New Build Plan (Christmas)

[CyBaNeTiiKz]

Hey guys,

 

I'm planning to do a new build for which I'm saving during summer and the first half of term time till Christmas. This may be a little early but I really like to visualise :D

 

Little about me.

 

Student at university doing Computer Games Technology (Programming side, not Graphics) Programming includes general C++ and DirectX. I also do website stuff here and there. Not much of a 'Gamer' but I love having everything at max details because I like to look at the pretty lights. :)

 

1. Budget & Location
Less than £1500 GBP ( The least I have to spend, the better! :D ) Sold my old beat up HAF X for £50 yesterday and that's the start of my saving ^^ ( I also plan on selling my old system nearer to the time for around £250-£300. No one I know would buy it though except one person i know and tbh i don't think he will, so don't count on that )

2. Aim
Gaming (Max Settings), Light 3D work, Programming, general day to day use.

 

3. Monitors
I have 1 BENQ G2450HM (1080p) atm. I would either like to do 3xSurround or 1 2560x1440 during the future. Most likely a single 2560x1440 monitor. But thats in the future.

4. Peripherals
Do not need to buy peripherals

5. Why are you upgrading?
Don't like the performance of my current machine. Tbh, I think I just want to build a nice, new, fast, clean build that I can be proud of.

Current machine Specs:

• GA990XA-UD3
• AMD FX6100
• 2 x XFX HD 6870
• Corsair GS800W
• 8GB Corsair Vengeance (2x4GB)

 

So I really want to build this computer around the new GTX 780. Its an amazing looking card and hopefully I wont need to buy a new card for more than a couple years!

 

I also want to use the new Haswell CPU. I don't think my uses will call for the 4770K so i think ill be happy with the 4670K. 

 

Motherboards, I have no idea what one to buy, right now I cant see much prices but I like the look of the Z87X-UD3H. I don't yet plan to do overclocking ( I'll leave stock cooling fans until i get money to invest in a watercooling system ) but I do want to in the future, maybe to around 4.4 - 4.6GHz. Not sure how much the motherboard has much impact on overclocking.

 

RAM wise, I do like the look of Dominator Platinums! They just look amazing, but they are a bit pricey. ATM I have 8GB 1600MHz and i think that's enough for what I've been using it for. I'm not sure how the speed of the ram affects performance. Are Dominator Platinums worth it? If not, what other options are there? What Speed is recommended?

 

Cooling wise, in the future, I plan to do a custom water loop. I already have some parts from a previous setup including a D5, but i will be watercooling later on.

 

I Really like the look of the Be Quiet! dark power pro power supplies and I would really like to include one in my build. I don't know much about which wattage PSU to get but i was thinking that a 650w will be enough to run this system. I don't think I'll be buying things like an extra GPU so I don't really need room for expandability I think. Do you think this will be enough?

 

I will be taking the HDDs from my old build, a Samsung 840 250gb and a 1TB Hitatchi Deskstar. I wont be using an optical drive, fed up with my one, cause it hardly works, and it takes from the look of the build.

 

Not sure on sound cards, I would eventually like to have a nice one, but atm I'm only using the speakers built into my monitor, so I think I'll just leave it till later.

 

Cases, I have absolutely no idea. I'm mostly about aesthetics but I cannot yet find and decide on a case, I'm still looking around. I'm looking for a nice small case that can house all of my components and yet have enough watercooling power for my components in the future. 

 

Also I plan at some point to make custom sleeved cables for the power supply and maybe other stuff.

 

Already have copies of windows ( Free software as a student! WOO! )

 

I realise that this may be really early but, I just cant help myself :/ I don't think its ever too early to plan :D I think thats everything that I've thought of so far. Wanted to know your thoughts, all criticisms and recommendations welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Kadeem

[xAdam]

GTX 780 niiice :) might want to keep an eye out for any new GPUs that work their way through by then :p 1600Mhz is fine for everything pretty much, the biggest gain in memory speeds is from moving up from 1333Mhz to 1600Mhz. The platinums are nice, but not necessary. Really  its up to you, if you want to spend the extra cash for the look then go for it. They are really nice, i went for vengeance in mine, i could have saved for the platinums but i wanted them to be black, alot about RAM is asthetics. Im not too keen on that motherboard :P I really like the look of the ROG Z87 boards, it depends on you though, and what you want your system to look like :P

To be safe, for further building i would go for something like a 750w psu with around 60a on the 12v rail, since they reccomend a 650w psu for the 700 series and it needs a powerful 12v rail. have a look at some of the corsair cases, and the bitfenix ones. they tend to be really clean and big inside :P

 

its never too early :)

[CyBaNeTiiKz]

Seeing as its early days, i can still keep an eye out for anything new, yes :D and Ok then ill take that into note about the RAM, They look so pretty :P Motherboard wise, I'm kinda tired of the red and black theme, so I didn't want to go for a ROG style mobo. Ill go for the 750w version then just to be safe! :)

[habowh43]

Somebody in the build section who cares about the look of his PC! Woot! *internet hi-five* :D

 

Lol jokes aside, I find, just like you that how your PC looks really gives you something to be proud of! Since you're planning to buy this one in quite a while, I'll only give you ideas and thoughts about mkaing your pc look good since everything can change pretty quickly in the pc market and I'm sure you'll bfe able to pick the right parts when the time comes.

 

#1 Sleeving is essential...

You said you wanted to do custom sleeving at some point... do it. It's really worth it and it makes the entire system look that much more cleaner. You don’t necessarily need to resleeve the whole PSU since the Dark Power Pro has pretty dense sleeving near the unit itself and you can buy a couple of extensions for the 24pin ,8pin and gpu power cables that are either pre-sleeved (from bitfenix or a modding shop) or you can do it yourself with paracord (550lbs type) as it's a lot cheaper, there are tons of colors and the weave is very dense. It's what I did on my build (http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/9867-blu-my-first-ever-pc-modding-project/) and I do not regret a single second of the hours spent sleeving those extensions. It really brings a "wow factor" to your pc.

 

#2 ...and so are the right colors.

If you like the look of the UD3, make sure everything you pick matches with it because it does really look fantabulous (yes, i just made that word up) the dominator platinum looks great but if you to bring the attention towards your watercooling blocks and the heatsinks of the board, I'd opt for something a bit more subtle. Corsair just announced yesterday some new Vengeance Pro ram yesterday and the blue one would look fantastic with the UD3 and camouflage itself pretty well with the board. The key is uniformity throughout the build. Ideally black with color accents that are the same all across the build, whether that's green, silver, white, red, yellow or orange.

 

#3 Watercooling loop

Ooooooooh if you do this is going to look great. With nickel blocks though. Don't pick copper. Please. Please. :P And since you live in the UK, you're really lucky (i'm guessing you do since you mentioned gbp :p) there are a couple of great watercooling stores there. Mayhems UK is one of them (http://www.mayhems.co.uk/front/#.Ua4E3d7D_IU). They make the best coolant out there. A pastel sky blue coolant would be epicly sexy with a UD3. Or something like bright pastel orange coolant with a z87x-oc… or yellow pastel coolant wIth an msi mpower board... sooo many choices. Also, when it comes to tubing, you can always pick regular tubing or you can pick rigid acrylic tubes from E22 (http://www.e22.biz/Index.aspx). It's going to be hard to work with since you need to work out angles with your fittings or bend it using a a heat gun but it looks so much better than flexible tubing. (flexible clear tubing isnt a bad choice either… obviously) :P

 

Have fun building this xmas! I can’t wait to see what you did with your build. Sorry about the super long text :P

[dolarsignzeroxeighty]

GTX 780 niiice :) might want to keep an eye out for any new GPUs that work their way through by then :P 1600Mhz is fine for everything pretty much, the biggest gain in memory speeds is from moving up from 1333Mhz to 1600Mhz. The platinums are nice, but not necessary. 

 

To be safe, for further building i would go for something like a 750w psu with around 60a on the 12v rail, since they reccomend a 650w psu for the 700 series and it needs a powerful 12v rail. have a look at some of the corsair cases, and the bitfenix ones. they tend to be really clean and big inside :P

 

its never too early :)

 

@first bolded ,no. it depends on the cas latency. 1333mhz cl9 vs 1600mhz cl9 is not even 1 nanosecond difference... i'd learn before giving advice.

 

@second bolded , no. a 650w psu will be overkill. the only reason they recommend a 650w psu for 700 series graphics card is because there's some crappy no-name ones that exist and nvidia needs to consider them with their power supply recommendations.

 

go learn a little bit before giving advice.

[CyBaNeTiiKz]

*Hi-Five* ^^

 

Yeah, sleeving is something I want to do because of the time and effort that goes into it, I'll feel proud of displaying it when I finish :) What you mentioned about the RAM, I might take that into consideration. Looking at the vengeance pro sticks, the coloured accent will go well with UD3. Though I'm still not sure if I'm sticking with the UD3, depending on future boards and their features. Tough choice though, Sexy Platinums :D

 

Watercooling will be done, but I have no idea what I want to do yet, its going to be a tough choice for me. I also have to find a good case first :P

[habowh43]

  @10:10

 

Yep. They do look good :P

[CyBaNeTiiKz]

Yes, I saw this too, the UD3 and the blue match so well! :D Now so stoked for building my build.

 

I think I've also decided on a case. For now I'm thinking the switch 810 as it has pretty much the looks and the watercooling expandability I need. It also doesn't sacrifice the HDD bay for water cooling, but seeing as I have till Christmas time, other cases may come out, ill be on the look out. :D

[habowh43]

Which color of the switch are you thinking about, matte black, gunmetal, piano black or glossy white? :)

[CyBaNeTiiKz]

Matte black most likely, i was thinking maybe gunmetal but it looks a little too green? I'm thinking as well for watercooling if I get the UD3 to have black coolant with UV Blue tubing and Gelid Wing fans.

[habowh43]

Yeah the gunmetal has a green-ish tint to it. Goes well with something like a G1 Sniper board though. And I like your idea of the UV blue tubing with black coolant :P Makes it looks dark but with a tint of blue at the same time, that's really going to bring out any silver/chrome accent in the case (like nickel blocks or the heatsinks on the UD3). What I'm worried about though is that the blue on the board isn't like the blue on the board. Oh well...
And btw: http://www.techpowerup.com/185220/noctua-redoes-award-winning-fans-in-black.html ... :D

[CyBaNeTiiKz]

Yeah I like the idea, I was thinking of getting nickel blocks too or acetal. Do you mean that the blue won't look like it does in the pictures? And yeah I saw about that, they will be good. Apart from the gelid fans Idk any others I would use but they might work :D

[habowh43]

What I'm worried about though is that the blue on the board isn't like the blue on the board. 

 

lol huge brain fart there "What I'm worried about though is that the blue on the board isn't like the blue on the FANS. " my bad. lmao

[CyBaNeTiiKz]

Ahh, yeah thats true, I dont think they are that much, I'll have to test it out first before I go all out!