Desktop/Gaming PC build trying to balance cost/performance. Feedback Please!

[watchlizard]

This pc build is an attempt at fast desktop pc that can double as a gaming pc at medium-high settings with decent game play. Any suggestions appreciated. Cooling is for future overclocking..maybe. This is my first post on the forums here, I've enjoyed reading for a while.

Trying to keep this under $1000, the lower the better.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/sandlizard/saved/XLK2FT

 

[prit87]

every thing looks fine except your card ditch that and at least get a gtx 750 1 gb card...sorry to say but i dont understand one thing u are spending so much on other stuff like liquid cooling k series 4th gen processor z97 board and buying a crappy card if u want a gaming pc then u should mainly focus on the gpu then depending on that other parts ..... if u can then get a r9 270 ...

 

[Rapajez]

Ok, important to know your monitor's native resolution and some of the other info from the sticky'd template.

Right off the bat, there's a big mis-match between your CPU and GPU. The 730 is going to struggle with a lot of current games, while the i5-4690k is overkill, by comparison. You may be better with a Intel Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition, which would let you upgrade down the road, and is still very OC-friendly. That or switch to a AMD FX platform. With the saved money, you want to bump the GPU up to a GTX 760 or R9 270X.

I'd also lose the Closed Loop Water cooler. Check out the Noctua NH-D14, or if you're not doing too much of an OC, the much cheaper Hyper 212 EVO. The problem with water cooling, is you still end up with a loud radiator, more work to install, and the rest of the mobo isn't kept cool as the CPU. All for a very tiny bump in cooling, compared to the air cooler.

If you can squeeze in the budget, I'd add a SSD. Everyday computing is much more responsive, and the time it takes for game launching and loading is cut into a tiny fraction.

 

[watchlizard]

Ok, important to know your monitor's native resolution and some of the other info from the sticky'd template.

Right off the bat, there's a big mis-match between your CPU and GPU. The 730 is going to struggle with a lot of current games, while the i5-4690k is overkill, by comparison. You may be better with a Intel Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition, which would let you upgrade down the road, and is still very OC-friendly. That or switch to a AMD FX platform. With the saved money, you want to bump the GPU up to a GTX 760 or R9 270X.

I'd also lose the Closed Loop Water cooler. Check out the Noctua NH-D14, or if you're not doing too much of an OC, the much cheaper Hyper 212 EVO. The problem with water cooling, is you still end up with a loud radiator, more work to install, and the rest of the mobo isn't kept cool as the CPU. All for a very tiny bump in cooling, compared to the air cooler.

If you can squeeze in the budget, I'd add a SSD. Everyday computing is much more responsive, and the time it takes for game launching and loading is cut into a tiny fraction.

My monitor has a 1920×1080 native, so I upgraded to the Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB DirectCU II overclocked card should play about anything at that resolution. I feel it's a good buy for the features and performance. And it can be managed by the Asus Z97 MB's software and overclocked. As far as the water cooler, my intentions are to sell this system in the not too distant future and build another; so I think the water cooler will be more attractive to buyers. Especially with the overclocking that can be done so easily to both the unlocked CPU and GPU with the new Z97 Asus motherboards.
I really appreciate the feedback. I looked at the Cooler Master 212 and just think it's too big for the case I'm using. The Corsair Spec 3 is not the biggest ATX case. I've seen some pictures of systems with that cooler and one concern expressed by several builders in other forums was getting the side panel on with the height of the cooler. One actually had the heat pipes sticking through the holes in the vent panel of the side panel. I want to avoid any problems like that on my first build. The water cooler with keep me away from those problems and it is certified by Corsair to work in my case. That gives me piece of mind.
One thing I don't understand. I've got more fans and other 3 pin power components that there are plugs on the motherboard. Is there a Molex power cable with the Corsair RM PSU? I can't find where it actually says there is. It says there are 4 connectors of the PSU, but does not mention a cable. Hoping someone has experience with the RM series from Corsair and can answer that question. Just wondering if I need to purchase a fan power hub or something similar.

Here is the link to my updated parts list. I added a card reader which is not a big deal and really does not affect the build. I changed the water cooler to the H60 for ease of installation. It has the best LGA 1150 socket install I can see on YouTube.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions guys. Really appreciate it. Little slow getting back to this I was out of town.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/sandlizard/saved/XLK2FT

 

[watchlizard]

every thing looks fine except your card ditch that and at least get a gtx 750 1 gb card...sorry to say but i dont understand one thing u are spending so much on other stuff like liquid cooling k series 4th gen processor z97 board and buying a crappy card if u want a gaming pc then u should mainly focus on the gpu then depending on that other parts ..... if u can then get a r9 270 ...

One thing I wanted to do was to make this system very up to date with the latest foundation parts, motherboard, CPU; so it can easily be upgraded by a buyer. I did upgrade my video card to the Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB DirectCU II. Figure this is a good balance of power and affordability. My monitor is 1920x1080. That card should do me well. But I did want to have the bones in this system so a buyer, I plan on selling this in the not too distant future and building another; could easily update to a high powered cards or add another Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB DirectCU II, the board, and PSU support SLI. The Asus card does too. Hope that clears that up. I've got a lot of building experience...just not computers. Houses. So I am always thinking about the foundation. Can't upgrade to 5th gen processor and high end video if you don't have the foundation. May make it harder to sell, not being ready to play current games at 1080P. But my budget just doesn't have room for that sort of graphics card.

 

[Dilan Gilluly]

I have a Hyper 212 Evo installed in an NZXT Source 210 and it fits but just barely, the clearance in the case is so small that two screws of the 120mm exhaust fan are covered by the back of the side panel. There's some good air coolers that are cheaper and may perform just as well as the H60(which isn't of the highest end liquid coolers), and don't carry the leak risk of AIO liquid coolers(All liquid cooling carries the risk, and I've seen some AIOs leak on occasion, especially Corsair H50s and other Asetek based coolers. And especially when they're not installed correctly.) The difference between a high performance air cooler and an AIO liquid cooling solution is barely negligible unless you get one with a dual 120 or 140 rad.

Most of the companies are good about helping replace damaged hardware due to a leak, but it takes them a long time to do so. There's so many hoops to jump through to get something covered under their damage policy. I know Corsair makes you take pictures and makes you send in your dead hardware, then they sleep on it for two to three weeks, then they'll order the replacements, and then ship them to you in an additional of 2-3 business days. It's a rare occasion, but it's what you'll be facing if you're the one out of 0.1% of people that it happens to. Which I was one of those people but I was lucky that it didn't kill my video card or motherboard.(Had an H50 'newer model' that leaked on me after a month and a half.)

And there's more air cooling solutions out there than the Hyper 212, including some good low profile ones. Especially made by Noctua. If you get a Cooler Master cooler that takes a 120mm fan, replace it. The ones they put on by default are junk. But again the fans that come with Corsair AIOs are junk too(IMO).

 

[Rapajez]

I'll start with the Fan Question: You can purchase 3-pin fan splitters, to get more fans attached to your mobo. You want to connect fans directly to the motherboard, not the PSU. Fans connected to the mobo can be controlled, while the PSU fans will just run at full power (and full noise). The level of control depends on the motherboard, which is why some people still purchase separate fan controllers. In your case, I'd just get some splitters.

For GPUs, consider the AMD R9 280 for about $30-50 less, at about the same performance. HIS makes a nice model, but it's wide, so verify you can fit 2 in crossfire if you want that to be an option. It also comes with 3GB of RAM, which would make it better for a case that needed 2 of these in X-fire. (Your total Video RAM is equal to the VRAM of one card. If you have 2 cards with 2GB of VRAM, the system can only use 2GB total.)

I think the Cooler issue has been covered by the posts above. There are some low-profile, quite alternatives. The AIO's do look cool though...

I don't know squat about Mushkin SSDs. I wouldn't scrimp here. Pick up a Crucial M500 120GB, or even better, a Samsung 840 EVO. Trust me, the price differences are worth it, speed, reliability, ease of use of the software, and the warranty.

Finally, the cooler comes with the thermal paste (probably already applied, better than a human could do it), so you can skip the coolant paste. Most people do these days.

 

[Dilan Gilluly]

I don't know squat about Mushkin SSDs. I wouldn't scrimp here. Pick up a Crucial M500 120GB, or even better, a Samsung 840 EVO. Trust me, the price differences are worth it, speed, reliability, ease of use of the software, and the warranty.

Finally, the cooler comes with the thermal paste (probably already applied, better than a human could do it), so you can skip the coolant paste. Most people do these days.

I was wondering the same thing about the SSD, but didn't want to jump to conclusions. I know Mushkin was hit and miss with RAM years back and since then avoided them, but I don't know if they got those reliability issues sorted out before they entered the SSD marked.

I overlooked the TIM. Ceramic is actually some pretty low end TIM anyway, which is silicone + zinc-oxide based, keep in mind that the stuff does 1-4C worse than silver and synthetic diamond based paste. It's marketing hype is that it's non-conductive which means less risk of short circuit if an accident happens. But even silver and synthetic diamond based pastes have to be presented with a storm of perfect conditions for them to go electrically conductive.

He should be better off using the stuff that comes with the cooler, which is Corsair's silver based compound, and performs pretty well.