Computer Build Checkup (high end?) Hopefully ordering tonight or tomorrow!

[Funjando]

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to order my first custom computer but i'm not particularly knowledgeable. I've put together the following rig

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GTVQcf

and i was wondering if there are any issues with it (incompatibilities, bottlenecks, that kind of thing or even overall feedback would be greatly appreciated)

I also have a few quick questions that would be great if anyone could answer!


1. Is my cpu cooler enough to cool the processor and will it fit on my motherboard?
2. Are there better motherboards for the approximate same price (or lower) which serve the same purpose.? Pretty much I want a good, quality, long lasting motherboard with built in wifi, support for multiple graphics cards (i wish to delve into crossfire in the future) and whatever other nifty things i want that i don't know about
3. Do i need more ram? i've heard that 8 gigs is all you need but maybe this depends on the parts?
4. I was looking into watercooling for the R9 290x so i focused on a case that's good for watercooling but from what i gather that's only necessary if you require it to be perfectly quiet so i'm reverting to airflow, and i was wondering if there are any cheaper, better, cool looking cases that fit my parts and are good?

Thanks!

 

[Eximo]

There is really only one air cooler larger/better then the NH-D14 , the NH-D15. It should fit the '1st' ram slots are the ones farther away from the heatsink. It may block the first PCI Express Slot

I would recommend G.Skill Sniper 1866 with a CAS of 9 or 2133 with a CAS of 10. Not adding a lot there.

There are cheaper motherboards, but the good ones start at around $150, I wouldn't recommend changing it out. (Correction) You should at least select a Z97 motherboard to make sure of compatibility with the CPU out of the box.

Power supply is hugely overkill. Are you planning to add a second GPU soon?

Nothing particularly wrong with the case choice. You don't technically need a full tower though. But if you are going multiple GPU then it makes sense.

 

[Funjando]

Thanks for the fast response!

Well i looked into the NH-D15 and first of all i can handle loosing a ram slot/ PCI port and also i read that removing the outer fan only drops temps by a degree or two so if it's a problem i can do that.
One issue i have though is that the NH-D15 is listed as being compatible with "Intel: LGA115x, LGA2011; AMD: AM3(+), AM2(+), FM2(+), FM1" LGA1150 not mentioned or does LGA 115x mean both 1150 and 1155?

So i switched my ram for the G.Skill Sniper DDR3 PC14900/1866MHz because i can actually get that for cheaper and it's better(?) so thanks a lot for that!

About the motherboard, they all seemed pretty similar and i didn't really know what i was doing so i just wanted to make sure it was all good.

Yeah i plan to add another GPU as soon as i get the money, the reason it's so overkill is because for whatever reason i the price increase from a not as overkill GPU was tiny (I live in Sweden, socialist country with high taxes) and i figured it wouldn't hurt.

I rather like this case but i think i'll browse in the time i have left before i order for funsies

Thanks for your time and help!

 

[Eximo]

115x means support for 1156, 1155, and 1150 sockets. Been the standard intel socket size for consumer grade chips for the last several years.

On the motherboard here is a better choice, just a newer chipset guaranteed to work with your chip. Z87 boards might need a BIOS update first, and sometimes need a CPU to do it. (Didn't actually check that board, but it is just easier to get the latest)

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a

 

[Funjando]

that motherboard looks awesome! However I didn't see a wifi antennae, did i miss it or does it not exist?

 

[Funjando]

Also do you know if i can do SSD cacheing with this setup?

 

[t3nn1spr3p]

Love the PSU. Made some few changes. I like gigabyte motherboards better.
And if you want wifi, spend $30 on a good asus pcie card, rather than relying on the motherboard's cheap one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($322.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme 3.5g Thermal Paste ($12.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($157.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($88.79 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Tri-X Video Card ($528.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 1050W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($187.04 @ Newegg)
Total: $1637.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-24 17:35 EDT-0400

 

[t3nn1spr3p]

Oh, meant to ask, what do you need 1000 watts for?

 

[Eximo]

2 R290X is going to suck a lot of juice.

You can SSD Cache with any combination of SSD and Harddrive. Just have to RAID them together to form one larger partition. It is easier, and better in my opinion, to leave them independent. Load the OS onto the SSD and any programs you want to have the best performance. Leave the hard drive for bulk storage and large games. That way you know what files are on the SSD and what is on the spinning disk.

For wireless:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97prowifiac

Pretty much the only choice if you plan to do SLI. Might be easier to just buy a wireless card with the previous motherboard.

 

[Funjando]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the answers!

TO:
t3nn1spr3p

First off, i can see you what you mean about getting a wifi card instead, unfortunately i'm stating to go over budget so i'll probably just run an obnoxiously long Ethernet cable through my house and maybe fix it later if it becomes a problem.

The Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 is more expensive and i can't really find anything on it (only the gaming 5) so i was wondering what i gain from it? Also whenever i read about motherboards they talk about the pci ports having x16 and x8-x8 what does that mean?

What's better about your suggested ram?

Thanks for really looking through!

TO:
Eximo

yeah i'll leave them separate, seems easier and i see your point. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Eximo]

8x/8x or 16x

So a Haswell chip has 24x lanes of PCI Express 3.0 to divvy up. Also an additional 8x of PCIe 2.0.

Your two x16 slots share a total of 16 lanes between them. When you install two cards, they will then run at 8x each. This is more then enough bandwidth for today's video cards. The consequences to this is that to do SLI/Crossfire video cards you can only use the two PCIe 3.0 16x slots. The third x16 slot is limited to PCIe 2.0 and can't SLI/Crossfire with the others.

The remaining 8 available are split up amongst several devices and several ways depending on the motherboard's components. For example the boards with WiFi will use up some lanes for that, Sata Express would do the same thing. Then you have some options with the PCIe 2.0 slots. You can put in one 8x card, a 4x card and then 3 1x, or 4 1x, it is self configuring, just depends what you hook up how things get distributed.

It is nearly impossible to use all the slots anyway due to dual slot video cards covering up slots.

 

[Funjando]

8x/8x or 16x

So a Haswell chip has 24x lanes of PCI Express 3.0 to divvy up. Also an additional 8x of PCIe 2.0.

Your two x16 slots share a total of 16 lanes between them. When you install two cards, they will then run at 8x each. This is more then enough bandwidth for today's video cards. The consequences to this is that to do SLI/Crossfire video cards you can only use the two PCIe 3.0 16x slots. The third x16 slot is limited to PCIe 2.0 and can't SLI/Crossfire with the others.

The remaining 8 available are split up amongst several devices and several ways depending on the motherboard's components. For example the boards with WiFi will use up some lanes for that, Sata Express would do the same thing. Then you have some options with the PCIe 2.0 slots. You can put in one 8x card, a 4x card and then 3 1x, or 4 1x, it is self configuring, just depends what you hook up how things get distributed.

It is nearly impossible to use all the slots anyway due to dual slot video cards covering up slots.

Alright thanks, that was the impression i was getting albeit without the specifics. I always wondered though why people did sli and crossfire if it cut the GPU's to x8 from x16 but if x8 is all it needs that makes more sense.

With that i think i'm good to go, Thank you both for your time and help!

 

[Funjando]

This is my build as it is now

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qGB6pg