£1500 Haswell configurator + SLI

[greyf0x]

Hi all, long time OCUK customer, first timer poster. I'm currently rocking a (non OCed) i7 920 rig I built around 3 years ago. I'm looking to do a pretty beefy upgrade to a haswell system. After some thought, I don't mind paying a little extra to have the pros here at OCUK put it together, get a stable OC, and nice warranty, so I'm looking to build something through the configurator.

Budget is "around" £1500, though I don't mind going a little over if I have to. I will be looking to SLI my existing GPU (Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB), and maybe include my old 120GB SSD for extra game storage.

Here's my current configurator settings:

OcUK Pro Gamer X65i Intel Z87 Full-Tower - Gaming PC Configurator
- NZXT Phantom Enthusiast USB3.0 Full Tower Case - Black
- Stage 3 Intel: Overclock of CPU - 4.4GHz Overclock - K Edition Processors Only
- Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail with FREE Grid 2 PC Game
- BeQuiet Dark Rock 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2)
- Asus Z87-PLUS Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
- TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD316G2133HC11ADC01)
- KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with a free copy of 3DMark advanced edition
- Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW)
- Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD
- Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM)
- Corsair Professional Series HX+ 850W '80+ Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020032-UK)
- Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403)
- System Build Fan - Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro Fan PLPS - 120mm PWM [EXNO-001]

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My main question for you fine chaps is regarding an SLI setup with the 670s.

Will the "KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB" and my existing card play nicely together?

I believe my current Gigabyte card has a factory OC, and a custom cooler that exhausts more of it's heat into the case, rather than out of the rear. I imagine I'll lose a little clockspeed on it (as it throttles down to the slightly slower KFA2), though I'm sure this will be made up for by the overall SLI performance. When it comes to the heat from the Gigabyte card, would mounting it in the second slot be a good idea, so that it's not blowing all it's heat into the other card?

If you guys have any insight, or other advice on ways to improve the build, I'd be all ears. I'm hoping to get something ordered over the weekend

 

[ScottiB]

Should be fine and you seem to already know about clock speed equalisation so I won't bother reiterating..

The airflow in the case will balance out any temperature differential because there will be a clear slot space between the cards

 

[setter]

Indeed, id put the wf into the lower slot. Slot spacing on that board is pretty good. Im running x2 wf 670's on an ivy bridge setup with a similairly spaced board. Temps are surprisingly quite good, (71c and 59c respectively). One of my cards has a faster stock boost than the other, 1189mhz vs 1150 mhz. Both will run at an oc of +80 on the core and +500 memory, this is the max that the lower card is capable off, the other will easily do +130 core and +760 on memory. With afterburner though, clocks can be set independently. Though tbh even at stock they run anything i play with ease.

 

[greyf0x]

Ordered on Sunday, and now we wait!

 

[greyf0x]

Top service as always from OCUK, placed my order Sunday, and had it arrive on Wednesday! Extra SSD and GTX670 went in like a charm, and things have gone smoothly ever since.

The KFA GTX670 runs a bit hot (reaching around 80c in our current UK heat wave) at full load, but I guess that's to be expected in SLI and warm ambient temps. I've tried placing the KFA in both primary and secondary slots for SLI, and seems like having it as the secondary card is actually working out a little better. The custom cooler on the windforce manages to keep it's temps lower, even in the primary slot. I suspect the temps are just a limitation of the reference cooler on the KFA card though, and certainly nothing I'm seriously worried about. Idle temps are around 30-40 on the windforce and 40-50c on the KFA.

All in all, couldn't be happier with the build, and the service from OCUK. Very happy customer here