Planning A New System, Need Advice On Components

lkramer

New member
I am currently planning a new liquid cooled system for myself.

I plan to use the computer for development, gaming and to host a Linux VM.

I want to use liquid cooling for quieter operation and not so much for overclocking. Overclocking is a low priority for me.

The components that I currently have or will be getting are 2 R9 290 in Crossfire, 16GB (4GB x 4) 30nm Samsung RAM, 256GB Samsung 840 PRO, Case Labs SM8 case in reverse ATX, 2TB WD Black drive and a Seasonic Platinum 860W power supply. The liquid cooling parts, I will use an Alphacool UT60 360mm radiator in the front, an Alphacool UT60 480mm radiator in the bottom, a D5 pump with a Koolance top/reservoir, and EK blocks for both the CPU and GPU.

I currently have a 1080p monitor but I plan to upgrade to a 1440p monitor (or maybe even an Ultra HD monitor) in the near future.

I can get an Core i7 4820K and a MSI X79A-GD45 Plus, or a Core i7 4770K with a Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H for the around the same cost, US$432.

Or, maybe, I should go with the Core i7 4790 with the Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H as this processor has VT-d which could help with the virtualization. Does VT-d provide a performance boost to one VM with a moderate amount of disk I/O during compilation and low network I/O?

Also, the locked Haswell processors have transaction memory extensions enabled which maybe interesting to try as a developer.

I have narrowed it down to these three motherboard and processor combinations, but I need the community's advice on which of these is the most suitable for me.
 
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