Rate my girlfriends $750 gaming build

[j03h4gLund]

She got sick of looking at her little laptop screen and wanted to have a computer like mine. Her budget was $750 or less so we headed to Microcenter and here's what we ended up with. The only things we didnt need were storage or OS, as I have an extra key of Windows 7 and a spare 1TB Samsung F3. Also going to throw in my older Torqx2 64GB SSD as boot drive for her.

MB :: Asrock H97M Pro4 = $60 (microcenter)
CPU :: Intel i5 4690k = $200 (microcenter)
GPU :: MSI GTX 670 = $125 (ebay)
RAM :: 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaw = $42 (newegg)
PSU :: Corsair CX750M = $55 (microcenter)
Case :: Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow Edition = $28 (microcenter)
Display :: 27" BenQ 2ms = $170 (newegg)
Cooling :: Hyper212 Evo + 4 case fans = $41 (microcenter)

Total Cost = $721

 

[VirtualLarry]

The only things that leave me scratching my head, are: 1) K CPU, but no Z97 chipset? Were you planning on overclocking? You need a Z97 board for that. 2) 670? Really? These days?

 

[j03h4gLund]

The only things that leave me scratching my head, are: 1) K CPU, but no Z97 chipset? Were you planning on overclocking? You need a Z97 board for that. 2) 670? Really? These days?

You can overclock with this board, you just need bios version 1.9(from what I hear)

The GTX 670 is temporary and will eventually go into my rig for a SLI setup when prices for the 970 fall to around $200.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You can overclock with this board, you just need bios version 1.9(from what I hear)

Overclock a "K" quad CPU, or overclock the G3258? The two are different.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Overclock a "K" quad CPU, or overclock the G3258? The two are different.

I recently built a rig what that motherboard and CPU. You can overclock some, but only a certain number of multiplier adjustments. (Like, you can lock it to max turbo +200MHz or something. I don't remember the details - the computer is in Michigan now.)

Also, thanks to Microcenter's selective application of their CPU/Motherboard bundle pricing (-$40) for their -K CPUs and motherboards, the 4690K was actually the second cheapest i5 available. (Only the i5-4440 was cheaper when I did it.) So even if you're NOT overclocking, it's by far the best performance/$.

 

[Sonikku]

Being a K, the cpu probably has better resale value later down the road than it would have otherwise, even if you don't overclock.