Easy.
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690
Mobo: ASRock Fatal1ty H87 Performance
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
GPU: EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 770 2GB
PSU: Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-750 750W (It may be overkill but it was cheaper than other 650W PSUs)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
A few minor things wrong with this, pretty good build overall
- There's no reason why you shouldn't buy the K-version of a cpu you spend more than $200 on, $10 more for possibly 30% increase in cpu perf
- You stubbornly keep recommending nvidia cards for budget builds, and cut costs in other areas like cases. $30 not spent on an identically performing gpu could go a long way in terms of a nicer case
If you increase your budget to $1000 you'll be able to upgrade 1 of 3 things:
1) Upgrade the i5 to an i7
2) Get a 4GB 770 instead of a 2GB
3) Upgrade the RAM to 16GB
More serious issues here
- What performance benefits do you think there will be adding 2gb of vram at 1080p?
- There's no need for buying 16gb of ram, the only reason you would get more than 8gb is if you know for a fact you use up 8gb on a daily basis
An Intel Core i7-4790 because it'll increase your performance in practically everything.
I take most issue with this
- Same problem as before with not getting the k-series cpu
- If you're citing that spending $100 more on this cpu is justified for general performance increases, you're wrong. The major differences between the i5-4690K and the i7-4790K is that the i7 comes with hyperthreading enabled, a mb or two of extra L3 cache, and a higher stock speed. Getting the unlocked version of either chip negates the stock speed advantage. You won't notice any speed difference without 1MB of L3 cache. And since general performance applications (such as navigating the OS and opening webpages) are all singlethreaded, there will be absolutely no difference, and you will have spent a tenth of your budget on something that doesn't affect your percieved experience at all. The i7 is for heavily threaded desktop apps, such as video encoding.
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