Help needed on long-lasting build

[Zornin]

I am looking to build a new PC very soon, because my current PC is 6 years old and is showing its age quite a bit. The new build should have enough physical room for future upgrades (more RAM, SSD's, etc) but still have the best components I can afford.

Budget: about $1500. I may be willing to go a little higher if you think the tradeoff is worth it.
Resolution: 1080p
Games / Settings Desired: I don't play any recent games due to my old PC, but would like a rig that can handle them. Playing WoW on Ultra settings is a must.
Country: USA
Parts to be reused: I can use my current monitor, a Samsung SyncMaster P2070. It's almost 6 years old and 20" widescreen but still works like a charm. If someone can suggest a build including another monitor, that would be helpful.
OS / Peripherals: An OS is needed, as well as a durable mouse, and good speakers if they can fit into my budget. However, I currently use a Logitech G930 headset for audio, and that works well for me.

The only special editing I do is audio files with the Audacity program, but even my old PC can still do that.

Any build suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I haven't built a new PC in many years and don't know which components/brands are still reliable.

Thank you!

[Kagthul]

Do you have a Micro Center within driving distance (about an hour's drive, i'd say, is worth the savings, depending on your gas mileage) ?

[Zornin]

Do you have a Micro Center within driving distance (about an hour's drive, i'd say, is worth the savings, depending on your gas mileage) ?

Unfortunately, no. According to their website, the nearest location is over 3 hours away.

[Fascinate]

Luckily i had this build saved from the last guy who also had a 1500.00 budget lol.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($322.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG R1 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($328.99 @ Directron)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($93.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1510.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-28 04:58 EST-0500

No monitor but if yours is working good go ahead and use that for a while. You could drop down to an i5 and get a cheap 1080p tn monitor, but it would be a shame to not include an i7 into a 1500.00 build.

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 113.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($74.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($291.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.75 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor ($251.57 @ B&H)
Mouse: Logitech G402 Wired Optical Mouse ($45.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1471.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-28 06:26 EST-0500

With monitor and mouse And room left for some speakers.

Picked the i5 because of the monitor.
I picked the 290x over the 970, mainly because of the price. But you want a durable build, and there are some issues with the 970 and it's Vram. It won't be a problem at the moment. But in 2 years it might become a problem. You could always just change the gpu then, but I guess you rather won't.
There are also rumors going around that AMD will release some new stuff in the coming 1-2 months.

[Master Guns]

Sigh. There are no "issues" with the 970. It's a solid high end card, and it beats out the 290 simply because it's not AMD. More games have issues with AMD hardware than anything. You will never hit the VRAM cap on a 970 on any current games on Ultra. I would know, I have one. Zero issues on any games (Far Cry 4, Dying Light).

As a matter of fact those two games have bad performance with AMD GPUS. Wow has also proven to favor Intel.

[Deleted]

Sigh. There are no "issues" with the 970. It's a solid high end card, and it beats out the 290 simply because it's not AMD. More games have issues with AMD hardware than anything. You will never hit the VRAM cap on a 970 on any current games on Ultra. I would know, I have one. Zero issues on any games (Far Cry 4, Dying Light).

As a matter of fact those two games have bad performance with AMD GPUS. Wow has also proven to favor Intel.

Have you even read what I wrote down. There might be no issues now, but there might be in 2 years from now. And it is very simple, if the 970 is using that last 512 MB of slower Vram, it will perform worse.

Also, Intel has absolutely nothing to do with this. We are talking about GPUs. Please show me some stuff saying there are more issues with AMD than Nvidia regarding gaming. I have had zero issues with my 7970.

Dying light seems to have issues all over the place, being a port and all.

[Master Guns]

I don't need to show you. Do a google search. It's a proven fact. A lot of games perform better with Intel over AMD. Sorry but it doesn't need to be reinforced; it's literally common knowledge.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I don't need to show you. Do a google search. It's a proven fact. A lot of games perform better with Intel over AMD. Sorry but it doesn't need to be reinforced; it's literally common knowledge.

The debate is not between Intel and AMD.

[Master Guns]

..yes, and AMD is notorious for its gpu driver issues as well.

Honestly, these debates are getting tiresome. It's as if the pro AMD team just flat out has no insight on the internal workings of a CPU if you truly believe they match up with Intel in terms of gaming power.

4 faster cores > 8 slower cores. End of story.
GPU that has low to zero driver issues > GPU that has various issues and performance problems with certain games

End. Of. Story.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

..yes, and AMD is notorious for its gpu driver issues as well.

And in the last 3 years, nVidia has released at least 2 drivers that directly resulted in dead cards. AMD has not.

[Deleted]

..yes, and AMD is notorious for its gpu driver issues as well.

I think that in the last couple of years it was Nvidia that had more issues than AMD. Driver wise, both have their hit and misses.

[Fascinate]

All driver stuff is anecdotal. Me ive had a gt 240, gtx 465, gtx 760 as my last 3 cards spanning back 6 years and literally never had an issue and/or driver crash. Prior to those cards i had an ati xt1800 (i think) and nothing but troubles. But like i said anecdotal, someone could have the exact opposite of what i just posted.

[Kagthul]

Have you even read what I wrote down. There might be no issues now, but there might be in 2 years from now. And it is very simple, if the 970 is using that last 512 MB of slower Vram, it will perform worse.

Also, Intel has absolutely nothing to do with this. We are talking about GPUs. Please show me some stuff saying there are more issues with AMD than Nvidia regarding gaming. I have had zero issues with my 7970.

Dying light seems to have issues all over the place, being a port and all.

"But there might be two years from now"

Um.. no.

Not unless there's a sudden new console generation hiding somewhere. These "issues" had to be artificially created, by and large, and were first "discovered" by someone trying to use the 970 in a manner it just isn't suited for to begin with - single-card 4k.

If you're playing at 1080p or 1440p, the 970 is a solid card and you are EXTREMELY unlikely to ever run up against the VRAM limit in the practical lifetime of the card (which i peg at around 3.5 years or so) - by "practical" lifetime i mean, 'how long before performance slows down enough that im going to want to replace it anyway'. I realize that everyone's mileage may vary on that, but i tend to replace the GPU when i have to turn settings down to retain 60fps.

It's a LOT more likely that other factors that dont use VRAM extensively are far more likely to cause you to want to replace the card than running up against the 3.5GB "limit" of the 970.

It's such a non-issue that it is laughable how big of a deal people are making over it.

Given that it outperforms the 290X in just about every game on the market by a decent margin (and before anyone trumpets Mantle - someone remind me how Glide is doing now? That's what i thought.), uses literally half the power, runs far cooler, and can be had for a very marginal premium (about 30$)..... yeah.

[Zornin]

Thanks for all the input everyone, and to Zeara and Fascinate for the builds!

[Fascinate]

Np mang, if you got any questions feel free to post them.

[Kezotar]

Don't bother with a z97 if you're going for a long lasting. You're most likely not upgrading within 3-5 years anyway, so even if it can run the new CPU, by the time you will upgrade there's a new one. save the 15-30bucks.

[Master Guns]

Don't bother with a z97 if you're going for a long lasting. You're most likely not upgrading within 3-5 years anyway, so even if it can run the new CPU, by the time you will upgrade there's a new one. save the 15-30bucks.

I'm not sure I understand your logic. The Z97 is a great motherboard, and the Z97X is even better. ASRock makes fantastic mobos. What correlation between future proofing and these mobos are you getting?