Building a new microATX gaming rig.

[5Minutes]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but have been lurking for quite awhile. I recently decided to build a microATX rig since I recently acquired This Case from a friend for free. Budget really isn't an issue, but I would like to keep it under 1300. I'll mainly be using the computer for photo editing, gaming, and really just every day use. Here's a cart that I threw together, tell me what you think or what you would change:

MSI Z87M GAMING LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I74770

MSI Gaming N760 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card

EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650 G 80 PLUS GOLD Certified 650W Active PFC ATX12V v2.31/EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model 997070

And then 2 2TB hard drives set to raid 0 and a 32gb SSD for operating system(s). Also will install some type of blu ray burner too.

 

[sixthshadow42]

Will you be overclocking? If you aren't, then switch out the motherboard to an H87 board like this one GIGABYTE GA-H87M-HD3 LGA 1150.

If you are overclocking, you'll need an unlocked CPU (has a 'k' at the end for Intel) like the i7-4770K.

If you're only doing some light photo editing, then switch your CPU to the i5 4670/4670k, it will handle light photo editing just fine and the i7 would be pointless for gaming because many games don't currently make use of hyper-threading (the main difference between the i5 and i7).

Again, if you're only doing some light photo editing, you could also switch your RAM to 8GB (2 x 4GB). Also, if you go for the motherboard I suggested, you'd have to change your RAM anyway. I'd change it to something like this G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB).

Assuming you switch to the i5 4670, the motherboard and RAM I suggested, you're going to save alot of money, you should use this money to:
1. Get a larger SSD for your OS, maybe around 90GB, because I doubt 32GB will be enough.
and
2. Get a better GPU since this is meant to be a gaming build (I think). Maybe the GTX 770.

If you answer these questions, it would be alot easier to help you out:
What is your budget?
Will you be overclocking?
What resolution monitor will you be using?
Will you be using multiple monitors?
What will you use the system for (in order of most used for to least used for)?

 

[5Minutes]

Will you be overclocking? If you aren't, then switch out the motherboard to an H87 board like this one GIGABYTE GA-H87M-HD3 LGA 1150.

If you are overclocking, you'll need an unlocked CPU (has a 'k' at the end for Intel) like the i7-4770K.

If you're only doing some light photo editing, then switch your CPU to the i5 4670/4670k, it will handle light photo editing just fine and the i7 would be pointless for gaming because many games don't currently make use of hyper-threading (the main difference between the i5 and i7).

Again, if you're only doing some light photo editing, you could also switch your RAM to 8GB (2 x 4GB). Also, if you go for the motherboard I suggested, you'd have to change your RAM anyway. I'd change it to something like this G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB).

Assuming you switch to the i5 4670, the motherboard and RAM I suggested, you're going to save alot of money, you should use this money to:
1. Get a larger SSD for your OS, maybe around 90GB, because I doubt 32GB will be enough.
and
2. Get a better GPU since this is meant to be a gaming build (I think). Maybe the GTX 770.

If you answer these questions, it would be alot easier to help you out:
What is your budget?
Will you be overclocking?
What resolution monitor will you be using?
Will you be using multiple monitors?
What will you use the system for (in order of most used for to least used for)?

My budget would be 1300
No, I won't be overclocking
I'll be using multiple monitors, all are 1920x1080
I'll mainly be using it for gaming. followed by photo/video editing and daily computing.

 

[sixthshadow42]

How many monitors will you be using and what kind of games will you be playing?
Can you buy from multiple stores, online? Because it's slightly cheaper that way ($8 or $9-ish)
Also, will you be playing across all the screens at once?

From the information you've given, I came up with this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($122.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 4GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($315.91 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 4GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($315.91 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($133.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1205.77
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-19 23:25 EST-0500)
I know I recommended going for a h87 motherboard earlier since you weren't overclocking but there isn't an h87 mATX motherboard that supports SLI or Crossfire which will be necessary if you are gaming on all three monitors.

I also switched to a 'k' CPU just in case you ever change your mind about overclocking, (also because it only costed $20 more than the other CPU I was going to suggest) this way, if you ever decide to overclock, you'll only have to buy a new cooler.

 

[realchaos]

How many monitors? 2, 3, 5?
Are you going to play games on all of those monitors?
I wouldn't go with SLI GTX 760 4gb because the GTX 760 aren't strong enough to actually allow you to fully utilize the 4gb vram.

Also, sixthshadow's processor is not the overclockable version as you can tell from the 4670, not 4670k.

 

[sixthshadow42]

How many monitors? 2, 3, 5?
Are you going to play games on all of those monitors?
I wouldn't go with SLI GTX 760 4gb because the GTX 760 aren't strong enough to actually allow you to fully utilize the 4gb vram.

Also, sixthshadow's processor is not the overclockable version as you can tell from the 4670, not 4670k.

Thank's for pointing that out (the CPU), I thought I had changed it, I'll edit it now. Also, I know the 760 cant fully utilize all the vram but I figured that if 5Minutes would be using more than one of his monitors to game, it would be better than going with SLI GTX 770 2gb because I didn't think 2gb vram would be enough if more than 2 monitors were used. I would've recommended going with XFire R9 280X's (cheaper and has 3gb vram) but apparently, XFire isn't as stable as SLI.

 

[realchaos]

Well we still don't know how many monitors the OP is using and how many the OP is actually going to game on. With that answered, we can provide a better set-up overall.