http://pcpartpicker.com/user/TheGreatGodLoki/saved/fqPgXL
My friend helped me build this. Looking at around $1300 budget so he walked me through this. I'm very new at this whole process and he helped explain as best as possible and gave me sites to look at. Newegg, Logical Increments, This one. Any others I should look at? How did he do/anywhere else I can save/tweak/upgrade down the road? This would be my primary gaming desktop.
This is going to be my build.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Mr.DHbigmac/saved/Dwyqqs
it's $100 cheaper and it includes a bluray drive and windows, performance will be on par +/- 3% and it's a "Whole" PC rather than a box full of hardware
Not bad. However, slightly newer silicon is out, and you can probably get more performance for your money. Also, I have no idea why your hard drive is that expensive. A 1TB HDD should be at most $100.
It appears you want to overclock and game.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/k9Fst6
Since you're new, I'll give you a rundown of parts.
CPU: i5-4690k. This is a haswell refresh. It features better TIM. Basically, heat transfer will be better and will allow your cooler to cool this better. Not a whole lot different from the 4670k, but will allow for cooler temps and better overclocking.
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14. Not the prettiest cooler in the world, but one of the best air coolers out there. It has performance similar to 240mm all-in-one liquid coolers, and is incredibly quiet.
MoBo: Cheaper motherboard that can handle some overclocking and can also handle up to 2 GPUs just fine[for upgrading]. Newer Z97 chipset for compatibility with the i5-4690k.
RAM: 2x4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport. Typical RAM; doesn't really matter what you get.
Storage: 256GB Crucial MX100. SSDs are much, much faster than SSDs. Install an OS and other common programs on here. For everything else, install it to the 1TB Western Digital Blue. Installing an OS onto your SSD will make your whole computer feel snappier, and boot times will be ridiculously quick.
GPU: R9 290. This GPU is stronger than the GTX 770, and can be comparable to something like a GTX 780.
Case: Define R4 w/ Window. It has a window to see all your components. It also has some decent airflow, but also noise isolating foam for silence. You only need a mid-tower case. A full tower case is BIG, and I would only recommend one if you have a crazy watercooling loop or 3-4 GPUs.
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80+G. Seasonic is one of the most reliable power supply manufacturers, and XFX uses all japanese capacitors(basically, not cheap chinese stuff) and a Seasonic design. Great power supply for the money. Also, it's fully modular to help with cable management. 850W is overkill for one GPU, but if you want to add another R9 290 in the future, this power supply can handle it just fine.
Hope this helped.
Reading the reviews of that graphic cards, it seems a lot of people had issues with it. I didn't feel confident in that brand. Is it possible to recommend other video cards of equivalent price/power?
I have had zero problems with Sapphire.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-1003622sr
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9290aedbd
Which one would you recommend for this particular build?
The Sapphire TRI-X should be quite nice. It's orange and black though, so if you're OCD about color matching, then you might want a non-windowed case or a different color GPU.