Three similar options, tough choice

Budget:
$2000 (roughly)

Expectations:
Flawless ultra settings on most current games/MMOs.

Usage:
8 hours daily.

Special Needs:
N/A

Saved Ticket #:
1112444
1112455
1112459

Specifications:

1) Budget option:

Chassis Model: Digital Storm Bolt II
Processor: Intel Core i5 4590 3.30 GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS H97I-PLUS (Intel H97 Chipset) (Mini-ITX)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 500W Digital Storm Bolt II Edition (Quiet) (Gold Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (120GB Samsung 840 EVO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB (Includes PhysX)
Extreme Cooling: 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (Extreme-Performance Edition)
Boost Processor: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

2) Midrange option:

Chassis Model: Digital Storm Bolt II
Processor: Intel Core i5 4690K 3.50 GHz (Codename Devils Canyon) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z97N-WIFI (Intel Z97 Chipset) (Mini-ITX)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 500W Digital Storm Bolt II Edition (Quiet)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (120GB Samsung 840 EVO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB (Includes PhysX)
Extreme Cooling: 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (Extreme-Performance Edition)
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

3) High-end option:

Chassis Model: Digital Storm Bolt II
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0 GHz (Codename Devils Canyon) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z97N-WIFI (Intel Z97 Chipset) (Mini-ITX)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 500W Digital Storm Bolt II Edition (Quiet) (Gold Plus Rated)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (120GB Samsung 840 EVO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB (Includes PhysX)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (Extreme-Performance Edition)
Boost Processor: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

So, here's the scoop.

I recently got into graduate school... again (first MA I earned has turned out to be worthless; going back to get a more practical degree. Life lesson, folks -- never go to school for something you love D:).

The university offers a one-time $2k loan to get a new PC. Intially, I was hedging on whether or not to accept it, but 4 days ago my 2009 Alienware suddenly suffered some kind of catastrophic MOBO/GPU/Power Supply combination failure. Given its age and specifications (it was a single-core based machine with a very dated AMD-make GPU), I have elected not to repair, but move on with a complete system replacement.

I'm not a tech-savvy individual in the slightest, and am not the type of person to swap out hardware piecemeal anyway. I normally transition from machine to machine every 5 years or so, and tend to 'overbuy' so that upgrades are not a looming necessity. Typically, I see a rig wear out physically long before its so dated as to be unplayable.

So, over the past couple of days I have been doing extensive research on CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, RAM, cooling systems, etc. I've explored many brands, and have finally narrowed the field to three makes of the Bolt II -- all of them listed above. The price points range, without seasonal rebates, from $2088 at the high end, to $1887 on the low. None of the systems represent massive differences in performance benchmarks; none represent enormous fluctuations in price. I'm just trying to zero in on the right one.

Here are my two big concerns.

Overclocking vs. not.
Neither option 1 nor 3 is overclocked. I tend to be very shy of overclocking -- I have never done it to a CPU myself, and never owned an overclocked machine (actually, the Alienware may have been overclocked, but it was done at the factory). However, the 240mm liquid cooling system is clearly enough to handle OCing the i5 4690K. The question is, should I?

I have read multiple debates on wear vs. performance, and there seems to be no solid consensus either way. Some people favor buying higher-end cards rather than messing with OCing; others lower performers and going all-out on the overclock. I simply do not know which to go with, particularly since taking the i5 OCed is roughly $100 less than the i7. What's more...

i7 vs. i5
... I'm not sure if there are other considerations here beyond processor simple speed. I know that the base i7 processor is the more capable performer than even an overclocked i5 in most benchmarks (though not by much), and is capable of hyperthreading. Finally, the i7 is regarded as the superior candidate for 4k gaming. But, while I find 4k intriguing, I simply do not have the disposable income for that kind of a spread at the moment.

Since most games do not require hyperthreading right now, this seems to be a question of buying for now or buying for the future. But am I likely to see a bevy of software released in the next half-decade that does demand the performance of the i7? Or is that yet still further out? Like I said earlier, I prefer to overbuy... but I don't want to buy something totally unnecessary in the foreseeable future (which is the same reason none of the PCs have over 16 GB of RAM -- nobody I have talked to seems to think that's going to be needed anytime soon).

Ultimately, I want a machine capable of ultra settings in MMOs (notably WoW, but also pending games like EQ Next). I know that, even with the i7, my performance in raids is likely to drop below that 60 FPS mark. But even Warlords of Draenor isn't exactly pushing the threshold of visuals in online gaming, and I need to think about a future (sooner, rather than later) where I am playing more demanding software than Blizzard's.

Yes, a $200 spread doesn't seem like something to agonize over, but I have been going back and forth over this decision for almost two days now and am no closer to making the choice. Should I take the 'risk' (if there is even one on a modest 4.0-4.4 overclock) on the i5... take the plunge on the i7... or simply settle for something more basic considering that I am not likely to be 4k gaming anytime soon?

I apologize for the length of this post, but any guidance would be exceedingly helpful.

Cheers and Merry Christmas.


Edited by ShrikeArghast - 09 Dec 2014 at 4:22pm

Another way to go, to save some money being a struggling student, is to check out the Vanquish level 4 for $1400.    It has the same i5-4690k cpu overclocked, the gtx 970 and the same SSD and HDD drives.   It also has a full size motherboard with 4x DIMM slots for adding more ram if ever needed. 

Just a thought, not knowing if the Bolt's smaller size is the primary draw. 

Nice build Congrads

Nice build. You did a good job of keeping the price down with out sacrificing too much performance. Too bad you didn't go with the Stage 1 OC for $50.

Frank

You have an ASUS board and unlocked processor so you can go into the BIOS or AI Suite on the desktop and run the EZ Tuning Wizard. The board will test itself out and overclock the processor on its own (it won't get the absolute most out of the processor, but it will get most of the way, in addition to running a dynamic overclock, depending on the load the processor is under at any given time).