New Build for Light Gaming & Excel <$2K

[CWatsonJr]

First off - this is my first post here. I have been lurking on this site for years and have had many questions answered without having to post.

I haven't built a system since around '98 or so, things have changed somewhat.

I use Excel on a daily basis and currently have a Asus M32 i7 4790 16Gb Win 7 64 bit 350W PSU system. For the majority of my sheets, this system works great but there are a couple of workbooks that use 100% of the CPU and 20% of the RAM to calculate. I don't think I will ever solve that without getting (or building) a SMP system - which I can not afford. This is also why I opted for Win 7 over Win 10 - I have tried Win 10 with Excel and it blocks some of the key ways I use the program.

My sons recently purchased Battlefront (PC version) and I want to start playing the game with them. My current system would need a PSU (500~1000W range) and a video card (he purchased the Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX and the game looks really good on it and is very smooth) upgrade. I think instead of trying to upgrade what I have, it would be cleaner and better to build a new system.

The reason I added an IDE controller card is because I have lots 5.25 and 3.5 discs laying around and I have the drives sitting in the computer I built in the mid-90's (in the closet). I also have an internal Zip drive but I can live without putting that in the system.

It will take me a few weeks to get the parts together but I was hoping to build it before February had ended. I live in SoCal and visit Fry's quite often. I am not stranger to Amazon or Newegg either. I assembled this list using pcpartpicker.com (https://pcpartpicker.com/user/CWatsonJr/saved/)

With that in mind - here goes.

CPU - Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor

CPU Cooler - Corsair H110 94.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

MOBO - Asus Z97 PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Memory - Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory

Boot Drive - Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Video Card - Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card

Case - Thermaltake Core V51 ATX Mid Tower

Power Supply - Corsair 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Optical Drive - Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer

O/S - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit)

IDE Contro?ller Card

Thank you for your input!

 

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110 94.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($150.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($319.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake Core V51 ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($95.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($53.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: IDE Controller Card
Total: $1652.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 16:28 EST-0500

This should suit you better, if you are going for data crunching then a good idea would be a xeon however if you are also gaming meeting in the middle and going for a skylake i7 processor would be a good idea. The power supply you had was not needed at all, even the one if have put in there now is over powered for the components you are using however give you lots of room for overclocking etc, also you have the benefits of DDR4 and with the i7 hyperthreading.

 

[CWatsonJr]

Kewl! Thank you very much for the input!

 

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

also if you are willing to spend more money, i would recommend getting a larger hard drive to save yourself later, also you could get a higher capacity intel SSD, I would suggest getting a more powerful graphics card however since you have already bought it there is not much point!

 

[CWatsonJr]

That was my son that bought the GPU. I was just mimicking what he got because the game looked so good on it. Fry's had a R9 390x Strix on sale that I almost bought but I didn't.

I can add an extra HDD later if I need one and the SSD I was just going to use as a boot drive. Is the Intel SSD more reliable than the Samsung?

Which graphics card would you suggest that wouldn't break the bank?

Thank you again!

 

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

I would go for a 980 ti, if you have the money you might as well go for the higher tier of graphics card otherwise you will find yourself having to upgrade sooner and the Intel is more reliable and performs better however is much more expensive than I thought so I would stick with the Samsung but go for the 980 ti

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110 94.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($150.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($651.56 @ B&H)
Case: Thermaltake Core V51 ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($95.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($53.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM (64-bit) ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: IDE Controller Card
Total: $1985.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-24 06:07 EST-0500

If the 980ti is a bit too much for you then just go for the 980 that will perform very well however if you have the cash to spend on a ti then go for it, you do not have to have that ti, look for the one that fits your build best and you like the look of most that is just an example

 

[CWatsonJr]

Kewl - Thank you again for your input!!!