First build: gaming pc

[Dutchess22]

Hello everyone,

I have given up on gaming notebooks after the GPU of mine died and have decided to venture into PC territory and build my own.

This is what I have come up with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/k7XmmG

Any advice is welcome. I have done my best to research every component, so I think I have managed to get past the phase that my build would be outright embarrassing. The thing I'm still unsure about is the GPU. I have read a lot about the debate on VRAM and that AMD cards have more than NVIDIA but it seems there's really no way of saying how important that will become in the (near) future. For now I've opted for NVIDIA because of their lower temperatures and I lean slightly in their direction instead of AMD. I have contemplated to shell out some more money and go for a 4GB version of the gtx 770 or even an R9 290 but the reportedly high temperatures of the latter and its poor cooling have scared me of, and I'm not sure the €100 more for 4GB would be worth it. I'd like this build to last at least three years (and preferably more) and in my noob mind high temp = higher chance it's gonna break.
I heard NVIDIA is going to release their new GPUs in two months, so I assume it will be worth it to wait for that, either to get one of those (probably too expensive then) or to get the 770 cheaper.

Let's see, what else? I want to play Skyrim, The Witcher 2 and 3, probably Dragon Age 3. I'm going to play on one monitor with 1080 p.

I'm not on a really strict budget so would be willing to spend a little more if it would be really worth it, but because in the Netherlands the price of these components will be in euros and more expensive (unfortunately retailers like to think 1 USD = 1 euro), so I'd rather not go much higher, if any.

I think that's all. Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Ordinem Lars]

Have you read that you need to (Possibly) remove an hdd cage? Other than that, looks good. Might want to upgrade the i5 to the 4670. Might also want to add something other than your stock cooler, e.g. the CM hyper 212 evo.

-Lars

 

[danco5074]

The r9 290 isn't that hot for its performance. It can out perform the 780 and is only about 10C hotter than it (the 780 is also a hot card). http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1036 The higher end your card the more unavoidable the heat is. But they are meant to run at those temps and will do so with the same life-span of weaker/cooler cards. It will out perform the hell out of 770 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1037.

I would not get the 770 4GB. It's a gimmic. It can not handle settings that would output more than 2GB of VRAM. It is only worth it for an SLI, but that is a very expensive SLI and not really worth the performance/cost if you ask me. I'd personally go with the r9 290 since it will be your biggest upgrade for the least cost. But, if you're a hardcore must-have-Nvidia and want to spend extra for the brand and less temps, it is worth it to you. I would stick with the 2GB version unless you plan to go 780.

 

[Dutchess22]

Have you read that you need to (Possibly) remove an hdd cage? Other than that, looks good. Might want to upgrade the i5 to the 4670. Might also want to add something other than your stock cooler, e.g. the CM hyper 212 evo.

-Lars

Thanks. I have read that, yes, but I don't see myself needing more than that SSD and HDD in the years to come, so the lower cage with three shelves should be enough.

I have spent hours looking at cases and what I gathered from the reviews (one on this site) was that this case has good airflow and decent temperatures with the stock fans. Then again, it probably would be prudent to add another one.

The difference between the two i5s seems pretty small, and I read that the CPU tends to be of lesser import in games (at least compared to the GPU)?

The r9 290 isn't that hot for it's performance. It can out perform the 780 and is only about 10C hotter than it (the 780 is also a hot card). http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1036 The higher end your card the more unavoidable the heat is. But they are meant to run at those temps and will do so with the same life-span of weaker/cooler cards. It will out perform the hell out of 770.

I would not get the 770 4GB. It's a gimmic. It can not handle settings that would output more than 2GB. It is only worth it for an SLI, but that is a very expensive SLI and not really worth the performance/cost if you ask me. I'd personally go with the r9 290 since it will be your biggest upgrade for the least cost. But, if you're a hardcore must-have-Nvidia and want to spend extra for the brand and less temps, it is worth it to you. I would stick with the 2GB version unless you plan to go 780.

Thanks. In that case I'm definitely back to reconsidering the r9 290. I wouldn't call myself a hardcore NVIDIA user. 😛 It's their damn notebook graphics chips that fried after 2.5 years, so maybe I should switch camps, lol.

 

[BlankPursuit]

He doesn't need an after-market CPU cooler since this isn't a K version, which means it isn't overclockable. The stock fan is good enough