First home-build selection critique

[Xephyr11]

Hello everyone, I'm looking to move on from an old laptop to a new desktop this Christmas time. I'll be using it largely for gaming and general internet and video watching - the gaming at the moment includes Final Fantasy XIV, Starcraft 2, Minecraft, Osu!, etc.

I've gone ahead and made the selections below (nothing bought yet) and was wondering how I did - whether I did ok, could get the same for less, or better for roughly the same.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WCtdgs
CPU : Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-H97-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1150
Memory : G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600
SSD : Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
HDD : Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 7200RPM
GPU : Asus Radeon R9 280X 3GB DirectCU II
Case : Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower
PSU : Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX
Optical Drive : Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer
Operating System : Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)
Monitor : BenQ GW2760HS 60 Hz 27.0"

Total : $1180.75

Monitor choice is up in the air - just something that looks good at about that size.
Keyboard is undecided, but mechanical.
Maximum price range of $1500 including the as-of-yet undecided keyboard.

Thank you for your time in helping me!

 

[lukall87]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($85.28 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($150.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($334.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($197.96 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer S220HQLAbd 21.5" Monitor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Thermaltake eSPORTS Meka Wired Gaming Keyboard ($59.99 @ Mechanical Keyboards)
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-FORCE M7 Wired Optical Mouse ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1484.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-06 01:53 EST-0500

 

[Robertwhyte]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($85.28 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($150.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($334.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($197.96 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer S220HQLAbd 21.5" Monitor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Thermaltake eSPORTS Meka Wired Gaming Keyboard ($59.99 @ Mechanical Keyboards)
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-FORCE M7 Wired Optical Mouse ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1484.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-06 01:53 EST-0500

he dosnt need windows 7 ultimate lol, but other than that...+1

 

[Trossa]

Added in a 4690k and a nice mobo so you can overclock if you want. Gtx 970 has the best price/performance out there.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($80.97 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($349.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1241.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-06 05:06 EST-0500

 

[Xephyr11]

Thanks for the inputs, and sorry for the delay, long day at work. Anyways...

I wasn't initially planning on overclocking, but I guess I'll consider it - would a newbie overclock be noticeable enough? And where would that difference be noticed the most?
If not, what would some reasoning be for the B85 board lukall suggested over the newer H97 chipset? Seemed to me a lot of threads I looked through would suggest going with the newer 97 chipsets. And then just a quick confirmation that if I DON'T go with the OC, the third party fan isn't all that necessary, correct?

8GB vs 16GB - Is the point where 8GB would be cutting it close near enough to go ahead with 16GB just to have it done with? Otherwise I'll just stick with the 8.

Also thanks for showing me builds at the same price with the GTX 970. I suppose I turned a blind eye to the top end automatically thinking it wouldn't fit in budget and was obviously wrong

Other than that, nothing comes to mind at the moment - thanks again for the help!

 

[Trossa]

Overclocking will give you a noticeable boost in performance, but if you make the voltages too high a bad motherboard will fail on you. Try to get a z97 board, b85 is made more for regular home desktops. A CPU cooler is necessary if you want to increase your component life or put a lot of pressure on your computer.

8gb is all that's needed these days, you'll rarely get over 4gb.

 

[Trossa]

One last thing, if you can, definitely invest in case fans, as the haf 912 doesn't come with many and they help massively with the cooling of your computer.

 

[lukall87]

erm... i have 5 chrome tabs, steam, and nvidia shadow play open in win 8 and am using 5.75 gb of ram... when gaming i usually use around 10.