This will be my first build, so I need some advice from the experts here. The PC will be used mainly for gaming. I will be playing games like BF4, GTA, APB Reloaded, Batman, DCUO, Bioshock, Watchdogs, and many more similar games. I do plan on overclocking my CPU and GPU in the near future, as well as get an SSD next month. I would like to play these games in high settings with a minimum of 50 FPS average. My budget for the build is £700, excluding the monitor. Will this build be good enough for the purpose above? If not, can you please build a better PC in around the same price range.
Below are the parts I will buy unless you guys tell me otherwise:
With regards to the thermal paste. The Arctic Silver is electrically conductive, despite what the advertisements say. You don't want electrically conductive thermal paste. Buy an Arctic MX-2 or MX-4.
As for the build, looks pretty good. You could swap the 8350 with an 8320 if you plan to overclock, and put the money towards a better GPU, like AMD 280 or 285 (when it launches, on the 2nd of September).
Unless you need the capabilities of the 990FX chipset (more pci-e lanes, allows Crossfire/SLI), you can get the ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0 (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97evor20). It's a very capable board, good for overclocking too. Cheaper to boot.
EDIT: The Gigabyte motherboard you want to buy has more revisions. The latest is revision 4, the picture is of earlier revisions. Revision 4 has better VRM cooling, some users reported issues with that on earlier revisions. If you want that model, make sure you are getting revision 4. If cannot make sure, you can buy the aforementioned ASUS board, or an ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a99xevor20) if you want the capabilities of the 990FX chipset.
There is nothing wrong with using arctic silver. I have used it on 5 pc builds and none of them have had any problem due to it being conductive. I know of plenty of the people here probably use it as well. As for the mobo, I have the rev 4 and it is great. The oc capabilities are awesome(fx-6300 @4.4ghz on air stock voltage). However like stated above make sure you get the rev 4.
From home site (http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm)
"(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)"
Translation from marketing speech: it's safe to use if you don't smear it on your motherboard. Just like all the other electrically conductive TIMs.