I've been tweaking and switching parts for the last two weeks and I think this is what I want. Now I know Haswell has been known to get hot and I plan to have plenty of airflow and fans. Liquid cooling seems a little costly and I feel a bit uneasy about the thought of a hose going bad one day. So I went with the Hyper 212 EVO. I also plan on adding a second card later in the future.
So how does this build look?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1rj5M
Looks pretty good, but do you really need a 4770k? If not, you could bump it down to a 4670k, and use the money to get a 770 instead of a 760. Also, you do know you won't get much of an OC on a Haswell with a 212 evo, right? A 4770k is powerful enough at stock clock, of course, but you could save a few bucks by buying a non k edition if you are not planning to OC.
7950s and 7970s are down in price and come with 3 games again.
I will be doing a lot of film editing as well as gaming on new titles, so I thought the 4770k would do. If the 4670k can do that just as well then I don't mind it. I did look into the 770 but thought as I would be getting a second 1080p monitor in the future I might add another card. I do plan on overclocking, which is where my cooling came into question. Would it still be possible to water cool and keep it under $1700? I'm sure people don't have problems with them, but the idea of liquid around my computer makes me nervous. However, if that's what it takes to cool an OC'd Haswell chip then I'll go for it.
What editing software will you be using?
Adobe Premiere and After effects. Also I do 3D modeling with Autodesk Inventor on the side as well as streaming and recording gaming.
I will look into those. Are there any that would have a color to match my black/gold scheme of the RAM and mobo?
The msi 7950 would probably be the closest of the amd cards.
I made some slight revisions to your original build to better suit your needs. With your requirements and budget, you are not going to get a overclockable system, so I nixed the 212 evo, you can upgrade from the stock cooler later to something that will be adequate for OCing a haswell, like a Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK. You still are not going to get any groundbreaking OCs unless you upgrade your motherboard. I also nixed the ssd in favor of more RAM, and I added a higher quality PSU.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1rLhy
Why the 1000w PSU? Kind of seems like a lot.
It's not the wattage, it's the quality. That Xigmatek will never fail on you, and you won't have to worry as much about power fluctuations, which as I'm sure you know, are bad news if your in the middle of rendering, as they can cause your data to become corrupted.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1rM4Y
Your orginal build looked fine to me. I changed some minor things. Changed out the ram to a higher speed for more bandwidth. The new ram still has the same cas latency as the 1600 ram you had, 9. So it's free bandwidth.
Switched out the cpu cooler for something a bit tougher. Allows for higher overclocks.
The ssd was swapped because the read / write wasn't both over 500 mb/s. The new one is.
The psu was upped. You will have future room for SLI. Also corsair uses rebranded seasonic psu as their oem. So it's the same quality.
Also interesting read-
http://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/rendering-opengl.html
Let me see if I can get you to spend a few more $$
CPU: Perfect, don't even consider anything else...In editing, and CAD, it blows the i5 out-of-the-water.
Mobo: ASRock's Z87 Extreme4 (great mobo, excellent bundle for the price); Gigabyte's Z87X-UD3H; Asus' Z87-Plus (I do find that Asus Mobos are very spartan in their bundles, and really justify their premium price).
In this price bracket I recommend MSI's Z87-GD65 Gaming, the Extreme4 being a close second. Sort of depends on the deals you are able to get in your area (you will always have your region's Amazon, with the best prices).
DDR: If it's an aesthetic choice, go for it...A bit too expensive for my taste. Take a look at Crucial Ballistix Tactical 2x8 kits...Best DDR3 Kits I ever found (aside from the exotics, or Crazy-Speed kits).
SSD: Too small to be useful, specially with all those editing programs, Autodesk, System, games...
A bigger SSD would be essential, IMO. Again Crucial M4, which is currently very cheap (50/60% off at Amazon). A brilliant SSD, known for it's reliability (I have dozens of these things, and not one has ever let me down). Both M4, and M500 are equally reliable.
Case: Yes!!!
PSU: Seasonic Gold, can't get any better than that, unless you go Platinum. Excellent PSU.
CPU Cooler: If you are only going to do moderate OCs, it's fine. Just to be on the safe side, buy a second fan for a push-pull configuration.
Now, what I find totally unacceptable is the optical drive...How could you? ;)
Looks like a well throughout build, to me. My only concerns are the SSD, which I find too small for your needs, and also the Monitor. I didn't mention it because it can be a complement to an already existing main monitor (?). If it is not, such a small monitor for productivity...
Cheers.
Wow thanks for the input! The SSD was mainly for OS and a few key games. The optical drive I just threw because cmon, how often do you really use those these days? I'm also looking into the Corsair 100 as a possible cooler if the Hyper 212 isn't up to it. There should be plenty of room for airflow as I am removing the HDD bay and adding those 2 140mm fans to the front, one on the bottom to push, and one up top to pull. The RAM is asthetic along with the mobo, although I find it performs great as Asus are good at what they do. Monitor wasn't much of a big deal for me and I'll eventually get 2.
Hey I appreciate the input! A-Data is definitely a good choice. I didn't notice it was that cheap. The cooler looks beautiful and will go well with the looks. I've also looked into watercooling. Any opinions on the Corsair h100 or h100i? Also I went with the Kingston Beast mainly for asthetics. Trying to keep the black/gold theme. Also I don't know how I missed that PSU! Definitely going with that. And finally I have that thermal compund already, so that's good. Other than that those suggestions definitely helped.
I was just kidding on the optical drive...thus the ;)
As for the build I find it very good...Just suggesting other options, Asus Mobos are very good, and stable...I just don't like the lack of features they come with. But, like I said somewhere, I collect the TUF mobos, and have them all...Most have never even left the original box, so...
You will have no issues with Asus Mobos.
If the PC is for work, I found that a big SSD to be used as a "scratch drive" (not the one with your system on it) pays for itself very quickly, as does the 4770K (in video editing, and CAD mine payed for itself in about 3/4 days)...
Those are things you can add in the future, as the workload, and money, starts pouring in. Also, since you are getting a 16GB kit, a "Ramdisk" associated to a mechanical HDD (for storage) will do miracles at saving time.
Have a nice build, and success in your enterprises.
Cheers.
I looked for some black / gold ram that was 2133 and cas 9. It only came up with corsair dominator which is about 70 dollars more at like $230. But the gskill in the link already is black plastic, i'd say just peel the blue brand sticker off.
I am a bit biased agaisnt water coolers but I also know haswell runs hot on an overclock. If someone else with haswell posts what temps they get and how tough it is to keep temps down is probably best.
Thanks yeah I hear good things about water cooling, but man it's water around my rig. I'll look into some stats for Haswell. And that seems like a good idea with the RAM. Thanks!
Well, the good news is water cooling doesn't actually use water. It is mostly oil or another non electroductive liquid. So if it leaks it doesn't cause shorts but it still makes a mess. It's unlikely they would leak but I can't say I've never seen it happen. Friend had one that leaked about 2 years ago, didn't cause any damage besides the busted cooler.
