My 'Icarus' Build

Macha0n

Macha0n

Macha0n

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Joined
1 Nov 2013
Posts
49
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 :D

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

Cheers.
 
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 :D 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.
 
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 :D Don't know why I've never done it before, really.

Thanks again!
 
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 :D

Cheers guys.
 
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.
 
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 :D

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.
 
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