I'm building my first serious PC this week, and my total budget just keeps going up and up as I research more. I've gone from $1k to 1200 to 1300, and now I'm approaching 1600 after taxes (in ON, Canada - 13%) Here's my build so far:
i7 4770k
CM hyper 212 evo
Asus Z87-A mobo
G.SKILL ripjaws X series 16GB (2x8) 1600mhz
Asus R9 280X (DC2T-3GD5-V2)
Seagate Barracuda 1tb
Adata SX900 128GB SSD
EVGA Supernova NEX650G 80+ Gold modular PSU
NZXT Phantom 530
It will be used for ~65/35 gaming/CAD work (Solidworks, AutoCAD)
Any thoughts? I don't think I'm bottlenecking anywhere but I've never build a system like this so any input is very appreciated. Thanks!
High end Asus mobos are gimmicks and the rest are overpriced so i would suggest getting another mobo then buying an aio watercooler with the cash you saved instead of hyper 212.
Some evga psu's have bad voltage regulation so double check before buying one,they perform to spec and have good ripple supression tho.
What mobo would you recommend? This Asus is $140, I thought that was a pretty good price...
I had originally planned to use the 212 evo at stock everything without OCing at all (because I've heard the intel coolers aren't good enough to keep Haswell cool even at stock), then buying a decent watercooling setup when I decide I need more performance. Is this a bad idea?
A 4670k will be a better option for the price. For gaming, the 4770k is a terrible value.
*edit I just saw that you do CAD work. In that case go with the AMD FX 8350. The eight cores will take care of everything and will handle all gaming needs too.
Looks to me like you've got a solid build. That 4770k will work well when you're doing CAD stuff. As fatninjamke said, intel doesn't have the price/performance ratio that AMD does, however, intel's processors are generally faster so if you're willing to fork over the money for intel, I would go for it!