Building a new system, looking for advise

[karthunk]

Hello!

It's been years since I have updated my computer and the old fellow seems to be on his last leg. I got some good ideas from the builder marathon article on parts, but I have an open ear to what you guys might think would be better choices.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week
Budget Range: ~$2,000
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, surfing internet, spreadsheets, and MS word
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: CPU, heat sink, memory, graphics card, system drive, storage drive, and power
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: New Egg
Location: City, State/Region, Country : Lafayette, LA
Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, Nvidia graphics card
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: Yes, at some point
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200


What I am looking at is this:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor $340

Graphics: EVGA 03G-P4-2884-KR GeForce GTX 780 Ti Superclocked 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 $730

SSD: SanDisk Ultra Plus SDSSDHP-256G-G25 2.5" 256GB SATA III $170

Harddrive: Western Digital WD Green WD20EZRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" $90

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) $180

Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan $35

Power supply: SeaSonic M12II 850 SS-850AM 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready $130

Motherboard: Dunno, looking for some suggestions here.

OS: Dunno, looking for suggestions. I am currently using Vista 64 (yes... there are still some of us out there) but am clueless if I should get windows 7 or 8; the internet says they are both terrible and will give you cancer in a random toe. Help me save my toes.


I am currently using a Cool master Cosmos, it’s the size of a large animal, so my case it good to go. Plus it is full of fans; there is a 20mph breeze flowing under my desk 24/7.

My power supply is over five years old so it must be changed out. Is the 850 I have listed here going to be good enough if I decide to add another 780 ti?

Thanks for any help given!

 

[animal]

First off, NEVER select your memory before deciding on a motherboard. Not all memory is compatible with any motherboard. Choose a motherboard and then either refer to the motherboard's QVL for compatible memory or visit a memory manufacturer's website and use their RAM configurator program/app to see what they make that is compatible with your motherboard.

Secondly, unless you will be doing intensive photo or video editing, an i5 will game as well as an i7. Might save you a few dollars as well.

Finally, your PSU might be slightly bigger than you need. According to here:

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

a system running a single GTX 780ti only requires ~ 620W, but their recommendations do not take any overclocking into account. If you overclock, I'd suggest adding 50-100W to their recommended wattage. Since you are looking at possibly adding a second GPU in the future, you may want to consider something around 1050W from a top tier company such as Seasonic, XFX, Corsair or Antec.

 

[karthunk]

Animal,

Thanks for the reply!

The memory was for a motherboard I picked out, was recommended by this web site, but after reading the reviews on it I removed it from the list. I'm fully aware that you buy memory for your mother board and not the other way around. The way I posted it suggested otherwise, so I thank you for giving me a caution light!

How long will an i5 last me? I would like for the only addon I have to do for quite some time is an additional video card in a few years.

Thanks for the chart of power requirements!

 

[camohanna]

Even though you have no intention to overclock, since your budget is so high i would still reccomend going for an unlocked processor and z87 mobo since it is one of the worst mistakes i think you can make, limiting yourself to a locked cpu. I have done it myself and regret it horribly.

Also, i think you may need to overclock otherwise the cpu will bottleneck sli 780 ti's

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KFQE
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KFQE/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KFQE/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Video Card ($699.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($189.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1563.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-31 03:10 EST-0500)

 

[camohanna]

Animal,

Thanks for the reply!

The memory was for a motherboard I picked out, was recommended by this web site, but after reading the reviews on it I removed it from the list. I'm fully aware that you buy memory for your mother board and not the other way around. The way I posted it suggested otherwise, so I thank you for giving me a caution light!

How long will an i5 last me? I would like for the only addon I have to do for quite some time is an additional video card in a few years.

Thanks for the chart of power requirements!

I think 850w will handle sli 780 ti's

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gtx_780_ti_sli_geforce_review,4.html

 

[animal]

While I agree that a quality 850W PSU would support 780 ti's in SLI, my recommendation added more wattage to allow for overclocking. Even though the OP said he had no intention to oc, but is getting a "k" series CPU and will probably wind up with a Z87 motherboard, then allowing for oc'ing in the future is my reasoning for the suggestion.

 

[camohanna]

While I agree that a quality 850W PSU would support 780 ti's in SLI, my recommendation added more wattage to allow for overclocking. Even though the OP said he had no intention to oc, but is getting a "k" series CPU and will probably wind up with a Z87 motherboard, then allowing for oc'ing in the future is my reasoning for the suggestion.

2 780 ti's only draw 500w. Thats 300w for cpu etc so a quality 850w can easily handle this.