I'm looking to build my first pc and I want to make sure it won't be needing any major upgrades for awhile.I'm looking to spend up to around $700.00. Also I want to get a case with just USB 3.0 and I just wanted to know if you can still use 2.0 peripherals in a 3.0 port.
Thanks.
USB 3.0 and 2.0 are cross-compatible, though obviously it will only run at USB 2.0 speeds. Most peripherals anyways aren't 3.0, and unless you're looking to upgrade them more or less constantly in the future, I wouldn't bother getting a USB 3.0 only case and motherboard.
Do you need peripherals?
You want it to be future-proof - however, the smaller the budget, the more difficult it will be to work with. How long do you want it to last - 3 years? What are you wanting to be able to run on it?
All my peripherals are 2.0 now but I just wanted to be ahead of the game when peripherals move on to 3.0 in the future. I'd like the rig to go for at least 3 years before it needed any upgrading and hopefully longer before it needed any really big upgrades. I've never built a pc so I'm not sure how to go about accomplishing that. I'd be using it mainly for web surfing and movies/videos but I'd like to be able to be able to game on it too if I wanted to. Does gaming blow the budget totally out of the water?
There is not such thing as a future proof PC, yet there are parts that can be long lasting to an extent.
What Jeol said was correct, however most motherboards have USB 2.0 ports around 4 compared to the 2 USB 3.0 ports when purchasing a lower budget motherboard.
Now I will give you a few builds (because I don't know what manufacturer you prefer) that would be around your budget (or less):
Intel: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rWTqP6
Intel + NVIDIA: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/f4QxRB
Intel + AMD: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jDTpg
AMD: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nnBWzy
AMD + NVIDIA: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6824YJ
AMD + AMD: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kDsxRB
I know that the A10-7850K supports 2133MHz RAM, but there was none in a single 8GB stick to save costs so I went with the same RAM that the 760K uses.
So these are your builds. Now as you can see you can just get yourself an Intel build without a GPU and save up some more money to afford either the 750 Ti or 265. And if you like something that makes you feel more "future proof", you can upgrade the CPU to a higher class CPU (though I do recommend getting a better cooler if you do that).
Now the AMD side is a lot cheaper when you throw in GPUs only because AMD lets you buy practically an A10-5800K with the IGP disabled. That does mean that the 760K does perform worse than the A10-7850K when both are benchmarked together with the same parts (besides the CPU, obviously).
So in short, you can go with either one. The 265 does perform better than the 750 Ti, but only by 5-10 fps more depending on what game you play. And the cheaper 760K lets you throw in a GPU under the $700 budget, but doesn't let you upgrade to a more powerful CPU (like the i5-4690 or i7-4790) in the future.
And the reason why I chose a single 8GB stick was to let you add in another one in the future, instead of having to buy another pair to put into the motherboard. Obviously the case needs some more fans if you like fans, but you can just get them in the future (I highly recommend Noctua, especially the Redux versions.)
Building a "Future Proof PC"...
You don't.
There is no Such thing as "Future Proofing" components are constantly getting outdated, GPU's releases are about a every year and a half or so, However the smaller the budget the bigger you are going to have to make sacrifices on components. realistically you shouldn't need to worry about upgrading until about every two to three years, you can get away with 4 years to depending how well performance is in your build is. however if your sole purpose is gaming with your newly planned build there is nothing wrong with going all AMD. you'll save your money and overclocking is pretty strong on whatever platform you choose AM3+ or FM2+
Heres an Excellent video i think you should watch.
Skip to 4:30 Mark you can use those components but work around them. for example that Fractal Design case Jay mentions in this video is really expensive, or if you don't like the fractal design PSU look at something else cheaper (As long as its 80+ bronze and in between the 500w to 600w range. you can get whatever else you like. the 270 is a card capable of running most games on high settings at 1080p with acceptable frame-rates. me being a previous owner of a 270x it does pretty well, also the R9-270 is just an Underclocked 270x, nothing a small overclock on the 270 wont fix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWans5FU4cU#aid=P-7z1zRFfwI
Will any of those set ups support an SSD?
Future proof, no cant happen. Especially with that budget.
cbfd doing a build list for your budget atm so perhaps look here >>
http://www.logicalincrements.com/
That is a pretty darn good site that you linked... I am surprised that I never heard of it, yet I never heard of PCPartPicker until 2 weeks ago... All this time and there are sites like these! Well I can't wait to see what you come up with.
So what would be a good mother board then that would be the most upgradable in the long run?
H97 would support Xeon, and non-K series Intel up to Broadwell, Z97 will overclock up to broadwell... AM3+ is a dead-end but the 8320/50 is a good chip for the end road...
What about this mother board? MSI Z97M Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro AT
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/deejeta/saved/fzwkcf - bang for buck cheap am3 cpu/mb combos are the way to go even when the socket is on its last legs. All quality parts, definitely not future proof but you will get a few years out of it at least. The only thing you would most likely have to change in 2 or 3 years is the gpu when power demanding games come by.
The motherboard can oc the cpu a little when you need to provided aftermarket cooling is added at some stage. Build includes a cheap but ok case, good quality psu (very important), Havent included an OS. Obviously there is Windows of which 8.1 is imho the way to go or try out one of the various Linux distros that are freely available.
Yeah I'd be updating to Windows 8.1 as well.
You can hook up an SSD in any computer that has SATA, which is just about all mainstream motherboards on the market. Now depending on what case you get, you may have to get some mounting adapters that will allow you to mount it in your hard drive cage. Or you can do like logan suggested, take the cheap route and use some double-sided tape or velcro. >_<
Future proof for $700? HA!
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qbj7GX
This should be able to run most games (sans Crysis or Far Cry 3) at 30fps. You can always upgrade later and get a good GPU if you want. This should be fine for a while if you're mostly just browsing and playing the occasional game. That will be about the biggest upgrade you could make with this, but I made sure the power supply could handle it (+250 watts or so). You've got two USB 3.0 headers for the front and another two in the back.
What about this mother board? MSI Z97M Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro AT
That's a Micro ATX motherboard. While it should be compatible with ATX cases, it would probably be better off going with a mid-sized ATX case.
You just recommended an underperforming apu for more money. Why? Deejeta build is far better price for performance.
Sorry,
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/V3tBGX
Any better?
Probably a bit comes from the SSD+HDD - I tend to be an SSD fanatic but you could trim off $75 there. I'm looking at long term reliability and sustainability more than performance to price ratio.
Edit: Also, Dejeeta's build lacks the OS, so his is technically $100 over budget.
Betting the farm the they are going somewhere with the fm2 platform? When so far all we have seen is underperforming apu's and a theory that hsa is going somewhere. Almost hazard an guess that Amd is coming out with another platform. Linux is free and from what i can tell is becoming a much better gaming platform( even if it is a pain in the butt to setup ) Deejeta budget still has room to flex to include windows if they insist upon it.
I'm not betting on it going anywhere - the point isn't the upgradeability. From what I've heard, the APUs work fine for a budget build.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWans5FU4cU
OP already said he'll be upgrading to 8.1, unless you want to convince him otherwise. Following the video, you could probably get away with using this build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9BcvdC
Obviously that isn't efficient since you can't utilize dual graphics, but you can upgrade to that or use the other older graphics card for dual graphics capabilities as mentioned in the video.