Summer Corvette

I'm planning on building a black and red computer as my first build (that lasts a while, hopefully) that I'll be able to at least invest in by the end of the summer. This is a complete gamestation (sans a desk and chair) that I'm hoping to keep under $1,600 if possible. I have a case I want, as well as a CPU, and a GPU (unless there is something better or more recommended for this build). As of right now, the monitor, keyboard, and mouse take up ~$350 (if I get HD over QHD) which leaves $1,250 for the rest of the system. Please tell me if I need to get back into reality and/or there's something better for the price bracket, because I legitimately have no idea what I'm doing, especially when it comes to motherboards. Ideally, I would be able to play stuff like Crysis, Star Citizen, Bioshock Infinite, Minecraft w/ shaders, or Batman: Arkhams with great framerate and at least good quality.

Oh yeah, it's inspired and based off of the Ocelot build video released recently.

PCPartPicker

I'm aware that the motherboard is built for micro-ATX, but I don't know if it would be better to get a bigger motherboard since I have a bigger case, or if the board is okay? Also, would I need any additional radiators or fans? Should I worry about a CPU cooler? Is there anything else I'm forgetting or should consider? Should I consider buying a pony to train while I'm downloading and installing stuff?

Sorry for my newbieness, and thanks for whatever help you decide to provide. :)

That case has an integrated PSU on Amazon, and is out of stock on the other two sites where it doesn't... however, it's the only Black/Red case that wasn't hideous (no offense MisteryAngel, lol)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3eldT

this is $240 and some change cheaper and will perform the same if not better, all while keeping with your Red/Black theme...

- bigger, better, IPS monitor...

- cherry MX Red switch Red backlit keyboard...

- much more dependable PSU without all the excessive overhead...

- GTX 770 vs R9 280x is debatable but the 770's $50 cheaper, and performs on par if not better than the 280x... 

- added a very nice CPU cooler

- switched out RAM to 2x8GB, which is cheaper, gives you the ability to upgrade, and creates less points of error...

- changed motherboard out to something more reasonable for a Xeon which can't be overclocked (there was a couple ASRock H87 chipsets but they only supported up to 1600Mhz memory clock...

... you'll be happier with the extra $240 in your pocket and this build...

The H440 has an integrated PSU? The only thing I see is an integrated PSU shroud. Other than that it is one of the few red/black cases that look good.

ahhh... must have read that wrong... and when I went to the other sites to look at specs they had it specifically mentioned as *NO PSU*... well that clears that up... yea it's kind of sexy for a Black/Red case, must say... 

Thanks so much! It looks great, and has room for extra expense. :) I'll keep this list for when I start!

Also, I wouldn't have really cared for the red accents - I just wanted a black case in general and have heard good things about this one. If there is a black case that does look good and has that sort of window, it would probably be fine.

Fractal Design Define R4 w/ window or Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 are my 2 fav ATX cases... both are silent... best cases ever... they actually both look a lot like the one you picked out but without the red accents and likely a bit more quality of build (solid steel minus the front panel)... but cases are purely up to the buyer.... you're the one that has to look at them...

I'll probably stick with the H440, but thanks for the suggestions. The only thing that I'm a bit disappointed about is the lack of an option for an optical drive, but I don't foresee seriously needing it - most things that I would have that are on disk are probably available on the Internet as well.

One more thing - I do like my audio. Should I worry about the audio with the 770, or in other words, I would be losing TrueAudio by choosing the 770 over the 280X, right? I'm honestly not worrying as much about the price difference now that I have more breathing room.

I use the audio out of my motherboard... if you're serious about audio then get an external DAC and pipe it over HDMI to a 5.1 receiver or buy a $300 headset... TrueAudio isn't really... well... anything to be concerned about... I've got my receiver across the room piped with HDMI over CAT6 under the house on a 60 foot run... my audio sounds amazing... 

your GPU is giving you graphics output... FPS... and the 770 is physically right on par if not better than R9 280x and no contest better than a R9 280x if it leaves $50 in your pocket... you'll hear people say "blah blah mantle this, mantle that..." What mantle did was let their APUs compete with mid-tier CPU/GPU setups *IN GAMES THAT ARE SUPPORTED*... basically if you have an AMD card, your CPU is bottlenecking your GPU, and mantle is running and supported, it will drastically improve rates... other than that... 1-5 FPS improvement...

Bottom line.... if you live in the US and you want a high end card, AMD is overpriced for what it does... (I actually bought a 280x Toxic on release date, hoping it was awesome... and it was) I sold it to some bitcoin miner on eBay a couple weeks later for $500 and bought a 780 classified for $60 more... it is, well... a LOT awesomer haha...

You're not going wrong either way... you're just getting a lot better price/performance on the GTX 770