The thread that is now the unofficial PC builds thread :P

[Arvenski]

Updated build (again lol): http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xxJdrH

The H100i cooler would appear to fit in the Fractal Design Define R4 case.

I also threw in a couple of good-looking case fans, because it didn't look like the R4 came with any. One more thing: Do I need a fan controller to go with them, or no?


Edit: Self note for when I reread this: don't forget to pick up an HDMI cable, Arv.

 

[Splintert]

No controller necessary, motherboards can monitor and control fans.

Does the case specs say how large its fan spots are?

 

[Arvenski]

Does the case specs say how large its fan spots are?

Negative. Not that I could find.

Also: Fractal Design's webpage says that the case comes with a couple of fans already (even though pcpartpicker doesn't mention that afaik). However, since the Cooler Master fans that I picked out appear to be better than the fans that come with the case and are only $12 bucks for 2 of them, I figured I'd get them anyway (assuming that they'll fit in the case, of course).

 

[SkyTime]

My Thermaltake Chaser Mk1 came with two 200mm led fans and a 140mm fan even though they weren't mentioned anywhere.

 

[dopey]

I bought the R4 a few weeks ago and it came with two fans, iirc they are 140mm.

 

[Arvenski]

Is it a good case?

 

[dopey]

Well I don't have much experience in PC-building but it feels good. You can remove the upper hard-drive cage for better air-flow and bigger GPU. It also has a party wall behind the motherboard where you can put all unnecessary wires coming from the PSU, so modular PSU isn't required (I just bought a much cheaper non-modular). The case is also quite silent, nothing else can't be heard except my CPU cooler, which is still the default one (those tend to cause lot of noice).

 

[Arvenski]

So, I got a bit tired of that iirc $1570-ish price tag, and decided that since I wasn't going to downgrade the GPU, I needed to take another look at the processor.

I've read (on this forum) that the i5 is just as good for gaming as the i7 (ah ****, I'm probably gonna start another debate here, lol), so I replaced the i7-4770 with the i5-4690S.

Updated build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XFKyqs

Thoughts?

 

[Kevlar]

If you can wait a bit longer new chips will soon be out 

Anyway, i5 is the best choice for gaming currently since very few games can make use of the extra cores an i7 require (most games that can are either strategy or sims).

An i7 would only be a better choice if you planned on doing a lot of graphical rendering,video rendering or any other rendering or using programs that can use all of the cores.

If you don't want to wait for the new processors to come out you could always buy a chip right now and get a z97 motherboard. The z97 motherboards are compatible with the cpus about to come out (and potentially older 1150 motherboards will be as well).

I would look into getting a K series CPU and doing a slight overclock, especially if you are going to shell out the money on a expensive after market cpu cooler like the h100i. Other then that it looks good, I would personally go for an AMD card since they beat Nvidia for price to performance in every category but it really doesn't matter all that much.

AMD equivalent to the 770 would basically be a 290 I believe (or 280x).

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-290-vs-GeForce-GTX-770

 

[Arvenski]

If you can wait a bit longer new chips will soon be out 

That'll cost a ****ing fortune, because they'll be brand new? Thanks, but no thanks.

Anyway, your idea about the overclock-capable CPU makes sense, especially since I'm putting some extra effort and cash into cooling. I swapped out the i5-4690S for the i5-4670K: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mckCFT

Also, about the GPU: I looked at those reviews you linked me, and I noticed that the R9 290 was only a bit better in benchmarks than the GTX 770, and while the 770 was lauded for its quietness, the 290 got a lot of **** for being loud, hot, and energy inefficient. I think I'll stick with the 770.

 

[Splintert]

If I remember correctly, the 290 also kicks the 770's butt in the vast majority of games in terms of FPS.

Just go for the cheaper of the two.

 

[Arvenski]

What about an R9-290 with an aftermarket fan, such as the Gigabyte R9-290 Windforce? Would that remedy some of the heat/noise issues? Because I can actually get that for a couple bucks less than the 770.

 

[Kevlar]

Any of the third party ones would be fine, you could Google a review to find out the exact temps. Only the reference 290s are hot and loud and I don't think you can get them anymore except used (got my 290x for $400 used, put on an aftermarket cooler now it's good to go).

 

[Splintert]

I would imagine that the 3rd party coolers would eliminate any of the heat/noise problems. It's still going to draw a lot of power though.

I'm very happy with my reference 290, it's not really that loud, and after a small amount of fan speed curve tweaking I keep the temperatures at reasonable (but still high) limits.

 

[Arvenski]

It's still going to draw a lot of power though.

Will the 80+ PSU help with the energy issues?

 

[FaustoGomez]

Oops. Nooo! It seems that I am pretty late to make any comments  Well, have fun with your build but can you post it here? I wanna know.

Edit: No need for that, just saw your pcpartpicker build.

 

[Arvenski]

@FaustoGomez: Here's what I'm looking at getting as of now, but there is very high chance of something changing between now and if/when I buy it. If you go back a couple pages you can see that I've already changed things in the build a few times, and that's likely to continue until I'm 100% satisfied with the build and/or I buy the thing. Right now I'm trying to settle on a GPU (getting close) and trim the price down as much as I can without sacrificing much/anything (I think I've done just about all I can with that).

 

[FaustoGomez]

Looks very solid. But as someone on Tomshardware says, " R9 290 outperforms GTX 770 by 16.3% but GTX 770 is an awesome gpu .GTX 770 is money wise choice." But you are gaming on 1920x1080, so GTX 770 is still pretty amazing. Good choice for a cpu, I suppose you will overclock it to the last drain because you have got an liquid cooler 

Edit: Don`t know a lot about American prices cus` I live in Turkey. But could you double the capacity of SSD and don`t get a HDD ? You can store all your games there and it will fly. And you can get an HDD later !

 

[Arvenski]

Well, the 1TB hard drive and 256GB SSD that I have selected now are $160 for both of them, but a 512GB SSD by itself is $220. You don't need to know American money to spot the difference there.

As for overclocking, I'm not planning on overclocking right away, but at least I'll have the option with the water cooling.

 

[Kevlar]

It's still going to draw a lot of power though.

Will the 80+ PSU help with the energy issues?

That is just an efficiency rating. It basically saves you pennies over the course of a year so it really isn't anything worth mentioning I don't think. There was some article on it a while ago that said the cost savings were not good at all so you should basically just get that would allow some headroom at a good price (ie, don't get the highest rated one you can find when you can get a 80+ bronze for cheaper).