Gaming PC, how does this build look?

Taneras

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CPU: i5 4690 (209.99 with promocode)
Mobo: MSI H97 Guard-Pro (99.99)
GPU: XFX 280X (274.99)
RAM: G.Skill Sniper Series 1866 8GB (84.99)
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB (59.99)
Case: Rosewill Challenger ATX Mid Tower (39.99 with promocode)
PSU: Corsair HX750 (109.99 with promocode)
OS: Windows 7 64bit (99.99)
Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST (16.99 with promocode)

Total: $996.91

EDIT: updated build above after advice from below comments.

I'm wondering about the quality, price, and compatibility. How does all this look? Also, might be a silly question, but is there anything I missed? This is my first attempt at building a PC.
 
Solution
Below is my recommendation. You've got a pretty good build, the only thing you forgot was an optical drive. I've kept it at $1000 so you can get the monitor you want, thought I may be able to recommend an improved one for less money. Many of your choices were good, I just tried to soup it up a little. You don't need 1866MHz ram, it won't improve gaming performance at all, so save some money there. The case you picked is a good one, but honestly for a mid-tower it's too much money to pay. I found a nice tower for less money, or if you want an even higher quality mid-tower try the Cooler Master Storm Enforcer. The full-tower Phanteks Enthoo Pro is only $100 and it's one of the best you can buy. I gave you a well-regarded PSU for much less...

Taneras

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TBH my limit is around $1300, still wanting to get a ~$350 Qinx 27 2560 monitor and I don't want to break my bank.

I'm seeing some 280x's about 100 bucks cheaper, how much of a performance drop would I see if I went from a GTX770 to a 280x?
 

Taneras

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Thanks, good suggestion on the H97 mobo's, saved me a bit of cash.

As for GPU's, I'm between a XFX 280X and a XFX 280X OC'd.

Is it worth the extra cash to go for the overclock? Isn't that something you could do yourself or is there something else added with the OC version of the XFX 280X?
 

jasonite

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Below is my recommendation. You've got a pretty good build, the only thing you forgot was an optical drive. I've kept it at $1000 so you can get the monitor you want, thought I may be able to recommend an improved one for less money. Many of your choices were good, I just tried to soup it up a little. You don't need 1866MHz ram, it won't improve gaming performance at all, so save some money there. The case you picked is a good one, but honestly for a mid-tower it's too much money to pay. I found a nice tower for less money, or if you want an even higher quality mid-tower try the Cooler Master Storm Enforcer. The full-tower Phanteks Enthoo Pro is only $100 and it's one of the best you can buy. I gave you a well-regarded PSU for much less money, and a far more reliable (and fast) HDD. I also stayed with windows 7, but you can get windows 8 for the same price these days. Hope this helps! :)


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($103.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($335.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W 80+ Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.92 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1022.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-19 17:47 EDT-0400
 
Solution


You can oc it yourself, the oc version are for people who don't want to oc themselves
 

Taneras

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You read my mind about the tower case, I was already looking around for some cheaper options. With a promocode its actually 39.99, so that saved me $110!

Also I was wondering about the RAM, but I didn't bother to look too much into it since the difference was 5-10 bucks. But, still, that's more money saved.

My only question now is the PSU and GPU. Never heard of the GTX 970, but it looks fairly new. I'm looking at specs on it, but to be honest I'm not sure what every spec means. It has higher clock speeds than the 280x, but its only a 256 bit verse the 280x's 384 bit memory bus. The 280x also have more shading units and texture mapping units. I'm assuming since you suggested it its better than the 280x? Just looking for best bang for my buck. Also the PSU, is 550W enough? I don't mind spending extra on the PSU and going over 100-150W just to make sure it can handle what I have.

Also thanks, yea I did forget the optical drive. I'll start looking at those right now starting with the one you listed.

 

KrisPC

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Jun 24, 2012
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GTX 970 came out less than a day ago and you may find that it's out of stock because of that. They have also included the R9 280X in the review here at Tom's Hardware and GTX 970 gave about 20-40% more fps at 1920x1080 on games that were in the review. It also has 4 GB of vRAM and it takes less power compared to for example R9 280X. Those are the numbers that probably do make difference to you (though I'd say if you stay at 1920x1080 3GB will be more than enough too at today's standards).

And yes, because of GTX 970 power requirements 550W PSU will be enough. For reference, I've never seen my SLI 670 rig with i7 3820 and lot's of accessories takes about 550W (if memory serves) when playing some graphic intensive game. However, I found a nice Corsair Gold rated PSU for 65$ after rebate in Newegg: CORSAIR CSM Series CS550M 550W.
 

Taneras

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I might go with the 970, then, considering I'd like to try and game in 2560x1440. Assuming I can get ahold of one of course :)

Also, just noticed there was a rebate with the HX750 for 20 bucks, knocking the price down to 89.99. While I might be able to cut a few bucks off of the PSU by going for lower wattage, I'm reading the HX series is nice and I think its a good deal.

Thanks for the help everyone!
 

KrisPC

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970 should get you nice results at 2560x1440, especially considering the budget, though I'd have to lower setting on the most demanding games if you are aiming to get steady 60 fps. You can google for "GTX 970 review" if you're more interested to know what fps to expect as there are many sites that also include 2560x1440 resolution in their review.

HX-series PSU's are indeed nice. I have AX-series PSU myself. And while 750 watts might be a bit more than you need, the good thing about HX-series is that it has 7 year warranty.

One more thing to consider - I read that stock cooler that comes with i5-4690 is quite bad, so you might consider getting a aftermarket cooler, possibly the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (or EVO version if it has rebate and is cheaper than Plus). Right now it has 10$ rebate at Newegg, so it costs 20$. Rebate ends on 22nd, however seeing how often they offer rebates on 212 EVO, I'd expect 212 Plus to have them quite often too. You don't have to buy one straight away, but if the temperatures indeed go over 80 degrees Celsius (you can use for example "Core temp" for monitoring) when gaming as written in one review, I'd buy more powerful cooler.
 

Taneras

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Thanks for the advice, yea I was going to start moving towards an aftermarket CPU fan. My original budget was 1300 and now I'm down below 1000 so 30 or so bucks isn't a big deal. I'd really like to get a GTX 970 but as you said they might be out of stock. I see an EVGA one in stock on Newegg, I might pull the trigger tonight.