New PC Build - Any Suggestions/Changes?

[Prestoni]

I am looking to build a new gaming PC. I have a basic spec outlined which comes in nicely into my budget. I don't need any peripherals at this point so that's all good. I am looking at:

Intel i5 - 4690K 3.5 GHz processor
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CPU Cooler
Asus Z97-K Motherboard
8 GB DDR3 RAM at 2400 MHz
Kingston 240 GB SSD
Western Digital 3TB 7200 RPM HDD
ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5
Corsair Builder Series Modular CX750M - 750 Watt 80 PLUS® Bronze Power Supply

I have my eye on a Novatech case which is the right form factor so that should be fine.

Hopefully this will work out pretty well, and run pretty much anything for now, and let me upgrade the RAM/Graphics card in a year or two when I have more cash if it becomes necessary. I will probably try overclocking the processor to around 4.2 GHZ, from what I have read it can go a bit higher but I don't want to push it.

So, am I being relatively sensible, or have I missed something?

 

[Tinkmaster Overspark]

If you cut down on your SSD and HDD space (maybe a 120gb Samsung 840 EVO for example) and a 1tb WD black unless you have those kind of big storage needs, and cut your PSU down to 500w-550w you could use the savings to get a superior graphics card to that one, try to advance up the graphics card tiers up towards a gtx 970 which is the pinnacle of what you might potentially be able to afford.

hard drives can also be upgraded later, but the ones you already have bought dont go to waste, while a 750TI would go to waste when you upgrade GPU in a year. So its my philosophy its better to under spend on hard drives and prioritise THE most important part of the system for gaming

and once again, that PSU is overkill haha. there are some cheap but GOOD EVGA ones you can get to save some money

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Can you explain you build philosophy? You have a top-end i5, and I assume that you plan to overclock the snot out of it. However, your twin-turbo V8 is powering a very nice Honda Civic.

I have not calculated your budget, but this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: BitFenix Phenom M Nvidia Edition: Black MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $868.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-08 10:01 EST-0500

Is a better balanced system and I'd be happy to tweak it to your needs.

 

[Prestoni]

Cheers for the answers so far, the basic build philosophy was to chuck the money into the motherboard, processor and RAM, and to put together something solid that will do anything I ask it to for the next 12 to 18 months, but that I can change out later on when I have more cash.

Once built, its much easier to change the graphics card than it is to change a processor/motherboard. I guess the weak spot in my processor/motherboard/RAM sector is the motherboard, but slight budget constraint creeping in there as I can get the processor, board and chip bundled for a very good price. I am buying in the UK, and the processor is essentially a $1 = £1 here (or so it seems).

Total budget is around £800/$1200 approx. There is a bit of leeway in that if needed, prob an extra £200 to £300 or so, but that will be in a couple of weeks, which pushes the build back till after I am back at work, but for a better system is doable.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Thanks for explaining that. I completely understand. At the moment, my build relies on iGPU. I await the GTX970.

I don't think that the motherboard is a weak spot. You are probably better at making the cash/features decision than I am.

Unless you are in a crunch, I would build it without a GPU and then go straight to the GTX970, if it is only a matter of a month or so. It will take you a while to get the parts, put them together, get things tested, and do your benchmarks (won't it?) while the money builds for the GTX970.

Forget all of this if you can recover 90+% of your GTX750ti cost or you have to wait longer than three months..

 

[Prestoni]

With the bits I have listed, I can prob get them all in place by the end of the week. I have 2 weeks annual leave at the moment, so could get it built not long after that. That is already the 14th though, and the cash to go further will be in after the weekend by the 17th, so you are probably right there. I can build it without the GPU, check it is working with the basic onboard graphics and get the OS up and running, then chuck the graphics card in a few days after.

Good call, thanks for acting as a sounding board on that one.