New Gaming Rig - £1600+ Advice Needed

YOUR BASKET
1 x EPIC POWER BUNDLE: Intel 4790K, Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7, Kingston 16GB 2400MHz Kit, Superflower 1000W Platinum PSU & FREE STUFF!! **£50 SAVING** £611.93
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCU II 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
1 x AOC G2460FQ 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £179.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 760T Windowed Full Tower Gaming Case - Black (CC-9011044-WW) £144.95
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD20EFRX - OEM HDD £73.98
1 x CM Storm Sniper Elite Gamer Peripheral Bundle £64.99
1 x TP-Link AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit (TL-PA411KIT) £29.99
Total : £1,689.92 (includes shipping : £20.10).



Its alittle over and OFC id recommend getting a good cooler of your choice, The psu will easily handle your sli at a later date :) (the 144hz gaming monitor would tide you over till you get around to your 4k upgrade :) )
 
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Man, looking at the Silverstone Raven RV01 it looked really good then I found out its nearly 5 years old. Surely buying this case to last me a long time is a foolish idea? The silverstone RV03 looks good also but I'm not sure if I like the turned motherboard designs of them.. The phantom or 760T is looking more appealing..
 
scotsdragon said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x EPIC POWER BUNDLE: Intel 4790K, Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7, Kingston 16GB 2400MHz Kit, Superflower 1000W Platinum PSU & FREE STUFF!! **£50 SAVING** £611.93
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCU II 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
1 x AOC G2460FQ 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £179.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 760T Windowed Full Tower Gaming Case - Black (CC-9011044-WW) £144.95
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD20EFRX - OEM HDD £73.98
1 x CM Storm Sniper Elite Gamer Peripheral Bundle £64.99
1 x TP-Link AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit (TL-PA411KIT) £29.99
Total : £1,689.92 (includes shipping : £20.10).



Its alittle over and OFC id recommend getting a good cooler of your choice, The psu will easily handle your sli at a later date :) (the 144hz gaming monitor would tide you over till you get around to your 4k upgrade :) )
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Ahh I'm still not sure weather to get the gigabyte or the asus 780Ti :) . For my motherboard I've decided on the one below, and for RAM I think that G Skills Trident X would be best. I've already got 2 good monitors and astro A40 headset.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £139.99

 
Alright, the 760t does look pretty amazing.. I just originally got put off by the flimsiness of the side panels etc compared to the brushed steel of the cosmos.. But looking past that it surpasses it in every way, and I think my eyes were too big for my needs considering the cosmos is like a tank and I don't really have space for it. Sorry for doubting! ;)
 
vguzzi.dev said:
Ooo, I really like the look of this one!

YOUR BASKET
1 x Silverstone Raven 1 Full Tower USB3.0 Windowed Case - Black (SST-RV01B-W USB3.0) £149.99



But I don't understand what it has that the three I previously linked don't? All of their reviews are good, why would they not support a water loop?
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Water loop wise, the Cosmos hasn't got any fan space for a WC rad (I think it has 2 x 120mm fans together (240mm rad) but other than that you won't get much watercooling stuff in there. For a full loop (CPU + GPU(s)) you're looking atleast 2 x 240mm rads.

The Raven/FT02's are in the same boat as those case, unless you get special 180mm rads) but they are much much cheaper.

vguzzi.dev said:
Alright, the 760t does look pretty amazing.. I just originally got put off by the flimsiness of the side panels etc compared to the brushed steel of the cosmos.. But looking past that it surpasses it in every way, and I think my eyes were too big for my needs considering the cosmos is like a tank and I don't really have space for it. Sorry for doubting! ;)
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I think that's a good decision and something we can agree on.

Don't apologise to us, we understand that we do just go "this is better" with very little proof (though we know the reasons why). Its good you are doing you're research and not JUST taking our word as gospel.. :)

So, that's the case done. What's the next thing we need to sort out?
 
Doomedspeed said:
Water loop wise, the Cosmos hasn't got any fan space for a WC rad (I think it has 2 x 120mm fans together (240mm rad) but other than that you won't get much watercooling stuff in there. For a full loop (CPU + GPU(s)) you're looking atleast 2 x 240mm rads.

The Raven/FT02's are in the same boat as those case, unless you get special 180mm rads) but they are much much cheaper.



I think that's a good decision and something we can agree on.

Don't apologise to us, we understand that we do just go "this is better" with very little proof (though we know the reasons why). Its good you are doing you're research and not JUST taking our word as gospel.. :)

So, that's the case done. What's the next thing we need to sort out?
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I think the only thing left which I wasn't too sure on was the motherboard! But I've just spent all day today and yesterday looking at reviews and finding different motherboards. I looked heavily into the OC force editions of gigabyte but I really don't see the need for me to have one as I wouldn't use most of it's features so I looked more into the gaming series of the z97 motherboards.

MSI seemed to stand out a lot to me, as I'm now getting the window case I'm quite excited about making the build look good, and the motherboard below is definetly the best looking motherboard I have ever seen. I will be getting the trident X RAM sticks (red), the black design with red fans of the 960t and red LED lights (maybe one white strip so the lights don't overthrow the motherboards red lights). I think it will all add up to one mean looking case.

Now there is the cheaper Gaming 7 (nearly half the price) for only a tiny bit of lost features like a wifi adapter. Even though I am going to buy the TP links it would still be nice to have wifi integrated into my motherboard just in case I ever need or want it (or maybe if the TP's don't work). I also really like the black shielded design which goes over the ports, this is only available for the Gaming 9. Also with the bundle below I get some headphones which are worth over £30! So I can sell them and bring the price bump from the Gaming 7 to the Gaming 9 down significantly.. (I don't need them as I have astro a40's).. But what do you think of this motherboard? Are there many flaws with it? I will post my entire build once I've finalised everything so you guys can tell me what you think! It's frustrating because I still have to wait 1 month and a half before I can buy it!! As I said I wouldn't buy it until I find out if I've passed by jobs 3 month probation (which ends in 1 and a half months) then I'll have sufficient funds too :) .

Thanks for your help again! It's greatly appreciated.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard **FREE SteelSeries Headset** £209.99
Total : £219.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Heres a comparison between all of the gaming series motherboards by MSI. As I stated theres hardly any difference to justify the price difference, but the Gaming 9 is sooo nice! And if I can sell the headphones it wouldn't be too bad.

http://game.msi.com/product/motherboard/z97-gaming/models

Edit: Ooo I'm also thinking of getting a CPU water cooler right off the bat as I've read haswells can get really heated. Which one would be best? I'm planning on putting it at the front of the 960t case instead of at the top so I can leave the nice cover over the top without worrying about air restriction. I'd like it to have a nice red glow to match my case.
 
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Some in depth thinking there.

Its weird how you said its not worth you get the 'Force' (£170) motherboard as you wouldn't use the features on it but give the Gaming 9 as your option. I assume its just for the Wifi and Shield design?

I don't think Wifi is really a massive selling point. as its basically just a USB wifi adaptor and the driver pre-installed (i know its not USB).

The black and red diesng is quite common over the WHOLE Z97 motherboard range but (like you say) the Gaming 9 is the only one to have the Sabertooth like shield too.

Personally i'd go for the Sniper of UD3H-BK and get a USB adaptor (along with the powerline kit) as back-up.

MSI are a good brand though so all of their boards are certainly worth considering.

As for the watercooler, id 100% put it at the top. Much neater and performs better too.
 
Doomedspeed said:
Some in depth thinking there.

Its weird how you said its not worth you get the 'Force' (£170) motherboard as you wouldn't use the features on it but give the Gaming 9 as your option. I assume its just for the Wifi and Shield design?

I don't think Wifi is really a massive selling point. as its basically just a USB wifi adaptor and the driver pre-installed (i know its not USB).

The black and red diesng is quite common over the WHOLE Z97 motherboard range but (like you say) the Gaming 9 is the only one to have the Sabertooth like shield too.

Personally i'd go for the Sniper of UD3H-BK and get a USB adaptor (along with the powerline kit) as back-up.

MSI are a good brand though so all of their boards are certainly worth considering.

As for the watercooler, id 100% put it at the top. Much neater and performs better too.
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Would I have to remove the 760t's top cover if I put the water cooling at the top of the case? I saw a video on linus tech tips where he put the watercooler at the front so he could leave the top cover on.
 
vguzzi.dev said:
Would I have to remove the 760t's top cover if I put the water cooling at the top of the case? I saw a video on linus tech tips where he put the watercooler at the front so he could leave the top cover on.
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If you have the H100i exhausting out of the front, then where are you going to put your intake fans ? If you leave the lid on then you only have a rear fan mount and a bottom fan mount. You need some airflow across the gpu/s and through the case otherwise things are going to get toasty I would imagine.
 
lee32uk said:
If you have the H100i exhausting out of the front, then where are you going to put your intake fans ? If you leave the lid on then you only have a rear fan mount and a bottom fan mount. You need some airflow across the gpu/s and through the case otherwise things are going to get toasty I would imagine.
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I got this assumption by watching this video;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq-zqQiY-OA

If you skip to 15:15 he mounts the h100i
 
Hey, I've just started putting my finalized list together and I came to the graphics cards.. I looked at the two suggested but they don't come with the GTX 780Ti green writing on the side which I think looks really good.. I quite like the case design of the origional GTX 780Ti's too.. Whats the best one I can buy with the original GTX green glowing writing on the side? I'd quite like to have the original cover too, but if not that, at least the writing!
 
Shivy011 said:
That's the cheapest reference card with the green light OcUK stock :( This has higher clocks

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-233-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1402
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Hmm I thought I was paying more for the higher cards because they have better cooling solutions to be overclocked? Is the only difference with the evga one the overclock? Would i not be better off buying the inno3d one, over clocking it myself and saving £40?

Will the reference cards not be able to overclock as high due to not having enough stock cooling? It sucks how the more expensive ones don't display the writing D:

Sorry for all of the questions!
 
Below is my finalized list. Any advice appreciated. Will everything fit correctly into the PSU and everything else? Have I listed something which won't be compatible with the other?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780Ti GHz Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N78TGHZ-3GD) £569.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor & Corsair H100i CPU Cooler Bundle £340
1 x Samsung 512GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND (MZ-7KE512BW) £282.98
1 x MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard **FREE SteelSeries Headset** £202.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 760T Windowed Full Tower Gaming Case - Black (CC-9011044-WW) £144.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £125.99
1 x Silverstone LED Light Strips - White £10.25
1 x Silverstone LED Light Strips - Red £10.25
1 x G.Skill TridentX series 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3 1600MHz Memory £121.65
Total : £1,825.54 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Thanks everyone for helping me put this together.. It's strange how the new Samsung 850 pro is going to be cheaper than the 840 pro :| I wonder why.. Also I'm only gonna get the gaming 9 if the headset deal is still on and I'm going to sell the headset.. If the deal has finished when I come to buying then I'm gonna get the Gaming 5 or 7 instead. Also, I picked this PSU as the reviews were good and its future proofing, I hope it's good!
 
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gary996 said:
That gaming 9 sure is purdy
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Yes it is! :)

Does anyone know if I can mount the H100i at the top of the 760t case and still leave the top cover on it? Or will it restrict airflow?

Also, do I need a push pull configuration (buy another 2 fans) or will the 2 with the h100i be enough? I was gonna buy the sp120's. Andd, with the lighting strips do I need to buy a 'lighting node'? Or will they work without one?

Thanks!
 
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vguzzi.dev said:
Yes it is! :)

Does anyone know if I can mount the H100i at the top of the 760t case and still leave the top cover on it? Or will it restrict airflow?

Also, do I need a push pull configuration (buy another 2 fans) or will the 2 with the h100i be enough? I was gonna buy the sp120's. Andd, with the lighting strips do I need to buy a 'lighting node'? Or will they work without one?

Thanks!
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1) trial and improvement. Try it with the top cover on and try it with the cover off and see if the temp drop is worth it, you could always do a little mod to keep the top cover there while leaving a gap for airflow

2) no you don't need push pull because it will only drop temps by 2 or 3 degrees which IMO isn't worth the extra noise.

3) I've got no idea
 
Resa69 said:
1) trial and improvement. Try it with the top cover on and try it with the cover off and see if the temp drop is worth it, you could always do a little mod to keep the top cover there while leaving a gap for airflow

2) no you don't need push pull because it will only drop temps by 2 or 3 degrees which IMO isn't worth the extra noise.

3) I've got no idea
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Thanks for the response, the mod is a good idea :D . Done some research into the lighting node and it seems that's only a product which corsair did but it seems to be discontinued. It came with two LED strips and allowed the user to change the colours or pulsate.. Does anyone know a nice set of LED lights which can be controlled to pulsate or change colour? Or if the silverstone ones can be adjusted to be dimmer etc?
 
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