Gee, thanks Logan. Your budget builds made me go crazy!

Hardware Hub Build a PC
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I found Tek Syndicate by the 'How to apply Thermal Paste' video. Watching that intrigued me, so I checked out the 'How to Build a PC' video. I really enjoyed the style so I subscribed. After that I found the $350 PC build video and THAT is when things really went crazy.

I wanted to build a cheap Minecraft PC for my Dad, because he was using a crappy dual core using DDR2 RAM and could barely get about 12-30 FPS on very low settings. I figured I'd build him a cheap budget build. After a couple of months I started to look around on NewEgg and Amazon to see what would give me the most for a fairly low amount. (I was only really planning to spent  around $400) I didn't realize how bad upgrade fever would catch me.

Now, one tax refund later, here are the specs of the PC I built for my Dad.

  • Case: Lian Li TU-100B (The best looking mITX case ever, IMO)
  • Mobo: Gigabyte F2-A88XN-WIFI
  • APU: AMD A10-7850k (That's right. A kaveri. I went insane. Awesome chip, though)
  • RAM: G-Skill Ripjaws X (2x4GB)
  • PSU: Silverstone ST45SF 450W
  • SSD: 120GB Samsung 840 Evo
  • Optical: LG Slim Blu-ray drive (What Mini media PC is complete without a Blu-ray drive?)
  • Cooler: Noctua L9A (Works good.)
 

So for around $700 I built him an excellent mITX PC with room for a dedicated GPU. I love the case because it allows for easy transport to any TV in the house with just a power cable, HDMI cable, and a wireless mouse and keyboard.

Did I stop there? Nope.

For some reason, while making this thing, I decided that my i7 920 with a GTX 660 and 12GB of RAM just wasn't good enough for my needs as a casual gamer. (What is wrong with me?) So seeing as I had not used up all my refund, I built the following for myself.

  • Case: Corsair Obsidian 350D mATX
  • Mobo: ASUS Maximus VI Gene
  • CPU: i7 4770k
  • RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 1600 2x8GB (I can add 2 more sticks later to max it out at 32GB)
  • PSU: Corsair RM850 850W Modular (I really wanted this thing to be quiet.)
  • SSD: 250GB Samsung 840 Evo
 
 

... Why? All because some guy on the internet sparked my interest to build a PC. Logan, I blame you for all the awesome I experienced. It's all your fault. 

In all seriousness, I'm nearly broke now, but I'm saving up for a graphics card that matches this system (I put the GTX 660 in it for the meantime and put in a geforce 8500gt in my older PC. For some reason, I had a random graphics card lying on top of my kitchen hutch for a few years. Weird.

Which brings me to my main point: What is the most fitting graphics card for my i7 build? I have room to SLI or Crossfire, so I'd like to buy a card soonish, then buy a second one later. Any suggestions?

I'd rather not break $350 per card. I also run 3-4 1080p monitors, so is a 4GB card worth it?

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I'd save up for a  GTX770.  If you were only gaming, I would have picked up an i5 and a 770/780.  But you have that fancy i7 already...

Also, what's the speed of the RAM in your father's build?  Faster clocked memory will allot to better graphics performance on an APU.

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The ram speed on the G. Skill is 2133. Plenty fast! :D Considering Minecraft wel will be mostly what that PC is for, the APU is complete overkill.

I was considering a 760, but I suppose a 770 would make a better fit. I've also gotten into recording and video editing recently, so the i7's potential won't be wasted. (I picked it up off Amazon for $280 anyway, I couldn't resist that price.) 

Any thoughts on the amount of GRAM?

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Minecraft is a CPU intensive game, An APU is a great match. Memory you could get something faster. APU's scale off memory speeds. Also if your father wants more memory in the future hes probably going to have to replace thoughs chips so why not just spend the extra and get 2 8gb sticks?

Your upgrade. i7 is overkill. It will last longer than an i5 but again that money could be spent on other hardware. But remember also the more you spend on the chip, the longer before you will need to upgrade your whole system. So honestly up to you.

That memory is great. Im rocking the same memory chips in my system. 

GPU, 770 and 780 are best value for your dollar. Hell a 780 ti is better value than a 290x now. So chose what you want. 770 will max most games. 780 will last longer. Up to you.

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4GB of VRAM for 3+ monitors is plenty, just remember that your VRAM is only effective to your lowest GB card and doesn't stack.

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+1, the 770 would fit well.

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Haha, I'm not concerned about my Dad needing more ram. He was content with the terrible frame rates. It killed me to watch, though. All in all, he had 4GBs of data to migrate to the new PC. 

I know the graphics card is super important, but for some reason, I'm still leaning towards getting a 4GB 760... I don't think I'll need the power of a 770, and the sooner I can SLI, the better.

Nevermind. Just looked at some benchmarks. I'd be better off getting two 660s over a 760. :/ The 760 is not much of an upgrade. The 770 is definitely the way to go. Thanks for your guidance!

Also, Hikari, my understanding is that SLI'd graphics cards mirror the ram from card to card, resulting in using the lowest common denominator, correct?

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*Hikage, not Hikari. Sorry, sorry. On my tablet, and about to go to bed. I hope I'm still making sense, haha.

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I'm also awaiting a Lian Li TU-100B to house my 7850k and gigabyte wifi mobo. very similar to my own.