Need advice on case and parts

[Taku_the_Fox]

Hi Guys

I've been silently watching the forum for a while, but now i'm in need of a little help and decided to ask here.

I work as a game designer and kinda freelance IT Support and I'm in need of a new workstation/ultra gaming system since my current home PC is not up to the task anymore.
At the same time i'd really like to get into case modding and maybe building my own case.

System requirements:
Must be able to run 1080p on 3 screens (Eyefinity)
Heavy multitasking (Unity 3D, 3DsMax and Photoshop at the same time, alongside multiple other programs)
Easy to move (fit in a small case)

My own ideas for hardware is:
Motherboard:
Asus Maximus VII Formula

CPU:
Intel i7 4790k

GPU:
2 * Asus R9 280X Maximus Platinum
1 * Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II (Dedicated PhysX)

Ram:
Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133 MHz 16 GB (4*4)

PSU:
Corsair AX1200i

5.25 bays:
Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray Writer
Bitfenix Hydra Pro

Storage:
2 * Samsung 840 PRO 256 GB (Raid 0)
3 * Samsung Spinpoint F4EG 2 TB (Raid 0)

Cooling:
EK Supremacy EVO Nickel CSQ
EK Fullcover GPU block
EK Monarch X4 Nickel CSQ
EK Coolstream RAD PE (240)
EK Coolstream RAD PE (120)
EK DDC 3.25 X-TOP CSQ Plexi
FrozenQ Liquid Fusion V Series "2nd Generation" Reservoir (Green)
EK Ekoolant Blood Red coolant
Bitfenix Spectre Pro LED 120mm * 3 (Red)

I've been playing around a lot with the idea of making my own case and here is what i came up with:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5994n70wxt9ing/PC%20Case%20idea.png?dl=0

If i am to build the case myself. Which types of materials would be easy to work with and light enough so the case is still easy to move?
If not. Is there someone who takes custom orders?
I'd also love any advice on my hardware choices.
So far, no budget has been set.

Thanks!

 

[NeverBackDown]

Well first off going through the list, that psu is way overkill. You could get by with an ax860

Though i'm not sure if you can use 280x in Cf then use 560ti as physics? You won't really need it anyway. If you don't have any of the GPUs already then i would suggest something like a 290 or a 290 in Xfire and it should deal with Eyefinity/3 1080p screens much better than a 280x in Xfire.

Also for SSDs you mine as well get a single bigger drive. Raid will only help after the OS boots up. The HDDs will work fine though in Raid.

Regarding the watercooling gear. Depends on case but never get a single 120/140mm rad, just a waste of space. Go with the single biggest size ones you can fit.

 

[TPC]

for PS or 3DS 2x290 would go very well instead of those 280x and the 560, you then would also only need an ax 860 like NeverBackDown said

 

[Taku_the_Fox]

Thanks for the advice guys! I really appreciate it!

My reason for the 560 is however that AMD cards won't run PhysX, but i know it's possible to still run a single nVidia card as dedicated PhysX. One of my colleagues is running the gpu's i mentioned.
And i really need to run PhysX for game dev reasons.

 

[remember300]

The only thing is im sure i saw something about Nvidia blocking the AMD and nvidia card being used like that.
Any reason you cant just go All green with the cheaper 780's atm?
and run Nvidia surround?
with no extra card needed for PhysX

 

[NeverBackDown]

Thanks for the advice guys! I really appreciate it!

My reason for the 560 is however that AMD cards won't run PhysX, but i know it's possible to still run a single nVidia card as dedicated PhysX. One of my colleagues is running the gpu's i mentioned.
And i really need to run PhysX for game dev reasons.

It won't help that much tbh. AMD cards don't run the physX but the CPU will. With Nvidia cards they just do the PhysX. Thats the only difference and you get less of a performance hit with Nvidia cards. Still not worth it however. Modern systems will cope fine without a dedicated card. If you absolutely must have it then i guess get it but if you have the option its worth trying to find better way to improve the system.

 

[Kai]

If I recall correctly Nvidia are going to stop people from being able to use a dedicated PhysX card with other brands. Here's the article: http://wccftech.com/nvidia-disables-physx-support-vendor-mixed-setup-340-52/

 

[Taku_the_Fox]

After a bit of research i have decided that i will not be going with either SLI or CrossFire and instead go with a single nVidia card.

 

[remember300]

coolies, then 780ti or 980? lol id probs go for the 980 due to the 4gb of Vram.