Building first system for gaming

[asdtech153]

I'm building a new system for gaming as my gaming laptop is now slowing down and not really preforming to my standards.

I'm looking to keep the build at $1500 or under and here's what I've done so far
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2KFNg

Also, I work for BBY and they seem to have a good discount for corsair (idk what it is yet) and that is why you see an abundance of corsair parts

Thanks for your help in advance!

Edit: Forgot to add a few things,
Won't be buying an OS (have a copy of 8 sitting around)
Would like to avoid SLI/Crossfire
Won't be buying a monitor/mouse/keyboard. I'm currently using a laptop for gaming and I'm also using an
Asus VN247H-P 23.6 inch monitor (looking to run with 1080p through HDMI)
Corsair K70 Mechanical keyboard
Razer Deathadder (2013)

 

[Aj Baker]

Are you planning on overclocking ?

 

[asdtech153]

Are you planning on overclocking ?

Not really, tho I might. I've never done any overclocking so its something I'd rather not do, however if there are gigantic advantages then I'd do it

 

[Specops125]

Are you planning on overclocking ?

Not really, tho I might. I've never done any overclocking so its something I'd rather not do, however if there are gigantic advantages then I'd do it

Are you goona go SLI down the line?

Edit: Nm, didn't see it.

 

[asdtech153]

Are you planning on overclocking ?

Not really, tho I might. I've never done any overclocking so its something I'd rather not do, however if there are gigantic advantages then I'd do it

Are you goona go SLI down the line?

I might, I was considering at the start to go crossfire R9 270s (cost about as much as the 770 I've picked) but a lot of what I've read says do a single GPU if you can. But in the future for upgrades, after I've got some experience (and money) under my belt I'd probably do it

 

[Specops125]

Are you planning on overclocking ?

Not really, tho I might. I've never done any overclocking so its something I'd rather not do, however if there are gigantic advantages then I'd do it

Are you goona go SLI down the line?

I might, I was considering at the start to go crossfire R9 270s (cost about as much as the 770 I've picked) but a lot of what I've read says do a single GPU if you can. But in the future for upgrades, after I've got some experience (and money) under my belt I'd probably do it

Oh, well it impacts the choice of motherboard and PSU.

 

[Aj Baker]

Well you get alot more clock speed for your money. The intel chip you have is an unlocked chip so it is really good at overclocking. You can tell this as the model number ends in K. You can save your self money by get a non K chip. Plus you would do alot more research on mother board and ram if you were overclocking. Also the cooler you got is great for overclocking but if you are not overclocking then save some more money. I would put the money saved into a larger SSD.

 

[asdtech153]

Oh, well it impacts the choice of motherboard and PSU.

Oh okay, I would consider keeping this computer for at least 2-3 years before doing a major upgrade so at that point I may just do a new build and reuse some parts while swapping out others

 

[Specops125]

So this would give you headway to go SLI in the future:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 12g Thermal Paste ($15.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($194.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1564.52
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-31 03:47 EST-0500)

The build below would not allow you to SLI:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 12g Thermal Paste ($15.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-K ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($194.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1514.02
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-31 03:53 EST-0500)

I should mention, games right now wouldn't use more than 8GB of RAM, and if as you said you are looking to do a major upgrade in a few years time, I think you can skip the 16GB without ever having to of needed it (unless you multitask while gaming, run multiple instances of MMOs, and/or do video/photo editing work).

EDIT: I also stuck to Amazon and Newegg as you did.

 

[asdtech153]

Well you get alot more clock speed for your money. The intel chip you have is an unlocked chip so it is really good at overclocking. You can tell this as the model number ends in K. You can save your self money by get a non K chip. Plus you would do alot more research on mother board and ram if you were overclocking. Also the cooler you got is great for overclocking but if you are not overclocking then save some more money. I would put the money saved into a larger SSD.

Doing a quick google search there are a few others who have OC'd this exact motherboard/processor setup successfully (up to 4.4ghz) also another thing that I liked about this motherboard is that it does have built in wifi essentially, which will be nice until I get around to moving my router around

 

[asdtech153]

So this would give you headway to go SLI in the future:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 12g Thermal Paste ($15.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($194.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1564.52
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-31 03:47 EST-0500)

The build below would not allow you to SLI:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 12g Thermal Paste ($15.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-K ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($194.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1514.02
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-31 03:53 EST-0500)

I should mention, games right now wouldn't use more than 8GB of RAM, and if as you said you are looking to do a major upgrade in a few years time, I think you can skip the 16GB without ever having to of needed it (unless you multitask while gaming, run multiple instances of MMOs, and/or do video/photo editing work).

EDIT: I also stuck to Amazon and Newegg as you did.

First off, thanks a lot for the help

Second, is there a major trade off between the 840 pro and something like a Corsair GTX series SSD? Reason I ask is, like I said in the OP, I get a discount on some corsair stuff (i'm finding out exactly what the discount is tomorrow) so if its largely negligible I still may lean towards the corsair SSD

 

[Specops125]

First off, thanks a lot for the help

Second, is there a major trade off between the 840 pro and something like a Corsair GTX series SSD? Reason I ask is, like I said in the OP, I get a discount on some corsair stuff (i'm finding out exactly what the discount is tomorrow) so if its largely negligible I still may lean towards the corsair SSD

Np, actually I didn't notice you had put '840' series, don't get that one. People usually get the Samsung 840 Evo, or the Samsung 840 Pro (which are more expensive, slightly faster, and have the potential to last for decades). Samsung SSD's have a reputation for quality and doing very well in benchmarks, but I've read a few times that differences in SSD speeds are basically not noticeable, and only get fleshed out in a benchmark. I don't know how reliable Corsair SSD's are, but they are a solid company so I don't think you would have issues with their flagship SSD. Basically, if the price savings are big enough, I would go with it, and I don't think you necessarily need the Neutron GTX line either.

Prices:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Corsair Neutron Series GTX 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $568.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-31 04:57 EST-0500)