Gaming Rig as a Gift for Nephew

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NorthenHemi

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Nov 16, 2013
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Good day to you all. My nephew is currently in his first year at University, and his 1st semester is going to end midway through December. As a family we would want to give him a gift when he has some free time and I noticed his own laptop is getting beaten up (sona Viao S series) So we cooked up this scheme of building him a computer as an early christmas present / new years gift for a good job at school.

Budget: $2250 +200 (monitor seperate budget of $300 max)
Goal: Performs great for the price, and a christmass color scheme with parts (green/red/white, red/white, gold/white/green etc)
Preference: Intel / AMD , Nividia / AMD <---- any of the two, don't matter much to us. Dont need OS.

Some of us are computer savvy so we have some general ideas in mind for parts, but can't get the goal of having the colors to match a christmas theme or don't know how reliable those parts are if we choose them. So we look to you fellow posters for advice :)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_RD 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($78.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VI FORMULA ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($295.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Force Series GT 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($226.48 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.65 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($356.30 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($356.30 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($259.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $2268.57
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-16 15:55 EST-0500)

This is what we have so far but no case, as we can't seem to decide on good case which meets our theme and offers the performance of other cases. Please offer suggestions on the build and case :D
 
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Amit Parmar

Amit Parmar

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Sep 21, 2013
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I would rather get two 770s but that is just my preference due to the new coming G-sync and Shadowplay. Your motherboard and cpu are really good choices and for the case you should get 1 of these. Other than that this looks like a really good build.

CM Storm Enforcer
CM Storm Stryker
Antec 900
NZXT Guardian
CM Haf X

My favourite of all of those is the Stryker with it's good airflow and plethora of fans. Next to that I would get the Guardian or Hax X. I couldn't find any christmas cases sorry :(
 
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Nismo1

Nismo1

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Sep 29, 2013
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You forgot to put an optical CD/DVD drive there, no need to get an expensive one, a 15-20 $ one is sufficient. I will search for a themed case but I cant promise you anything though :D. If I don't find one search for coolermaster cases, they are pretty damn good!
 
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immortalpenguin9

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Nov 27, 2012
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If you found a good nice white case with 120mm fans in the front you could change 1 out for a fan with red LEDs and one out for green LEDs. Then you could get some cold cathodes or case leds for the inside and do the top half red and bottom half green to match the placement of the front fans. Would look real nice and have the personal touch youre looking for
 
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Amit Parmar

Amit Parmar

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Sep 21, 2013
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OMG ART!!!!! Lol I agree with immortalpenguin but running LEDs could be tricky with the small window and it would look weird running them outside of the case. But I guess if you can find a way to run it through the front panel with the fans then it would look beautiful.
 
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immortalpenguin9

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Nov 27, 2012
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This reminds me of when I use to build custom xboxs...some of the requests were crazy but with enough time anything can be done. If you take out the window you could have someone etch something into it for him...you could have your names or his or even just merry Christmas with like a snow background its not hard and usually not too expensive
 
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Amit Parmar

Amit Parmar

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Sep 21, 2013
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There are tons of engraving tools out there if the OP is interested in doing something like that. A simple card could work too lol. I'm not sure if the OP wants to but there are tons of modding services out there that can do a custom paint job like christmas trees or something.
 
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immortalpenguin9

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Nov 27, 2012
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yeah just thinking that the window etch would be easy and not expensive to send out somewhere to get it done...and is pry the most personal touch you could do. Ive done quite a few before and usually that's the part people are the most excited about.
 
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NorthenHemi

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Nov 16, 2013
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Yes I left it out because we are gonna put our own in, we have a spare blueray one that we probably gonna paint it to match the scheme of the build ;o

Sorry all about not being able to reply I was out with my brother looking at cases but they are all mostly black except for one which was like a dark green but looks ugly.

Gonna take some time read through all the replies as I need to collect all the information :p, but while I glanced at some just to anwser you all.

Yes I plan (brother will do it) some LED lighting inside the case and some fans on the case itself with those LED that you mention. I think it'll look very cool and make my nephew smile a bit :D

As for the graphics cards, we aren't quite sure about the options TBH. One of us wanted to just use a single GTX 780TI but that seems rather expensive. GTX 770's in SLI 4gb seem like a very good option but the r9 280x is newer so may be better in the long run?

I wanted the 2 GTX 780's from Galaxy the HOF white ones. They look very nice but I have to look at there size, they look way to big to be put together o.o


 
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NorthenHemi

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Nov 16, 2013
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Ok took a bit of deciding between family members but I think we decided on the case you two mention :)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4864837&csid=_61

COOLER MASTER Storm Stryker

Because of the larger window so we can show off the inside a bit more. But ya, its pretty hard finding a nice white case, we were leaning towards that color because it kinda give us a brighter place to work with then a black case which absorbs most of the lights imo and most of the components these days are black.

Just a question about the fan placements, they said in the specs "Other Fans Included 1 x 200mm Fan" is that the one at the top of the case where the 140mm fans would be? I have to go confirm the fans selection at the stores before purchasing. But if I take out all the fans in the case I think i'll only need to buy 5 LED fans with this case correct?

I'm gonna consult with my brothers tomorrow when we go again, as there's a store here that has the case in stock, (according to them online) so we gonna go have a look. Probably going to have red LED fans to give that red glow.

As for GPU, do you guys have any opinions on 2 GTX 780's HOF editions? They have that white lighting effect which I think is pretty cool. The single GTX 780 TI seems nice but I think only gigabyte and evga non reference coolers are out and they seem to not match our color scheme much. Since we plan on giving him the computer after his exams which is still mid around December, we may wait to see if anything else comes out :) just trying to lay out some choices.
 
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