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Rate My PC Please!

I think for the most part you've got a pretty good part list. You're not overspending on silly things, it looks like a very good first pass at a gaming build.

If you'd like some recommendations on how to save a few dollars without giving up any performance, here are a couple of things that jump out at me:

1) You're spending about +$20 for a 1 TB WD Black when the 1 TB WD Blues perform almost identically.
2) The Samsung 840 EVO is about +$30 more expensive than the Crucial MX100 256 GB and performance is largely the same.
3) Unless you're an Nvidia fan in general, it's hard to recommend the GTX 780 (superclocked or not) at $530 when there are perf-competitive options from AMD at a significantly lower price point. At the very least consider this GTX 780 for $510 AP, AR but the R9-290 is a performance match for only $380 AP/AR
4) RAM is a tad pricey, you could probably save $10 with this team kit of comparable specs
5) CPU/MoBo. Do you need an i7? It's eating a lot of your budget, and its gaming performance is comparable to an OC i5. If you're on a budget, you can save $100 switching to the i5-4690k and ~$30 switching to the AsRock Pro3 (hat-tip to mfenn's weekly build!) instead of the extreme4.

That could save you almost $340, and will perform very similarly in gaming. You could either pocket it, direct it towards cool peripherals (do you have a nice monitor for all of that GPU horsepower?) or feed the savings back into moar-gpu, a more generous SSD or storage drive (if you have a big steam library, or something) or what have you.

If you'd like more specific help, could you post your answers to these questions:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=24043454&postcount=1
 
Essence_of_War said:
1) You're spending about +$20 for a 1 TB WD Black when the 1 TB WD Blues perform almost identically.
2) The Samsung 840 EVO is about +$30 more expensive than the Crucial MX100 256 GB and performance is largely the same.
3) Unless you're an Nvidia fan in general, it's hard to recommend the GTX 780 (superclocked or not) at $530 when there are perf-competitive options from AMD at a significantly lower price point. At the very least consider this GTX 780 for $510 AP, AR but the R9-290 is a performance match for only $380 AP/AR
4) RAM is a tad pricey, you could probably save $10 with this team kit of comparable specs
5) CPU/MoBo. Do you need an i7? It's eating a lot of your budget, and its gaming performance is comparable to an OC i5. If you're on a budget, you can save $100 switching to the i5-4690k and ~$30 switching to the AsRock Pro3 (hat-tip to mfenn's weekly build!) instead of the extreme4.
Click to expand...

1. The Blacks have a 5 yr warranty compared to the Blue's 2 yr. I heard Hard Drives only last ~3-4 years. Also, the Blakcs cross ship.
2. Doesnt the 840 have "rapid" mode which makes it much faster?
3. I heard very bad things about ATI. I answered the same question on bit-tech, tomshardware, etc and they all said buy the nvidia if you have the extra money.
4. IMHO, that RAM looks kind of ugly to me. I guess it wont matter since I dont have a windowed case. I never heard of Team either.
5. I have the money for the i7, the extra isnt worth it?











1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming, General Usage, Streaming 1080p Movies

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

Anything Under $2000 (Hope For It To Last For 6-8 Years Without Upgrades)

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

US

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

Nvidia because I heard bad things about ATI.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

1440p monitor, Logitech G710+, OS (I already ordered the mouse and speakers)

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Welcome to 2014...overclocking

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?

27" 1440p Monitor

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.

Once I Get Feedback
 
(Hope For It To Last For 6-8 Years Without Upgrades)
Click to expand...
Your system will likely still be usable in 6-8 years if you don't touch it, but if you're expecting to play with all of the eye candy at 2560x1440, with smooth frame rates for 6-8 years, that is likely not possible.

1. The Blacks have a 5 yr warranty compared to the Blue's 2 yr. I heard Hard Drives only last ~3-4 years. Also, the Blakcs cross ship.
Click to expand...

The blacks do have a longer warranty, and some people value the longer warranty higher than the $20. That's a decision you have to make, but there isn't much evidence that longer warranties correlate with longer lifespans. Some hard drives will be DOA. Some will die shortly after moving all of your data to them. Some of them will still be happily ticking away 8 years later.

2. Doesnt the 840 have "rapid" mode which makes it much faster?
Click to expand...
RAPID mode will improve your benchmark numbers. But what it does is steal a bit of RAM from the OS, use that RAM for caching, RAM that the OS is already using to cache writes anyway. It also leaves you at much greater risk of data loss if you're operating without a UPS. RAM is volatile, so anything in the RAM cache that hasn't been committed to disk during a power outage will be lose. Samsung makes great SSDs, but I don't think RAPID makes the EVO worth the price difference from the Crucial MX100.

3. I heard very bad things about ATI. I answered the same question on bit-tech, tomshardware, etc and they all said buy the nvidia if you have the extra money.
Click to expand...
There are good and bad things about AMD and Nvidia. The real difference right now are in high-end stock cards. AMD's stock cards are pretty hot and loud, while Nvidia has invested significant time/money/energy in making their high-end stock coolers very nice. Board partners for both companies make great cards. If you absolutely 100% want a blower-style cooler, I'd go with Nvidia, but if you're open to any of the non-stock designs, there are excellent gpus from both. Additionally, right now AMD offers better price/perf at most points in their line-up.

4. IMHO, that RAM looks kind of ugly to me. I guess it wont matter since I dont have a windowed case. I never heard of Team either.
Click to expand...
Frankly, it is kind of ugly. It is very reasonable priced though 😛. If you'd like something a little prettier, the ones you've found work, and here's a pair of Crucial for $79

5. I have the money for the i7, the extra isnt worth it?
Click to expand...
It is a tough call. It fits into your budget, but the difference is going to be very slight, doubly so at your resolutions. At 2560x1440 you're almost certainly NOT going to be CPU bound at all, so it becomes smart to save a bit of money on the CPU in order to consider a 2nd GPU. GTX 780 SLI or Crossfire'd R9-290's might be a good call for your budget at that resolution.

One more thing, here's a PSU upgrade.
Here's a 750W Rosewill Capstone for $80 AR
Here's an EVGA SuperNova 750W for $87 AR
The CX series are fine, the Capstone and Supernova are top notch. They have excellent warranties, and high efficiency, and at the same price point as the CX series, they're easily the better pick.
 
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I agree with everything Essence said from top to bottom. I would even go a step farther than he did - all the eye candy at high res 6-8 years from now is not going to happen.

You might scrape by provided you upgrade the GPU in 3-4 years, but more realistically if you intend to continue to play new games as they're released you're looking at a GPU upgrade in 2-3 years and a whole core upgrade in 5-6 years.

Edit: Another point about the 780 is that buying the top-end GPU doesn't change that timeline by much. You can get something like a 280X, save $200-300 dollars, and use the savings to get a new GPU in 2-3 years and keep your setup fresh for at least 5-6 years depending on how willing you are to turn the settings down.
 
Essence_of_War said:
The blacks do have a longer warranty, and some people value the longer warranty higher than the $20. That's a decision you have to make, but there isn't much evidence that longer warranties correlate with longer lifespans. Some hard drives will be DOA. Some will die shortly after moving all of your data to them. Some of them will still be happily ticking away 8 years later.
Click to expand...

To expand on this:

In the grand scheme of things, storage components are cheap, but data is expensive. What that means is that you should have backups of your data at all times.

Saving money up front by buying functionality equivalent, but less-expensive components allows to you turn around and put that savings into a backup system. For example, that $50 that Essence recommended saving on the storage components nearly buys you another WD Blue 1TB that you can use to make backups of the SSD and HDD (assuming that both aren't filled to the brim with vital data).
 
conti154 said:
How about the Tri-X R9 290 for $410? Should I wait for the GTX 880? It is "supposed" to be 20% faster than the 780 Ti for an opening price of between $400-$450 😱.
Click to expand...

That's reasonable price for an R9 290, but I would go for this Gigabyte version for $379 AR instead.

I can't really make any recommendations based on rumored performance and pricing of unreleased cards. Generally speaking though, there is always something better just around the corner (in other words, you can play the waiting game forever).
 
7/10
Better GPU could be had for less money
but I would get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-079-_-Product
Pretty crappy motherboard..At the same price point the Biostar is better.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-408-_-Product
Bad PSU ..yeah..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171071

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153174
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-294-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-174-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-118-_-Product

..just some better choices from a quick search..
I didn't get to Coolermaster..



Seriously overpriced 1600Mhz RAM for Haswell..when Haswell runs RAM as fast as it will go..maybe should be 6/10

RAM @ same price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226502
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313322
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313417
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231621

ok..last one is over your RAM price..
too much MFR nowadays 🙁

PS: If budget is "under $2000" I would be looking @ x79
soon to be outdated in 2-3 weeks but..
 
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schmuckley said:
7/10
Better GPU could be had for less money
but I would get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-079-_-Product
Pretty crappy motherboard..At the same price point the Biostar is better.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-408-_-Product
Bad PSU ..yeah..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171071

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153174
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-294-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-174-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-118-_-Product

..just some better choices from a quick search..
I didn't get to Coolermaster..



Seriously overpriced 1600Mhz RAM for Haswell..when Haswell runs RAM as fast as it will go..maybe should be 6/10

RAM @ same price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226502
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313322
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313417
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231621

ok..last one is over your RAM price..
too much MFR nowadays 🙁

PS: If budget is "under $2000" I would be looking @ x79
soon to be outdated in 2-3 weeks but..
Click to expand...

I think it would be a good idea to provide explanations for your part choices. I'm not sure how you figure that Thermaltake PSU is any better than the one the OP originally picked out.
 
Edit: Another point about the 780 is that buying the top-end GPU doesn't change that timeline by much. You can get something like a 280X, save $200-300 dollars, and use the savings to get a new GPU in 2-3 years and keep your setup fresh for at least 5-6 years depending on how willing you are to turn the settings down.
Click to expand...

This!

The cost of the bleeding edge is a steep curve of devaluation. Spending extra money now, does not guarantee proportionally more performance in the future. There is a really neat graph of this over at TBG:

http://techbuyersguru.com/VideoCardRankings3.php

Consider as a case study, the GTX 590 vs. the GTX 570. Both released around the same time, 590 is ~+66% faster, and costs $700, while the 570 costs $350.

Today, an equivalent gpu to the 590 might be the R9-280x at ~$300, while the rough equivalent of the 570 might be the R7-265 which is ~$150. The cost of a gpu of the 570's speed lost ~$200 of value, while a gpu of the 590's speed dropped by $400!

In short, you pay a premium for high-performance now, and in the future, that same performance unit's value will decay faster than a more midrange performer. So in that sense, in the long run, you may well be better off getting a midrange gpu like GTX 770, and pocketing the money for an upgrade in 2-3 years, than buying a 780 Ti now, hoping to coast on that for 6ish years!
 
^^^^^

Alternatively, you could always buy a 780 Ti now and upgrade every year/two to the next equivalent if you have the cash . . . . sticking with mid range now means you won't jack up all the settings, and its not just AA.
 
Alternatively, you could always buy a 780 Ti now and upgrade every year/two to the next equivalent if you have the cash
Click to expand...

Truth, and on a 2k budget, OP could almost certainly go with the 780 Ti right now, and still have money to sack away.

In case I wasn't totally clear, I was using the 770 vs. 780 Ti as an example of the price/perf scaling, I wasn't recommending that the OP get a 770 on a 2k budget 😛
 
For a 1 TB drive I would just get the blue.

If you want larger capacity, there is a case for the blacks. Not a very good one IMHO, as they are pricey compared with closely spec'd options from Seagate/Toshiba.

Edit: If you're doing a lot of streaming, there is another possible point for modern Nvidia GPUs, shadowplay. I don't really stream, and I haven't looked at a coherent set of benchmarks, but maybe someone else could comment or reference whether or not shadowplay is worth it over other stream options.
 
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Essence_of_War said:
For a 1 TB drive I would just get the blue.

If you want larger capacity, there is a case for the blacks. Not a very good one IMHO, as they are pricey compared with closely spec'd options from Seagate/Toshiba.

Edit: If you're doing a lot of streaming, there is another possible point for modern Nvidia GPUs, shadowplay. I don't really stream, and I haven't looked at a coherent set of benchmarks, but maybe someone else could comment or reference whether or not shadowplay is worth it over other stream options.
Click to expand...

Also, I asked the same question on Tomshardware and they said get the Black because it is meant for gaming and have the 5 yr warranty. Dont the Blacks cross ship?

Another question: Are buying those extended warranties (Data Recovery, Extended Warranties, etc) worth buying?
 
conti154 said:
Also, I asked the same question on Tomshardware and they said get the Black because it is meant for gaming and have the 5 yr warranty. Dont the Blacks cross ship?

Another question: Are buying those extended warranties (Data Recovery, Extended Warranties, etc) worth buying?
Click to expand...
To answer this, consider the question from the vendor's side: Are you going to offer an extended warranty program that loses you money over time?

The answer of course is no. Any warranty that, on average, benefits the customer is costing the company money. Companies offer warranties at a price point that will make them money over time, usually quite a bit of money. Whatever fraction of the customer base purchases the warranty AND experiences a failure AND returns the drive under warranty will win the bet that time around, but speaking mathematically or strategically it's not the right choice to make.

Keep in mind I'm talking about extended warranties for an extra fee, not the manufacturer's warranty that comes with the base product.
 
The performance delta between a 1 TB blue and 1 TB black, both at the same spin rate, and the same platter density is going to be very small. I've played games installed on external USB 2.0 drives, and short of exceedingly annoying load times, actual in-game performance was just limited by my graphics card. If you personally value the extended warranty, the black is fine, just understand that what you're paying for is a very minor performance bump, and a longer warranty. IMHO, if my 1 TB drive fails in greater than 3-5 years, I probably won't want to replace it with a refurbished 1 TB drive, so the added value of that warranty is low to me. YMMV. The blacks might cross-ship, during RMA or whatever, but if you've backed-up your data adequately, the speed at which you've received your replacement shouldn't really be an issue.

Are buying those extended warranties (Data Recovery, Extended Warranties, etc) worth buying?
Click to expand...

These are almost always sucker bets. The best protection for your data is to put into place a back-up plan that is either automated, or easy enough that you will actually use it. If your data is valuable enough to pay for a recovery service in reaction to failure, it's valuable enough to proactively back-up.

Also, everything DSF said regarding the economics of additional extended warranties, is on-point.
 
This looks very nice.

If you can't find the EVO for right around $30, you could move up to a slightly nicer Arctic Freezer HSF for $40

Since you're gaming at 2560x1440, you might consider a 2nd GPU since you're still under budget by quite a bit. Take a look at this review of the 780:

http://www.tomshardware.com/print/geforce-gtx-780-performance-review,reviews-3516.html

Tom's really put it through the paces in a number of games at 2560x1440. If those are games that you're interested in playing, it looks like its a solid performer on its own. You could bank the rest of your budget and consider saving it for a GPU upgrade in 2ish years to keep the eye candy flowing. 🙂
 
Just a comment, hard drives last longer than 3-4 years. I have hard drives that are 10 years old that work fine, I have an 8 year old HDD in my system right now and it works fine. Yes, it makes noise and a bit loud, but that is normal.
 
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