OTTO - Revised

[MichaelBP]

Last summer I build my first high end gaming PC in 7 years, and I really enjoyed it. However a year have almost past, and it’s time for some upgrades and tweaks around the case. So why not take you along for the ride and get some of your opinions about what to chose.   

 

Rational: Performance and Silence – I’m not a hardcore gamer by any definition, but I like to play games like Company of Heroes 2, Anno 2070, Assassins Creed 4, Fallout: New Vegas, (and soon Watch Dogs) without to much compromise at 1080p. At the same time I want the PC to be fairly quiet.

 

The specs, with primary and secondary upgrade options listed below the original part. I would love to hear your opinions on the setup. I'm pretty set on the Noctua fans, and the ram change is mainly for esthetics and hight. I'm mostly in doubt about the graphics card setup. 

 

 

• Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
• CPU: AMD FX 8350 @ 4GHz (stock)
• CPU-cooler: Corsair H80i + Corsair SP12 ‘Quiet edition’ Noctua NF-F12 PWM
  • NZXT Kraken X40 + Noctua NF-A14 PWM (Mounted in front)
  • NZXT Kraken X60 + 2x Noctua NF-A14 PMW (Mounted in front)
• Ram: Corsair Vengeance 2x4 GB 1600MHz
  • Kingston HyperX FURY 4x4GB 1866MHz (Black)
  • Kingston HyperX FURY 4x8GB 1600MHz (Black)
• SSD: Samsung 840 Basic 240 GB
  • 2x Samsung 840 EVO 250GB in Raid 0
  • Samsung 840 EVO 500GB
• Graphics card: ASUS DirectCU II 660ti (in RMA :unsure: )
  • ASUS DirectCU II OC GTX 770 2GB (Just Arrived  )
  • Should I run SLI GTX 770 or use the 660ti as a dedicated PhysX card, or neither?
• Case: Fractal Designs Defined R4
  • Extra sound dampening, any suggestions?
• Case-fans: 2x Fractal Designs r2 140mm silent series fans in front

o   2x Noctua NF-A14 PMW in front, Noctua NF-A14 PMW in bottom 

• PSU: Silverstone Strider Plus, 850W

Edited June 4, 2014 by MichaelBP

[Akolyte]

The Kraken X60 in my eyes is the only real watercooling upgrade, in fact running at stock your current cooler is FAR BEYOND enough.  Maybe you could change your power supply instead for aesthetics as your current one (no offense) doesn't have the best looking cables. 

 

GTX 770 in SLI is great, but its far from needed because the GTX 770 can handle all games on ultra 1080p perfectly fine  If you want more performance your cooler is good enough to completley handle an FX 9590 at stock clocks okay, the 9590 is pretty hot but the h80i is a beast of a cooler I even dream of.  So its more than enough  if you want to get a 4x4GB kit I'd actually just recommend going with another corsair vengnace 1600mhz 8GB kit, because it will looks perfectly fine and will save you quite a kit of money.  

 

I'd recommend getting a 500GB SSD not two 250GB, in raid 0.  I have two 120GB but refuse to raid 0 them because Raid 0 can have problems and isn't the most best in the way of stability and security, for securing your data.  

[ShadowCaptain]

The Kraken X60 in my eyes is the only real watercooling upgrade, in fact running at stock your current cooler is FAR BEYOND enough.  Maybe you could change your power supply instead for aesthetics as your current one (no offense) doesn't have the best looking cables. 

 

GTX 770 in SLI is great, but its far from needed because the GTX 770 can handle all games on ultra 1080p perfectly fine   

 

I'd recommend getting a 500GB SSD not two 250GB, in raid 0.  I have two 120GB but refuse to raid 0 them because Raid 0 can have problems and isn't the most best in the way of stability and security, for securing your data.  

 

Agreed, the kraken wont really do anything different, the h80i is a perfectly good AIO cooler

 

There are arguments for running 2x 770, A single one cannot handle every game 1080p at ultra 60fps, far from it, Crysis 3 1080p Very high is about 48. So SLI 770s would be a very potent combination

 

There is no real difference to running 2x 250gb ssds and 1x500gb ssd, It is about the same price but will perform faster, If one drive fails both fail, but that is the same as the 500gb failing. Raid 0 doesn't introduce really introduce any stability issues, it just has no data redundancy (I run lots of drives in raid 0)

 

@MichaelBP, the upgrades you have planned really doenst seem to do much. A second 770 would really be the only thing to upgrade performance. If you want to upgrade your aesthetics maybe upgrade the PSU cables, or sleeve them, they are ugly as all balls  in an otherwise very clean build  

[Akolyte]

Agreed, the kraken wont really do anything different, the h80i is a perfectly good AIO cooler

 

There are arguments for running 2x 770, A single one cannot handle every game 1080p at ultra 60fps, far from it, Crysis 3 1080p Very high is about 48. So SLI 770s would be a very potent combination

 

There is no real difference to running 2x 250gb ssds and 1x500gb ssd, It is about the same price but will perform faster, If one drive fails both fail, but that is the same as the 500gb failing. Raid 0 doesn't introduce really introduce any stability issues, it just has no data redundancy (I run lots of drives in raid 0)

 

@MichaelBP, the upgrades you have planned really doenst seem to do much. A second 770 would really be the only thing to upgrade performance. If you want to upgrade your aesthetics maybe upgrade the PSU cables, or sleeve them, they are ugly as all balls  in an otherwise very clean build

I completley understand your arguments for the SLI 770s, but in my opinion if it was my system I wouldn't spend the money for 2 770s when I'm only gaming at 1080p.  I still am against raid 0 as I personally wouldn't do it, and @MichaelBP you'll have to check whether your motherboard and cpu even support TRIM in raid 0, if they dont raid 0 is a no no. 

[ShadowCaptain]

I completley understand your arguments for the SLI 770s, but in my opinion if it was my system I wouldn't spend the money for 2 770s when I'm only gaming at 1080p.  I still am against raid 0 as I personally wouldn't do it, and @MichaelBP you'll have to check whether your motherboard and cpu even support TRIM in raid 0, if they dont raid 0 is a no no. 

 

But if he wants to  upgrade there is nowhere else to go. A 770 just arrived, so if he wants more performance he either puts them in SLI, or sells it and gets a 780ti or something, personally I agree there is no point spending money, his build is perfectly good for what it does!

 

That is true about TRIM definately necessary to have. As I say, raid 0 SSDs are no less safe than just 1 ssd, they fail the same, just consider the raid 0 drives as a faster larger single drive. and its exactly the same price normally to buy 2 smaller drives and get double performance, though only attempt if you are competent enough understand how to set it up, and the drawbacks associated with it. For simplicity, a single bigger SSD is good

[MichaelBP]

Thanks for the responses @ShadowCaptain & @Mike_The_B0ss , first of all, your completly right, the PSU cabling is very ugly: When I first made the build I had so many coil-whine issues due to a very pretty corsair PSU, it was unbearably. So I got this Silverstone one that does it best to actively avoid coil-whine, and i love it. I don't have a side window so it aren't showing

 

The choice of ram and CPU cooler is sort of interconnected ... The FURY ram is a bit shorter then the Corsair ram, which is necessary to avoid conflicts with the tubes, if I should put a Kraken in the front. The reason I want to but a Kraken in the front, is to get better airflow at the back. The h80i takes up a bit to much space in the back I think.  

 

Maybe I should wait and se how the GTX770 handles Watch Dogs, before going for a SLi? 

[Akolyte]

Thanks for the responses @ShadowCaptain & @Mike_The_B0ss , first of all, your completly right, the PSU cabling is very ugly: When I first made the build I had so many coil-whine issues due to a very pretty corsair PSU, it was unbearably. So I got this Silverstone one that does it best to actively avoid coil-whine, and i love it. I don't have a side window so it aren't showing

 

The choice of ram and CPU cooler is sort of interconnected ... The FURY ram is a bit shorter then the Corsair ram, which is necessary to avoid conflicts with the tubes, if I should put a Kraken in the front. The reason I want to but a Kraken in the front, is to get better airflow at the back. The h80i takes up a bit to much space in the back I think.  

 

Maybe I should wait and se how the GTX770 handles Watch Dogs, before going for a SLi? 

thats a great idea. 

[MichaelBP]

you'll have to check whether your motherboard and cpu even support TRIM in raid 0, if they dont raid 0 is a no no. 

 

Thanks for the heads up, seems like I can't use TRIM  :unsure:  ... Just out of curiosity, can I do something other then just getting a 500GB SSD?, would a raid-card help?  :huh: ...  

[MichaelBP]

Update - Christmas time 

 

So yesterday I finally got the Kraken x60, 4 * Noctua NF-A14's and the Kingston FURY ram.

 

Ended up using the better part of the afternoon getting the Kraken x60 front mounted, needed to do a little bit of case modding, and did not exactly have the right tools for that kind of job - but where there is will there is a way. I will show the mod later today or tomorrow, for now here is some boxes  

 

[GeekySole9354]

You should probably take those cables away from the Corsair fan in the bottom

[MichaelBP]

You should probably take those cables away from the Corsair fan in the bottom

 

That's a good point, but how? The modular PSU makes it hard to get them out of the way :unsure: ... they are not touching the fan, but restrict the airflow a bit maybe?