~$2000 System build advice request

[Clayb]

Edit: Hi all, have edited the post to conform with the guidelines set out for these advice requests. Thanks again for your help, any input on this system is appreciated

Approximate Purchase Date: Have a working PC at the moment so there is no rush, could wait up to 12 months if imminent hardware is worth waiting for

Budget Range: ~$2000AUD not including peripherals. Can go up but only if there is value to be had. Plus prices here are a bit higher than NewEgg etc.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Games, internet

Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, probably go Win7, have tried Win8 a bit and did not like

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: PLE.com.au (depending on how much they charge to assemble w/ warranty etc) or austin.net.au & msy.com.au

Location: Perth, Western Australia

Parts Preferences: I like the sound of the Intel I've listed, have previously had AMD though, same with GPU- currently with nvidia, but thinking of grabbing the Radeon

Overclocking: Probably not

SLI or Crossfire: Would prefer single GPU unless performance/value is worth it

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 I guess, not really sure what to get monitor-wise

Additional Comments: Just looking for quick performance, not too loud/hot, stability. Have assembled myself previously, but the last time I did that I had a problem with fairly regular lock ups- possibly willing to revisit.

Why Are You Upgrading: Current PC is ~4 years old, runs games like Skyrim etc. but probably coming towards the end (Intel Core 2 Q8400, 4GB RAM, GTX260) and have the cash available at the moment.

PC Part Picker for the parts listed below. While that has the price as $1470-$1610, I expect that I will pay about $1950AUD, which is $1830USD plus whatever they charge to assemble

Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk

Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

XFX Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card

Thermaltake Urban S21 ATX Mid Tower Case

Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

Thanks for your time everyone

 

[X79]

You know a pre-built PC is probably bad if it has a 1200W Gold rated PSU, that isn't even modular.

Fill this out:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

 

[Clayb]

Thanks for the link X79, edited as per the guidelines. As far as that PSU goes, I was just picking out of that websites drop down selections list, but have since abandoned that to choose any parts

 

[X79]

No worries.

Also, if you're an Aussie, there's no need to bother with inconvenient conversions mate,

when you can just use the Australian version of partpicker! ^^:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.00 @ PCCaseGear)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($35.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($295.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($85.00 @ Scorptec)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($249.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($165.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($469.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: Thermaltake VN700M1W2N ATX Full Tower Case ($135.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($129.00 @ Scorptec)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($21.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($105.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1957.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-26 14:40 EST+1000)
The PSU is overkill insofar that you don't SLI. Otherwise everything is top-notch I'd say.

I lowered the motherboard and it's still top-notch. Talk about a deal. Haha. You can go lower

easily, without sacrificing performance. This GPU is also better than a 7970. You could save cash

if you went with a 128GB SSD but that's up to you. I know you're not fond of Win 8 either, but I couldn't

find a home edition 64bit Win 7 and it meant having to go Pro or Ultimate and you'll see what that costs.

Oh and I changed to case to a Full tower; as you might re-use it later on. Do as you please though.

If I had to make it cheaper while not changing too much then:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.00 @ PCCaseGear)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($35.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($175.00 @ Scorptec)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($85.00 @ Scorptec)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($105.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($165.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($469.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($115.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($21.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($105.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1603.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-26 14:40 EST+1000)

 

[Clayb]

Wow, very nice. Thanks X79, based on that I might have to build myself.

The only things I'd clarify with you would be;
I thought the GTX 770 better than the 7970, but not quite as good as the 7970 GHZ edition? i.e. it sits between them performance-wise?
And is that Asus Maximus Hero MB a good buy? The features sound awesome is it worth the jump up to ~$300?

 

[X79]

No problemo.

The GTX 770 beats the 7970 by a bit. Not sure about the Ghz edition, but I'm sure

they're neck and neck. All great GPUs. If you'd like some games, go for the Radeon; you get

around 4 good, modern games with it. Yes, hell yes the Maximus. ASUS is already regarded as one

of the absolute best motherboard manufacturers as it is and this motherboard isn't even the highest.

It's like one of the highest, but slimmed down; yet still awesome and actually, it wasn't a jump up, it

was a jump down haha. As I said/showed for, you can go lower and still be quite fine.

 

[Clayb]

Great, thanks again for your time. I'm not too worried about the games so I might go with the GTX. Very exciting. Have a good one mate

 

[X79]

No worries.

Just PM me if there's anything else.

Have a great time!

 

[Clayb]

Made a few tweaks based on part availability

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.00 @ PCCaseGear)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($35.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($295.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.79 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($249.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($165.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($519.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($129.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)
Total: $1743.79
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-27 10:57 EST+1000)

And this PSU which I couldn't locate on partpicker (hope that isn't a bad sign haha reviews seem good)

Seems like a pretty good setup as far as I can tell, and it will set me back less than $2100AUD (including the PSU, Win 7 & delivery) which isn't too bad. Looks like I am assembling myself.

 

[X79]

That's sweet mate. Really high-end motherboard still. Quality, I can tell ya that.

You could stick to a 120GB SSD if you want it even cheaper.

For a PSU, something like:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-power-supply-ocz750fty

Would be nice, because it would leave room open for SLI; should you want it.

And you might, considering it's rarely ever the best deal to get one of the most high-end

cards, like the GTX 780 and two cards can usually outperform the highest one. It's semi-modular

too, so that's nice. For something a little bit closer to home, perhaps a 550W one will do you:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/silverstone-power-supply-st55fg

Here's a helpful little thing which you can bookmark for future eventualities:

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

As for a monitor, which you stated you'd need too, something like this:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-monitor-ips237lbn

Would probably be a nice middle of the road option, for when you want decent

response times, at full HD, while getting the IPS (In Plane Switching) technology;

which provided better color reproduction. If you play lots of fast paced games then

something with a lower response time (but without IPS) like:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vx238h

Cost around the same. Even cheaper and with 2ms response time instead of 1ms:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-ve247h