Over the top gaming+work rig

[d3rrial]

Hey guys, I'm pretty confident that my planned new rig should work and is just enough over the top to be called over the top, but there are several things that keep bugging me and since I have no hands on experience with this specific hardware, I figured I better ask some people here, that have used many of the components I plan to use already, to get a better angle on things

My planned rig is in my description, but here it is again, just for the sake of completeness:

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System Drives: 2x 256GB Samsung 840 Pro (In RAID0 config (*1))
Working Drives: 2x 500GB Velociraptor (NOT in RAID)
Data Grave: 1TB WD Blue (Legacy drive, will use this from my old PC)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z87
CPU: i7-4770K
GPU: GTX Titan (*2)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Windowed)
CPU Cooling: Corsair H100i (*3)
RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 1600 (*4)
PSU: Corsair AX1200i (*5)

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(*1): Yay, double the chance of complete dataloss!
(*2): I'm also thinking about 2x GTX 780 in SLI
(*3): As Tom mentioned, the H100i shouldn't fit in the top of the Define R4, I've seen people doing this without modding their case, but I don't know if it would work with the high profile VRAM Cooling of the Sabertooth. Fractal Design claims a 240mm rad can be mounted in the front, I will consider this as alternative option if top is too much of a hassle. My worry is, that the pressure would be a little too "negative" since the only intakes would then be 120mm fans.
(*4): Is 32GB maybe just a little TOO much over the top?
(*5): I may possibly buy another Titan later on, but could an AX860i for example also do the trick for a configuration of this kind?

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Additional Notes: I initially wanted to do a custom loop, but I'm very lazy and I hear custom loops are quite a lot of work, especially if you've never done one before. Is this true, if so is it still worth it and should I take the plunge?
I heard that the Define R4 is suboptimal for custom loops, if someone recommended a custom loop, what is a very plain case with great compatibility for custom loops?

Case cooling will be done by 3x Corsair 140 AF Quiet Editions (2 intake, 1 exhaust) + 2x SP120 Performance Editions (exhaust at the H100i Radiator (push))

I chose the Sabertooth Z87 because of its plain look, because I want the System to look really nice, so I'll also throw in some white LEDs and white cable sleeving. (Color scheme will be Black & White).

The PC is supposed to be a gaming PC that I can also use for 3D work (3D Design and CAD also) and 2D graphics design. Also it should be able to handle a couple of virtual machines simultaneously.

I'm a little interested in silence, but I have music on most of the time, so a little noise doesn't bother me. I was thinking about overclocking, but I heard bad things concerning heat of Haswell i7's which aren't review samples, so I'll decide it when I can assess the quality of my chip.

My questions, would you do any alterations to this thing, if so, what would you change and if you like, could you tell me why?

I apologize for this wall of text and if you actually read it all, I thank you very much!

Edit: Ah I forgot: Budget is 3000€ ± 200€ (~2500GBP with quite a little leeway)

 

[Remmy]

With this kind of build I'd definitely get it water cooled, it's mad spending £2.5k and not even getting a least the GPUs and CPU under water, and especially how you said you want it silent. Get nice big rads, and run them fans verrry slow and it'll be cool and quiet

It's really not that much hassle as long as you plan it well. Make sure you get a case which can fit plenty of rads (I can't think of many plain good ones, sorry. However non-plain cases that are excellent are the Switch 810 and Corsair 900D), make sure you get reference design graphics cards so you can easily get waterblocks for them and you're pretty much sorted.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Raid 0 for ssds is pointless.
Sabertooth is overpriced. Go for a Z87 GD65 or a gigabyte alternative.
780 SLI has a much better price/performance ratio than SLI titans. The money saved can go towards waterblocks.
Drop to 8gb of ram if the most hardcore number crunching process your rig will do is gaming. For render etc. get 16gb of ram. Money saved can go towards other watercooling parts.

I have R4 case. I plan on doing a loop inside. It will require a lot of effort and i recommend looking at a different case for a first timer(as i am as well), A Fractal Deisgn XL2 would be much more suited for watercooling. Also can still provide the silence the R4 has. If you want to get even more watercooling friendly then go for a ARC XL when it's released. Or a Switch 810.

A 750 watt psu can run SLI/Xfire cards. With a CPU/GPU overclock. If you plan on doing some extreme overclocking go for an 800watt+ psu.

 

[remember300]

Sounds good matey , personally i think sli 780's should be fine. 32gb of ram maybe a little excessive, but if your having a window and go for plats then you might find it looks odd only having 2 sticks, possibly go for higher freq on your ram, for CAD packages the extra ram will help though and make sure through the rad you use static pressures, for best performance.
also i think you should take the exhaust fan and put some form of filter on it and turn it into an intake, might maintain positive pressure.
I have the AX860i, and trust me when i say it can handle 2 780's they say they only need 250W ea, that leaves 310W for everything else.
if you wanted to add a third , which looking at how they scale id probs suggest otherwise then you will need to have a larger PSU

 

[WillSK]

looks good but I would definitely use the advice already given though. Smaller PSU. 860i should be plenty. SLI 780s as well would be far more favourable (the EVGA ACX ones look awesome!) and 16gb of ram. All that money you then save could go elsewhere.

 

[d3rrial]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll go and see if I can do better with my setup, I have one question tho: Why exactly is RAID0 useless on an SSD? My reasoning for that was to get higher write speeds, it should accomplish that, shouldn't it? Or would this not work because I have no dedicated RAID controller?

 

[NeverBackDown]

It will work using the onboard raid controller. Yes your speeds increase but it's very limited by the controller. A real dedicated raid card will most likely double what the board can do in raid. Also raid for ssds is pointless because they are so fast already and it's really meant for hdds. Samsung 840 as you listed in the list is one of the fastest(if not the fastest) ssd on the market in basically every type of test you can put a ssd through, read/write speeds are extremely high(and sustained) that for anything besides a huge file server you won't notice a difference.

You seem to misunderstand RAID 0 so here's a link to help remedy that. Link

In conclusion get 780s over the titans, 750psu is ample but for very intense overclocking(aka watercool) go 850w psu, 16gb(at most), and lastly all the saved money can go towards a big ol' tidy loop in a bigger case than the R4.

 

[d3rrial]

[...]

Thanks man
Alright, I cut down the single Titan into two 780s. I would choose the EVGA 780 Hydro Copper because it already has a full sized block and watercooling is covered with warranty... Is there a superior method to this, conserving warranty and price or should I stick with that choice?

Or should I maybe not watercool the cards at all? I'll probably overclock them, but if I do, would that void the warranty, I know it does for some stuff, but does anyone here have experience with this specific manufacturer + card? Because if it does, I could also just install an aftermarket waterblock which would probably be cheaper...

Edit: Pricepoint for what I currently have in mind is now up to 3800€ (~3200GBP) its quite a bit over my budget but I >could< afford it.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Thanks man
Alright, I cut down the single Titan into two 780s. I would choose the EVGA 780 Hydro Copper because it already has a full sized block and watercooling is covered with warranty... Is there a superior method to this, conserving warranty and price or should I stick with that choice?

Choose a reference 780 with the best warranty and clocks. Find a waterblock first that you like and see if they are compatible(titan blocks can fit 780) and see if that comes out to be cheaper than a HydroCopper EVGA card.

Or should I maybe not watercool the cards at all? I'll probably overclock them, but if I do, would that void the warranty, I know it does for some stuff, but does anyone here have experience with this specific manufacturer + card? Because if it does, I could also just install an aftermarket waterblock which would probably be cheaper...

Manufacturers always say they will void warrentys if you overclock to scare people from doing it. It saves them time and money to fix those cards. Truth be told though; they can NEVER figure out if the card has been overclocked. So do it all you want.

Edit: Pricepoint for what I currently have in mind is now up to 3800€ (~3200GBP) its quite a bit over my budget but I >could< afford it.

Only spend what you think is worth your money. If you feel a single 780 can do you fine for now then stick with that and SLI later down the road.

 

[d3rrial]

[...]

Barely cheaper and looks worse...

So I'll probably stick with the Hydro Coppers. What would you recommend for a TOTAL noob in terms of tubing, since the color scheme of my build should be black / white, I'll probably use white tubing, diameters according to the compression fittings, but how much tubing should I buy? Currently there's 3.3m on my shopping list, but will that be enough for me to be able to make quite a couple of misjudgements of tubing lengths (cutting off too little tubing and so on) or should I add some more, because 3.3m sounds like a lot to me)

Also when it goes for CPU block: I had an "AlphaCool NexXxoS XP³ Light" block in mind, together with 2x AlphaCool 360mm x 45mm radiators.
(It should fit inside my case of choice, which is a 900D at this point)

Sorry I keep asking those questions you probably facepalm at, as I mentioned, I am totally new to custom watercooling.

Edit: Apologies if I am a little rude, I may think I speak english well, but sometimes my choice of words isn't all that optimal.

 

[NeverBackDown]

I find the XSPC Razor block for 780s to look much much better than the HydroCoppper card.

900D would be very nice for a starter to WC in because of its flexibility;however i perfer the Switch 810 because it's smaller and is still enough for what you plan on doing. Bump up the rads to 60mm thick 240/360s as you have plenty of room.

Choose the CPU blok you like, i'm an XSPC razor fan for looks and performs very well. So thats my suggestion but feel free to make your own choices. Tubing is very cheap and more than enough is better than too little so overspending on tubing is a good thing. Your 3.3m should be ample though.

 

[d3rrial]

[...]

Thanks a lot man!

 

[NeverBackDown]

Feel free to asks any more questions.

 

[d3rrial]

I know I'm a little late, but I wanted another (or multiple other) opinions about this:
From what I gathered, Ivy Bridge and Haswell CPUs are particularly hot, because of the bad thermal paste in between the die and the heatspreader, according to some youtube videos it should be fairly easy to remove the heatspreader and replace the thermal paste, but there's of course the risk of destroying the PCB or the die, which I don't want.

I have pretty steady hands, but I am unsure if I should risk doing this, if I do tho, is it worth it in any given case, or are there lucky CPUs with good thermal properties? My goal is to overclock as high as possible.

 

[antihero]

Delidding is not particularly easy. If, by any chance, you've got a spare CPU that can be delidded, practice on that one first. The payoff is huge, delidded 4770K's run up to 17°C cooler. Afaik, the silicon lottery doesn't affect the thermal threshold at all, just overclockability. Clock speed always depends on two factors: 1) the silicon lottery, and 2) your cooling.

Just FYI, you won't ever need a 1200W PSU when running a single card setup. In fact, even a 750W model is slight overkill if you're not planning on expanding your system.

 

[d3rrial]

Delidding is not particularly easy. If, by any chance, you've got a spare CPU that can be delidded, practice on that one first. The payoff is huge, delidded 4770K's run up to 17°C cooler. Afaik, the silicon lottery doesn't affect the thermal threshold at all, just overclockability. Clock speed always depends on two factors: 1) the silicon lottery, and 2) your cooling.

Just FYI, you won't ever need a 1200W PSU when running a single card setup. In fact, even a 750W model is slight overkill if you're not planning on expanding your system.

with the money I save from buying a cheaper PSU, cheaper hdds and less SSDs, I will be able to afford a second 4770k, should I destroy my first one

Edit: Thank you a lot for your input, I will most likely replace the thermal paste between die and heatspreader then.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Watercooling a 4770k should help with the temps stay low(for Haswell at least) and i would say de-lidding is only worth it if money is no option. No need to sacrfice on your rig for better temps. Games will see less and less FPS improvement the higher the clocks get, after about 4.3-4.4ish many games stop improve overall.

 

[d3rrial]

[...]

Yes, I know its probably not worth it, but a friend of mine, who also bought a 4770k said he had up to 80°C with an H100i without overclock at light load, I'm sure he got a bad unit, but that is still a tremendously high number.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Auto overclock may have given it more voltage which skyrocketed the temps and to be fair the h100i isn't the greatest cooler for haswell lol