It really depends on the game your playing.
RTS game tend to be more CPU heavy while FPS or similar games require more GPU powa.

The i5 is plenty enough for gaming.
Dont worry about it!

my friend plays WOW. he was thinking of going i7 + 780 but changed his mind to i5 + 980.

i5's won't bottleneck gtx 980

as long as you aren't trying to have couple hundred NPCs on screen it's fine

Is he ever planning to go multi-GPU? If not I would get a 600W PSU + GTX 970 and allocated the money saved towards an i7

Here's my build with a few changes.

NZXT Source 340
Intel i5-4690K
ASUS Z97-A Motherboard
Corsair H100i Cooler
16GB Kingston HyperX Black
Samsung 840 Evo
Western Digital Black
Seasonic G-750 PSU (not the S12G)
ASUS STRIX GTX 970

The NZXT Source 340 is the latest case from NZXT and it looks amazing for $80. It'll also be super easy to do cable management in this case.

The Z97-A is one of ASUS' middle class boards in their mainstream lineup. Better components for overclocking, and supports SLI/Crossfire.

16GB of RAM is fine. I wouldn't recommend buying more at this point in time since DDR3 is so expensive. 32GB is only necessary if he needs it for workstation purposes. If your friend wants to save some cash, 8GB is actually more than enough for a gaming computer.

Samsung 840 EVO is a good choice for a system drive. Just make sure you update the firmware on it to fix a critical file seeking issue when it comes out next week. But I would skip the Western Digital RE4 though and get the regular Black one. The RE4 is intended for RAID setups and therefore cost more.

Seasonic PSUs are the best in the industry. Top components, super reliable, and extremely efficient. The fan in the PSU only comes on during intense loads, but I've never heard mine even spin up. I selected the 750W version since it would allow your friend to SLI in the future if he really wanted to, otherwise just get the 550W version at half the price.

Forget about the GTX 980. The 970 is the best high-end value card at the moment. It's half the price of the 980 while being only a bit slower. It's the perfect card for 1080p gaming. The ASUS STRIX variant will look the best with your motherboard.

Example of a computer using the same case - http://imgur.com/a/TztA6 - easy to replicate the look too.

thanks for the advice guys and ty for detailed response razor. it will definitely help my friend.

Anyone know if patriot is a decent brand for SSD's?

http://www.ncix.com/detail/patriot-p...02494-1310.htm

From what I can see, it has faster read and write speeds than the samsung evo

For $70, that's a good purchase.

finally, the GTX970 can officially replace my 4yrs old HD6850.
unfortunately I do not see a big improvment on 4K gaming, which means it will probably not last for another 4yrs.

Just upgraded to a new SSD (Crucial MX100 256GB), applications load so fast, it's like buying a new computer.

is your mobo SATA-II or III? I've others ask me what's the best upgrade to their old computer and it's almost always the SSD...but I dont know how significant it is with older SATA standards

Any SSD deals right now?

Those who went from 1080 to 1440 for gaming, is it a day and night difference in quality?

Wanting to get a new monitor for a while.
Not sure if I should pick up a 1080 144hz or a 1440 monitor.

Will be picking up a gtx 970 to power it!

I'm using SATAII and it's still a VERY NOTICEABLE difference. It's worth the upgrade. Trust me. The boot time alone is worth it. Takes about 10 seconds for me to boot up from the push of a button to all of my programs loaded.

You need to read this. 6gbps SATA is SATA III (in case you're wondering).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...gbps,3110.html

SSD Results
 

Does this look OK for SATA II on Windows 8.1? Yes TRIM is enabled.

If your computer feels snappy, then it's fine.

Running a SATA3 SSD on a SATA2 controller will only bottleneck the sequential reads and writes. Everything else such as random reads and writes will be the same as running it on a SATA3 controller.

this build makes no sense to me
how about instead of $100 watercooler, buy i7 and cheapo air cooler or even stock? should be cheaper or same as 4670+h100i
it's cheaper to upgrade cooler than upgrade cpu
RE4 drive? in non raid desktop box? why? unless he's already got one lying around...

is there any 4k monitors around 30 inches big with 60hz refresh @ 4k ?

I thought cyber monday was today. I've been waiting for weeks :failed:

awesome, I don't know how I missed that.... thanks

I'm currently using a MacBook rght now and looking to get a desktop. Friend has suggested building one rather than buying from big box stores.

Looking to do some casual gaming mostly sports games such as nhl nba etc.

How much would I be looking at for a build that will be good for that. (Will need monitor keyboard n mouse etc)

Thanks

Probably around $700-800 for one that will last for a couple of years.

But for casual/sports gaming, consoles work much better. Something like a XB1 or PS4 would work much better. It would also last a lot longer, and provide a media hub for your living room.

PC's are great for RPG/RTS/FPS but not so much sports games.

Is it better in terms of quality and graphics and performance? Or just the overall experience? I don't plan on playing a lot of online gaming but I feel like a desktop would do me better rather than just a console which will strictly be for gaming

Better in terms of everything although you won't have to worry about whether or not your PC will run a new game well down the road if you get a console.

If you want, we can post a build log here for you with parts and pricing.

if you can that'd be great!

i think just for my own use a PC would be better since im not a hardcore gamer and wont be gaming every day, but at least i can still use it for other purposes since my mac is a couple years old now.

if i can keep it under 1000 that would be awesome, i dont need those crazy fancy keyboard mouse combos, but i will need a monitor.