Hello, during choosing the parts for my first custom built PC I have stumbled upon Tom's Hardware (both articles and forums) a lot, and now decided to post my planned configuration here, for a viability check by more experienced builders.
Parts to be bought:
CPU: Intel Core i-5 4670K (to be overclocked in future on demand, with appropriate cooler)
GPU: Custom AMD Radeon HD 7950 (to be overclocked, 2 in CrossfireX combination on demand)
MOBO: H87 or Z87
RAM: 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile DDR3-1600
PSU: XFX Pro Series 850W
CASE: Mid-tower, something with interesting design
Parts available:
SSD: SanDisk 128GB
HDD: 1GB SATA 5400RPM
2 Optical Drives
WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n PCIex1
Specifics:
CPU: I chose an unlocked (K) version, so it can live up to future demands when I have them by overclocking it, as I plan to keep this PC for about 6 years (depending on how software demands change). I went for the 4670K (210€) instead of 4770K because it seems to me that there are very little use cases where so many parallel threads are actually useful, and so it was not worth additional 50€ to me. For later overclocking I was looking at something like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO for example, just about anything that isn't too noisy, large or expensive and allows quite a bit of OC.
GPU: Here I selected a custom HD7950, which I will overclock and extend with another one when it is needed; it | they are going to power one large (not chosen yet) and one smaller (1280x1024) screen. This is because of their relative cheapness (220-230€) and high value (especially because of their high overclockability). When placing two of them on top of each other using something like HD7950 IceQ Turbo (which exhausts all air through the back) for at least the lower one, so the top one can be cooled appropriately and not with pre-heated air. Apart from that I am absolutely not sure about which one to choose (no experience with different manufacturers), rather strong cooling (for OC) and acceptable noise are priorities. Also the slots needed matter, see motherboard section.
MOBO: The MOBO is quite hard to choose: I know that some H87 boards are capable of overclocking due to a custom BIOS update by the manufacturers, however there seem to be VERY few reports which would show if this actually is a viable option. Else I would definitely get a Z87 (which also has Tiny Lake SSD optimization, something I don't know anything about), just been looking at the H87 because of the significantly lower price (40€ less). Same as with the GPU, I don't have any experience with different manufacturers or generally anything.
It should be considered that some of the video cards are relatively wide, occupying slots which might not be there. Not sure about the need of specific PCIe lanes, either. To make it short, I have no clue, even after extensive searching.
RAM: This is fairly straightforward, from what I read Corsair seems reliable and is also one of the cheapest with about 60€ per stick. Low profile to allow for a proper CPU cooling solution later on, and fins (according to my googling) are just bells and whistles, same as high clock frequencies.
PSU: I figured that I need about 850W to power my whole system (considering the lower output after these planned 6 years), and this one looks like high quality for an excellent price. Not decided on modularity yet.
CASE: There's quite a few requirements here: It should be deep enough to hold the video cards (might be quite long), be not too heavy, have USB3 ports which are, together with everything else, located in the upper quarter, availability for 2 5.25 external drives as well as one 3.25 external drive (meant for card reader, which might have additional USB2 ports), 2 internal 3.5 drives and one internal 2.5 drive. I do want it to look really well (as in cool, modern), despite a door being not an option (except front fan airflow can penetrate it and all ports (includes external 3.25 drive for card reader) are positioned outside). It should (be able to) hold one front intake fan for drive cooling (I read it is quite advisable), 2 small or one large side intake fan (for delivering air to the GPUs), a rear exhaust fan and 2 or one top exhaust fans (which still allow the CPU cooler to fit in). Please advise me if that airflow setup is suboptimal. Last but not least the PSU has to fit floor/bottom mounted. For a third time I have no idea about which manufacturers are favorable. (My former case had an external antenna for the WiFi card, would be a nice addon but not really necessary.)
If you haven't noticed yet, the focus lies on cost efficiency, rather moderate prices with good and lasting quality.
On a side note, I'm from Germany, prices can be found at geizhals.de, but I can do the price lookup myself.
Parts to be bought:
CPU: Intel Core i-5 4670K (to be overclocked in future on demand, with appropriate cooler)
GPU: Custom AMD Radeon HD 7950 (to be overclocked, 2 in CrossfireX combination on demand)
MOBO: H87 or Z87
RAM: 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile DDR3-1600
PSU: XFX Pro Series 850W
CASE: Mid-tower, something with interesting design
Parts available:
SSD: SanDisk 128GB
HDD: 1GB SATA 5400RPM
2 Optical Drives
WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n PCIex1
Specifics:
CPU: I chose an unlocked (K) version, so it can live up to future demands when I have them by overclocking it, as I plan to keep this PC for about 6 years (depending on how software demands change). I went for the 4670K (210€) instead of 4770K because it seems to me that there are very little use cases where so many parallel threads are actually useful, and so it was not worth additional 50€ to me. For later overclocking I was looking at something like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO for example, just about anything that isn't too noisy, large or expensive and allows quite a bit of OC.
GPU: Here I selected a custom HD7950, which I will overclock and extend with another one when it is needed; it | they are going to power one large (not chosen yet) and one smaller (1280x1024) screen. This is because of their relative cheapness (220-230€) and high value (especially because of their high overclockability). When placing two of them on top of each other using something like HD7950 IceQ Turbo (which exhausts all air through the back) for at least the lower one, so the top one can be cooled appropriately and not with pre-heated air. Apart from that I am absolutely not sure about which one to choose (no experience with different manufacturers), rather strong cooling (for OC) and acceptable noise are priorities. Also the slots needed matter, see motherboard section.
MOBO: The MOBO is quite hard to choose: I know that some H87 boards are capable of overclocking due to a custom BIOS update by the manufacturers, however there seem to be VERY few reports which would show if this actually is a viable option. Else I would definitely get a Z87 (which also has Tiny Lake SSD optimization, something I don't know anything about), just been looking at the H87 because of the significantly lower price (40€ less). Same as with the GPU, I don't have any experience with different manufacturers or generally anything.
It should be considered that some of the video cards are relatively wide, occupying slots which might not be there. Not sure about the need of specific PCIe lanes, either. To make it short, I have no clue, even after extensive searching.
RAM: This is fairly straightforward, from what I read Corsair seems reliable and is also one of the cheapest with about 60€ per stick. Low profile to allow for a proper CPU cooling solution later on, and fins (according to my googling) are just bells and whistles, same as high clock frequencies.
PSU: I figured that I need about 850W to power my whole system (considering the lower output after these planned 6 years), and this one looks like high quality for an excellent price. Not decided on modularity yet.
CASE: There's quite a few requirements here: It should be deep enough to hold the video cards (might be quite long), be not too heavy, have USB3 ports which are, together with everything else, located in the upper quarter, availability for 2 5.25 external drives as well as one 3.25 external drive (meant for card reader, which might have additional USB2 ports), 2 internal 3.5 drives and one internal 2.5 drive. I do want it to look really well (as in cool, modern), despite a door being not an option (except front fan airflow can penetrate it and all ports (includes external 3.25 drive for card reader) are positioned outside). It should (be able to) hold one front intake fan for drive cooling (I read it is quite advisable), 2 small or one large side intake fan (for delivering air to the GPUs), a rear exhaust fan and 2 or one top exhaust fans (which still allow the CPU cooler to fit in). Please advise me if that airflow setup is suboptimal. Last but not least the PSU has to fit floor/bottom mounted. For a third time I have no idea about which manufacturers are favorable. (My former case had an external antenna for the WiFi card, would be a nice addon but not really necessary.)
If you haven't noticed yet, the focus lies on cost efficiency, rather moderate prices with good and lasting quality.
On a side note, I'm from Germany, prices can be found at geizhals.de, but I can do the price lookup myself.
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