Help needed with my build

[Jan Alexy]

I'm gonna build my first PC and so far I have in mind something like this:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wBpZmG


The help I need is, where can I save some money in your opinion?
Can I replace some part that you know I can get cheaper?
Thanks for all replies

 

[Brett Ruttler]

Hello,

That's a nice looking build! The only comment I'd really make, which is completely the oposite of what you are asking (sorry!) is, if you're spending $1000 on a computer, why the cheap case? I'd be inclined to spend $40 more and get a good quality chassis.

In the past I've bought cases for ~£20($30) and they've held the components together OK, but dismantle your computer once or twice and they soon become flimsy and nasty and I used to replace the chassis every time I build or upgraded.

More recently I spent about £80 on a good quality antek case and it has lasted for 9 years with numerous different builds inside it. So if you want some longer-term value, a good quality chassis can easily last a decade or maybe more, out-living all the rest of your hardware. Not to mention making your PC seem so-much-nicer

To actually answer your question though, depending on your system's workloads, what games you want to play, videos you want to render etc you may find that CPU is overkill and dropping it to the model below may not result in any noticable difference. It's hard to offer any real advise on that though without knowing more about what you're going to use your machine for.

 

[Jan Alexy]

Hello,

That's a nice looking build! The only comment I'd really make, which is completely the oposite of what you are asking (sorry!) is, if you're spending $1000 on a computer, why the cheap case? I'd be inclined to spend $40 more and get a good quality chassis.

In the past I've bought cases for ~£20($30) and they've held the components together OK, but dismantle your computer once or twice and they soon become flimsy and nasty and I used to replace the chassis every time I build or upgraded.

More recently I spent about £80 on a good quality antek case and it has lasted for 9 years with numerous different builds inside it. So if you want some longer-term value, a good quality chassis can easily last a decade or maybe more, out-living all the rest of your hardware. Not to mention making your PC seem so-much-nicer

To actually answer your question though, depending on your system's workloads, what games you want to play, videos you want to render etc you may find that CPU is overkill and dropping it to the model below may not result in any noticable difference. It's hard to offer any real advise on that though without knowing more about what you're going to use your machine for.

Hi, thanks, I didn't really thought about the case in that way 😀 I'll look into that.

And I will be using it for all types of game mainly the multiplayers like LOL, CS:GO etc. but i also want to enjoy new games coming out which my old pc can't handle even on low settings.
.
Previously I was about to get the i5 4690k, but then I thought to myself that I want the CPU to last as long as possible so I figured I'll spend some more on the CPU. What are your thoughts?.

 

[Brett Ruttler]

OK so generally speaking then you want a superfast machine that will last as long as possible between upgrades.

That my friend has always been my view too.

I'd suggest, if you haven't already done so, take a look at some basic benchmarks and work out how much bang for your buck you're going to get.

yes, the faster your build, the longer it will last. however, high performance computer parts are subject to the law of diminishing returns - a $25 difference betwen an i3 and an i5 will give you a bigger performance boost than a $50 difference between an i5 and an i7 so you may easily spend $150 making your machine only 5% faster.

using that website linked above I can see that the i5 is 7745 points fast (don't ask me what that means, I haven't a clue) and the i7 is 11243 points fast. so the i7 is 1.45x the performance of the i5 and is 1.44x the price.

It looks to me, from that very simplistic view of performance-per-dollar that the i7 and i5 are almost identical value-for-money so there's nothing about the i5 that makes me think it would be a better buy given that you want the build to last as long as possible.

now compare that i7 to the 4930k or the 5690x, both of which are much faster than the one you have selected and you'll find that those chips are far more expensive in terms of bang-for-buck.

so it looks to me like, given your criteria, you have already selected the best processor for your needs/budget.

The only option for getting better performance for your money in a fairly high end build would be an AMD FX system, but then you won't get anywhere near the performance from that as you will an i7, it would just be quite a bit cheaper. An AMD FX system would get you i5 performance for a bit less money but given you want it to last ages, saving $250 bucks off your bottom line at the expense of 20-25% overall performance probably isn't worth it.

 

[maddogfargo]

Some things you may want to think about:

You have an unlocked K series CPU with an H series motherboard. this is a waste as you are paying a premium for an overclocking CPU on a motherboard that doesn't support overclocking.

8GB of RAM is plenty for gaming.

i7 is a waste for gaming unless you plan to go Crossfire or SLI.

I'm not 100% on the motherboard and PSU. There may be a better option for those. But this parts list should address all those issues, and is $70 less.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Mwave)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($51.77 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.44 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($354.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Enermax Thorex ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair VS 650W ATX Power Supply
Total: $957.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-05 09:56 EDT-0400

 

[Jan Alexy]

Okay. One last question is, is 2x 4GB of ram any better then 1x 8GB?