you'll find there's a big difference with building your own compared to buying a "*cough dell cough*"
the i5 4690k cpu is more than powerful enough to tide you over for a few years gaming, especially with a good gpu like the gtx970 or the lower specced R9-280x
another good thing when you build your own is you will learn how everything fits together and it will give you the confidence to make changes to it in future if the performance is no longer good enough without you thinking you have to buy a complete new pc like most people do.
everything you need to know will be explained in the motherboard manual so make sure you read it well before starting, watch a few video's on youtube etc and you'll find it really is quite easy.
yes phills choices would give you a machine you'd be very happy with, ok i might not choose exactly the same parts but in the end the important ones like cpu and gpu i'd use and the other parts wouldn't really alter the performance of his build compared to one i might build when it came to actually playing and enjoying the games.
my last personal build for myself was in 2008/09 and even today if i just upgraded the gpu to the gtx970 it would play any game out there just fine even tho it's 5+ years old, same thing would apply to the i5 (faster than the i7 920 cpu in my pc.) your planning on building, that should be good for a number of years yet with maybe a gpu upgrade a few years down the line.
i guess im just really nervous, this is my first big purchase and i dont want to be disappointed.
i honestly don't think you'll be disappointed with the final build.
Edited by terry1966, 13 January 2015 - 10:05 PM.