New Computer build ($2300)- Looking for advice!

Josh J · Jan 22, 2015

Hey guys! This is my first post, and my first build. I would love some advice! I’m living up in America’s hat (Canada).

Approximate Purchase Date: I will be purchasing parts over the next two months, as I get the money.

Budget Range: CAD $2300ish

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily for gaming, but would like to be used eventually for 2D and 3D modelling/drafting.
Are you buying a monitor: Yes, two actually – included in the final price of $2300ish

Parts to Upgrade: N/A – New build

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Memory Express (the local stores are a big plus over Newegg and TigerDirect)

Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Parts Preferences: Intel

Overclocking: Eventually – To save money for now, I am thinking I will go with the stock CPU cooler, and then once I have an extra $100 to play with I’ll grab an aftermarket cooler.

SLI or Crossfire: SLI – I am planning on an NVIDIA card, but currently only have plans for one card anyways.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (x2)

Additional Comments: I have no specific software as such. I have played WoW in the past, and am not sure if I would go down that road again or not. Ideally it could handle the majority of the games on the market currently.

Why Are You Upgrading: My last desktop is 12(?) years old now lol, and I have been using cheap laptops in the interim. I’ve been meaning to build a PC for years, but haven’t gotten around to it or been able to afford it. Four kids will do that to you…

The following is what I have settled on, and I would like advice/tips, or feedback verifying that it is a good build.

Corsair Obsidian Series 750D Full Tower

Intel Core™ i5-4690K Processor, 3.50GHz w/ 6MB Cache

Asus SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1 w/ Dual DDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, CrossFireX / SLI

Asus STRIX GTX970 DirectCU II OC GeForce GTX 970 4GB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort

Crucial MX100 Series Solid State Drive, 256GB

Seagate 1TB Desktop HDD SATA III w/ 64MB Cache

G.SKILL RipjawsZ Series 16GB PC3-17000 Quad Channel DDR3 Kit (4 x 4GB)

Corsair CS Series 750W Modular Power Supply

Asus BC-12B1ST 12x Blu-ray Combo Drive, SATA, OEM

Asus VE247H 23.6in Widescreen LED LCD w/ Speakers (x2)

Logitech Wireless Desktop MK710, Retail (since it’s cheap and wireless)

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (64-bit) SP1 DVD – OEM (Unless I should go with 8.1, but I’ve had no experience with it)

This build comes to a total, before taxes, of about $2300 (without in-store product replacement, which I may get, for the video card only, at $80). I’d like to stay as close to that as possible.

-Lone- · Jan 22, 2015

Everything you would need to for things you wanna do, it is capable of even 1440p ultra settings for a lot of games, old and new included. Do you need monitors too? If so, I'd have to downgrade some parts. The i7 is for the 3D modeling and editing. The 2x 970s are for doing/playing many games at ultra settings no problems, 16GB of RAM for multi tasking, case is big enough for up to 4 GPUs, but you can only get up to 3x 970s. The PSU is a good quality PSU with more than enough power left for OC purposes. Best and reliable SSD on the market, so pretty much best of everything for your budget.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F2QYhM

geofelt · Jan 22, 2015

Your build is very reasonable as is.

My thoughts:

1. Buy a 2 stick kit of ram. It will be cheaper, and puts less stress on any future overclocking. 4 sticks does not give you quad channel operation; 2 is max. 1.5v 1600 or 1866 speed is optimal.
And... buy only low profile ram so you avoid any cooler clearance issues.

2. Buy a $30 tower type cooler with a 120mm fan up front. You will run cooler and quieter than the stock cooler, and it will be easier to install.

3. Sabretooth, I think is overpriced. Most any Z97 based motherboard will do equally well.

4. I like just one card for games so long as it will do the job.
There will be stronger single cards available as an upgrade in the future. Most any card, including GTX980 will run on 600w. I might look for Seasonic, xfx, or antec as a better quality psu:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true
I would not pay extra for modular or gold rating.
5. With your budget, consider a i7-4790K. For the extra $100, you get a better binned chip that runs at 4.0/4.4 stock. The hyperthreads are not useful for games, but it might be for your other apps.

6.

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New Computer build ($2300)- Looking for advice!

Josh J

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-Lone-

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