Gaming rig $2k Budget

[mobusta1]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

~$2k USD

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

NJ. (Closet microcenter is about 40 minutes away)

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

Everything except mouse/pad
Case
CPU
HSF
MoBo
RAM
GPU
PSU
SSD (at least 256)
HDD (1TB or less will be enough)
Monitor (1440p)
Speakers
Keyboard

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Mouse/pad and external dvd-writer for OS install

6) Will you be overclocking?

Yes

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

Will be buying a QNIX or X-STAR

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

Want to buy everything except the GPU by 10-31 so I can take advantage of the deals

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
SATA 6GB

*xfire/sli (dunno I'll actually do it see bottom)

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

I have a 7 x64 ultimate key but I've read so many different arguments on whether or not 8.1 is better for gaming or 7 is or it's the same. If it truly is better I'll go 8.1 but I really don't like windows 8.

Here is the deal. With the gtx 780 price drop, the unavailability of the 290x and without knowing anything about the 290 I will refrain from buying the GPU until next week (but I want to buy the rest of parts now because they are on sale). I don't think the 290 non x will offer me the performance I'm looking for so right now I'm thinking either crossfire 280x ($600), 290x ($550) or 780 (~$520). 280x seems to outperform all 3 by a huge margin but I'm worried about microstutter and scaling and any other issues going with multi GPU since I've only done single GPU builds in the past. Would really like opinions on this since I'm lost.

Also please keep in my mind that I'm thinking of longevity with this build. I probably won't upgrade for at least 2-3 years minimum.

Here are the parts I've picked out so far:

Case: Either Corsair Obsidian Series Black 650D 159.99 or Corsair Graphite Series Black 600T 159.99. Can't make a decision here since they're both pretty much the same thing and same price..

CPU: 4760k 219.99

MB: Asus Z87- PRO 174.99 AR

HSF: CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i 86.99 (the h100i is only 15 bucks more ATM because of a big sale but I dunno if it's worth it or not? Would I be able to fit it?)

SSD: Samsung Electronics 840 Pro 256GB 214.99 (5 bucks cheaper on another site but I prefer amazon)

Monitor: QNIX QX2710 LED Evolution ll [Glossy] 27" 2560x1440 SAMSUNG PLS Panel 339.00

Keyboard: Max Keyboard Nighthawk-X8 Blue LED Backlit Mechanical Keyboard (Brown Cherry MX) 144.99 - 10% discount if I "like" their FB page.

That's it for the parts I've picked out. Did a ton of reading so if something is incompatible or if you guys know of a better component please let me know. The PSU, RAM, HDD and speakers I have no idea what to get (maybe the logitech z623 which are 98 on amazon?).

I know this is a super long post but I've literally spent the past 2 weeks reading anything I can get my hands on. I'm really behind as to what's new in tech so getting some advice would be extremely helpful. THANKS!

 

[samm]

I don't mean to be a douche, but with $2k budget why not opt for the LGA2011 setup. With that you can really push the limits. with 64Bit, the only limiter is whats the max on your board. HDD can be any WD/Seagate 1TB/2TB/TB unit depending on your needs. Speakers I have the Z623. However If you require a complete setup I would opt for the big brother z906. If quality but not bass is concerned, nothing beats a Bose setup. And middle ground would be the Kips 2.1 setup. Supa bass is best with the Corsair Sp2500 which isnt going to sound well unless you really dial up the volume.

 

[mobusta1]

I don't mean to be a douche, but with $2k budget why not opt for the LGA2011 setup. With that you can really push the limits. with 64Bit, the only limiter is whats the max on your board. HDD can be any WD/Seagate 1TB/2TB/TB unit depending on your needs. Speakers I have the Z623. However If you require a complete setup I would opt for the big brother z906. If quality but not bass is concerned, nothing beats a Bose setup. And middle ground would be the Kips 2.1 setup. Supa bass is best with the Corsair Sp2500 which isnt going to sound well unless you really dial up the volume.

Because I am already at or exceeding my budget. The reason for the 2k is because it includes literally everything. Adding LGA2011 would really set me way over my budget and I don't see any material benefit for what I'll be using it for.

 

[mobusta1]

Also, I had another question. If I decide to delid is AS5 ok to use as thermal paste on the chip?

 

[dragonstongue]

I wouldn't use AS5, use MX4 or ceramique or something similar much less chance of shorting out, but if you really want to go this route, then go Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2297140

I would read the crap out of reviews before you decide to SLI or Crossfire, when it works great its nice to have but most times for most people its not a night and day performance difference, you have to have a higher wattage PSU, more noise, more heat, and there will be times its anything but smooth or never has issues.

280x is simply a 7970GHe, 780 is a step above it, 290x step above that and +/- Titan performance, price drops are happening right now so you are waiting which is good. NCIX, Newegg, Tiger, Amazon, Best buy there is a number of places to shop, try get MSI or Sapphire though they seem to have the best coolers currently sapphire by quite a margin.

2500k/3570k/3770/4570k/4670k/4770k all have their own benefits really but if you really want to overclock it seems haswell may not be the best choice really judging by many reviews of folks who own them and them saying they get uber hot AND chew a lot of power when pushed above their sweet spot, Ivy is better clocker on average and sandy definitely is the better clocker of them, to each their own.

You really want liquid? That is something to point out here, There are very nice air coolers that do a wicked job cooling Ivy/Haswell chips sometimes better if not matching the AIO liquid coolers cause the heat footprint is so much smaller then the other chips and it is touchier to cool them, and hell you shouldn't have to delid a cpu to make sure it stays cool, you are taking a chance of killing it don't forget.

 

[mobusta1]

I wouldn't use AS5, use MX4 or ceramique or something similar much less chance of shorting out, but if you really want to go this route, then go Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2297140

I would read the crap out of reviews before you decide to SLI or Crossfire, when it works great its nice to have but most times for most people its not a night and day performance difference, you have to have a higher wattage PSU, more noise, more heat, and there will be times its anything but smooth or never has issues.

280x is simply a 7970GHe, 780 is a step above it, 290x step above that and +/- Titan performance, price drops are happening right now so you are waiting which is good. NCIX, Newegg, Tiger, Amazon, Best buy there is a number of places to shop, try get MSI or Sapphire though they seem to have the best coolers currently sapphire by quite a margin.

2500k/3570k/3770/4570k/4670k/4770k all have their own benefits really but if you really want to overclock it seems haswell may not be the best choice really judging by many reviews of folks who own them and them saying they get uber hot AND chew a lot of power when pushed above their sweet spot, Ivy is better clocker on average and sandy definitely is the better clocker of them, to each their own.

You really want liquid? That is something to point out here, There are very nice air coolers that do a wicked job cooling Ivy/Haswell chips sometimes better if not matching the AIO liquid coolers cause the heat footprint is so much smaller then the other chips and it is touchier to cool them, and hell you shouldn't have to delid a cpu to make sure it stays cool, you are taking a chance of killing it don't forget.

Thanks for your reply. I'll keep in mind everything you said.

I guess a 290x would probably benefit me the most then, I was afraid of issues with going xfire and if there really isn't that big of a difference as you say than I don't see the point investing in it.

As far as the closed loop cooling a lot of reviews are praising the h80i and the h100i so I thought I'd try them.

 

[mobusta1]

Are any of these memories any good?

Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PV316G160C9K $126.99 after $20.00 rebate card

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory F3-1866C9D-16GXM $168.99

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10) $138.99

 

[mobusta1]

Also just to update this I've decided to go with a single GPU. Probably the 290x.

Someone recommend me the SeaSonic G-750 SSR-750RM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $99.99 AR + $6.51 Shipping
But I was wondering if this one might be on par with the seasonic EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750G 80PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V/EPS12V 750W Power Supply 120-PG-0750-GR it is 79.99 AR shipped from amazon.

 

[Dangman]

Gaming.

Are you planning on playing BF4?

I have a 7 x64 ultimate key but I've read so many different arguments on whether or not 8.1 is better for gaming or 7 is or it's the same. If it truly is better I'll go 8.1 but I really don't like windows 8.

Just use your Windows 7 key for now until sites start actually releasing articles that show whether or not there are gaming performance improvements.

Case: Either Corsair Obsidian Series Black 650D 159.99 or Corsair Graphite Series Black 600T 159.99. Can't make a decision here since they're both pretty much the same thing and same price..

Not really: The 600T has an edge in cooling since you can replace that window with the fan mesh mount that'll allow you to mount fans on the side. If you plan on SLI or CFX, I would go with the 600T for the side fans. They really do make a huge difference in GPU cooling. However the 650D has a slight edge in actual case quality since parts of it is aluminum. In addition, the 650D does have a hot-swap SATA dock.

MB: Asus Z87- PRO 174.99 AR

At $190 shipped (I don't factor in MIR until they're actually in my hands), I don't see this motherboard being a good choice for the money considering that the higher quality Asus Maxiumus VI Hero costs only $5 more:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CXIVEA2/?tag=extension-kb-20

HSF: CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i 86.99 (the h100i is only 15 bucks more ATM because of a big sale but I dunno if it's worth it or not? Would I be able to fit it?)

Both cases can fit the H100i.

I guess a 290x would probably benefit me the most then, I was afraid of issues with going xfire and if there really isn't that big of a difference as you say than I don't see the point investing in it.

I would stick with MSI or Gigabyte since their warranty and support seems to be better than most. I would avoid Sapphire unless you have to save every dollar possible and don't mind the shorter warranty and shittier customer support.

Are any of these memories any good?

Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PV316G160C9K $126.99 after $20.00 rebate card

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory F3-1866C9D-16GXM $168.99

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10) $138.99

Out of those three listed, only the Corsair RAM is a good choice for the money IMO but only if you go with a liquid cooling setup. The Patriot is a close second though but I trust Corsair a tad more. The G.SKill is just a bad buy for the money based on currently available and independently verified information. If you go with an air-cooling setup, I would not recommend any of those RAM as their heatsinks are too tall.

 

[mobusta1]

First off thanks for replying. Your input means a lot and it's very helpful

Are you planning on playing BF4?

I probably will at some point. I'm guessing you're asking me because I chose the i5 instead of the i7?

Not really: The 600T has an edge in cooling since you can replace that window with the fan mesh mount that'll allow you to mount fans on the side. If you plan on SLI or CFX, I would go with the 600T for the side fans. They really do make a huge difference in GPU cooling. However the 650D has a slight edge in actual case quality since parts of it is aluminum. In addition, the 650D does have a hot-swap SATA dock.

Ok what about the 750D? It is currently the same price as the two I mentioned above. I have a concern though that if I go with either of these PSUs I'll run into problems with the cords being too short:

Someone recommend me the SeaSonic G-750 SSR-750RM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $99.99 AR + $6.51 Shipping
But I was wondering if this one might be on par with the seasonic EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750G 80PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V/EPS12V 750W Power Supply 120-PG-0750-GR it is 79.99 AR shipped from amazon.

At $190 shipped (I don't factor in MIR until they're actually in my hands), I don't see this motherboard being a good choice for the money considering that the higher quality Asus Maxiumus VI Hero costs only $5 more:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CXIVEA2/...xtension-kb-20

Ok I'll go with the Hero instead (I always forget to send in the AR anyways). I'm just curios as to what makes it better? It's very similar to the Pro according to this chart except with the Pro I lose the onboard wireless and I'll have to buy a separate one. It also has less USB 3.0 connectors (won't be an issue for me really) and has different onboard sound (dunno if it's better or worse)

Out of those three listed, only the Corsair RAM is a good choice for the money IMO but only if you go with a liquid cooling setup. The Patriot is a close second though but I trust Corsair a tad more. The G.SKill is just a bad buy for the money based on currently available and independently verified information. If you go with an air-cooling setup, I would not recommend any of those RAM as their heatsinks are too tall.

It doesn't have to be one out of those three. If you know of a better cheaper or same prince one I'll just with whatever you recommend.

Again thanks for lot for trying to help me. I really appreciate it.

 

[dragonstongue]

XFX has some nice power supplies, as does Corsair, Seasonic of course as they make most of the high end psu out there.

Anyways for the EVGA one http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/NEX750G/4.html
just to point out, you don't "need" a gold rated power supply, a quality silver is more then ample enough but I suppose the cost of the units have been dropping recently so why not, just to throw it out there like stated, if you are just planning on going single card (I do with a 7870 and I am happy, granted im not running 1440p) 650w should be ample, and will still give more then enough headroom well as long as you don't go with a low pos one lol.

I personally only use Gskill for ram, have for my last 3 builds, my buddies have for a combined 14 builds, one of these builds has passed through 4 different setups with the same ram kit, Ripjaw are nice, not that $, and are low profile heatspreaders.

As for the Liquid its your choices and your $. Many folks have and do use them with great success on "older" chips but the do have slight issues cooling the newest ones (Intel) as stated a much smaller footprint is harder for the cooler to keep cool, the liquid only moves so fast through the block, where the aircooler can absorb it and dissipate it somewhat easier (this shows in the overclocked side mostly as the liquid gets its "end point" sooner)

I suppose if you have a big hotspot the liquid (in this example the H series) do very well as the block moves a fair amount of coolant and blow it out the rad however when that hotspot is to much to fast or just more concentrated, the AIO just does not seem to wick it away all that well. I recall many sites testing various Ivy and Haswell chips in an overclocked state and them saying they had to swap to an H100 push/pull just to effectively wick the heat away when other coolers they had one hand though bulkier had no issues and were much easier on the pocketbook.

Im just pointing it out is all. if you had a Ivy-E or Sandy-E which has a bigger footprint then by all means most aircoolers wouldn't do quite as well, but it seems overall you pay quite a bit more for slight better cooling at best compared to a good aircooler the only thing you are gaining is better compatibility and possibly better case airflow. Now a custom loop is a different story, aircoolers don't touch a semi decent setup, and I believe the H100i and a decent starter loop are not that much different in price.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/cooler_master_eisberg_240l_review,12.html
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/corsair_vs_nzxt_battle_of_the_aio_watercoolers/2

Also its not the issues with Xfire in general as many issues affect SLI just as much (even if people say otherwise) its just a general thing with dual cards (or X2) at this point. Get a solid card that will play the way you want and play, if you have to lower a bit that's better then being upset that you wasted coin on dual cards that got to hot, used to much power, don't play right, have to deal with stutters etc.

 

[dragonstongue]

Ripjaw are not at all tall, I have a hyper 212+ and can slide the fans right down on the heatsink before they touch the ram. if I recall stock DDR3 ram no spreader was 38mm tall, ripjaw x is only 40-41mm tall (by specs) unless you have a wicked short unable to clear motherboard heatsink then they wont collide, however there are coolers that will not clear the ram slots at all even if you had no ramsink on but that's because they built it wrong They have specific kits built for specific setups, look on the motherboard QVL is all.

Another great case is Arc Midi R2 lots of space, great cooling.

I though Sapphire was VERY highly regarded stateside because they have great warranty support, I personally don't go Gigabyte for this reason. MSI/Asus for me cause I am Canadian

 

[dragonstongue]

double post sorry

 

[Dangman]

I probably will at some point. I'm guessing you're asking me because I chose the i5 instead of the i7?

Yes that and it also may be a factor in the RAM and GPU recommendations. Unfortunately it's gonna take a few weeks before we see solid reviews of BF4 multiplayer performance.

Ok what about the 750D? It is currently the same price as the two I mentioned above.

Same issue as the 650D as I mentioned earlier. But still a good case.

Someone recommend me the SeaSonic G-750 SSR-750RM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $99.99 AR + $6.51 Shipping
But I was wondering if this one might be on par with the seasonic EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750G 80PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V/EPS12V 750W Power Supply 120-PG-0750-GR it is 79.99 AR shipped from amazon.

Again, I don't factor in MIR. So please just list parts by their actual pricing. In any case, at $122 shipped, the Seasonic isn't a bad buy. I actually would go with the Seasonic.

Ok I'll go with the Hero instead (I always forget to send in the AR anyways). I'm just curios as to what makes it better? It's very similar to the Pro according to this chart except with the Pro I lose the onboard wireless and I'll have to buy a separate one. It also has less USB 3.0 connectors (won't be an issue for me really) and has different onboard sound (dunno if it's better or worse)

The Maximus VI Hero is part of Asus' ROG line of motherboards which tend to use or have higher quality parts in their motherboards. I.e better mosfets, phases, etc. The onboard sound is a tad better than the many onboard sound but it's still onboard sound.

I personally only use Gskill for ram, have for my last 3 builds, my buddies have for a combined 14 builds, one of these builds has passed through 4 different setups with the same ram kit, Ripjaw are nice, not that $, and are low profile heatspreaders.

...Those aren't low profile heatspreaders on the Ripjaw RAM that the OP linked to. Not to mention that those particular Ripjaws cost $30 more than the Corsair RAM. So until the BF4 memory performance can be independently verified, $30 more for DDR3 1866 RAM is not a good buy.

I was a die-hard G.Skill fan myself. Just look at my posts over the past 5 years or even the specs in my main rig. However, the higher death-rate I'm seeing with G.Skill RAM at work have pretty much turned me off from prioritizing G.Skill RAM over Corsair or even Kingston RAM. Believe me when I say I've gone through far more builds than you have with G.Skill RAM (30+) plus the thousand+ times I've probably recommended G.Skill RAM to other people right here in the forums.

Ripjaw are not at all tall, I have a hyper 212+ and can slide the fans right down on the heatsink before they touch the ram. if I recall stock DDR3 ram no spreader was 38mm tall, ripjaw x is only 40-41mm tall (by specs) unless you have a wicked short unable to clear motherboard heatsink then they wont collide, however there are coolers that will not clear the ram slots at all even if you had no ramsink on but that's because they built it wrong They have specific kits built for specific setups, look on the motherboard QVL is all.

Yes I have G.Skill Ripjaws RAM and the same Hyper 212+ as well. And you can slide the fan up and down to aovird touching the RAM. However, still not the route I'd recommend to other people.

I though Sapphire was VERY highly regarded stateside because they have great warranty support, I personally don't go Gigabyte for this reason. MSI/Asus for me cause I am Canadian

LOL, nope. They're only highly regarded for their significantly lower price.

 

[dragonstongue]

Just pointing it out, in my case can slide fan up/down yes but even then the ram really is not that tall as if I slide fan down I am missing a good chunk of the heatsink even before it touches the ram and my mosfet cooler is quite tall on my board and still, I will not argue on your experience, what I do know however is Gskill like many other makers do have a model number and this does relate to the chips being used in them, I also do not have personal experience dealing with their RMA dept however going over many sites I frequent they very much deal with their consumers and if there is a problem they seem to want to be on top of it right away.

In Corsairs case, many folks I have heard with Vengeance, even newer XMS and Dominators many complaints such as burning out, causing issues with their new builds, even the heatspreaders sliding off and outright poor quality.

Kingston has more or less always been good as is patriot(never heard bad about them)

Sapphire does make some insanely well made coolers but I do not have much personal experience with them their price is usually around the same as others though they also usually have better then average build quality and cooler construction but I digress as I do not have any experience with them, XFX however is a different story, as is Powercolor and Visiontek and HIS, for me in order personally would be Asus/MSI-Sapphire/Club3d--Gigabyte--------the rest.

BF4 is supposed to be one of the very few games that scale very well with ram speed, but obviously only If the system in question can actually use it at proper speeds, the kit I have http://www.amazon.com/G-SKILL-Ripja...&sr=8-3&keywords=G.Skill+Ripjaws+X+Series+8GB works flawless have clocked up and down, volt up and down, heatspreader in question is maybe just the tip of my baby finger in depth extra so any decent cooler will clear this just fine even if it overhangs it some as many of the better aircoolers do.

 

[mobusta1]

Do the low profile memory effect performance at all? Just curious to know incase I decide to get go noctua instead of aio.

 

[tiraides]

Do the low profile memory effect performance at all? Just curious to know incase I decide to get go noctua instead of aio.

No.

The different heatspreaders are just that -- different. Heatspreaders. The physical DIMM sticks are virtually identical.

 

[fantabulous]

No. Low profile memory won't run any slower just because it's low profile. It's my understanding that the head spreaders aren't really needed even when OCing.

If I've got everything added up properly, looks like you'll be a bit over the 2000 budget if you go with a 290x and everything else that's been suggested. ~1400 without RAM, PSU, GPU, HDD, speakers. Not sure if any cuts are in order at this point.

If not, a suggestion for 2.0 speakers: M-Audio AV 40s

 

[mobusta1]

No. Low profile memory won't run any slower just because it's low profile. It's my understanding that the head spreaders aren't really needed even when OCing.

If I've got everything added up properly, looks like you'll be a bit over the 2000 budget if you go with a 290x and everything else that's been suggested. ~1400 without RAM, PSU, GPU, HDD, speakers. Not sure if any cuts are in order at this point.

If not, a suggestion for 2.0 speakers: M-Audio AV 40s

Thanks, this is the second suggestion I've received for those speakers. I'm going to seriously consider them. Do you think I need to buy a sound card with those speakers or an external DAC?

 

[mobusta1]

Dangman or anyone else could you guys recommend a decent 1TB or 2TB HDD?

 

[fantabulous]

The computer audio forum would probably suggest a nice soundcard or external DAC. Honestly, I'd just plug them directly into the onboard audio to start with. You're looking at good boards that shouldn't send a bunch of static into the onboard audio.

A Xonar DGX or FiiO Taishan are cheap choices if the onboard sound has too much electrical interference, or you just don't care that much for it, etc.

When I had a set of AV 40s, I had them plugged in to anything from onboard audio to low end "prosumer" audio interfaces. Always happy with the sound, and how I could hear everything without having to crank the volume up. Also, that I could crank the volume up without any distortion when I was in the mood for that. I would still have them if I didn't impulse buy a set of nicer speakers that were just discontinued at the time.

 

[mobusta1]

Thanks for the reply Fantabulous. I'll look into that.

Also, the hero is no longer on sale for 194 (well it is but amazon says 3-6 weeks to ship)

The gene can be had 204 shipped. Is this a better choice than the hero?

EDIT: Nvm, the gene is mATX. newegg has the hero for 194.99 shipped. Will buy from there.

 

[samm]

Also just to update this I've decided to go with a single GPU. Probably the 290x.

Someone recommend me the SeaSonic G-750 SSR-750RM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $99.99 AR + $6.51 Shipping
But I was wondering if this one might be on par with the seasonic EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750G 80PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V/EPS12V 750W Power Supply 120-PG-0750-GR it is 79.99 AR shipped from amazon.

I would go over the 750W, as the minium specs for the 290X is 750W. I would try 800W just to give you a buffer

anyone else could you guys recommend a decent 1TB or 2TB HDD?

I recommend a WD red drive. These drives are really designed for endurance.

In regards to speakers, The Extreme option is going with a good add on sound card, then run to a 7.2 receiver and go to town. And you can upgrade speakers freely so if 1 part goes bad your not stuck with a entire system that useless. The middle ground as stated is the 2.1s from Corsair and Logitech Z623 or 5.1 Z906. When your computing 99% of the time you wont need the extreme setup. If your watching a movie then the extreme setup comes in handy but that personally is 1% of the daily usage.

 

[dragonstongue]

Western Digital Caviar Black or Caviar Blue, I don't use Seagate myself, yes the blacks are a bit more $ but they do have longer warranty they also have better then average speed in everything.

The new Caviar Blue 1-2tb are also quite fast drives, and correct on the heatspreaders unless you overclock the ram to the moon modern DDR3 ram(uses 1.35-1.5v depending) will only ever get warm, not hot, so heatspreader are more for looks and to help protect the ram more then anything else.

 

[dragonstongue]

red drives are designed for NAS units, not standard use FYI.
750w for a single 290x would be fine as a 750 with a core i7 clocked up can handle a 7990 or a GTXTitan it can handle the 290x (unless it is a true POS 750, mine HX750 handled dual 7870 and a phenom 955 heavily clocked all around, and others ran 7970 dual on them with i7 clocked up my buddy ran dual 480s on his)

Gene is a great board apparently, Asus P8Z77-V good choice as well, decent all around.

 

[tiraides]

Dangman or anyone else could you guys recommend a decent 1TB or 2TB HDD?

WD Blue (1TB only) or Seagate Barracuda (1TB or 2TB). With the SSD serving as your primary drive, I don't believe that the WD Black is worth the extra money.

If reliability is a huge concern for you, you need to have a proper backup system in place for your important data. If a hard drive fails, it's always going to be when you're least prepared for it.

Do not get the WD Red or any hard drive that's designed for use in NAS or RAID configurations. They're not optimized for speed.

EDIT: Nvm, the gene is mATX. newegg has the hero for 194.99 shipped. Will buy from there.

Why again are you going with the Asus Maximus? The MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING is a better value and HardOCP lauded its overclocking capabilities.

Also just to update this I've decided to go with a single GPU. Probably the 290x.

Time out!

With everything being considered thus far, you're close to going beyond your $2000 limit. Have you thought about cutting a few price corners on:

Case: Do you really need the Corsair 600T/650D for everything? There are plenty of ~$100 cases with enough room for all of your parts.

SSD: Have you thought about the 840 EVO? Though it's not as fast as the 840 Pro, it's also not as expensive.

Motherboard: Why go with $175 after-rebate when you could go $175 without rebates?

GPU: I got it: The R9 290X is the newer, faster hotness. But with the recent price drops on the GTX 780, would you reconsider? (I could reuse the 840 EVO-840 Pro analogy....)

RAM: NewEgg has the Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x8GB DDR3 1600 kit on sale for under $130 shipped.

Keyboard: Do you have to get that exact model? There are several mechanical keyboards available for at least $20 less.

 

[Dangman]

In Corsairs case, many folks I have heard with Vengeance, even newer XMS and Dominators many complaints such as burning out, causing issues with their new builds, even the heatspreaders sliding off and outright poor quality.

Can't say I've seen the same issues those folks are seeing. Generally, the Corsairs just "work."

BF4 is supposed to be one of the very few games that scale very well with ram speed,

Hasn't been independently verified obviously.

I would go over the 750W, as the minium specs for the 290X is 750W. I would try 800W just to give you a buffer

Like most PSU power recommendations, that power recommendation is grossly over-estimated. It's a "cover your ass" measure by GPU companies to account for the sheer number of shititactcular power supplies. The higher the recommendation, the higher the chance of a getting a PSU that can actually provide the needed power. The real power requirments when using a GOOD quality PSU will be a lot lower than that 750W.

 

[mobusta1]

WD Blue (1TB only) or Seagate Barracuda (1TB or 2TB). With the SSD serving as your primary drive, I don't believe that the WD Black is worth the extra money.

If reliability is a huge concern for you, you need to have a proper backup system in place for your important data. If a hard drive fails, it's always going to be when you're least prepared for it.

Do not get the WD Red or any hard drive that's designed for use in NAS or RAID configurations. They're not optimized for speed.



Why again are you going with the Asus Maximus? The MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING is a better value and HardOCP lauded its overclocking capabilities.



Time out!

With everything being considered thus far, you're close to going beyond your $2000 limit. Have you thought about cutting a few price corners on:

Case: Do you really need the Corsair 600T/650D for everything? There are plenty of ~$100 cases with enough room for all of your parts.

SSD: Have you thought about the 840 EVO? Though it's not as fast as the 840 Pro, it's also not as expensive.

Motherboard: Why go with $175 after-rebate when you could go $175 without rebates?

GPU: I got it: The R9 290X is the newer, faster hotness. But with the recent price drops on the GTX 780, would you reconsider? (I could reuse the 840 EVO-840 Pro analogy....)

RAM: NewEgg has the Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x8GB DDR3 1600 kit on sale for under $130 shipped.

Keyboard: Do you have to get that exact model? There are several mechanical keyboards available for at least $20 less.

FML!

I wish I refreshed this thread. I just made my purchases a few minutes ago. Is that MSI board really that much better than the ASUS?

And yea you're right with the monitor I picked I'm 500 over my budget. FML

Could you recommend me a good M. keyboard with brown switches?

 

[Dangman]

FML!
I wish I refreshed this thread. I just made my purchases a few minutes ago. Is that MSI board really that much better than the ASUS?

It's just as good as the Asus Maximus in some aspects.

You can still cancel your entire order BTW unless "a few minutes ago" means "a few days ago" in your language.

 

[mobusta1]

It's just as good as the Asus Maximus in some aspects.

You can still cancel your entire order BTW unless "a few minutes ago" means "a few days ago" in your language.

It actually was a few minutes ago and yea I can cancel the order. I did a quick google search and more people are recommending the asus board vs the msi board...

 

[Dangman]

It actually was a few minutes ago and yea I can cancel the order. I did a quick google search and more people are recommending the asus board vs the msi board...

If you can stomach the extra costs, go for it.

 

[samm]

red drives are designed for NAS units, not standard use FYI.
750w for a single 290x would be fine as a 750 with a core i7 clocked up can handle a 7990 or a GTXTitan it can handle the 290x (unless it is a true POS 750, mine HX750 handled dual 7870 and a phenom 955 heavily clocked all around, and others ran 7970 dual on them with i7 clocked up my buddy ran dual 480s on his)

Gene is a great board apparently, Asus P8Z77-V good choice as well, decent all around.

I knew that the reds are for NAS, and that is why I recommend it. The extra warranty and the purpose of NAS is purely endurance and longevity (higher quality part). If you want a good long lasting drive I would take this over any Blue or Green drive any day. But thats just me. I hate how a lot of current normal drives from WD or Seagate are designed to last until the warranty runs out. It really is PITA when day 10 out of warranty equals all your music and data becomes a digital casualty of a bad drive.

 

[tiraides]

I knew that the reds are for NAS, and that is why I recommend it. The extra warranty and the purpose of NAS is purely endurance and longevity (higher quality part). If you want a good long lasting drive I would take this over any Blue or Green drive any day. But thats just me. I hate how a lot of current normal drives from WD or Seagate are designed to last until the warranty runs out. It really is PITA when day 10 out of warranty equals all your music and data becomes a digital casualty of a bad drive.

You're kidding, right? Do you realize that the "higher quality" WD Reds are made in the same facilities as the "inferior" Blues and Greens? And that, warranty notwithstanding, they can fail just as easily?

Where are you getting your information that these drives barely last past their warranty limits? You're scaring people with BS like that and it becomes harder for me to make recommendations when you essentially tell others that I'm full of shit.

 

[/dev/null]

For a $2000 gaming computer, I probably would have done something like:

7950 or 7970 Qty 2 (shouldn't this cream a 290x for sub 290x price?) $450
4770k or 3770k (whatever the best overclocker is) $300
Some decent looking case for $100
Some power supply for $75-$150
120hz monitor if you want fast refresh ($300) or 2560x1440 panel if you want res ($400)
8G memory * 2 as fast as you can get it for $150
240G ssd for os ($160), 1 * 2TB wd black for $150
Motherboard for $150'ish.

 

[samm]

You're kidding, right? Do you realize that the "higher quality" WD Reds are made in the same facilities as the "inferior" Blues and Greens? And that, warranty notwithstanding, they can fail just as easily?

Where are you getting your information that these drives barely last past their warranty limits? You're scaring people with BS like that and it becomes harder for me to make recommendations when you essentially tell others that I'm full of shit.

....tiraides your credibility nor your skill as an adviser on computer builds is on trial, (my post does not directly or indirectly suggest otherwise). I understand that a company such as WD will manufacture many different models on the same facilities, as its much more economical in terms of maintaining healthy and secure production caps so it can respond to the market with ease (similar to how certain auto mfgs designate a single factory to produce different vehicle models with vastly different economic demographics on a single line). However this does not signify that all drives from that facility will be the same (not accounting for statistical outliers). If a company believes product A, is intended to be sold at low price point, then to make profit margins higher you want to put in the least amount of effort (hardware and assembly) into producing the product. If a company believes product B is intended to sell at a high price point, their amount of effort and production costs go up.
Having said that WD blue and green drives are good. They offer a 2 year warranty if OEM or 3 year warranty retail. The WD Red drives offer a 5 year warranty Oem or Retail. Now I know the rules no price comparison here (and I will abide by that). In the case of Green/Blue vs RED the price difference is minute at certain retailers that it doesnt put the RED drives too far out there in price. And for that you get an extension to to your warranty.

Where are you getting your information that these drives barely last past their warranty limits?Where are you getting your information that these drives barely last past their warranty limits? You're scaring people with BS like that

I understand that sometimes in the fervor of the argument things like this quote come up. Understandable. The information that these drives barely last past their warranty limits is a personal experience that happened to me about 1/2 year ago. My main desktop had three WD Blues. The first drive went out out of the blue (just .5 month out of warranty). Never really thought to back up so....The second drive went out about (estimated time here) 1 month out of warranty. Thankfully I had backed up the second and also third on an external so didn't mind as much. The third drive is still working albeit with some errors (mostly bad sectors). but the job of the other two is spread between SSD and 1 TB red. So far no problems, and under the 5 year warranty umbrella.
My intent is not to scare but rather to inform end users like the OP about the real-world experiences of users just like him or her. And I do hope we can continue to inform the original OP about products to make his $2K build a sucess.

 

[tiraides]

I'm starting to get frustrated with this thread... let me try something:

$220 - Intel Core i5-4670K
$64 - Corsair H60
$154 - MSI Z87-G45 GAMING
$128 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x8GB DDR3 1600 kit
$175 - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
$67 - WD Blue 1TB HDD
$21 - LG GH24NS95B SATA DVD burner
$525 - MSI Twin Frozr GTX 780
$110 - XFX PRO850W 850W PSU
$76 - Corsair 300R ATX mid-tower case
$90 - CM Storm QuickFire Pro (Cherry MX Brown)
=====
$1630 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

The purpose of this Amazon-only "experiment" was to come up with ideas on a few "compromises" that won't break your budget or kill overall performance. (We're nearing the awkward end-of-this-month/beginning-of-next-month period where NewEgg usually doesn't offer the best combo deals or specials. We need to focus on building the best system for your budget, not trying to grab the "best" things on sale.)

Right now, the problem is that you can only grab either the monitor (QNIX QX2710) or the speakers (M-AUDIO AV40) along with the above build without bursting your budget. To fit both items in, you have to consider a few other compromises....

- Omit the CPU cooler for the time being.

- Cut the amount of RAM in half. Either grab one 8GB stick for now or go with a 2x4GB dual-channel kit. (I recommend one 8GB stick.)

- Grab a (slightly) cheaper motherboard. The CM Storm QuickFire Rapid is about $20 less than the CM Storm QuickFire Pro. All it's missing is the number pad.

- Omit the optical drive. (Especially if you already have a good SATA or external drive... or you plan on using USB flash drives for all of your ISO files.)

- A combination (or all) of the above four.

- Anything else?