Affordable 4k Build - Need advice on cooling

gradyhawks

gradyhawks

gradyhawks

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Hello!

Looking to do a new build for myself in a month or so and since 4k monitors are so reasonably priced it seems a shame not to go for them over 1440p. Now, I'm not made of money so after reading some benchmarks on what GPUs to get for 4k I think I've settled on the 290 over the 290x's and 780's mainly as they are decently priced cards that can still give me a good FPS count.

The problem that I am coming to is that of cooling, as 290's like to run hot and the last thing I want is them to throttle when playing games, I've also heard that they are rather loud which isn't what I'm after. I've also no experience with water cooling so aside from not knowing how to do it (happy to give it a go), I'm clueless as to how much a loop will cost that can do 2 GPUs and the CPU.

Here is the list, open for some C&C, but the theme of the build is red and black. I've added 3 of the same braided cables as I cba to find the correct ones for the build. I've already got SSD's so don't need that.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung U28D590 28" 4K 60Hz 1ms Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Black **OcUK Exclusive** £499.99
2 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99 (£639.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £233.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £143.99
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £94.99
1 x Seasonic M12II EVO Edition 850W '80 Plus Bronze' Fully Modular Power Supply £83.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £45.95 (£91.90)
3 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99 (£26.97)
Total : £1,815.79 (includes shipping : ).



** Just a note, I'm not the kind of person that wants 60 FPS on full graphics, hence why I am happy with the 290's. I also want the 4k monitor for some work with basic CAD stuff and photoshop where the extra screen real estate will be really handy **
 
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You don't need 3 x 24 pin extension cables. If you want a basic set of braided cables then you need:

1 x 24pin ATX
1 x 8 pin EPS
4 x 6+2 PCI-E or if you prefer 2 x 6pin PCI-E and 2 x 8 pin PCI-E
 
lee32uk said:
You don't need 3 x 24 pin extension cables. If you want a basic set of braided cables then you need:

1 x 24pin ATX
1 x 8 pin EPS
4 x 6+2 PCI-E or if you prefer 2 x 6pin PCI-E and 2 x 8 pin PCI-E
Click to expand...

"I've added 3 of the same braided cables as I cba to find the correct ones for the build." - Its just me being lazy.

Threepwood said:
Doubt there will be any head room for overclocking because of heat.

I have a gold 850W psu Powering two 290's perfectly fine and dandy.

Go for these 290's they run coolest out of them all, cooler than the MSI ones.
Click to expand...

I am a big fan of sapphire cards, only problem with it is the colour.. although there isn't much stopping me painting them :D.

I would love the opportunity to overclock, but its the heat that is the problem like you said. Anyone have any suggestions for coolers (for GPU and CPU)? Even water cooling loops with a rough cost.
 
Hardily see any yellow when they are in tbh, the sides are grey metalic and the back of the pcb is black. One set of fans hidden between the two cards and the other between the psu and the card.
 
MonsterMoshi said:
A watercooling loop would set you back at least an additional £450 to cool that lot so it doesn't really suit your 'affordable' theme
Click to expand...

Its only really "affordable" in the sense that I will be using the 290's, which is really the budget option when it comes to 4k compared to using 780ti's or titans.

Fallen god said:
Not sure what your using to cool the CPU but there are AIO closed loops for the GPUs, they also come in red to fit your build. Might be able to stick them in the front as it has space for 2x 140mm fans.

YOUR BASKET
2 x NZXT KRAKEN X40 AIO Water Cooling Unit - 140mm £78.98 (£157.96)
2 x NZXT KRAKEN G10 GPU Cooling Adapter - Red £29.99 (£59.98)
Total : £217.94 (includes shipping : ).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions, didn't know about these. For the CPU, I'm not sure but it will most likely be something from corsair as an all in one thing.
 
You're looking at something like this for a full watercooled 290 Xfire build.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung U28D590 28" 4K 60Hz 1ms Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Black **OcUK Exclusive** £499.99
2 x VTX3D Radeon R9 290 X-Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (VXR9 290 4GBD5-MDHX) £299.99 (£599.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £233.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £143.99
1 x OcUK Tech Lab - XSPC D5 Vario Pump & XSPC Acrylic Tank Reservoir Value Combo £99
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £94.99
1 x Seasonic M12II EVO Edition 850W '80 Plus Bronze' Fully Modular Power Supply £83.99
2 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X - Acetal £73.99 (£147.98)
1 x XSPC EX360 120mm Radiator - Black £47.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £45.95 (£91.90)
1 x XSPC EX240 120mm Radiator - Black £37.99
1 x EK-Supreme LTX - Acetal CSQ Intel CPU Waterblock £29.99
3 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22 (£66.00)
1 x EK-FC Bridge DUAL Parallel 3-Slot CSQ £14.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99
4 x BitFenix Alchemy 6+2-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved red/black £5.99 (£23.96)
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 16/11 - Red £5.99 (£11.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Red £5.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy Molex to 3pin x3 Fan adaptor 7V 20cm - Red £4.99 (£9.98)
2 x Mayhems Ultra Pure H20 Watercooling Fluid 1L £4.99 (£9.98)
10 x XSPC G1/4" to 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting (Black Chrome) £3.19 (£31.90)
Total : £2,295.54 (includes shipping : ).

 
Thanks doomedspeed, is quite pricey so would the build would need to be done in steps. So my next question is how easy is it to add thing in with water cooling? I'm thinking of maybe getting a loop set up for the CPU and having just a single 290 on air initially. Then next pay day sort out getting the next 290 and water adding both cards into the loop.

Would it be best to just keep it all on air until I can get all the parts for the water cooling? Or is it just a few hours work to then change the loop to add in the GPUs?

Thanks again!
 
Never done a WC set up before so might be speaking out of turn but it looks like building it in sets should be ok. You can get the 360rad and set up the GPU + CPU, and should handle it pretty well, then add in the 280rad and set up the 2 second GPU.

I think upgrading shouldn't be to bad, you will need a few hours to drain everything and rebuild it, I think some of it depends on how you plan, and if it will be easy to drop in the second rad and GPU.
 
gradyhawks said:
Thanks doomedspeed, is quite pricey so would the build would need to be done in steps. So my next question is how easy is it to add thing in with water cooling? I'm thinking of maybe getting a loop set up for the CPU and having just a single 290 on air initially. Then next pay day sort out getting the next 290 and water adding both cards into the loop.

Would it be best to just keep it all on air until I can get all the parts for the water cooling? Or is it just a few hours work to then change the loop to add in the GPUs?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I think you should leave the watercooling (on second thoughts)..

It is a little complex and as you won't be taking it to extremes it seems a little 'mad' for a bit of silence.

I have done a bit of research and specced some parts accordingly (most are the same as above) that are good for noise and performance.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung U28D590 28" 4K 60Hz 1ms Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Black **OcUK Exclusive** £499.99
2 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99 (£639.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £233.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £143.99
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £88
1 x Seasonic M12II EVO Edition 850W '80 Plus Bronze' Fully Modular Power Supply £83.99
2 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99 (£107.98)
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 6+2-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved red/black £5.99 (£11.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Red £5.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Molex to 3pin x3 Fan adaptor 7V 20cm - Red £4.99
Total : £1,979.90 (includes shipping : £27.55).



Thoughts?
 
Wait for Z97 and avoid MSI cards as they are having a bad time with leaking oil from batches across AMD+Nvidia products.
 
stulid said:
Wait for Z97 and avoid MSI cards as they are having a bad time with leaking oil from batches across AMD+Nvidia products.
Click to expand...

Z97 is just a haswell refresh, updated clocks and not much else, no reason to delay a build IMO.

Though it will lead on to broadwell, which may be a good thing.

I thought MSI had already halted sales and recalled those batches? So buying new wasn't an issue?
 
Doomedspeed said:
Z97 is just a haswell refresh, updated clocks and not much else, no reason to delay a build IMO.

Though it will lead on to broadwell, which may be a good thing.

I thought MSI had already halted sales and recalled those batches? So buying new wasn't an issue?
Click to expand...

But if prices of Z87 come down or Z97 is the same price then the OP may as well wait, its only 3 weeks away.

Performance and clocking is good on the new K series;)

MSI are still having issues.

Last two post are from last sunday - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18582154&page=8&highlight=msi+oil
 
stulid said:
But if prices of Z87 come down or Z97 is the same price then the OP may as well wait, its only 3 weeks away.

Performance and clocking is good on the new K series;)

MSI are still having issues.

Last two post are from last sunday - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18582154&page=8&highlight=msi+oil
Click to expand...

True on the CPU. :), Cheeky. :)

Again, thats just a psecific batch, buying new shouldn't be an issue.

I found this MSI reply (dated March)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25969091&postcount=29
 
stulid said:
Yet he hasnt been seen since;) - I think Neil79 summed it up - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=26182240&postcount=67
Click to expand...

I've seen posts on other forums though.

I know this is a new issue but i've always had a good 'relationship' with MSI products and their RMA service (only used it once). :)

As it mentions though, its only specific batches and only really occurs during over-use (running 100%)..

I don't think this should deter people..

But i wouldn't be surprised if it does.

Its good to know both sides of a story though. :)
 
Batches that people are still getting hold of and having issues with. Either AMD or Nvidia there is something wrong with their TwinFrozr fan bearings.

There is even a thread about how their Lighting 290X is failing due to some bug in the newer drivers.
 
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