Gaming PC Spec, Could use fresh eyes looking at it

[benser]

I'm upgrading my old rig due to a gfx card failure. I've always had to settle for parts that are about mid range due to money, but this time I would like to future proof myself a bit and enjoy some games around this christmas like BF4 and the new AC etc at max graphics with very comfortable FPS.

So here is what I've put together. Now, my budget is £1500 (that's ~$2300), and I'm not really looking to save money on this build, I'm looking for incompatibilities, potential bottlenecking and parts that will actually perform better for less;

(A few points, I would rather avoid SLI and I'm not much of an overclocker either, I'll take advantage of preset OC profiless etc but I'm not really one for tweaking voltages and speeds myself)

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K
Heatsink: Corsair Hydro H80i
Motherboard: Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO
Graphics: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16Gb (4x4Gb) DDR3 2666MHz C11 Kit
PSU: Corsair Professional Series HX+ 650W '80+ Gold' Modular
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB

Case: Corsair Carbide 300R

Obviously I'll throw a few case fans and stuff in there too and I'm not buying any peripherals or a monitor, happy with all of that.

Any comments, ladies and gents?

 

[TBC1]

Well for your budget everything looks great. Definitely no issues with bottle-necking or anything else. However, you do know that you can get a $1500-1600 pc that will perform equally as good if not better on the gpu end?

 

[benser]

I'll take recommendations if you have any, what parts do you suggest?

 

[TBC1]

For example, this build will outperform the one you have listed and its only $1386.89! -

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 ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($73.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1386.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-09 19:58 EDT-0400)

 

[benser]

Well.

I spent a lot of time deciding between the 4670 and 4770, and eventually decided that I preferred spending the extra for the 4770k. Hyperthreading mostly, which isn't quite so prevalent right now is, I believe, something that is steadily growing in popularity enough for this processor to be worth it in future. Or I hope so, bit of a gamble perhaps.

I also considered the G45 before settling on the Hero, partly because I've owned Asus RoG boards in the past and been very happy, partly because I like a lot of the features included like the really simple CPU level-up.

For memory, what you've linked there is infact a downgrade from my current memory. Plus I've never heard of Mushkin and none of my 3 local retailers sell anything of that brand name. Also, these high spec mobos can take advantage of quad channel kits with very high frequencies, a dual channel pack at 1600mhz seems a waste. I'm trying to focus on future proofing after all.

I won't be able to get by with only a 120gb SSD and I've reached the limit of my budget. I might change it around for a 500gb WD drive for space and a smaller SSD as a boot drive, or I might look at a hybrid SSD, but my budget it pretty much at its limit and I don't want to have to settle for less than 1tb really. I think this is something I need to consider more closely myself. I also prefer the WD caviar black for the performance. I'll probably end up losing out on having an SSD in this rig for a while, maybe I'll put one in when I can afford it later. But I want this PC for this winter.

SLI 760s... just like my old rig, I had SLId 460s. When one of them died I really felt the loss of performance and the obvious bottleneck that occured nagged at me constantly. And then there is my monitor. I have read more than once that for a single monitor at the resolution I'm running (1920x1080) that a single card will give me better performance than 2 760s. Include that it's less heat to deal with and less power to supply, I'm happy and comfortable sticking with the single 780.

Case was the same, obviously that's mostly preference. I would prefered a 600T but rather compromise on case than the other stuff.

PSU, the one you recommended basically is the same but upgraded to supply SLI.

Overall, I think the set up you've shown is very good, memory maybe a bit of a drawback, but that's not expensive to upgrade really. I'm basically paying more for preference really, I must admit. In retrospect, my question wasn't a very good one since it is easy to go for pure PC performance much cheaper by excluding a lot of the more niche features. But thank you for your contribution.