When to buy? What motherboard? Recording?

[EngineerFred]

I've been waiting for good prices on parts for this build for a while:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/w3d9D3

I have four questions:

1. Will prices rise towards Christmas, or will they fall? What sort of timing gets the cheapest results? What do you think of the build?

2. Is the 970GTX going to be outdated soon? It seems that it's been out a while. If so, I'll probably just get an AMD R9 380 and wait.

3. The motherboard in the build, despite being listed on pc partpicker, is only available in one place and hasn't been in stock for there for months. I don't think I'll ever be able to get one. What motherboards should I look at? Cheap but somewhat upgradeable as technology moves on is the goal. I doubt I'll overcloc, but it's a good capability to have.

4. Will this computer be capable of recording while playing, say, BF4 on high or ultra settings @ 60fps?

5. Most importantly, http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=186 <- this list has a LOT of 970GTXes which are apparently different. How much difference is there between them and how do I choose one?

Thank you for all your help,
Fred

 

[hdmark]

1- could probably wait for black Friday/cyber Monday. but I would just set price alerts and buy if you get a deal
2- whenever the next gen comes out (probably next year), but its a good card regardless
3- not sure
5- each brand puts out their own version with their own overclocks and cooling solutions. just google "which is the best gtx 970" and you'll get sons of articles with people arguing over which they like the most. but the short answer... they are all VERY similar , just get whats cheapest of MSI/EVGA/Gigabyte/ASUS and you'll be fine

 

[geofelt]

1. The time to buy is when you have the need and are ready to build. Tech prices generally trend lower on a price/performance basis over time. You could go with the build as is.

2. Soon, no. Nvidia and amd are expected to have the next gen in about a year.
You tend to get what you pay for in mid range graphics cards on a price/performance basis. If anything, I think of the R9-380 as an even older gen card that has been rebranded and overclocked.
3. You can pick any lga1150 motherboard, no need for an expensive enthusiast motherboard. If you might want to overclock a future "K" processor, then a Z97 chipset is what you want. Look also at M-ATX size, they are usually cheaper.

4. for multitasking, buy a 16gb ram kit up front. 2 x 8gb 1600 speed.

Some thoughts:

1. for a i5-4460, the included stock cooler is fine.
2. WD blue is likely a better quality hard drive.
FWIW.
I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games. If you can go 240gb, you may never need a hard drive.

I would defer on the hard drive unless you need to store large files such as video's.
It is easy to add a hard drive later.
Samsung EVO is a good choice.
Intel 730 is OK too.
3. Fancy coolers jack up the price of graphics cards, and are really not necessary.
Nothing wrong with the card you picked, but you will notice no difference in performance if you picked the cheapest available GTX970. I actually prefer the stock blower coolers. They get heat out of your case more directly.
4. A GTX970 runs on a 500w psu. The evga is, I think tier 3 on this list:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true
I would suggest Seasonic, xfx, antec as better quality units.
This Seasonic s12II should do the job at $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094

 

[EngineerFred]

1. The time to buy is when you have the need and are ready to build. Tech prices generally trend lower on a price/performance basis over time. You could go with the build as is.

2. Soon, no. Nvidia and amd are expected to have the next gen in about a year.
You tend to get what you pay for in mid range graphics cards on a price/performance basis. If anything, I think of the R9-380 as an even older gen card that has been rebranded and overclocked.
3. You can pick any lga1150 motherboard, no need for an expensive enthusiast motherboard. If you might want to overclock a future "K" processor, then a Z97 chipset is what you want. Look also at M-ATX size, they are usually cheaper.

4. for multitasking, buy a 16gb ram kit up front. 2 x 8gb 1600 speed.

Some thoughts:

1. for a i5-4460, the included stock cooler is fine.
2. WD blue is likely a better quality hard drive.
FWIW.
I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games. If you can go 240gb, you may never need a hard drive.

I would defer on the hard drive unless you need to store large files such as video's.
It is easy to add a hard drive later.
Samsung EVO is a good choice.
Intel 730 is OK too.
3. Fancy coolers jack up the price of graphics cards, and are really not necessary.
Nothing wrong with the card you picked, but you will notice no difference in performance if you picked the cheapest available GTX970. I actually prefer the stock blower coolers. They get heat out of your case more directly.
4. A GTX970 runs on a 500w psu. The evga is, I think tier 3 on this list:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true
I would suggest Seasonic, xfx, antec as better quality units.
This Seasonic s12II should do the job at $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094

I am now looking at this:
ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
In this build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WT4MkL

And a version of the 970 GTX which should be good... I think...

 

[EngineerFred]

1. The time to buy is when you have the need and are ready to build. Tech prices generally trend lower on a price/performance basis over time. You could go with the build as is.

2. Soon, no. Nvidia and amd are expected to have the next gen in about a year.
You tend to get what you pay for in mid range graphics cards on a price/performance basis. If anything, I think of the R9-380 as an even older gen card that has been rebranded and overclocked.
3. You can pick any lga1150 motherboard, no need for an expensive enthusiast motherboard. If you might want to overclock a future "K" processor, then a Z97 chipset is what you want. Look also at M-ATX size, they are usually cheaper.

4. for multitasking, buy a 16gb ram kit up front. 2 x 8gb 1600 speed.

Some thoughts:

1. for a i5-4460, the included stock cooler is fine.
2. WD blue is likely a better quality hard drive.
FWIW.
I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games. If you can go 240gb, you may never need a hard drive.

I would defer on the hard drive unless you need to store large files such as video's.
It is easy to add a hard drive later.
Samsung EVO is a good choice.
Intel 730 is OK too.
3. Fancy coolers jack up the price of graphics cards, and are really not necessary.
Nothing wrong with the card you picked, but you will notice no difference in performance if you picked the cheapest available GTX970. I actually prefer the stock blower coolers. They get heat out of your case more directly.
4. A GTX970 runs on a 500w psu. The evga is, I think tier 3 on this list:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true
I would suggest Seasonic, xfx, antec as better quality units.
This Seasonic s12II should do the job at $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094

I am now looking at this:
ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
In this build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WT4MkL

And a version of the 970 GTX which should be good... I think...

 

[logainofhades]

The R9 380 is a rebadged R9 285, Tonga card. Tonga came out after Hawaii 290/290x. Arch wise, it is the newest rebadged card. H97 Pro4 is a decent board. XFX 550w bronze rated units are typically around $55 or so, and would pair nicely with a 4460, and a GTX 970. Evga has a decently clocked/priced GTX 970.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($175.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($317.93 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $633.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-06 12:04 EDT-0400