Want to 5 box WoW, Have a 670 4GB and 840 256GB SSD, what else should I get?

[Grail]

Hi Folks,

It's been away a while since I have been on the forums as my computer died on me some time back. Looking to possibly get back into the game. I was running:

2500K cpu
MSI Z68A-GD65 mobo
8GB GSkill ddr3 1600 ram
PC Power & Cooling 750w PSU
EVGA 670 GTX 4GB
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SSD
Win 7 Home

All was going well, although I was bummed my Gen 3 card didn't get twice the bandwith as I guess my cpu was not set up for Gen 3.

I am hoping for some suggestions as to what I should be looking at as I am really not up on the latest hardware these days.
I don't want to spend a lot, but would like to build something that would take full advantage of the video card I spent almost $500.00 for.
Also I can use my Samsung 840 Pro, and I have a decent Corsair 650 watt psu (I did retire the PC P&C).

If I wanted to maybe get a cpu, mobo and 16 GB of ram, what would be a good bet for now and the next expansion coming up?
Is the 4790K quad core with the 8 threads highly preferable? I can get that for $280.00, though I would rather spend $200.00 for the 4690K.
I can go $200.00 to $300.00 for a mobo but again would rather keep the price closer to $200.00

I will pay whatever the RAM costs...

I also am interested in maybe a micro-ATX for a smaller form factor pc. (But that would be gravy right now.)
Should I be looking at different cpu's?

I am really not aware of what the difference is between the 1150 and 2011 chipset...

If you all could just shoot me a few ideas so I have a starting point I would appreciate it.

Also, should my 670 4GB still be good. I would imagine so... if I can take advantage of the greater bandwith.

And is Win 7 still ok or should I go Win 8?

Thanks!

Grail

[Grail]

Short Update:

I found and am liking the MSI Z97M motherboard. Any suggestions on what other MicroAtx boards I might want to check out? I may be moving soon and just would like a pc that takes up a little less mass and may be a little lighter in weight, etc.

Also, are the Corsair psu's that are low profile well viewed? I could get a RM650 or RM750 for about $110.00 and even though I have a good 650 now, I am liking the idea of that. I plan on running one SSD, one optical drive, one GPU, and maybe a discrete sound card. So that should be enough power.

-Grail

[MiRai]

I don't personally know anything about MicroATX builds except they need a small case, a small motherboard, and you're typically limited with how much stuff you can slap on it or cram in it.

Your GTX 670 would have never been able to push the limits of PCIe 3.0, so it really didn't matter that you didn't have access to it, but the GPU itself likely going to be feeling the heat depending on what settings you like to play at, and you might want to be ready to look at something more powerful as of today's standards. If you stick with nVidia then you can look at possibly a second GPU later down the line for SLI, but I'd recommend sticking with a single massive GPU rather than looking to benefit from SLI.

As for which motherboard and CPU you should choose, I'd imagine that any of the big names like Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, or ASRock should be just fine since they're top-tier motherboard manufacturers, however I prefer a CPU with hyper-threading (so the 4790K).

I'd also probably recommend skipping the dedicated sound card because most motherboards have an on-board chip which is just fine. The motherboard you've chosen has 6-channel output plus SPDIF Optical which should be the same amount of outputs you get on any basic to mid-range sound card. I'd say the only reason to get a fancy sound card these days is if you were going to go all out for one that comes with a sexy front panel and has a ton of different inputs or outputs (which you require). I had a Creative X-Fi card for awhile which I had hooked up via Optical, but I ditched it because its drivers were kind of a pain in the ass and I don't notice any difference with the motherboard's on-board sound (and I'm still hooked up via Optical).

Everything else looks fine.

[Grail]

Thanks MiRai,

That gives me a direction to at least start doing more research. I actually already have the sound card. But if I go MicroAtx and it doesn't have the right size pci slot, I will just go onboard audio. Looking forward to getting back into the game.

-Grail