$2500 Gaming PC - Thoughts?

Hardware Build a PC
1

Hello,

I am going to be building my first gaming computer, I have done research over the past few months, reading and posting things on forums and watching youtube videos, newegging, etc. and I have a build that I am pretty content with and would like to know your opinions on it.

One thing I am not sure about is the case however. I am torn between a NZXT Switch 810 and a Silverstone TJ11. What are some of the things you guys like about one case or the other. Obviously going with the Switch 810 would save me $400 however, if I want to go with the TJ11, it has a infinite amount of modding options, future watercooling, room for anything, and longevity because of its completely aluminum constructing with multiple layers. Both cases would house a air cooling setup for the time being since my budge cannot support purchasing a water cooling setup currently and I personally don't feel very confident doing it myself, but we will see about that in the future. The Switch 810 has room for 11 fans and is really good for air cooling. The TJ11 has the 90 degreen rotated Motherboard Tray which apparently helps cooling, and there is a ton of ventilation at the top which would help with getting the heat out. It would also, like I said, be really good for watercooling in the future if I decide to go down that route.

Anyway, here are the specs of my system which is going to be a system that I will upgrade rather than build a whole new system. Hopefully want the current parts to last 1-2 years without a change (maybe get another graphics card):

Case: Switch 810 or TJ11

CPU: Intel 3770k 3.5GHz (Will probably overclock to over 4GHz).

CPU Cooler: H80 or H100 (Would perfer to go with the H100 because of the dual rad meaning more surface area however, the TJ11 does not support the H100 so I would have to go with a H80 in that case, however the Switch 810 does so it would be a H100 in that case)

PSU: CORSAIR HX1050W (I could go with a 850 and save $40, however I think that it is good to go with a 1050W so in the future, if I decided to put more power hungry hardware in like another GPU then why not have that extra headroom.

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus V Formula (No ThunderFX) (This is one thing I am not sure about and would probably be an easy question to answer, would this motherboard fit in the TJ11? The TJ11 fits ATX and XL-ATX and this motherboard is E-ATX. The motherboard has screw placements in the usual ATX location, I am just worried that, even though the case says that it can fit sizes much bigger than this motherboard, something will be wrong. If someone could clear that up for me that would be amazing)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2X8GB)

GPU: EVGA GTX 670 FTW (I have actually purchased this card, and I think it was a good choice because it is the nice middle point of price-performance. And I could always buy another and get even better performance when games start getting a little more demanding than a single card can handle, but that will probably be a while. I can still however return it if it really was mistake for whatever reason, it is still in the shrink wrap and I have the reciept).

SSD: Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe 240GB Boot/Programs Drive (I want to keep this computer clean (aka not have a million un-needed programs on it) so I am going with the 240GB SSD for both Windows and all of my programs) because the price on newegg has it at around $160 which is an amazing $/GB and the reviews make it sound like a good SSD).

HDD: x2 Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM (The reason I am going with 2 of these drives is because this is a gaming computer so I want to have my games on one drive without having to uninstall them. And the other drive will hold FRAPS files and any other video files for Youtube. The drives will not be in any sort of RAID configuration).

Extras:

Fans: COUGAR CF-V14H (I really like the look of these fans and I think the orange would really compliment the black Switch 810. I would only need to buy fans if I am going with the Switch 810 since the Tj11 comes with fans preinstalled.

Fan Controller: Sunbeam PL-RS-6 Rheosmart 6 Fan Controller (I would buy two of these to go in the Switch 810 because there are room for 11 fans and 2x6=12 which is just one more than I would need which is perfect. I probably won't need them to go in the TJ11 because the two 180MM fans have build in high and low controllers in the top of the case and there is no point in buying a whole controller to just control a single 120MM fan).

If you read to the end I congradulate you and hope you can give me any suggestions and answer some of the questions I had above.

2

Seems pretty good, get the nzxt case, the switch seems a bit..much, i have a nzxt phantom 410 and its insanely huge, the switch is (i think) bigger than mine.. and do you need a fan controller? considering the fact you could change your fan speeds and check all the data in your computer (and save yoursself $$$) But seriously, your build is awesome as it is!

3

u wont really need a fan controller with the motherboard u chose also for graphic cards i would get an msi lightining one over the evga because it is faster in terms of ocing

4

Yeah you guys are probably right with the fan controller. I can always just use software like SpeedFan.

As for the GPU, like I mentioned in the post I already decided to buy the GTX 670 FTW and I don't know if the MSI Lightning is enough for me to want to go and return it. It does have better cooling, which I can get with the FTW by putting a custom cooler on and it has unlocked voltages, but from what I have seen the FTW is really good and I don't know if the MSI Lightning would be so much better to want to go to the store and return it.

5

and this is a gamin pc right? so why do u have like 2.5 tb of storage that seems a little to much thats like 1000 games no joke.

6

Benchmarks and mods, gotta have somewhere to put em.  Better to have too much than not enough.

I have 2.5 TB for storage.  2x 1TB in raid 0 for games, tech demos and benchmarks + Nexus mod manager.  And a 500gb for pics, vids, storing mods, OS clones, music, drivers, downloads, backups of saved games etc.  I also have a 1TB external for all of my steam game backups which is just about full.

And then there's my 120gb SSD for windows.

7

As for your gpu Flizzehh I've been looking at the varients of the 670 and I would also be looking to get either Msi or Asus.  Noise and cooling levels.  That evga will drive you nuts and it has stacked pcie connectors which severly limits your options for after market cooling.  Though in saying that Arctic has a pretty awesome enclosed water cooling kit for gpus.

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/569/accelero-hybrid.html?c=2182

Your case?  Switch 810 or TJ11?  I can't really comment on those as I don't really like them that much, TJ11 Price.  And Switch 810 asthetics is ok.  But as a recommendation I would have to say the Switch 810 save the difference or get a second gpu.

Other cases to consider would be Cooler Master Haf X and Cooler Master Cosmos 2 though that doesn't have a side window but could be quite good for a full custom WC setup, and the price of the cosmos 2 is in the middle of what your considering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuP9XMIjT6A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKpI0Sxwx3c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWVwjLrhkX8

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119252

 

 

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Any full tower case should be able to accomodate large motherboards these days so I wouldn't worry about it aslong as the case has 8 expansion slots.  The cosmos 2 also has a built in fan controller.  If you need another NZXT Mesh Fan controller is quite good as it has 5 30w channels which will be plenty.  They also have a 6 channel with 50w per channel.

9

Oh and since this is your first build.  Be sure to check the Motherboards QVL (Qualified Vendors List) for Ram compatability.  If the Ram isn't listed check the Memory manufacturers website as they usually have their own QVL for each board, which is good since Asus don't update their lists that often.

10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s1_8yFfz7Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8h3g6SQWMo

11

Thanks for all of the suggestions and tips :)

I will probably end up going with the Switch 810 because the looks nice and you get a lot for the $170 price tag on air cooling and can always do watercooling in the future. I like the TJ11 because of the airflow design, the sheer size, and 90 degree rotated motherboard, etc but the price is rediculous and I would probably only buy if for extreme watercooling in the future which I would probably only do if I got the TJ11. As for the cases you recommended, the HAF X is a possibility, although again I do think you get more from the Switch for cheaper. And I am not a big fan of the looks of the Cosmos 2, a little too curved, I am more of a corners person.

And the video cards. I have already purchased the GTX 670 FTW, and I am not starting to feel that was a mistake. What card specifically do you think I should get. Since I am probably going to end up going with the Switch, I will be able to spend another $100 if the 680 is worth it.

12

From the looks of it the Vengeance RAM is "compatible with all DDR3 motherboards with four memory channels" according to the Corsair website. Are ram channels the slots the ram is put in or the colours of the slots?

13

It does looks nice, but I am still a little iffy on the design... not sure.

14

I am looking at the MSI Lightning GTX 680. Its got nice cooling with the TwinFrozr, high clocks, triple overvoltage, and its a 680.

15

Yeah keep your ram to the coloured slots.  Each channel is represented by 1 black and 1 coloured slot.  So to have dual channel operation 1 slot of each channel needs to be occupied whether it be black and black or red and red.  And to maintain Dual Channel operation with more than 2 dimms you have to have 4.  Using 3 dimms will automatically throttle the board back to single channel operation.

So when you see ram, for example 1600mhz rating that's the speed for 2 dimms in dual channel mode.  Each dimm itself is operating at 800mhz.

16

Mechanical drive Storage is so cheap these days, why not?

17

The 680 definately has an edge over the 670.  But the 670 is so close in performance it's not funny.

The Msi 680 lightning has superior cooling, and is a beast.  I would definately return the 670 if the price difference is only $100, it's worth it if you consider putting after market cooling on the 670.

EVGA also has the 680 classified with 4gb.  Apparently they run cooler than the standard reference coolers having a much bigger pcb, shroud and fan.  Hard to say if 4gb is justified if your not doing tripple monitors or single 30" at 2560x1600 or something like that.

 

18

I just returned the 670 tonight and will buy a Lightning later in the year unless something better comes along that isn't too much more expensive. According to benchmarks I have seen the lightning seems like the fastest single GPU card because of all of the ocerclocking/overvolting options.

19

NZXT 820 just came out and that case is so beautiful!

http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/crafted_series/phantom_820

20

Looks nice, it is $70 more than the Switch 810. Will consider.