My first build from scratch

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1

so i have built a few computers, but always by scavenging parts from other pc's. building my first from scratch. atm im thinking
z97 A
i7 4790
gtx 950 (already bought but can return for 20 something more days)
16 gig 3.0 ram (was thinking hyper x kingston?)
212 evo or be quiet dark rock 3 fan
a ssd (no idea)
psu (no idea)

no idea what tower.

thoughts?

2

What's your budget? I'm assuming this is for gaming at 1080p? If so that 950 is probably going to end up getting returned.

Are you doing anything else with your PC?

3

Honestly, if you're gonna be JUST gaming, that's a really horrible and unbalanced build.

If you're gonna be gaming, don't splurge on the CPU and ram. A Intel 4440/8350 will do for most cases, as well as 6/8/10/12 GB of RAM. As for board, something with USB 3.1/type C will be a good, future-proofing feature, but will come with extra cost. Both of the CPU fans that you listed are good. For an SSD, the Evo 850, or Hyper X are good SSD's and are reliable. Psu? Basically anything 80+ bronze (minimum) is good. Seasonic is arguably the best PSU brand so get them if you can, or something corsair or evga. The tower is all personal preference.

4

the 950 was dirt cheap and im eventually getting a newer better gpu later. this is not just for gaming but also for running vrms. since im planning on updating the gpu later shouldn't i have a better board/ram/cpu then necessary for the build?

budget around 500 left after the gpu, but i can always wait until next paycheck or the one after that to buy more parts.

dont know if it matters but i mostly play rts's like total war series

5

Total war is a CPU hog, almost have to go intel to run it very well, the AMD side of things is still probably going to be in the high 40s, but ya, 11 bucks over budget but there you go, a xeon 1231v3, basically an i7 with no iGPU, an overclocked i5 is going to beat the xeon, but you might as well just take the 4 free threads the xeon gives you.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KY4ngs

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6

right, i dont need any hhd's as i have a dozen and a external also. only need a smallish ssd for os, games, and programs like photoshop.

7

Swap that in and you should be pretty set

8

I would suggest like 250gb for OS and games. I can get a couple small games and a large game or two on mine. Anything less will be a bit tight.

9

This is what i have come up with.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/W9nLRB

Its a micro-atx based build with a daring color theme.
You may like it or hate it, thats up to you.

Cpu: since you like to play cpu intensive games, the 4690K would be a good chip for that.

Ram: 2x8GB Kingston fury blacks, that will be plenty for your needs aswell.

Mobo: Asrock Z97M OC Formula its a decent board for the price.

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO.

Psu: EVGA 650W G2 gold, decent psu for the money,
if you want a more beefy gpu, with this psu you are totaly ready for that.

Case: Bitfernix Aegis Core.
You can also get this case in diffrent color combinations.

Let me know what you think.

Grtz Angel ☺

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10

this sounds really really good, but is it worth it to save a bit more and get a i7?

my thoughts on aesthetics if anyone cares


also ascetics do not matter to me. a computer is a tool and tool is beautiful if it preforms the job it was created to do well. i rather have a better functioning tool then a prettier tool that works not as well.
11

Depends a bit on your ussage.
If all you do is just gaming and browsing the web, then an i7 is basicly not realy worth it.
However, if you like to game + stream, or edit some video's so now and then.
Or any other kind of productivity stuff.
Then an i7 would be definitely worth it.

You could also look at the new skylake platform from intel with the i5-6600k or i7-6700k with DDR4 ram,
but "decent" Z170 boards are a bit expensive atm.
And the performance diffrence between skylake and haswell is not realy that mind blowing wenn it comes to gaming.

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12

Just go for the Xeon 1231v3 over the i7

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13

Also a very good option, if you dont care about overclocking.
In heavy cpu demending games, an overclockable i5 or i7 could gain you some extra performance.
But other then that, the Xeon E3-1231-V3 which is basicly an locked i7 without an igpu, will be definitely a good choice.

14

My current box is from parts that I have or have purchased brand new or like new.

Raidmax V-Tornado:
ASUS AM3 mobo
AMD AM3 Phenom II black edition 3.0 GHZ boost to 3.4
12 GB Ram:
2x2 GB Samsung generic DDR3
2x4 GB Gskill OC BLACK
Samsung P800 SSD 64GB Boot Drive
Seagate Barracuda R4 750GB HDD /home drive
Seagate Barracuda VI IDE HDD 250 GB /backup / Extra swap
Seagate Laptop drive 250 GB for windows
WD VeloCIraptor Enterprise HDD 160 GB Secondary storage / windows storage
XFX R7 250X Core edition w/ 2 GB GDDR3
Antec Earthpower E500P 500 watt 80 plus bronze
Also some random TP-Link wireless card.

In total this cost me 400-450 bucks over the course of a few months. Now whether or not you'll be in linux development, DJ'ing, and streaming like me is another story, but this is still a good build. Skip the GPU and keep that 950 though :P

15

update, i decided to spend a bit more and take longer to get a better over all computer. so far got a asus z97m plus micro atx(got it on clearance for 104$), xeon 1231 v3, and a gtx 950.
going to get a 250g ssd, 2x8gb of ddr3 ram (thinking hyper x fury), a 212 evo cpu fan, and still unsure about the case/psu but i know to get 750 watt silver or gold 80+ certified, and im probably going to get a few noctua case fans since i hear keeping the ssd cool will help the longetitvy of the ssd, and it'll help keep the whole system cool.

thoughts? yes im paying more then i originally intended but thats life.

right also got antec formula 7 therman compound to help keep the cpu cool.

and for os Ubuntu with windows 8.1 in vrm following Wendell's guide.

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