First Build, Wouldn't Mind Some Opinions..

[Brawly]

Okay so this is both my first computer build and my first post on this forum, which I must say has been extremely useful for picking and choosing some of the parts that I've chosen. I'll be building this computer in about 2 weeks after I get back from vacation, so I definitely have time to change things up in case I simply change my mind or whatever may happen. So here's my parts list so far, all of which being from Newegg except for the cable extensions/LEDs:

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 Black/White
CPU: Intel i5-4460 3.2 GHz
MoBo: ASRock H97 Pro4
PSU: Corsair CX600M
GPU: Gigabyte Windforce R9 280X (Which I'm getting for $250 from a friend, so this is pretty much set in stone)
RAM: G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4)
HDD: WD 1TB Caviar Blue 7200RPM
OS: Windows 8.1 64bit

Monitor: ASUS VX238H-W (white)
Keyboard/Mouse: CM Storm Devastator bundle ($30, so why not, not a huge priority)

And then some Blue/Black mixed cables from Bitfenix, a 24 pin, 8 and 6 PCI-e, and an 8-pin EPS, along with a 1m white LED cable from NZXT.

I'm a Star Wars fan, and I'm going for a sort of 'R2D2' kinda thing here, so of course I have a lot of blue and white here, along with some black. I'm sticking with a stock intel cooler for now, but I may upgrade in the future to a H100i just purely for fun and for the aesthetics. As of now this all adds up to about 1200$, and I'll be paying for about $700 of it out of my own pocket after rebates and such, so I'd like to keep it in that range. Mind you, I'm very new to this, I started teaching myself about CPUs and such about 2 to 3 months ago and never really looked back, so I'm extremely open to suggestions, advice, opinions, whatever.

 

[Outlander_04]

Its only a few $ more for a faster clocked i5 . If you can then that is an obvious improvement . The rest looks sound

 

[Brawly]

This is probably a stupid question then, but would it be better for me to go with a faster i3? I'm not going to be doing too much gaming on this, more simulation, modeling, rendering, and that sort of thing, but some gaming.

 

[Outlander_04]

Stick with the i5
The extra cores will speed rendering and modelling . So will a higher clock speed

 

[Brawly]

Would an FX 8350 be a better option than anything else in that price range?

 

[Outlander_04]

That might depend on your software . At this point it is getting harder and harder to recommend AMD for this kind of usage .
I would stick with the i5

 

[Brawly]

Could I possibly, if I had some extra money and decided to get a 4690k/4670k, overclock with that board? Or would I have to get a Z97?

 

[Outlander_04]

You would need Z97 , possibly Z87 [ but there could be a need to update the BIOS before the 4690K would run ]

 

[SpectreUnleashed]

8350 is possibly the best CPU made by AMD but problem with AMD is (my opinion) are consumption and motherboards. AMD mobos do not feature pci-e 3.0 expansions so gpu's do not work at their best. go for i5 for now. lga 1550 socket and z97 chipset will allow you to put 5th generation in long run so stick with z97 mobos.