Help me with my computer build!

Jacen

So I'm a big newb when its comes to computer hardware. I'm sure there's some gamers/computer builders around here, so lemme know what's wrong with my list!

As far as usage, I'd like to play the AAA games for a few years without upgrades. Honestly the biggest draw on my current system (AMD 2.4GHz 4xcore, 6GB RAM) is heavily modded Minecraft. Would like to have that open along with Chrome tabs and Mudlet and such.

I've got access to free Windows OS's, so I'll probably be dropping W7 in there, unless someone convinces me to go 8.1. Will likely have at least one Linux OS as well.

And here it is!
My Current Build

Cooper

Looks pretty good, and will definitely do what you want (and more).

The power source you have will allow for upgrades that take more power.

Jacen

Awesome, thanks!

Removed the SSD, since I was only going to use it for the OS, and boot time isn't a critical component of my build. Pulls my price down to $1165, which I'm happy about.

Trey

Jacen said:

So I'm a big newb when its comes to computer hardware. I'm sure there's some gamers/computer builders around here, so lemme know what's wrong with my list!

As far as usage, I'd like to play the AAA games for a few years without upgrades. Honestly the biggest draw on my current system (AMD 2.4GHz 4xcore, 6GB RAM) is heavily modded Minecraft. Would like to have that open along with Chrome tabs and Mudlet and such.

I've got access to free Windows OS's, so I'll probably be dropping W7 in there, unless someone convinces me to go 8.1. Will likely have at least one Linux OS as well.

And here it is!
My Current Build

I'd ditch the Seagate HD for a Western Digital Black, and maybe up the wattage on the power supply. Cooper is correct in that it should be enough for you to upgrade eventually, but I've always felt more comfortable having more than I need at any given point. Less draw on the power supply, less wear/chance of burning it out. Corsair definitely a solid brand for it. They make great RAM too, but I've heard plenty of good things about G.Skill and they give you a lifetime warranty besides, so you should be fine on that. Everything else looks good, I've got an i7-4770k and it's golden.

Jacen

Updated Link

Upgraded to 750W Corsair PSU (Though I don't see myself adding any HDs or GPUs in the reasonably near future). SSD is gone, and got rid of the BluRay Optical for a cheaper DVD/CD (Don't see myself needing BR capabilities either)

How's the GPU look? (Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card)
I'm running a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 2Gb right now, and I really like it. I had a bad experience with Radeon in the past (Linux refused to run with my HD3450 in), but I know I shouldn't let a bad experience with a low end card color my perceptions now. 

Mishgul

8.1 is better than 7 because they removed a large amount of obsolete never used bits. In high stress situations it will run more smoothly. It also has better protection and recovery utilities should you accidentally blow  anything up or try to download more RAM like my mother.

Aepas

Personally I have never seen a huge difference in the i7 to i5. I am actually running an i5 on my current computer and I can play most all games that I want. Here is what I have.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
Granted the processor is a bit of personal taste, but I have not really had anything that needs to use an i7 to it's full potential. The way I see it, if you have overhead, you're just wasting money. a CPU is really easy to replace, and if you really need to upgrade to an i7 in the future, I'd just do it then. I'd imagine other components would break before you had to fully utilize the 4ghz on an i7 though.

While I am a bit of a fanboy for GeForce stuff, You should also look into the Radeon R9 280X. It's about 20-30 dollars cheaper than the geforce 760 and tends to outdo it in most respects.
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-280X-vs-GeForce-GTX-760
I currently have this card and it works lovely. The only issue I have had with it so far is the Doom 3 special edition. I had to go in and change some data files for it to work, but it wasn't really too big a deal. Now it works great.
Games almost always play friendlier with Geforce, but if you're good with google, you can always find how to quickly patch a Radeon. (Like I said, I've only had to do it once out of the 30+ games I own, and it was a pretty outdated game.)

If you go this route, I'd jump up to a 750w power supply, since as long as you take care of that (power surge protectors) It can be the easiest part to swap if you need to make a new computer with higher power requirements.

Granted, making a computer is always up to you in the end! It's almost like a hobby for me, so I have my build and I'll stick to that. Just some small suggestions to think about!


Edit:
On your choice of hard drive. If you really feel like you need 2tb, go for it. But I'd still split that into two drives. two 1tb drives would allow you for more crash resistance, since you could create a backup on one drive, and run your OS on the other.
I may be wrong, but I believe that the current 2tb hard drives are actually 2 1tb hard drives raided together inside the shell, which makes them a bit weaker. (This was a few years ago so things might have changed.)
Splitting to two hard drives should only cost you 5-10 dollars more. and provides a lot more overall stability in case of corruption.

Double edit: I see you upgraded to 750w

Berenene

Your setup needs more steam power.  In fact, everything needs more steampower. And clockworks.  Everything's better with clockworks.

Silas

Also needs more giraffes.

ETA: Looks like a solid build, but I tend to agree with Aepas on the i5 vs i7 - I'm running an i5 atm and haven't felt the need to upgrade it at all. Also prefer the Radeon cards if you want to look at getting more bang for your buck.

I'd plump for the ssd tho - the boot times from an ssd are just disgustingly fast. Would never go back.

Arador

Processor has a much smaller impact on your gaming performance than your graphics card has. I am getting along perfectly with an i3, 8GB RAM and a GTX760. Have not come across anything I can not play at full settings. If you do things like encode movies etc the CPU speed boost is nice but these days you can even do that on the GPU instead.

Honestly the CPU comes down to taste but for a gaming rig it is always where I save money so I can go for a better PSU or Graphics card.

PSU is very important, especially if you end up wanting to put more Hard Drives in. Also do not buy into the marketing hype and buy a multirail power supply. If the power supply is just big enough for you, then sure it helps maintain the voltages on each part better but if it is bigger (and you want bigger so you have room to grow) then the rails just mean you end up wasting wattage on components that do not utilise them to their fullest.

Tael

To be fair, there are a few games where processor matters more than you would expect. Minecraft, for instance is one of them.

But I would still go with an i5. i7 is just not worth the price if you're not actually exploiting some of its more esoteric features (which you won't be).

Also agree about PSU. No point in skimping on it - those things will last essentially forever since the sockets never change.

If you can afford a big enough SSD for your OS and some games, you will never go back. Booting in a few seconds is nice, but loading screens that are ten times faster are wonderful. The last time I upgraded my system, I put one of those disgustingly expensive 1TB SSDs in it (now the most expensive component in the PC even though it was on sale...) and the difference is more noticeable than any other upgrade I've ever done.

Radeon is cheaper. Nvidia has, to my mind, better software. At this point, I don't think I could live without the "geforce experience" thingy that autoconfigures in-game settings without having to fiddle or experiment. If you had asked me a few years ago if such a system could ever be trusted, I would have laughed, but it works really well - every time I've ever tried to do the settings by hand, I come up with essentially the exact same thing as it does. Though to be fair I am also suffering some degree of Stockholm Syndrome in that I managed to pick up one of those gsync kits, so my monitor essentially requires that I use Nvidia.

I would also strongly recommend Windows 8.1, assuming you disable 99% of the "charms" and similar bullshit and never, ever use the Metro stuff. There are backend things to recommend it, I've actually seen a couple of games this year that require it (Project Spark is the one that comes to mind right now - it's ridiculous, but there you have it), and more than anything the search functions in it are absolutely brilliant. Just hit Win and start typing to search your "start menu", hit Win+W to search settings, hit Win+E to search everything. Never ever look for programs by visually skimming a list ever again.

Seftin

i5 is probably a smarter choice - more bang for your buck and unless you're running very process heavy programmes you wont notice any issues (ie - gaming wont be any better or worse for an i5 or i7 and wont for the forseable future)

Jacen

Built! Need to add some LEDs, but all the components are in. Super super happy with it. Thanks everyone for the advice!

I think it took me longer to figure out these spoiler tags than it took to build the computer.