Gaming/VM Desktop Build $1,000 budget

[Omen]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
I will be using it to run VM's in VMware, play around with Hyper V, Visual Studio, and Planetside 2.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,000, with tax and shipping are included.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
U.S. Northern VT
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.

Case
Power Supply (PSU)
Case Fan(s)
Motherboard
Processor (CPU)
CPU Cooler/Heatsink with Fan (HSF)
Memory (RAM)
Solid State Drive (SSD)
Video/Graphics Card (GPU)
Sound Card (Not needed if integrated into the Mobo)

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

1.5 TB Hardrive 7200 RPM
22" Monitor (1680x1050)
27" Monitor (1920x1200)
Keyboard
Mouse
(Possible Re-usable part: Nvidia GTX 465)

6) Will you be overclocking?
Most likely not, maybe towards the end of it's lifetime but it isn't a requirement, it would just be nice to have.
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I have a two monitors, one is a 22" 1680 x 1050, and the other is a 28" 1920 x 1200.

Within 3 years I do plan to switch to a monitor with retina-like display though.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next three weeks.
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.
USB 3.0, UEFI, SLI would be nice but not required.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows 8 64 Bit.




The Parts that I have in mind right now are the following


Case: $80 Corsair CC-9011011-WW Carbide Series 400R Mid Tower Gaming Case
PSU:$90 Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650
Motherboard:$160 ASRock Z87 Extreme4 LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU:$300Intel Core i7-4770
HSF: $33 Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
RAM: $63 Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit
SSD: $100 SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III
GPU: $250 Nvidia GTX 760

Total: $1,076



Expected Lifetime for this build: 5-6 years

Additional Thoughts:


As you can see, this does go $76 over budget. I can afford it if need be, but Under $1,000 is definitely preferable. Right now I'm pretty set on the CPU & GPU, I feel like the i7 is necessary mainly because of the work I'll be doing with Virtual Machines, and also because I want this desktop to last as long as possible. My current desktop is almost 7 years old, and I expect 5-6 years out of this build. I also list a 120 GB hardrive, but I would take a 256 GB SSD instead any day.

What I'm unsure about is the Mobo and Case. I really don't have too much experience in researching Motherboards and I find it difficult to know which cases are good and bad, so if I could receive some guidance that would be great. The current Asrock motherboard I listed looks to have a few issues with blue screening, so maybe I should choose another one.

If I can get a Graphics card that is cheaper than the 760 with the same performance that might also be acceptable.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Dangman]

The case you chose is a solid case. However, your choice of vendor, Tigerdirect, isn't that good of a choice since they do not offer free shipping on that case. So it actually costs $100 shipped. So you might as well buy that case from Amazon.com:
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case

Now while the 400R is a good case, here are some cases worth looking at as well:
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$105 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case

As for the motherboard, it's way more than you need since you're not overclocking (you would have gone with the 4770K if you were). You would be with the cheaper AsRock Z87 Extreme3 motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157372

As for the video card, the GTX 760 is pretty much one of the best bang for the buck cards out now. I would keep that video in your build.

The RAM you chose is not a good choice since it would require you to replace both RAM if you want to upgrade that motherboard to its max 32GB of RAM support. Not to mention it's overpriced. You want to go for a single 8GB or 2 x 8GB RAM set for maximum RAM upgrade capability. So I recommend this RAM instead:
$47 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1339DS1S00 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM

 

[Mccaula718]

Because you are going to run vmware with this pc, I would chose a cpu with 8 core(hyperthreading or not). If your budget allowed it, of course a new haswell i7 with ht would be the best choice. Because you have a $1000 budget, I would highly suggest a fx8320(if overclocking) or a fx8350 if not. These two cpus are great for vmware/esxi and are very budget friendly. I highly suggest at least 16gb of ram if you are running 2 esxi vm's. If you can afford 32 gb, go for it even if it is only ddr3 1333. DDR3 1333 will not downplay your fps during you Planetside 2 games.

 

[Omen]

The case you chose is a solid case. However, your choice of vendor, Tigerdirect, isn't that good of a choice since they do not offer free shipping on that case. So it actually costs $100 shipped. So you might as well buy that case from Amazon.com:
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case

Now while the 400R is a good case, here are some cases worth looking at as well:
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$105 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case

As for the motherboard, it's way more than you need since you're not overclocking (you would have gone with the 4770K if you were). You would be with the cheaper AsRock Z87 Extreme3 motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157372

As for the video card, the GTX 760 is pretty much one of the best bang for the buck cards out now. I would keep that video in your build.

The RAM you chose is not a good choice since it would require you to replace both RAM if you want to upgrade that motherboard to its max 32GB of RAM support. Not to mention it's overpriced. You want to go for a single 8GB or 2 x 8GB RAM set for maximum RAM upgrade capability. So I recommend this RAM instead:
$47 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1339DS1S00 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Thanks for the suggestions, that decreases my price to around $1,037 which helps out a bit. For the cases, I really like the look of the Corsair Vengeance Series C70, are there any drawbacks to it that I should know about? As of now I don't see a reason not to get it over the one I selected previously.

Because you are going to run vmware with this pc, I would chose a cpu with 8 core(hyperthreading or not). If your budget allowed it, of course a new haswell i7 with ht would be the best choice. Because you have a $1000 budget, I would highly suggest a fx8320(if overclocking) or a fx8350 if not. These two cpus are great for vmware/esxi and are very budget friendly. I highly suggest at least 16gb of ram if you are running 2 esxi vm's. If you can afford 32 gb, go for it even if it is only ddr3 1333. DDR3 1333 will not downplay your fps during you Planetside 2 games.

I can see why you would suggest the FX8350, however I think in the long run it might be worth the extra cash. As for the 16 GB of RAM, I do tend to upgrade to 16 GB of memory eventually, but I'm fine with starting out with 8 GB for the first few months. Thank you for the suggestions.

One last question, for the GTX 760, I noticed that there are different version clocked at higher speeds for just $10 more, (like this one) is that worth the increased clock speed or is it better to just go with the stock clock speeds?

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for the suggestions, that decreases my price to around $1,037 which helps out a bit. For the cases, I really like the look of the Corsair Vengeance Series C70, are there any drawbacks to it that I should know about? As of now I don't see a reason not to get it over the one I selected previously.

The main issue with the C70 is that the Antec 1100 outperforms it in terms of cooling.

One last question, for the GTX 760, I noticed that there are different version clocked at higher speeds for just $10 more, (like this one) is that worth the increased clock speed or is it better to just go with the stock clock speeds?

First and foremost: Don't buy from Tigerdirect since they don't have free shipping on those cards. If you're going to buy from Amazon.com, make sure that the cards are actually from Amazon.com and not from another vendor using Amazon's storefront like Tigerdirect.

Second, if you have $10 to spare, then yes spend the extra cash.

 

[Omen]

So as it turns out, I found a way to get parts from Microcenter up to Vermont through a family member. In addition, Microcenter decreases the price of a lot of their parts if you buy a 4th gen Intel processor, so if the prices differ from the links then that is why.

Here is my revised build



Revised Build

EDITED with revisions made below


Case: $80 Corsair Vengeance Series Black C70 Mid Tower Computer Case
PSU: $90 Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650
Mobo:$60 MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate Socket LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU:$280 Intel Core i7-4770k
HSF: $30 Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
RAM: $120 Crucial Ballistix Sport x2 8GB DDR3-1600
SSD: $170 Samsung 840 Series 250 GB SSD
GPU: $260 EVGA GTX 760 SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler 2GB GDDR5

Tax: $30

Total: $1,120



One item I'm worried about is the Motherboard, I understand that it has less ports and such, but what I care about most is whether a not an MSI motherboard will be good enough quality. Will this motherboard support UEFI if I want patch it in? I believe I read in a review that it's do-able. I don't have the best opinion on MSI, but since it cuts the price of my Motherboard in half, I'll take it assuming it will last.

Because Micro Center is so much cheaper I bumped up the specs to have a 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of Memory since that's what I always wanted from the start. I'm switching to the 4770K in case I want to overclock in the future.

Regarding the case, I'm mainly wondering here is whether the case I chose will be good enough with cooling, Will it do the job or would it will it make things significantly better if I go with the Antec 1100 case?

If all these parts check out, I am happy with the price of this, I feel like for what I'm getting, it's worth it and will definitely last me quite a while..
Thanks for the help!

 

[Dangman]

Other than not being able to overclock all that well, that MSI mobo is a good choice. The SSD isn't a good choice IMO since I don't trust Sandisk's customer support. In addition, the Samsung 840 is still faster than that Sandisk IIRC.

 

[Omen]

Other than not being able to overclock all that well, that MSI mobo is a good choice. The SSD isn't a good choice IMO since I don't trust Sandisk's customer support. In addition, the Samsung 840 is still faster than that Sandisk IIRC.

Can you explain why the MSI Mobo won't be able to overclock too well?

The SSD isn't too big of a deal, it might actually be a part I delay buying since they go on sale so often. I think the Samsung 840 Series ($170) might be a good replacement. It's priced the same as the Sandisk, so hopefully that works..

 

[Dangman]

Can you explain why the MSI Mobo won't be able to overclock too well?

It's priced at $100 and has the G41 suffix. The G41 suffix is MSI's code for base model. Generally motherboards that are around $100 don't quite overclock as well as their $150+ brothers. The higher price generally means that there are more cooling around the mosfets/phases/caps/etc as well as more mosfets/phases/caps which all help improve overclocking.

The SSD isn't too big of a deal, it might actually be a part I delay buying since they go on sale so often. I think the Samsung 840 Series ($170) might be a good replacement. It's priced the same as the Sandisk, so hopefully that works..

Yes, that Samsung is a good choice.

 

[Omen]

It's priced at $100 and has the G41 suffix. The G41 suffix is MSI's code for base model. Generally motherboards that are around $100 don't quite overclock as well as their $150+ brothers. The higher price generally means that there are more cooling around the mosfets/phases/caps/etc as well as more mosfets/phases/caps which all help improve overclocking.



Yes, that Samsung is a good choice.

Alright, I'll have to keep that in mind if I choose to overclock in the future. Will the Corsair Vengeance case be significantly worse for overclocking as well when compared to the Antec? If I were to overclock it probably would not be anything too substantial.

 

[Dangman]

Alright, I'll have to keep that in mind if I choose to overclock in the future. Will the Corsair Vengeance case be significantly worse for overclocking as well when compared to the Antec? If I were to overclock it probably would not be anything too substantial.

If moderate, the Corsair should handle it. However, for really good overclocking results, definitely go with the Antec 1100.

 

[bAMtan2]

So as it turns out, I found a way to get parts from Microcenter up to Vermont through a family member. In addition, Microcenter decreases the price of a lot of their parts if you buy a 4th gen Intel processor, so if the prices differ from the links then that is why.

Here is my revised build


Revised Build


Case: $100 Corsair Vengeance Series Black C70 Mid Tower Computer Case
PSU: $90 Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650
Mobo:$60 MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate Socket LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU:$280 Intel Core i7-4770k
HSF: $30 Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
RAM: $120 Crucial Ballistix Sport x2 8GB DDR3-1600
SSD: $170 Sandisk Ultra Plus SDSSDHP-256G-G2 256GB SATA 6.0Gb/s
GPU: $250 EVGA GTX 760 SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler 2GB GDDR5

Tax: $40

Total: $1,140



One item I'm worried about is the Motherboard, I understand that it has less ports and such, but what I care about most is whether a not an MSI motherboard will be good enough quality. Will this motherboard support UEFI if I want patch it in? I believe I read in a review that it's do-able. I don't have the best opinion on MSI, but since it cuts the price of my Motherboard in half, I'll take it assuming it will last.

Because Micro Center is so much cheaper I bumped up the specs to have a 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of Memory since that's what I always wanted from the start. I'm switching to the 4770K in case I want to overclock in the future.

Regarding the case, I'm mainly wondering here is whether the case I chose will be good enough with cooling, Will it do the job or would it will it make things significantly better if I go with the Antec 1100 case?

If all these parts check out, I am happy with the price of this, I feel like for what I'm getting, it's worth it and will definitely last me quite a while..
Thanks for the help!

do not like. you said virtualization but picked a cpu with nerfed virtualization.

you picked a super low budget to meet. so you cannot get everything good or "sweet spot" for $1000. some stuff is going to go weak, and I advise you spread it evenly rather than cheaping out on something important and going overboard on something else.

consider looking at http://techreport.com/review/24979/tr-summer-2013-system-guide/2 and each of the stages above it.

my advice is don't cheap out on the infrastructure. getting a "slower" cpu isn't cheaping out. getting a psu with less power isn't cheaping out. getting only one of a hdd/ssd is not cheaping out.

getting crappy parts like a bad psu or bad motherboard ARE cheaping out.

you can always get a super high end cpu later down the road. or a super heatsink. or a super ssd. or 32GB of memory. all of those are much easier to deal with than the case, motherboard, PSU. so I say choose those so you love them.

for me, that means get: a PSU good enough to run a geforce titan, but not enough to run two, because that is a niche situation too expensive to plan for. it means a motherboard loaded with ports and good components like functional fan monitoring chips. and it means a case capable of being silent and easy to clean, and preferably with a door to keep the noise and the ugly in, with fan filters exposed for regular cleaning. this could be a tough ask, but let's try...

in addition to what techreport suggests, I would consider:
- i5-4570 and i5-4670 (choose the cheaper one unless the difference is <$15)
- asrock z87 extreme3 or Z87M Extreme4 / asus gryphon z87 (matx)
- the cheapest low voltage 8gb dimm there is (like Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0)
- fractal r4 or fractal mini / SilverStone SST-PS07B / corsair 350D (matx)
- TX650M, Hale82 650W, or rosewill capstone 550/650
and I would use the heatsink included in the cpu box.

prices from froogle:
4570: $200, 4770: $300 (main difference is more threads)
z87m extreme4: $140, z87 gryphon: $170
BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0: $65
ps07b: $75, fractal mini: $100
capstone 550m: $90
total: $570 - $810

+ video card: $250 (good budget for a good value card)
total: $820 - $1060

so you can do this, and add a ssd/hdd, and still remain at your $1000 budget.

anand just picked sandisk extreme ii as his favorite ssd. add a SDSSDXP-240G-G25 for $230 (less than a samsung 840 pro, and yet in the same #1 performance class) and you have a minimum cost of $1050 for a super awesome cheap computer. damn, I'd like one of these

what I've picked out here is small, quiet, high value for the price, easy to maintain, high performance, upgradeable, capable of 32GB memory, capable of overclocking the fastest CPUs, capable of two modest video cards or one TITAN, and has no cheap parts. a perfect computer for $1000.

I have succeeded where I thought no one could. the impossible made possible. my job here is done

 

[Omen]

do not like. you said virtualization but picked a cpu with nerfed virtualization.

you picked a super low budget to meet. so you cannot get everything good or "sweet spot" for $1000. some stuff is going to go weak, and I advise you spread it evenly rather than cheaping out on something important and going overboard on something else.

consider looking at http://techreport.com/review/24979/tr-summer-2013-system-guide/2 and each of the stages above it.

my advice is don't cheap out on the infrastructure. getting a "slower" cpu isn't cheaping out. getting a psu with less power isn't cheaping out. getting only one of a hdd/ssd is not cheaping out.

getting crappy parts like a bad psu or bad motherboard ARE cheaping out.

you can always get a super high end cpu later down the road. or a super heatsink. or a super ssd. or 32GB of memory. all of those are much easier to deal with than the case, motherboard, PSU. so I say choose those so you love them.

for me, that means get: a PSU good enough to run a geforce titan, but not enough to run two, because that is a niche situation too expensive to plan for. it means a motherboard loaded with ports and good components like functional fan monitoring chips. and it means a case capable of being silent and easy to clean, and preferably with a door to keep the noise and the ugly in, with fan filters exposed for regular cleaning. this could be a tough ask, but let's try...

in addition to what techreport suggests, I would consider:
- i5-4570 and i5-4670 (choose the cheaper one unless the difference is <$15)
- asrock z87 extreme3 or Z87M Extreme4 / asus gryphon z87 (matx)
- the cheapest low voltage 8gb dimm there is (like Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0)
- fractal r4 or fractal mini / SilverStone SST-PS07B / corsair 350D (matx)
- TX650M, Hale82 650W, or rosewill capstone 550/650
and I would use the heatsink included in the cpu box.

prices from froogle:
4570: $200, 4770: $300 (main difference is more threads)
z87m extreme4: $140, z87 gryphon: $170
BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0: $65
ps07b: $75, fractal mini: $100
capstone 550m: $90
total: $570 - $810

+ video card: $250 (good budget for a good value card)
total: $820 - $1060

so you can do this, and add a ssd/hdd, and still remain at your $1000 budget.

anand just picked sandisk extreme ii as his favorite ssd. add a SDSSDXP-240G-G25 for $230 (less than a samsung 840 pro, and yet in the same #1 performance class) and you have a minimum cost of $1050 for a super awesome cheap computer. damn, I'd like one of these

what I've picked out here is small, quiet, high value for the price, easy to maintain, high performance, upgradeable, capable of 32GB memory, capable of overclocking the fastest CPUs, capable of two modest video cards or one TITAN, and has no cheap parts. a perfect computer for $1000.

I have succeeded where I thought no one could. the impossible made possible. my job here is done

Thanks for the suggestions. I just thought I'd preface this by stating that this is the first time I'm building a computer from scratch (I've just done upgrades to existing builds in the past). So if my questions sound noobish, that's why.

First of all, can you explain to me why the i7 4770k is nerfed when compared to the 4670K? I was under the impression that the 4770k would be more powerful.

I get what you're saying about not cheaping out on the PSU and Motherboard which is why I'm asking about the quality. Yeah sure, the Motherboard I am getting is a little skimpy when it comes to the amount of ports, but as long as it's reliable, I'll get it.

If you have reason to believe that the MSI motherboards are poor in terms of reliability, then I'll gladly upgrade to an AsRock or ASUS card.

You also state that I should be getting a higher quality PSU. Are you saying that the Hale 82 650W would be better? I thought the Seasonic one would work out because it's also modular.

I'm very apprehensive about downgrading my CPU to a Core i5 but, I am willing to cut my memory and my SSD in half to reduce prices, and increase my motherboard to a higher quality one ($70 increase) Doing just that would reduce my overall price by around $50, because like you said it will be cheaper to upgrade those over time. So if you could go into detail as to why the Core i7 and my PSU are not a good choice that would be awesome.

Thanks a lot for double checking on the build, it's always nice to get another opinion.

 

[Dangman]

First of all, can you explain to me why the i7 4770k is nerfed when compared to the 4670K? I was under the impression that the 4770k would be more powerful.

He wasn't talking about the 4670K. He was talking about the 4670. But batman did have a point: The regular Core i7 4770 and Core i5 4570/4670 have VT-D which is a very useful feature if you're doing really heavy duty virtualization. However, you cannot overclock them that high (about 400Mhz extra at most). The Core i7 4770K and Core i5 4670K can be OC'd an extra 1GHz or more give or take.

You also state that I should be getting a higher quality PSU. Are you saying that the Hale 82 650W would be better? I thought the Seasonic one would work out because it's also modular.

The NZXT Hale 82 650W and the Corsair TX650M are both of lower performance and quality than the Seasonic.

 

[bAMtan2]

First of all, can you explain to me why the i7 4770k is nerfed when compared to the 4670K? I was under the impression that the 4770k would be more powerful.

because intel has no good competition, they no longer offer chips with everything. even if you have $10,000 to spend on a chip, you can't get it all. the 12-thread xeons have overclocking disabled.

so something about each chip has been compromised by intel, just because they can. in the case of 4770 vs 4770k, they trade enterprise features for enthusiast one(s). 4770 has proper virtualization support. 4770k has proper overclocking support. a 4770 can be overclocked slightly through other means, and a 4770k can paravirtualize with common paravirtualization software. furthermore, the xeon version of the 4770 has unbuffered ECC memory support.

If you have reason to believe that the MSI motherboards are poor in terms of reliability, then I'll gladly upgrade to an AsRock or ASUS card.

motherboards vary in ways that are not visible without experience or lots of reading. there are non-obvious components on the board which add or subtract quality. they also vary by bios capability, stability, and frequency of updates. so an asrock z87 motherboard might have a more buggy bios right now, but in a year they might be updating it more often than asus, and in 4 years they might release an update when asus has abandoned it. in my experience, asus is slightly higher quality than asrock, but asrock tries harder and provides more value for the money. gigabyte and msi are a tier behind IMO, and a lot of motherboard roundup reviewers would agree. and like I said, I recommend people not cheap out on infrastructure.

the important part of the motherboard is how it is to live with. trust users and reviewers with experience here, and buy a motherboard with ancestors that were good to live with.

You also state that I should be getting a higher quality PSU. Are you saying that the Hale 82 650W would be better? I thought the Seasonic one would work out because it's also modular.

I prefaced that list of products with "in addition to what techreport suggests, I would consider" -- so they are not necessarily better or worse, but they have some merit to consider. in the case of the power supplies, those I listed are all recommended by johnnyguru, and are newer than the m12ii. new power supplies come out every couple years with improved efficiency, and the ones I listed are more efficient than that seasonic. I think seasonic is the best PSU company, and I think johnnyguru would say their hardware is tied with superflower. which is why, at the end, I chose a new modular superflower for my recommended psu: the rosewill capstone 550m, which believe-it-or-not should be capable of running a whole computer and a geforce gtx titan. anandtech also approves, and it has a 5 year warranty.

I'm 100% confident 550w is enough for everything normal, but since I'm hardcore and I might run a bunch of unrealistic synthetic power draining apps at once with a ridiculous graphics card, I'd spend the extra $10 and get a capstone 650m for $100. so, now: if you ask me if I think THAT psu is better than the m12ii, I would say yes. it is also $10 more expensive.

I'm very apprehensive about downgrading my CPU to a Core i5 but, I am willing to cut my memory and my SSD in half to reduce prices, and increase my motherboard to a higher quality one ($70 increase) Doing just that would reduce my overall price by around $50, because like you said it will be cheaper to upgrade those over time. So if you could go into detail as to why the Core i7 and my PSU are not a good choice that would be awesome.

the big difference is extra threads. 4 cores 4 threads, versus 4 cores 8 threads. hyperthreading is an optimization you can read more about in comparisons between 2500k and 2600k. the summary is that everyone who wanted to save money saved their $100 and is still happy rocking their >4ghz 2500k that makes ivy bridge and haswell look a little stupid.

benefit from more than 4 threads is not noticeable to normal people because normal software is not well threaded. normal people just do not run a lot of software at once. hyperthreading helps with math: encoding/decoding, encryption/decryption, and yes, virtualization because that means multiple systems at once. but a lot of very nice laptops come with 2-4 threads and people don't notice.

are the newest high end games well threaded? yes. will future high end games be well threaded because both new consoles have 8 threads? yes. does that matter to you? still probably not. the new console threads are maybe half the speed of a core i5 thread.

for almost every user, even hardforum users, having 2x the ssd space will be more noticeable than 2x the threads. it goes like this: you will always want more space (up to a point you cannot afford). you apparently do NOT know if you need more threads. if you DO know you will need them, you should get them, but if you don't, you probably won't. I (and a lot of other people) would feel very confident recommending a used 2500k to anyone who doesn't know what they need.

do not go below the memory I recommended. one 8gb dimm is the floor for people in-the-know. do not buy 4gb dimms. if you are going to buy old low density memory, you might as well buy used.

 

[Dangman]

I prefaced that list of products with "in addition to what techreport suggests, I would consider" -- so they are not necessarily better or worse, but they have some merit to consider.
......
anandtech also approves, and it has a 5 year warranty.

FYI, Anandtech and Tech Report don't do proper PSU reviews like the ones you see here at HardOCP, JonnyGuru.com, PCPer, etc. Neither site does temperature testing and provide proper ripple and noise measurements screenshots. Therefore their word when it comes to power supplies is virtually worthless. So unless both sites change their PSU testing methods, I would recommend not using them as a source for PSUs.

in the case of the power supplies, those I listed are all recommended by johnnyguru, and are newer than the m12ii. new power supplies come out every couple years with improved efficiency, and the ones I listed are more efficient than that seasonic.

The Corsair TX650M may be newer than the Seasonic M12II 650W but I wouldn't say it's better than the Seasonic. If you compare the the HardOCP testing of the older Seasonic M12II 620W, the lower wattage TX550M, and the higher wattage TX750M, you'll see that the Seasonic has the far far better DC output quality than the Corsairs. The Seasonic M12II 620W peaked at 25mV on the +12V rail during testing whereas the TX550M peaked at 55mV and the TX750M peaked at 50mV.

However, I will have to retract part of my previous statement: The NZXT Hale82 is not worse per se than the Seasonic M12II Bronze. But it may not be a good buy as JonnyGuru.com reviews of the NZXT Hale82 750 and 850W found they did have some build quality issues that may impact the longevity of the PSU and system itself. If you can get the NZXT Hale82 650W for a really low price, it's worth it. But at its current pricing of $90? Not worth it considering that there are better quality PSUs for around or close to the same price out there like the Seasonic G Series 550W.

 

[Omen]

Alright, so I have been following the thread, and I think I've reached a compromise. From what I get, the PSU I'm getting now is decent enough, but it's definitely not the highest quality available. I'm also starting to think that I would be ok with a 550 W PSU instead of a 650 W. When I put my build together at PC Part Picker it said the Estimated Watt usage was 357W so I think 550W would still be well above my peak.

With that said would the Seasonic G Series 550-Watt PSU ($80) be a good choice? Going with this would also decrease the price of my build by $10

I'm also gathering from other reviews online and what not that the Motherboard is a little finicky and run rather hot. So as a result, I think I'm going to just buy one stick of 8 GB memory for now, and probably get another stick if I feel like I need it (I probably will at some point). This will decrease my price by $55 and as a result I can afford to get the ASUS Z87-A Socket LGA 1150 for $109.

I also like the looks of the ASRock Z87 Extreme4 which is just $10 more expensive than the ASUS for me, but according to the reviews on Newegg, it's been having issues with the BIOS crashing.

All in all, this decreases the price of my build to $1,110. Once again. This price is ok for more, Going $110 isn't too big of a deal, as long as the quality is good enough, and I can feel relatively sure that my parts won't start falling apart after one year.

 

[Dangman]

With that said would the Seasonic G Series 550-Watt PSU ($80) be a good choice? Going with this would also decrease the price of my build by $10.

It's a good choice. Far better than most of the PSUs listed so far.

I'm also gathering from other reviews online and what not that the Motherboard is a little finicky and run rather hot. So as a result, I think I'm going to just buy one stick of 8 GB memory for now, and probably get another stick if I feel like I need it (I probably will at some point). This will decrease my price by $55 and as a result I can afford to get the ASUS Z87-A Socket LGA 1150 for $109.

RAM prices have gone up over the past few months. Not to mention availability. So I highly recommend getting as much RAM as possible before prices for those goes up even further.

 

[Omen]

It's a good choice. Far better than most of the PSUs listed so far.


RAM prices have gone up over the past few months. Not to mention availability. So I highly recommend getting as much RAM as possible before prices for those goes up even further.

That's a good point, so maybe I'll bite the bullet and keep my 16 GB's of RAM. Do you think it's worth it to upgrade to get the ASUS Motherboard instead of the MSI?

 

[Dangman]

If you are overclocking, yes. But non-overclocking? The MSI if fine.

 

[bAMtan2]

I also like the looks of the ASRock Z87 Extreme4 which is just $10 more expensive than the ASUS for me, but according to the reviews on Newegg, it's been having issues with the BIOS crashing.

I saw that too. I recommended the matx one, but the atx is good too. the atx extreme3 would be sufficient for you, which is why I recommended the atx extreme3 to you over the atx extreme4.

on the bios problem: screwing up is typical for these companies, but timely fixes are not. I call the situation at newegg a win for asrock. asrock may seem more trashy than asus up front, but for that you get more hardware for the dollar.

the best news: once you are choosing between high quality parts like those mentioned, you begin to find yourself "splitting hairs". pick between these blind and you'll have a good computer. the important part is that you've come to only have good things to choose from. that's a big win for you!

PS: the difference between some things are much bigger than others. like hard drive versus ssd, or ugly case versus attractive case, or noisy case versus quiet case, or 25fps low frame rate versus 35fps. those are a big deal. for the smaller things, like X ram or Y threads or Z power attributes or C motherboard components, you more likely will never notice the differences... unless you know you will.

PPS: part prices can move up and down in the short term, but in the long term they do fall. if you're price sensitive, don't buy something you don't need.

 

[Omen]

Ok, so this is what I decided to buy:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $60.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($173.37 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Taxes:$20
Total: $1103.31

I know the MSI board isn't the best Mobo I can get, but I think it'll be able to suit my needs, and if I decide to get into overclocking I'll probably get a new one. At just $60 it's not too big of a deal if I get a new one a few years down the road.

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate this community, it's awesome; I know my computer definitely wouldn't have been as good if I didn't ask here first!

 

[bAMtan2]

face palm. good luck