Please advise for my upcoming rig!

[desmond_goh]

Hi people

Finally taking the plunge into DIY PC either this or next weekend. This will be my 1st time DIY so feeling paranoid and anxious and worried that I will not be able to fix or will break anything during the process. Please bear with me if I am asking any question that is too simple.

My usage would be light video/photo editing and gaming (maybe the new witcher 3 in high/ultra setting). My budget is around 2k, not sure if this budget is too tight? Hoping to be able to add in keyboard, mouse and speakers but not a must.

After lurking around HWZ for quite awhile, I came out with this build, I am unsure of compatability of the components and not aware what are the stuff I should take note, please let me know if this seems alright.

MSI H97M-G43 + i5-4690 ~ $405 (will not be overclocking, i5 should be sufficient for light editing?)
Crucial 4x8gb 1600mhz Value Ram ~ $316 (is it too much?)
GTX970 4GB ~$500 (there are many variants of GTX970, which should I get and are there significant differences?)
WD Blue 1tb ~ $70
Plextor m6s 256gb ~ $188
Windows 8.1 OEM ~ $120
LG Dvd Drive ~$21
Casing? (Is there any chance that micro-ATX would be acceptable in my situation? I understand that ATX would be better due to airflow and expandability, but does micro-ATX lacks all these?)
Monitor?
PSU?

Anything that I missed out or should take note?

Apologies for the long post and I have many things unsure about. Thank you all in advance!

 

[ReinhartX]

lets hope i get this correct,

you dont need an i5-4690 if you are not going to overclock, an i5-4460 is sufficient and the different is barely noticeable.

if you are going m-atx casing get a zotac gtx970 as it is smaller compared to the other variations, i once gotten a MSI one and it didnt fit in my m-atx casing due to its design

 

[Jian19]

i5-4690 + Msi h97m g43 ~ $405
Crucial 8gb ddr3 x 2 ~ $154
Lite on s900 256gb ssd ~ $138
Wd blue 1tb ~ $72
Asus gtx970 strix ~ $565
Superflower leadex 550w ~ $129
Fractal design arc mini r2 ~ $129
Win8 64 oem ~ $120
Dell u2414h ~ $339

$2051 buy and diy @ tradepac ask for discount.

 

[desmond_goh]

lets hope i get this correct,

you dont need an i5-4690 if you are not going to overclock, an i5-4460 is sufficient and the different is barely noticeable.

if you are going m-atx casing get a zotac gtx970 as it is smaller compared to the other variations, i once gotten a MSI one and it didnt fit in my m-atx casing due to its design

Hi ReinhartX

Thank you for your suggestion. If i5-4460 is comparable with i5-4690, I think I would go for it. What motherboard would you recommend to go along with? I am looking at Asus H97-Plus, MSI and Asrock.

 

[desmond_goh]

i5-4690 + Msi h97m g43 ~ $405
Crucial 8gb ddr3 x 2 ~ $154
Lite on s900 256gb ssd ~ $138
Wd blue 1tb ~ $72
Asus gtx970 strix ~ $565
Superflower leadex 550w ~ $129
Corsair 240 Air ~ $129
Win8 64 oem ~ $120
Dell u2414h ~ $339

$2051 buy and diy @ tradepac ask for discount.

Hi Jian19

Thank you for your suggestion. I noticed Corsair 240 Air does not have optical drive, being used to having optical drive, I very much prefer to still have it. Any other casing to recommend?

 

[Jian19]

Fractal design arc midi r2

 

[ahbear82]

Hi people

Finally taking the plunge into DIY PC either this or next weekend. This will be my 1st time DIY so feeling paranoid and anxious and worried that I will not be able to fix or will break anything during the process. Please bear with me if I am asking any question that is too simple.

My usage would be light video/photo editing and gaming (maybe the new witcher 3 in high/ultra setting). My budget is around 2k, not sure if this budget is too tight? Hoping to be able to add in keyboard, mouse and speakers but not a must.

After lurking around HWZ for quite awhile, I came out with this build, I am unsure of compatability of the components and not aware what are the stuff I should take note, please let me know if this seems alright.

MSI H97M-G43 + i5-4690 ~ $405 (will not be overclocking, i5 should be sufficient for light editing?)
Crucial 4x8gb 1600mhz Value Ram ~ $316 (is it too much?)
GTX970 4GB ~$500 (there are many variants of GTX970, which should I get and are there significant differences?)
WD Blue 1tb ~ $70
Plextor m6s 256gb ~ $188
Windows 8.1 OEM ~ $120
LG Dvd Drive ~$21
Casing? (Is there any chance that micro-ATX would be acceptable in my situation? I understand that ATX would be better due to airflow and expandability, but does micro-ATX lacks all these?)
Monitor?
PSU?

Anything that I missed out or should take note?

Apologies for the long post and I have many things unsure about. Thank you all in advance!

Ram u can choose a cheaper model, $316 too ex imo..
HDD maybe u can choose WD Green instead.. better power consumption..
OS u sure u want to use win 8? why not get win 7, after all u can get free updrage to win 10m in near future...

just my humble opinion..lol

 

[desmond_goh]

Ram u can choose a cheaper model, $316 too ex imo..
HDD maybe u can choose WD Green instead.. better power consumption..
OS u sure u want to use win 8? why not get win 7, after all u can get free updrage to win 10m in near future...

just my humble opinion..lol

Hi ahbear82

thanks for your reply!

I looked through pctheme price list, found WD Blue to be cheapest so ya. How about performance wise between Green and Blue?

As for the OS, I was looking through other posts, saw 1 bro recommending win 8 due to easier upgrading to win 10 without much price difference. I am unable to load pctheme price list now so unable to confirm the price difference. If it does not matter, then probably I would get win7.

 

[Jian19]

dun get green...

 

[Mikiberry]

Ram u can choose a cheaper model, $316 too ex imo..
HDD maybe u can choose WD Green instead.. better power consumption..
OS u sure u want to use win 8? why not get win 7, after all u can get free updrage to win 10m in near future...

just my humble opinion..lol

WD green is slow and is reported to have higher failure rates.

 

[FlushX]

i5-4690 + Msi h97m g43 ~ $405
Crucial 8gb ddr3 x 2 ~ $154
Lite on s900 256gb ssd ~ $138
Wd blue 1tb ~ $72
Asus gtx970 strix ~ $565
Superflower leadex 550w ~ $129
Corsair 240 Air ~ $129
Win8 64 oem ~ $120
Dell u2414h ~ $339

$2051 buy and diy @ tradepac ask for discount.

Anyway Jian, the air 240 won't be able to fit Strix 970 and MSI 970 4g gaming

 

[mdhasan]

If you don't overclock you can get a cheaper motherboard and i5 processor instead

 

[desmond_goh]

If you don't overclock you can get a cheaper motherboard and i5 processor instead

any recommendation on this? ReinhartX suggested I could change to i5-4460. I totally have no idea on motherboard, I have been reading up quite a bit, but I am not sure what are the actual differences and how applicable are those for me.

 

[mdhasan]

any recommendation on this? ReinhartX suggested I could change to i5-4460. I totally have no idea on motherboard, I have been reading up quite a bit, but I am not sure what are the actual differences and how applicable are those for me.

ok I actually recently purchased a full system.

I got an Asus H81MD-PLUS motherboard + i5 4660 processor.
So I saved quite a bit of money by buying this cheaper combo and put that money into buying a more powerful GPU, R9 290X.

However since you already have a good GPU selected, you can invest the savings you made into getting a better IPS panel LCD monitor. Or maybe get 16GB of RAM if you're really into video editing and stuff.

For PSU you can get Seasonic ones. I have the 750W modular one, really good. Lot less cluttered cable management and if you have a transparent side panel on your casing really does make a difference both cosmetically and also helps airflow inside. So ya, get a good casing too. Corsair or NZXT would be decent choices.

 

[Jian19]

Anyway Jian, the air 240 won't be able to fit Strix 970 and MSI 970 4g gaming

Why not ?

10 char

 

[FlushX]

Why not ?

10 char

Height of the two cards is an issue. I ordered the MSI 970 4G only to realize it won't fit.

 

[Jian19]

Height of the two cards is an issue. I ordered the MSI 970 4G only to realize it won't fit.

ok noted

 

[mib500]

Height of the two cards is an issue. I ordered the MSI 970 4G only to realize it won't fit.

i think zotac 970 can fit in...

 

[FlushX]

i think zotac 970 can fit in...

Most cards are fine. Except for the two I mentioned. In fact, some are using the gigabyte g1 gaming in air 240 despite its length. I'm gonna find out of its possible this coming weekend

 

[ahbear82]

ok I actually recently purchased a full system.

I got an Asus H81MD-PLUS motherboard + i5 4660 processor.
So I saved quite a bit of money by buying this cheaper combo and put that money into buying a more powerful GPU, R9 290X.

However since you already have a good GPU selected, you can invest the savings you made into getting a better IPS panel LCD monitor. Or maybe get 16GB of RAM if you're really into video editing and stuff.

For PSU you can get Seasonic ones. I have the 750W modular one, really good. Lot less cluttered cable management and if you have a transparent side panel on your casing really does make a difference both cosmetically and also helps airflow inside. So ya, get a good casing too. Corsair or NZXT would be decent choices.

or you can consider CM Scout 2 too, if you prefer to have a handle for easy carrying around. The internal inside quite decent too..