Seeking advice on a new gaming PC

[Eeyooree]

I've been reading this forum for a few weeks now about gaming pc builds. I saw a PC Gamer article about a super gaming build that I followed to create this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7p8hwP

A little about me, why I want to build this, and a plea for any guidance/advice/motivational statements.

I love aesthetically pleasing graphics. They don't have to be extremely life-like (like crysis), but I want to run games like ARMA III on the highest settings, with all the wonderful community mods. I also like to play WoW with good settings and no screen tearing. A note on ARMA - the main reason for this build is for ARMA III. See, I currently have an iMac, and ARMA is only for PC. So I want a build that can crush this game. I don't play multiplayer, but enjoy building very complex scenarios in the editor to watch play out. I'm ex-mil and BI made a program for military simulators that was 100x larger than ARMA that I worked with and thus, this is a passion of mine.

Passion ... I'm also a musician, so I need a computer that on top of gaming, can run programs like ableton, NI Komplete, Reason, etc. I'm not a pro, but an advanced hobbyist I would say.

I don't have a hang up on spending money for quality and speed. But I am so new to this that I don't know if this build has quality or speed. I'm solely basing this off an article I read. I have no intention of overclocking, because I am afraid to. Yes, afraid. I also want a semi future proof system. Yes, I know in a year most, if not all of this will be outdated. However, I still want to run "new" games in a few years on at least mid setting (think ARMA 4?) Finally, I also don't want to pay for all this stuff and then have parts not work together, or really have no clue how to put it together. I know it's "easy," so I am willing to go for it. Plus, youtube always helps. So if you could way in on whether this is a decent setup for what I plan to do, whether I am getting in over my head, or any other insight, I would greatly appreciate it!

TL;DR - is this build good for ARMA 3 and should I build it?

 

[introsounds]

Most of your choices are very well-suited to the type of use you described, but I have a few suggestions as far as the video card and motherboard.

The video card: the 980 is an awful value right now, offering comparatively little performance improvement over something like a GTX 970 for the $150 - $200 cost increase. I'd recommend either going with a 970, or, if you truly want to be future-proofed and want a ton of horsepower, the 980Ti, which is more slanted at 1440p/4k gaming but is still a surprisingly good value. Personally I would opt for the 970 due to its cost to performance ratio, but it all depends on how much power you feel like you need.

The motherboard: the motherboard you selected is straight overkill. If you want a reliable board, and even one that is slanted towards gaming, take a look at some of the options from MSI or Asus at around the $150 range. Take the savings from that and put it towards a 980Ti, or peripherals if you're still in need of those.

Other than that, you might want to look at replacing the SSD you selected with something like Samsung's 850 Pro 256GB SSD, which is only $150 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147360.

Good luck, hope I helped!

 

[Eeyooree]

Ok - I updated the build. I swapped the 256 SSD for the EVO, swapped in a 980ti (I don't want to do SLI, so two 970's is out), and dropped the mobo to the MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX board. I have no clue if that board works, since pcpartpicker raised a compatibility check issue.

 

[introsounds]

Awesome! Don't forget to pick a solution!