So I can't seem to save up enough money to buy a full build at once, so I'll just have to buy a part or two at a time.
My current old rig:
ASUS P5K
Intel Core 2 Duo e6600
Hyper 212 something cooler
8GB DDR2
ATI Radeon HD5830 (Bought this used a couple of years ago when my 8800GTS started to BSOD a lot)
XFX PRO750W (Bought this a year ago when my old Antec 430W retired)
120GB SSD and a few HDDs
Two cheap monitors with only VGA connectivity
NZXT Hush case
Obviously I will need to have a new mobo, CPU and RAM at hand before I can use them. So that's where I'll start, and then get a new GPU next, followed by a case because this case I got is starting to disintegrate.
My end goal is to have at least one decent 1080p monitor to mostly play games on. I would like to be able to hook my TV up in addition to the two monitors. I'll also mess around with making games on Unity3D. Somewhere down the line I will also add another, bigger SSD and a better CPU-cooler, possibly a water cooling set.
I will do some slight overclocking just for funsies, but the main idea is to have a pretty silent rig. This might require switching the PSU but for now the current one will do.
So the first order of business is to get a mobo, CPU and RAM. I will use those in my current case with my current GPU until I get new one. It sucks not to have a complete shiny new build, but that's the situation. I'd like to pay about 200-250 € for the CPU, probably get one 8GB stick of RAM for starters, and I have no idea how to choose a mobo. The cheaper the better but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot. I feel like the FX-8350 is probably great bang for buck but I wonder if I should dish out a bit more for an FX-9370 or a 4670K.
The other parts I won't buy for another couple months but probably looking at a GTX 760 and maybe a Define R4.
I guess what I need help with is the motherboard and tips on how not to shoplift a GPU until I get the money. Anything I'm overlooking here or doing stupidly?
I dont have that much time to answer but I am shocked at the prices old computer parts will sell for on ebay. Take a look and see if you can add some money to your budget from selling the parts that you will replace.
The only issue with the 8350 would be that you would need to couple it with a 990FX board to get a decent VRM, but then they are most likely more expensive than a Z87 board at the moment.
You could probably pick up a Z87 motherboard for just north of $100, they should be selling for cheap since the Z97 boards are out. This will give you most of the features and all of the performance of a Z97 board, while saving a few bucks.
For the CPU I'd go with a i5 4670k, the cheapest 1150 chip that can overclock, not to say it doesn't perform well, in most applications the difference between the i5 4670k and the i7 4770k are negligible clock for clock.
For RAM I'd say any 8GB kit that's clocked at 1600mhz with a brand name and decent warranty, such as Geil, G.Skill, Kingston, Corsair, Patriot, Crucial. Any of those will do fine.
Are you in the USA, or another country? Since regional pricing may differ a lot.
Thanks for the reply. I'm in Finland and it seems my prices are about 10% less in € than USA prices in $. For esxample, Newegg has the FX-8350 for $200, and I can get it locally for about €180.
I realize the 4670K is quite a bit faster than the FX-8350 in single thread applications but it's also about €40 more. I can happily pay that if it's actually worth it but I'm not sure about that. I'm sort of leaning towards the 4670K but I wonder if I will miss the eight cores in the future.
With the 4670K I would probably go for the Asrock Z87 Pro4 motherboard for about €105. I value the extra USB connectivity over the Pro3 higher than the extra €15 it costs.
The 4670k is probably the one to get from a purely performance standpoint, but I can't help noting that the FX 8350 are just more fun to play around with, primarily in regards to overclocking, I just find the FX platform a more exciting platform to overclock.
Having said that I'd still vote for the 4670k.
That ASrock board looks like it has a fair few features considering how cheap it is.