$1500 gaming PC build: suggestions, comments?

petebestest

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Dec 4, 2014
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Howdy, guys. New to PC building. Is this a decent build for the money (~$1500)?

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4-Core 4.0GHz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition
RAM: 2x Corsair 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM
mobo: Asus Maximus VII Hero
case: Corsair Carbide 400R
PSU: Corsair RM750 750W
SSD: OCZ Technology Agility 3 240GB
HDD: Western Digital 2 TB
Cooler: Cooler Master 120v

Looking to play high-end games on high settings, high fps. Any comments or suggestions would be MUCH appreciated. Seriously, thank you.
 
Solution
That's looking good.

Three suggestions: You do not need a $220 motherboard unless you are doing serious overclocking or multiple video cards. You will not notice the difference over one half the price; any halfway decent Z97 board will do and still leave room for overclocking later if you want. But you won't need to OC that 4790K for years and years; it will be way ahead of any game as-is.

On a related note: A cheap closed-loop water cooler is no better than a mid-range air cooler and will be blown away by the better air coolers. In order to make a noticeable difference, you would have to spend hundreds of dollars on a high-end water cooling system - in other words, enough money to buy a better CPU if you're at the point where...
That's looking good.

Three suggestions: You do not need a $220 motherboard unless you are doing serious overclocking or multiple video cards. You will not notice the difference over one half the price; any halfway decent Z97 board will do and still leave room for overclocking later if you want. But you won't need to OC that 4790K for years and years; it will be way ahead of any game as-is.

On a related note: A cheap closed-loop water cooler is no better than a mid-range air cooler and will be blown away by the better air coolers. In order to make a noticeable difference, you would have to spend hundreds of dollars on a high-end water cooling system - in other words, enough money to buy a better CPU if you're at the point where overclocking would matter. Much better to just replace it than spend the same amount of money to squeeze another 10-15% out of your old processor. Go with air cooling or nothing unless you have other reasons.

Finally, you don't need anywhere near 750W to run that setup; a good 500W unit is plenty. Something like this would do well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013

The one exception is if you plan on doing SLI later, but as with the overclocking idea, you're almost always better off just getting the best single card you can afford and selling the old one.
 
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