| Dgc1808 said: I always welcome more input. The more I know before finally putting the money down, the better. |
Okay here goes:
First off i hate your budget. 
No really its the worst thing to do, never ever build to a set budget. When building a machine you really need to keep a few things in mind:
- make sure you have everything you need
- Make sure they all fit together
- know what components you can cheap out on and what components you shouldnt cheap out on
- keep in mind what the purpose of your machine is and build towards that
I think for the most part you've got that down. And you can build the machine in OP as is and it will probably work just fine. But when you start saying things like you want to play Far Cry 3 on ultra settings at decent FPS then that build won't work.
First things first, as many have said the gpu needs to go! You can get a 7870 or 660 (non ti version) with significantly better performance for the exact same price.I would also say that these cards represent the "sweet spot" when it comes to best price for performance. Go any lower and you are compromising...go any higher and its overkill for most games of today at the resolution you plan to play. In the most demanding games (Crysis, Metro, Far Cry 3) you might need to tweak the settings a bit to get a smooth experience (40 - 60 FPS) but other than that you good to go.
I'm not sure if people have said this already but i don't like the mobo you picked for several reasons:
-it lacks basic features such as bluetooth and wifi. You will need to splash out additional cash to add the functionality. Its also a shitty feeling when you spent almost 1000USD on a new pc and it cant even do wifi....but a cheap as shit laptop can. Just something to think about :)
-no sli support, if you plan on doing a sli config at any point in the future this is a no no.
-It only supports max memory speeds of 1600mhz. Not really a big deal but still something to think about.
I would also say that, while you can't really futureproof the core components of a pc, a motheboard is not something you want to cheap out on. If i was you I would target the ~200USD price range for a good mobo. You can get the MSI Mpower mobo for $200 or for a bit cheaper you could get the asrock extreme 6 mobo.
Next the power supply. Someone earlier in the thread said it was a bad choice...i can't comment on that though because im not familiar with that power supply or the maker. But to be on the safe side you can get a power supply from corsair, the hx750, which has got stellar reviews and is at a similar price as the one you mentioned. Keep in mind you could go for a 600watt powersupply if you dont ever plan on doing a dual gpu config. The nice thing about the psu i mentioned is that its partially modular, which basically allows you to only use the cables you need (not essential but really nice for cable management). Also note the power supply is absolutely not the part you should be cheaping out on!!!!!! It is also perhaps one of the few parts you could say is "futureproof".
Your cpu is a good choice imo. Although again if you don't plan on overclocking at all then you don't need a k series cpu (although that being said I will still get a k series cpu ). I would also say this is the "sweetspot" for cpu performance in gaming :)
The case is really up to you..do the research make sure it has everything you need, make sure it fits with your other components etc. I dont think you can go wrong here unless you buy a $10 mini atx case lol. Same goes for the optical drive and your secondary HDD.
A word on the ssd. I see a lot of people say this is a must for a new build...although after getting a ssd and loading my OS and main games on there I cant say the difference in performance warrants the extra cost. Given your budget I would say this is a luxury and you could rather spend the money on getting better core components as mentioned above. As for what ssd to get...I have no idea! lol i spent alot of time researching but dam there is so many to go throug. I eventually just went with the Vertex 4 128GB from OCZ.
I think that just about covers it, ive based a lot of the advice on my recent build and what i felt were the best parts to get for me. I didnt really have a budget though. But i did realise that having a budget would be bad for the build and was not aligned with my goals (which were similar to yours ).
I'll leave some links to the components i suggested below:
The Corsair HX750 power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010
The MSI Mpower Z77 mobi: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130660
The Radeon 7870 GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150604
I hope that helps somewhat although i think ive just added more to your cost lol XD I might be wrong about my whole philosophy about price and building to a budget. But i really think its important to find out where you can get the best pric to performance, and does that performance match my goals.
