New build, ordering this week.

[fireize]

Hey guys, I've been a lurker here since about March or so, and I've read pretty much every thread in this section. Computers have always been an interest of mine, and I love helping friends build theirs or just taking stuff apart to see how it works. I've wanted to build my own computer ever since I got into it, and now I finally have the budget to do it. I'm looking to order these parts this week.

Budget : 1700 USD (That's the max, I don't have to spend that much, but I can go up to it.)
Resolution : 1080p (I may switch to 1440p, but that will more than likely happen when I'm ready to upgrade some other parts down the road as well.)
Games / Settings Desired : I mostly play WoW (10m raiding), occasionally I'll mess around with some friends in Dead Space or Crysis, but nothing serious. I'm going to be playing Wildstar when it comes out, but they haven't released any official specs yet. I would like to play everything at max, or as close to max as possible (I know you have to tweak some settings in WoW even with an overkill build due to it being so heavily dependent on the CPU)
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc) : No.
Country : USA
Parts that can be reused : None
Do you need an OS? : Yes.
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? Yes, but I've already got those picked out.


I can't post links, but I do have an outline of what I'm looking to get.

Edit: I got around the link thing by dropping the http. You should be able to just copy paste the line below to see the build I put together on pcpartpicker.

pcpartpicker.com/p/1Rvq1

That's what I'm looking at so far. For my friend, I got him the i5 4670K, and I know it's more than adequate for just gaming, but I wanted to spend a little extra on this build and go with the i7. I went with LP RAM cause I know this cooler is huge and I don't want to have any clearance issues. I was trying to decide between the Noctua or the Corsair h100i. I settled on the Noctua, simply because it's cheaper and cools similarly, while making less noise. If you guys think the Corsair is absolutely better, I'd be willing to switch that out as well. My main issue right now is that I can't decide between factory OC'd cards or stock cards that I can OC myself. I know on the build list I only put the one factory OC'd cards, but if I got a stock one, it would probably be the Asus DirectCU II, but for 50 more than the stock ones, I think it might be worth it to not deal with the hassle, plus they come equipped with pretty good coolers. I've read that the Sapphire is a huge power hog, and I think the PSU I've listed is strong enough for it, but if I ever want to crossfire, I'll have to upgrade it.

If you guys have any suggestions or tweaks for my build, I would love the feedback. This isn't my first build, but it's my first time picking out my own parts and I want to make sure I do the best I can.

[tielknight]

I see no point in "spending a little extra" on something that you are not going to use when that $$ could be used elsewhere.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($77.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7990 6GB Video Card ($594.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750B BRONZE 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($94.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1614.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-21 17:05 EDT-0400)

Changed the CPU to a 4670k as you are not going to be doing any encoding or whatnot.
Added a storage drive.
Changed GPU to a HD 7990(won't need to upgrade from that sucker for a while and the 280X isn't really worth it at the moment, better off getting a 7970 or a 7950 and OCing it), or you could wait for the 290/290X to come out and grab one of them.
Changed PSU to something a bit better(CX series is pretty meh).
Changed RAM to something a bit cheaper.

[fireize]

I see no point in "spending a little extra" on something that you are not going to use when that $$ could be used elsewhere.

Changed the CPU to a 4670k as you are not going to be doing any encoding or whatnot.

Yeah it probably seems pointless now, but I want this build to last a while, there's no telling if future games will make better use of the virtual cores, so I figured if I can stretch the money now and get it, why not?

Added a storage drive.

I don't need a storage drive, I don't have a library of anything, everything I do is streaming, so there's no need and that money can go into something else.

Changed GPU to a HD 7990(won't need to upgrade from that sucker for a while and the 280X isn't really worth it at the moment, better off getting a 7970 or a 7950 and OCing it), or you could wait for the 290/290X to come out and grab one of them.

I've read bad things about the 7990, noise and crossfire issues being the top. Since it's basically 2 GPUs in one, will I experience performance issues in the game I play most (WoW) which is notorious for not liking AMD/Crossfire? If I'm going to spend that much on a GPU, would a 780 be better bet? I know on paper the 7990 "should" blow it out of the water, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

Changed PSU to something a bit better(CX series is pretty meh).

Can't argue with a cheaper PSU that's better.

Changed RAM to something a bit cheaper.

RAM makes sense, I just read good things about the Corsair, so it's what I picked, didn't bother looking for cheaper options.

[Yohassakura]

Changed GPU to a HD 7990(won't need to upgrade from that sucker for a while and the 280X isn't really worth it at the moment, better off getting a 7970 or a 7950 and OCing it), or you could wait for the 290/290X to come out and grab one of them.
Changed PSU to something a bit better(CX series is pretty meh).
Changed RAM to something a bit cheaper.

R9 280X is the same price and performance as 7970, so why is it not worth it?

[tielknight]

R9 280X is the same price and performance as 7970, so why is it not worth it?

$30 more for literally the same performance.

I've read bad things about the 7990, noise and crossfire issues being the top. Since it's basically 2 GPUs in one, will I experience performance issues in the game I play most (WoW) which is notorious for not liking AMD/Crossfire? If I'm going to spend that much on a GPU, would a 780 be better bet? I know on paper the 7990 "should" blow it out of the water, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask

The problem with Crossfire was due to drivers and how it handled the 2 cards communicating with each-other if I recall correctly. There is a single card with dual-GPUs, so there won't be a problem there. A GTX 780 costs more and has worse performance in the majority of games compared to the 7990(BF3 is one I can think of that the 780 does better in). It is a power hog and a bit noisier, but that can be expected as it is a dual-GPU card.

Damn, the 7990 went and got discontinued after they sold all their stock, next cheapest one runs about $800, not really worth it at that price. If you can, I would wait until the R9 290/290X come out later this month. Both are supposed to be pretty damn good cards and might be a good deal compared to the current high-end cards that you can pick from.

[fireize]

Yeah, I just read about the 7990 being discontinued.

I've gotten myself so pumped up to order this, but waiting definitely would be the optimal thing to do, especially if the r9-290x is priced well, I might just end up getting that. I think I will drop down to the i5 and pump that money into the GPU though.

[Nephillim]

pcpartpicker.com/p/1Rvq1

i'd personally drop the 16gig of ram, its not neccissary unless you're doing a boat load of video editing etc

[tielknight]

Yeah, I just read about the 7990 being discontinued.

I've gotten myself so pumped up to order this, but waiting definitely would be the optimal thing to do, especially if the r9-290x is priced well, I might just end up getting that. I think I will drop down to the i5 and pump that money into the GPU though.

Give it a few days/week after the 290/290x is released so you can get some feedback from regular users and see how it performs, though it is looking pretty good so far and you always have Mantle to look forward to as well.

i'd personally drop the 16gig of ram, its not neccissary unless you're doing a boat load of video editing etc

Could also do this and grab 2x4GB sticks of the Ballistix Sports and save yourself a extra $50-60 to throw at the GPU and maybe some nice case fans.

[fireize]

Give it a few days/week after the 290/290x is released so you can get some feedback from regular users and see how it performs, though it is looking pretty good so far and you always have Mantle to look forward to as well.

I'm giving serious thoughts to just pulling the trigger on the 280x, or even an nvidia card, we'll see how long my resolve holds.

Could also do this and grab 2x4GB sticks of the Ballistix Sports and save yourself a extra $50-60 to throw at the GPU and maybe some nice case fans.

Will I notice a difference between 8 and 16? They don't really cost that much, so it's not a big deal either way.

[yurano]

$30 more for literally the same performance.

The R9-280X is midway between the 7970 and the 7970 GE.

The R9-280X comes with the newest edition heatsinks which perform and look better.

Quality of currently sold 7950s have slipped (PCB, VRAM, voltage control). Its likely the same for the 7970.

[tielknight]

Will I notice a difference between 8 and 16? They don't really cost that much, so it's not a big deal either way.

Unless you plan on having a crapload(50+) of Chrome tabs and other programs running in the background while you are gaming, 8GB will work just fine. Most games use around 1-3 GB and you got about 1GB of other stuff running on your system (OS, background programs, etc) so 8GB is usually the recommended unless you need the memory for certain applications or like to leave a bajillion things running in the backgound.

The R9-280X is midway between the 7970 and the 7970 GE.

The R9-280X comes with the newest edition heatsinks which perform and look better.

Quality of currently sold 7950s have slipped (PCB, VRAM, voltage control). Its likely the same for the 7970.

Ouch.., probably why i'm starting to see card getting re-released with a different model #. In that case yes, a 280X should work great if you can't hold out until the 290 series comes out. I would go with the Asus 280X, it seems to be the best-quality one you can get at the moment, as well as coming with a nice little overclock. That or if you want to have a card with a lifetime warranty, go with the XFX version.