Looking for advice and opinions on this potential $1500 build

[yarez3]

It's that thread again, sorry. I've been gaming on a laptop with an A8 APU and a Radeon 6750m for a little while now, and it's just not cutting it anymore as game technology advances, even at lower resolutions. I want to build a high-end desktop to feel proud of. I've done a lot of research, and this is the build I've come up with: pcpartpicker

Quick Reference:
CPU: Core i5-4670k
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB (plan on upgrading to >1080p displays and use high AA and probably a few texture mods)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H
Cooling: Corsair H80i
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
SSD: None (plan for one in the future, but I want to keep this ~$1500)
Display: Random 23" Samsung 1080p Monitor I have laying around, for now

It seems as though these parts are all compatible, and make a quite powerful system, but as I am a first time builder, I would like the know-how on the general reliability of these parts, where I may be over or underdoing it (Yes, I know you'll fuss at me for the 4GB GPU) and any other advice you may have that could maybe save me a bit of money without a lot of performance loss. Thanks a lot in advance for any help, and for actually reading another one of THOSE threads.

 

[computatorium]

personally, I'd rather have an SSD than 16GB of RAM, as the latter is overkill for gaming. I also switched out the PSU for a cheaper Seasonic which should still be more than enough wattage, & the Gigabyte for an Asrock. Its a bit over the $1500, but if you have to keep it under $1500, i'd ditch the keyboard or blu-ray writer.

definitely keep the GPU, its a great card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.98 @ PCM)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Expansys US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($449.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N180UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($20.37 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: ROCCAT Arvo Wired Gaming Keyboard ($54.85 @ Amazon)
Total: $1527.09
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 22:31 EDT-0400)

 

[yarez3]

Thanks for the advice. One question though:

I also switched out the PSU for a cheaper Seasonic which should still be more than enough wattage

The seasonic says that it's "semi-modular" as opposed to the EVGA being fully modular. I understand being modular or not, but I'm not sure what it means to be semi-modular, or how it affects installation and operation. Do you mind elaborating?

 

[computatorium]

if you take a look at Newegg's product page it has some of the default plugs (mobo, cpu, gpu, hdd) non-modular, with extra plugs as modular.

here's a Bronze fully-modular PSU:
SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)

I'm not sure if 550W is enough overhead if you intend on overclocking. but if it is (someone else will need to chime in and confirm) this fully-modular Gold PSU could work:
SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)

 

[g-unit1111]

if you take a look at Newegg's product page it has some of the default plugs (mobo, cpu, gpu, hdd) non-modular, with extra plugs as modular.

here's a Bronze fully-modular PSU:
SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)

I'm not sure if 550W is enough overhead if you intend on overclocking. but if it is (someone else will need to chime in and confirm) this fully-modular Gold PSU could work:
SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)

The Seasonic M12s aren't fully modular units. They're partial modular meaning that the 12V power and 24 pin voltage connectors are on board but the rest of the cables can be switched out. They're also Bronze rated, not gold rated, although that doesn't really make much of a difference. Neither of the PSUs you recommended are full modular units. If you want a quality one, it's going to cost you way more than $100. I'd suggest reading about the products before recommending them.

I'd also drop the H80 - there's far better liquid coolers you can get, and far better air coolers you can get for the same price or less.

Here's what I would get for $1500:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($425.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1442.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 23:33 EDT-0400)

- Partial modular PSU made by Super Flower
- GTX 770
- Haswell CPU and motherboard
- Dropped the H80 for a strong air cooler
- Better SSD

 

[yarez3]

here's another supply I found. (http://tinyurl.com/pllqc2l) 650W, Gold, fully modular. A bit more expensive, but I shuffled a couple things (blu-ray drive, keyboard) to keep me in my budget. Does this seem to hit the sweet spot with a little bit of headroom for OCing?

 

[g-unit1111]

here's another supply I found. (http://tinyurl.com/pllqc2l) 650W, Gold, fully modular. A bit more expensive, but I shuffled a couple things (blu-ray drive, keyboard) to keep me in my budget. Does this seem to hit the sweet spot with a little bit of headroom for OCing?

EVGA power supplies are kind of overrated. The new ones use Super Flower but the older models like the one you linked to are rebranded Sirtec units. They're decent supplies but there's better that you can get. BD-R isn't necessary. Games will never use BD-R and watching movies on BD-R is more of a pain than is necessary.

 

[yarez3]

The Seasonic M12s aren't fully modular units. They're partial modular meaning that the 12V power and 24 pin voltage connectors are on board but the rest of the cables can be switched out. They're also Bronze rated, not gold rated, although that doesn't really make much of a difference. Neither of the PSUs you recommended are full modular units. If you want a quality one, it's going to cost you way more than $100. I'd suggest reading about the products before recommending them.

I'd also drop the H80 - there's far better liquid coolers you can get, and far better air coolers you can get for the same price or less.

Here's what I would get for $1500:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($425.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1442.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 23:33 EDT-0400)

Alright, I've taken this all into consideration. I definitely switched the cooler and added the SSD. I also have G.Skill Ripjaws RAM, just because with rebate and a promo code I can get that for less than the Mushkin. I stuck with the Fractal case, I really like the minimalistic design. I dropped the BD-R as well. I also kept the Gigabyte 770, as it has ~6% gain in performance over the EVGA, and the 4GB will help in a couple months when I'll be getting 3 >1080p monitors for a surround setup, and will also allow more room for HD textures and higher AA in newer games. Bit of "future-proofing" (although I hate that expression)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($65.70 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Expansys US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($449.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N180UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($20.37 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ 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) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: ROCCAT Arvo Wired Gaming Keyboard ($54.85 @ Amazon)
Total: $1487.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-26 00:07 EDT-0400)

It's also very possible that I overlooked something, being midnight and all...