Gaming PC Build... Thoughts?

Appletax

Appletax

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I plan on building a high-end gaming PC this fall. What do you think of the specs?
This will be my first personal build.

*Includes mobo/CPU/GPU that will be out in the near future.
Prices are based on current models

314.86.....Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell
80.77.......Noctua NH-C14
399.99......EVGA GeForce GTX770 FTW
221.99......Asus Sabertooth Z87 Motherboard
27.99.......Corsair Air Series 120mm Case Fans
239.63......Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
169.99......G.SKILL Trident X 16GB RAM
189.99......Corsair Pro HX 1050 PSU
421.99......In Win H Frame Tower
47.95........LG Blu-Ray ROM
Total: 2115.15


install1.jpg
 
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Personal opinion, i dislike that picture, case looks cool, but not my style in any way.

But on to the good stuff. I like it, not much can be said I guess. I'd look into Liquid Cooling (even if you are not going to OC the CPU). I would also consider using the SSD for the OS and OS only, and use a raptor or 2 for everything else. If that's the case you are using, it looks like it holds 3 drives, so throw in the SSD in one, set that as your OS drive. Set the two raptors in a RAID 1, install your games and what not to those, with 16GB of RAM, you will only need a small page file, very good. I personally use 32GB of RAM in my gaming rig, and no paging file.

How many GPU's are you going to use and will you be using SLI?

My only other personal note is the PSU. I'd go with a 1KW PSU. It allows for more exapansion and upgrades with less switching out of everything. Also, remember the 80 percent rule. Take what the PSU is rated for (850 in this case), and multiply that by 80%, and you'll get your actual long term output (680W). Yes you got a 850W, but in reality, you never want to install more than 680W of items to account for internal surges, and other devices powered by the computer. Also keep in mind that PSU's degrade over time, so that number (850W) degrades over time (along with 80%). For gaming rigs, I never go under a 1KW PSU, too much power typically runs through them, adn you'll find yourself replacing parts over time. And because the PSU is running far below that 80%, it degrades slower, and lasts longer. I still got one running and kicking along after 7 years, and half of that computer is still original (it's not my gaming rig)

All in all, with what is posted, I give a 3 out of 5, mainly because of that case...otherwise a 4/5.
 
If you're waiting til fall for haswell, you might as well wait for ddr4, although I can't find any solid release date, just late 2013.

Other than that, I agree with frederick about a water cooling system and a beefier P/S
 
compnet said:
If you're waiting til fall for haswell, you might as well wait for ddr4, although I can't find any solid release date, just late 2013.

Other than that, I agree with frederick about a water cooling system and a beefier P/S
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any CPU roadmap from either Intel or AMD which lists DDR4 support. And both really need faster RAM for their onboard GPUs.

Intel went to all the cost and hassle of an onchip RAM solution for GT3e, while AMD are meant to be contemplating adding GDDR5 support (they have already updated their memory controller because of the PS4). I doubt that either of them would do this if DDR4 is just around the corner in volume as neither of those solutions are ideal (Intel are charging a pretty penny for GT3e and since GDDR5 is soldered-only I imagine AMD will only do this for ultrabooks).

PSU: nothing wrong with overspecing since high-end PSUs do tend to have better components but that proposed rig is probably max 400W. I know both Haswell and 770 are unknown atm but Haswell is rumoured to add maybe 15W over IB, and 770 is meant to be GK104 with higher clocks so say maybe somewhere around a 7970 in power consumption.

The wiki for Haswell thinks that DDR4 might first ship with Haswell-EX (Xeon or S2011 type high end 'workstation').
 
I've been having that issue as well compnet. I can't find anything official for DDR4. But I'm more than pleased to put DDR3 in their systems, the cost is low, we can expect DDR3 to still be manufactured for a while after DDR4 comes out, and the cost is low. With the release of DDR3 will continue to be in supply for many years, so it can still be used for upgrades and replacements while people convert to 4.

KompuKare: Because he doesn't say it, or have it listed at all, I'm going with he might be going multiple GPU's (2 at a minimum). Also, I never cared for on board graphics for desktops that are not a workstation. For a gaming rig, always use a card. But I agree, the whole onboard GPU's need faster and better RAM just in general.
 
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compnet said:
If you're waiting til fall for haswell, you might as well wait for ddr4, although I can't find any solid release date, just late 2013.

Other than that, I agree with frederick about a water cooling system and a beefier P/S
Click to expand...

I just read that a 750 W PSU is for a quad core SLI system. I only plan to run 1 card initially,
but may add another card in the future.

"Because efficiency trails off rapidly below 20% load and most systems spend most of their time at idle,
it's best not to buy capacity well in excess of your needs. Naturally, this conflicts with the silence objective,
so it's a bit of a trade-off."


I'm fine with DDR3. I'll go DDR4 next time :)

I don't want to mess with liquid cooling. The fat Noctua heatsink and fan will keep it cool.
 
I'm going to drop the RAM down to 8GB. I don't see the need for 16GB.
I play around with VMs, but 8GB is plenty even for that, unless I wanted to run several at once.

EDIT: I can only get this RAM in 8GBx2 or 8GBx4 :-(
 
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I'm into keeping computers smaller lately. And quiet..must be quiet.

That InWin case is...unusual! Cool...yet unusual. I question how clean the insides will remain. And it probably lets more noise out than a more sealed case.

I'm an Antec fan for cases, Sonata series especially. Rubber grommets on the hard drive trays..keep things ultra quiet. Single large slow rpm case fan...moves air yet still keeps it quiet. No additional case fans except what's in the power supply.

Favorite power supply...Seasonic. You have a Corsair...Seasonic makes many of not most of the power supplies for Corsair. It's a quality power supply that leads to reliability...not just pure output.

GeForce or ATI...endless debate. I'll stay out of it..either is great.

Asus motherboards..my favorite.

WD Raptors would be my hard drives of choice...a pair of them. Span the virtual memory (pagefile.sys) across both of them as system managed. SSDs are still building a track record for reliability...and it's still questionable. WD Raptors are enterprise (5 year warranty) drives with a long proven track record of very high reliability.

Heat Sinks...I'm a fan of Skythe....large ultra quiet ones.

Crucial is my RAM of choice, but G-Skill is also good...I have G-Skill in my current gaming rig. Good stuff. To be honest...8 gigs is good for RAM for a gaming rig. Big law of dimishing returns to go to 12 or 16 gigs....for >90% of the games there.
 
Appletax said:
421.99......In Win H Frame Tower
Click to expand...

shock2-onion-head-emoticon.gif
 
For PSUs I always check out this PSU review database:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page447.htm
Corsair AX 850 is listed as a Seasonic but it's also listed as discontinued (strange).

Water cooling is only worth it if you know what you're doing AFAIK (never tried it). For instance those closed loop water coolers are no better than a good air cooler both in terms of noise and temperatures. Did hear one guy who build his own water cooler setup and had the radiators in the next room.

Which leads another though: watercooler with heat-exchange to heat a hot water cylinder. Okay 400-700W is not much but for renderfarms / bitcoin miners puling a few kW it might make sense.
 
I do not over clock. Ever. If it comes OC that's different. I just don't do it to my own systems. When I switched to LC, the temps dropped by a lot compared to air. I do a lot of prototype work, so I have a cad program, 32GB is what I need to run the system smoothly, and occasionally vm's. When my system idles it goes to sleep, rather than keeping it running, so it doesn't sit under 20% that long. SSDs are amazing. I use a samsung as my OS drive. Its 10GB a day for 10 years as marketed. It pulls around 3-7GB a day depending on what I'm doing. So it'll last a ling time. If you are worried, have a backup drive. I got a back up drive for all my systems.
 
Consider that AMDs steamroller chips are due out this year I think. I have a first gen bulldozer 8 core. Love it. Stock speed was 3.1 ghz and overclocked to 4.0 ghz thanks to unlocked multiplier. No stability or performance issues it just runs. I think I've actually got some good headroom left yet I just am waiting till I upgrade my power supply. Though I want to upgrade to a steamroller 8 core or better if they have one.

Keep in mind the 2nd gen Piledriver chips were quite a bump over bulldozers, and multithreaded were on par with some i7 chips from what I've heard. So keep that in mind when you are shopping.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Asus motherboards..my favorite.




Crucial is my RAM of choice
Click to expand...

^^Me too

Cases i only buy cooler master. Its my personal choice they are just so well made.

like a few others said i would wait for ddr4. If you are going to drop that amount of money do it right.
 
I swapped the PSU w/ Corsair Pro HX 1050

*Not interested in waiting around for DDR4 to come out.
I think I will be highly satisfied with DDR3.

I am coming from an AMD E350 dual core 1.6 GHz CPU in a netbook.
This system is going to be beast for me.
 
I would just use LED lit Fans. They still put off a good glow, and tie into the power with the fan. If you become dead set on Cold Cathode, they sell them in 4", 8", 12" and 15" (those are the sizes I've seen). They also have LED Strips that come in varying sizes as well. Check out frozencpu.com, they got good prices and a good selection for case lighting. Newegg has a lacking selection for this (personal opinion), and amazon is a hit or miss on new and used (broken).
 
I will say that cold cathodes don't tend to look as clean. Try led fans first. I've also seen sata cables with lights on them, basically they attach a flat flexible light to the cable and make the cable clear. Those aren't much and are something different also.
 
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