Opinions on high end build

Am I Evil?

Going to pull the trigger on this build some time next week if hardwareversand ever get the 290 oc windforce card in stock :rolleyes:
Decided to go back to a mid tower design rather than a smaller form factor build
Just wanted some general views on the build and any possible ways to improve it :pac:

Item|Price
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€285,64
ASRock Z87 Extreme4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€114,25
16GB-Kit G.Skill Ares PC3-12800U CL9|€129,31
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€144,48
Seagate Barracuda 7200 2000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€73,41
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Black Pearl|€83,10
be quiet! Dark Rock 2|€52,84
Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC Windforce 3, Battlefield 4 Edition, 4GB DDR5, PCI-Express|€390,59

Total|€1.276,70

Obviously no PSU yet, I was going to buy one off amazon or another UK site but think I'll now stick one in there too and use my old cable.(undecided on what to get but it will be 650-700w)

The total also includes an anti static wrist band (my first build)
I've also used that german discount price to get everything down further
Fingers crossed they get the 290 non ref cards back in stock as Its the best bang for the buck I feel

So any thoughts?

Gumbi

Stick the components through Geizdhls.de for some savings. Use the links you get to Hardwareversand from that site to use them. * Ah ive just readthat youce done this. Remember the links are temporary so only do it as you're about to order.

OK. Great choice of graphics card. I would grab a Z87x-D3H, it's simply a better motherboard. The Asrock boards have been known to apply too much voltage VRIN. The D3H is solid out.

Do you really need a 4770k? A 4670k would be just as good for gaming. The cooler is a good choose, very queit etc. but overkill I think if you decide to go for an i5. A Macho Hr02 is under 40 euro via Geizdhls and performs almost as good. Not as sexy though :P.

Why 16GB of RAM? For a gaming build, 8GB is plenty.

What about a monitor?

Why get a PSU from Amazon? It'll almost certainly cost you more. I'd recommend a good 650 watt unit. Over volted Hawaii cards draw a lot of power. Throw some Arctic MX4 in there too, only 4 euro on Hardwareversand and will get you nicer temps with your CPU and graphics cooler.

Am I Evil?

Thanks for the reply :pac:

I went with the 4770K because I'll be using the computer for Revit,AutoCAD and solidworks too so decided it would be worth the extra 80ish euro to get a bit of a performance boost. So that's the reason I'm also going for the 16gb ram.

I've been jumping around on mother board choices for days now, The gigabyte you mention is one of the 3 I'm considering. I thought I'd settled on the Asrock today after reading all the reviews haha

As for a monitor.. I currently have the Dell ST2210 from my now dead Dell computer. It's a very nice full HD monitor with 2ms response time so I don't see any reason to update just yet. Im trying to keep the budget of the build within 1400eur as I've eyes on a gaming keyboard and mouse :P

For the PSU, I pretty much didnt want to hassle of having to get a new power supply cable as I'll surely be sent one with a european style plug?

But I'll add it in before I'm ordering and I'll use the cable from my old computer. Going to go for a modular one, just want to make sure its as quiet as possible. I feel fairly lost when it comes to trying to find a good psu though

Corsair? be Quiet? .. I'd originally planned for a seasonic but they seem to be fairly expensive

Am I Evil?

I've done a bit of thinking today and checked a few prices out and I think I may actually drop the CPU down to a i5 4670K and spend the money saved on a Noctua cooler for a future overclock along with some extra fans to keep everything cool.

I've also decided on a CS650w Corsair PSU
http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=141138&agid=1629

And I'm going to opt for the Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H motherboard instead
http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=79806&agid=2241

Only issue I'm having is Hardwareversand don't seem to have any idea when they'll have the 290 windforce in stock. A couple places have them back in stock now over in the UK (at insane prices)but hopefully thats a good sign

yawhat!

Why spend extra on the motherboard? Also that cooler is a bit expensive. 212 evo is perfectly fine and the next step up is water.

Am I Evil?

Been reading some mixed views on the Asrock so decided to go for a relatively middle of the road priced motherboard that would be fairly reliable and stable for overclocking. Saying that I wouldn't have been able to tell you a bad motherboard from a good one a few days back :P

The cooler in the initial build? I plan on overclocking so thought I'd best get a quality cooler but I'll definitely do a bit of research on the one you suggest. I've copied the majority of this build from youtube and just swapped in the parts I wanted/could afford

Son Of A Vidic

Am I Evil? wrote: »

I plan on overclocking so thought I'd best get a quality cooler but I'll definitely do a bit of research on the one you suggest.

Since Haswell runs hot with OC, if I was you I'd stick to the best cooler you can afford. The 212 Evo is a good budget cooler, but it doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to OC on Haswell.

Gumbi

I suggest the D3H, the UD3H is overkill, definitely is the cheapest mobo with the "high end perks". Definitely want more than a 212 EVO for Haswell.

Am I Evil?

Yeah I'm just going to stick with the Rock Pro 2

I've edited my build slightly again, changed the ram to the 16gb Ballistix Crucial sport series which is the very low profile model.

And I've changed the power supply again to the XFX Pro Series Modular 650w after reading about coil wine issues with mid to low end corsair models :P

Starting to worry me though that they won't be getting the 290 oc Windforce in stock for some time. I can't wait around too long so if they don't get it back in stock it's looking like I may have to pay the extra €60 for the 780 windforce ghz edition off them or pay for the 290 from overclockers :rolleyes: :mad:

marco_polo

The Xfx is good but strictly speaking you can potentially get coil whine from any PSU.

The GS650m is manufactured by Great Wall who are a pretty new OEM for corsair most of their CX series are manufactured by CWT so even if there was a coil whine issues with those that PSU is a completey different design. (I don't know a great deal about the GS650m that said)

You'd need more than 650w if you ever planned on a second gpu, but if you aren't then you are definately overspending on the motherboard.

Am I Evil?

I may cut it back to the asrock extreme4 or the D3H in that case as I've no plans for a dual GPU set up

In the reviews and benchmarks i've seen the extreme4 seems to have the slight advantage and it's also cheaper again so I may just go back to it. Seems that the gigabyte mighthave the better quality of parts tho... This custom pc stuff is a bit of a head wrecker

Interesting on the PSU too, I didn't know that. XFX are manufactured by seasonic so I may stick with it just for peace of mind. It seems to be fairly quiet too which is what I'm aiming for with the Fractal case

marco_polo

Am I Evil? wrote: »

I may cut it back to the asrock extreme4 or the D3H in that case as I've no plans for a dual GPU set up

In the reviews and benchmarks i've seen the extreme4 seems to have the slight advantage and it's also cheaper again so I may just go back to it. Seems that the gigabyte mighthave the better quality of parts tho... This custom pc stuff is a bit of a head wrecker

Interesting on the PSU too, I didn't know that. XFX are manufactured by seasonic so I may stick with it just for peace of mind. It seems to be fairly quiet too which is what I'm aiming for with the Fractal case

I was thinking more like Gigabyte Z87-HD3 or ASRock Z87 Pro4 , even with the Extreme 4 you are still paying for extra PCIe lanes that you won't need unless you were adding a second card.

The second PCIe slot can operate in X8 mode with two cards on the Extreme4 and UD3H, but only in X4 mode on the Pro4 or HD3, but since you aren't planing on using it that shouldn't be a problem. This feature would also be what accounts for the bulk of the price difference between the range of boards, not so much the build quality or components used.

Am I Evil?

Interesting stuff Marco, thanks

I guess I'll look into that, definitely have to consider it. It would only be about €20 cheaper than the Extreme4 so I may just go for that.. as with me and technology.. I'll probably find something else I want tomorrow :pac:

edit - seems the HD3 has gotten some great reviews too. Need to have a proper think on this one!

nesf

I have the older full tower version of that case. If you want to overclock ambitiously go for a different one. It's a really nice case, very quiet but in PC cases you don't get silence and great cooling potential with air cooling, there's a trade-off. If you want a silent PC, throw in some Noctua fans (usually overpriced but they are nice and quiet), sacrifice some overclocking headroom (basically on the GPU rather than CPU) and enjoy a nice quiet build.

If you want big numbers go for a somewhat louder case with better airflow through it, e.g. some of the Corsair models spring to mind but the others may have better ideas.

Am I Evil?

Going to go over everything this weekend, and figure out my final build for 100%
hardwareversand are claiming to have the 290 oc windforce back in stock monday so If they do I'll be ordering it early next week.

But as they already claimed to have it in on the 15th, I won't hold my breath

I really don't want to be moving from the fractal case. Its a case I've had my eyes on now for over a year so I'd be happy to sacrifice a bit of the overclocking or even install a corsair water cooler in a year or so when I find the need for an overclock.

I may go for the Noctua D14 but I'd a look at it before and the price put me off and I probably will go for ane xtra fan for the front of the case. I plan to have 2 intakes at the front, with the exhaust at the back and rock 2 cooling the cpu just infront. I'll be keeping the sound dampers at the top of the case installed.

nesf

On the side of the case there's a sound dampening panel over a fan vent (120mm I think but I'm not 100% sure). I had to remove this and install a fan to get temps to where I wanted them. You may need to do this or you may not, you won't know until you set the system up (average room temp will play a role). The system is noticeably louder with the side panel removed and a fan put in place but still quieter than most boxes.

Virtual

Thats more or less the same rig I ordered few days ago from HardwareVersand.
I had a R9 290 Windforce on my order as well, but then it got delayed and when I called they said it might be weeks, so I cancelled it and told them to send the rest of the order.
Now I saw that they are back in stock on Monday, so I will order it again from them or some other place I can find available on Monday as the rest of the rig will be here Tuesday.
I think the Fractal R4 is a great case.

Am I Evil?

Thanks for the info Nesf

yeah, i doubt they will have it in Monday but the fact some UK retailers seem to have it in stock now is a good sign. I'm going to give it another week. If by Monday week they still don't have the 290 windforce I'm probably going to have the pay the extra €50ish and get it from overclockers or go with the Tri-x card from there.

The 290 is really the only card I want. The only other option is the 780ghz edition from hardweversand but its an extra €50-60 for a slightly less powerful card, but I suppose you have the pros of it being nvidia with the good driver support.

Gumbi

Am I Evil? wrote: »

Thanks for the info Nesf

yeah, i doubt they will have it in Monday but the fact some UK retailers seem to have it in stock now is a good sign. I'm going to give it another week. If by Monday week they still don't have the 290 windforce I'm probably going to have the pay the extra €50ish and get it from overclockers or go with the Tri-x card from there.

The 290 is really the only card I want. The only other option is the 780ghz edition from hardweversand but its an extra €50-60 for a slightly less powerful card, but I suppose you have the pros of it being nvidia with the good driver support.

Driver support is a non issue with AMD these days (or at least it's only as much an issue as it is with nVidia). You do however have perks like Shadowplay/Lightboost with nVidia.

It remains to be seen how good Mantle and True Audio will be on the AMD side.

Am I Evil?

Mantle has really drawn me onto the 290 tbh, that and the price obviously

I'm a massive BF player on PS3/4 so will definitely be getting it for the PC too. So the possibilities of an extra boost in performance for BF and other future frostbite games is very tempting.

Originally I was tempted by shadow play until I found that it only records your last 20mins of gameplay. it sort of lost its appeal with me then

Am I Evil?

Just placed my order there, A massive thanks to everyone for the opinions and help. Hopefully It will all be safetly arriving at my door next week and I manage to get it together correctly.

:pac: