Help with Intel build around GTX 780 in $1200 range

What HAF ?

Do you have .....
OS ?
Keyboard ?
Mouse ?
Monitor ?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4N6qrH
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4N6qrH/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($128.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($113.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1130.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-13 16:24 EDT-0400

Left cooler out on purpose.....

What do you mean by liquid cooling ? Are we talking CLC / AIO ?

1. There is no 120/140mm AIO that can Match any of the better air coolers. Why spend $80 - $95 on one of those when a $65 air cooler will:

-Cool better
-Run quieter
-Won't do this http://www.overclock.net/t/1440506/my-corsair-h60-exploded-water-explosion

Ooops... it's $75 this week
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709001

2. Moving up to 240/280 mm AIOs the ones that beat the air coolers need to run fans at 2700 rpm to do so producing modern vacuum cleaner like sounds ..... in excess of 60 dbA . The better ones like The Corsair H110 will match a Noctua DH-14 / Phanteks PH-TC14-PE in cooling. And again, these are $110 and up against the $75 air coolers. Listen to a 2700 rpm cooler (H100i here:

http://martinsliquidlab.org/2013/03/12/swiftech-h220-vs-corsair-h100i-noise-testing/

I can't sit in the same room with one

3. The next step below a custom water loop is an OLC or "open loop cooler", These are just like closed loop coolers, except that sometime in the future, you can "open the loop" and water cool your GFX cards, MoBo blocks and whatever strikes ya fancy/ The Swiftech 220-X should run about $130 on newegg .... now $140 on Swiftech site.....crushes and AIO and does it 20 dbA quister.

As to the why's....

Biggest thing is "No SSD".... The hybrid Seagate will boot in 16.5 seconds compared to a top SSDs 15.6 .... you won't miss it. We have two identical machines and no one can tell the difference which has the HD + SSD and which has the SSHD. And when peeps try to squeeze both into a tight budget, since all the games are on the HD and they generally wind up with something horrendously slow like the WD Blue (ranked 63rd on THGs HD list)..... look where the SSHD (1st) is and look where the Blue is (63rd)

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hdd-charts-2013/-17-PCMark-7-Gaming,2915.html

If ya can squeeze the $100, I'd get the i7 .... forget the HT argument, the 4790k runs at 4.4 Ghz to the 4690k's 3.9 Ghz

Your buying a cooler so I can only assume you are overclocking ..... when overclocked, only one thing beats the 780 and that's the 780 Ti. See how the OC'd 290x compares with the OC'd 780 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djvZaHHU4I8

yes, ya prolly never heard of EVGA PSU's but the G2 and P2 are near perfect .... other versions not so much. And the 850 watts is for when ya add the 2nd one in SLI






If that's the case, he's just fine with most 780's or 780 Tis..... BTW, can buy an Asus or MSI 780 Ti if ya shop around at the right time for $600. MSI one is the better one (9.9 techpowerup rating)

4790k = 4.0 GHz
4690k = 3.5 GHz

So the $100 gains you $14% performance increase for an 8.3 % price increase on a $1200 box.

A Sapphire R9 290 is a better choice,since it's cheaper and it performs exactly the same as a 780 would.
I think it can,but you will need to remove some drive bays (if that's possible with the HAF 922) in order to fit a GTX 780 or a R9 290.
Don't get the Zotac.I would get the Gigabyte GTX 780 or Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X.

4790k = 4.0 GHz
4690k = 3.5 GHz

So the $100 gains you $14% performance increase for an 8.3 % price increase on a $1200 box.