a radeon r90x which is about $50 more. Is this PSU appropriate? I chose the msi mpower max ac because I have been drawn to it since I first started researching all this a week ago and have kept being drawn to it. It's about $80 more than an asus z97-4 and the mpower max ac comes with wifi and blueray both of which would cost $30-40 on their own so It seems its worth it to spend 40$ more on one of the higher end mobo's. I also decided to go with the i5 because I do want to try my hand at mild overclocking so this seemed a good route to go. The gpu is probably more than I need, but idk...I just couldn't justify spending so much on a cpu and mobo and buying any cheaper of a gpu. From what I have read this 750i should handle what I need and more. Is this to much? From what ive been reading this seems like a pretty damn good build for 1.2k but obviously im complete noob since this will be my first so ya.

Given the fact imam be buying a ps4 for my gaming and am wanting this pc mainly for watching 1080p movies and grinding nl holdem mtt's online 8-12 tables is this WAY to much? Could I drop $500 off this and have a fairly good pc that would last 5 years? My first setup I posted yesterday was 2.2k and it was obviously way overkill lol. I decided to drop the $500 gpu, 8gb of memory, i5 from i7 and a few other things and I ended up with a 1.2k Jack of spades I think. What do you think? Would this run diablo 3 on ultra settings?

Newegg
CPU Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor $234.99

CPU Cooler Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $99.99

Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste $8.99 -$2.00 FREE $6.99

Motherboard MSI Z97 MPOWER MAX AC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $249.99 -$20.00 FREE $229.99

Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory $82.99 FREE $82.99

Storage Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $114.99

Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $59.99

Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card $159.99 -$10.00 FREE $149.99

Case Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case $139.99 -$20.00 FREE $119.99


Case Fan Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan $21.99 FREE $21.99 ($5.07 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan $21.99 FREE $21.99 ($5.07 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Total (14 / 14 Items): $1362.84
 
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Seeking Solace

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Holy Bank Balance, Batman.

For that price you should be able to build a system that beasts the PS4, play all its games and run a second screen to watch your movies on. That is a curious build for what you want to use it for, to say the least...

I looked up benchmarks of the 750 ti and looks like you will have no issue with Diablo 3.
Click here for the benchmark I looked at.

Your case choice, for what will primarily be a home theatre system is huge. I have Fractals R4 case which is a couple inches shy of your choice and that is huge. Usually people will suggest a small form factor to make the htpc easy to tuck out of the way, it also brings down on price, and generally due to limitations what you can stick in it to drain power.

For a slight overclock you would be fine with an air cooler usually advisable to get an aftermarket cooler for it being quieter. I don't imagine you needing a water cooled solution, and for the purpose, I doubt you would actually see the difference in overclocking.

This is of course my opinion and, as such, is biased. I am by no means an expert, so I doubt my suggestion is the most streamlined for an HTPC (usually they are aimed at being in the $500 range, I think)

What I did all in all was use a mini itx form factor, got rid of the after market cooler and changed the CPU to the low power version with an H97 to not worry about overclocking. Went with a shorter card, I read reviews and stuff on the one you picked out, but I am skeptical that it is needed, to be honest I don't know and I welcome correction and more importantly insight on that. From what I gather, RAM is RAM, so I switched to slightly cheaper lower profile sticks.
Cheaper PSU, dropping from Modular to semi modular.
I can't really imagine what you would put on a 256GB SSD, I use mine only for my OS (and a game or two I accidentally saved to it) so I dropped down on that too.
The only two things I didn't change are the optical drive and the HDD. I mean, everything is only a suggestion and aside from the mobo/cpu combo you could consider them each separately.

All in all, should be a lower power build, achieving what you want it to (aside from your itch to overclock), since you have the money I would say to forget the PS4 and go full steam ahead with a system you would need the Full tower case for.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690S 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($97.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($76.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($134.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $873.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-13 03:25 EDT-0400

Sorry for rambling, and good luck with whatever you go for.
 
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CRUSHEQUITY

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Thank you very much m8! Lol, maybe HTPC is the wrong thing to call it... I just didn't know what else to call it. I just have always used my pc to watch my movies. It's going to be my personal computer, but I want it to watch 1080p flawlessly. You know sometimes on a lower end computer (my i5 laptop) the screen like jerks..? its not "seamless" if that makes sense. That drives me crazy lol. Same thing with anything im doing. I hate any kind of lag while browsing internet(I have 100mb/s) internet so that's no issue. I don't do any video editing, or file packing, or really any of that stuff. Basically I just wanna build the best computer I can at my budget. At first I was planning the 2k for balls out, then I decided to drop the gpu and buy a ps4 for gaming since it will work w/o issue for like 10 years as opposed to a $500 gpu being almost obsolete in 2yrs. You didn't ramble at all bud, I greatly appreciate your comments. And thank you for taking the time to do that build. Although I do want a cpu/mobo for overclocking. Either the i7 3790k or i5 3690k. I realize the Mpower ac max may be too much and I would never come close to utilizing it's features. I just loved the integrated audio, wireless and overclocking friendly interface. Plus it seems a good enough board it could handle a new gpu in a couple years if I wanted to put one on there. Idk if I can get this down to 1kish or not and still have it functional in 2-3 years. 1.2-1.3k seems to be the sweet spot. Id love to figure out a good entry level overclocking/mild gaming rig for 1k that will last minimum 2-3 yrs with only maybe needing gpu upgrade to play games in 2yrs or so If this turns out I like pc gaming more then ps4 gaming.
 
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CRUSHEQUITY

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How does this look? Is this gonna work together? I'm pretty stoked. Switching from big stuff the the mini atx makes a big difference in price. Please give me some feedback. Any noob mistakes in this build? I think this is the build im gonna go with and tweak it. I didn't think using the mini atx platform would make so much difference. The funny thing is, that's what I wanted in the first place but didn't think it'd be big enough....LOL.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CRUSHEQUITY/saved/g3ZXsY

CPU Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor $234.99 FREE $234.99 ($25.02 more than Amazon)

Buy

CPU Cooler Corsair H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $64.99 FREE $64.99 ($15.00 more than Micro Center)

Buy

Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste $8.99 -$2.00 FREE $6.99 ($1.01 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Motherboard MSI Z97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $109.99 $5.67 $115.66 ($6.67 more than Amazon)

Buy

Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory $82.99 FREE $82.99 ($0.01 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Storage Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $74.99 $0.99 $75.98 ($5.99 more than SuperBiiz)

Buy

Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $59.99 FREE $59.99 ($3.01 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Superclocked ACX Video Card $329.99 -$20.00 FREE $309.99

Buy

Case Rosewill Line-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case $49.99 -$10.00 FREE $39.99 ($7.14 more than Amazon)

Buy

Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $79.99 -$20.00 FREE $59.99

Buy

Optical Drive Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer $49.99 -$6.00 FREE $43.99

Total (11 / 11 Items): $1095.55

 
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Seeking Solace

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It's looking great, I'm still skeptical that you need a liquid cooler for a slight overclock, for the price and the performance it offers you could probably do with cooler master hyper212 evo, which would shave off a bit more cash too. If you wanted performance in an air cooler, check into Noctua's NH-D14, though I couldn't tell you if it would fit in your case, they are big for a fan cpu cooler.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else to say, it looks good. I only just built mine a couple of months back and I plan for it to last longer than 2 years. I spent about $1500 on the build itself then about $300 more on a main screen and a touch screen which is pretty nifty and my four year old loves.

Generally I read reviews on parts I'm not sure of to get a feel for them based on customer experience. That build SHOULD handle anything you can throw at it at 1080p easily.

Any way, hope I helped, always good to talk over ideas and I love learning more about this stuff, been a bit out of it since the new generation of mobos and cpus were released.
 
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CRUSHEQUITY

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Thank you very much man, your being a big help. Ive been reading and putting builds together all day to figure shit out lol. I'm still torn on weither or not to shell out the extra $300 to get the i7 and 380. Even though I don't "need" it, if it would future proof my pc by 1-2 more years I think it would be worth it. This is a build I put together for that scenario. Let me know what you think. is the $400 more worth it you think? And Ive been debating on getting the 212 evo air fan I keep seeing recommended everywhere. No point putting water near all my electronics if I don't need to.



CPU Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $339.99 FREE $339.99 ($0.06 more than OutletPC)

Buy

CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler $34.99 -$5.00 FREE $29.99 ($1.34 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste $8.99 -$2.00 FREE $6.99 ($1.01 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Motherboard ASRock Z97 EXTREME6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $164.99 -$15.00 FREE $149.99

Buy

Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory $82.99 FREE $82.99 ($0.01 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Storage Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $64.99 FREE $64.99 ($5.00 more than Micro Center)

Buy

Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $59.99 FREE $59.99 ($3.01 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card $529.99 -$88.89 $5.92 $447.02

Buy

Case Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case $89.99 -$20.00 FREE $69.99

Buy

Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $79.99 -$20.00 FREE $59.99

Buy

Optical Drive LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $64.99 FREE $64.99 ($5.01 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) $99.99 $2.99 $102.98 ($15.00 more than OutletPC)

Buy

Total (12 / 12 Items): $1479.90
 
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Seeking Solace

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I'd be skeptical that you are gonna need the i7 or the extreme 6...technology can't really be predicted, so there isn't really such a thing as future proofing. I mean, the only effective future proofing is putting savings you make today aside for tomorrow.
As long as it is looked after I would expect a computer built today to last a good 5 years. There is a possibility, I guess, that a GTX 770 won't be able to handle a game released in 5 years on ultra, but that's not to say the medium settings in 5 years won't look like the ultra settings of today.

I'm more than happy with my build, and it is so damn quiet I am bothered by the ceiling fan in the next room, but I deliberately spent $1500 on a gaming system that would pull me away from the exclusivity of the console. I'm an Xbox and Halo fan, but I am not paying $700 just to play Halo 5. Especially when the XBox One utilizes a lesser version of what the PS4 has. Microsoft messed up in my eyes, there, and a PC is so much more versatile. That's just my choice.

Unless you expect to be doing any kind of amateur producing, music, film etc, that would require a beast to render for you quickly I doubt you would ever utilize the i7...if you are going to be getting a PS4 for your gaming then the i5 is a bit of an overkill, really...and the 770 GPU should blow the PS4 out of the water...

Also, the Kingston drive is apparently a relatively slower SSD
 
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CRUSHEQUITY

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Well, I found out there is a micro center about 30 minutes from me and they have some killer in store only deals. Expecially on the i7 4790k and i5 4690k cpus @ $269 and $199 respectively. Also you get another $40 off if you buy in a combo with one of these 4 mobos.

I7
Asus z97 AR $379
Asrock z97 extreme-4 $384
Gigabyte z97x-gaming 7 $409
Asus z97 Pro-Wifi $449

i5
$299
$304
$330
$370

Essentially making the i7 only $80 more if I get one of these mobos. Which would you suggest? I have been reading a lot about mobos and the asus z97 ar seems to be more than enough for me, but I need wifi and Bluetooth which from what ive seen a decent card starts at $30 or so. That being said which would be a better deal do you think? THank you so much for all your advice and help bud, it means a lot. I will be heading there on Monday and im hella excited I can buy all my parts locally and not only not have to wait for shipping but can bring it right home and build it! Once I figure out which mobo I wanna get I will put together a build from there using in store parts and post it for some final feedback.
 
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Seeking Solace

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Really up to you on what you like, mate. Read some reviews for a feel on what people already have experienced. All solid brands though.
i5 vs i7 you need to decide if the i7 really is worth it, whether you would ever really use it, or if you wouldn't notice the difference between an i5 and an i7. I went for the i5-4670k and Asrock's z87 extreme 4 (built mine before the newer generation was released) for that reason, and didn't need wifi because I'm using ethernet for smooth gaming/streaming. I got mine through the then micro center combos too, LOVE Micro center.
 
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CRUSHEQUITY

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How is that Asrock z87? Thing is, Ive read a lot, but im still not sure what I need. I just want something that can handle dropping a new gpu and ddr4 memory in 2-3 years if I want aswell as handing an overclocked 750i or 770. and a quick question. On the cpus for example, the i7 is 4.40 ghz with 4.4 ghz turbo boost. Does the cpu do this on its own or is this overclocking? Although you say the i5 will be good for 5 years or so and most people have said the same. Just hard Not to get it for only $80 lol. Ive been using a stock i5 hp laptop for the last 4 years and although ive never done any gaming except emulators up to nds I havn't had Much issues. Although it lags a bit now and then, so I can see a sooped up i5 being like a Ferrari and the i7 being like a jet engine haha. Im just so excited because ive always wanted a nice computer.
 
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Seeking Solace

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Your analogy works in its proper context, for gaming and below I expect the i5 and i7 would perform similarly, you would notice the difference with heavy rendering builds that music and video editors utilize.

My board works, lol, I haven't really taken the time to get intimate with it. My biggest issue was hooking on the Zalman cooler and that was a pain in my ass to do. I went with ASrock as the extreme 4 had solid reviews (it seems to fall into that gaming sweet spot that from what I read the extreme 3 tends to fall short of and the extreme 6 isn't worth it) and ASrock being an offshoot of Asus have a good heritage to draw from while they build on their reliability as a company. I've had no trouble with the board itself for installation, and for my first time build I think I struck lucky on it working out. (*knocks on wood*/still early days)

I'm not too sure about the i7, I THINK it is a setting that you have because I believe the i7s are locked to overclocking. Could very well be wrong about that.

I get the excitement thing, I do, my build was $1500 ish and then the cost of my two monitors (one is a touch screen) and it is beautiful and I was so very excited. I am here to talk through your choices with you and hopefully learn some new things, so don't by any means let me talk you out of what you truly want. Figure that out and go forward both barrels, it's what I did. :D
 
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