CPU: I went for an i5-4690k, but I was originally going to purchase a 4790k as this machine will be used for somewhat heavy rendering and image editing, however it was just out of reach budget wise. I'm also considering upgrading to DDR4 when it becomes more affordable, so purchasing an i5 will save me some cash when it comes to purchasing a new motherboard, CPU and memory later on down the line.
GPU: I purchased this card last April for just £210, which was a great price at the time. It was the best card I could afford for my budget. In order to maximize the amount of money I can put into other components I have decided to re-use the 290x as it still performs very well.
PSU: I purchased this alongside the 290x. I couldn't afford a fully modular power supply, so the extra cables really restricted airflow in my older case, however they shouldn't be a problem in the H440.
Memory: This memory was cheap, had good speeds and latency and fit the colour scheme. As far as I'm concerned memory is memory, and there's really no point in spending another £60 for some flashy LEDs on something like the Corsair Dominator Platinum modules.
Storage (Primary): I wanted an SSD with enough room for my OS and a few programs such as Photoshop and Sony Vegas. The 840 was relatively cheap for it's speeds and size. I would've gone with the 850 evo/pro however I couldn't find any extra cash from my budget.
Storage (Secondary): I wanted some reliable storage for things like movies (Totally legal, of course...), games, probrams and any other junk that gets built up on my PC. The Seagate Barricuda offered this at a very reasonable price.
Storage (tertiary): This is some old 2.5" laptop drive I found in a drawer. It still works fine, and it's fairly quick. I'll be using this drive as a target location for FRAPS and DXTory.
Motherboard: This motherboard had everything I needed, including a great white/black colour scheme for a good price. It's Z97, so has all the bells and whistles which should last me a good while even if I decide not to upgrade to a DDR4 ready system.
Case: I chose this case mainly on aesthetics and silence. Although some say the fans run very loud when using the included 10-port fan connector, I can always solve this issue in the future by buying an external fan controller, or find a way to ghetto mount a 3.5" controller on an internal bay. The case looks outstanding, and with a few coats of white gloss paint over the blue bezels it should match the colour scheme perfectly.
CPU Cooler: I wanted a CPU cooler that is future proof and can be used with a G10 if I ever decide to get a custom loop for my CPU, while still achieving very low temperatures. This AIO has great benchmarks, and should provide more than enough cooling capabilities to help me push the i5 to its limits.
