I'll be putting together my first build this month and while I've read a bunch of advice, I was hoping to get some advice from more experienced members. I'm putting together a gaming computer to play modern and future graphics-intensive games like Battlefield 4, Rome TW 2, The Witcher 3, and Dragon Age 3. While I'm not planning to overclock, the graphics card and processor I've picked out are both capable if I decide to in the future.

I'd like to spend around $900, but would be willing to go up to $1000.

This is the current build I've put together.

Two things I'd really like some advice on are the motherboard and case. While I at least know the basics of every other part, I'm pretty much clueless about motherboards. As for the case, I picked it because its supposed to be pretty nice with good airflow and I found the black version on Newegg for $65.00. If anybody knows a better one for around the same price, I'd love to know.

I'm also concerned that the graphics card might be overkill. I was planning to go with a GeForce GTX 660, but a 670 would only cost me another $80 so I figured why not go for the better model when I'm already putting so much into it.

If you have any other advice on things I should look into, I'd love to hear.

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

 

Get a SSD as your main with a HDD as a secondary for storage. You might need to go over your price or change something out but its worth it.

You won't be able to play the games you mentioned anywhere close to max settings but that doesn't seem like your main goal.

Everything else looks good. MB's don't matter as much as some people think. Just keep in mind how many slots it has for any upgrades you might want to do in the future.

As for the case you will want to change out the fans at some point.

 

Eh? Shouldn't be a problem with a 660 or 670. I'm planning on running max with 650 Ti Boost. :-/

Unless you're saying CPU might bottleneck...

 

You should run those games with no worries man. I put together a similar build a year and a bit ago and I've yet to find a game that I can't run on max settings. It cost me a fair bit more, but decreasing prices and all that.

 

If you're not planning to SLI or add more power hungry components, you can get a smaller power supply. A good 500W will do, even if you're overclocking. That said, looking through Neweggs' selection of power supplies, this one is cheaper ($21 immediately, down to $1 after the rebate on the Corsair TX650v2) and slightly more efficient. Beyond that, check if you really need that optical drive. You may find that you don't actually need it and can save a bit there.

 

Like already mentioned, you should get a SSD - go with a Samsung, Intel or Crucial one. Since you don't plan to overclock right away, you can also easilly drop the CPU cooler. The one that comes with the CPU is comepletely fine for the stock clock, and if you later plan to overclock you can always just get one if the CPU runs to hot.

You can also save some more with the MB if you don't plan on running SLI. This one, for example, should work just fine for you. And as mentioned you can also exchange that 650W PSU for a 500/550 one, since you won't need more unless you run SLI.

All in all, if you drop the CPU cooler and save some money on the MB and PSU this would free up enough for the SSD.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'm taking a few of these things into account already to change the build.

Decided to go with a small Samsung 120 GB SSD for $100.

For RAM, I'm thinking of going with Team Vulcan 8GB (2X4GB). Not a name brand so I'm a bit wary, but its got really good reviews and is on sale today for $52.99.

Changed the power supply to a Cooler Master 600W which will only be $40.00 after rebate.

Also grabbing a 4-pack of Cooler Master 120mm Sleeve Bearing Fans. I've had heating problems in a past desktop and laptop so I figure these should help out if I'm dropping the larger fan.

With a 10% off coupon and no tax by shipping to Delaware, these 4 items will come out to $205. Planning to order them in a few hours before two deals end unless any reasons I should avoid something is pointed out.

 

If you want to save money, you can get a 7870 Myst edition for $140 AR.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131484&Tpk
Tomhardware puts that card in the same ranking as the 670. The naming is a little bit screwed up, the myst edition is a handicapped 7950, not 7870. The 7950 is more power efficient and a little faster, but the myst editions of the 7870 are going for pretty cheap right now.

 

Looks fine to me, but since you buy 4 fans you can disregard my mb reommendation from the previous post, because that one doesn't have 5 fan connectors. The 600W are still somewhat overkill, but for $40 it's okay imo.

 

Ha, <3 that Cooler Master 4-pack. I currently have 3 of those fans inside the case. Thinking about cutting out the bottom of the case to place another intake.

 

You've probably ordered by now, but I'll say this just for general information. I would say to skip getting a CPU cooler unless your room gets particularly hot. Just buy it when you're actually going to overclock, because if you don't it's just a waste of money.

RAM has little impact on your performance so you're better off saving money here.

For the power supply I run a Geforce 770 and 4670k with 450W, so you could have gone down to what kaleironfist and Sacro suggested if it saved you money.

Finally, just in case you never did ask yourself - do you actually need a DVD reader/writer?

What were the final parts you ordered anyway?

 

Started ordering some parts, but I'm waiting on others for better Black Friday deals.

Purchased:
SSD:Samsung 120GB for $90.00
Power Supply: Cooler Master 600W for $34.00 after rebate
RAM:Team Vulcan 8GB (2X4GB) for $50.00
Fans: 4 Pack Cooler Master 120mm for 11.99

Not Purchased Yet:
Case: Thermaltake Overseer RX-I for 69.99 after rebate. Ordering by Wednesday unless I find something just as good for slightly cheaper.
Motherboard: I'm still debating on this as I do more research. Was leaning towards MSI Z87-G45 for $129.00 after rebate. Pretty sure I can save $15.00 or so without any real negatives with another model; any advice?
Processor: i5 4670 for $210.00. I'm debating over the K, I really doubt I'd ever overclock but its only $10 more on Amazon. Seems kind of silly to not spend it in case I need a bit more out of it in a couple years.
Graphics Card: MSI Geforce GTX 760 2GD5 for 249.99 after rebate.
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB for 88.54

As for a DVD drive, I do a decent amount of burning so I could use one. Hoping to find a good enough one in an old computer I've got sitting around so I'll hold off on buying one. I'll also probably grab a card reader sometime in the future, but I'm holding off on that too.

 

There is very little point getting a Z87 chipset board and combining it with a non-K processor since non-K processors are limited to +4 speed bins. Conversely, don't get a K processor with a non-Z chipset, as you can't overclock at all. Spend the extra for a K processor and Z87 chipset motherboard if you think you might overclock in future or else dial back to a non-K processor and an H87 or even B85 board.

Case is mostly an aesthetics choice. Ideally you don't cheap out here, since it'll be the elephant in the room for as long as you have it. There's not much on Newegg that's just as good and slightly cheaper after the rebate on the Thermaltake Overseer, but if you don't want to wait for a rebate and want a case with a cleaner aesthetic, have a look at the Bitfenix Shinobi with window.

Beyond that, everything looks good. I wouldn't necessarily agree with a Cooler Master power supply primarily because their PSU quality varies between extremely poor to pretty damn good. It may have a 5 year warranty (which would indicate that it's at least a good power supply) but there are no reviews on it at all.

 

Just finished purchasing everything so I decided to post the final build and price.

Case: Thermaltake Overseer RX-I
Power Supply: Cooler Master 600W
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Motherboard:MSI Z87-G45
Processor: i5 4670K
RAM:Team Vulcan 8GB (2X4GB)
Graphics Card: MSI Geforce GTX 760 2GD5
Fans: 4 Pack Cooler Master 120mm

Came to a final price of $1000.91 with $65.00 back in rebates, a $20.00 gift card to NCIX, and free copies of Splinter Cell Black List and Assassins Creed IV.

I'm actually leaning towards overclocking a small amount so if I do I'll probably spend another $50.00 on cooling.