New Computer

[SGT (Ret) Falconer]

Corsair Carbide 330R Blackout Edition

Cooler Master G650M, 650W PSU ATX 12V V2.3, 80 Plus Bronze, Modular, 4x 6+2pin PCIe, 8x SATA, 6x Molex, 1x FD

ASUS Z97-P, Socket-1150 ATX, Z97, DDR3, 2xPCIe-x16, VGA, DVI, HDMI, M.2, Fan Xpert 2+, HomeCloud

Intel Core i7-4790K Socket-LGA1150,Quad Core,4.0GHz,8MB,88W,22nm,HD4600

HyperX Fury DDR3 1866MHz 16GB Red 2x8GB 1866MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM (Kit of 2) HyperX Fury Red Series PnP

ASUS GeForce STRIX GTX 980 4GB PCI-Express 3.0, "DirectCU II"

Crucial BX100 500GB 2.5” SSD SATA 6GB/s, 535MB/450MB

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit (Yes, managed to find WIN7 available)


Im not an expert on computer stuff, but this looks pretty solid to me.
Thoughts?

[2LT (Ret) Storm]

I love ASUS products. I called ASUS customer service a few times to assist with my build - their support is second to none.  I personally have an ASUS motherboard (Formula VII) and graphics card (Strix GTX 970) and their performance is excellent. I would consider going with the GTX 970 over the 980 and save a few dollars. With the money you save, you could purchase an all-in-one CPU water cooler.

Overall, a solid build.

[Joyce]

Looks solid. Consider adding a traditional HDD as a "data" drive, as SSDs have a limited number of read/write cycles and keeping your low-priority stuff off of it will extend its lifespan. Also make sure your cooling game is on lock, then overclock that processor about 10-15% for best ARMA-related results

[SGT (Ret) Falconer]

I dont think the SSD lifespan will be an issue as I use the computer for gaming and interneting only. As for cooling, I have never trusted watercooling because I dont think water should be that close to sensitive electronics and I have never had cooling issues before so im assuming it will work now aswell.

I got the 980 instead of the 970 simply because the website told me to and money really wasnt an issue at the time.
ASUS was the standard stuff that was on it and they test it at the factory to assure component compatibility so there wont be any issues there.

[Guy]

Regarding the SSD questions, I am limited in expertise. However, I use a Samsung EVO 840 1TB as my primary (and only) storage in my gaming laptop.

Thus far, I have not had any problems. I think the read/write limits of an SSD are exponentially higher than that of an HDD.

As for heat, I am amazed with how cool my SSD remains even after long gaming sessions.

[SGT (Ret) Falconer]

I think the Read/write limits were a baby sickness of SSD's. Modern SSD's have most likely come a long way. Technology advances at a breakneck speed today so I dont think there will be issues. As for cooling, I live in Sweden, if I need cooling I open a window and my room is an icepalace in 5 minutes.

[E. Ray]

I think the Read/write limits were a baby sickness of SSD's. Modern SSD's have most likely come a long way.

This is correct. While read/write cycles per memory block are still limited, the limits have increased significantly since the early days of SSD technology. Unless you are constantly engaged in read/write cycles for 24 hours a day over a period of years, you will never encounter the read/write limit. You are vastly more likely to upgrade the drive than you are to hit the read/write limit. The limit should not be a consideration for a home/gaming computer.

As for your spec list, it's pretty good, but if you can hold out a couple of months, Intel will be releasing CPUs based on the Skylake chipset somewhere around the start of Q3. Motherboards using the new chipset are due in August, so that's a pretty strong hint that the new CPUs will be available around then. (Not a coincidence: Windows 10 is due July 29.)

Two other recommendations. One, get a PSU rated at least gold, not bronze. Two, AMD is set to release its new GPUs soon, so hold off on that GTX 980 until reviews of those come in. At a minimum, you can snag a GTX 980 or 970 at a discount when the early adopters upgrade to the AMD part.

[SGT (Ret) Falconer]

Im not waiting for the new stuff because like most new stuff it will be very expensive and not needed for quite a while unless video game technology suddenly makes a massive leap. The GTX 980 is pretty much the flagship of current graphics cards and will no doubt sustain me for a long while and the CPU is lightyears ahead of my current one which still runs ARMA decently. The PSU was recommended by the guys assembling the computer and they know what they are doing so there wont be any issues there. The Order has been placed and if I need anything else it can be bought separately at a later date, that is the beauty of PC Gaming.

Thanks for all the advise and I will consult you in the event of future updates to my computer.

[L. Stevens]

new stuff comes out=old stuff no longer as "top notch"=older stuff price reduction...normally 

[E. Ray]

new stuff comes out=old stuff no longer as "top notch"=older stuff price reduction...normally

Yep, this. The price reductions would have been very nice. Get the same stuff for cheaper, or get a better part for the same price, why not?

The Order has been placed and if I need anything else it can be bought separately at a later date, that is the beauty of PC Gaming.

Definitely. Enjoy the new rig!