New planned build, looking for opinions $1800 - 1900€.

[Magouf]

Hello people, I'm planning on building a new system mainly for gaming and for the ordinary stuff, surfing the Internetz, watching movies, ect..

I've been off the market for a while, since my last build was around 5 years ago, so it took me a while to "catch up" and get to this list. And let me tell you, I was quite shocked with the difference in prices between US and France which is were I'm currently living and it's were I'm planing to buy the parts. Like the title says in US I could get this system for "only" ~$1800, meanwhile here in France it's almost ~2000€ the exact same build... Which is weird since €>$ in currency, I'm guessing you're paying the EU taxes or what not....Anyhow, enough with the pricing complaints and moving forward to the build:


CPU | Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $219.88 @ OutletPC

CPU Cooler | Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $74.99 @ NCIX US

Motherboard | Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $208.09 @ SuperBiiz

Memory | Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory | $167.99 @ Newegg

SDD | Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $189.99 @ Mac Mall

Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $53.97 @ OutletPC

Video Card | Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card | $341.90 @ B&H

Case | NZXT Phantom (Black/Orange) ATX Full Tower Case | $132.98 @ Newegg

PSU | Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $148.99 @ NCIX US

Monitor | Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor | $259.99 @ NCIX US

| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1798.77
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-18 09:40 EST-0500 |

After some time surfing, searching, researching I've reached this build.

So, onto the reason I'm here, opinions and a couple of questions:

1. Will this build "synergize" well?;

2.Can I get more out of this build, as for performance/buck wise?

3.Regarding CPU Cooler and the case, do you think it will cool enough? I like low temps, I'm not a obsessive person with temps, but I don't like them too high, If that makes any sense. I've checked some reviews they both seem good.

4.Can this PSU handle well this components? I'm planning on adding another GTX970 but it wont be in less then a year... or 2

5. Overall, is this overkill, or is it a good build for it's price?

Annd that's it people, would be highly appreciated to have these questions answered, a long with your personal/experienced opinions.

P.S. As for anyone interested in my current build which I plan to retire:

Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9550 - Currently stocked, used to run it at @3.4 stable
Xigmatek Achilles
Asus P5Q-E
XFX HD 4890 XXX Edition
OCZ Reaper 4x2GB @ 1066mhz
NOX Pulsar 750W
Thermaltake M5

Cheers.

 

[Demosthenest]

Bloody expensive for what if offers... This is about the same (without monitor) and 8gb of ram, YOU DO NOT NEED 16GB. It's a common misconception that you need so much and so expensive ram for gaming. 8gb will do for any game atm and you can always add more later on when it's actually necessary.
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2QjvYJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2QjvYJ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($77.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($90.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($343.99 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1177.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-18 12:11 EST-0500

 

[Demosthenest]

Case I recommend is IMO better, cooler too. Similar temps, better noise levels.

 

[Archgaull]

The build looks pretty good, but I'd definitely switch the motherboard, it's about $100 more than what you need, I'd suggest something like an ASROCK Z97 Pro3 if you plan on overclocking, or a H97 board if you don't plan on overclocking.

 

[Magouf]

(...)YOU DO NOT NEED 16GB. It's a common misconception that you need so much and so expensive ram for gaming. 8gb will do for any game atm and you can always add more later on when it's actually necessary(...)

Yeah I know 16gb might be overkill if I'm not going to Editing, Video processing, streaming, ect, but I intend using RamDisk and I'm not sure if 8 gb will be enough. I've looked over these but again will it be enough?

Case I recommend is IMO better, cooler too. Similar temps, better noise levels.

The case I'm looking for must fit in these categories: excellent airflow, lots of fans, good layout (good position, cable management) good looking design and the Phantom seems to fit in all those categories. Do you have any other suggestions? Excluding the Fractals which everyone loves it except me, I just hate it. The H440 seemed perfect, until I saw the HUGE window it has, leading to, wasting lot of space for cooling.

As for the cooler this time around I want to the Water/Hybrid .I might go for the H100i looks neat only for 10€-20€ extra then the h80i.

SSD probably going for the Samsung 840 EVO 250gb, that extra speed that the Pro series has over the EVO don't think it's worth it.

Yes, I have thing for brands ^^

Sorry for delayed answer, thank you for posting.

 

[Magouf]

The build looks pretty good, but I'd definitely switch the motherboard, it's about $100 more than what you need, I'd suggest something like an ASROCK Z97 Pro3 if you plan on overclocking, or a H97 board if you don't plan on overclocking.

I've been looking into these Asus Z97-A and the Asus Sabertooth Z97 M2 and tbh they have some interesting features but lacking other features that Hero has. I'm aware that this board is arguably overpriced, but in another way it's ~50€ more for a tons of features. Yeah I know, I'm dumb, but I really like the features it has and I've always been a Asus mobo costumer and they never disappointed me, until now.

 

[Demosthenest]

The noctua nhd14 beats most water coolers and is way quieter.
Ram disk has been proved to not provide a substantial advantage in load times, check out linustechtips video about it, it was about the same as an ssd.