Recommend me a GPU and Sound Card

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kuzioo

kuzioo

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Sep 7, 2014
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Hello dear Toms! I've just ordered such a sweet list of parts that i'm going to assamble during weekend:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($234.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($203.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.59 @ OutletPC)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus White ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) ($142.97 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($3.56 @ NCIX US)
Total: $971.05

I've decided that I dont need a gaming GPU so far and I'd prefer to get a good motherboard, OC power and everything i need to call the PC good, and get a GPU,HDD or Sound Card later. The PC will be used to play WoW, HoN, Dota2, HotS and maybe some other games - but all of them are not demanding that much. I shall be able to run all of the listed games on 1080p ultra - what GPU to choose that has a good Value for money to accompany this setup? And while hero motherboard have a good sound ( or so they claim) I'd like to think about some good sound card for headphones - is there any sense in looking for sound card when I have just the headphones? I could use a HDD advice too (500GB or so)
Cheers!
 
Solution
SoumyaHD
The GTX 970 is very slightly better than the GTX 780.

Both cards will handle whatever you throw at them for the next two years or so.

I'm running a GTX 780 with a custom cooling unit attached at the moment. It runs everything at maximum settings with 30 FPS or more. Most games it runs at maximum settings at over 60 FPS.
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kuzioo

kuzioo

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Sep 7, 2014
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GTX 980 feels like an overkill considering the price in my country (over 800$, while it's 550 in US, I'm PL) and the games I do - I dont play demanding games, isn't it an overkill? Feels like quite a good gpu, while most of the listed games utilise most out of CPU. Cheers!
 
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menetlaus

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Jul 19, 2007
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For your list of games - I'd say a ~$150 budget for GPU will give you good bang for the $. Use the monthly best GPU for the money article here (table on 2nd last page is great) and get the fastest GPU you can afford.

No need for a sound card (unless you are an audiophile and really, really concerned about audio quality and have the $200 headphones to go with it)

For hard drives - I am pretty brand agnostic - and I find that unless you are doing benchmark runs that a green/lowest cost drive will be more than enough. Though I do prefer to go a little bigger as 500GB to 1TB (or 1TB to 2TB) doubles the space and usually costs about 50% more.

One other thing - that price for the XFX PSU seems high - there are better quality ones available for the same $, though likely without the gold certification (which is only a measure of efficiency)
 
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kuzioo

kuzioo

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Sep 7, 2014
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GTX 970 is 200$ lower and feels like a good GPU to get good performance in those non demanding titles. Thanks! I'll consider it. The 150$ budget gpu feels nice too, I'll have to decide on it when I recalculate my budget.

Prices are random, I'm ordering in EU and the prices are totally different than US(huge difference), I just wanted to use this tool for presenting the chosen parts. The XFX is widely recommended in my country as a good one and reliable PSU, is something wrong with it? I paid something like 78$ for it.
 
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SoumyaHD

SoumyaHD

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Mar 19, 2013
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The GTX 970 is very slightly better than the GTX 780.

Both cards will handle whatever you throw at them for the next two years or so.

I'm running a GTX 780 with a custom cooling unit attached at the moment. It runs everything at maximum settings with 30 FPS or more. Most games it runs at maximum settings at over 60 FPS.
 
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menetlaus

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Jul 19, 2007
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Nothing is wrong with it.

IMHO XFX is a 2nd tier PSU maker (this is entirely my personal ranking as I don't have enough recent research to know if I'd bump them up to top tier) and again my preference would have been to save $20 up front and get a less efficient top tier PSU (bronze vs gold) and over time pay slightly more for electricity. That said - if you have lots of good word of mouth on XFX an higher electricty rates than I pay - then there is no concern.
 
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