I'm giving in and starting from scratch.

Tol

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
265
I've been kinda bored with everything going on with my PC lately. It runs well, does everything I need it to do, but I want to play with some new toys. I'll probably be reading more about each component for the next few hours and probably making purchases tomorrow at the latest. I'm driving a 3 x 30" setup currently and most likely going to give in on 3 x 27" Korean imports(in hopes of 120Hz) tonight since I'm already blowing a ton of cash. Let me answer the questionnaire first and then I'll list my build as it sits in my mind right now.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming (I work from home sometimes but this is built for games)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I'm not going to pay too much attention unless it's one of those 10 times the cost for 1% performance increase things.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I'm in the US. Southern CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Guess I'll answer this below

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Again...Below.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
8040x1600 at present. Similar enough for the known future.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Right now.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Probably not a good question because the board is already purchased. Maximus VI Extreme because of 3 videocards + Soundcard and I like Asus.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

Legit, yes. 64bit, yes. Win7 or Win8?...It might depend on the week.

Everything in my signature is current and fine, but like I said...I want something new. One thing I've liked the idea of is playing with Corsair's Link stuff. It looks like something I'd have fun playing with. I'm mostly looking for suggestions for things that I might not know exist out there and in the areas where I haven't done research.


Case: Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 - I just ordered it from Corsair's webpage. I'm really hoping that the air going directly to the back of the videocards is going to help keep them cool. Watercooling could be a possibility in the future but that might be better in a different post.

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Extreme - Just placed the order. I'm happy with my current board and hope the new version will be just as good.

CPU: i7-4770k - Nothing surprising here. I'll pick one up at microcenter tomorrow.

Video: 3 x eVGA SuperClocked GTX 780 - I made 3 separate purchases at tigerdirect even tho they say 1 per customer...I'm hoping those all go through.

Sound: This is probably the only part that I'll reuse. Sound Blaster XFi Titanium HD & Astro MixAmp - I'm pretty happy with my sound setup. I haven't even had the mixamp connected for months...I prefer the Creative 3D sound to Dolby Headphone. Sound is coming out the receiver/speakers most of the time, anyways.

AND NOW WHERE I NEED THE MOST HELP

Power Supply: (not purchased yet) Corsair AX1200i - I'm currently using the older ax1200 but I'm sure I can sell that for a decent amount and get the new one with the Corsair Link. If there's something else out there that's known to be better, I'd love to hear about it.

CPU Cooler: (not purchased yet) Corsair Hydro Series H100i - This choice was mainly because of the little 'i' at the end of the product name. I wonder if I'm making the wrong choice here just for a couple hours of fun playing with Corsair's software.

Memory: (not purchased yet) Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB C9 - It took a while for some reason but I think I've finally verified that these have the Corsair Link connector. /shrug $350 on amazon


I'd better post this now for everyone to view and give feedback. I'm looking forward to putting this together.

EDIT: I left a drive out. I'll probably pick up a Samsung 840 Pro but maybe I should look at Corsair and be even more of a homer...
 
Last edited:
Nah, stick with the Samsung 840 SSD. It's really that good of a SSD. The CPU cooler you chose is a good choice as it's one of the best cooling solutions out now. You're gonna need that for the 4770K.

However that power supply isn't actually that much better than your current AX1200. In some cases, it performs worse than your current AX1200. HardOCP did a review of the AX1200i PSU actually. Not to mention that Corsair Link software is more or less useless for the PSU. As noted in the HardOCP review, if you're gonna spend that much on a PSU, you might as get a larger capacity one that's just as good:
$338 - LEPA G Series G1600-MA 1600W PSU

The only real strike against the Lepa is that I'm not too sure how good Lepa's customer support is. But it's a really high quality PSU. However I'd rather recommend this PSU instead since I know Antec's customer support is good and it's actually better than your current Corsair AX1200:
$240 - Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W Modular PSU

Either way, you shouldn't get the AX1200i.

As for the rest of the parts: I know you're going for the balls to the wall stuff but the Dominator RAM are really bloody overpriced and a case for getting them is very weak. You can make a solid case for the CPU, case, GPUs, motherboard, and the CPU cooler you listed but the RAM? No, it's just overpriced since you're basically paying $90 for a 1% performance increase at best. So I recommend just getting two of this RAM:
$260 - 2 x Corsair Vengeance LP 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Last but not least: CAN I HAZ UR STUFF? :D
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Very much appreciated. That's exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for.

I think this time I'll actually sell the old stuff rather than letting it sit in the closet until the value is gone. (I tend to be lazy with that sort of thing...)
 
With such a beefy setup an obsidian series case would give you all the room to work.I have a 800 D and its amazing.There is a newer 900D out.
 
A friend of mine is doing a similar build to mine but with the 900D. I'll get to play with it in the next month or two :)

I like the idea of having the intake fan blowing directly into the GPUs on the 540. My current NZXT case has a hinged fan that gives me something similar and it's worked out well with 3-way SLI. I'm afraid that the air is going to be lost in the 900D.
 
Keep us posted how the build goes.I am interested in similar specs as your wish list.
 
Will do. Sadly, I got a pair of emails from tigerdirect about the videocards..one mentions credit card fraud and the other does not. Hopefully that means at least 2 of my orders are going to go through but I may end up paying an extra $130 to get them directly from evga if I want to get it all built on Tuesday.
 
You don't need the i7 if you are just gaming. Get an unlocked i5 and save... nevermind =)
If you are buying 3x 780's then 100$ doesn't matter. =P
 
I *think* everything will come in tomorrow that's not already in my trunk. I was just on hold for 25 minutes with TigerDirect but had to hang up to jump on a conference call for work. They called me back 2 minutes after I hung up and told me everything was going through. I wonder if that means that it's going through to a warehouse that no longer has them in stock, tho... (always best to expect the worst...ha)

Anyways, I think I did a horrible thing and actually ignored the suggestions and bought everything that I originally listed.

Edit: Status update for my own records

Corsair Air 540 (6/19)
Corsair AX1200i (6/19)
Maximus VI Extreme (6/17)
i7 4770k (6/16)
Corsair H100i (6/16)
2 pack of Corsair SP120 Performance fans (6/18)
Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (6/16)
3 x eVGA SC 780 GTX (6/19 1 @ work and 2 @ home)
Sound Blaster XFi Titanium HD (already owned)
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (6/16)
+ Corsair Link Cooling and Lighting Kit (ordered 6/18 10pm w/2 day shipping)
+ fan screws to mound SP120 to H100i (need to visit Home Depot tomorrow)



And while I was checking on/typing that up I saw that they deleted 2 of my videocard orders. I received no notification that they were doing that so now I have to figure out if I should order from evga and possibly get stuck with 5 cards. Oh well...my fault for trying to get around their 1 per customer thing.
 
Last edited:
Confirmed. 2 cards were canceled. And now eVGA is out of stock as well. I guess Tuesday wasn't meant to be...
 
Last edited:
I ended up getting 2 from amazon and one from newegg.

I've got a couple 580s that I could use as well but one of the reasons I "upgraded" everything was so that I don't have to touch my current rig. I'll throw the soundcard in when I get home but I'm having everything else shipped to work so that I can build it here when I feel like taking a break.

Those EVGA cards went in and out of stock everywhere today...I got alerts from 4 different places but I think all of them are now showing out of stock.
 
Last edited:
The main issue was that it was a super busy week at work but I stayed there past midnight on Wednesday and Thursday to get this guy built.

The fun:
- H100i install: I bought some soft washers with the screws to mount the second pair of fans and those were a pain to keep on while lining up 8 screws. I only had a really cheap glue stick as adhesive. I bet it took close to 3 hours before I finally got it mounted...granted, we screwed around at Home Depot for a while and the hunt for glue wasted a bunch of time, too.
-Corsair Link: The basic issue here is that they ship the Link Commander with firmware that doesn't work in Windows 8 but really don't make it incredibly clear on how to work around that. I spent pretty much all of Thursday night trying to get all of my fans and LEDs to be recognized by the software. I think I went through all the steps here on Corsair's Forums.
-Nvidia Drivers: The current drivers don't allow me to use the Span option with 3-way SLI while running Haswell. I downloaded a "leaked" driver while I was typing this. I'll give that a shot in a little while.


I really did mean to take photos throughout the process but I was too lazy. I did take one with my phone on Thursday before I put in the lighting kit.
moaa.jpg


Oh...and here's one I took for the Corsair Link software...
 
Looking nice there.I am contemplating between the extreme and the upcoming formula. I am pretty sure i wont triple sli but i like the steel back plate that comes with the formula.I am torn here as I am not sure about teh MOBO, are teh ORG series mobos worth it.I usually dont oc right away[fear of voiding the warranty]I try to OC it a bit once i am in the second year of my rig[I usually cut and paste others settings,not very knowledgeable about oc'ing].I hate the gold,black pattern of the other boards from asus though.
 
The main issue was that it was a super busy week at work but I stayed there past midnight on Wednesday and Thursday to get this guy built.

The fun:
- H100i install: I bought some soft washers with the screws to mount the second pair of fans and those were a pain to keep on while lining up 8 screws. I only had a really cheap glue stick as adhesive. I bet it took close to 3 hours before I finally got it mounted...granted, we screwed around at Home Depot for a while and the hunt for glue wasted a bunch of time, too.
-Corsair Link: The basic issue here is that they ship the Link Commander with firmware that doesn't work in Windows 8 but really don't make it incredibly clear on how to work around that. I spent pretty much all of Thursday night trying to get all of my fans and LEDs to be recognized by the software. I think I went through all the steps here on Corsair's Forums.
-Nvidia Drivers: The current drivers don't allow me to use the Span option with 3-way SLI while running Haswell. I downloaded a "leaked" driver while I was typing this. I'll give that a shot in a little while.


I really did mean to take photos throughout the process but I was too lazy. I did take one with my phone on Thursday before I put in the lighting kit.
moaa.jpg


Oh...and here's one I took for the Corsair Link software...

BTW how long were the screws that ran through two sets of 120 mm fans and the h100?
 
BTW how long were the screws that ran through two sets of 120 mm fans and the h100?

6-32, 1.25" worked great.

EDIT: Just to clarify: That's the same size that ships with the cooler. 16 total screws for the 4 fans.
 
So each fan has it's own set of screws.

I think he was under the impression that only 8 screws held the fans in place.
 
Having a set of screws that went through the H100i would making mounting soooo much easier.
 
Back
Top