Build advice needed ($1350 budget)

[metallicaband]

My friend needs me to build a PC for him soon, would like to make sure the build I have in mind is optimal so far.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mostly gaming (latest games) with general multitask PC usage like browsing, watching videos/movies and listening to music.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1350 excluding international shipping fees, don't have any taxes. Budget isn't super strict and would consider increasing it a bit if a certain part I have in my build absolutely needs to be changed for something better.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I live in Bahrain but I'll be ordering a lot of the parts internationally through Amazon. Unfortunately Monitor and Case must be purchased locally because internationally shipping those would be way too expensive.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
Case, PSU, Monitor, SSD, HDD, Mobo, CPU, CPU Cooler, RAM, GPU

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
None.

6) Will you be overclocking?
None at all.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Don't have one, but 24" 1080p is the plan so far.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s. Can't think of much else really, some fan controllers would be nice I guess and a decent amount of USB ports.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit


Current build in mind:

$130 ASUS H97M-E Micro ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboard (Purchased locally).
$189 Intel Core i5-4460
$55 Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600
$88 EVGA SuperNOVA 550 GS 80 Plus Gold Rated, Fully Modular PSU
$31 Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler
$50 WD Blue 1TB HDD
$100 Crucial MX200 250GB SSD
$349 MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G GPU
$159 CM 690 III Case (Purchased locally)
$191 BenQ GL2460HM Black 24" 2ms Monitor (Purchased locally)
-----
$1342 total

Few notes:

- The motherboard is purchased locally because Amazon barely has any mobos that they ship internationally, I can purchase any motherboard from Amazon and have it shipped to an address I have in NY that will forward the mail to me for around $30-40 , but that will be a hassle when it comes to dealing with Amazon's 30 day return policy if it's DOA. Even though it's over priced buying it locally will give me 1 year local warranty, so as long as there's nothing wrong with the model, I'd just like to stick to it if possible.

- These are the other case, monitor and motherboard options (along with prices) from pretty much the only decent PC store we have over here in Bahrain, prices are a bit higher than what you'd see in US of course:

Cases
Monitors
Mobos Mostly a bunch of H81 mobos that are in the price range of the one I chose.

- I understand these CPUs don't need aftermarket coolers, but from my personal experience it's easier to maintain aftermarket coolers than the stock coolers and give much better performance in the long run too even when they get a little dusty, my friend isn't the type of person who'll clean the case inside out on regular basis.

- Would an i5-4590 be a much better choice than the 4460 ? Because if I'd like to increase the budget for anything, it might be for 16GB RAM instead of 8 so it would be more future proof.

- I'm mostly a Corsair PSU fan, but didn't like what I saw in the same price range, first time going with EVGA but that model is supposed to be a Seasonic OEM and good for the price based on what I've read.


Any help/tips would be much appreciated guys.

 

[Dangman]

The 4590 isn't a much better choice than the 4460. So stick with the 4460. If you do go for 16GB of RAM, I recommend this set here:
$104 - Crucial BLS2KIT8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

But if 8GB of RAM is all that your friend can afford right now:
If your friend doesn't plan on upgrading past 24GB of RAM or more, then I recommend getting this cheaper Corsair 2 x 4GB set:
http://amazon.com/dp/B00569K7LM/?tag=extension-kb-20

But if your friend wants to max out the system at 32GB of RAM, I recommend this RAM stick:
$55 - Kingston HyperX Blu HX316C10F/8 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

The CM 690 III is a good case. But if your friends needs to free up money for something else, the Corsair 230T is a very solid and cheaper option.

As for the PSU, Corsair has been going downhill lately in terms of quality. So even if there were Corsair PSUs in that price range, more than likely we'd still recommend the eVGA over the Corsair.

Besides that, that build looks solid to me.

 

[metallicaband]

Thanks for replying and the info! Yeah that Corsair RAM (which is what I use in my own system) was in my cart but the price for it fluctuates often between $49-66, at the moment it's $60.

I'll check out the Corsair 230T and CM 690 III in person and see if the 690 is worth the extra $20. My friend might be attracted to the windowed version of the 690 so we might end up with that either way lol.

I like Corsair personally because they have amazing RMA process even if I'm not located in the US, which is why I might end up getting Corsair RAM. But yeah I'll stick to the eVGA for PSU, I've heard great things about eVGA customer service too so I don't think I'll have much to worry about if something went wrong.

 

[metallicaband]

I purchased the items yesterday from Amazon, I had to go with the 4590 because at the time they didn't have any 4460 in stock (they are now though lol).

About the motherboard, I have these 2 options to purchase locally which are priced pretty much exactly the same:

Asus H81-Gamer
Asus H97M-E

Would it be a bad idea to consider the H81 even though it doesn't have PCIE 3.0 and H97 features while keeping in mind that I won't use 4 RAM dimms in the future?

Only reason I'm even considering this is because the H81 mobo is less cramped up near the CPU/RAM/GPU area (1 vs 2) so when the cooler is installed everything won't be so close to each other.

Should I just go with the H97 and forget about my space OCD as long as there won't be any clearance issues with the 212 Evo ? I just thought it would be better to give the GTX 970 more room from the rest of the components.

 

[Dangman]

Go H97. You're not building a cheap-o web browsing PC. Therefore the H81 isn't a good choice

 

[metallicaband]

Go H97. You're not building a cheap-o web browsing PC. Therefore the H81 isn't a good choice

You're the best mate, that settles it then, H97 it is. Thanks again for the help and quick replies, I appreciate it.

Now that I think about it, my own "high end" micro atx mobo doesn't give that much room in the same area, so the H97 should be fine.