Few questions before buying first build

[Eliazer]

Hi,

This computer is mainly for gaming and I want the option to overclock. Initially my budget was 1200 cad but as you see, I've gone over and there is still tax to be added. Do any of you have any suggestions of where I can save a bit without affecting performance much? If I end up spending over 1200, so be it.

I don't know much about the motherboard, it was suggested to me. Is it a good choice? I don't plan to use two gpus either and that seems to be a feature. All I know is that it doesn't have led lights or a reset button (?), will that be an issue for me given that it is my first build and I will be a bit out of my element?

Will the extra fan be enough for cooling if I overclock?

Finally, pcpartpicker says the parts are compatible. Does everything seem right to you?

Thanks a lot!

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/jY7sVn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/jY7sVn/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($249.04 @ TigerDirect Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($23.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($154.99 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($86.99 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($116.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.95 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X Video Card ($409.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.95 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: Antec HCG M 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($113.18 @ DirectCanada)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($16.79 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $1286.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-15 09:09 EDT-0400

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Cut a touch off the budget with motherboard/PSU changes.
The PSU (even though cheaper) is an upgrade.
The motherboard should handle any ambient cooling OC you can throw at your i5.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/CrKsVn

 

[Daleon]

Heh, that is why I hate using PC Partpicker to price a build. Its great for picking out parts but its terrible for finding out what it will actually cost you.

ATM's rebuild on the surface raises the base price up $15, and if and when you get your rebates brings total down about $40. Most of this from ordering a worse board for almost the same out of pocket cost with a large rebate from a site that doesn't calculate shipping.

The Antec PSU you had was the only really over priced part you had. $113 for a 750 bronze semi-modular is suck. The gold fully modular EVGA ATM listed is MUCH better even if it had no rebate for $7 more. I would recommend the EVGA bronze 750 semi-modular for $85 with a $20 rebate though.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/k8DQK8

I tried going cheaper on the MB. Problem is your going to pay $145-165 for a Z97 board. Rebates, lack of shipping calculation, etc, they are all about that price when you buy one. From a low end extreme3 to the gaming 5. So your really only saving $10-20 out of pocket at most.

Without seriously altering your build its hard to go cheaper. You could get a smaller cheaper SSD. You could ditch the 1TB and buy more storage later. You could ditch the dvd-rom even, I don't use them anymore. I load windows from USB and download everything from the net. Though you do want to make sure you can load network drivers heh, but I have dozen's of PCs with opticals I can copy to usb. All this depends on your needs and what you need the machine to do.

You should do some test orders at the sites you are going to order a part at to get a real idea what the final price is after tax, shipping, etc before rebate to find out what its going to cost out of pocket. Pretty sure this build is pushing well past $1300 no matter which way you go. To get it truly under $1200 more drastic changes are needed or you need to find a way to cut down that $400 video card, ebay?

 

[Eliazer]

Heh, that is why I hate using PC Partpicker to price a build. Its great for picking out parts but its terrible for finding out what it will actually cost you.

ATM's rebuild on the surface raises the base price up $15, and if and when you get your rebates brings total down about $40. Most of this from ordering a worse board for almost the same out of pocket cost with a large rebate from a site that doesn't calculate shipping.

The Antec PSU you had was the only really over priced part you had. $113 for a 750 bronze semi-modular is suck. The gold fully modular EVGA ATM listed is MUCH better even if it had no rebate for $7 more. I would recommend the EVGA bronze 750 semi-modular for $85 with a $20 rebate though.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/k8DQK8

I tried going cheaper on the MB. Problem is your going to pay $145-165 for a Z97 board. Rebates, lack of shipping calculation, etc not figured, they are all about that price. From a low end extreme3 to the gaming 5. So your really saving $10-20 here and pretty much all of them will work fine.

Without seriously altering your build its hard to go cheaper. You could get a smaller cheaper SSD. You could ditch the 1TB and buy more storage later. You could ditch the dvd-rom even, I don't use them anymore. I load windows from USB and download everything from the net. Though you do want to make sure you can load network drivers heh, but I have dozen's of PCs with opticals I can copy to usb or over network. All this depends on your needs and what you need the machine to do.

You should do some test orders at the sites you are going to order a part at to get a real idea what the final price is after tax, shipping, etc before rebate to find out what its going to cost out of pocket. Pretty sure this build is pushing well past $1300 no matter which way you go. To get it truly under $1200 more drastic changes are needed or you need to find a way to cut down that $400 video card, ebay?

Hey thanks for the help. Do you think this is a good build that I won't have to alter in the next few years? If so, I don't mind spending a bit extra.

Someone suggested these two motherboards as alternatives, any ideas? Thanks

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132229

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Those Asus boards are overpriced for the features they bring in comparison to Gigabyte and ASRock.

You'll definitely be able to run games at 1080p for quite a while with that build.

 

[Eliazer]

Thanks.

Also, do you suggest a site other than partpicket for actually ordering? What is the deal with the mail in rebates?

 

[EarthDog]

What is the deal with the mail in rebates?

What do you want to know here? You send in the UPC, and some other items and get money back in return...

 

[Eliazer]

DAleon: ATM's rebuild on the surface raises the base price up $15, and if and when you get your rebates brings total down about $40.

Just made me a bit skeptical about the mail in rebates because the if and when.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I've used mail-in rebates a few times, it's easy.
Companies like ASRock and EVGA honor their rebates.

 

[Eliazer]

Ok and would you say that the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard is the better of the two motherboards and that the EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply is a good option?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I doubt you'd ever notice a difference between the two boards, honestly.
Both will OC that i5 until you hit the limit of your cooling.

That PSU is probably the best 750W unit on the market.

 

[Eliazer]

sorry, it was:
EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

 

[ATMINSIDE]

sorry, it was:
EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

It's a good unit, but the SuperNova 750W G2 is a whole different class of good.

 

[Daleon]

Yeah the Z97-P is cheap, prolly better than an Asrock Z97 anniversary but its close. All it has going for it. I don't like saving money getting the cheapest board I can myself. Would it work, yeah. Could it do a little OC'ing, yeah. Will it be noticeably worse day to day? Maybe. Your getting much lower end onboard sound. Crippled 2nd X16 slot. Crippled bios. Cheaper components, less reliability. Very little onboard heatsink cooling. Not my cup of tea, but you can only buy what you got enough money to buy so you have to make decisions based on that.

The Z97-A, not as good as the Gaming 5. I would prolly take even the Gaming 3 over it. I would really even consider the ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer vs the Gaming 5. That's continuing to push your budget up some though but its a nice step up for not much more.

Rebates... so you send them your receipt, cut out the upc on the box, fill out some paperwork, put it in an envelope, go to post office, pay for stamps, etc and in 6-infinity weeks you might get a check or pre-paid visa back. Have to do this and get it mailed within a time frame, so if it takes a while to get your stuff it could push you out of the current rebate time frame. The receipts can be tricky especially when ordering online. If you get multiple things in one order that have rebates if the rebate requires the original receipt what do you do? They will reject your rebate for anything they can find wrong. They will reject it even if it is right. They will not always tell you its rejected and hope you just forget about it. People have to call them up, yell, argue, etc for hours on the phone to get their $10-20. Its all tactics to try and save the company from having to pay you that money. They count on not having to pay those rebates most of the time that is why they happily throw them on all the time.

Against my better judgement I sent in a $20 corsair rebate in June. I filled out form online, they knew it was coming. Printed form, cut out upc, stuck in original receipt, stuck in it padded envelope, addressed it correctly, and shipped it. Today the website still says it hasn't been received. I will never see that $20. That is my luck with rebates though. I've gotten maybe 25% of the ones I've sent in. Some people have much better luck with them and every company is obviously different. I just tend to avoid them all together and don't even consider them when I see the price. Whatever I am paying out of pocket is what that item is really costing me. What I may or may not get later, if I do is not going to fix my bank account.

 

[Eliazer]

Thanks.

Do you order from partspicker? Do you know a better site?

 

[Daleon]

You don't order through part picker. It just takes you to the retailer you have chosen. The retailers your going to use will be Newegg, Amazon, NCIX, DirectCanada, Memory Express, Vuugo, and TigerDirect.

I can tell you if you buy 1 or 2 pieces from each site, your total is going to be worse. You really need to find the 2-3 sites to get all of your parts from in as few orders as possible to save as much on shipping as you can. That's why you need to do some test orders doing various combinations of parts to see what the totals will be. If the site offers free shipping, then order there even if it cost $5 more than somewhere else but costs $10 to ship.

 

[Daleon]

I adjusted the merchants mostly based on NCIX having free shipping on orders over $80.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/d9hvD3

The case has free ground shipping from Direct Canada so that's easy pick. The dvd-rom didn't list that so it would have cost more I think but you can try adding it to a cart there and seeing if they charge you shipping for it otherwise cheaper to pay the $1 more it costs at NCIX.

 

[Eliazer]

Thanks so much!