Need advice on this build.

[neobear224]

My first time building a gaming rig. I will be using this rig to play these games (examples)

Assassin Creed Unity
Far Cry 4
Battlefield 4
The Evil Within
etc etc

CPU: [i7-4790K] - S$450
GPU 1: [Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5x 1 (2-Way SLI)] - S$589
GPU 2: [Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5x 1 (2-Way SLI)] - S$589
RAM: [Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 DRAM 2800MHz) - S$549
CPU Cooler: [Coolermaster Seidon 240M] - S$149
Motherboard: [Asus SABERTOOTH Z87] -S$389
SDD: [Samsung SSD 850 PRO 2.5-inch 256GB] - S$289
HDD: [WD Black 2TB SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM] -S$189
Case: [Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 Arctic White ATX Cube Case] -S$178
Power Supply: [Seaso*nic X*-1050* 80+ *Gold *Fully* Modu*lar] -S$301
Optical Drive: [Asus Internal 24x DVD writer (DRW-24B3ST)] -S$28
OS: [Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64 bit) OEM ] - S$149
Monitor: [Dell 23" S2340L LED Monitor ] -S$235

All market price taken from: myneXTcom Pte Ltd Singapore

(Under View Cart)
Total cost w/o discount: $4,084
Total cost w/discount: $4,022 - Overprice built?

Few questions.

1.) Is Asus SABERTOOTH Z87 motherboard compatible with Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC?

2.) How much PSU watt, SSD & HDD does one really need for an SLI build?

3.) Are there Better, cheaper, durable close looped water cooler available apart from Coolermaster Seidon 240M?

4.) Should I switch to Air cooling instead of water cooling?

5.) How safe is closed looped water cooling. Will the water ever run out? Will it leak to the motherboard?

6.) Is Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 Arctic White ATX Cube Case enough to house all the parts.?


This is my first attempt at building a custom gaming rig. I picked the Asus SABERTOOTH Z87 motherboard because of it's dust resistant and cooling optimize features. Do advise me on what changes I can make to lower the price tag. Thank you for reading this.

 

[JustAnotherTroll]

- You can't use DDR4 RAM on that board.
- Don't need a WD Black. Blue/Green will do.
- PSU too much. 700-800W will do.
- Your choice of monitor, SLI is overkill, for now.

 

[Alternative X]

1) If not overclocking, you do not need a Intel K CPU or a Intel Z motherboard. An i5-4460 with a B85 motherboard is good enough for your needs. Dump the CM Seidon as well, the Intel stock cooler is good enough if not overclocking, your motherboard will also never overheat unless you are doing some extreme overclocking.

2) You do not need a pair of GTX 970s for 1080p gaming, 1 GTX 970 is good enough for playing all games smoothly in 1080p.

3) You do not need 16GB RAMs, 8GB RAMs are enough unless you have memory leak issues. Also, DDR4 RAMs are only compatible with the Intel X99 chipset, what you need are DDR3 RAMs.

4) If only gaming, the enhanced write speeds of the Samsung 850 Pro is not going to be of much help as SSD read speeds are more important and visible to real world gaming performance. Get a Crucial MX100 256GB for a much cheaper substitute.

5) If using a SSD, you do not need the performance of WD Blacks for storage purposes. Get a Toshiba 2TB HDD for a much cheaper substitute.

6) If only using 1X GTX 970, you do not need a 1050W PSU. A good quality 500W PSU will be enough to power your system.

7) You may wish to wait for SITEX so that you can buy the Dell S2340L at a much cheaper price.

8) Do note that even if you get that overkill system, you may still experience problems playing Assassin Creed: Unity due to issues in the game programming itself.

 

[zenniz]

How low do you want your budget to go?

What you need is just

B85 mobo + i5 4460 + stock cooler
GTX 970
8gb DDR3 1600mhz
Samsung Evo 256gb
WD 2TB Blue
Your desired casing
500W PSU 80+ bronze or higher
Your desired OS
Your desired monitor

It only cost around ~$1.6 and can run all the game listed at ultra with decent frame rate.

Your desired rig is overkill.

 

[Jian19]

Spoiler

My first time building a gaming built. I will be using this rig to play games such as

Assassin Creed Unity
Far Cry 4
Battlefield 4
The Evil Within
etc etc

CPU: [i7-4*790K] - S$450
GPU: [Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5x 2 (2-Way SLI)] - S$1178
RAM: [Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 DRAM 2800MHz) - S$549
CPU Cooler: [Coolermaster Seidon 240M] - S$149
Motherboard: [Asus SABERTOOTH Z87] -S$389
SDD: [Samsung SSD 850 PRO 2.5-inch 256GB] - S$289
HDD: [WD Black 2TB SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM] -S$189
Case: [Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 Arctic White ATX Cube Case] -S$178
Power Supply: [Seaso*nic X*-1050* 80+ *Gold *Fully* Modu*lar] -S$301
Optical Drive: [Asus Internal 24x DVD writer (DRW-24B3ST)] -S$28
OS: [Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64 bit) OEM ] - S$149
Monitor: [Dell 23" S2340L LED Monitor ] -S$235

All market price taken from: myneXTcom Pte Ltd Singapore

(Under View Cart)
Total cost w/o discount: $4,084
Total cost w/discount: $4,022 - Overprice built?

Few questions.

1.) Is Asus SABERTOOTH Z87 motherboard compatible with Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC?

2.) How much PSU watt, SSD & HDD does one really need for an SLI build?

3.) Are there Better, cheaper, durable close looped water cooler available apart from Coolermaster Seidon 240M?

4.) Should I switch to Air cooling instead of water cooling?

5.) How safe is closed looped water cooling. Will the water ever run out? Will it leak to the motherboard?

6.) Is Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 Arctic White ATX Cube Case enough to house all the parts.?


This is my first custom gaming rig built in 2014. I picked the Asus SABERTOOTH Z87 motherboard because of it's dust resistant and cooling optimize features. Do advise me on what changes I can make to lower the price tag. Thank you for reading this.

@ 1080p this is wad u need, I assume ur main focus is gaming

i5-4460 + Msi h97 gaming 3 ~ $393
G.skill Ripjaws 8gb kit ~ $115
Crucial mx100 256gb ssd ~ $155
Wd red 2tb ~ $131
Msi gtx980 gaming ~ $900
Superflower leadex 650w ~ $139
Nzxt H440 ~ $199 / Corsair 450D ~ $159
Win8.1 64 oem ~ $130
Dell u2414h ~ $335

$2497 buy and DIY @ tradepac ask for discount. If u not sure how to DIY u can bring to gs shop ask him help u assemble @ a fee. Or u can consider go pctheme and buy they can help u assemble as well but slightly more expensive.

@ 1080p a gtx980 will handle any game u throw @ it without issue, if even it can't handle the game the sli gtx970 won't perform any better (poorly optimized game)

If u dun intend to overclock then dun do it, less heat , less power, less issue

U can pretty much dust proof ur pc with a fully dust proof case and right airflow structure to ensure ur pc remain dust free in it.

 

[royfrosty]

You wont need 2 970 to run a 1080p gaming.

1080p is too mainstream. Follow Jian build if you just wanna go for 1080p display.

If you intending to go high res gaming.

MSI Z97M Gaming + i5-4690k ~ $525
GSkills Ripjaws 1866mhz 2x4gb kit ~ $117
WD Purple 2tb ~ $124
Crucial mx100 256gb ~ $143 (Buy at lazada.sg with 10% discount using mastercard Monday promo)
MSI GTX970 4gb Twin Frozr V Gaming SLI x2 ~ $1110
Superflower Leadex 850w 80+ Gold Fully Modular PSU ~ $171 (Buy at lazada.sg with 10% discount using mastercard Monday promo)
Corsair Obsidian 450D ~ $159
LG DVD Drive ~ $21
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM ~ $104 (Buy at lazada.sg with 10% discount using mastercard Monday promo)
Qnix QX2710 27inch A- PLS Panel WQHD 1440p monitor overclockable up to 120hz ~ $279 (qoo10.sg)
Corsair H100i ~ $150

Total ~ $2900. Buy at tradepac unless stated. DIY

Optional upgrade
Dell U2713HM 27inch eIPS Panel WQHD 1440p monitor ~ $709

 

[neobear224]

@ 1080p this is wad u need, I assume ur main focus is gaming

i5-4460 + Msi h97 gaming 3 ~ $393
G.skill Ripjaws 8gb kit ~ $115
Crucial mx100 256gb ssd ~ $155
Wd red 2tb ~ $131
Msi gtx980 gaming ~ $900
Superflower leadex 650w ~ $139
Nzxt H440 ~ $199 / Corsair 450D ~ $159
Win8.1 64 oem ~ $130
Dell u2414h ~ $335

$2497 buy and DIY @ tradepac ask for discount. If u not sure how to DIY u can bring to gs shop ask him help u assemble @ a fee. Or u can consider go pctheme and buy they can help u assemble as well but slightly more expensive.

@ 1080p a gtx980 will handle any game u throw @ it without issue, if even it can't handle the game the sli gtx970 won't perform any better (poorly optimized game)

If u dun intend to overclock then dun do it, less heat , less power, less issue

U can pretty much dust proof ur pc with a fully dust proof case and right airflow structure to ensure ur pc remain dust free in it.

Thank you for the good advice. Wondering, Why MSI and not Asus? Does graphic card brand have any impact? What is the temp like for the Msi gtx980 when under heavyload and idle?

 

[Jian19]

Each brand have their own unique design, as for choosing Msi is just personal preference

Tons of reviews online for u to see, just google it.