780 GHz Edition vs 780 Ti vs other for 1440p Gaming

jakomocha

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Hey guys, I'm building a 1440p gaming computer, of which you can view the current specs here:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($334.98 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120V 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87 MPOWER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $150.00)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($115.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($519.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $90.00)
Power Supply: Antec HCG M 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $18.53)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For $15.00)
Monitor: QNIX QX2710 Perfect Pixel 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($300.00)
Case Fan: Cougar Vortex PWM 70.5 CFM 120mm Fan (Purchased For $5.00)
Total: $1844.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-11 20:24 EDT-0400)

Now, what I'm most conflicted on right now is my GPU. I can't decide between a GTX 780 Ghz Edition (which is the best of the 780 models out-of-the-box), a 780 Ti (probably the Superclocked one, as it is just as cheap as the reference ones on Newegg), or something else. I want to be able to run games on their highest settings (although I'm alright with taking somethings like AA down a notch) at very good framerates. I'll probably overclock whatever GPU I get. The biggest issue is that I'd prefer to keep my budget under $2000, which is very difficult with the 780 Ti. Also, I want my GPU to be a Nvidia one not only because of it's additional features but also because I plan on getting an Nvidia Shield. What do you guys recommend?
 
For a single monitor at 1440P a GTX780 will be fine.
You will get fair value buying a factory superclocked card.
Vendors are wise to overclocking and reserve the better overclockable chips for their factory overclocked versions.
I would buy a superclock version and forget about overclocking.
If you have any doubts, buy a EVGA card. they have a 90 day free trade up program if you decide you need a stronger card. I doubt that you would do so.

OTOH, if your budget permits, go ahead and buy a ti version. Otherwise, you will be forever wondering.

As a comment on your build, See if you can't manage 240gb for the ssd.
And... a Z97 based motherboard will cost no more and give you future upgrade options.
Lastly,

You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua NH-D14 or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"

I would buy a top air cooler instead.
 

jakomocha

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I only went with a liquid cooler due to a friend's recommendation and its relatively cheap price for a liquid cooler. I'm not set in stone about it and would be willing to "sacrifice" it for a CPU cooler, it's not like I plan on overclocking that much. I could also go with this liquid cooler, but I'd need to make that decision today as it goes off sale tomorrow.

I already bought the Z87 motherboard, so there's nothing I can do about it anymore. I got it for $150 instead of $200, so I'm pretty happy about the price I bought it for. Why 240GB for the SSD? Isn't 120GB enough for the OS? Also, what do you think about me getting a Hybrid Drive for my main hard drive? Is this pointless?

I currently have the Gigabyte GHZ edition GTX 780 selected, simply because it performs the best of the Factory OC'd 780's out of the box, but I've heard good things about all of them. Which one, overclocked or not, performs the closest to the 780 Ti? And if I were to get a Ti, which one would you recommend?
 
the evga classified 780 is the best out of the box 780 and by far the best overall 780.

i personally have no problems with mine at 1440p, i just turn down AA if there is a problem. barring using some crazy form of ssaa or anything above 4xmsaa, i find that crysis 3 and assassins creed 4 are the most demanding that i have come across compared to battlefied 4, tomb raider, far cry 3, metro last light, and a few others populars. i usually just use 2xmsaa and if its an issue, they all allow smaa which is very performance friendly comparably.

i also usually just let my classy 780 run at 1111mhz, but i will overclock to 1300mhz if i want to play crysis 3 smoothly with 2xsmaa.
 

jakomocha

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Most benchmarks seem to refer to the GHZ performing the best out of the box, but the Classified does the best by far overclocked. What would you say your framerates average in those games on ultra?

I may go with the Classified. I found it for only $15 more.
 
i perfer the classified as it has a second ln2 bios that evga allows you to flash to a custom bios without affecting your warranty.

average... to be honest i dont know.... for battlefield 4 64 man siege of shanghi @1440p maxed out my 99th percentile is above 45fps with an average of 63fps

2GWZgKz.jpg


edit: sorry, i should say my 2500k@4.5 and the 780@1.3ghz doesn't hurt the above frame analyzer, and i capped the fps to 75fps via the console to limit any extreme average deviations.
 

jakomocha

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Wow, that's pretty excellent. I'm gonna go with the Classified for sure now.
 
im running a skynet custom bios on mine which allows for a 200% power target, up from 115%, and also disables boost altogether so the card will run at its max clock whenever in the p0/p1 state. also the classified has a much larger pcb, 5.9" across, and larger fans than the normal evga acx cooler. but besides the highly binned 2304 core gk110 and the nice custom pcb, it also has the chil8318 14+3 phase voltage controller that allows extreme overclocking if one wishes to put the card under water... evga actually allows you to put an ekwb block or their own hydro block on the card without hurting the warranty... which is a very confident thing for them to do considering the cards extreme overclocking potential. i can get 1345mhz out of the stock allowed 1.212v, up from 1.160v, but with the classified voltage controller you can go as high as 1.35v.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/63051-evga-gtx-780-classified-review-8.html
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/63051-evga-gtx-780-classified-review-9.html
 

jakomocha

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Sorry, I'm a little confused with what you said (I'm new to all this), but I get the gist of what you're saying. Does changing the Bios break the warranty? If not, then could you recommend me a tutorial for overclocking as well as you did?
 
on the evga classified, flashing the bios and running a custom water block does not break the warranty. the classified has a bios switch, it will/"should" come with it in the 1 position, you can switch it to the ln2 position and flash that bios. as long as the original factory/evga approved bios in on the no "1" side and you remove the waterblock and put the stock evga cooler back on the card you it will not affect the warranty.

this is something not many board partners will openly state that they allow the end user to do. many put stickers/seals that if broken is an explicit void of warranty.
 

jakomocha

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Alright, I just bought the GPU from Amazon. How do you add a custom Bios?