[ Help/Opinion ] £1700 | Gaming Rig! | 1st Build

Is the 200mm fan for the side door? If so, unfortunately the DH-14 won't fit. I wouldn't recommend a DH-14 for such a mild overclock, a Hyper 212 Evo should do you just fine, however if you plan to overclock HIGHER go right ahead. However, you won't be able to use it if you want the side fan.

AND ONE MAJOR ISSUE! Your Ram is too tall in the case that you do get the DH-14. Yes I know, the DH-14 is a killer in many specs. I believe the 1866 MHZ G.Skill Ares actually does fit, and it looks good as well, however its tricky to use the first Ram slot.

What resolution are you gaming at? If its 1080p, the 690 is massively overkill, I'd recommend either a 680 or a 7970 GHZ edition, with the 680 massively doing better at 1080p imo, as the advantages of the 7970 are not yet had at 1080p. They are both overkill for 1080p though.

Your Harddrive seems good, but I would recommend an SSD as well for games as well as OS.

DVD writer is not too important either.

As for PSU, I would recommend this, and it should suit your needs just fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I also don't recommend the 690 for the fact that it actually isn't 4GB, its two 2GB cards, as Vram is not stacked on top of each other. Its really a strong horse with short legs.

@JJ1217

Thanks for the reply, Ive had to re-post this various times because people where either asleep or not on but coming back to a great helpful comment like this made me rather happy!  

And yes the 200mm fan was for the side but if it doesn't fit i could always put it at the top next to the other 200mm but i don't really need airflow out of the case at that extent, what would you recommend?
Also, i said 4ghz because i wanted to be on the safe side as Ive no experience at overclocking but obviously when i get used to it and skilled then i will defo push the CPU to at least 4.6ghz if possible.

Damn, ok Ive checked that RAM and that looks fantastic thanks, before Ive been recommended to have this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0058J1Q7O/?tag=pcp0f-21 which is a bit slower it looks but £10 cheaper, what do you think is worth getting?

And yes ill be Gaming at 1080p full settings, in a year or so i will be getting a better monitor so i wanted to be a little future proof on that aspect and as i said in the post i will be recording top quality game-play and when using recording software it hits the Frame-rate quite allot so i figured with a 100+ frame-rate - the drop id still be playing 70+ fps (Not exact score, don't know the Frame Rate exactly).

That PSU is great, thanks for that as-well, the only thing is. I got recommended 950watt and if im doing higher overclocking in the future would i need higher than 750watt or no?

Lastly, i love that quote! <3 ahah, but should i SLI 680's or keep the 690, or just one 680. Also i have never SLI'd before so is it easy as plugin 2 gpu's? Thanks again, cant wait to hear from you!

Well, since you only have one 140mm intake, and then two 120mm intakes that are blasted out of the side, you'll have negative pressure building up, because more air is rushing out than going in. There is a huge debate going over alot of sites seeing whether Positive pressure or negative pressure is better, as Positive Pressure helps prevent dust, and makes hot air want to go out, while Negative Pressure removes Hot spots of air in the case, but dust tends to build up.

I personally would just recommend to scrap the second top 200mm.

Since you do want the NH-D14, which is on par with water coolers, and much quieter, then it is good that you will push the CPU past 4 Ghz, all I can say is go for it on that aspect.

Yes Low profile memory will work, and it is technically the same as the first ram you wanted, however there is no heatsink. Ram doesn't really need to be cooled anyways, and hopefully the DH-14 will pull some air over the ram, and cool it anyways.

Well, say you upload in 1080p on youtube, youtube only displays at 30fps. So you might as well save yourself the pain and just hold onto the 60 fps mark. It also means the files will be smaller as well.

The 690 is good, however if you are going to a 1440p monitor, then go for dual 7970 GHZ. Send me some 7970 GHZ cards that Xfired are within your budget, which should be cheaper than a 690 and perform pretty much the same. However 7970 CF would require a much better PSU. It's also 3 GB each card, meaning it'll be hard for it to run out of video ram unless you are actually running 3 displays at 1440p.

It really does depend. If you go for a 120 hz 1080p monitor, then go for a 690 or 680SLI. 680 SLI is slightly better in performance, however I would recommend the 690 for the fact that t is more power efficient, lower temperatures, and you wouldn't have to deal with SLI issues, and also you wouldn't have to worry for the 2GB Frame buffer for awhile.

I would also recommend 950W in the case if you do get two 7970 GHZ, those babies can take 315W each in some scenarios, although realistically in gaming you won't hit that.

Again, it depends on what monitor you upgrade to in the future, if its 120 hz 1080p, get a single 680 4GB and SLI whenever you feel the need to. Right now, you don't need two 680's on a single 1080p monitor, trust me.

If on the case, that you upgrade to a 1440p monitor, I would definitely recommend two 7970 GHZ, but that would also mean you should get a PSU 850W+.

SLI/Xfire is fairly easy. All you have to do is plug another GPU into another PCIe slot, which your motherboard has two of, and then plug in required power cables, download the SLI profile, enable SLi, and your all done. Very easy to set up.

hmm not allowed to edit messages. Anyway, some corrections. I meant to say for the

"It really does depend. If you go for a 120 hz 1080p monitor, then go for a 690 or 680SLI. 680 SLI is slightly better in performance, however I would recommend the 690 for the fact that t is more power efficient, lower temperatures, and you wouldn't have to deal with SLI issues, and also you wouldn't have to worry for the 2GB Frame buffer for awhile. "

You should get a Single 680 and SLI later on, when you need the performance in later games. I don't recommend the 690 on the basis that its lower vram means its not going to be able to fight that well when you up the settings in a year or so.

Also meant to say that last bit in the case that you play on 120hz 1080p ^

Anyways I'll simplify it for you.

120 HZ Monitor 1080p

GTX 680 4GB, SLI later on when it becomes cheap.
Gold 750W Power Supply should suffice.

1440p Monitor

HD 7970 GHZ Edition Xfired
Gold 850W Power supply should also do well. Sorry about making it complicated, I always tend to edit my posts, but for some reason on UK forums I can't  

@JJ1217

Hey, thanks for the reply, i was learning some C++ and i came back to this! Thanks again, you a big help. I can see you must be pretty patient writing all this for me, if you have a website/blog etc that you would like to to 'Shout Out' then i will definitely do so when i become popular on YouTube and you will not be forgotten!  

1. I had never herd of the Negative/Positive pressure so thanks for telling me about that. I will save the money and go with you advice Scrapping the 200mm fan, i will still be buying the 140mm intake on the front because its been recommenced before and airflow will pass through the front and out the back. So ill stay with Negative Pressure but make sure to clean the dust up regularly, it cant be that time consuming compared to hovering my room  

2. Great, i will be going for Low Profile RAM then   Thanks for the heads up on that! Imagine, spending ll this money and then when im building it it doesn't fit! I would be very annoyed so thanks again  

3. Very true, i didn't know about the 30Fps!

4. I'm going with your advice and ill get the 690 for all the reasons you listed. I also forget to say that with Sony Vegas they have added a new feature allowing users to render with the GPU instead of the CPU, this is meant to be faster but you can only use Single Cards so i think it'll be better using a 690 instead of a 680 in that aspect  

5. I will be using a 120HZ 1080p in the future so ill get the Gold 750W although if im going to overclock dosnt it become more Power Demanding meaning ill need a 850w?

Thank you so much, you've been very helpful and im very great full!   Remember if theirs anyway i can repay you i will!

//UPDATE:
Ive been looking at SSD's and ive found this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-2-5inch-Desktop-Accesso...
So i ave 2 questions and ill let you eat! haha
1. What PSU will i need judging that ill be overclocking and using an SSD on top of that
2. Is the SSD above suitable for me?

1. Yeah, but if you have dust filters, it actually sort of mitigates the issue. I was going to get the Phantom until they backordered when I first ordered it and I got my money back   .

2. Haha yeah as I said the NH-D14 kills so many systems its not funny. They actually have a thing on the website that I discovered yesterday that tells you what motherboard, and ram is compatible.

3. Yeah, it'll save you a couple of gigs. I always recommend to record in 45 fps, but play at 60. I believe Dxtory has something about that somewhere, but it costs ALOT of money, and you sort of have to mod it to get it working properly.

4. Actually, technically the 690 is two cards, its picked up as two cards. If you really want to do that, then the CUDA cores in the Nvidia cards can probably help you out there. Normally I'd recommend a GTX 680 2GB and SLI later, but since I am recommending you to SLI later, by the time you SLI, 2 GB of video ram might not be sufficient for some games, and then you again, have a big engine, but crap fuel. The 690 is good for now, however I don't actually know whether Sony Vegas will pick it up as one GPU, or two. Look it up or something some where in google.

5. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1714714 this should point you in the right direction to whether you want a 750 or an 850, in the end its your choice. Try and go Seasonic, they are the best at making PSU's imo, however their price in my country is like twice as much. In pounds however, my budget might not be correct, so you might want to scale it correctly, ie use your own British website with the selection of parts I've given.

Those SSD's are probably the best on the market currently.

SSD's don't take much power.

Really, on the safe side, I would say a good 850W should do you well, overclocking included as well.

Also with your monitor, I would say a single GTX 680 is overkill on a 60 hz monitor currently. I would be much better for you, and your money.. haha, to actually go for a second GTX 680 when you need it. Its a shame when lots of unneeded performance actually goes to waste, maybe when you get your 120hz panel, you can get a second 680 if you feel like it.

1. Okay nice, the Phantom comes with a few dust filters i believe  

2.   so im guessing im compatible?  

3. Yh ill look into that!  

4. Ive just researched and it picks it up as 2 cards :S But like you said, if i SLI later i probably wont have the money because ill buy shiz! and also new cards will come out and its probably better if i get a 690 because ill be using SLI anyways so i might as-well now   And my mum knows someone at work that works as a I.T Tech so he gets discounts from certain suppliers so tomorrow ill be sending my rig to him and i could be potentially knocking a few hundred pounds of my rig so i may as well go all out on the graphics card because ill be getting it cheaper anyways  

5. Yeah ill probably go for a 850Watt, but does it matter if its Gold, Silver or Bronze? Could you tell me a bit about that, thank you

6.Thanks ill be probably getting the SSD for Sony Vegas, FRAPS, OS and my top games  

7. I know its overkill but id much rather get one card that will last me a bit longer then having to SLI in a year or two.

Thanks for helping me its been really helpful  

2. Yeah its compatible, as long as the memory is low profile.

4. Go ahead for a 690, it has its advantages over 680SLI, such as less heat, less energy consumption, and just generally easier to use.

5. Gold just means its alot more efficient at different load amounts. They have to be a specific number to get that ranking. Gold is like high 80% at 25% load, 50% load, and 100% load. Thats how they rate it, which is why you never want to go TOO overkill on a psu, because if you are only using 10%, thats when it is at its most inefficient. Just make sure you go for a Seasonic one.

6. Yep, I recommend an SSD especially for your OS, and having Sony Vegas won't hurt either. I recommend to have games on it that really load alot, such as Skyrim, or any RPG game to be fair. There are a fair amount of other Games as well, such as BF3, that GREATLY benefit from a SSD. For example, with Bf3 on my HDD, I would miss out on the first minute of gameplay because I would still be loading. When I got my SSD, it was much quicker, and I was in before it even started.

7. Yeah, but my only issue is the frame buffer, otherwise they are sweet cards. Try and look into getting two 7970 GHZ edition, they sweep a single 690 off the floor, however it probably takes a 900W Power Supply to be able to effectively hold them in with overclocks. When you send it in to the I.T guy, send in two builds, one with dual 7970 GHZ editions, with a 900W PSU, which should be the same price as a single 690 with a 850W, and then just a single 690 with an 850W. Hopefully, if both builds are the same price, I personally would go for the 7970 GHZ, however it is your call. But even at stock, two 7970 GHZ will literally leave the 690 with sore cheeks, and considering the massive overclock potential on Tahiti GPU's.. its really your call, do you want the Cuda cores, or the most effective gaming experience. So essentially, get the 690 if you are really into video rendering and using your GPU to help out, which I'm not sure how much more effective it is, or get the dual 7970 GHZ's if you want the best frame rates possible.

No worries, that is why we are here, even though no one else might be responding, I also enjoy helping you out  

2. Good good  

4. Yeah there good points, ill most likely go with the 690

5. Yes, ok i will go for Gold then, the only thing im debating is, ive found a NZXT Psu 850 Gold for £40 less and its white wich matches the case really well so if i could get some feedback on that it would be great   http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/part/nzxt-power-supply-hale9...

6.Great   Ill be able to hunt you down before anyone else >  mhahah

7. Yeah ill make sure i get him to check it out   The only thing is im not much of an AMD kinda guy but eh whatever works out best huh  

Thanks again, good to know your enjoy this endless barrage of questions  

NZXT aren't the best PSU maker, either go for Antec, Corsair, which is pretty much a rebranded Seasonic, which is cheaper, and has longer cables, with longer warranty (Probably should of suggested an AX 850, its probably better due to the completely black cables, which go well with a white case), or Seasonic themselves.

AMD Driver issues are fixed as of now, so AMD is now a viable option. The thing you have to realise is that Nvidia Fanboys make the driver issues seem worse than they should be, when they really weren't that bad, it just wasn't adequate upon release.

Even if you initially go for the 690, make sure you at least see the budget with 2 7970's. If they are the same price, I would definitely go for the 7970 GHZ option.

Whatever floats your boat, but when you verse me in an FPS, you'll be dead before your GPU fans start to spin.