The Outerhaven Builder’s Gamut – July 2015 Edition

BALLIN’!

With this build, you’ll be ballin’ like Barack…well, not really, but it’s a money consuming build, and while it’s not TITAN, you’re going to really tighten your belt if you’re going to build this on a tight budget.

Processor: Intel Core i7-4790K 4GHz Quad-Core

An i7 is overkill, and I mean OVER-period-KILL-period for gaming. Most games (worth your time, anyway,) don’t even need an i7 of this caliber to run at max settings. This is more for the fans of creating gaming content, as you’ll need the multiple cores to even achieve quick rendering times, or running a smooth stream.

Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing

The Intel i7-4790K doesn’t come with a stock cooler, so you’re going to need a cooler. The Hyper 212 is the one CPU fan that is sworn upon by enthusiasts. It can get loud at times, and it’s pretty damn large, but it does the trick for keeping your processor cool.

Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII FORMULA ATX LGA1150

This here is an ASUS ROG motherboard, so it is completely optimized for gaming. I could go into all of the features that make this motherboard ideal, such as copper hybrid cooling, LAN surge protection, GameFirst technology and more, but that would take too long, and you’d get bored. I’d just recommend checking out the feature list.

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600

Interested in video or audio editing? The more RAM you have, the faster the rendering time, and coupled with the i7, 16 GB of DDR3-1600 RAM will serve you well, especially since DDR3 RAM prices are rapidly decreasing as DDR4 becomes more readily available. Oh yeah, and your games will run pretty smooth too.

OS Drive: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5″ Solid State Drive

SanDisk and Samsung have their praises sung. I’m sitting with a SanDisk Ultra Plus in my rig right now. However, Crucial can do just as much as SanDisk and Samsung can. The MX100 series of SSDs are durable and long lasting, and since you’re only using it as your OS and program drive, you won’t overwrite your drive as much.

Data Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 2TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

This is the drive you save your games and files to. Much like in the budget build, this will be your best friend for storage, not much else to say here.

Video Card (GPU): Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB

You’re gonna have some money to spend? You better buy the best thing you can buy without breaking the bank. The 980 Ti series isn’t exactly a TITAN, but it gets the job done. 6GB of VRAM endears itself to gaming, as well as video editing and streaming, when combined with the 16GB of RAM you already have, your computer will be a powerhouse for content creation.

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window

The case is extremely sleek and quiet, blending in with its surroundings with ease…all jokes aside though, this case is wonderful for your needs. It’s a refined case, and if you like showing off the inside of your computer, the cable management and the window will most definitely fit your style.

Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX

Back one more time with SeaSonic. This build tops out at 461W, so a 850W PSU is more than enough for comfortable use. Also, this PSU is also semi modular, so you can plug in only what you need, and keep the other wires for later upgrades.

Now for the pricing:

And there you have it. a Sub-$2K build for your gaming, streaming and editing purposes that will last you for a few years.

That’s it for this month’s Builder’s Gamut. We’ll be back in August for Back-To-School builds, as Junior High, High School and College Students prepare for another year of learning in 2015-2016.

If you want to check out the builds with the rebate pricing, please follow this link: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/NavigatorBowman/saved

Also, check out new writer Ken Konarewzski’s July PC Gaming on a Budget build here: https://www.theouterhaven.net/2015/07/gaming-budget-building-pc-july-2015/