New Gaming PC Build HELP PLEASE

[TruBeast]

Hi guys,

This is my first time posing on this forum - so sorry in advance if I break any of the forum rules.

I have decided that I would like to build my first ever gaming rig (yay!), but although I know the basics (like what component I need, what they do and where they go), I found the range and technical specs of what you could buy quite overwhelming - and would really appreciate some help and advice on the components I have chosen before I purchase them.

I will list the components I have chosen (with some info about why I have chosen them) and then give you some background info on what I am trying to achieve.... So here it goes:

Case: Aerocool GT-S White Edition (basically, from a cosmetic point of view, I really want the final product to be dominated by blue - blue glows, blue components - the blue will tie everything together... plus I think this case looks pretty badass)

MoBo: Asrock Z97 Extreme9 (correct socket for my cpu, somewhere down the track I would like to add more graphic cards for SLI, said that the board supports 4k graphics (will be connected to my 4k tv) and ofcourse, the blue)

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Devil's Canyon (I am building this system with the plan to upgrade components as the need arises rather than building a whole new rig... the one thing I would rather throw a little extra cash at in the beginning is the CPU so that it will withstand the test of time and still be able to handle any changes I make to the rest of the rig)

Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 2400MHz 1.2V (I have no idea what the difference between the MHz are, but from the research I have done, it seems that 1600Mhz should be the minimum for gaming?? So honestly, I picked this mostly based on looks (hehe blue), but making sure it was DDR3, above 1600MHz and something I could experiment OC'ing with in the future)

PSU: Thermaltake EVO Blue 2.0 750W (This was picked based on research - most places I looked said that a 750w PSU should cover most gaming rig needs... I would have preferred a modular unit, but I think my case has a relatively good cable management system so hopefully it will be ok).

CPU cooling: Silverstone Argon 120mm AR03 CPU Cooler - SST-AR03 (this I honestly had no idea about! How could there be so many different types of fans!!! Picking this was based on 3 things: fit my CPU socket, was mid ranged price wise, and ofcourse - blue... I just want a fan that will keep my CPU cool, and not make too much noise - I did look at liquid cooling, however I was a bit put off because I read that there was a risk involved, if the liquid cooler leaked inside your rig it could damage the rest of your components? Any advice on this would be great).

HDD and SSD: WD 500GB Caviar Black 3.5 Inch SATA3 7200rpm 64MB Internal HDD & OCZ Vector 150 240GB VTR150-25SAT3-240G (ok - the plan is to have the SSD as my main drive running my OS, programs and games and have the HDD there for my files... but again, spec wise, I don't get it...you could buy a 240gb anywhere between $89>$1,500!! or a 500gb HDD from $55>$300.. If someone could clarify the differences, and if the ones I have picked are ok that would be great)

GPU: - (THIS IS WHERE I NEED THE MOST HELP!! I actually have not picked a gpu - there are soooooooooooo many to pick from! And I really do not understand how to compare them...I am looking for something that will let me run my games at the best possible graphics/frame rate, that will support my 4k tv (which is what it will be plugged into for now), will allow me to connect up to three monitors in the future, supports SLI (or crossfire) for future upgrades, something that will allow me to experiment with OC'ing in the future and something that matches (cosmetically) with the rest of the rig... I would actually also love to learn how to understand and compare the specs myself (for this and all the other components too)... So if you guys would not mind explaining how to do this - or have a good link I could visit to learn more I would really appreciate if you could share that knowledge with me)

Sorry guys, I hope that's not too much info... Please let me know what you think of the above... Is it underdone? Overkill? Good for my requirements? Are there areas where I can save money/should spend more? Any helpful info/links on comparing component specs? Would any feedback at all.

Just to quickly recap:

* cosmetically want the final product to look neat and for the blue color to tie everything together
* want to be able to run my games at the best possible graphics/fps and I do a lot of graphic design so run Photoshop smoothly with large files
* want to be able to run with my 4k tv and utilize the tv's graphics capabilities
*somewhere down the track would like to be able to run 3x monitors, experiment with OC'ing & SLI/Crossfire
* want the final rig to be more than what I need at present, but without it being super overkill
*haha REALLY need help with picking a GPU...

Thanks guys - really looking forward to your input!

 

[SpaceCreation]

A good gpu for you would be the R9 290x UNLESS you really want the best of the best then go gtx titan..

 

[TruBeast]

A good gpu for you would be the R9 290x UNLESS you really want the best of the best then go gtx titan..

Hi SpaceCreation, thanks for getting back to me!

Could you please provide a bit more info?

 

[ZeusGamer]

Here's what I think for your build man. I'm assuming that the budget is somewhat on the $2000 range since you didn't really mention anything stating that you have a budget. I went with the black and red build. I hope you don't mind though. Anyways, hope you have a happy gaming! Here it goes:

CASE: I understand when you say that you need a very beautiful case. I kinda like the one you have there. But if you don't mind, you should check out the NZXT Phantom series. This case is very aesthetically pleasing to my eye. Also, one of the other cases I'm looking at right now is the NZXT H440 case. It covers the PSU so you don't see any clutter from your wires. The only downside though is you can't put any DVD drives. But you shoudn't need one. Nowadays you can get away with just using USB on everything.

MOTHERBOARD: You should go with the Asus Maximus VII Hero one. It's an RoG series motherboard and it's very good looking one too. It's got great overclocking capabilities and Asus is one of the top motherboard makers. This motherboard will also connect to 4K monitors and support SLI/Crossfire whenever you need it.

CPU: No need to discuss this part. It's truly one of the best CPU's in the market right now. Unless you won't do any video rendering at all, then you should definitely check out the Intel Core i5-4690K. There wouldn't be any difference in gaming performance at all. Maybe 1-5 FPS, but that's really just in the margin of error. There shouldn't be any difference whatsoever.

RAM: Honestly, 2400 Mhz and 1600 Mhz has little to no change at all when it comes to gaming. But if that's what you want, then yoo're okay. Also, the "8GB is more than enough" line that people always say, sometimes aren't true. I've modded my Skyrim towards it utilizes at least 9GB of RAM. So capacity is up to you. It should not go lower than 8GB though.

PSU: I believe you should go with the EVGA G2 series of PSU. Those series are one of the most reliable PSU's if not the the most reliable out there. It gives you more room for a second GPU, plus it's a fully modular PSU and that's always a plus! If you didn't know, fully modular means that you can connect the wires that you only need. Making your computer a beautiful build once it's complete! This PSU also has a fanless mode. The fan is turned off when you're not using the computer or when you're just listening to Pandora. I love this feature!

CPU COOLER: You should go with an All-in-One water cooler. I recommend getting the H100i or H110. It will make your CPU cooler specially when you're playing the most CPU intensive games. Plus, Corsair makes high quality products, except for their PSU's. I don't like them as I've had nothing but problems with them.

HDD AND SSD: You should go with Intel 730 Series 240GB SSD for your boot drive and a WD Black 1TB HDD for your storage. Just awesome combination. Super fast booting speed for your OS and again. One of the most reliable SSD's out in the market at the moment. The black drive is very good for gaming as that's what it's optimized for. Heavy task gaming and video rendering. This is where you put all your games.

GPU: You should get Nvidia's GTX 780ti. This is one of the best GPU's out right now. Choose the Asus GTX 780ti DirectCUII model. It's got adequate air cooling and it's very quiet! There's also another one, the EVGA GTX 780ti Dual ACX model has very adequate air cooling as well. But I went with the Asus DirectCU II as it has the color scheme we were making in the first place.

OS: I don't believe you included this in your original post, but you should go with WIndows 8.1 as it supports DirectX 11, DirectX 11.1, and soon, DirectX 12 natively. I believe that in WIndows 7, you'll need an update before you can utilize DX11 and DX11.1, but there will be a performance drop as it does not support it natively, unlike in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.

If you want to compare CPU's, GPU's and SSD's click on this [link] and check out the website. In this website, you can choose a variety of hardware that you can compare. You can check for yourself which one is better. I believe they also have 4K benchmarks on here.

Good luck man. Hope I helped you somehow. Don't forget to choose for best answer!

- ZeusGamer

 

[SpaceCreation]

An R9-290x is extremely good for its price and for gaming. The card does massive stuff when playing games. But if you want to go extremely high fps for games then go with a gtx titan

 

[TruBeast]

Here's what I think for your build man. I'm assuming that the budget is somewhat on the $2000 range since you didn't really mention anything stating that you have a budget. I went with the black and red build. I hope you don't mind though. Anyways, hope you have a happy gaming! Here it goes:

CASE: I understand when you say that you need a very beautiful case. I kinda like the one you have there. But if you don't mind, you should check out the NZXT Phantom series. This case is very aesthetically pleasing to my eye. Also, one of the other cases I'm looking at right now is the NZXT H440 case. It covers the PSU so you don't see any clutter from your wires. The only downside though is you can't put any DVD drives. But you shoudn't need one. Nowadays you can get away with just using USB on everything.

MOTHERBOARD: You should go with the Asus Maximus VII Hero one. It's an RoG series motherboard and it's very good looking one too. It's got great overclocking capabilities and Asus is one of the top motherboard makers. This motherboard will also connect to 4K monitors and support SLI/Crossfire whenever you need it.

CPU: No need to discuss this part. It's truly one of the best CPU's in the market right now. Unless you won't do any video rendering at all, then you should definitely check out the Intel Core i5-4690K. There wouldn't be any difference in gaming performance at all. Maybe 1-5 FPS, but that's really just in the margin of error. There shouldn't be any difference whatsoever.

RAM: Honestly, 2400 Mhz and 1600 Mhz has little to no change at all when it comes to gaming. But if that's what you want, then yoo're okay. Also, the "8GB is more than enough" line that people always say, sometimes aren't true. I've modded my Skyrim towards it utilizes at least 9GB of RAM. So capacity is up to you. It should not go lower than 8GB though.

PSU: I believe you should go with the EVGA G2 series of PSU. Those series are one of the most reliable PSU's if not the the most reliable out there. It gives you more room for a second GPU, plus it's a fully modular PSU and that's always a plus! If you didn't know, fully modular means that you can connect the wires that you only need. Making your computer a beautiful build once it's complete! This PSU also has a fanless mode. The fan is turned off when you're not using the computer or when you're just listening to Pandora. I love this feature!

CPU COOLER: You should go with an All-in-One water cooler. I recommend getting the H100i or H110. It will make your CPU cooler specially when you're playing the most CPU intensive games. Plus, Corsair makes high quality products, except for their PSU's. I don't like them as I've had nothing but problems with them.

GPU: You should get Nvidia's GTX 780ti. This is one of the best GPU's out right now. Choose the Asus GTX 780ti DirectCUII model. It's got adequate air cooling and it's very quiet! There's also another one, the EVGA GTX 780ti Dual ACX model has very adequate air cooling as well. But I went with the Asus DirectCU II as it has the color scheme we were making in the fist place.

HDD AND SSD: You should go with Intel 730 Series 240GB SSD for your boot drive and a WD Black 1TB HDD for your storage. Just awesome combination. Super fast booting speed for your OS and again. One of the most reliable SSD's out in the market at the moment. The black drive is very good for gaming as that's what it's optimized for. Heavy task gaming and video rendering. This is where you put all your games.

Hey ZuesGamer,

appreciate the input mate.

Yea spot on budget wise - around the $2000 is what I want to spend (sorry I should have mentioned that), obviously the less the better, so long as it doesn't compromise quality...

Case Wow the NZXT Phantom series do actually look pretty cool... I might reconsider and change to one. Thanks for pointing them out.

MoBo I had a look at the motherboard you mentioned, price wise between the two the Asus is about $50 cheaper... but there is a couple of things I don't like:

1. I would prefer to stick with a blue/white theme if possible - unless it starts costing me ridiculous amounts just to get components in that color ($50 is kinda bearable...)
2. For that extra $50 I can have (amongst other things) an extra 2 PCIe slots, and an M.2 socket (PCIe Gen2) - kinda seems better to spend that extra $50 now and future proof a little, rather than having to purchase a whole new MoBo right? Or am I looking at this all wrong?

CPU Actually, other than home video editing, I won't be doing much video rendering... and the difference in price is worth considering (about $120 difference!)... I do do a lot of high quality graphic design work though (talking a few gb photoshop files), would I notice a difference in this area?

Ram So a little overkill right? What if I went something like the G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-2400C11Q-16GXM (4x4GB) SDRAM DDR3? It's about $90 cheaper, will it be sufficient for what I need?

PSU Wow! I do like the psu you have mentioned, I was actually looking for something that was fully modular - and it is cheaper than the one I had picked... Do you think 750w is enough for my needs?

CPU Cooler As I mentioned in my post... not too sure about water cooled unit... I have heard that if they get a leak they could do some serious damage to the rest of your components... that scared me off a little. What do you think?

gpu Great thanks - like I said in my post, I have no idea about the gpu... When you say the gtx780 ti, does it matter what brand, and does the number of gb make much difference at all??... Also, I had a quick look at them, and the cheapest I can find is about $750 - that's a fair chunk of my budget!

HDD & SSD ok great! I will go with these two - I was wondering what the difference between black, blue, green etc was in the WD HDD's. So are you saying I should install my games on the HDD and not the SSD?

Thanks for your help man, really appreciated.

 

[ZeusGamer]

Here's what I think for your build man. I'm assuming that the budget is somewhat on the $2000 range since you didn't really mention anything stating that you have a budget. I went with the black and red build. I hope you don't mind though. Anyways, hope you have a happy gaming! Here it goes:

CASE: I understand when you say that you need a very beautiful case. I kinda like the one you have there. But if you don't mind, you should check out the NZXT Phantom series. This case is very aesthetically pleasing to my eye. Also, one of the other cases I'm looking at right now is the NZXT H440 case. It covers the PSU so you don't see any clutter from your wires. The only downside though is you can't put any DVD drives. But you shoudn't need one. Nowadays you can get away with just using USB on everything.

MOTHERBOARD: You should go with the Asus Maximus VII Hero one. It's an RoG series motherboard and it's very good looking one too. It's got great overclocking capabilities and Asus is one of the top motherboard makers. This motherboard will also connect to 4K monitors and support SLI/Crossfire whenever you need it.

CPU: No need to discuss this part. It's truly one of the best CPU's in the market right now. Unless you won't do any video rendering at all, then you should definitely check out the Intel Core i5-4690K. There wouldn't be any difference in gaming performance at all. Maybe 1-5 FPS, but that's really just in the margin of error. There shouldn't be any difference whatsoever.

RAM: Honestly, 2400 Mhz and 1600 Mhz has little to no change at all when it comes to gaming. But if that's what you want, then yoo're okay. Also, the "8GB is more than enough" line that people always say, sometimes aren't true. I've modded my Skyrim towards it utilizes at least 9GB of RAM. So capacity is up to you. It should not go lower than 8GB though.

PSU: I believe you should go with the EVGA G2 series of PSU. Those series are one of the most reliable PSU's if not the the most reliable out there. It gives you more room for a second GPU, plus it's a fully modular PSU and that's always a plus! If you didn't know, fully modular means that you can connect the wires that you only need. Making your computer a beautiful build once it's complete! This PSU also has a fanless mode. The fan is turned off when you're not using the computer or when you're just listening to Pandora. I love this feature!

CPU COOLER: You should go with an All-in-One water cooler. I recommend getting the H100i or H110. It will make your CPU cooler specially when you're playing the most CPU intensive games. Plus, Corsair makes high quality products, except for their PSU's. I don't like them as I've had nothing but problems with them.

GPU: You should get Nvidia's GTX 780ti. This is one of the best GPU's out right now. Choose the Asus GTX 780ti DirectCUII model. It's got adequate air cooling and it's very quiet! There's also another one, the EVGA GTX 780ti Dual ACX model has very adequate air cooling as well. But I went with the Asus DirectCU II as it has the color scheme we were making in the fist place.

HDD AND SSD: You should go with Intel 730 Series 240GB SSD for your boot drive and a WD Black 1TB HDD for your storage. Just awesome combination. Super fast booting speed for your OS and again. One of the most reliable SSD's out in the market at the moment. The black drive is very good for gaming as that's what it's optimized for. Heavy task gaming and video rendering. This is where you put all your games.

Hey ZuesGamer,

appreciate the input mate.

Yea spot on budget wise - around the $2000 is what I want to spend (sorry I should have mentioned that), obviously the less the better, so long as it doesn't compromise quality...

Case Wow the NZXT Phantom series do actually look pretty cool... I might reconsider and change to one. Thanks for pointing them out.

MoBo I had a look at the motherboard you mentioned, price wise between the two the Asus is about $50 cheaper... but there is a couple of things I don't like:

1. I would prefer to stick with a blue/white theme if possible - unless it starts costing me ridiculous amounts just to get components in that color ($50 is kinda bearable...)
2. For that extra $50 I can have (amongst other things) an extra 2 PCIe slots, and an M.2 socket (PCIe Gen2) - kinda seems better to spend that extra $50 now and future proof a little, rather than having to purchase a whole new MoBo right? Or am I looking at this all wrong?

CPU Actually, other than home video editing, I won't be doing much video rendering... and the difference in price is worth considering (about $120 difference!)... I do do a lot of high quality graphic design work though (talking a few gb photoshop files), would I notice a difference in this area?

Ram So a little overkill right? What if I went something like the G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-2400C11Q-16GXM (4x4GB) SDRAM DDR3? It's about $90 cheaper, will it be sufficient for what I need?

PSU Wow! I do like the psu you have mentioned, I was actually looking for something that was fully modular - and it is cheaper than the one I had picked... Do you think 750w is enough for my needs?

CPU Cooler As I mentioned in my post... not too sure about water cooled unit... I have heard that if they get a leak they could do some serious damage to the rest of your components... that scared me off a little. What do you think?

gpu Great thanks - like I said in my post, I have no idea about the gpu... When you say the gtx780 ti, does it matter what brand, and does the number of gb make much difference at all??... Also, I had a quick look at them, and the cheapest I can find is about $750 - that's a fair chunk of my budget!

HDD & SSD ok great! I will go with these two - I was wondering what the difference between black, blue, green etc was in the WD HDD's. So are you saying I should install my games on the HDD and not the SSD?

Thanks for your help man, really appreciated.

For your motherboard, it's not necessary to spend $230. This is the same brand and chipset but the price is lower [link] and it only cost almost 50% lower. I agree that M.2 SSD's are incredibly fast, but have you seen how much they cost? It's still up to you though. I guess having the option to install one in the future is better to not having the option at all. The motherboard in the link is the same as you mentioned above. But it doesn't have mounting for M.2 SSD.

For the CPU, if you do some light content creation, the Intel Core i7-4790K will benefit you. But like I said, in gaming, the performance won't change very much at all. My i7-4770K is just as good as my cousins i5-4670K in gaming. So, it depends on what you're actually going to be doing in this build.

For your RAM, I would go with 2x8 rather than 4x4. Filling all your RAM slots will actually stress the memory controller of your CPU. This I really recommend being 2 sticks of RAM rather then 4. 16GB will last you a couple of years man. This will totally suffice your needs!

If you're planning to SLI/Crossfire in the future, I would recommend getting an 850w as 750w just won't cut it. Two 780ti's would still work on an 850w power supply. These power supplies need to be very reliable though. You wouldn't want your PSU killing your expensive GPU's!

Honestly, the chances of them leaking are very little. But if you're still having doubts about liquid coolers, then you should get this [link] cooler. This is the best air cooler your money can buy right now. Noctua might have some ugly color scheme, but they are VERY quiet and they work very well specially with whichever CPU you're going to get!

It doesn't matter which one you get at this point. Also, for 780ti, there's only 3GB model. But on a 1080P monitor? That's all you're ever going to need actually. Back to the topic of which model you should choose. You should choose whichever has the highest core clock, so you'll have more room for overclocking so you choose to do so.

For HDD, black is basically the best HDD out right now, unless you go for the velociraptor. I don't know much about the product. So you'll have to do your own research about that right now. And you are correct, you should store your games on the HDD and the OS on the SSD. You can put games that you play the most on your SSD though!

 

[byza]

Here's what I think for your build man. I'm assuming that the budget is somewhat on the $2000 range since you didn't really mention anything stating that you have a budget. I went with the black and red build. I hope you don't mind though. Anyways, hope you have a happy gaming! Here it goes:

CASE: I understand when you say that you need a very beautiful case. I kinda like the one you have there. But if you don't mind, you should check out the NZXT Phantom series. This case is very aesthetically pleasing to my eye. Also, one of the other cases I'm looking at right now is the NZXT H440 case. It covers the PSU so you don't see any clutter from your wires. The only downside though is you can't put any DVD drives. But you shoudn't need one. Nowadays you can get away with just using USB on everything.

MOTHERBOARD: You should go with the Asus Maximus VII Hero one. It's an RoG series motherboard and it's very good looking one too. It's got great overclocking capabilities and Asus is one of the top motherboard makers. This motherboard will also connect to 4K monitors and support SLI/Crossfire whenever you need it.

CPU: No need to discuss this part. It's truly one of the best CPU's in the market right now. Unless you won't do any video rendering at all, then you should definitely check out the Intel Core i5-4690K. There wouldn't be any difference in gaming performance at all. Maybe 1-5 FPS, but that's really just in the margin of error. There shouldn't be any difference whatsoever.

RAM: Honestly, 2400 Mhz and 1600 Mhz has little to no change at all when it comes to gaming. But if that's what you want, then yoo're okay. Also, the "8GB is more than enough" line that people always say, sometimes aren't true. I've modded my Skyrim towards it utilizes at least 9GB of RAM. So capacity is up to you. It should not go lower than 8GB though.

PSU: I believe you should go with the EVGA G2 series of PSU. Those series are one of the most reliable PSU's if not the the most reliable out there. It gives you more room for a second GPU, plus it's a fully modular PSU and that's always a plus! If you didn't know, fully modular means that you can connect the wires that you only need. Making your computer a beautiful build once it's complete! This PSU also has a fanless mode. The fan is turned off when you're not using the computer or when you're just listening to Pandora. I love this feature!

CPU COOLER: You should go with an All-in-One water cooler. I recommend getting the H100i or H110. It will make your CPU cooler specially when you're playing the most CPU intensive games. Plus, Corsair makes high quality products, except for their PSU's. I don't like them as I've had nothing but problems with them.

HDD AND SSD: You should go with Intel 730 Series 240GB SSD for your boot drive and a WD Black 1TB HDD for your storage. Just awesome combination. Super fast booting speed for your OS and again. One of the most reliable SSD's out in the market at the moment. The black drive is very good for gaming as that's what it's optimized for. Heavy task gaming and video rendering. This is where you put all your games.

GPU: You should get Nvidia's GTX 780ti. This is one of the best GPU's out right now. Choose the Asus GTX 780ti DirectCUII model. It's got adequate air cooling and it's very quiet! There's also another one, the EVGA GTX 780ti Dual ACX model has very adequate air cooling as well. But I went with the Asus DirectCU II as it has the color scheme we were making in the first place.

OS: I don't believe you included this in your original post, but you should go with WIndows 8.1 as it supports DirectX 11, DirectX 11.1, and soon, DirectX 12 natively. I believe that in WIndows 7, you'll need an update before you can utilize DX11 and DX11.1, but there will be a performance drop as it does not support it natively, unlike in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.

If you want to compare CPU's, GPU's and SSD's click on this [link] and check out the website. In this website, you can choose a variety of hardware that you can compare. You can check for yourself which one is better. I believe they also have 4K benchmarks on here.

Good luck man. Hope I helped you somehow. Don't forget to choose for best answer!

- ZeusGamer

Here's what I think for your build man. I'm assuming that the budget is somewhat on the $2000 range since you didn't really mention anything stating that you have a budget. I went with the black and red build. I hope you don't mind though. Anyways, hope you have a happy gaming! Here it goes:

CASE: I understand when you say that you need a very beautiful case. I kinda like the one you have there. But if you don't mind, you should check out the NZXT Phantom series. This case is very aesthetically pleasing to my eye. Also, one of the other cases I'm looking at right now is the NZXT H440 case. It covers the PSU so you don't see any clutter from your wires. The only downside though is you can't put any DVD drives. But you shoudn't need one. Nowadays you can get away with just using USB on everything.

MOTHERBOARD: You should go with the Asus Maximus VII Hero one. It's an RoG series motherboard and it's very good looking one too. It's got great overclocking capabilities and Asus is one of the top motherboard makers. This motherboard will also connect to 4K monitors and support SLI/Crossfire whenever you need it.

CPU: No need to discuss this part. It's truly one of the best CPU's in the market right now. Unless you won't do any video rendering at all, then you should definitely check out the Intel Core i5-4690K. There wouldn't be any difference in gaming performance at all. Maybe 1-5 FPS, but that's really just in the margin of error. There shouldn't be any difference whatsoever.

RAM: Honestly, 2400 Mhz and 1600 Mhz has little to no change at all when it comes to gaming. But if that's what you want, then yoo're okay. Also, the "8GB is more than enough" line that people always say, sometimes aren't true. I've modded my Skyrim towards it utilizes at least 9GB of RAM. So capacity is up to you. It should not go lower than 8GB though.

PSU: I believe you should go with the EVGA G2 series of PSU. Those series are one of the most reliable PSU's if not the the most reliable out there. It gives you more room for a second GPU, plus it's a fully modular PSU and that's always a plus! If you didn't know, fully modular means that you can connect the wires that you only need. Making your computer a beautiful build once it's complete! This PSU also has a fanless mode. The fan is turned off when you're not using the computer or when you're just listening to Pandora. I love this feature!

CPU COOLER: You should go with an All-in-One water cooler. I recommend getting the H100i or H110. It will make your CPU cooler specially when you're playing the most CPU intensive games. Plus, Corsair makes high quality products, except for their PSU's. I don't like them as I've had nothing but problems with them.

GPU: You should get Nvidia's GTX 780ti. This is one of the best GPU's out right now. Choose the Asus GTX 780ti DirectCUII model. It's got adequate air cooling and it's very quiet! There's also another one, the EVGA GTX 780ti Dual ACX model has very adequate air cooling as well. But I went with the Asus DirectCU II as it has the color scheme we were making in the fist place.

HDD AND SSD: You should go with Intel 730 Series 240GB SSD for your boot drive and a WD Black 1TB HDD for your storage. Just awesome combination. Super fast booting speed for your OS and again. One of the most reliable SSD's out in the market at the moment. The black drive is very good for gaming as that's what it's optimized for. Heavy task gaming and video rendering. This is where you put all your games.

Hey ZuesGamer,

appreciate the input mate.

Yea spot on budget wise - around the $2000 is what I want to spend (sorry I should have mentioned that), obviously the less the better, so long as it doesn't compromise quality...

Case Wow the NZXT Phantom series do actually look pretty cool... I might reconsider and change to one. Thanks for pointing them out.

MoBo I had a look at the motherboard you mentioned, price wise between the two the Asus is about $50 cheaper... but there is a couple of things I don't like:

1. I would prefer to stick with a blue/white theme if possible - unless it starts costing me ridiculous amounts just to get components in that color ($50 is kinda bearable...)
2. For that extra $50 I can have (amongst other things) an extra 2 PCIe slots, and an M.2 socket (PCIe Gen2) - kinda seems better to spend that extra $50 now and future proof a little, rather than having to purchase a whole new MoBo right? Or am I looking at this all wrong?

CPU Actually, other than home video editing, I won't be doing much video rendering... and the difference in price is worth considering (about $120 difference!)... I do do a lot of high quality graphic design work though (talking a few gb photoshop files), would I notice a difference in this area?

Ram So a little overkill right? What if I went something like the G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-2400C11Q-16GXM (4x4GB) SDRAM DDR3? It's about $90 cheaper, will it be sufficient for what I need?

PSU Wow! I do like the psu you have mentioned, I was actually looking for something that was fully modular - and it is cheaper than the one I had picked... Do you think 750w is enough for my needs?

CPU Cooler As I mentioned in my post... not too sure about water cooled unit... I have heard that if they get a leak they could do some serious damage to the rest of your components... that scared me off a little. What do you think?

gpu Great thanks - like I said in my post, I have no idea about the gpu... When you say the gtx780 ti, does it matter what brand, and does the number of gb make much difference at all??... Also, I had a quick look at them, and the cheapest I can find is about $750 - that's a fair chunk of my budget!

HDD & SSD ok great! I will go with these two - I was wondering what the difference between black, blue, green etc was in the WD HDD's. So are you saying I should install my games on the HDD and not the SSD?

Thanks for your help man, really appreciated.

Case I love the H440, I'm considering swapping my massive Phantom 630 for one, it's a great looking case and comes in some nice colour combo's but a few reviews have shown it to not have the greatest airflow so i'm not sure i'd use it for a rig intended for 4k gaming.

Mobo Most Z motherboards say they support 4K, I wouldn't worry about it as a selling point. The ROG series have some cool unique features and are great quality, but don't feel you need to get one if you really want blue. As far as gaming performance goes, there will be no difference. You could go down to an Asrock Extreme4 and not see a difference in gaming. There are advantages to higher end boards, they have better build quality, unique features and higher end components. It just doesn't translate into FPS in games.

CPU The i7 can perform up to ~30% better in tasks that take advantage of hyperthreading, which editing and rendering does. It's really up to you whether that is worth the money or not.

RAM Ripjaws X would be fine. You might also want to take a look at Trident if you plan on overclocking it. I think you might have gotten a bit confused with the RAM, Ripjaws 4 is DDR4 and will only work with the new X99 chipset motherboards.

PSU The EVGA G2 series are fantastic and very competitively priced for their quality. If you're getting a modular PSU you should sleeve your cables for a premium look. I'll link you guides and whatnot below. 750w is enough for a single card system. If you want high quality 4k you'll need at least an SLI system and might want a bit more juice.

CPU Cooler I'd leak test the AIO before putting it in my system but i'd probably still use one. They look a lot neater and put a lot less stress on the motherboard than a big air cooler. That being said i've got a NH-D14 and love the big chunky beast. Although it is not covered by warranty, Corsair have been known to replace damaged components from leaking AIO's on a case by case basis. This obviously requires proof and you'll need to jump though some hoops without any guarantee but i'm just letting you know they aren't always jerks if they know they are at fault.

GPU The 780 ti is excellent, but you can also look at the 290x for similar performance at a lower price point, although they do generate more heat. I'd lean towards the MSI Twin Frozr as it is usually the quietest.

Storage Both are great recommendations. The SSD gives faster loading times but not improved gaming performance. As an example if you move between areas on WoW or Borderlands it will load much faster from the SSD than the HDD but FPS will be the same regardless. Sometimes this is good, but also times it can be annoying because often tips or story segments are shown on the loading screen. The SSD will be faster when opening your large graphics files. Make sure you install your OS on a separate partition to where you install programs and keep files. This way if your OS gets corrupted you can do a fresh install without losing everything.

 

[byza]

I forgot to add my sleeving links so i'm putting it in a separate post.

MDPC and Lutro0 have the best sleeving. Another member on these forums told me Lutro0 gets their sleeving from the same supplier as MDPC but whenever I check Lutro0 is sold out. Unfortunately this high quality sleeving is also the most difficult to work with, although it gets fantastic results. A much cheaper and easier to work with option is Flexi PET Sleeving. It still looks good but the weave is not as thick or tight as the MDPC, although it is possible to get a tighter weave PET, i've never found a supplier for it in Aus so I can't say how it compares. The third option is using 550 Paracord. All you need to do is remove the central cords and tape up your pins so they don't get caught and sleeve away. Also with Paracord you can melt the ends so you don't have to use heat shrink for a really professional look. Lutro0 has a heat shrink free method with normal sleeving but i'm yet to try it. He also sells coreless Paracord but again it always seems to be sold out If you do use heat shrink on Paracord, you'll need to use a bit more than PET or MDPC as it doesn't grip as well. Since trying Paracord it's probably my favourite option, but mostly because it's cheap and easy to find.

MDPC
http://en.mdpc-x.com/
Lutro0
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g60/LutroO_Products.html?id=c6S5F3AT
http://lutro0-customs.com/
PET
http://www.cableorganizer.com/cable-sleeving/

Paracord i'm pretty sure you can find yourself.

Guides
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=710559
http://www.overclock.net/a/lutro0s-video-guide-to-sleeving (I think video 9 is his heat shrink free method, i've not actually watched these myself, I found out about them from another member)

 

[ZeusGamer]

I forgot to add my sleeving links so i'm putting it in a separate post.

MDPC and Lutro0 have the best sleeving. Another member on these forums told me Lutro0 gets their sleeving from the same supplier as MDPC but whenever I check Lutro0 is sold out. Unfortunately this high quality sleeving is also the most difficult to work with, although it gets fantastic results. A much cheaper and easier to work with option is Flexi PET Sleeving. It still looks good but the weave is not as thick or tight as the MDPC, although it is possible to get a tighter weave PET, i've never found a supplier for it in Aus so I can't say how it compares. The third option is using 550 Paracord. All you need to do is remove the central cords and tape up your pins so they don't get caught and sleeve away. Also with Paracord you can melt the ends so you don't have to use heat shrink for a really professional look. Lutro0 has a heat shrink free method with normal sleeving but i'm yet to try it. He also sells coreless Paracord but again it always seems to be sold out If you do use heat shrink on Paracord, you'll need to use a bit more than PET or MDPC as it doesn't grip as well. Since trying Paracord it's probably my favourite option, but mostly because it's cheap and easy to find.

MDPC
http://en.mdpc-x.com/
Lutro0
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g60/LutroO_Products.html?id=c6S5F3AT
http://lutro0-customs.com/
PET
http://www.cableorganizer.com/cable-sleeving/

Paracord i'm pretty sure you can find yourself.

Guides
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=710559
http://www.overclock.net/a/lutro0s-video-guide-to-sleeving (I think video 9 is his heat shrink free method, i've not actually watched these myself, I found out about them from another member)

Don't forget that EVGA also does their custom sleeved cables! Specially for G2/P2 models of PSU [link].

Personally, I would go with what is created for the product that you're going to get. I'm actually saving up for those cables and either an NZXT Phantom 410 or NZXT H440 lol. I like either one of them and I can't choose!

 

[byza]

I didn't know EVGA did their own sleeving, I probably should have checked before I went to the effort of the last post haha. I'd go with the evga cables too, just because to sleeve with decent sleeving will cost you almost as much but take way more time.

I like both but i'd get the H440 if it's a single card system, it's just so clean looking. I've wondered if removing some of the sound deadening would improve airflow a bit to make it better for a dual card system. If I lived in a cooler climate it'd probably be ok but it gets too hot here in summer.

 

[ZeusGamer]

I didn't know EVGA did their own sleeving, I probably should have checked before I went to the effort of the last post haha. I'd go with the evga cables too, just because to sleeve with decent sleeving will cost you almost as much but take way more time.

I like both but i'd get the H440 if it's a single card system, it's just so clean looking. I've wondered if removing some of the sound deadening would improve airflow a bit to make it better for a dual card system. If I lived in a cooler climate it'd probably be ok but it gets too hot here in summer.

Where do you live by if you don't mind me asking?

I live in one of the most hottest cities in California, which is Bakersfield. Sometimes, it gets 37.77C outside.

But my rooms ambient temperature stays between 25C to 30C.

 

[byza]

Gold Coast, Australia. It's not too hot, maybe low 40's in the middle of summer.

 

[TruBeast]

I forgot to add my sleeving links so i'm putting it in a separate post.

MDPC and Lutro0 have the best sleeving. Another member on these forums told me Lutro0 gets their sleeving from the same supplier as MDPC but whenever I check Lutro0 is sold out. Unfortunately this high quality sleeving is also the most difficult to work with, although it gets fantastic results. A much cheaper and easier to work with option is Flexi PET Sleeving. It still looks good but the weave is not as thick or tight as the MDPC, although it is possible to get a tighter weave PET, i've never found a supplier for it in Aus so I can't say how it compares. The third option is using 550 Paracord. All you need to do is remove the central cords and tape up your pins so they don't get caught and sleeve away. Also with Paracord you can melt the ends so you don't have to use heat shrink for a really professional look. Lutro0 has a heat shrink free method with normal sleeving but i'm yet to try it. He also sells coreless Paracord but again it always seems to be sold out If you do use heat shrink on Paracord, you'll need to use a bit more than PET or MDPC as it doesn't grip as well. Since trying Paracord it's probably my favourite option, but mostly because it's cheap and easy to find.

MDPC
http://en.mdpc-x.com/
Lutro0
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g60/LutroO_Products.html?id=c6S5F3AT
http://lutro0-customs.com/
PET
http://www.cableorganizer.com/cable-sleeving/

Paracord i'm pretty sure you can find yourself.

Guides
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=710559
http://www.overclock.net/a/lutro0s-video-guide-to-sleeving (I think video 9 is his heat shrink free method, i've not actually watched these myself, I found out about them from another member)

Hey byza thanks mna that is awesome info!

I actually didn't even know you could change the sleeving color of the cabling, but that it really gonna finish off the look! Thanks once again ZuesGamer re EVGA's sleeving link - I will def be getting this now.

Byza:

Case ... I had a look at a few reviews for the aerocool GT-S that I was originally going to get... and it actually got quite a bad wrap... no air filters, no tooless bays... pretty dissappointing actually for its price, so now I'm on the hunt for a new case.

MoBo... yea I do really like the blue... every time I look at other boards it just doesn't "look" right... I know my rig should be about performance, but if I'm spending big bucks on it then I do want it to look good too... On that note though, the Asrock Extreme4,6 and 9 all do share the same general look - I originally thought that it would be better for me to go with the best of the three straight off the bat so that I have extra options if I ever go to upgrade somewhere down the line, but now that it is all adding up, maybe I will look at one of the other two.

CPU i7 it is then! Like I said originally - if there is one place I would rather throw extra money into from the get go it's the CPU

Ram Oh I didnt even realize that the Ripjaw 4 was a DDR4! thanks for pointing that out... The only concern I have with the Ripjaws X is that in the specs it says the "tested speed" is 2400, but the SPD speed is only 1333... does that mean that it will only run at 1333Mhz unless I tweak it to run at 1600 or 2400? And if so, is that hard to do (sorry I have never OC'd before (assuming that's how its done))?

PSU Yea definitely going with the EVGA 850w... especially now I know you can get the cables in blue!!

CPU Cooling ok... it seems I should probably re consider an AIO unit... to be honest though, I don't know much about them (other than they kinda work like a radiator in your car)... Are they hard to install? Do you have to put the liquid in yourself or do you simply just attach it like you would an air cooler?.... Can you get it with clear tubing and run blue liquid through it?!?!

GPU ok - the MSI Twin Frozr 780 ti it is then... A bit more than I was hoping to spend but all well... This may seem like an odd question, but can you get a different case cover to replace the red with the blue? I know its odd but hey, if you can change cable sleeves to match then who knows!

 

[TruBeast]

Gold Coast, Australia. It's not too hot, maybe low 40's in the middle of summer.

Byza your from Australia?? Wow me too what are the odds!

So I guess you would be the best person to ask this - where is the best place/online shop to get parts from in Australia?? I've been comparing the prices I can find here in Australia to what you can get them for in the US - and the difference is insane!!

The best I have found so far CPL Online - but I'm sure there has to be somewhere cheaper or a little closer in price to say something like newegg in the States....

 

[TruBeast]

I forgot to add my sleeving links so i'm putting it in a separate post.

MDPC and Lutro0 have the best sleeving. Another member on these forums told me Lutro0 gets their sleeving from the same supplier as MDPC but whenever I check Lutro0 is sold out. Unfortunately this high quality sleeving is also the most difficult to work with, although it gets fantastic results. A much cheaper and easier to work with option is Flexi PET Sleeving. It still looks good but the weave is not as thick or tight as the MDPC, although it is possible to get a tighter weave PET, i've never found a supplier for it in Aus so I can't say how it compares. The third option is using 550 Paracord. All you need to do is remove the central cords and tape up your pins so they don't get caught and sleeve away. Also with Paracord you can melt the ends so you don't have to use heat shrink for a really professional look. Lutro0 has a heat shrink free method with normal sleeving but i'm yet to try it. He also sells coreless Paracord but again it always seems to be sold out If you do use heat shrink on Paracord, you'll need to use a bit more than PET or MDPC as it doesn't grip as well. Since trying Paracord it's probably my favourite option, but mostly because it's cheap and easy to find.

MDPC
http://en.mdpc-x.com/
Lutro0
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g60/LutroO_Products.html?id=c6S5F3AT
http://lutro0-customs.com/
PET
http://www.cableorganizer.com/cable-sleeving/

Paracord i'm pretty sure you can find yourself.

Guides
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=710559
http://www.overclock.net/a/lutro0s-video-guide-to-sleeving (I think video 9 is his heat shrink free method, i've not actually watched these myself, I found out about them from another member)

Don't forget that EVGA also does their custom sleeved cables! Specially for G2/P2 models of PSU [link].

Personally, I would go with what is created for the product that you're going to get. I'm actually saving up for those cables and either an NZXT Phantom 410 or NZXT H440 lol. I like either one of them and I can't choose!

ZeusGamer or Byza - any idea where I can get these in Australia? Apparently EVGA don't do shipping to Aus.

 

[ZeusGamer]

I forgot to add my sleeving links so i'm putting it in a separate post.

MDPC and Lutro0 have the best sleeving. Another member on these forums told me Lutro0 gets their sleeving from the same supplier as MDPC but whenever I check Lutro0 is sold out. Unfortunately this high quality sleeving is also the most difficult to work with, although it gets fantastic results. A much cheaper and easier to work with option is Flexi PET Sleeving. It still looks good but the weave is not as thick or tight as the MDPC, although it is possible to get a tighter weave PET, i've never found a supplier for it in Aus so I can't say how it compares. The third option is using 550 Paracord. All you need to do is remove the central cords and tape up your pins so they don't get caught and sleeve away. Also with Paracord you can melt the ends so you don't have to use heat shrink for a really professional look. Lutro0 has a heat shrink free method with normal sleeving but i'm yet to try it. He also sells coreless Paracord but again it always seems to be sold out If you do use heat shrink on Paracord, you'll need to use a bit more than PET or MDPC as it doesn't grip as well. Since trying Paracord it's probably my favourite option, but mostly because it's cheap and easy to find.

MDPC
http://en.mdpc-x.com/
Lutro0
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g60/LutroO_Products.html?id=c6S5F3AT
http://lutro0-customs.com/
PET
http://www.cableorganizer.com/cable-sleeving/

Paracord i'm pretty sure you can find yourself.

Guides
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=710559
http://www.overclock.net/a/lutro0s-video-guide-to-sleeving (I think video 9 is his heat shrink free method, i've not actually watched these myself, I found out about them from another member)

Don't forget that EVGA also does their custom sleeved cables! Specially for G2/P2 models of PSU [link].

Personally, I would go with what is created for the product that you're going to get. I'm actually saving up for those cables and either an NZXT Phantom 410 or NZXT H440 lol. I like either one of them and I can't choose!

ZeusGamer or Byza - any idea where I can get these in Australia? Apparently EVGA don't do shipping to Aus.

If EVGA does not ship directly to Australia, try with the Amazon.

 

[byza]

Where are you located? Because shipping costs so much some places are better than others depending on location.
Umart is probably the best in Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast. Mwave is also good for Sydney and their distance shipping on small items is cheaper than most other places, however shipping on large items costs more than other retailers.
PCCasegear is the best for Melbourne, i'm not sure where CPL is located but i'm pretty sure it is in Melbourne too.
Some other places to check that I haven't used yet and i'm not sure of their location are PCmeal and i-Tech.

It's also worth checking the clearance stock on PCCG, sometimes they have amazing deals on GPU's and mobo's. I got $80 off an MSI Z77A-GD65 when they were still current, so their clearance stuff isn't always junk. You'll find it tends to be done in categories for some reason too. So a while ago there were a bunch of headphones on sale and before that it was a ton of WC parts. It stays on there till it's sold too.

I ususally find the parts I want on http://au.pcpartpicker.com/ It's the Australian PCPartPicker then compare the prices to retailers that aren't affiliated such as Umart. Also, for whatever reason all the stock isn't aways listed and sale items are usually absent too so it's always worth checking the affiliated sites directly.