Improving a new build in the 700-800$ range

[Horible]

• Budget
  Roughly 700-800$
• Resolution
• Games / Settings Desired
  I don't have any specific desire to get to a given resolution or quality, just looking to build a solid budget gaming machine that will last me a couple years and could provide a platform to keep upgrading.
• Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc)
  No specific uses other than gaming (WoW, Dota2)
• Country
  USA
• Parts that can be reused
• Do you need an OS?
• Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?
  Not looking to buy anything in addition to the computer and OS, will figure out the peripherals after the machine is built.

This is a build I found of Tom's Hardware, and I liked it alot. The only concern I had was that some people were saying the motherboard should be improved to be able to use this machine as a foundation to upgrade later. I would love to hear motherboard alternatives etc. Also might be looking into a SSD in addition to a hard disk.

Any help is appreciated!


Current Budget Gaming PC Components
CPU Intel Core i3-4150 (Haswell) $120
CPU Cooler Intel Boxed Heat Sink and Fan $0
Motherboard ASRock H81M-HDS, LGA 1150, Intel H81 Express $57
RAM G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL $64
Graphics Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R9 280 100373L $180
Hard Drive Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB $55
Power EVGA 100-W1-500-KR 500W $43
Performance Platform Cost $519
Storage Drive None $0
Case NZXT Source 210 Elite Black $50
Optical Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK SATA 24x DVD Burner $20
Total Hardware Cost
$589
OS Windows 8.1 X64 OEM $100
Complete System Price
$689

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 White ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $804.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-11 19:35 EDT-0400