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1

Hello everyone,

I have been watching TheTek for over a year now and I finally registered today so I could get some community feedback/advice for my first build. I have been wanting to build my own system for at least 6 years now, and I finally have enough extra money to do it. However I am running into a couple issues. First I hate shopping for motherboards, I find them boring, and it seems like all of them have at least 20% horrible reviews. I do not want to buy something that is not going to last even six months, so picking the right board makes me nervous. Second issue I am having is with the GPU. I was certain that I wanted a GTX 770, however now that the 900 series is out I am pretty sure I want a 970. However it does not seem like anyone has these in stock right now. So I guess I have to wait a bit, unless I go with something else. I considered the R9 290, but I do not like the power draw from those cards, and the 970's preform better. EDIT: so I guess there are some 970's in stock. I will be using one of those just not sure which brand. Probably EVGA I guess I am a bit of a fanboy.

More Info:

~ I want to keep this under $900. This is for the cpu, cooler, mobo, gpu, ram, hdd, psu, case, and os.

~ I am 90% sure I want to go AMD for my CPU. I find Intel parts just to be to expensive, and I would rather dump the extra money into my GPU.

~ I am picky about PSU's. I want 80 plus certified, a single 12v rail, and it has to have excellent reviews. I also want plenty of overhead(more power than necessary), and prefer modular.

~ I prefer parts to come from newegg unless there is a significant price difference.

~ I am not concerned with peripherals at this time.

~ I will be using this system for gaming. I do not edit. I do not stream.

~ I will probably not be overclocking, at least not right away. However having the option would be nice.

~ I am not interested in water-cooling.

~ For gaming I want to be able to max pretty much anything out at 1080p. I would like to upgrade to a 1440p monitor in the future and still get over 30fps.

~ I do not know exactly what games I will be playing. Possibly Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3/4.

These parts are not set in stone, but here is something(thank you DrunkenPanda). http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RBB6K8 This is a bit over budget right now but I am sure that can be fixed.

Please give reasons for your suggestions.

I appreciate any help I can get.

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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DYzLbv

CPU: FX6300... because that's what you asked for... and for gaming they are fine... it's not ancient, and does the job for cheap... 

MOBO: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard... 2nd cheapest mobo with a decent power distrubution that isn't Gigabyte... you could do this http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97r20 for $15 cheaper but the one I picked is better suited for overclocking, which you will definitely want to do eventually with such an old processor (oldie but goody, don't get me wrong)...

RAM: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory... because ram is ram for the most part and it's the cheapeast 2x4GB setup from a brand I trust...

SSD: Intel 530 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive... Excellent budget SSD... it will make your boot times negligible and speed up your core programs...

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive... Standard HDD with low failure rate...

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card... Best bang for buck on the market, and in stock at Amazon...

Case: Rosewill BlackHawk ATX Mid Tower Case... because that's what you asked for... cases are purely based on taste... if I had to suggest one, I'd suggest the Fractal Design Define R4... but it's a bit more expensive...

PSU: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply... I don't know why you think power efficiency is a big deal, but this a cheap, good quality PSU that meets your specs... it is NOT semi/fully-modular, however, and I don't know what that case has in terms of cable storage...

 

If 900 is a hard cap, maybe go with the cheaper Asus mobo and get a Define R4 case... it definitely has a back panel that will hide all your unused lines from the PSU and is MUCH better quality... one thing that will seldom get outdated is a nice case... 

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here is an i5 with an R9280X solution for $900

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rYGgCJ

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Thank you for your detailed response. I am going to make some edits to my original post. I don't care about the psu being gold, any 80 plus will do. What i do want is one 12v rail and preferably at least semi-modular. I like this psu better http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438014 . Not modular but cheaper and more watts, and reviews. The CPU can be changed I am not glued to it, as long as the price does not jump up too much. And I am probably going with the 970.

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I like how precise you were with the budget :) however, I am most likely going with the GTX 970, its just a matter of which brand at this point.

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NCIX has the XFX for $8 more and it's a better buy for a non-modular PSU... XFX and SeaSonic use all Jap capacitors and produce the best quality low-budget PSUs on the market... they all include a 12V rail... 

on second thought.... just go ahead and BUY THIS NOW http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ssr750rm for a PSU :).... semi-modular, gold+, and 750w... you can hold on to this guy for a while...

+ 15% off w/ promo code EMCWPHW82, ends 10/24
$20.00 mail-in rebate

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GTX 970 > R9 280X

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Yes Sensei  and almost  one fourth more cash I saw an R9 290 for less than $300