Earlier in the year, I ran across a couple computer build threads, and I was immediately hooked. My retina MacBook was really just a college backpack queen, and with my truck's maintenance taken care of, I decided to save for a gaming PC. Once black Friday hit, I jumped on all the deals. I have the basic system completed, and I'll slowly finish it when my tax refund comes in. Here's what I've done so far:

CPU: Intel 4770k


Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Formula


Ram: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB


Video Card: Asus GTX 780 DCII


Sound Card: Asus Xonar Phebus


SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB


Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB


PSU: Corsair RM750


Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT


Case: NZXT Phantom 820


Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE


OS: Windows 8.1 Pro (dad bought it for me)


Keyboard: Logitech G710+


Mouse: Logitech G602


I plan to add another 16GB of ram, SLI the 780, and possibly add another SSD, and 3 more hard drives to run them in RAID 10. I'll see if my PSU can handle the load, if not, I'll probably get an RM850 or an AX1200i. The system is nearly silent under gaming, so I'll stick with air cooling. I wanted to do a custom loop, but I actually can't justify the cost in my head somehow.

Also, you may have noticed that I did not list a monitor... well, I ran out of money. I'm open to suggestions, however.

What do you guys think of the build so far?

 

I actually don't have very many pictures ready...

 

Good luck with that - there are a lot of stability issues with Haswell processors and motherboards - and Dominator ram can be very finicky.

Seagate drives also have problems, all I'll use these days are WD Black.

I like Asus monitors with LED backlights - but not the ones with IPS panels, they are a bit sluggish for gaming.

 

Dude....who needs a "monitor".....when you can go to walmart, and get a 32" flatscreen for under 200 bucks? Lol. Actually, I got the dynex from bet buy....can use either hdmi or a monitor cable. But, the only time I've put my laptop to it, was whenn the wii took a dump, and had to use laptop for netflix...lol. wifey woulnt let me use it for playing SWTOR, because she hogs the remote.

 

I'm pretty happy with the performance and the temperature. I had a pretty stable overclock at around 4.5 gHz, but I had to fiddle with the voltages to get it to boot. In the end, I think I'll run the stock clock until the second video card arrives, and then just a mild overclock to stem the chance of a bottleneck.

As for monitors, what do you think about PLS panels? I was waiting for this thing to go on sale... The response time can't really compete with a TN panel, but I saw one displaying Crysis 3, and it was beautiful.

http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Monit...ectors/PB278Q/

 

I had one of the very first i7 builds what seems like forever ago. It is still rocking along with no problems @ 4ghx OC on air. The video card is starting to slow down though, I have an EVGA GTX295 w/ plate, 8GB ram, 128gb SSD, 1200W PSU, ANTEC case, EVGA MOBO, and a couple other things...

Word of advice - Your SSD will fill up a lot quicker than you'll want it to. Be prepared to buy another one or only have a select few games on it.

For example, BF3 + expansions, BF4+ expansions, a couple CODs, and maybe a couple other random Steam games, and I'm out of space a long time ago. We're in the days where a game will regularly exceed 50GB of space, and having a game on that 1TB drive will kill you. I typically offload the prior gen game to make room for the new one, but most of my gaming buds aren't buying on release day anymore, so I still have to play the older games with them.

Great build though, you'll love it!

 

that mobo is very appealing! i need to build me a new one and upgrade.

 

I've also got the i7-4770K and its on a 4.5GHz OC with water cooling. I highly suggest water cooling for anything over 4.0GHz as the Haswell gets HOT. No stability issues on my end, and I got a crappy chip (wont go over 4.0 without upping the voltage to almost 1.3v).

Good luck with Windows 8. I can't stand it. I went for Windows 7 Ultimate for my build.

 

 

Yea, I've run into that already. After loading Windows, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, Autodesk Inventor, and a couple of other programs, I've got about 30GB free. I may just have to get another SSD, and dedicate it to my big games and programs, and leave the other one for my OS. I haven't built a computer in a while, and I forgot how much room Windows took up. Ironically, I have 850 GB free on my mass storage drive...

Get an Asus ROG board! I love them.

Yea, I think Windows 8 makes more sense if you have a touchscreen. But yea, when I first started using it, I had no idea what was going on with those "tiles."

1.30 for 4.0 gHz? I see now why you like liquid cooling.

 

Loving that case.

Great build.

 

Nice cable management. I'm jelly of the modular PS. I built my rig on a NewEgg combo build and they gave me a crappy CX750.

 

Those new Corsair RM units aren't very good. They are made by CWT, just like the cheap CX units. Corsair is getting away from Seasonic, and I can't recommend them any more.

You can't go wrong with a true Seasonic or Seasonic-built power supply.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...er,2913-4.html

The absolute best PSU review site is jonnyguru.com.

 

I've been eyeballing that Seasonic 1000W Platinum... not sure why I cheaped out on the PSU. lol

 

And I have to assume those fans are pushing the hot air up through the exhaust fans right? lol, I've seen people do it wrong who otherwise knew better.

How is it running? Do any benchmarks yet?