Gaming+Video and Photo Editing Rig

[Tevaron]

Hello everyone!

It has been quite a few years since I did a build, back in the Athlon x64 days, I have been using laptops due to portability issues. I am about to be able to stop traveling so much and as such I am trying to research what is currently going on in the tech arena for a desktop build.

I will be using this machine for high end gaming as well as moderate to heavy video editing/rendering and photo editing. I have done quite a bit of research and I am hoping to get some advice to finalize my plans.

I'll start by filling out the questionnaire stickied aat the top of the forum.

• Where are you located?
USA - East Coast, but will be moving to the West Coast prior to parts order.

• What is your budget?
2500 USD - 1600 GBP

• Will you need a monitor, keyboard, and/or mouse included in that budget?
Nope I am set on that front.

• Shall you be requiring an OS?
No. Have Win7 Pro

• What will you be using this rig for?
Gaming and Video/Photo Editing.

• If gaming, what resolution will you be playing at?
2560x1440 (2x 27" IPS Panels, though only one in gaming, 2nd as an auxiliary)

• Will you be overclocking?
Yes.

• Do you need a full build or will you be reusing some old parts?
I have a few parts lying around but I will be starting from scratch on this one.

Just as a heads up I may be adding a 2nd card in for SLI/Xfire in the future, wanted to be sure I had enough headroom on the PSU. Also I will not be beginning until at least the middle of October so the new AMD GPU's should be out by then so I'll want to be reevaluating graphics cards at that point.

Here is the link to my current parts list: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Tevaron/saved/2lGm

Here is the list typed out for those who would rather not click:


i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core
NZXT Kraken X60 98.3 CFM Liquid
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX LGA1150
Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" SSD
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Galaxy GeForce GTX 780 3GB
Cooler Master HAF XB (Black) ATX Desktop
Noctua NF-A14 x4 for Push-Pull on the Rad
SeaSonic 850W ATX12V / EPS12V


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, it has been awhile and I don't wanna be having a DOH! moment in the middle of the build.

Thanks for the help!

 

[jamesriley94]

It looks like an alright list...

Depending on how much video editing you're doing, you may be better off getting a 3930k/4930k and going 2011 instead. You will have it in your budget afterall.

I think you can do better with a case for the price to be honest. For a $2500 build, getting the HAF XB seems a bit strange. I'm sure you can spend a bit more and get something...well...nice.

As for fans - lots of money on Noctuas there! You could save a lot of money by getting the Corsair SP/AF120s and you won't notice much difference in performance.

It'll be a good build with what you've got, don't get me wrong. Just I think you can do a little better for the money/with the budget.

 

[Tevaron]

Thanks or the reply! The only reason I went with the HAF XB was for the Hotswap front bays, the only other cases I came across that had them were the Cooler Master Cosmos and the Corsair 800/900d. I just couldn't see spending that much on the case, nice as they are, I am not wanting to spend money just because I have it available to spend. I would love to know about any other cases that have similar Hotswap solutions (not the drop in slot type you can find on the top of a lot of cases though please) Or maybe I could just go with an add in cage in a nice looking enclosure. Then again I had seen the 800D drop a bit in price recently.

I will definitely consider the 2011 cpu platform, the extreme edition chips are really nice, I was thinking about (and probably should have mentioned) getting a Matrox card to help with rendering. I wasn't sure how much experience anyone might have with those cards, but from what I've seen from a short session with a friends machine they cut rendering time by 50-75% depending on resolution and a few other variables.

I don't have much experience with the Corsair fans, are they pretty comparable in performance to noise ratio?

 

[SuB]

Doesn't the NZXT Switch 810 have a hotswap bay?

 

[Jordan]

Doesn't the NZXT Switch 810 have a hotswap bay?

Sure does

 

[Tevaron]

Ah NICE, I quite like that case guys. They just updated the compatibility sheet on the Kraken on 9-4 showing it is compatible with this case, it hadn't previously shown that, a little wierd considering it's the same company.