My First Custom PC Specs - Suggestions Welcome. Please help

[lshs9903]

Hi,

This is my first post on Tom's Hardware but I have been following the community and threads as a guest for a while and have come to trust the users here. That being said, I had bought a stock Best Buy PC 2009, updated the memory, graphics card, and Power Supply and it had been a functioning gaming PC until last night. A friend in college at the time referred me cost effective but well performing pieces, and I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to building a custom PC.

That being said, I am not comfortable building my own PC from scratch, and the ineffectiveness of my store bought PC left a bad taste. I was thinking of getting a PC from iBUYPOWER and spent a few hours researching (HDD and SSD benefits, processors, GPUs, etc.). I THINK the PC I built will be effective but I wanted to run it by the forums here and see impressions I can get (ex. if my GPU is too powerful for my CPU or vice versa, if I should get a better motherboard, etc).

Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I also think this stuff is fascinating and would like to be able to learn some new stuff about it. Here is what I came up with:

1) Processor: Intel Core i7-5820k

2) Memory: 16 GB (4 GB X4) DDR4-2400 Memory Module (G Skill Ripjaws 4)

3) GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 - 4GB - EVGA Superclocked - Single Card

4) Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI PLUS -- 4x PCIe 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0

5) Power Supply: 750 Watt - Thermaltake SMART SP - 750M - Free Upgrade to 850W Thermaltake SMART SP-850M - 80 PLUS Bronze (Save $50)

6) Primary HDD - 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s, single drive

7) Data Hard Drive - None

8) Optical Drive - LG 14x Blu-ray Re-Writer, DVD R/RW Burner Combo Drive

9) Second Optical Drive - None

10) 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard

11) Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)

I read I should get a Primary drive as a SSD and my data hard drive as the 2TB. Would that be a huge difference?

Budget is a max of $2000.00.

Thanks in advance everyone, any help would be greatly appreciated! Have a great night.

 

[g-unit1111]

You don't want to buy from Cyberpower if you can help it on your budget, building your own will be way better. You don't want a 5820K as the extra cores won't be of use for gaming, the BD-R drive is a waste of money, and Thermaltake PSUs are not known for quality or reliability.

Here's what I would suggest:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($129.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($169.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($182.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($92.99 @ Directron)
Total: $2094.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-18 01:26 EST-0500

 

[prit87]

Hi,

This is my first post on Tom's Hardware but I have been following the community and threads as a guest for a while and have come to trust the users here. That being said, I had bought a stock Best Buy PC 2009, updated the memory, graphics card, and Power Supply and it had been a functioning gaming PC until last night. A friend in college at the time referred me cost effective but well performing pieces, and I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to building a custom PC.

That being said, I am not comfortable building my own PC from scratch, and the ineffectiveness of my store bought PC left a bad taste. I was thinking of getting a PC from iBUYPOWER and spent a few hours researching (HDD and SSD benefits, processors, GPUs, etc.). I THINK the PC I built will be effective but I wanted to run it by the forums here and see impressions I can get (ex. if my GPU is too powerful for my CPU or vice versa, if I should get a better motherboard, etc).

Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I also think this stuff is fascinating and would like to be able to learn some new stuff about it. Here is what I came up with:

1) Processor: Intel Core i7-5820k

2) Memory: 16 GB (4 GB X4) DDR4-2400 Memory Module (G Skill Ripjaws 4)

3) GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 - 4GB - EVGA Superclocked - Single Card

4) Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI PLUS -- 4x PCIe 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0

5) Power Supply: 750 Watt - Thermaltake SMART SP - 750M - Free Upgrade to 850W Thermaltake SMART SP-850M - 80 PLUS Bronze (Save $50)

6) Primary HDD - 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s, single drive

7) Data Hard Drive - None

8) Optical Drive - LG 14x Blu-ray Re-Writer, DVD R/RW Burner Combo Drive

9) Second Optical Drive - None

10) 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard

11) Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)

I read I should get a Primary drive as a SSD and my data hard drive as the 2TB. Would that be a huge difference?

Budget is a max of $2000.00.

Thanks in advance everyone, any help would be greatly appreciated! Have a great night.

What is the purpouse of this build ?
SSD is generally used as the primary drive for OS and applications the booting process will be much faster in SSD program's and applications will load faster etc.

 

[lshs9903]

I'm going to be using it for gaming along with standard uses like word processing and the internet. Also, sometimes watch a bluray on it.

Thank you so much for your advice so far.

G-unit1111, how difficult will building my own with those parts be?

Also, if I only go with one of the GPUs, would that still be able to perform most games? I figure I may add another then in the future since I'd have a 850W PSU.

 

[prit87]

I'm going to be using it for gaming along with standard uses like word processing and the internet. Also, sometimes watch a bluray on it.

Thank you so much for your advice so far.

G-unit1111, how difficult will building my own with those parts be?

Also, if I only go with one of the GPUs, would that still be able to perform most games? I figure I may add another then in the future since I'd have a 850W PSU.

For just gaming your build is way overkill i thought its a gaming + rendering build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.94 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.44 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($120.39 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($74.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.26 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1730.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-18 12:06 EST-0500

I have added 2x gtx 970 but you dont need that if you play at 1080p or 1440p a single gtx 970 will max out any current and upcomming games at 1080p or 1440p but if you go for multi monitor gaming or 4K gaming then you will need a SLI setup.
In games I5 4690k and i7 will give you similar performance and 8 Gb ram is enough for any modern and upcoming games.

 

[lshs9903]

Thank you so much!

 

[g-unit1111]

I'm going to be using it for gaming along with standard uses like word processing and the internet. Also, sometimes watch a bluray on it.

Thank you so much for your advice so far.

G-unit1111, how difficult will building my own with those parts be?

Also, if I only go with one of the GPUs, would that still be able to perform most games? I figure I may add another then in the future since I'd have a 850W PSU.

Not at all - once you get the case wires hooked into the motherboard and get the motherboard screwed down into the case, everything else hooks into place. Going with one GPU would be fine depending on your monitor's resolution.

 

[lshs9903]

Is there any real performance difference between the CPUs and CPU coolers you both recommended?

Again, I really appreciate the help you two have given me so far. I think I will go the build your own route.

 

[prit87]

Is there any real performance difference between the CPUs and CPU coolers you both recommended?

Again, I really appreciate the help you two have given me so far. I think I will go the build your own route.

Yes Of course there is a difference between the CPU one is i5 and another one is i7 but not much of a difference in games and for the cooler hyper 212 is capable of OCing the CPU to 4.4-4.5 ghz without any problem if you want more then you can get a better cooler i always recommend air cooler so noctua D15 is a very good option for heavy OC.

 

[lshs9903]

"Compatibility Notes
The Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory operating voltage of 1.65V exceeds the Intel Haswell Refresh CPU recommended maximum of 1.5V+5% (1.575V). This memory module may run at a reduced clock rate to meet the 1.5V voltage recommendation, or may require running at a voltage greater than the Intel recommended maximum.
(Flag compatibility notes as incorrect.)"

Even though it doesn't apply to this build below, for the future would this anything to be concerned about?

Also think this is my final build mixing and matching a little bit (I'll be doing 1080p gaming):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($333.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.84 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.40 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($120.39 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.26 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1526.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-18 22:37 EST-0500

 

[prit87]

"Compatibility Notes
The Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory operating voltage of 1.65V exceeds the Intel Haswell Refresh CPU recommended maximum of 1.5V+5% (1.575V). This memory module may run at a reduced clock rate to meet the 1.5V voltage recommendation, or may require running at a voltage greater than the Intel recommended maximum.
(Flag compatibility notes as incorrect.)"

Even though it doesn't apply to this build below, for the future would this anything to be concerned about?

Also think this is my final build mixing and matching a little bit (I'll be doing 1080p gaming):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($333.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.84 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.40 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($120.39 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.26 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1526.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-18 22:37 EST-0500

Yes Very nice go for itat 1080p a single gtx 970 is enough to max out any games you will have a very good build.

 

[lshs9903]

Thank you prit87 and g-unit1111 for your help and advice. It's very much appreciated! I'm excited to start building!

 

[prit87]

Thank you prit87 and g-unit1111 for your help and advice. It's very much appreciated! I'm excited to start building!

We are glad to help & good luck with the build.