So I want to avoid going to /g/ because of the snobby elitism, yet I don't browse any other sites except for you guys and Evageeks, and the latter is still too busy imploding into itself over the upcoming Godzilla film to warrant asking for their help.

So when I got the current PC I have, I basically gave my brother my budget, and he picked out the parts and put it together for me. I now want to move up from what I currently have and I have more than double my original budget from over a year ago. I have up 1800 dollars (including priority shipping). And I have already picked out all the parts and I just need a group of people knowledgeable to run through my list of parts and do a last minute review to make sure all the parts I'm getting will play nice with each other is ultimately what I'll be happy with.

All parts will be ordered on Newegg since I want them all to come at once together and I don't want to track multiple packages if I don't have to.

Components:

Case: Corsair Graphite series 760T black
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI LGA 1150
CPU: Intel i5 4690
GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 970
PSU: EVGA 80+ Bronze 850W
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
HDD: 2x WD Blue 1TB Hard Drives
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
Reader: ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive
Monitor: ASUS VX248H Black 24"
Other: Blue LED stick

Total: $1,523.03

Any items not listed (such as an OS or additional fans) I already have ready to be installed with me.

Some questions I already have:

1. I chose MSI because it came with 1 HDMI port and 2 DVI ports. I currently already have the same monitor I plan on buying and another Acer monitor but I don't know what type it is. I wanted to get a third for a triple monitor setup so I looked for whatever had two DVI ports. However the GPU's DVI ports say DVI-I and DVI-D, will there be any problems with set up?

2. I've looked at the reviews for all of these products and one thing I took note on is that people went apeshit in the reviews for every DVD/BD drive I looked at bitching about needing third party software for burning discs. I have no interest in burning and simply want to watch DVD and BD shows on my computer from time to time. Will a third party program be needed for that?

3. For the DVD/BD drive, none of the products display what region it's set for. How do I find this out?

I'd rather have a decent GPU with decent other parts over a really good GPU with gimped other parts.

If you're going to drop $1800 on a high end computer then at least wait until the next series of graphics cards are released in a month or two.

I realize that however I'm not playing high end games or trying to go all out, I just want something that's noticeably superior to what I already have.

gpu should be the priority in a gaming rig tbh

I would bump up your i5 to an i7 Quad Core Processor like mine. Aside from that you seem to be good to go.

As for the GPU, you can't go wrong with Nvidia.

Quote from: Peach Turquoise on February 07, 2016, 08:01:04 PM

gpu should be the priority in a gaming rig tbh

But if your processor is slow as balls, the GPU will be useless.

Both CPU and GPU should be a priority.

he's chosen an i5 he'll be good

Quote from: gooots'd on February 08, 2016, 06:13:29 PM

Quote from: Decimator Omega on February 08, 2016, 05:47:37 PM

Quote from: Peach Turquoise on February 07, 2016, 08:01:04 PM

gpu should be the priority in a gaming rig tbh

But if your processor is slow as balls, the GPU will be useless.

Both CPU and GPU should be a priority.

he's chosen an i5 he'll be good

I still suggest an i7 over an i5 due to personal experience but whatever.

As long as it's a fairly recent and reasonable quad-core, it really shouldn't matter too much at all. Games are hardly CPU intensive anyway. See this for CPU tiers.

Personal experience: I have a 7-year-old i7 860 (it's in tier 4, aka still viable) that would not bottleneck a GTX 980.
 

Quote from: Kupo & the Two G-strings on February 08, 2016, 06:24:04 PM

Quote from: Decimator Omega on February 08, 2016, 06:19:30 PM

Quote from: gooots'd on February 08, 2016, 06:13:29 PM

Quote from: Decimator Omega on February 08, 2016, 05:47:37 PM

Quote from: Peach Turquoise on February 07, 2016, 08:01:04 PM

gpu should be the priority in a gaming rig tbh

But if your processor is slow as balls, the GPU will be useless.

Both CPU and GPU should be a priority.

he's chosen an i5 he'll be good

I still suggest an i7 over an i5 due to personal experience but whatever.

As long as it's a fairly recent quad-core, it really shouldn't matter too much at all.

Quad core is a must. Most i5 chips on the computers I've owned were dual core back in the day.

...but this isn't back in the day.

I still suggest an i7 over an i5 due to personal experience but whatever.

I have an i7 from 2011 and I don't think I've come close to overusing it.

Quote from: Decimator Omega on February 08, 2016, 06:19:30 PM

I still suggest an i7 over an i5 due to personal experience but whatever.

I have an i7 from 2011 and I don't think I've come close to overusing it.

I guess unless you're someone like me that does a lot of rendering, you're going to want an i7. My machine was pretty much made in 2012.

So OP if you're not someone that renders graphics, just listen to the rest.