Asking for advice on system upgrades

[Zeddakis]

I recently upgrade my video card to a GTX 770 and at the time just planned to use a two monitor set-up, but I have decide to up that to three monitors. The system is primary used for gaming.

Based on that I was thinking about adding a second GTX 770 to my set-up and while doing that upgrade my processor to a i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz.

My new set-up would look like this.

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Professional
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 120GB SSD
Storage: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: LG Blu-ray Burner, 3D Play Back (WH14NS40)
Video Cards: 2 EVGA GeForce GTX 770 cards in SLI
Case: COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper ATX Full Tower
Power Supply: COOLER MASTER Silent Pro 1000W 80 Plus Bronze Certified Modular Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Monitors: 3 ASUS VH238H 23-Inch 1080P LED Monitors

My main concern is cooling and keep everything running at a good temperature while doing extended gaming sessions. I have never done water cooling and I would prefer not to get into that. I don't plan to do any extreme overclocking, so will I be alright with just air cooling this system? Should I use a closed-loop water cooler for the CPU or just upgrade the stock cooler? Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[realchaos]

Is this build for gaming? Do you do any rendering, editing, etc.?
Air cooling is fine for your needs.

 

[Zeddakis]

Is this build for gaming? Do you do any rendering, editing, etc.?
Air cooling is fine for your needs.

Pretty much just for gaming and some light everyday type use. I don't do any rendering or video editing.

Thansk!

 

[realchaos]

-Grab the i5-4670k processor. No need for i7.
-Grab the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H motherboard.
-Stick with 2x4gb of ram. No need for 16gb.
-Grab a Seagate Barracuda or Western Digital Blue 1tb, 7200rpm, 64mb cache, sata 6 gb/s HDD. It should be nearly the same price except it's faster since it uses SATA 6gb/s.
-Do you really need a blu-ray burner?
-You don't need a 1000w psu. 850w is fine. Grab a quality 850w psu from Seasonic, XFX, Corsair, Antec (HCG and HCP series only).

 

[Zeddakis]

-Grab the i5-4670k processor. No need for i7.
-Grab the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H motherboard.
-Stick with 2x4gb of ram. No need for 16gb.
-Grab a Seagate Barracuda or Western Digital Blue 1tb, 7200rpm, 64mb cache, sata 6 gb/s HDD. It should be nearly the same price except it's faster since it uses SATA 6gb/s.
-Do you really need a blu-ray burner?
-You don't need a 1000w psu. 850w is fine. Grab a quality 850w psu from Seasonic, XFX, Corsair, Antec (HCG and HCP series only).

Thanks for your reply. I already have most of the stuff I listed. I am just upgrading a few parts.

I already have the following in my current system and will be reusing them in the rebuild.
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 120GB SSD
Storage: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: LG Blu-ray Burner, 3D Play Back (WH14NS40)
Video Cards: EVGA GeForce GTX 770
Case: COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper ATX Full Tower
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Monitors: 3 ASUS VH238H 23-Inch 1080P LED Monitors

I was only adding the processor, motherboard, powersupply, and second video card. I upgrade to the 16GB, because my memory usage went up a lot when I added the third monitor with my current i5-2500K processor. It was maxing out at times when gaming.

I wanted to go ahead and get the i7 and the 1000W power supply, because I was looking at the future and having a system that won't need updating for several years. You don't think that it will be worth while over a 3-4 year period?

I picked the ASRock motherboard because it had several features I wanted. Really was interested in being able to run my Xbox 360's HDMI thru it.

 

[realchaos]

The i5-2500k is still a good processor right now. It does extremely well in games considering it's 2 generations behind. Just overclock it and you won't need to upgrade your processor or motherboard.

The difference between the i5 and i7 is hyper-threading. That's the only difference. Games do not, and never has, utilize hyper-threading, which is why the i7 is never used in a gaming rig. I doubt games will actually utilize hyper-threading any time soon.

1000w psu is overkill, no matter how you look at it. A 850w psu can handle SLI 770 and overclocking. In 3-4 years, it can still handle SLI 770 and overclocking.
Also, coolermaster isn't the best psu brand.

 

[coastie65]

Hi. If you want to use an i7, by all means do so. I have a desktop running the 1st gen i7 960 and just upgraded this from an i7 2600k to an i7 4770k, and yes, i7's are used in gaming machines, although the i5 is good and used more often. As for cooling, a Cooler Master 212 EVO will do fine. I also agree with the PSU. Not so much about the wattage of the PSU as it is having enough on the +12v raile for the video card(s). If a card calls for a minimum of 32a on the +12v rail. you can bet I am going to have 50+a on that thing. I do like some headroom to the point of overkill.

 

[Zeddakis]

The i5-2500k is still a good processor right now. It does extremely well in games considering it's 2 generations behind. Just overclock it and you won't need to upgrade your processor or motherboard.

The difference between the i5 and i7 is hyper-threading. That's the only difference. Games do not, and never has, utilize hyper-threading, which is why the i7 is never used in a gaming rig. I doubt games will actually utilize hyper-threading any time soon.

1000w psu is overkill, no matter how you look at it. A 850w psu can handle SLI 770 and overclocking. In 3-4 years, it can still handle SLI 770 and overclocking.
Also, coolermaster isn't the best psu brand.

Ok, thanks for the input. I will go back and look at the power supplies you recommended. I'll rethink the i7 I was thinking more long term with that decision, but my money might be better spent on something else. I wanted to upgrade my current motherboard, because it is older and doesn't have PCI Express 3.0 for the video cards.

 

[Zeddakis]

The i5-2500k is still a good processor right now. It does extremely well in games considering it's 2 generations behind. Just overclock it and you won't need to upgrade your processor or motherboard.

The difference between the i5 and i7 is hyper-threading. That's the only difference. Games do not, and never has, utilize hyper-threading, which is why the i7 is never used in a gaming rig. I doubt games will actually utilize hyper-threading any time soon.

1000w psu is overkill, no matter how you look at it. A 850w psu can handle SLI 770 and overclocking. In 3-4 years, it can still handle SLI 770 and overclocking.
Also, coolermaster isn't the best psu brand.

How about this power supply? New Egg has a $20 off promo code and a $20 off rebate which gets the price down to $129.99.

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

 

[coastie65]

The i5-2500k is still a good processor right now. It does extremely well in games considering it's 2 generations behind. Just overclock it and you won't need to upgrade your processor or motherboard.

The difference between the i5 and i7 is hyper-threading. That's the only difference. Games do not, and never has, utilize hyper-threading, which is why the i7 is never used in a gaming rig. I doubt games will actually utilize hyper-threading any time soon.

1000w psu is overkill, no matter how you look at it. A 850w psu can handle SLI 770 and overclocking. In 3-4 years, it can still handle SLI 770 and overclocking.
Also, coolermaster isn't the best psu brand.

How about this power supply? New Egg has a $20 off promo code and a $20 off rebate which gets the price down to $129.99.

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

That's a good one and at a good price.

 

[Zeddakis]

The i5-2500k is still a good processor right now. It does extremely well in games considering it's 2 generations behind. Just overclock it and you won't need to upgrade your processor or motherboard.

The difference between the i5 and i7 is hyper-threading. That's the only difference. Games do not, and never has, utilize hyper-threading, which is why the i7 is never used in a gaming rig. I doubt games will actually utilize hyper-threading any time soon.

1000w psu is overkill, no matter how you look at it. A 850w psu can handle SLI 770 and overclocking. In 3-4 years, it can still handle SLI 770 and overclocking.
Also, coolermaster isn't the best psu brand.

How about this power supply? New Egg has a $20 off promo code and a $20 off rebate which gets the price down to $129.99.

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

That's a good one and at a good price.

Thanks, I went ahead and ordered it last night before the rebate offer expired and it went up $20.