I have had my problems with EVGA FTW's .... went thru 5 of them, not one was stable at factory overclock. And the FTW is not by any means the fastest one.
Hexus got the FTW up to 1,315MHz base and 1,466MHz boost but the MSI and Gigabyte have both passed 1500, at bit-tech, the MSI one also passed 1500. The copper cold plate is replaced with an aluminum one which has far less cnductivity so i don't see the FTW as competing with the likes of MSI and Gigabyte ... want to find out more about voltage control, chokes , caps and how they are cooled before forming a final opinion.
And I grind my teeth at reviews who state:
This is what overclocking is all about, is it not? Why pay the premium for a GTX 980 when you can pick up a GTX 970 that, with a bit of tinkering, can be made to deliver a similar level of performance?
Why ???? Dude, the 980 can be overclocked too.
Now for water cooling.... 1st thing you have to decide is cstom water loop or AIO....lets go the later.
1. Download the radiator size estimator here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1457426/radiator-size-estimator
2. Pick a fan speed you can live with.....I recommend 1200-1250. We can see in the estimator that each 120mm of radiator provides about 60 watts of cooling at 10C Delta T w/ a radiator thickness of 30mm.
3. Lets add up ya stuff....
4790k ~ 135 watts OC';d.
GTX 970 ~ 175 watts OC'd to the wall x 2
Pump ~ 20 watts
So say 500 watts OC's about 400 watts at stock
4. You'll need the rads to be able to yank out about 60% f the heat, the other 40% will come from direct radiation to air....so 500 x 0.60 = 300 watts.....240 at stock
5. 300 watts / 60 watts per 120 = 5 .... so 5 x 120mm will give ya a Delta T of 10C....at stock, you need 4 x 120 for 10C. Now 10C is the generally accepted goal and represents the difference between coolant and ambient air temps. If you go for 4 x 120mm and run OC;d, your delta T would be 12.5C.
6. Because of the case you have chosen, I'd put a 2 x 120 rad or 3 x 120mm on top and a 2 x 120 on bottom.
Option 1 :
Swiftech 220-X on top ($140) and Swiftech 2 x 120mm rad on bottom ($57).
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/25187/ex-wat-327/Swiftech_H220-X_Expandable_All-In-One_Liquid_Cooling_Kit.html?tl=c83s137b33
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13545/ex-rad-262/Swiftech_MCR220-XP_eXtreme_Performance_Dual_120mm_Slim_Radiator_-_MCR220-XP.html?tl=c95s160b33
2 x GPU Blocks - Expect to spend $140 per block bw/ backplate
EK MSI Gaming Water Block is coming Soon
EK EVGA FTW Water Block is coming Soon
EK Gigabyte G1 Water Block is coming Soon
EK Asus Strix Water Block is coming Soon
So with 4 x 120 you'd be good for 240 watts but you could pick up 13 watts per 120 w/ fans in push pull....dount ya can install the 4th fan behind the pump so 3 x 13 would give ya another ~40 for 280 watts
Now if ya switched cases to the Enthoo Pro (save a pound), you could do a 2 x 140mm rad on top and you'd get a 2nd fan controller Now you'd have one for case fans and one for rad fans).
That would be with just push fans
82 x 2 + 60 x 2 = 284 watts
Adding 2 x 13 for the bottom fans and 1 x 17 for the top fans adds 43 watts or 327 watt. That's what I would do .... Enthoo Pro with H240-X on top and 240 rad on bottom.....284 watts of cooling should be fine.
NOTE:
I used the alphacool calculator.... shuda used the Swiftech one, you can d/l that and I expect won't change by more than 20 watts or so.
You'll need (2) G1/4 barb fittings for each added (2 per GPU block, 2 for rad),4 clamps, some black PVC 3/8" tubing and some extra coolant .. maybe $35 - $50.
Option 2 is all custom loop but thats a lot more complicated. in short ....
I'd go 3 x 140mm on top with the Phanteks case and maybe a 240 on bottom or front.
Alphacool XT45-420 on top / ST30-120 on front or UT60-240 on bottom
Swiftech MCP / D5 pump
EK 150mm reservoir (have to check fit)
Then the fittings.
As for the RAM order I simply went to partpicker and listed by Kits .... scrolled down to 2 x 8GB and did "find in page" for "2133" .... last one is the best buy methinks