Hi everyone. I'm currently looking at building a gaming PC and I am in it for the long haul. I want this computer to last me between 5-10 years. I've been doing tons of research, and I belive I have found the best configuration for my budget of $1800. My configuration can be found at:
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1GMR84.
Currently with the 5% off no rush coupon, this puts me at $1839 total. I only have a couple more days to take advantage of the sales and the 5% off coupon, so I plan on continuing to do research on my own, but any advice/insight people can offer would be great. This may also help
others to decide which configuration is best for them as well when shopping on cyberpowerpc.
I'm very set on the Phanteks Enthoo Primo case, and the i7-4790K 4.0 GHz chip. I plan on overclocking my CPU further down the road when I feel the need, to the absolute max it can handle.
ok....questions I am pondering, see if you agree with my configuration/reasoning:
WATER COOLING
CYBERPOWERPC Xtreme Hydro 480mm Liquid CPU Cooling w/ XSPC 750, Copper Cold Plate, RS480, Ultimate Performance +Extreme Silence at 18dBA (All Venom OC Certified) [+0] w/ 6 corsair push-pull 120mm fans
VRS
CYBERPOWERPC Xtreme Hydro 360mm Liquid CPU Cooling w/ XSPC 750, Copper Cold Plate, RS360, Maximum Performance +Extreme Silence at 18dBA (All Venom OC Certified) [-40] w/ 4 corsair push-pull 120mm fans'
[seems worth the extra 40 bucks, and I'm hoping I can overclock my CPU further by having a larger radiator since I'll be buying a new PC before I ever buy a new CPU]
enermax twister pressure 120mm fans
VRS
corsair air series AF 120 performance edition fans (both push-pull)
[Not sure which is better, or if there is a difference]
MOBO
GIGABYTE Z97X-Gaming 7 ATX w/ Killer E2200+ GbLAN, 3 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 1x PCI, 1x M.2, 1x SATA Express, or 8x SATA Gb/s (All Venom OC Certified) [+0]
[best mobo to get highest overclock, say 30%?]
VRS
GIGABYTE Z97X-SLI ATX w/ Intel GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 2 PCI, 1 x M.2, 1 x SATA Express, or 6x SATA 6Gb/s (Extreme OC Certified) [-42]
[cyberpower lists extreme OC certified boards as ones certified they can safely overclock 15%]
VRS
GIGABYTE Z97-D3H ATX w/ Realtek GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 3 PCI, 6x SATA 6Gb/s (Pro OC Certified) [-63]
[cyberpower lists pro OC certified boards as ones certified they can safely overclock 5-10%]
MEMORY
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory-Corsair Vengeance [+0]
VRS
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory ADATA XPG V3 (All Venom OC Levels Certified) [-43]
[not planning on upgrading ram ever, so probably worth it for the higher quality]
GRAPHICS CARD
EVGA FTW Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card [+0]
VRS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card (Maxwell)-Dual Card (SLI) [+278], (but with this configuration cyberpowerpc wont allow purchasing a 480mm radiator with 6 fans, only a 360mm with 4 fans=less CPU overclock?)
VRS
EVGA FTW Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card [+361] (ideal, but puts me over my budget by 360 dollars)
[My thinking is that i cannot afford a 4k monitor right now, so might as well go with a single FTW edition ACX 2.0 card that wont put me over my budget that runs 26% cooler, 36% quiter, 250% lower fan draw power requirement, 400% longer lifespan, and 1317 MHz Boost Clock vrs. 1253 MHz Boost Clock of a regular GTX 970 card. Further down the road when I can afford it and need to upgrade, I can purchase a second card and a 4k monitor for 4k setup]
POWER SUPPLY
800 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready [+0]
VRS
1,000 Watts - AZZA Titan 1000W 80 Plus Bronze Active PFC Power supply [+47] (Not SLI compatable?)
[Not sure if I will need the extra wattage to run the 480mm radiator with 6 push-pull fans, an extra UV light or 2 I plan on installing, and a future EVGA FTW ACX 2.0, since they supposidly require 250% lower. I'm really torn here as I'm already at my budget]
HARD DRIVE
120GB SSD + 1TB HDD WD Black² Dual Drive SATA-III 6.0Gb/s - 350 MB/s Read & 140MB/s Write
VRS
128GB Apotop SSD + 1TB SATA III Hard Drive Combo (Combo Drive) [-57]
[Western digital claims its 2in1 black dual drive will give your TB the speed of a SSD, but will there really be that big of a difference from running your OS on a SSD and your games on the TB?]
EXTRAS
Cooler Master Thermal Fusion 400 Extreme Performance CPU - Thermal Compound Optimized for Thermal Dissipation [+0]
[worth the extra 10 bucks?]
Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
[worth the extra 19 bucks?]
I plan on purchasing some extras in relevance to asthetics, I'll post pics once my setup arrives and I custom design the guts of the water cooling and inside of the case. Thanks for any tidbits of info you can provide.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1GMR84.
Currently with the 5% off no rush coupon, this puts me at $1839 total. I only have a couple more days to take advantage of the sales and the 5% off coupon, so I plan on continuing to do research on my own, but any advice/insight people can offer would be great. This may also help
others to decide which configuration is best for them as well when shopping on cyberpowerpc.
I'm very set on the Phanteks Enthoo Primo case, and the i7-4790K 4.0 GHz chip. I plan on overclocking my CPU further down the road when I feel the need, to the absolute max it can handle.
ok....questions I am pondering, see if you agree with my configuration/reasoning:
WATER COOLING
CYBERPOWERPC Xtreme Hydro 480mm Liquid CPU Cooling w/ XSPC 750, Copper Cold Plate, RS480, Ultimate Performance +Extreme Silence at 18dBA (All Venom OC Certified) [+0] w/ 6 corsair push-pull 120mm fans
VRS
CYBERPOWERPC Xtreme Hydro 360mm Liquid CPU Cooling w/ XSPC 750, Copper Cold Plate, RS360, Maximum Performance +Extreme Silence at 18dBA (All Venom OC Certified) [-40] w/ 4 corsair push-pull 120mm fans'
[seems worth the extra 40 bucks, and I'm hoping I can overclock my CPU further by having a larger radiator since I'll be buying a new PC before I ever buy a new CPU]
enermax twister pressure 120mm fans
VRS
corsair air series AF 120 performance edition fans (both push-pull)
[Not sure which is better, or if there is a difference]
MOBO
GIGABYTE Z97X-Gaming 7 ATX w/ Killer E2200+ GbLAN, 3 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 1x PCI, 1x M.2, 1x SATA Express, or 8x SATA Gb/s (All Venom OC Certified) [+0]
[best mobo to get highest overclock, say 30%?]
VRS
GIGABYTE Z97X-SLI ATX w/ Intel GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 2 PCI, 1 x M.2, 1 x SATA Express, or 6x SATA 6Gb/s (Extreme OC Certified) [-42]
[cyberpower lists extreme OC certified boards as ones certified they can safely overclock 15%]
VRS
GIGABYTE Z97-D3H ATX w/ Realtek GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 3 PCI, 6x SATA 6Gb/s (Pro OC Certified) [-63]
[cyberpower lists pro OC certified boards as ones certified they can safely overclock 5-10%]
MEMORY
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory-Corsair Vengeance [+0]
VRS
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory ADATA XPG V3 (All Venom OC Levels Certified) [-43]
[not planning on upgrading ram ever, so probably worth it for the higher quality]
GRAPHICS CARD
EVGA FTW Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card [+0]
VRS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card (Maxwell)-Dual Card (SLI) [+278], (but with this configuration cyberpowerpc wont allow purchasing a 480mm radiator with 6 fans, only a 360mm with 4 fans=less CPU overclock?)
VRS
EVGA FTW Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card [+361] (ideal, but puts me over my budget by 360 dollars)
[My thinking is that i cannot afford a 4k monitor right now, so might as well go with a single FTW edition ACX 2.0 card that wont put me over my budget that runs 26% cooler, 36% quiter, 250% lower fan draw power requirement, 400% longer lifespan, and 1317 MHz Boost Clock vrs. 1253 MHz Boost Clock of a regular GTX 970 card. Further down the road when I can afford it and need to upgrade, I can purchase a second card and a 4k monitor for 4k setup]
POWER SUPPLY
800 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready [+0]
VRS
1,000 Watts - AZZA Titan 1000W 80 Plus Bronze Active PFC Power supply [+47] (Not SLI compatable?)
[Not sure if I will need the extra wattage to run the 480mm radiator with 6 push-pull fans, an extra UV light or 2 I plan on installing, and a future EVGA FTW ACX 2.0, since they supposidly require 250% lower. I'm really torn here as I'm already at my budget]
HARD DRIVE
120GB SSD + 1TB HDD WD Black² Dual Drive SATA-III 6.0Gb/s - 350 MB/s Read & 140MB/s Write
VRS
128GB Apotop SSD + 1TB SATA III Hard Drive Combo (Combo Drive) [-57]
[Western digital claims its 2in1 black dual drive will give your TB the speed of a SSD, but will there really be that big of a difference from running your OS on a SSD and your games on the TB?]
EXTRAS
Cooler Master Thermal Fusion 400 Extreme Performance CPU - Thermal Compound Optimized for Thermal Dissipation [+0]
[worth the extra 10 bucks?]
Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
[worth the extra 19 bucks?]
I plan on purchasing some extras in relevance to asthetics, I'll post pics once my setup arrives and I custom design the guts of the water cooling and inside of the case. Thanks for any tidbits of info you can provide.
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