Planning on First Build

Hi there!

I'm currently planning on undertaking the task of my first PC build, and I know that now is the time that PC parts are often at their cheapest. Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping up with the state of parts for the past few years and I was looking for advice on what parts I should purchase now for my upcoming build. The computer will mainly be used for gaming, with some productivity on the side, and my budget is $1000 - $1300. And I have a monitor and software already purchased.

Parts that I'm considering:

Processor: Intel i5-4690k

Cooling: ??? (Air-Cooling preferred)

Motherboard: ??? (ATX)

Memory: ??? (16GB preferred, 8GB acceptable)

OS Hard Drive: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSD

Main Hard Drive: ??? (or larger SSD if possible)

GPU: ??? (Nvidia preferred, e.g. GTX 760)

Power Supply: ???

Case: Fractal Design R4/R5 Case

If you could offer me any suggestions for the parts I need, please let me know! Thank you!

 

ASUS Maximus VII Formula Motherboard with Watch Dogs $469, Intel Core i7 4790K $399, Antec Kuhler H2O 650 V2 Liquid CPU Cooler $69, G.Skill Ares F3-2133C9Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 $215, Samsung 840 EVO Series 1TB SSD $479, Aerocool Strike-X 800W $149, the combined price of these parts is around $1680 although i still havent inputted a gpu or case, nor fans, and i have upped some specs, these are only suguestion parts for each individual part, not a suguestion as a whole

i7 build for heavy productivity and heavy gaming $1310

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DcQRHx

i5 build for light productivity and heavy gaming $1219

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8qYWP6

Let's PcPartPicker it up!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dbnGHx

Not sure if you want SLI upgradeability in the future.  This one doesn't have any SLI support, but is well within your budget.  Also, the GTX 970 is a beast - much stronger than the 760!  This is mainly for games, but of course any computer can do productivity.  If you do a decent amount of video rendering, then an i7 would be better.

Thanks so much for the input!

This is what I have so far: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fwrmWZ

This computer will be mainly devoted to gaming, so i5 is fine. I also want to use a 500GB SSD for everything, seeing as I do value quick load times and it is incredibly cheap at the moment. Personally, that amount of storage is enough for me and I can always add more. I did take the advice to upgrade to a more powerful graphics card in the 970 and I decided to use Corsair for the memory and power supply. The things that I'm not entirely certain about are the cooling and motherboard.

Is there a specific reason for that RAM kit?  It looks great and all but it's PRICY.  G.Skill is quite a reputable brand.

Also, that RAM is red and the GPU is blue.  I'd suggest you find a color scheme that you like since the Define R4 you chose has a window.

If you with the Define R5, there are no window options available, so color matching becomes less of a priority.

No real reason, I just didn't look into the prices closely enough there.

Here's the updated build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pM8jLk

Do you think that the Cooler Master offers sufficient cooling, or is it worth spending a bit more? For context, I am not planning on overclocking at the moment. Also, is that motherboard dependable, because some people are claiming that their initial units were defective and that's something I would like to avoid. Thank you!

The Hyper 212 is a great performer for the money.  If you're only doing mild-medium overclocks, it's perfectly fine and capable.

and the fact that it is a bit noisy is negated because the Fractal Define R4 case has fairly good sound dampening