Advice on my first build

Drew1966

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Apr 13, 2014
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I'm just curious as to what advice I might get on my first build to see if you guys would change anything I did so far. Here's my specs:

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo
PSU: Antec HCP 1000 Plantinum
MB: Asus PZ77-V Pro
GPU: MSI GTX 780Ti gaming
CPU cooler: Raystorm 750 AX 240
CPU: 2600K (harvested from my old pc)

I really just wanted to try my luck on water cooling a system without breaking the bank. The system runs so nice I thought about getting one more MSI GPU for SLI but thought my CPU might bottleneck it. I'm running a dell monitor at 1440p. Any advice would be helpful.
 
That PSU is overkill. You actually want to run your PSU at fairly high load. Having a way over spec'd power supply really doesn't do anything positive for you. There's better ways to flex your epeen. You could easily get by with a 500w unit.
 
Dude, keep your PSU. I always say getting more PSU capacity than you need is always good. You will have ample headroom for SLI (which you are considering). Running the PSU below its capacity will help with keeping your rig quieter since the cooling requirement for the PSU is relaxed. Moreover, your PSU can be used for the next couple of builds.

What SSD are you planning to use?
 
Personally I would not go to a 500w especially with a 780.. add in fans, optical drives, ssd's , hard drives, ect ect agree with Gigc208 850w would be a better choice.
 
650 watts would be WAY more than enough. If you want a quiet PSU, Corsair RM650. If you want SLI 750+ watts should be more than enough.

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After reading the review on HardOCP of the Antec 1300 Platinum, I found a pretty good deal on Amazon for the 1000. I figured it would future proof me for my next build come Maxwell time. Having too much of a PSU doesn't hurt my system right? I'm really just wondering if a game like Watch Dogs for instance starts to push the limits of my hardware, what path should I take to upgrade? Another GPU for 780Ti SLI or upgrade the motherboard and CPU? My system is running great right now Far Cry 3 maxed 1440p is very smooth. My CPU temps are idle 30c and under load 65c. So I think for my first build I didn't do too bad
 
Having a higher watt PSU is just a waste of money in most cases, there's better places in your computer to spend that extra cash. I'm not expecting Watch Dogs to be too hard on systems, Witcher 3 maybe. It depends on how good the ports are and how much the games actually push high end hardware. Having a 2nd GPU for SLI would give you the biggest performance boost for your money, if you already have an SSD.
 
I'm just curious as to what advice I might get on my first build to see if you guys would change anything I did so far. Here's my specs:

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo
PSU: Antec HCP 1000 Plantinum
MB: Asus PZ77-V Pro
GPU: MSI GTX 780Ti gaming
CPU cooler: Raystorm 750 AX 240
CPU: 2600K (harvested from my old pc)

I really just wanted to try my luck on water cooling a system without breaking the bank. The system runs so nice I thought about getting one more MSI GPU for SLI but thought my CPU might bottleneck it. I'm running a dell monitor at 1440p. Any advice would be helpful.

I'm interested in why you think you need another 780ti? A single 780ti should max all games at 1440p. Is your monitor running at 120hz or something? I'm running a 290x currently on a 1440p monitor and it maxes everything out for me so far. Also for the same reason why do you think you need watercooling? It looks like you have ample cooling, if there is no reason to spend extra money why bother?

Do you have an SSD, how much DDR3 ram do you have?
 
I don't really think I need another 780Ti right now, it's more future proofing for games like Watch Dogs, and Witcher 3. By the time Witcher 3 comes the 780's will probably be outdated though. I just water cooled this time more for the fun of it, and to see if I was capable without bathing my system. It was just a Raystorm Kit I got from Amazon for 180. I figured I only be ruining an old 2600k with an older motherboard if anything went wrong. It was actually fun and I learned a lot this time around, next time I'll use angle fittings!! My games run fine on this card. I do seem to experience micro stutters on games like Far Cry 3 and was wondering if another card might clear that up (I know 3rd world problems). My games are on a 1 TB hard drive and my system files are on an SSD. I only have 8Gb of 1866 ram also, this was just stuff I harvested from an old MainGear computer I bought three years ago.
 
Sure that 1000W is a little over kill, but once you throw in overclocking, SLI, water cooling pumps, maybe a couple extra HDDs and fans, a 650W is not going to cut it at all, 850 is probably more around what you'll need if you're doing that. I've made the mistake of mot having enough PSU once before and would never recommend getting the bare minimum. That 1000W is just fine if you're water cooling and overclocking, if not get an 850.

Otherwise sounds decent, a 2600k is still a great CPU when OC'd to it's potential, and matches well with a high powered GPU setup, and at 1440p you'll want all the GPU you can get.

Pop in 8GB (or more) RAM and a decent SSD and you'll be pimpin.
 
I'm interested in why you think you need another 780ti? A single 780ti should max all games at 1440p. Is your monitor running at 120hz or something? I'm running a 290x currently on a 1440p monitor and it maxes everything out for me so far. Also for the same reason why do you think you need watercooling? It looks like you have ample cooling, if there is no reason to spend extra money why bother?

Do you have an SSD, how much DDR3 ram do you have?

People have bizarre definitions of what "maxing out" a game means. For me, it means running the game at the highest possible settings. This means maximum AA (like 4x or 8x MSAA if available), ultra quality settings, tessellation, DOF, etc. You cannot max out newish games like Metro LL and Crysis 3 @ 1440p with a constant 60fps on a single 780Ti.
 
I'm interested in why you think you need another 780ti? A single 780ti should max all games at 1440p. Is your monitor running at 120hz or something? I'm running a 290x currently on a 1440p monitor and it maxes everything out for me so far. Also for the same reason why do you think you need watercooling? It looks like you have ample cooling, if there is no reason to spend extra money why bother?

Do you have an SSD, how much DDR3 ram do you have?

You know you are on [H] forums right?
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I think I will go with one more GPU and more ram and a bigger SSD to hold my installed steam library. I'll hold off on a new MB and CPU as long as it doesn't bottleneck the SLI setup too much.
 
There is so little difference between sandy bridge and the two gens that have come since that you really don't need to worry about that cpu bottlenecking anything.
 
I know, I just read one guys post on having two MSI 780ti's at 1440p with the 2600k then upgrading to the X79 and seeing huge improvements. Even thought I think two of his cores have absolutely no effect on games. I do agree with Nvidia ati that peoples definition of maxed gaming is very subjective. I do have Far Cry 3 for example pretty closed to maxed settings, and I do experience some choppy sections, so I think an SLI setup would give me a smoother gaming experience.
 
I'd suggest keeping the current PSU, you can never have too much power. A single GPU is fine, I don't see a benefit in two unless you're running more than 2 monitors. For what you're trying to do to run your games at max watercooling isn't needed, a proficient 3rd-party 'active' CPU cooler like a Noctua NH-U12S will do the trick.
 
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