My 'Icarus' Build

Hi All,

As the thread title suggests, I may be overreaching somewhat!

I've been a hardcore gamer since my Dad bought me an IBM PS1 back in the day, but I've never attempted my own build (I've swapped GPUs, that's about it). Now I find myself recuperating until Christmas after my appendix blew up, and I need something to sink my teeth into- so how about this?

Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black

Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor

Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5 Intel Z87 Motherboard

Kingston HyperX Beast 32GB (4x8GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit

OcUK Tech Labs H2O Custom R9 290X 4096MB GDDR5 Watercooled Graphics Card x2

EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X Backplate - Black x2

Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW)

Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache

OcUK Value Blu-ray / DVDRW combi SATA - OEM

OCZ ZX Series 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply

_____

OcUK Tech Lab - XSPC D5 Vario Pump & XSPC Acrylic Tank Reservoir Value Combo

EK CoolStream Radiator XT 360 (120.3)

EK CoolStream Radiator XT 240 (120.2)

Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM - 3 Pin x5

EK 12mm (1/2") G1/4 High-Flow Barb Fitting x10

EK Water Blocks EK-HD Adapter 10/12mm - Black

Koolance Hose Clamp for OD 19mm (3/4in) x10

XSPC HighFlex Hose 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 19/12.7mm, 2m, Green/UV Green

EK Water Blocks HD Tube 10/12mm 3-Slot (2 pcs)

Mayhems Ultra Pure H20 Watercooling Fluid 1L

Mayhems Fine Silver Kill Coil

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)


The build will be for gaming and PS (I wasn't sure if the 32GB RAM was strictly necessary, but I deal with some pretty big files- also wasn't sure if Haswell 4770k or ivy 4930k was the way to go, but a big price difference for older kit).

So, my initial question would be- Am I an idiot? I think I can do it (slowly, with much advice!) but I may just be hopelessly naive. Also, the build may be useless for reasons beyond my understanding, this is just an example of the sort of thing I'm going for, based on a couple of hours research.

I await the raised eyebrows and sidelong glances- don't hold back

Oh, and Hi everyone- these forums seem very friendly and knowledgable- I've been looking around for a while

Cheers.

What resolution you playing at?

I have a bit of feedback on the component choice..

The motherboard is a bit OTT, it has some fabulous features and a PLX chip..Though i think.you wont ultilise any of those features.. A board which costs half as much will be great still for your uses.


The RAM you've selected is quad channel, Haswell works off dual channel..

I don't see the reason for the caviar black, from what i know, they don't seem much faster than any other drives but there louder..

Is blu-Ray needed? If so, i'd get a non-OEM one that comes with some playback software.

The power supply is not great quality, a Seasonic, Antec or (a select) corsair unit will be better.

You seem to have the watercooling components pretty down..

Any chance of changing your coulor scheme? Red and black, blue and black, Silver, blue and black???

Doomedspeed said:

I don't see the reason for the caviar black, from what i know, they don't seem much faster than any other drives but there louder..

Click to expand...

I can back the idea of speed up, as my Blue and Black are pretty much the same speed, but are both rather quiet.

You could be better off going for a 4930K build with going for a crossfire setup.

And no, you really don't need 32GB ram

Doomedspeed don't forget the memory controller determines how the memory runs, packs of 4 ram modules sold as quad will work fine.

By looks of things he is running dual cards!

RJC said:

Doomedspeed don't forget the memory controller determines how the memory runs, packs of 4 ram modules sold as quad will work fine.

By looks of things he is running dual cards!

Click to expand...

I can read, Honestly...

And yes, you are right on the memory controller, its the other way around that doesn't work, silly me..

Resolution-wise I'm going 1440p for now, but I'm planning on having this system for a good few years (my current rig has a gtx280, and that was brand new when I got it!).

So, perhaps save a little on the motherboard and the hdd, go for 16gb of fast memory and upgrade to the 4930k and a better psu?

As regards the colour, I only went green because of the motherboard- I was visualising over Cheerios without too much thought Now that I think about it, I quite fancy an understated all chrome/black build.

Could somebody explain how the memory works as regards dual/quad channel? I seem to have got that right more through luck than judgement.

Many thanks for the help, guys.

I think 32GB of RAM is justified, especially for Photoshop work..

I have this in mind for you (kept all your watercooling spec)

YOUR BASKET
2 x OcUK Radeon R9 290X 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £429.95 (£859.90)
1 x Intel 4930K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail (BX80633I74930K) £419.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 32GB (4x8GB) PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX18C10AT3K4/32X) £269.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UP4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £209.99
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX 860W '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020044-UK) £167.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £142.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 750D Full Tower Case - Black (CC-9011035-WW) £134.99
1 x OcUK Tech Lab - XSPC D5 Vario Pump & XSPC Acrylic Tank Reservoir Value Combo £99
2 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X - Acetal £89.99 (£179.98)
1 x Pioneer BDR-S08XLT 15x BluRay / 16x DVD±RW 50GB Drive - Black (Retail) £71.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £68.99
1 x EK CoolStream Radiator XT 360 (120.3) £48.98
1 x EK CoolStream Radiator XT 240 (120.2) £38.99
2 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X Backplate - Black £26.99 (£53.98)
5 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM - 3 Pin £16.98 (£84.90)
1 x Mayhems Pastel - Ice White Concentrate 250ml £11.99
1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £8.99
2 x Mayhems Ultra Pure H20 Watercooling Fluid 1L £4.99 (£9.98)
1 x XSPC HighFlex Hose 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 19/12.7mm, 2m, Clear £4.8
1 x Mayhems Fine Silver Kill Coil £4.5
1 x EK Water Blocks HD Tube 10/12mm 3-Slot (2 pcs) £4
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-HD Adapter 10/12mm - Black £2.99
12 x EK 12mm (1/2") G1/4 High-Flow Barb Fitting £2.96 (£35.52)
10 x Koolance Hose Clamp for OD 19mm (3/4in) £1.34 (£13.40)
Total : £2,975.52 (includes shipping : £22.20).



Is that the sort of budget you had in mind?

Thanks, that looks spot on A couple of questions:

Will 860w definitely be plenty to run everything? I know the 290Xs will be quite power-hungry, plus I'm not sure how much power the cooling loop draws.

Also, is there any particular reason you changed the case? I just like the design of the 540, and from what I've read it's quite easy to manage everything neatly. Footprint isn't really a concern.

Lastly, how fiddly is it to fit the GPU waterblocks? I only added the Techlabs ones because I read some stuff about VRAM cooling that flummoxed me a little.

Point taken about the Blu-ray, I hadn't considered software.

On a side note, I've got a feeling I might quite like buggering about with this kind of thing Don't know why I've never done it before, really.

Thanks again!

No worries,

Yeah 860W will be enough.. The loop doesn't draw much power atall..

I personally prefer the 750D to the 540, but if you prefer the 540 go for it, it'll all still work perfectly..

They are quite simple to fit not to mention you're saving £60 per vard doing it this way...

Vram cooling is done by little strips you apply before you attach the waterblock fully (if i recall correctly).

It seems daunting at first but you just need a little confidence and some time..

Okay, think I'm just going to bite the bullet and order everything tomorrow, before the fear gets a hold of me

Possibly a stupid question, but in terms of cables is everything going to reach happily to the PSU (seeing as it's an odd case) or will I need extensions/aftermarket stuff?

Now I guess I'll have a couple of weeks to think about what the hell I'm going to do when everything gets here

Cheers guys.

I would go for compression fittings for your first water cooled PC and not barbed ones especially in the cost of all your equipment it's a small cost to add

Okay, I'm about ready to go for it, just one small thing-

I read somewhere that you have to install that motherboard with an older gpu and flash the bios (specifically for a titan, but didn't know if it would affect me as well?)

Is this potentially an issue, or should I be okay?

Ta.

That sounds odd..

If you'd have to do that for anything it would be the CPU..

I'd phone.contact OCUK CS (customer service) to see whether the motherboard will have the correct BIOS (it may not need updating atall)..

Good point on the compression fittings, but barbs do look good.

Thanks, I'll give them a ring tomorrow. Found a few more comments like this, in the meantime.

Any alternative motherboard suggestions, just in case? Perhaps this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-588-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2174

Thanks.

Its not out of date (per se) its just not up to date..

The problem is the Ivy-E chips are used on Sandy-E boards. They have not released a dedicated chipset to support the CPU's. So it relies on the motherboards being able to boot without an update, or boards with the uypdate being shipped and sold instead of the non-updated boards..

Spending more money on a board is not going to ensure it'll work.

Though as the motherboard i specced is out of stock you need a new motherboard anyway, the one you've linked is a great board, another option in that price range is the P9 PRO, which would actually be my choice (especially as its on offer) or the Asrock Fatality (Im not going to spell it like a 12 year old).. I don't really rate asrock much but their Fatality boards are pretty good..

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus X79 DELUXE Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £274.99
1 x ASRock X79 Fatal1ty Professional Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £218.99
1 x Asus P9X79 PRO Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £209.95
Total : £715.93 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Ok, it'll definitely be one of the ASUS ones then- I'm not going to be looking at the finished article every day and thinking 'that's got something called a Fatal1ty in it'. As you say, 28 is too old to be buying such things

I understand about the boot issue, if it's necessary I gues I'll cross that (Ivy) bridge when I come to it.

Hmm, I just realised the 4930k is out of stock as well, suppose I'll have to sort it somehow. I guess I'll have to get myself in gear and order everything else while it's still there!

Cheers.

4930k with Asus' cheapest here - bought from OcUK a few weeks ago. No problems with the bios recognising it whatsoever. I read that the Asus boards can update their bios from a usb stick, without a processor connected, but haven't tried this.

Order placed- gripped by sudden terror