Build Review

korso · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:01

Pretty much finalised my build now. Sadly OC don't stock the Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 case, so it's not listed below. The four AF140's are fan cases, I wanted something cool, quite and relatively cheapish. The pair of AF120's are for the Prolimatech MK-26. The other set of SP120 are for the Prolimatech Megahalems.
I am however stuck on whether to get either the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB or the MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB. Price isn't really an issue has its only a small £20 difference, but taking both performance and RMA issues into consideration would I be better off going the Gigabyte route? Majority of my build has been swung in favour of having a good RMA behind my back. I also did consider AMD massively, but looking at the performance differences, card age and then comparing to price, it swayed me to NVIDIA.

And yes, the theme is red and black

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £339.95
1 x MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99
Total : £671.34 (includes shipping : £9.50).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £191.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £179.99
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX 760W '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020045-UK) £149.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £148.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Pro Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMY8GX3M2B2133C9R) £79.99
1 x Prolimatech Black Series MK-26 Multi-VGA Cooler £56.99
1 x Prolimatech Black Megahalems CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £49.98
1 x Corsair AF120 Performance Series Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack £25.99
1 x Corsair Fan, SP120 PWM Low Noise High Pressure Fan 4 pin, Dual Pack (CO-9050012-WW) £25.99
4 x Corsair AF140 Quiet Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050009-WW) £14.99 (£59.96)
Total : £982.45 (includes shipping : £10.50).

RJC · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:07

Having used a Gigabyte WF 670 GPU and having UK RMA service which hearing from various people is excellent, I would go the Gigabyte.

setter · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:09

Another vote for gigabyte, excellent coolers on the wf cards, very quiet at load. And as RJC has mentioned, gigabyte have an excellent uk based rma service should the need ever arise.

korso · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:19

The 2/3 day turn around is excellent service, this is looking good for Gigabyte!

setter · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:26

Regarding the Prolimatech MK26 vga cooler, you wont need this with either card tbh. I also have an msi twin frozr cooled card in another rig, (gtx 650ti boost 2gb). It's also a very quiet and cool running card. Dropping the cooler and fans from your list will save a few quid.

The gigabyte does have a blue pcb that wont look right with your chosen colour scheme, but you could fit a backplate to hide this.

korso · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:30

setter said:
Regarding the Prolimatech MK26 vga cooler, you wont need this with either card tbh. I also have an msi twin frozr cooled card in another rig, (gtx 650ti boost 2gb). It's also a very quiet and cool running card. Dropping the cooler and fans from your list will save a few quid.

The gigabyte does have a blue pcb that wont look right with your chosen colour scheme, but you could fit a backplate to hide this.

Cheers mate. With regards to the cooler I might well do this, does seem a bit overkill.
I was under the impression the PCB was black for Nvidia cards, and blue for the AMD?

teppic · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:32

Are you looking to have two 770s? Otherwise the PSU is much more than you need.

I'd also get the Gigabyte OC board myself (in fact I have ordered one).

honosuseri · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:35

korso said:
Cheers mate. With regards to the cooler I might well do this, does seem a bit overkill.
I was understand the impression the PCB was black for Nvidia cards, and blue for the AMD?

Sounds advice to ditch the GPU cooler, the GB 770 is a black PCB. I think he is confused with the 670. I'm so glad GB have moved to black, I hated the blue PCB, especially on the mobos as it made them look cheap to me.

Nice build, it's styled well but it's costing you for it. I've already given you suggestions so I won't bother trying to tweak the spec around. Best of luck with the build fella

setter · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:35

Colour of the pcb is entirely dependent on the card vendor, eg gigabyte, evga etc. The blue board on the gigabyte cards isnt to everyones taste, but it suits me great as i have a thing for black and blue in my builds.

setter · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:38

honosuseri said:
Sounds advice to ditch the GPU cooler, the GB 770 is a black PCB. I think he is confused with the 670. I'm so glad GB have moved to black, I hated the blue PCB, especially on the mobos as it made them look cheap to me.

Nice build, it's styled well but it's costing you for it. I've already given you suggestions so I won't bother trying to tweak the spec around. Best of luck with the build fella

Ahh, thanks for the correction on that mate. It is indeed black on the 770 pcb, and rather nice looking it is too.

korso · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:44

teppic said:
Are you looking to have two 770s? Otherwise the PSU is much more than you need.

I'd also get the Gigabyte OC board myself (in fact I have ordered one).

The PSU is for future proofing really. I was going to get a Seasonic X-Series 650w '80 Plus Gold, but for the same money I can get the Corsair AX760 which is also manufactured by Seasonic and comes with a 7 year warranty which is immense.

I was considering the OC but the colour scheme would probably make me want to chunder all over the side window if I had to look at it for any prolonged period, but its a good board.

korso · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:47

honosuseri said:
Sounds advice to ditch the GPU cooler, the GB 770 is a black PCB. I think he is confused with the 670. I'm so glad GB have moved to black, I hated the blue PCB, especially on the mobos as it made them look cheap to me.

Nice build, it's styled well but it's costing you for it. I've already given you suggestions so I won't bother trying to tweak the spec around. Best of luck with the build fella

Aye mate, cheers for the previous spec, I took it all into consideration and went back and did a lot more research. The cost isn't that bad once I've sold my projector and current PC, takes it down to around £700/800 mark.
To be honest, I just wouldn't be happy if I was 100% sure about the build if that makes sense.