Building a capable gaming PC

No problem, I'm happy I can help :)

The H100i is an amazing cooler, however if you do not plan to go with a custom watercooling loop, I wouldn't recommend a full tower case. It would look a tad silly (see my rig gallery in my sig for proof). The Arc Midi R2 would be better in that case (no pun intended).

A custom loop would perform better than an H100i, but for an AIO, the H100i is pretty much the best out there. The Swiftech H220 is also very good, and you can expand it if you want. Out of the box, it performs about the same as the H100i but it's a tad more expensive.

PS: in the future please use the 'Edit' button in the bottom right corner of your post to add additional information instead of posting twice in a row :)
 
Get a 780 if you are using it for 3+ years. Mine as well imo.

TO address the consoles that were brought up; both have 100% amd hardware so most likely gaming may end up being better on AMD cpus/gpus. I've explained this in detail many times so i won't post again. We'll see how devs cater towards Amd next gen though it will take time(don't feel like explaining again lol). If you would like i guess i can repeat it again to ease your mind. So anyway AMD is the cheaper option and very well may end up being the better gaming platform but lacking in other areas. Kind of like a hit or miss depending on how things go.

Go for a Arc Midi 2 if you want a H100i. Badass case:)
 
so you say drop the switch and sub the h100i for the cooler master? the gtx 780 is so much more expensive compared to the 770 that its pretty much out of the question.

would you guys say 770 or 7970? and is 2 GB vram enough to push a 1440p monitor if i get one in the future?
 
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For 1440p I'd recommend the 7970. AMD cards just tend to be faster at higher resolutions because of their bigger memory bus as well as having more VRAM.

A GTX 770 will play any game fine at 1080p though, you won't need a 780.

If you're not going full watercooling or SLI; a regular ATX board would look funny in a full tower so yes, I'd recommend a mid tower.

The H100i will allow you to push overclocks much further than a Hyper 212 Evo. Don't get me wrong, the 212 Evo is an amazing cooler for the price, but you'll just hit the limit of your overclock much faster due to thermal limits.
 
Plenty of VRAM for sure, but the memory bus is a bit slower than that of a 7970 I believe. Nevertheless a GTX770 4 GB will perform okay at 1440p in most games. There's not a single card out there that will be able to play *every* game out there on max settings at 1440p anyway.
 
For FPS games like Battlefield I guess I'd go 7970. The memory bus is a *tad* quicker and thus things will load faster.

For open world games, I'd grab the 770 4GB. It may be a *bit* slower, but the 4GB VRAM will come in handy, espcially when using many mods.
 
I only recommended a 780 because you want to keep the rig for 3+ years so the investment will be worthwhile. Also dropping plans for a custom loop and full tower should open up the budget a bit to get the 780. You will definitely need the 780 for 1440p though. That res is harsh on every card out there.
 
780 is just way too damn expensive lol. $200 premium? REALLY can't do it, but wish I could.

So ASUS DCU2 7970 3gb,770 2 GB or 770 4 GB if i plan on moving to 1440p in the future? those are the 3 options.

i'll be playing FPS and MMO and RPG games
 
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Tbf, you can't go wrong with with either the HD7970 or the 770 4GB. Both will have their own pros and cons but they balance it out pretty evenly. :)

Only buy a full tower if you're going full watercooling (not AIO) and actually need the space. Otherwise it would just look empty and just not very good.

- Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 + H100i
- Switch 810 with custom watercooling
^Is what you should choose from imo. Can always get a different case ofc, but you get the point and these are pretty much the best cases that suit your needs.

You can also have a look at this new test on the homepage:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/water_cooling_kit_group-test/1
Where G-Dubs compares a couple of watercooling kits. :)
 
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