--------- Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 It's been a little while since I was last around here, pretty caught up with School, Work + iOS Development. I really wanted to get back into Gaming after not having much to do with it for a little under 12 months. Currently still rocking a Retina MacBook Pro for the last year and although I did play a lot of indie games (it would run CS:S + CS:GO with no problems), I just felt as though I needed more processing power for AAA titles. That said, I still love my Mac for productivity (using it for school and coding) and the work-flow I find is superb. So I set myself a rough budget of $2500 AUD for a high-end gaming PC. After lurking on Reddit's /r/BuildAPC and PCPartPicker for a while, I finally decided on a build I was happy with. First of all... PICTURES! Because who doesn't love photos. PARTS LIST: CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.00) CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($95.00) Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($219.00) Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($199.00) Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.00) Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.00) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card ($519.00) Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($150.00) Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($159.00) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (OEM) (64-bit) ($70.00) Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.00) Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition 37.9 CFM 120mm Fan ($22.00) Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan ($22.00) Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan ($22.00) Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan ($22.00) Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire XT Wired Slim Keyboard ($68.00) Mouse: ROCCAT Kone XTD Wired Laser Mouse ($125.00) Total: $2268.00 AUD PARTS REASONING: CPU: The i5 was a happy medium for me, decided to go with the unlocked "K" version of my CPU to allow for over-clocking when I decide to take that path - but at the moment, I see no need. CPU Cooler: I had seen Corsair's AIO Liquid Cooler line and was fairly instantly sold on the idea. I didn't want a massive Air Cooler taking up room that could be better used for air flow (plus, it had thermal paste pre-applied). Motherboard: It had everything I needed at a nice price. Simple stuff. Memory: How much memory a person needs is a commonly debated subject. Although I do a lot of my graphic design on my laptop, I may do some on my PC too at stages where it is more convenient. Storage: I regret going with such a small sized SSD, kind of underestimated how much I would need. I feel a bigger SSD will be my next upgrade when the time comes. Put the base OS + Software on the SSD and Games on the HDD. Video Card: I wanted this PC to handle pretty much anything, which is why I decided upon the GTX 970. Then went for EVGA's FTW edition of this GPU as it had the highest clock speed out of the box and I have no intention of overclocking the GPU. Case: What can I say, it's a sexy case. Always admired the R4, but when the R5 was released.. I knew it was time Power Supply: It's modular, has a good rating and I quite like Corsair's products. Keyboard: I'll be honest, I went into this one blindly without doing much research, which shows. Went into the local game store and picked up a keyboard without really knowing much about the Cherry MX range. I regret going with the MX Red's and after looking into it more would have been better off going with the MX Brown's for my needs, but hey - it was $110 off! Mouse: Not much to say apart from I love this thing. It's comfy and has pretty lights... what more could a man ask for? After the GPU and 1 RAM module was DOA, that was very quickly sorted out thanks to the guys at PC Case Gear (AUS) who also threw in a nice pair of earphones! Very much a fun experience and if a 17 year old can build a PC, anyone can! If you ever have the opportunity, give it a go - it's great fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnPrePared_ Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 cool maybe someday I will build a desktop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrToiletPaper Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I'm saving up for a build myself. But i have this feeling that i might screw up. Congrats on the build though. Looks like it can run smoothly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EThatsMe Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 <<<<< Jelly. You will have fun with that thing for years. I would upgrade that SSD though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Rash Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Nice build! I didn't have a lot of money so when i built mine some of the parts had to be scrapped lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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