What is a good gaming rig?

[kosma]

Hello! I'm building my first custom computer/gaming rig and I have a couple of questions. My budget is 2300 dollars MAX. However I'd prefer staying below 2000 dollars. I want to be able to play most and every game today on the highest settings. Especially Battlefield 4 . I'd also warrant on the most crucial parts.

Questions
-I'd like to lower price as much as possible without suffering great performance loss, but also future-proofing my PC. What components do you think I could add, downgrade or take out (from my set up below) to lower my price yet achieve the wanted effect? (Don't consider changing the AMD R9 290 everything else you can)
-Where can I find a guide to putting my PC together and running the necessary software?
-I'd want a mother board with a decent audio chip, yet that is not expensive. What are my options?
-How much of a difference does and Core i7 make when gaming over the i5?

My set up :
Corsair Carbide Series Black 300R Mid-Tower Computer Case
Four Corsair Air Series Fans SP120 Quiet Edition
Intel Core i7-4770K
Corsair Vengeance 8GB
MSI R9 290 4GD5
Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM
ASUS 24X DVD Burner
ASUS VG248QE Black 24"
Logitech G430 USB Connector Circumaural Surround Sound Gaming Headset
Corsair Vengeance MM600
ASUS PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
Cmple - High Speed HDMI 1.4 Cable
Norton 360 Multi-Device 2014 - 1 User / 5 Licenses [Download]
Cooler Master Hyper N520 CORSAIR RM Series RM750 750W
Corsair Gaming Keyboard (Raptor K30)
Razer Abyssus Mirror PC Gaming Mouse
Widows 8.1

I'd like to hear from people that have built their own custom computer/gaming rigs
Thank You

 

[dark_globe]

i7 4770K is not worth extra 100 bucks over i5 4670K for gaming purposes right now ...
but some (very few) modern games can actually benefit from hyperthreading...
if you have money go with the 4770K (but it´s really not neccesary and you can save some money here)

290 would be a good option but wait for models with aftermarket cooling solutions from gigabyte , asus etc...
corsair RM is not the best option for power supply , consider corsair HX 650w gold , made by seasonic ,
rosewill capstone 650w M or seasonic G 650w ...
if you want to do crossfire in the future buy at least good quality 850w unit , something like corsair AX 860 ...
for the motherboard i would recommend GIGABYTE Z87X-D3H :
great value for money board , with high quality VRM for overclocking your cpu ...

if you are looking for quality build tutorials check this: http://www.youtube.com/user/CareyHolzman/videos

 

[kosma]

i7 4770K is not worth extra 100 bucks over i5 4670K for gaming purposes right now ...
but some (very few) modern games can actually benefit from hyperthreading...
if you have money go with the 4770K (but it´s really not neccesary and you can save some money here)

290 would be a good option but wait for models with aftermarket cooling solutions from gigabyte , asus etc...
corsair RM is not the best option for power supply , consider corsair HX 650w gold , made by seasonic ,
rosewill capstone 650w M or seasonic G 650w ...
if you want to do crossfire in the future buy at least good quality 850w unit , something like corsair AX 860 ...
for the motherboard i would recommend GIGABYTE Z87X-D3H :
great value for money board , with high quality VRM for overclocking your cpu ...

if you are looking for quality build tutorials check this: http://www.youtube.com/user/CareyHolzman/videos

What games use hyper threading? Do you think that a large amount of games will use hyper threading in the future? I was also thinking about an AMD CPU. How well would that do for gaming since it has more cores (yeah I know games don't use more than 3-4 cores) and could it possibly come handy in the future since games are getting more advanced equaling to a higher number of cores used? I'm asking because I read that they do just as well at gaming as well as intel while saving money, but don't they also run very hot? Another thing I wanted to touch upon are the sellers. Do you know sites that would sell me the parts necessary for a smaller price than the competition? And if I would want to go with an AMD CPU what motherboard would you recommend that has a good on board sound chip?

 

[dark_globe]

in higher end builds amd processors are not competetive ...
their 8 cores are actually weaker in games than intel quad cores ,
and as you mentioned they are also more power hungry ...
they are good as low budget options for systems below 1000 dollars ...
but if you have money i5/i7 processors are the way to go these days...
i5 4670K is the best bang for the buck for gaming ...
i7 makes more sence when it comes to video editing and stuff like that...
fx8320/8350 have 8 cores but they are in modules (2 cores each module and share some things like cache etc...)

about HT: it´s more noticable in dual core range present days , if you compare pentium and i3 in some games cpu with hyperthreading shows better performance
check this benchmark for example: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/far-cry-3-performance-benchmark,3379-7.html
when it comes to quad cores it´s not really a concern right now ,
many games can still utilize only 2 cores , some can benefit from 4 ...

try: pcpartpicker.com ...

 

[kosma]

Before I order the parts, can anyone tell me if these will work together? I'd like to double check before I go out and spend all that money

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10)
CASE: Corsair Carbide Series Black 300R Mid-Tower Computer Case (CC-9011014-WW)
GPU: MSI R9 290 4GD5 (V803) Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
HDD: Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - OEM
DVD-ROM: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM
MONITOR: ASUS VG248QE Black 24" 144Hz 1ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD 3D Monitor Height&pivot adjustable 350 cd/m2 80,000,000:1 Built-in Speakers
CPU: Core i5 4670K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1150 Boxed Processor
HEAT SINK: Cooler Master Hyper N520 - CPU Cooler with Copper Base and 5 Heatpipes
MOBO: Z87-G45 Gaming Socket LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard
PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

I need a quick answer! Thank You!