Building a $1000-1300 gaming desktop need help from experienced minds.

[Scott Tenorman]

Hello everyone I'm making the decision to build my first gaming PC. I plan to use it mainly for gaming and studio recording and writing music as well as making money. so I need something with good performance as well as reliability. My current budget is going to be around $1200. I plan to make the purchase for black Friday/cyber Monday to save money. over the past 2 weeks I have been relentlessly researching the best I can get for my money. Although I know the final purchase could be different after the sale go up.

here is what I gather so far on my current setup/build.

-Case: Cooler Master HAF XB EVO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119265 $100

-CPU: Intel i5-4670k $239.99 (here I am a little iffy when it comes to price the i7 is only $100 more and may be cheaper on black friday what do you recommend? is the extra $100 worth it?)

-CPU heat sink: cooler master hyper 212evo $34.99(I've heard good things about liquid cooling any recommendations on that would be great. Also I'm still on budget.

-Hard drive- Western digital 1tb $90.00 or toshiba 3tb for $140 (dont know if i could ever fill 3 tb. but some of my plug-ins for music prod. are large in size.)

-SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB $100

-Memory: Corsiar Vengence 2x4gb. DDR3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233170 $88.00

-Motherboard: MSI Z87-G43 LGA http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130694 $105 (Any thoughts on this are welcome.)

-power: Corsair CX series CX600W $70

-soundcard: Creative sound blaster recon3d http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102040 (this is for my music production and also I've read its amazing for in-game sound) $90

That brings me up to about $830 with the i5 and cheaper hardrive. I still do not know what video card I want and I know it will be expensive. so hopefully some of you out there will have some reccomendations. Also I'm a newb if you havent noticed and I plan learning and using OC. I know it will increase the heat so also have this in mind If the system would be able to handle it. Dont need 24/7 OC just when i game or when I use my music programs/VST

thank you for reading and commenting

 

[socialassassin]

In your case I'd stick with the i5. The i7 would only be noticeably faster in multithreaded applications, like video editing.
The one change I would make is the PSU, I have 2 of the CX series and had coil whine with both of them. I might go with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096

For a video card, looks like you have about $370 left, the GTX 770 would be a great choice.

 

[Scott Tenorman]

Thanks for the quick reply and for recommending a different PSU. I'll probably stick with the i5 then. Going to read up on the GTX 770 now. Any advice for over heating issues I may run into?

 

[Drew010]

Thanks for the quick reply and for recommending a different PSU. I'll probably stick with the i5 then. Going to read up on the GTX 770 now. Any advice for over heating issues I may run into?

With that case you won't run into any overheating issues unless you wrap it in a blanket and stick it in an oven =P

 

[Scott Tenorman]

With that case you won't run into any overheating issues unless you wrap it in a blanket and stick it in an oven =P

haha I see you have somewhat of the same model... good to know. Im getting siked!

 

[Scott Tenorman]

So I think I'll go for the GTX 770. Is there a big difference between a 2GB and 4GB. Im currently looking at this MSI version with pre-OC. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127742. or perhaps the gigabyte windforce. Also do any of you think that the memory I listed above will be sufficient?

 

[socialassassin]

You will only see a benefit from the 4GB model if you're gaming at very high resolutions (eg. triple monitor or 4k). The 2GB is fine for 1080p gaming. Both the MSI and Gigabyte cards are great choices, you cant go wrong with either.
Your RAM will be just fine too

 

[Scott Tenorman]

You will only see a benefit from the 4GB model if you're gaming at very high resolutions (eg. triple monitor or 4k). The 2GB is fine for 1080p gaming. Both the MSI and Gigabyte cards are great choices, you cant go wrong with either.
Your RAM will be just fine too

Thanks a lot for your help. You're one smart cookie