Building new PC, need some help

[Sputmilk]

I've been using a mac for the last few years, and I finally want to play some games. I've gone through some parts and picked a few...although I don't know much about them or if they fit together. My budget is about $1k, but I can go as high as $1.3k.

CPU: Intel i5 4430
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A
Graphics card: ASUS GTX670
Memory: Crucial M500 Series 240GB SSD with 8gb of RAM
Power supply: Ultra LSP Series V2 750-Watt Power Supply

I don't have a case or monitor picked out, and I'm not exactly sure what else I'll need. In the end I want to have a rig that will play newer games well. Good enough to run at mid-high settings. Can I get a little help?

 

[Hazle]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.29 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($82.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($324.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.31 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1173.43
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-26 23:11 EST-0500)

this is assuming you have no plans to get another 770 to SLI for better performance or overclock your CPU. otherwise, you're looking to spend more on an i5-4670K, a Z87 board that supports SLI like Asrock's Z87 Extreme 3/4, and a higher wattage for the PSU.

you can lower the costs by skipping on the SSD and/or getting a GTX760 instead (the 670 just isn't worth it, not unless it costs the same as a 760) if you feel like you can deal with some compromise on graphics quality.

if you feel like changing the PSU, follow this list, preferably a tier 2 for that balance of price/reliability: http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

 

[Sputmilk]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-K ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.79 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750B BRONZE 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $941.70
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-27 00:30 EST-0500)

I took your advice and came up with this(I should have mentioned, I am getting a free copy of Windows 7 from a friend). I swapped some things around, how's it look?

 

[Hazle]

poor choices, depending what you're looking for. that motherboard will allow you to overclock the CPU, but that 4-phase power design will limit it to something low. not at all bad for a beginner wanting to try things out. however, you'd still need a third party cooler and that board doesn't support SLI, so no point getting a 750W PSU.

on the subject of PSU, it's not recommended to skimp out on it, though that doesn't mean you should overspend as well. EVGA's Supernova Nex B series are tier 3 PSUs: good enough for a very low budget if you just gotta have performance, but not recommended for those with a good deal of budget like yourself. best case scenario; it runs, struggling when you upgrade to something powerful much later on. bad case scenario; like most of the Corsair CX, a tier 3, it'll fail to turn on in around a year. worst case scenario; it pops and takes the rest of your near $1K PC with you.

while most games rarely hit 4GB of ram use, some of the more popularly demanding ones like BF4 can hit as high as ~7GB. memory's cheap. spending a few dollars more on a good deal can help lessen the amount of upgrade you need to do in the future. Btw, when you do buy ram for this build, make sure you re-check the prices on pcpartpicker; what's ~$70 today, isn't going to be $70 tomorrow as there's a deal on ram on a daily basis.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $998.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-27 02:25 EST-0500)

the PSU's accounting for any plans you may have getting another 760 to SLI. if you're not going for it, the 650W PSU i setup earlier is much more recommended over the EVGAs you chose, even if you are overclocking the CPU.

i can't recommend you changing the Asrock here if you're overclocking; more power phase here than the asus you chose offers some promise on stability when overclocking, all for the same price. ditto to the CPU cooler as well; not a whole lot of great choices below that price point, and the expensive ones may not be worth it for you at it's price point, at least not for a beginner.

 

[Sputmilk]

So If I go with this setup, I should get a second 760 and also overclock. I was just wondering, does this setup leave a lot of room for upgrading? So far it looks like this is what I'm going for. Now I just have to wait for my tax return.

 

[Hazle]

only if you want to overclock and SLI that 760. the latter when there's a price drop and you're looking for more graphics performance a year or two down the line. again, there are cheaper alternatives if you otherwise don't want to.

aside from the obvious gains in performance, i guess you should be aware of some cons;
Overclocking (OC):
-not all games will see major improvements.
-not all CPUs of the same model are the same. some will OC higher with good temps. some don't.
-shortens the lifespan of the CPU, though a good cpu cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO can help to mitigate that.

SLI;
-high power consumption
-more heat produced in the case
-you may experience microstutters in some game.

as for future upgrades, more likely than not, if you're not taking the SLI path, you'll want a new video card in 2-4 years time, unless you learn to be ok playing at a lower graphics settings. i wouldn't worry then about bottlenecks or the likes as people are doing just fine now with 3-4 year old i5's + a more current mid-range GPU. i guess the CPU upgrade will be the limiting factor; socket 1150 motherboards and cpus will likely be discontinued in 2-3 years. in 4-5 years, you're due for a major overhaul.