76 replies to this topic

[Oderint dum Metuant]

xWiredx, on 15 May 2015 - 05:10 AM, said:

Here are a few problems with recent advice here:

In the latest build from Letto, there is a Rosewill 1000W PSU. 1) Rosewill makes crappy PSUs 2) OP doesn't need more than 800W to go GTX 980 SLI even on an X99 system where the CPU is 140W TDP instead of 95W 3) If we're bumping up the PSU that much to accommodate a cooler and it isn't a full custom loop that already incorporates all of the components, then the cooler needs to go (which negates the need for this wattage anyway)

Again, since OP wants to build a beast system and this is going to be his foundation, only top-end ASUS board will do. Any Sabertooth or Maximum Z97 board to be slightly more precise.

OP definitely doesn't need anything beyond 8GB of RAM for gaming. We're already adding in 16GB. There's no need for going with a PRO version of Windows that can support more because 16GB is already way more than enough. The only requirement here is 64-bit instead of 32-bit which, in this day and age, is a given anyway.

Enermax does -not- make a better AIO than Corsair. The main players for OP will be a Corsair H100i/H105/H110, Cooler Master Nepton 280L, NZXT Kraken X60, or Silverstone Tundra TD02. The thing with the H105 (and the reason I chose it for my system) is that despite its "regular" performance near the rest of these at typical overclocked thermal loads, for some reason it seems to handle slightly higher thermal loads a bit better. Bottom line is any of the above I just listed will be in the same league and ALL of them are better than the best Enermax has released so far.

You've lost a step or two.

Rosewill doesn't make crappy PSU's they just don't make great ones, they are middle of the road (it's not like they are going to eat your neighbours dog every time you turn it on)

Secondly Letto isn't using that PSU you accommodate the CPU cooler simply for the wattage and cost with it's price reduction, even using a vastly cheaper EVGA model for $79.99 the price of the overall build goes up (not by any great deal).
Im not sure of your knowledge of the swifttech line, but its fully expandable into a full loop.....unlike the corsair or NZXT models you favour.
To use your own logic if the OP is building a beast......go with the best right? and the swiftech 220X and 240X are both better than than the H100I

Quote

Again, since OP wants to build a beast system and this is going to be his foundation, only top-end ASUS board will do. Any Sabertooth or Maximum Z97 board to be slightly more precise.

And again this isn't true, it's ok to have brand loyalty but don't pass it off to others at the drop of a hat as the only option.
Lets take the Mk1 Sabertooth as the example and where that stands.





No difference really here in gaming, where boards that are cheaper pull the same results.

Now taking guru3D's overall conclusion of the Mark 1

Quote

[color=#333333]ASUS has a great offering at hand with their Z97 Sabertooth Mark 1, but I'll say it out loud... is it too expensive? The Z97-A offers nearly the same except for the thermal armor, yet costs 125 EUR where this Sabertooth costs 200 EUR. Features are good though, you get all SATA 6 Gb/s ports, 7.1 channel HD audio as delivered by the Realtek 1150 codec. The motherboard is multi-GPU/2-way SLI and Crossfire ready. And sure add to that the sporty features the shielding the added airflow options, the software suite and so on. The Z97 Sabertooth has the TUF third (or is it fourth) generation thermal armor. The TUF Thermal heatsink makes use of air cooling through a fan that pushed cool air to the internal electrical components, and that is a nice plus. The ASUS series as always are easy overclock with and we had no problems running with 2,133mhz XMP profile on the Corsair memory. BIOS wise there are multiple voltage and power delivery options to handle any tweaking concern with care. Fiddling around with the multiplier and voltages alone is enough to reach 4.8 GHz on an affordable LCS cooling kit cooling. So yes, overall the ASUS TUF Sabertooth Z97 is definitely recommended. But for 75 EUR less you can find a great alternative that tweaks as good as this TUF one, the ASUS Z97-A[/color]

So is the board good? yes it is. but there's a board that does exactly the same minus some gimicky TUF armor for less.

Quote

OP definitely doesn't need anything beyond 8GB of RAM for gaming. We're already adding in 16GB. There's no need for going with a PRO version of Windows that can support more because 16GB is already way more than enough. The only requirement here is 64-bit instead of 32-bit which, in this day and age, is a given anyway.

Totally agree at this point, only exception would be Star Citizen, which is hitting peoples 8GB system RAM limit at high details, but that;s the only one im aware of.

Quote

Enermax does -not- make a better AIO than Corsair. The main players for OP will be a Corsair H100i/H105/H110, Cooler Master Nepton 280L, NZXT Kraken X60, or Silverstone Tundra TD02. The thing with the H105 (and the reason I chose it for my system) is that despite its "regular" performance near the rest of these at typical overclocked thermal loads, for some reason it seems to handle slightly higher thermal loads a bit better. Bottom line is any of the above I just listed will be in the same league and ALL of them are better than the best Enermax has released so far.

Not a fan of Enermax either, but Corsair AIO's are average at best. better options are on the market these days.

Making some compromise between the entire conversation i ended up here (and under budget)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($316.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H240-X 90.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($198.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($135.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($53.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($68.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($315.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($86.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1466.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-15 11:26 EDT-0400

Edited by DV McKenna, 15 May 2015 - 07:26 AM.

[xWiredx]

2 things:

Basing a motherboard decision based off a margin of error test that has nothing to do directly with the main concerns one should have when buying a motherboard is the worst. Don't ever do that. Base your motherboard decision off the quality of the components, placement of the components, cooling implements for integrated components that require it, availability of extra features, and ease of use of extra features. Saying they're all equal because they get the same fps in a game when the motherboard has almost nothing to do with that performance would be incorrect.

The reason to go with a Maximus board is simple: better features. It has a better power delivery components, more stable power delivery, other ROG-specific features for overclocking and tweaking not found on non-ROG boards, and a better audio subsystem (which will also have more full-featured drivers than the regular one). Since it's within the budget, I think OP should go that route.

The Swiftech cooler is nice for sure, it definitely performs when only cooling a CPU. It's also open loop, which means you can get more water cooling components and add other things in. That seems like an awesome OMFG type of feature to those who don't really worry about the actual math behind all of this cooling business. You see, that radiator can only handle so much. In fact, that so much is about one GTX 970. So if OP sticks with this setup and does not replace the GTX 970 or add a second one, cool, he's fine. If he does, then the Swiftech is a lost cause and he will have to spend more to find a way to integrate a second radiator into all of this, and doing water cooling in a hodge podge way is not something anybody should ever do. Do it once, do it right. Now if that isn't reason enough to go with a single AIO that is much cheaper and performs 99% as well, here's another: the cooling capacity of the 900-series Nvidia cards is already awesome, combining the card's cooling with a regular CPU-only AIO's capacity is far greater than the Swiftech's capacity. The only reason I could recommend the Swiftech for OP is if he wanted to cool the CPU and motherboard components with it and leave his near-future SLI setup to a separate loop (more wasted money) or to air. In summary on this - if the OP wants to cool more than the CPU with liquid, he should build a custom loop (or have somebody he trusts build it if he doesn't feel up to the task).

Also, I don't know where you pulled those cooling benchmarks from, but I only trust places like Anandtech and HardOCP when it comes to reviewing hardware. They're usually more unbiased and with a much more strict testing methodology, so when you're looking for good data they usually have it.

And yes, Rosewill makes crappy PSUs. In a world where $5 more (or sometimes even $5 less) can get you an excellent-performing PSU OEMed by Seasonic or SuperFlower that will receive excellent marks for build quality and performance, what would normally be considered "middle of the road" is... well... unacceptable.

[Bill Lumbar]

xWiredx, on 15 May 2015 - 08:13 AM, said:

2 things:

Basing a motherboard decision based off a margin of error test that has nothing to do directly with the main concerns one should have when buying a motherboard is the worst. Don't ever do that. Base your motherboard decision off the quality of the components, placement of the components, cooling implements for integrated components that require it, availability of extra features, and ease of use of extra features. Saying they're all equal because they get the same fps in a game when the motherboard has almost nothing to do with that performance would be incorrect.

The reason to go with a Maximus board is simple: better features. It has a better power delivery components, more stable power delivery, other ROG-specific features for overclocking and tweaking not found on non-ROG boards, and a better audio subsystem (which will also have more full-featured drivers than the regular one). Since it's within the budget, I think OP should go that route.

The Swiftech cooler is nice for sure, it definitely performs when only cooling a CPU. It's also open loop, which means you can get more water cooling components and add other things in. That seems like an awesome OMFG type of feature to those who don't really worry about the actual math behind all of this cooling business. You see, that radiator can only handle so much. In fact, that so much is about one GTX 970. So if OP sticks with this setup and does not replace the GTX 970 or add a second one, cool, he's fine. If he does, then the Swiftech is a lost cause and he will have to spend more to find a way to integrate a second radiator into all of this, and doing water cooling in a hodge podge way is not something anybody should ever do. Do it once, do it right. Now if that isn't reason enough to go with a single AIO that is much cheaper and performs 99% as well, here's another: the cooling capacity of the 900-series Nvidia cards is already awesome, combining the card's cooling with a regular CPU-only AIO's capacity is far greater than the Swiftech's capacity. The only reason I could recommend the Swiftech for OP is if he wanted to cool the CPU and motherboard components with it and leave his near-future SLI setup to a separate loop (more wasted money) or to air. In summary on this - if the OP wants to cool more than the CPU with liquid, he should build a custom loop (or have somebody he trusts build it if he doesn't feel up to the task).

Also, I don't know where you pulled those cooling benchmarks from, but I only trust places like Anandtech and HardOCP when it comes to reviewing hardware. They're usually more unbiased and with a much more strict testing methodology, so when you're looking for good data they usually have it.

And yes, Rosewill makes crappy PSUs. In a world where $5 more (or sometimes even $5 less) can get you an excellent-performing PSU OEMed by Seasonic or SuperFlower that will receive excellent marks for build quality and performance, what would normally be considered "middle of the road" is... well... unacceptable.

Wired.... Yes it is very true that some of Rosewills PSU's are very crappy. Last I knew they sub out to several companies that make the PSU's for them and slap the Rosewill name on them. However, I still have 2 Rosewill RX series up and running, the RX-950 and the RX-750 that have the 90mm fans on both front and back. Johny Guru did a write up on these PSU's and after testing them they passed with flying colors. 9-9.5 out of a 10. When they opened these models up, they found many of the parts used to build them was the same that high dollar Quality units use, such as sea sonic, Power cooling caps and parts were found I believe. Both my units are going on 5 years of full time service now, and never had any issues with them.

I am now running a Rosewill 750 Fortress, and once again have had no issues. Heavy usage and heavy OC, and you know what my rig is running. If I was to buy a Rosewill PSU, I would do some research before making the purchase, but from what I have seen first hand, the models I have listed are not "middle of the Road". They have performed like champs and still are running, putting out stable clean power.

[xWiredx]

Bill Lumbar, on 15 May 2015 - 08:22 AM, said:

Wired.... Yes it is very true that some of Rosewills PSU's are very crappy. Last I knew they sub out to several companies that make the PSU's for them and slap the Rosewill name on them. However, I still have 2 Rosewill RX series up and running, the RX-950 and the RX-750 that have the 90mm fans on both front and back. Johny Guru did a write up on these PSU's and after testing them they passed with flying colors. 9-9.5 out of a 10. When they opened these models up, they found many of the parts used to build them was the same that high dollar Quality units use, such as sea sonic, Power cooling caps and parts were found I believe. Both my units are going on 5 years of full time service now, and never had any issues with them.

I am now running a Rosewill 750 Fortress, and once again have had no issues. Heavy usage and heavy OC, and you know what my rig is running. If I was to buy a Rosewill PSU, I would do some research before making the purchase, but from what I have seen first hand, the models I have listed are not "middle of the Road". They have performed like champs and still are running, putting out stable clean power.

Yeah, always depends on who the OEM was. There are plenty of bad reviews of Rosewill units to go along with the few good ones. I mentioned researching where the unit was OEMed from in a previous post in this thread. -ALWAYS- research a prospective PSU before purchasing (especially ones that seem oddly cheap compared to "similar" units).

[Bill Lumbar]

I didn't read through the entire thread, but yes, spot on...always research the OEM, and Johny Guru last I knew does really good reviews on PSU's.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

xWiredx, on 15 May 2015 - 08:13 AM, said:

2 things:

Basing a motherboard decision based off a margin of error test that has nothing to do directly with the main concerns one should have when buying a motherboard is the worst. Don't ever do that. Base your motherboard decision off the quality of the components, placement of the components, cooling implements for integrated components that require it, availability of extra features, and ease of use of extra features. Saying they're all equal because they get the same fps in a game when the motherboard has almost nothing to do with that performance would be incorrect.

The reason to go with a Maximus board is simple: better features. It has a better power delivery components, more stable power delivery, other ROG-specific features for overclocking and tweaking not found on non-ROG boards, and a better audio subsystem (which will also have more full-featured drivers than the regular one). Since it's within the budget, I think OP should go that route.

The Swiftech cooler is nice for sure, it definitely performs when only cooling a CPU. It's also open loop, which means you can get more water cooling components and add other things in. That seems like an awesome OMFG type of feature to those who don't really worry about the actual math behind all of this cooling business. You see, that radiator can only handle so much. In fact, that so much is about one GTX 970. So if OP sticks with this setup and does not replace the GTX 970 or add a second one, cool, he's fine. If he does, then the Swiftech is a lost cause and he will have to spend more to find a way to integrate a second radiator into all of this, and doing water cooling in a hodge podge way is not something anybody should ever do. Do it once, do it right. Now if that isn't reason enough to go with a single AIO that is much cheaper and performs 99% as well, here's another: the cooling capacity of the 900-series Nvidia cards is already awesome, combining the card's cooling with a regular CPU-only AIO's capacity is far greater than the Swiftech's capacity. The only reason I could recommend the Swiftech for OP is if he wanted to cool the CPU and motherboard components with it and leave his near-future SLI setup to a separate loop (more wasted money) or to air. In summary on this - if the OP wants to cool more than the CPU with liquid, he should build a custom loop (or have somebody he trusts build it if he doesn't feel up to the task).

Also, I don't know where you pulled those cooling benchmarks from, but I only trust places like Anandtech and HardOCP when it comes to reviewing hardware. They're usually more unbiased and with a much more strict testing methodology, so when you're looking for good data they usually have it.

And yes, Rosewill makes crappy PSUs. In a world where $5 more (or sometimes even $5 less) can get you an excellent-performing PSU OEMed by Seasonic or SuperFlower that will receive excellent marks for build quality and performance, what would normally be considered "middle of the road" is... well... unacceptable.

The Sabertooth doesn't even come with an M2 port for PCIE SSD the cheaper A version does. the Sabertooth is over priced and relies on the Sabertooth brand and the TUF armor to sucker people into buying it. It simply isn't worth its cost period.
The reason to go with a maximus board for you, is because you like Asus and for no other documentable factor when other boards will supply the same features for less.

There is no find a way to intergrate a second radiator the 240 will do CPU and single GPU fine, if he goes SLI, theres absolutely nothing to stop him changing the 240 for a 360 or bigger depending on the case, thats the entire point of the modular system.
Just the same as you can add another pump..or extra res into the system, it's a cooling solution that expands with you, rather than needs replacing.
The 240X has a larger radiator- more surface area to dissipate the heat, that is obvious there are plenty of good review sites out there, and Anandtech is questionable at best. HardOCP i will give you.

[Roaxis Stalomainis]

DV McKenna, on 15 May 2015 - 07:22 AM, said:

Not a fan of Enermax either, but Corsair AIO's are average at best. better options are on the market these days.

Well, funny thing is that I just got done servicing my desktop only to find out that the Water Pump in my Corsair is already failing and it's less than a year old. I am actually considering going back to an air cooling setup if I can fit the heat sink I would like to use (This would actually prove to be cheaper and safer in the long run as well). I will also admit that I didn't have much of a chance to look at their actual performance ratings for water coolers, but I know that there is an air cooler that can work just as Efficiently. My main problem with my build now is that I realized I couldn't relocate my radiator to the top of my case rather than the bottom after servicing my system and doing a pre-upgrade evaluation. That's one of the downsides to buying a $50 Mid-Size Tower though. I'll have to look into what water coolers might have a chance of fitting in my case when I print off a few schematics and "Mock" them up at work dimension wise for physical reference... Scrap metal really does go a long way!

Edited by Roaxis Stalomainis, 15 May 2015 - 08:55 AM.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Roaxis Stalomainis, on 15 May 2015 - 08:48 AM, said:

Well, funny thing is that I just got done servicing my desktop only to find out that the Water Pump in my Corsair is already failing and it's less than a year old. I am actually considering going back to an air cooling setup if I can fit the heat sink I would like to use (This would actually prove to be cheaper and safer in the long run as well).

For a Corsair unit, that doesn't surprise me.

[Bill Lumbar]

Roaxis Stalomainis, on 15 May 2015 - 08:48 AM, said:

Well, funny thing is that I just got done servicing my desktop only to find out that the Water Pump in my Corsair is already failing and it's less than a year old. I am actually considering going back to an air cooling setup if I can fit the heat sink I would like to use (This would actually prove to be cheaper and safer in the long run as well).

Man that sucks! I am running a swifttech 965 pump and have been for 5 years cranked up to 4 setting, 24/7.... shes still pumping :-)

Edited by Bill Lumbar, 15 May 2015 - 08:53 AM.

[Lord Letto]

http://www.hardocp.c.../1#.VVYesflVhBc
http://www.hardocp.c.../7#.VVYlA_lVhBc

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H240-X 90.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($198.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($68.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card ($343.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($106.48 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($86.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair SP140 49.5 CFM 140mm Fans ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1493.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-15 13:00 EDT-0400


AFAIK, All XFX PSUs are OEMed by Seasonic

Edited by Lord Letto, 15 May 2015 - 09:04 AM.

[Roaxis Stalomainis]

DV McKenna, on 15 May 2015 - 08:51 AM, said:

For a Corsair unit, that doesn't surprise me.

Actually, it doesn't surprise me that much, considering I only paid $40 for the Corsair AIO (marked down for sale + well timed $20 off cupon) I thought I was getting a good deal, now it just feels like wasted time while I'm researching making removable mesh guards for my fans. Also, I'm looking into shutting it down for a good few hours and getting all of that nasty dust out of the system before I proceed to redo the cable management (Very tight clusters that could be affecting my airflow).

Btw, anyone who didn't believe that I could Cram a GTX 980 in a mid size tower...

Edited by Roaxis Stalomainis, 15 May 2015 - 09:15 AM.

[Bill Lumbar]

Roaxis Stalomainis, on 15 May 2015 - 09:04 AM, said:

Actually, it doesn't surprise me that much, considering I only paid $40 for the Corsair AIO (marked down for sale + well timed $20 off cupon) I thought I was getting a good deal, now it just feels like wasted time while I'm researching making removable mesh guards for my fans. Also, I'm looking into shutting it down for a good few hours and getting all of that nasty dust out of the system before I proceed to redo the cable management (Very tight clusters that could be affecting my airflow).

Btw, anyone who didn't believe that I could Cram a GTX 980 in a mid size tower...

Ha ha.. well done!

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Roaxis Stalomainis, on 15 May 2015 - 09:04 AM, said:

Actually, it doesn't surprise me that much, considering I only paid $40 for the Corsair AIO (marked down for sale + well timed $20 off cupon) I thought I was getting a good deal, now it just feels like wasted time while I'm researching making removable mesh guards for my fans. Also, I'm looking into shutting it down for a good few hours and getting all of that nasty dust out of the system before I proceed to redo the cable management (Very tight clusters that could be affecting my airflow).

Btw, anyone who didn't believe that I could Cram a GTX 980 in a mid size tower...

I have my R9 290 in a mid tower, which is lightly longer it just about missed the dual fans attached to the drive caddy's.

[Roaxis Stalomainis]

Also, just a side note, I can't reverse the direction of my fans vertically, if I do... Oh god the noise... >.<

but considering how much room it looks like I have in the case, I could switch over to a high pressure air system with ease and probably get better efficiency than what I am now. I don't remember who said my PSU was junk, but someone did at some point because they said they used bad capactiros and rails in it... It's working just fine for me, I just have to make sure that the games I'm playing actually support the GTX 980.

Also, if I remember right, if you're running the R9 290 series wouldn't you be using an AMD Trinity APU (4 core CPU/8 Core GPU) and enable the ability to sync between all three GPU's? Just curious.

Edited by Roaxis Stalomainis, 15 May 2015 - 09:29 AM.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Roaxis Stalomainis, on 15 May 2015 - 09:25 AM, said:

Also, just a side note, I can't reverse the direction of my fans vertically, if I do... Oh god the noise... >.<

Stock corsair fans are noisy.

Here's a shot or two of mine.

Raijintek Triton (similar to the Swiftech units which aren't available here in the UK)
In the bottom you can see the R9 290 near the fan bay.

http://imgur.com/yuKOI5B

And here you can see how close that 290 comes.

http://imgur.com/rkNlVxn

[Roaxis Stalomainis]

DV McKenna, on 15 May 2015 - 09:35 AM, said:

Stock corsair fans are noisy.

Here's a shot or two of mine.

Raijintek Triton (similar to the Swiftech units which aren't available here in the UK)
In the bottom you can see the R9 290 near the fan bay.

http://imgur.com/yuKOI5B

And here you can see how close that 290 comes.

http://imgur.com/rkNlVxn

Dang, well, it looks like your GPU supports water cooling while mine doesn't. That gives you an edge over my system. I was looking for a 240 that would be thin enough to fit properly whereas my Corsair H80i does not (I know I should follow the natural heat flow and vent it out of the top). Heck, sometimes just to learn something you need to argue with others like this and then it will hit you like a ton of bricks... What brand was that water cooling system you're using? I only need one for the CPU to be honest, but would like to monitor my fluid levels when I service my machine.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Roaxis Stalomainis, on 15 May 2015 - 09:45 AM, said:

Dang, well, it looks like your GPU supports water cooling while mine doesn't. That gives you an edge over my system. I was looking for a 240 that would be thin enough to fit properly whereas my Corsair H80i does not (I know I should follow the natural heat flow and vent it out of the top). Heck, sometimes just to learn something you need to argue with others like this and then it will hit you like a ton of bricks... What brand was that water cooling system you're using? I only need one for the CPU to be honest, but would like to monitor my fluid levels when I service my machine.

http://www.kitguru.n...-cooler-review/

Great bit of kit undergone some revisions since early feedback one thing i really like is their support they answer very quickly and are very helpful i've even had facebook chats with some of their reps, there are some obvious upgrades to do in the future with it to improve its already good performance.
Replace the Aluminium block for copper for one.

Edited by DV McKenna, 15 May 2015 - 09:50 AM.

[xWiredx]

If you want air cooling, there are some VERY convincing Noctua units you should look into. They won't cost you more than an AIO, they'll perform just as well, and the only issue is when they interfere with RAM slots. I'd run another Noctua CPU cooler if liquid cooling ever bit me in the arse hard enough, but I've had zero issues with my old custom loop (now retired because I have less time for maintenance) or my Corsair H105.

On fans, I would rather go Noctua than most other brands but it also depends on specific use case and if noise is a factor or not. Corsair makes decent fans, but they can be a bit loud. If you want colored LEDs on a decent fan, you'd probably want Cooler Master. They're also a bit noisy, but they're not terrible and they seem to last awhile (I think I've had 4 on my side panel now for... oh god, like 6 years).

[Musashi IX]

Alright folks once again the builds changed a bit

xWiredx, on 15 May 2015 - 08:13 AM, said:

Do it once, do it right.

Exactly. Valid points made on the sabertooth, no m.2, some funky dust trap shield and ya limited to max 1866 ram. Went for the Maximus hero.

Stayed with 16gb ddr3-1866 ram

Stuck with the Seasonic PSU, Read some pretty lengthy reviews on them and damn, they seem pretty spectacular. For work I'm a concert LD, build l.e.d. walls and stages so i know how electronics love clean steady consistent power, and these little Seasonics are pretty impressive. (Heres one my my stages if your bored, Sorry for the ****** music do yourself a favor and mute it. but it shows off our LED wall and movers ->)

Okay back on topic

I should mention I plan on gaming at 1440p
For the graphics card I've been decided on an EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card . I can buy the whole system at the end of this month, and in July/august I'll be grabbing another 970 to SLI it. So that said im just going to add the other card to the build since it will be added a month or two after its put together. That leaves me at keeping twin 970's for quite a while till i can justify buying Titans, 390x or something else ridiculous when it comes to that.

That puts me at $680 on video cards, making me want to just go back to grabbing a 980 and another in a few months to sli it. :/

For my cooling options I've decided to go liquid for sure and want something that gives me the option to add more tubes or loops (still a bit naive on these) later down the road, And based on what i finally decide on gpu options (970sli now, or 980 sli in a few more months) I added what looks to be an custom loop system. It seems to me you just buy lengths on tube and fittings and elbows and run em to other cold plates/resevoirs/pumps when you need it. Is that more or less the gist of it?

And of course immediate planned upgrades would be more hhd, and ssd's. probably by this fall.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($316.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK TRITON RED 100.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($5.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($197.00 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5&quot; 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($343.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($343.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 760T White ATX Full Tower Case ($144.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($155.07 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($86.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($12.95 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($12.95 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($12.95 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($12.95 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1930.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-15 16:05 EDT-0400


Thanks again for all the info and suggestions guys! I'll be sure to add some pictures of the build when it's finally together!

Edited by Musashi IX, 15 May 2015 - 12:08 PM.

[xWiredx]

Sir, I think you have a winner.

For a beginner on building a water cooling loop, I recommend this guide: http://www.anandtech...hat-to-expect/5

If you want to liquid cool the cards and mobo components, too, and not just the CPU, I'd go hand-pick your parts in a similar fashion to that guide rather than grabbing an open-loop AIO. Open-loop AIOs are just... I don't like them because the engineering aspect baffles me. Why build something expandable if when you expand it beyond a very simple stage it becomes much less effective? Swiftech makes a full custom loop kit that you can get in dual-rad or triple-rad flavors if you still want to get a kit, else you can do a little more Googling (I'm sure you're not tired of Googling water cooling stuff yet, right?) and piece together something REALLY nice.

Edited by xWiredx, 15 May 2015 - 12:44 PM.