@Eliterdso Yes I would like a lot of opinions from you on my build. It will be for gaming and video editing. Oh and of course music listening and production. I'm young without bills and I work a lot so I wanna get quality parts. So far what I plan on getting is: Intel i5 4690k, Asus GTX770, GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD7 (Motherboard), Samsung 840EVO 500GB SSD, and 8 GB of 1866 Kingston RAM. I'm pretty much settled on the SSD and Motherboard (Have to have thunderbolt ports).
Open for change for the CPU, RAM and GPU. I also am pretty much settled in for the CPU fan and the PSU I'm doing stuff from the brand BeQuiet. And I'm not getting a soundcard because I'm getting the Schiit Gungnir DAC.
I really need help selecting a keyboard and mouse, I haven't picked one out yet. And I appreciate you reaching out to me to help me out man.
And as far as budget, not trying to spend over 1500 but if its a good enough reason I will save up and get the part I need. Spending 1500 on a build because the speakers I'm using for the build are 600, and the DAC is like 800. ahahah at this rate I'll never be able to afford those HE-500's
Sorry for the slow reply, I actually just had to go deal with a computer emergency. Failed PSU in my sister's PC. Had to harass my dad today too. Anyway...
Quickly want to address the KB issue, have you had any experience with mechanical keyboards? Most people that have tried them find they are better than the regular (rubber dome). There are several switch types that alter the feel of the keys, and you can do a little research into the various types. Typically though I find the browns (and reds) most recommended as the best all around but primarily gaming type. The biggest downside is cost, they are much more than a regular keyboard. Newegg has a Rosewill brand RGB80 programmable keyboard with blue or brown switches and backlight for around $100...seems to be the best budget option with features (you can get basic non programmable non lit mechanical in the $60-75 range).
One of the things that caught my eye was the GTX770, I'm wondering why you would consider that card at this time? Unless it's under $200 it doesn't seem like a good choice. Normally the i5 would be a good pick, but there may be some saving on the SSD that would allow you to get the i7 and with that you would need less cooling (I'll explain) so possibly more savings there. That MOBO is actually pretty decent, has all the latest goodies and includes a good quality Intel NIC and the current best integrated ALC 1150 audio chip (even if you have another DAC). The TB ports are also not linked to the main PCI-E lanes from the CPU (tied to the Z97 chipset). Anyway overall that's not a bad build you have...but with some tweaks I think you could get faster parts squeezed in budget.
I'm also curious about your choice of BeQuiet!, what about them makes you want it? Most reviews say their PSU's aren't bad, but not that great either...while costing to much. Also despite the name they are not all that quiet.
Unfortunately I realized I can't post pictures or links or anything yet...so I'm just going for text. I'll use Newegg as the basic reference point since it has a vastly superior website. Once you know what you want though you can search Amazon etc to compare prices. So here's a parts list to fit the $1500 budget:
i7 4790K Has HT which may help with some of the encoding/editing work. Biggest thing is high stock clocks that negate need to OC, meaning good budget cooler is fine.
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ EVO Best budget cooler, works great at stock speed and/or mild OC. Older 212+ (non evo) and 212 (non +) each slightly cheaper/worse.
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH I got no complaints about this choice.
16GB (2x8GB) 1866 CAS 10 1.5v low profile cooler (big heat-sinks pointless can cause clearance issues). Notice low CAS, standard 1.5v . Example HyperX Fury/G.Skill Ares
Nvidia GTX 970 nearly 50% faster and uses less power (so potentially less heat/noise) versus the GTX 770. Simply far superior and ~350$
512GB Crucial MX100 compares very well to the 840 EVO and has been a reliable brand, but with much lower prices. This allows the upgrade to 4790k
EVGA SuperNova GOLD 750w (not the new bronze) plenty overkill, great reviews and doesn't even start fan until high temps (silent with light workloads, loud at max heat/load)
Other options for PSU as well, like Antec EDGE 750w. Again, quiet at low load and your system wont push a 750w really hard so they wont hit max fans/noise.
Corsair 450D Great mid level case, moderate cost, good build quality, good stock fans, can run quiet with good fan control on all parts for light work and stay cool when maxed
Without price shopping (just newegg) this puts the budget right at $1500. You could save $70-80 with only 8GB RAM but the extra may be useful with encoding/editing etc. You could save some going with the i5 and trying your hand at manually overclocking (the i7 base clock is faster than the i5 boost). You'll need to spend more on cooling though. For a higher level gaming system I don't think you should get less than a GTX 970...if you did need to save money the next best option would be an AMD R9 290 (non x) as they run just under $250. Not quite as fast and they use a lot more power (so more noise/heat). The AMD cards do have some possible benefits (especially super resolution multi-card setups), but I'm assuming you are running a single standard resolution monitor (1080 1440 1600). I don't know what you had planned for the PSU, but needed to include one in the budget...so I chose a high quality option with a partially silent mode. Even maxed out though this unit was rated quieter than the equivalent BeQuiet PSU. I figured I needed to include a case in the budget as well, so I went for a good all around option. There are cases designed more for silence, while this one is more bang for the buck and cooling potential.
Anyway, I'm not trying to dominate your build...I just didn't get a very detailed response (and this didn't seem like the place to discuss it in depth) so I decided to fill out what I would consider a good system for the listed budget. You can do whatever you want from here, take a few of my suggestions or none at all. If there are some parts you are already set on that wont fit into this budget/build and would like me to try to alter the build to work I'd probably be willing to do that. Sorry I couldn't post links, normally I would add some benchmark numbers, copy some quotes, and provide direct links to the parts I was looking at...but I dont have the post count/reputation here yet for all that. And this is an audio forum...not to sure what they'll think about all this computer hardware encroaching.
