Gaming Build @ 2560x1440

[pillsj]

Hey all,

I'm finally taking the well overdue path towards an upgrade from my ancient Q6600 build, to something of today's standards!

Budget: $1,800
Purpose: Gaming PC & general use, with no requirement for streaming or media use.
Resolution: Used on a Dell U2713HM monitor at 2560x1440
Games (& Settings) World of Warcraft, Dying Light, Assassin's Creed. Ideally Ultra for WoW, and High for the others.
Country: Australia
Do you need an OS?: Yes
Do you need Peripherals: Mouse required only
Notes: Power supply not required, Seasonic G-650 80Plus Gold 650W has already been purchased

From my current research, I've come up with the following components, however inclusion of GTX 970 could bring me over budget.

CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K
CPU Cooler: Be Quiet! Pure Rock CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASUS 797-A
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 1600 (2x4GB) DDR3
Storage: Samsung Evo 850 Series 120GB SSD
Storage: Western Digital WD Black 1TB
Video Card: ASUS Strix GTX 970
Case: Corsair Carbide 200R


Looking forward to any advice!

[Fascinate]

First off great selection of parts you have obviously done your research. I dont know the prices in australia so its kinda hard to suggest one way or another but two things i would look at are motherboard and case. Look to see if you can get a gigabyte UD3H for same or less price of the asus z97-a, its a better built board. If not, the -a is a fine choice. I feel it would be a shame to put all that nice hardware into a cheap case like the 200r, how much is a phanteks enthoo pro over there? Other case suggestions would be nzxt h440, nzxt s340, rosewill stealth,, fractal arc midi R2, fractal design R5, as well as a ton of thermaltake cases (they recently hired a really smart dude, check out their whole line).

Other than that it looks great, id definitely keep the 970 in there for 1440p gaming just for the 3.5 gig frame buffer. Last thing would be to check to make sure your ram will fit under the cooler some vengeance ram has tall heatsinks.

[pillsj]

Sorry, I should have listed that I'm looking to buy from PCCaseGear,

Unfortunately the UD3H board isn't listed. In that case I may stick with the -A, unless you can suggest another? It would be nice to make a saving here.

I will swap out the Corsair case for the NZXT H440.

[Mormolyce]

Only thing I'll add is consider going with a larger SSD, the price is ~50c/gb in AUD and last I looked ~250gb was the sweet spot. Thanks to Windows being such a hog 120gb doesn't leave you much to play with.

[Remilia]

I'd go down to WD Blue if you're sticking with WD. You won't be gaining much from Blue or Black other than noise and warranty.

The cases listed by Fascinate are great choices.

And I just looked up Pure Rock to see if the fins of the memory would fit, it seems like it would and I think we've found a budget cpu cooler to replace CM Hyper 212

[pillsj]

Mormolyce - As i'm still within budget, I'll swap out the 120GB for the 250GB.

Are there any other comparable motherboards (price/quality) to the ASUS Z97-A? They are out of stock at the moment

[Mormolyce]

Re: cases I went aluminium (cheapo Lian-Li line) last build and now I'm so hooked that I'm considering ditching my great old steel case next time I upgrade my secondary PC. Highly recommend if you're interested in that.

- - - Updated - - -

Mormolyce - As i'm still within budget, I'll swap out the 120GB for the 250GB.

Are there any other comparable motherboards (price/quality) to the ASUS Z97-A? They are out of stock at the moment

I imagine any decent brand's version of the Z97 would be similar, check reviews though.

I personally find motherboards the most complicated component to research.

[Remilia]

Mormolyce - As i'm still within budget, I'll swap out the 120GB for the 250GB.

Are there any other comparable motherboards (price/quality) to the ASUS Z97-A? They are out of stock at the moment

Going by the PCgear price.
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/giga...oard-gaz97xsli
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-...d-z97g45gaming

[Fascinate]

Sorry, I should have listed that I'm looking to buy from PCCaseGear,

Unfortunately the UD3H board isn't listed. In that case I may stick with the -A, unless you can suggest another? It would be nice to make a saving here.

I will swap out the Corsair case for the NZXT H440.

There isnt much on that site that i can recommend that is cheaper than the -A. But the asus sabertooth mark II on that site is the same price as the -A, in the US the sabertooth is 30 bucks more. The sabertooth is a generally better built board with a 5 year warranty vs 3 on the -A but it does have an odd military color scheme on some of the components if that matters to you. The asrock extreme6 is also only 5 dollars more on that site and is again 35-40 dollars more than the -A in the states.

Of the cheap boards on that site the only one that looks appealing is the asrock pro4, in the states its 110.0 bucks vs 144.00 for the asus -A. On your site it is 159.00 vs 229.00 for the asus. It isnt as good of a board and does not support multiple graphics cards, but that large of a price gap makes it appealing. If you were going for a red themed build the cheapest red board i would recommend off that site is the asrock killer z97 for 179.99, again a much larger price difference between the asus than in the US making it a decent deal.

One thing i do like about asrock is their update utility software, you can update bios and all of your drivers through the utility you dont have to search the boards website and find things individually (more manufacturers may have this but im not aware of them).

[Remilia]

One thing i do like about asrock is their update utility software, you can update bios and all of your drivers through the utility you dont have to search the boards website and find things individually (more manufacturers may have this but im not aware of them).

What is this magic.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

One thing i do like about asrock is their update utility software, you can update bios and all of your drivers through the utility you dont have to search the boards website and find things individually (more manufacturers may have this but im not aware of them).

I think they all have this nowadays.

[Fascinate]

What is this magic.

Using their A-tuning software there is a tab called "live update" which checks your board to see what drivers are missing and installs them for you, this includes bios updates.

- - - Updated - - -

I think they all have this nowadays.

Right that is surely possible, i just havent seen it to confirm or know what each manufacturers is called. I know live update works, here is a demo:

Starts at 2:19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_UTnNu9JA

If you guys know of a software from other manufacturers that accomplishes these same tasks id love to hear about them and what they are called.

[pillsj]

Thanks for the replies guys. So far I've modified the build with your advice in mind:

CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K
CPU Cooler: Be Quiet! Pure Rock CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Pro4
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 1600 (2x4GB) DDR3
Storage: Samsung Evo 850 Series 250GB SSD
Storage: Western Digital WD Blue 1TB
Video Card: ASUS Strix GTX 970
Case: NZXT H440 Mid Tower

Anything else I should change/add to this?
Edit: I should mention, this brings me in under budget at $1594.

[Fascinate]

Looks fine to me just remember that board does not support SLI so you cant add another 970 down the road (but to be honest SLI is a gimmick id personally never use it). Cool thing about that board is it has a matte black PCB and will look nice in an H440, make sure to get the blue version to match the board!

Admitedly i am an aesthetic freak and i like things to match, that said maybe look into blue ram too?

I like the ares series from gskill cause of the low profile heatsinks guaranteeing no issues with CPU heatsink installation:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...9629&cPath=912

This is the version H440 id get:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...7477&cPath=547

You would have a badass PC with this look.

[pillsj]

Was just looking for the color match, however there was none.

I've never really used non-Corsair memory before (I tend to stick to what I know), however I've heard most DDR3 memory is the same?

[Fascinate]

I linked you a set of gskill ares. In my opinion gskill has surpassed corsair as the top memory manufacturer. The set i linked is low profile, blue, 1866 instead of 1600 and is 10 bucks cheaper than your corsair set. All you need to do to get it running at rated speeds is go into the bios and enable xmp profile, its that easy.

[pillsj]

Thanks Fascinate & others, I've placed my order! I will post the final build picture when it's assembled.

Ended up making a small tweak and going with the ASRock Extreme4, for better OC.

I also held off on purchasing my video card, as I'd like to understand whether a 980 would be a better option for me?

[Fascinate]

Nice dude Extreme 4 is also a solid choice.

970 is the best card on the market for the money, the gains the 980 has over it isnt worth the extra cash.

Did you end up getting the gskill ram and blue h440?

[pillsj]

Nice dude Extreme 4 is also a solid choice.

970 is the best card on the market for the money, the gains the 980 has over it isnt worth the extra cash.

Did you end up getting the gskill ram and blue h440?

I did indeed, everything should look, feel, and run well.

Is the STRIX the best choice of 970? I would imagine they are all comparative

[Fascinate]

Yep it got a 9.9 on techpowerup and is the coolest and quietest running 970:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...RIX_OC/30.html