High End Haswell Build Advice Needed

[signalpuppet]

Hey guys just found this site a few days ago so I am a first time poster here and I am looking for some advice. This is my rig as it stands now:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Case: Caselabs TH10
CPU: core i7 860 overclocked to 4Ghz
Motherboard: Asus p7p55d-e premium
Ram: 4 x 2gb Corsair @1600
Graphics Card: Ati 5970
PSU: enermax galaxy 1200 watt
SSD: intel 60gb x 2 in raid 0
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB x 3 in raid 5
Montior: Asus 24” 1920x1080
Water Cooling Parts
Radiators: XSPC RX360
CPU Block: Swiftech Apogee
Pump: Danger Den/Laing DDC 3.25 with EK-DDC X-TOP
Reservoir: Ek bay res
Fans: Gentle Typhoon 1800 rpm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So she has lasted me a good few years but it’s about time for an update. For this build I am looking to do a high end Haswell build that will last 4 years and I need some advice from you guys.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Case: Caselabs TH10
CPU: core i7 4770k
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Extreme
Ram: 2 x 8gb G.SKILL Trident X 2133 or Corsair equivalent
Graphics Card: 2 way sli gtx 780 or 2 way sli gtx Titan
PSU: Corsair 1200 ax1200i
SSD: Samsung 480 pro 256GB or Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB
Montior: Yamakasi Leonidas 30” 2560 x 1600
Water Cooling Parts
Radiators: EX-CoolStream XTX 480
EX-CoolStream XTX 360
CPU Block: Swiftech Apogee HD
GPU Block: Depends on the GPU
Pump: Swiftech MCP35X-BK
Reservoir: ? possibly Swiftech Maelstrom
Fans: Gentle Typhoon 1800 rpm
Fan Controller: Not sure yet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I plan on using this primary for gaming but I will also be doing programming and running the occasional virtual machine. So my questions are as follows:

1. I am not entirely sure if I should go for 1866 or 2133 for my ram, what’s the performance difference in games?

2. I curious if anyone has picked up the Yamakasi Leonidas 2560x1600 off ebay and how you like it? or are there any other decent priced 2560x1600 monitors you guys would recommend.

3. I am considering picking up the swiftech Maelstrom with the MCP35X because I currently have an ek res that I like because I can easily tell if the water is flowing but the noise from the waterfall it creates can be annoying. So I was wondering if I should worry about noise with the maelstrom or do you guys have any suggestions for a res that will allow me to see the flow while being silent?

4. So I have decided to either do sli gtx780’s or sli gtx titans but I need help deciding which to do. The reason for my certainty is because the main game I play right now is shogun 2 total with darthmod which means the number of units is double what it normally would be. The only review I have been able to find showing the performance of these cards with Shogun 2 is this http://www.anandtech.com/show/6973/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-review/8, anandtech seems to be getting 57.8 with the titan at 2560x1440 and 51.6 with the 780 but with me using darthmod and having twice the number of units on screen I doubt I am going to get those numbers. So my question is with Total War Rome 2 coming this September and the new consoles coming out would the extra memory that the Titans have be more beneficial for me for the next 4 years or do you thing I am over estimating how demanding games will become over the next 4 years?

Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[AverageNinja]

1. For gaming, 1600MHz RAM will be good enough. If you want, you could get 1866.
On the other hand, you wouldn't want to give that nice Haswell i7 only 1866MHz to play with. If you're into gaming, get 1600MHz. If you're also into editing, get 2133.
2. Nope, I have a LG Flatron W1942S 1440x900 monitor, and I don't have money for anything close to that resolution.
3. I think DDC pumps are always quite noisy. I'd get a D5 Vario pump.
The Maelstorm is fine though I think.
4. I'd still say get the GTX 780, but that's just my opinion. It should play anything above 30FPS at that resolution for the coming years. If you want a little extra performance, get the titans, but the boost won't be amazing. And for the money you could get a third 780.

 

[signalpuppet]

1. For gaming, 1600MHz RAM will be good enough. If you want, you could get 1866.
On the other hand, you wouldn't want to give that nice Haswell i7 only 1866MHz to play with. If you're into gaming, get 1600MHz. If you're also into editing, get 2133.
2. Nope, I have a LG Flatron W1942S 1440x900 monitor, and I don't have money for anything close to that resolution.
3. I think DDC pumps are always quite noisy. I'd get a D5 Vario pump.
The Maelstorm is fine though I think.
4. I'd still say get the GTX 780, but that's just my opinion. It should play anything above 30FPS at that resolution for the coming years. If you want a little extra performance, get the titans, but the boost won't be amazing. And for the money you could get a third 780.

I think I will probably go with the 2133 ram which will give the Haswell something fun to play with. I currently have a Danger Den/Laing DDC 3.25 so I am already some what use to the noise but my main concern was by having it mounted to the maelstrom would I have to worry about extra noise from vibrations and stuff. I do like the look of the xspc res with the d5 vario pump, is it possible to control the speed of the pump with a controller and not have to manually turn the dial on the back of the pump? Your right I could go triple sli 780's for the price of two titans but I thought the performance benefits of combining graphics drops off a lot going above two way sli?

 

[NeverBackDown]

If you have the money and it's not an issue then by all means go for a Titan but if you have a restraint then go for a 780. A D5 is the recommended pump here on the forums as it's among the most powerful but yet very quiet. A Vario can just be set to around 3 or 4 and you can't hear it and it can still provide enough flow for an entire loop.

For gaming anything above 1866mhz in ram clocks you start to see almost no gain in performance. 2133mhz is great for rendering and editing. You will be using software of that type so i would say just get the 2133mhz ram.

This is the only thing i can find for the monitor you talked about. Link

 

[SeekaX]

3. I think DDC pumps are always quite noisy. I'd get a D5 Vario pump.
The Maelstorm is fine though I think.

maelstorm in a caselabs case? u srs? that would be rape.
for the problem of silence, input in the bottom and fill port on top. no waterfall.

 

[signalpuppet]

If you have the money and it's not an issue then by all means go for a Titan but if you have a restraint then go for a 780. A D5 is the recommended pump here on the forums as it's among the most powerful but yet very quiet. A Vario can just be set to around 3 or 4 and you can't hear it and it can still provide enough flow for an entire loop.

For gaming anything above 1866mhz in ram clocks you start to see almost no gain in performance. 2133mhz is great for rendering and editing. You will be using software of that type so i would say just get the 2133mhz ram.

This is the only thing i can find for the monitor you talked about. Link

Money isn't an issue so I am going to go with the titans, mostly because I that extra memory. I really don't do to much editing or rendering other than the occasional Photoshop picture for a project. I do programming, running virtual machines, and have recently been learning some mysql and doing some database stuff so I doubt I will get much benefit out of the higher speed but I may just go for it because the price difference wasn't a lot. Paul's video is also the only one I could find and its not really much of a review, more of an unboxing and thoughts but I have seen the monitor in his more recent videos in the background so I assume he must like it if he still has it. I will have to wait on the monitor though because the seller on ebay raised the price from $750 to $1,159 for some reason that is beyond me :headscratch:.

maelstorm in a caselabs case? u srs? that would be rape.
for the problem of silence, input in the bottom and fill port on top. no waterfall.

If I went maelstrom I would probably do it with the two MCP35X2 and use the pwm control's to set them to something like 10% each and that should make them quite and I get the advantage of redundancy. You think that is to much rape ? The waterfall is unavoidable with my current res because that is the way ek designed the bay res with the flow wheel in it, buying it seemed like a good idea four years ago but the noise from the waterfall has slowly become more annoying over the years.

 

[NeverBackDown]

PM paul on YT? May get a response? Check newegg for the monitor or amazon/tigerdirect?

 

[signalpuppet]

PM paul on YT? May get a response? Check newegg for the monitor or amazon/tigerdirect?

Yeah I may try pm paul on youtube or try him on twitter. The monitor isn't sold on any of the mainstream sites because it is one of those straight from south korea ones that are usually half the price of a normal 2560x1600 monitor since they use the A- panels that just barely don't pass dell's, apple's, and everyone else's standard for their 2560x1600 panels.

 

[NeverBackDown]

It's A- for a reason.. Samsung or Asus have nice alternatives that you should look into. Pricier but better than having it fail in 6months and left with a paper weight.

 

[signalpuppet]

It's A- for a reason.. Samsung or Asus have nice alternatives that you should look into. Pricier but better than having it fail in 6months and left with a paper weight.

True it is A- for a reason but from the research I have done people who have purchased the 2560x1440 versions have been fairly happy with them and have few issues with them. Their is another seller on ebay selling the model I was looking at for 800 ish for the pixel perfect version but in the small print I noticed that he says it may still have 1~2 defective pixels and if I am going to pay and extra hundred for a pixel perfect monitor I don't want any bad pixels. Also I am one of those people that may not notice one or two bad pixels unless I actually look for them but if I do it will annoy the hell out of me even if I don't notice them while playing games. I may just go for a 2560x1440 monitor if I can't find a 2560x1600 monitor at a good price, the main reason I was going to go for the 2560x1600 was for the vertical space being helpful with programming.

 

[NeverBackDown]

1440p is actually a lot cheaper and more widely available anyway. You won't noitce a difference very much except for a fps hit of about 1.1% but that came become noitcable if your fps is already low.