First Build ~900$ for gaming

Hello everyone, this is my first build and it will be used for mainly gaming. I may have gotten things wrong or not found optimal deals etc, there are a few things that i am not sure on, mainly SSD, Hard Drive, and PSU. Any changes, comments are totally welcomed!

This is what i have so far:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dtppLk

And the case: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Supply-Tower-Cases-CA-S340W-W1/dp/B00NGMIBXC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433154675&sr=8-1&keywords=nzxt+s340

Some questions i have:
1. Should i get more fans for the case? If so are the fans i have on my list good?
2. Where can i get my OS, and should i go Windows 7 Home Premium or 8.1
3. If i am not going to have a wired internet connection do i need to buy a wireless adapter? or is it built in somewhere i am not aware of.
4. What is the difference between the i5 4460 and the 4690k?
5. Are the SSD and Hard Drive good for what i need?
6. Will a 120GB SSD be good enough for my OS and also a few games?
7. Is the thermal paste that looks like is included in the CPU cooler good enough or should i invest in a better brand?

I honestly have no clue how to choose my PSU so i just threw one in there as a placeholder.

My monitor is not being paid for by myself personally so i am not including it in the cost, but i would appreciate suggestions on that because i am still choosing it and i have no clue what i would need/ what i should get.

As of now around $900 is my budget but that may go up as i am going to be working an a lot of overtime at my job so i will have a bit of extra cash to drop on it.

Thanks for taking some time and hopefully helping me out. I'll try to check back here often.

Here, throw a couple extra bucks at the system and get this instead.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jx2nhM

The i5 4690K is faster and will let you overclock.

The SSD I chose is a bit quicker, cheaper, and it does not suffer from the samsung slow down problem.

The PSU I chose is a much higher quality PSU that will last you a fairly long time.

The ram is faster, cheaper, and IMO better all around.

You case comes with plenty of fans, so forget about extra ones.

However your case does not have any slots for a dvd reader/writer. If using dvd's is important to you, I suggest you find a different case.

And lastly go with windows 8. Just find a copy online for free, and then wait for windows 10 to come out in a few weeks.

I agree with @Tjj226_Angel for the most part. There's a couple things I'd change though.

Going for a 120GB SSD for a boot drive and just having less games on an SSD from the start, and then using that saved money for the GPU would be worth it IMO. I mean, if you can pull together $50 from somewhere (changing the SSD, RAM, getting the case elsewhere etc) you can get a sapphire R9 290 (Tri-X). You can always add another SSD later down the line, in a much easier fashion than upgrading your GPU.

Also, I assume you're after a colour themed build (hence the white RAM, white case, etc). It'd probably be worth giving up on making your RAM conform to this, because white 8GB kits of kingston fury/vengeance LP seem to be like $10-20 more than black/blue/red ones. Maybe go for an all black build?

Oh and btw it might be worth waiting to build this because there's the R9 300 series coming pretty darn soon.

There are problems with your build, but just a few questions. What resolution do you game at? medium, high, etc
What games do you play?
What type of monitor do you have?
Do you know how to overclock or plan on overclocking?

Tada:

That didn't answer my question. I asked if he played on high, medium, low.

I think it'd be pretty safe to assume that he/she wants to get the best performance available out of their budget. I haven't seen anyone coming here asking for the best build available to play games on low settings before?
As for resolution, considering they don't have a monitor yet, I'd guess getting a 1080p panel would do fine for a $900 rig, a 290 (probably the best GPU you could get out of that budget if you want to go with the standard 4690k for a CPU) isn't going to hold up at 1440p for long. That being said, if you went AMD you might be able to scrape some extra cash and get a 970/290X, or a better 300 series GPU. Even then, 1440p might be pushing it a bit.

Sticking to the white and black theme if nothing else change the CPU and PSU.
I still think that the 4690k will last you longer than a 4460 would and you wont lose frames as much. If you want to shave money and never intend to overclock then get the 4590 not the 4460.

As for the PSU I think you're better off with the supernova fully modular 80+ gold. Made with better quality parts, it'll save you on your power bill and headache installing that 600b. I installed a 600b already and it was a pain and then you have extra cables taking up airflow and that will make your cable management look like poo inside that nice s340.
Another optional PSU would be a Corsair CSM 650 80+gold or RM 650/750 which would run super quiet and leave room for future GPU upgrade
SSD I just lowered it down to a 128 because its a boot drive and you're only going to have room to put windows stuff on there anyway. Games nowadays are 20-30gb and you never want to fill your SSD over 70% capacity.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($31.24 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($122.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($52.73 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($219.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($76.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series White 2 pack 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($19.19 @ Newegg)
Total: $888.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-01 11:33 EDT-0400

I do plan on playing on high settings ,seemed to be more than attainable with 900$. I currently play League of Legends, CS:GO, Dragon Age, and Dark Souls 2 mostly but i am going to pick up Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition for sure when i have my rig all built.

You should be able to play all of those on ultra with that gpu and a 4590 or 4690k. I tried hard to find a white and black one lol

I appreciate the attempt to stick to my color scheme, but i think that it is best if I hold off on the white for a later build. This is what I have changed around; kept the i5 4690k CPU, in case I want to overclock in the future, everyone recommended it so it seems like I am better off with if i spend more on it. I am going to keep the RAM and SSD suggested by @Tjj226_Angel but 128 GB instead of 256 GB. I did change to a case so i can have an optical drive. I think the case i changed to comes with the same amount of fans as the s340 so I would assume I don't need to buy anymore until i decide to overclock my CPU.

Is there a second opinion on the PSU suggested by @Fr33Th1nk3r , is 650W overkill(i am not sure how wattage works), i picked it more so because i wanted it to be modular. If the power being easy to install and much less cluttered is not worth the price i will go with the 550W 80+ Gold that was suggested earlier.

As for the GPU i think that what @SpaceCat said nailed it, if i want to add another SSD that is a lot easier than upgrading my GPU. Does anyone know about the release date of the R9 300, because i wont be purchasing most of this until July, so i may in fact be able to get it then, or wait another week or two for it to release.

Everything i said:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nT4hLk

Last thing, do i need to purchase a wireless adapter since while i am at home over the summer i will not have a wired connection, or is wireless built in somewhere I am not aware of. Also what are everyone's opinions on the mail in rebates?

Looks solid. You won't have to worry about textures with that 4gb vram on the GPU and u get a free ram stick u can sell.

I'm not a huge fan of rebates, but if I really want the part then I 'll deal with it if it's cheap enough w/o the rebate anyway. I always have some each time I build a rig. You just go on the website and print out the thing and mail in the form and a cut out of the w/e it is they want and they send you a prepaid visa or something you can use for whatever you want.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/tp-link-wireless-network-card-tlwdn4800

Mainly did you already look into the R9 280? It's around $150, and it has 3gbs of VRAM compared to the 2 on thtat 960.

Otherwise just use linux wink**wink

You'll need a PCI-e wireless adapter, they're like 20 bucks

you'll want a 240gb SSD if you plan to put some games on it.

MX-4 is a decent step up from grey goo

for your PSU you'll want something gold rated, probably modular, and around 600W

As for your monitor this one is pretty solid , though the price just went up
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824160167&cm_re=AOC_1080p_IPS-_-24-160-167-_-Product

This is what i have trow together.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4RmHZL

I think this would be a very sollid gaming pc.
Of course the cpu is not overclockable, but it does has 4 cores 8 Threads, which will be nice if you ever like to do some live streaming.
Next to that, this cpu has no single issue maxing out any highend gpu on the market today.
A big plus of the Xeon E3 is that you can pair it with a cheaper H97 board, and use the stock cooling, which makes you save some money for now, which you can invest in a better gpu.

Still if you prefer overclockability, you can of course choose for a 4690K + decent Z97 board if you like to.

As for the GPU i choosed for the Sapphire 290 TriX OC,
This gpu is realy a great bang for buck card imo.
I´d choose to take out the DVD drive, because you can basicly install your system using a usb stick.
If you do prefer a DVD drive, then you need to for a diffrent case, cause that particular NZXT case does not support dvd drives.

Let me know what you think.

2 Likes

My most recent post is pretty much what I have decided on getting, the final list with monitor is here

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xyyBt6

Thanks to everyone who helped me, I would probably have a pretty crappy first build without you all!

Last note if anyone can direct me to a place where I can get windows 7 or 8 for cheap (I will end up upgrading to 10 probably when it comes out) I would really appreciate it.