Proposed build check

TeflonJim

TeflonJim

TeflonJim

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Joined
20 Jul 2009
Posts
21
Good evening,

Would anyone mind checking over this to see if I've specified anything silly or missed something entirely critical please?

The goal is to build a system that's as quiet as I can afford to meet my gaming needs. Quiet will be a blessed relief after 3 years on an extremely noisy gaming laptop.

Building my own water cooling loop is out of the question for a good few years unfortunately.

I'm pretty fixed on the case and the idea of a AIO cooled graphics card, but everything else is experimental and in a good few case not yet released it seems. I was originally going to re-use my old case (Coolermaster ACTS 840), but it's too large to hide where it needs to hide.

Finally, if it's all good, if anyone happens to have any advice I should note before embarking on this particular build... :)

Thank you in advance!

Chris

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980 HYBRID 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (04G-P4-1989-KR) £479.99
1 x Samsung 1TB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-7KE1T0BW) £368.99
1 x Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM £319.99
1 x Asus Z170-Deluxe Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £224.99
1 x EK Water Blocks Predator 240 All In One Watercooling Solution £168.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16) £145.99
1 x Corsair HX750i 750W '80 Plus Platinum Digital Modular Power Supply (CP-9020072-UK) £126.95
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £114.95
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 3.5" 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £77.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Premium Modding LED Strip - Connect Blue 60cm £25.99
1 x Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 5g £12.95
3 x BitFenix SATA Cable 30cm - sleeved blue/black £8.99 (£26.97)
Total : £2,094.68 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

 
Hi,

Is your budget £2,100?

I don't believe you should be spending 980Ti-ish-money on a GTX 980, even though it is AIO. You can get an air cooled 980Ti for the time being and when you have a bit more money to spend, add an AIO water cooling kit to the 980Ti. EVGA do a Hybrid cooler that retails for around £90, which is easy enough to add to a reference PCB card. If you are strapped for cash, this is definitely the way I'd go. The performance difference between the 980Ti and the watercooled 980 you have picked is worth the £120 difference it ends up being.

Edit: If you wish to purchase an AIO 980Ti right off the bat, there's this option:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Inno3D GeForce GTX 980Ti Hybrid Black Edition 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (C98TP-1SDN-N5HNX) £629.99
Total : £629.99 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).



As for the rest of your build, it looks fine, but I would much rather go with X99 instead of Z170 if you are spending £320 on the processor and motherboard - For that amount of money you can pick up a 5820k and an Asus X99 Pro, which nets you 6 cores, and 12 threads - Great if you do any sort of productivity work, streaming, etc. The X99 Pro motherboard also comes with the little WiFi/BT card which I assume is why you picked that board over the other available options.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75820K) £311.99
1 x Asus X99-Pro Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £259.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16QC01) £94.99
Total : £666.97 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

 
Last edited:
Hi Joe, thank you.

The budget is roughly around £2000, but I want something that'll last (with the gotta-be-quiet caveat) so I can push the boundaries a little bit.

Chris

EDIT: heh push the boundaries or not buy silly lights :-D
 
I'd personally pick a different PSU - I'd expect a top tier OEM for that money, not CWT. I've not had good experiences with any of their power supplies, although I do appreciate that I may just have been unlucky. I'd choose something from either Superflower or EVGA.

You GPU choice isn't great value either - for not much more you could get a 980ti which represents much better value for money. I know you've said you're pretty much set on a liquid cooled GPU but why? Noise? Then a decent 3rd party air cooler will be just as quiet. So you can overclock? If you bought the 980ti you wouldn't need to. For the look? Then you have more money than sense in my opinion ;) :D

The 850pro SSD is also a waste of money - just get the standard 850. The only real difference is write cycles and the standard EVO has plenty of life in it for the standard user.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the blue LED strip will wash the whole interior out in a blue hue. If you wanted to just highlight what you have in the case then white would be better.

The SSHD hard drive is also not required at all - just get a WD red if all you're after is reliable storage. A SSHD drive stores the most commonly used programs in the faster section of the drive, something you won't need given you've spec'd a 1tb SSD.

Other than that, it all looks good to me.
 
Thanks guys, very much appreciated advice. I'm glad I asked :)

The rationale for the AIO on the graphics card was nothing more than noise control. I had no real intention of overclocking.

I've adjusted the build a bit based on the feedback above:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (06G-P4-4995-KR) £549.95
1 x Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75820K) £311.99
1 x Samsung 1.0TB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E1T0B/EU) £299.99
1 x Asus X99-Pro Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £259.99
1 x EK Water Blocks Predator 240 All In One Watercooling Solution £168.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16) £145.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova P2 850W '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £114.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD20EFRX £77.99
1 x Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 5g £12.95
3 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Black £5.99 (£17.97)
Total : £2,085.70 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

 
X99

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 980Ti "Hall of Fame 8 Pack Approved Edition" 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £575.99
1 x Asus X99-S - Intel Core i7 5820K Six Core CPU & Motherboard Bundle ***£30 Saving*** £506.98
1 x Samsung 1.0TB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E1T0B/EU) £299.99
1 x Panram Ninja-V 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (PUD42400C154G4NJW) £134.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £100.99
1 x CableMod E-Series G2 & P2 Cable Kit - Black / White £69.95
1 x Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001) £59.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Multicolor LED Strip - 1m £13.99
Total : £1,997.80 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).




I would have specced the corsair H110i GT but it is out of stock.

The EK watercooler isn't due in stock until 26th september.
 
Valid points by Ted in actuality. A SuperFlower PSU represents a much better PSU for the money. You can pick up a gold rated 1000W SuperFlower for £140-ish, which is handy if you plan to go SLI in the future, or a 750w for around £90 which is sufficient for the current build, but without headroom for SLI.

I have no idea the difference between SSDs so I shall trust Ted's word on it :p - The 850 is a great SSD, and the SM951 is great if you plan to go for super overkill, however it's twice the cost of a SATA III SSD in terms of £ per GB. - A regular user probably won't notice the speed difference though.

As Ted has said, too, the 980 sits at a really weird price point, and when you are nearing the £500 mark I'd much rather get something like the Zotac AMP! for £530, then in a few months when your budget allows it, get the EVGA Hybrid Cooler for ~£90 and pop it onto the Zotac, then you have your AIO cooled card.

That being said, something like the MSI Gaming 6G does not spin its fans until the card hits 65c, in which case the fans start spinning - You're free to set a custom fan curve (people tend to set 1:1 custom fan curves and they report that their cards are ultra quiet)... So, whichever route you go, the 980Ti is the better option.
 
TeflonJim said:
Thanks guys, very much appreciated advice. I'm glad I asked :)

The rationale for the AIO on the graphics card was nothing more than noise control. I had no real intention of overclocking.

I've adjusted the build a bit based on the feedback above:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (06G-P4-4995-KR) £549.95
1 x Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75820K) £311.99
1 x Samsung 1.0TB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E1T0B/EU) £299.99
1 x Asus X99-Pro Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £259.99
1 x EK Water Blocks Predator 240 All In One Watercooling Solution £168.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16) £145.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova P2 850W '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £114.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD20EFRX £77.99
1 x Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 5g £12.95
3 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Black £5.99 (£17.97)
Total : £2,085.70 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

Click to expand...

Nearly perfect. I'd pick the bundle from Lee's spec rather than the pro mobo you've suggested - the only real difference is dual M.2 sockets vs a single.

Other than that it's pretty much spot on. Always had a soft spot for those cases and that EVGA GPU comes highly recommended too.
 
TeflonJim said:
Thanks guys, very much appreciated advice. I'm glad I asked :)

The rationale for the AIO on the graphics card was nothing more than noise control. I had no real intention of overclocking.

I've adjusted the build a bit based on the feedback above:
Click to expand...

The X99 platform has 8 slots for RAM, whilst utilising quad channel speeds, so you will want a 4x4gb kit, which still leaves you 4 ram slots to upgrade to 32gb if necessary in the future.

The Predator AIO cooler is not due in stock for 5-6 weeks, either... A Corsair H100i or something similar would be sufficient, I am not sure what radiator size the 540 can hold though.

As for the 980Ti, you've made a good choice, I can't argue that at all :p
 
ExRayTed said:
Nearly perfect. I'd pick the bundle from Lee's spec rather than the pro mobo you've suggested - the only real difference is dual M.2 sockets vs a single.
Click to expand...

The X99-Pro comes with the WiFi/Bluetooth inbuilt card, though, which was in OP's original spec... I assume it was a feature he wanted.
 
Wireless on-board is one of the reasons I went for that motherboard to be honest.

I do have an PCI-E AC card kicking around somewhere, but my daughter snapped the antenna...

Playing around a little more, does anyone have an opinion on this one?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-283-EA

It's more expensive, but immediately gets the AIO and with the other changes proposed above (and dropping the foolish lights) the cost remains the same as the original.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Hybrid 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (06G-P4-1996-KR) £659.99
1 x Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75820K) £311.99
1 x Samsung 1.0TB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E1T0B/EU) £299.99
1 x Asus X99-Pro Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £259.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M4A2400C14) £119.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £114.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex Platinum 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black £102.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £100.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD20EFRX £77.99
1 x Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 5g £12.95
3 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Black £5.99 (£17.97)
Total : £2,079.73 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).



EDIT: Forgot to fix the memory for 4x4. Rather than increase the thread... updated above.
 
Last edited:
You can essentially make that card yourself. EVGA sell the cover, and the AIO themselves, separately, for £90-100. I don't think OcUK stock it though.

You can add the above to the ACX card you previously picked if/when you find it in stock, and you would have saved £10-20! :p

A few people on the 980Ti owners thread have purchased the Inno3D hybrid card and they were quite happy with it.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Inno3D GeForce GTX 980Ti Hybrid Black Edition 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (C98TP-1SDN-N5HNX) £629.99
Total : £629.99 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).




You could check the owner thread here - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=28112215&postcount=2 - click the "link" and read a few posts by that user, they tend to give their initial impressions of their card, and it shouldn't be biased.
 
Oh and it's entirely possible my concerns over graphics card noise are entirely unfounded. The noise of the laptop has cause an unhealthy obsession with having a nice quiet desktop again :)
 
TeflonJim said:
Wireless on-board is one of the reasons I went for that motherboard to be honest.

I do have an PCI-E AC card kicking around somewhere, but my daughter snapped the antenna...

Playing around a little more, does anyone have an opinion on this one?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-283-EA

It's more expensive, but immediately gets the AIO and with the other changes proposed above (and dropping the foolish lights) the cost remains the same as the original.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Hybrid 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (06G-P4-1996-KR) £659.99
1 x Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75820K) £311.99
1 x Samsung 1.0TB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E1T0B/EU) £299.99
1 x Asus X99-Pro Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £259.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M4A2400C14) £119.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £114.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex Platinum 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black £102.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £100.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD20EFRX £77.99
1 x Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 5g £12.95
3 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Black £5.99 (£17.97)
Total : £2,079.73 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).



EDIT: Forgot to fix the memory for 4x4. Rather than increase the thread... updated above.
Click to expand...


Not a big enough PSU, I always suggest and spec a 1KW jobbie for X99 and 980Ti (especially if you want to a 2nd later and maybe also do a little oc'ing).

You dont need the paste as the AIO comes with it pre-applied.

Extra SATA cables, plenty come with the board.
 
Is 750W platinum really not enough for X99 and 980Ti? I've heard that's fine, with upping to 1kW if you planned to SLI... If this is incorrect I shall change what is specced.
 
I've upped the PSU to a 1K platinum for now. I'd rather a little overkill and a bit of future proofing with a decent PSU than find myself short.

Anyway, it's time for bed for me, but I wanted to ensure I posted thanks to all of you for your advice this evening. It has been beyond value:

Thank you Joe, ExRayTed, lee32uk and stulid very much.

This is the spec as it stands, there's still a bit more thinking to do I reckon (and checking the case will actually fit all this), but it's had a good amount of fat trimmed already :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Hybrid 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (06G-P4-1996-KR) £659.99
1 x Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75820K) £311.99
1 x Samsung 1.0TB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E1T0B/EU) £299.99
1 x Asus X99-Pro Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £259.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex Platinum 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black £165.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M4A2400C14) £119.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £114.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £100.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM WD20EFRX £77.99
Total : £2,111.82 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

 
I'd be careful with the EVGA if you plan to build soon, there's been limited stock of them all around the UK... I'd drop a webnote and ask if the ETA is accurate/whether any will be available to purchase or whether they've all been ordered.

Otherwise, I'm very jealous of your build.

Take care!
 
Joe! said:
Is 750W platinum really not enough for X99 and 980Ti? I've heard that's fine, with upping to 1kW if you planned to SLI... If this is incorrect I shall change what is specced.
Click to expand...

Ive always done,

750W for sli 970 + Z87/97 etc.

850W for sli 980s + Z87 etc.

1KW for X99 and SLI.

3-4way then more again.
 
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