The Glade 4.0

System board finally went tits-up-- video card is still good, RAM seems ok (but 3/4 ram slots are toasted) So I'm planning on building a new system.


I threw the 2nd video card in there just for a power estimation, and I have a 750 gb SATA drive I'll still use for additional storage.


CPU
Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor $178.89 Buy

CPU Cooler
Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler $44.98

Motherboard
ASRock Z97 EXTREME6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $135.98


Memory
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
$119.98 x2
Storage

Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $52.95 Buy
Video Card

Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) - INVENTORY
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ??????


Case
Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case $77.98

Power Supply
EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $117.99
Total: $848.73


Thoughts?

What's your monitor resolution? If you're not running (or planning to move soon to) 2560x1440 or 4k, I see no benefit to SLI Crossfire with an i5 bottleneck.

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The 2nd vid card is really just a what-if for estimating power drain, though I do run multiple monitors when working documents. (Currently running 2 would run 3 if I had the capability )

Should be solid and plenty fast, although that chip is not unlocked for overclocking, if you're into that.

Looks like it's kind of hard to get a second 5770 non-used these days, so you might just want to use it for now and replace it with a more powerful card with more memory sometime down the road.

TheRiov:

1. You're buying the wrong CPU. An i5-4690K Devil's Canyon CPU is only $239.99 and a far wiser investment than the Haswell Refresh CPU you've picked. Unless you're playing World of Warcraft, the i5-4690K provides as much CPU as any modern game needs. And, yes, World of Warcraft is so ridiculously CPU bound that it sees significant performance increases from the i7-4790K. Either way, you want a Devil's Canyon CPU.

2. You're buying too much RAM. You aren't going to be running Linux or doing massive amounts of high quality video editing. You don't need 32GB. In fact, it's debatable if you need more than 8GB for a gaming machine. Still, you can get a 2x8GB set of DDR3-1866 for $105 in a reputable brand -- Kingston HyperX. Cutting back on the RAM allows you to buy the much better CPU without altering your budget. Also, unless you're actually messing with the core clock speeds of your CPU, you won't see any significant performance increase from the DDR3-2133. DDR3-1866 provides a 2-4% increase over DDR-1600, which is worth it only because of the price parity. DDR3-2133 requires a good amount of time tweaking timings and a large amount of hoping your RAM is compatible.

3. You don't need the aftermarket CPU cooler. Stock coolers are just fine and pretty noise friendly if you're not overclocking, which seems completely unlikely since you went a multiplier locked Haswell Refresh in the first place. You can save that money and put it toward a better SSD. Crucial's MX100 256GB SSD is generally in the $105-110 range on NewEgg depending on the day of the week. Occasionally it's as cheap as $95.00.

4. You definitely don't need an 850W PSU. You only need 650W for the machine you're building,and that still provides you with enough headroom for an nVidia GTX 970 of your choice at a later date.

5. And, while I get that you're trying to recycle older parts, I would strongly recommend scrapping the AMD/ATI card for a GTX 970. It's simply leaps and bounds ahead of anything AMD/ATI has available and very reasonably priced in the $330 for a good EVGA ACX variant with some amount of factory overclocking.

6. You're also buying too much motherboard. A middle-featured, non-enthusiast motherboard is going to give you more bang for your buck than a top tier OC motherboard, particularly since you aren't overclocking. ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte all have better offerings. If you're hellbent on ASRock, then the Extreme 4 is usually $30-40 cheaper and you won't miss the features you aren't using by not overclocking on the Extreme 6.

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