cut the SSD, use the money for a more powerful GPU like a GTX 760

EDIT: you can also frankenstein your HDD and DVD drive to save a bit more money

EDIT 2: I'd also recommend a i5 4670k in place of the i7. There seems to be no difference between the i5 and i7 for TF2 if I recall correctly

do i need a more powerful GPU when the only game i play on pc is tf2?

thought the ssd will be useful in load times and booting up the comp

and what, are there are hdd/dvd combos now?

If you plan to play TF2 at max quality then it helps. The SSD is a lot faster than a regular HDD, but it's not worth the extra money if you're only playing TF2. By frankenstein your HDD and DVD, I mean take it from your old computer and put them in your new computer

EDIT: if you're wanting to stick with the 650 range, I'd highly suggest the 650 ti boost instead of the regular 650, you get much better performance out of it for the price

Here's what I came up with for the price of your original build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 57.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($43.14 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: MSI H87M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.93 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $772.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-13 12:40 EST-0500)

i5 is good enough for streaming and playing tf2. SSD is not necessary. I would wait till they get bigger and the price per GB goes down. Use your old HDD and old CD drive. Unless you burn videos or music, cd drives are obsolete nowadays for gamers until you need to install Windows. The build above is pretty great but again, SSD is not really necessary if you are just gaming. You could use that 100 dollars to buy an i7 or for peripherals.

get the GTX 650 Ti (boost edition if you can)

it's massively better for not much more money

also might as well save $100 and go for the i5 4670k if you're just doing TF2.

thanks guys, will downgrade either my processor and hard drive (leaning towards downgrading hard drive). do i need a cooler as platypus posted?

my only need for a cd drive is to install windows. i will try to use my old HDD and cd drive, just hope it's compatible because it's from a prebuilt dell.

Splurge on the processor if all you care about is TF2! The graphics card demands from this game are small compared to the CPU demands. You don't need an i7 just to play tf2; an i5 k series is really great. If you want to stream you can consider an i7 maybe. You can save money on the graphics card, the motherboard, hard drives, and so on. An SSD will help with map loading times but not with in-game FPS to any significant extent. You can ditch that to save money too. An aftermarket cooler for the CPU helps a lot if you want to overclock and is cheap (~$20). Just get the coolermaster hyper 212 or whatever it's called now.

ranga, if you give me a number for what you would like to spend, I can make a list of what I think would be the best.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($212.25 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI H87-G43 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($97.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.97 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $622.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-13 16:28 EST-0500)

I had someone help me out with this, i kept it cheap so I could include the vg248qe

i7 seems to be a bit overkill. I run a i5-4670K with a AMD HD 7870 2GB and i dont drop under 300.

I would get a cooler regardless of if you want to OC. The cooler that it comes with, at least in my experience, is not very good at keeping temps low enough. You don't need to spend 40 dollars but a 20-30 dollar one should be good enough. Make sure the ratings are good too.

Also, building a PC is not hard at all. Your first build might take 3-4 hours or more depending on how much research you've done. YouTube has tons of guides if you're unsure, and the motherboard manual will come in handy when plugging stuff in. Some things I learned from my first build:

- don't forget your standoffs
- put your CPU in first, the cooler, then RAM, then GPU, the n the whole mobo in the case
- don't forget your paste! Make an X on the CPU with it, don't smooth it with paper and never touch the top with your fingers
- have a flashlight handy, washcloth to dry your hands, and a table to put your stuff on

Good luck!

You should be getting a 'K' version if going w/ an intel CPU. i5-4670k is best bang for the buck for TF2.

Don't you have components from your current system that are still usable? What hard drives do you have currently?

Personally I can't imagine ever doing a new system build w/o a SSD...it just seems wrong. A SSD is probably the single biggest performance upgrade you can do for typical computer usage. I highly recommend you try to work in at least a 128gb SSD drive into a new build to put your OS and a few games...can't you carry over an old regular hard drive from your previous system for larger storage? In any case I'd spend the money to put an SSD in from the get go, you don't want to have to deal with trying to put your OS on it later.

the fx-8320 is $60 cheaper than the 4670 and will perform nearly identically. i'd say that money is better used for a better gpu.

edit: the corsair CX series is notorious for failing. just stick with a seasonic.

keep your screws organized and fuck remember your standoffs, made this mistake when I first built my pc and it took me forever to find the right screws.

Just go slow and you should be fine, it's better to triplecheck everything then to short circuit your machine.

Really, you put motherboard last? I have never liked the idea of that. I always like to CPU and cooler and PSU then test POST. It helps to narrrow down DOA items.

I normally put everything together outside the pc to test if it works then disassemble the main parts and then remount it inside my case.