Building a new PC, need some input

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'm looking to build myself a new PC, my first real gaming PC in fact, and I need your help and input.

I have a rough idea of what I want, I've done a bit of research (not tons), and I've put together a list of parts that are along the lines of what I'm looking for:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NzWBpg

Basically I want to play all my games on high or ultra settings at 2560x1440 resolution and I want to be able to do it for around $1200 (willing to go a little higher if necessary but would obviously prefer not to).

Anyway, please critique my build, warn me of anything that might cause me problems.

Also, please recommend me a good wireless network adapter.

Thank you very much for any criticisms and suggestions, I'm very open to them.

 

[Albino Boo]

Unless you are planning to overclock you don't need a K model CPU, a non stock cooler or a motherboard with overclocking capabilities. Even by just dumping the cooler you should be able to go up to an i7 4790 and get a little more bang for your buck.

In terms of wireless a powerline or homeplug connection will offer better speeds and latency than a wireless card at not much greater cost.

 

[R.K. Meades]

Unless you are planning to overclock you don't need a K model CPU, a non stock cooler or a motherboard with overclocking capabilities. Even by just dumping the cooler you should be able to go up to an i7 4790 and get a little more bang for your buck.

Personally, I would prioritise GPU over CPU. Upgrading to a GTX 980 would enable you to ditch the cooler and consider a cheaper power supply, as that bad boy can beat most big-ticket titles into submission without breaking a sweat.

 

[Monk5127]

AMD's Fury/3xx cards should be announced today. I will throw a build together for you once pricing has been announced, who knows it may even force NV to drop the price on their cards a bit.

Also new Intel processors/socket in Q3.

 

[Hazy992]

Unless you are planning to overclock you don't need a K model CPU, a non stock cooler or a motherboard with overclocking capabilities. Even by just dumping the cooler you should be able to go up to an i7 4790 and get a little more bang for your buck.

In terms of wireless a powerline or homeplug connection will offer better speeds and latency than a wireless card at not much greater cost.

There's no point in getting an i7 if you're just gaming, you'll get almost no benefit from it. You're better off sinking the money saved into a better GPU. Besides I'd say the OP probably IS planning on overclocking with a cooler like that.

OT: If you're not planning on overclocking, then here's what I'd go with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/m2pmhM

This will easily handle anything you throw at it at 1440p and will even do a bit of 4K gaming, the 980 Ti runs circles around the 290X. It's slightly over budget but you can save in other areas like the case. I've used single channel memory to give you an option to upgrade to 16GB in future.

I'd wait to see what AMD end up announcing today though. The Fiji cards should hopefully be pretty awesome, and the 200 series is getting a bit of refresh with faster clock speeds etc. The 290X should come down in price.

 

[Albino Boo]

Personally, I would prioritise GPU over CPU. Upgrading to a GTX 980 would enable you to ditch the cooler and consider a cheaper power supply, as that bad boy can beat most big-ticket titles into submission without breaking a sweat.

Unless you are planning to overclock you don't need a K model CPU, a non stock cooler or a motherboard with overclocking capabilities. Even by just dumping the cooler you should be able to go up to an i7 4790 and get a little more bang for your buck.

In terms of wireless a powerline or homeplug connection will offer better speeds and latency than a wireless card at not much greater cost.

There's no point in getting an i7 if you're just gaming, you'll get almost no benefit from it. You're better off sinking the money saved into a better GPU. Besides I'd say the OP probably IS planning on overclocking with a cooler like that.

Buy a CPU will future proof the rig more. In 3 years time that GPU will be 2 generations old but i7 will still have enough grunt to run on high. Its cheaper and easier to upgrade GPUs than motherboards and CPUs.

 

[Hazy992]

Personally, I would prioritise GPU over CPU. Upgrading to a GTX 980 would enable you to ditch the cooler and consider a cheaper power supply, as that bad boy can beat most big-ticket titles into submission without breaking a sweat.

Unless you are planning to overclock you don't need a K model CPU, a non stock cooler or a motherboard with overclocking capabilities. Even by just dumping the cooler you should be able to go up to an i7 4790 and get a little more bang for your buck.

In terms of wireless a powerline or homeplug connection will offer better speeds and latency than a wireless card at not much greater cost.

There's no point in getting an i7 if you're just gaming, you'll get almost no benefit from it. You're better off sinking the money saved into a better GPU. Besides I'd say the OP probably IS planning on overclocking with a cooler like that.

Buy a CPU will future proof the rig more. In 3 years time that GPU will be 2 generations old but i7 will still have enough grunt to run on high. Its cheaper and easier to upgrade GPUs than motherboards and CPUs.

So will the i5. Games almost never use Hyperthreading so the benefits you get are marginal at best. For gaming it is absolutely pointless, if that i5 is such a big bottleneck in a few years time then the i7 will be as well and you'll need a new rig anyway.

 

[Albino Boo]

Buy a CPU will future proof the rig more. In 3 years time that GPU will be 2 generations old but i7 will still have enough grunt to run on high. Its cheaper and easier to upgrade GPUs than motherboards and CPUs.

So will the i5. Games almost never use Hyperthreading so the benefits you get are marginal at best. For gaming it is absolutely pointless, if that i5 is such a big bottleneck in a few years time then the i7 will be as well and you'll need a new rig anyway.

You are entitled your opinion but the cpu benchmarks say different.

 

[Hazy992]

Buy a CPU will future proof the rig more. In 3 years time that GPU will be 2 generations old but i7 will still have enough grunt to run on high. Its cheaper and easier to upgrade GPUs than motherboards and CPUs.

So will the i5. Games almost never use Hyperthreading so the benefits you get are marginal at best. For gaming it is absolutely pointless, if that i5 is such a big bottleneck in a few years time then the i7 will be as well and you'll need a new rig anyway.

You are entitled your opinion but the cpu benchmarks say different.

For gaming? They really don't.

http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1911-gta-v-cpu-benchmark-4790k-3570k-9590-more

http://www.techspot.com/review/917-far-cry-4-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/shadow-of-mordor-performance,review-33104-4.html

I don't know what else you want me to say, the i7 is a waste of money if you're doing nothing but gaming. If you're rendering and livestreaming? Go for it. If you're just gaming? Pointless.

 

[Albino Boo]

Buy a CPU will future proof the rig more. In 3 years time that GPU will be 2 generations old but i7 will still have enough grunt to run on high. Its cheaper and easier to upgrade GPUs than motherboards and CPUs.

So will the i5. Games almost never use Hyperthreading so the benefits you get are marginal at best. For gaming it is absolutely pointless, if that i5 is such a big bottleneck in a few years time then the i7 will be as well and you'll need a new rig anyway.

You are entitled your opinion but the cpu benchmarks say different.

For gaming? They really don't.

http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1911-gta-v-cpu-benchmark-4790k-3570k-9590-more

http://www.techspot.com/review/917-far-cry-4-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/shadow-of-mordor-performance,review-33104-4.html

I don't know what else you want me to say, the i7 is a waste of money if you're doing nothing but gaming. If you're rendering and livestreaming? Go for it. If you're just gaming? Pointless.

Try comparing CPU of different generations. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

Turn out a 5 year i7 can still run things on max and 5 year old i5 can't. It almost like its a more powerful CPU or something.

 

[Hazy992]

Buy a CPU will future proof the rig more. In 3 years time that GPU will be 2 generations old but i7 will still have enough grunt to run on high. Its cheaper and easier to upgrade GPUs than motherboards and CPUs.

So will the i5. Games almost never use Hyperthreading so the benefits you get are marginal at best. For gaming it is absolutely pointless, if that i5 is such a big bottleneck in a few years time then the i7 will be as well and you'll need a new rig anyway.

You are entitled your opinion but the cpu benchmarks say different.

For gaming? They really don't.

http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1911-gta-v-cpu-benchmark-4790k-3570k-9590-more

http://www.techspot.com/review/917-far-cry-4-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/shadow-of-mordor-performance,review-33104-4.html

I don't know what else you want me to say, the i7 is a waste of money if you're doing nothing but gaming. If you're rendering and livestreaming? Go for it. If you're just gaming? Pointless.

Try comparing CPU of different generations. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

Turn out a 5 year i7 can still run things on max and 5 year old i5 can't. It almost like its a more powerful CPU or something.

Again, for gaming it is pointless because the gains are marginal, at no point did I say the i7 wasn't more powerful than the i5. I even said that it was the best choice for doing things like rendering so showing me synthetic benchmarks doesn't disprove my point.

I will say it again, for gaming, GAMING, getting an i7 is a waste of money. Look at those gaming benchmarks, GTA V gets on average 3 FPS more on the i7, is that really worth the extra $100?

 

[kyp275]

Buy a CPU will future proof the rig more. In 3 years time that GPU will be 2 generations old but i7 will still have enough grunt to run on high. Its cheaper and easier to upgrade GPUs than motherboards and CPUs.

So will the i5. Games almost never use Hyperthreading so the benefits you get are marginal at best. For gaming it is absolutely pointless, if that i5 is such a big bottleneck in a few years time then the i7 will be as well and you'll need a new rig anyway.

You are entitled your opinion but the cpu benchmarks say different.

For gaming? They really don't.

http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1911-gta-v-cpu-benchmark-4790k-3570k-9590-more

http://www.techspot.com/review/917-far-cry-4-benchmarks/page5.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/shadow-of-mordor-performance,review-33104-4.html

I don't know what else you want me to say, the i7 is a waste of money if you're doing nothing but gaming. If you're rendering and livestreaming? Go for it. If you're just gaming? Pointless.

Try comparing CPU of different generations. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

Turn out a 5 year i7 can still run things on max and 5 year old i5 can't. It almost like its a more powerful CPU or something.

Eh, it depends.

In general, the increase in CPU performance in the past half decade has been relatively modest, and games are far more heavily dependent on the GPU anyway. I was rather surprised by the utter lack of perceivable differences while gaming when I upgraded from my trusty old 920 to the 4790k.

I'm personally not too enamored with the idea of "future proofing" anyhow. You set your budget, and try to find the best price/performance components allowed within that budget - or if cost isn't a major concern, then simply aim for the performance level you want. It's one thing to plan your purchase for something that's about to come out in a few months, it's another to try to build your system for some unknown requirement 5 years down the road.

Frankly, the cost of CPU is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, eitherway would be fine in my book. Far more important would be having a decent GPU.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Unless you are planning to overclock you don't need a K model CPU, a non stock cooler or a motherboard with overclocking capabilities. Even by just dumping the cooler you should be able to go up to an i7 4790 and get a little more bang for your buck.

In terms of wireless a powerline or homeplug connection will offer better speeds and latency than a wireless card at not much greater cost.

There's no point in getting an i7 if you're just gaming, you'll get almost no benefit from it. You're better off sinking the money saved into a better GPU. Besides I'd say the OP probably IS planning on overclocking with a cooler like that.

OT: If you're not planning on overclocking, then here's what I'd go with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/m2pmhM

This will easily handle anything you throw at it at 1440p and will even do a bit of 4K gaming, the 980 Ti runs circles around the 290X. It's slightly over budget but you can save in other areas like the case. I've used single channel memory to give you an option to upgrade to 16GB in future.

I'd wait to see what AMD end up announcing today though. The Fiji cards should hopefully be pretty awesome, and the 200 series is getting a bit of refresh with faster clock speeds etc. The 290X should come down in price.

I can't bring myself to drop $650 on a graphics card. It's just too damn much. $500 I might be able to stomach, but over that just seems a bit ludicrous to me.

Here's hoping the newly announced AMD cards drive prices down really significantly.

 

[Hazy992]

Unless you are planning to overclock you don't need a K model CPU, a non stock cooler or a motherboard with overclocking capabilities. Even by just dumping the cooler you should be able to go up to an i7 4790 and get a little more bang for your buck.

In terms of wireless a powerline or homeplug connection will offer better speeds and latency than a wireless card at not much greater cost.

There's no point in getting an i7 if you're just gaming, you'll get almost no benefit from it. You're better off sinking the money saved into a better GPU. Besides I'd say the OP probably IS planning on overclocking with a cooler like that.

OT: If you're not planning on overclocking, then here's what I'd go with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/m2pmhM

This will easily handle anything you throw at it at 1440p and will even do a bit of 4K gaming, the 980 Ti runs circles around the 290X. It's slightly over budget but you can save in other areas like the case. I've used single channel memory to give you an option to upgrade to 16GB in future.

I'd wait to see what AMD end up announcing today though. The Fiji cards should hopefully be pretty awesome, and the 200 series is getting a bit of refresh with faster clock speeds etc. The 290X should come down in price.

I can't bring myself to drop $650 on a graphics card. It's just too damn much. $500 I might be able to stomach, but over that just seems a bit ludicrous to me.

Here's hoping the newly announced AMD cards drive prices down really significantly.

If your budget is that and you had no interest in OCing that's what I recommend, but it's of course up to you. The R9 Fury from AMD could be a good bet when that comes out next month ($549), depending on benchmarks of course.

Maybe a non Ti 980, or a 390X when that comes out tomorrow? Unless the 290X gets a big price drop I'd go with one of those.

 

[kyp275]

R9 290X is a good card and will serve you well until the end of the current generation and then some more, while 980 Ti is overpriced as hell for the sake of "I can really really REALLY launch this on the most ultra that is ultra-possible" .

Cost/Performance ratio def. favor mid-range cards, but that hardly mean high ends are " overpriced ". You may not care about graphical fidelity, but others do. And some of us games at more than just basic 1080P - that 290X isn't going to do too well driving a high refresh 1440P or an Ultrawide. It all depends on the application.

 

[Kathinka]

snip

If I might offer a humble opinion, OP:

You set a very clear goal, and a reasonable budged, that's fantastic.
However, I would urge you to think about re-thinking that decision, for economic reasons.
A 1200-buck machine today will only be a few percent faster/stronger than a 8-900 or so quid PC. The money saved you could use for upgrades in a few years down the road. That way you would get the same experience, for the same overall money spent, but over a much longer period of time, without having to get another PC in 6-7 years.
Many (especially new) PC enthusiasts build an (admittedly impressive and awesome) monstrosity of a hyper PC, just to see it outdated in 7 years, same as a machine for half the price would have been.

If you are doing it purely as a labor of love or just got more money than you know what to do with, then by all means, disregard!
Might I also suggest this link here, it's pretty much the best invention since sex and automatic rifles: http://www.logicalincrements.com/

That thing pretty much does all the work for you, including nifty descriptions of all the parts, and the resulting PC tiers, including economic viability and what they can do.

Happy assembling, and tons of fun with your awesome new PC!

Oh, and chiming in on the CPU discussion: I5 is absolutely fine, I7 offers next to no benefit in games, but jacks up the price. Generally speaking, games tend to be very GPU heavy and rather light on the CPU, so you don't need batshit-insanity-highest-tier tech in the CPU department. A notable exception being the ArmA series, those titles just dominate the CPU so hard they should have probably bought it dinner first.

 

[VladG]

Mostly I'm going to re-enforce the advice to ditch the i7 in favour of an i5 (k edition, that overclocking will future-proof you plenty). As others have pointed out, there's virtually no difference between an i5 and i7 where gaming is concerned. Heck, you'll notice there's hardly a difference between i5s 2-3 generations across (a 2500k performs almost identical to a 4670k, each at stock speeds.) because games really aren't designed to take advantage of the extra power of the i7. GPU should be your main spending priority. I'd even go so far and say ditch the SSD and invest the money in the GPU and maybe throw in an SSD in a few months/when you have a bit of extra cash. SSD is, imo, mostly for convenience. Sure, faster loading times and boot times are neat, but I prefer the increased in-game performance.

However, there is a chance that CPU optimization will improve over the next few years as graphics APIs evolve. DirectX is a pretty shitty API, and since there's been some real competition (AMD's mantle improves performance significantly over DX, and it's only software. Real life example, I get 5-10 FPS more in DA:I on Mantle than I do on DirectX. Again, this is all software optimization basically, and a part of that is better GPU to CPU calls and better overall CPU utilization). There are other APIs in the works that promise to improve things even more (forgot names) and even DirectX 12 promises to significantly improve over 11. But even with this in mind, I still recommend i5 over i7.

I'd also advise you to hold off a little and wait to see what new GPUs are going to be announced. Even if not, change to a 900 series Nvidia, since they already have DX12 whereas the R9s do not (unless I'm gravely mistaken) EDIT: I was gravely mistaken, the R9s all support DX12!. The R9s offered great performance for money when they came out (I mself have a 280X), but are starting to show their age. I'm hopeful that the new generation AMD should reveal any day now will follow in those tracks.