Custom PC, any final thoughts before purchase?

[AnonymousUser68]

I originally started looking at custom building a PC in December of 2012, now almost a year later I have enough money to build what believe is a pretty impressive machine. Please offer your opinions on the components chosen especially if there is a scenario where better performance can be achieved for less money (this is a big investment for me). 

 

All prices are in Australian Dollars, I am paying slightly more than the average price for these components but I am supporting my local computer store (scorptec).

 

CPU: i7 4770k - (Better overclock potential than 4570k) - $395

Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 - $95

Mobo: Asus Z87 Pro - (Built in Wifi/BT) - $285

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 770 4GB OC - $579

Case: NZXT Phantom 630 - $199

PSU: Corsair CX-600W Modular - $109

Memory: Geil 2x4GB 1866mhz - $105

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB - $105

DVD Drive: LG 24x SATA - $29

OS: Windows 8 64bit - $120

Assembly: Scorptec - $105

 

Monitor: Asus MX279H - $389

 

 

Complete system with Windows 8, a monitor and built by my local specialist for $2,515 (Australian Dollars)

Not a bad price if you ask me, I look forward to your feedback 

 

Andy

[Hueyman]

X-Plane is so disapointing when it comes to performances, even with fastest components to date ;-( ...

 

But yes, you will still have great performances, as long as you know how to play with sliders, especially clouds, AA and shadows ...

Edited October 3, 2013 by Hueyman

[AnonymousUser68]

I know what you are saying, I expect to max out all current generation games at 40+ FPS while x-plane will remain toned down at struggling for 30 FPS. Either way it will be a huge leap from my 5 year old macbook with 256mb of integrated graphics haha.

[Ntr09]

I would switch out the Noctua cooler for a closed loop liquid cooler such as the Swiftech H220 or Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme, etc especially if you're gonna be doing overclocking. 

 

These are interesting figures regarding the CL water coolers on the market: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlPSGh26Ne0XdHZweHoxckRqazBvM0RTMW5GSFZNRmc#gid=0

 

I also highly recommend Corsair RAM, I also recommend 1600mhz stock clock RAM since it is cheaper and 1866 offers no real perceivable difference. These are my favs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233309

 

Otherwise, it looks great!

 

-NR

Edited October 3, 2013 by Ntr09

[AnonymousUser68]

Thanks Ntr

 

I will change the ram to Corsair Vengence @1600mhz but 16gb. I previously thought that 8gb would be more than enough ram but some people think otherwise and suggest that Chris K's Sydney scenery can use up to 12gb of ram on their system. 

 

Good advice on the cooler but I have done my research and decided against liquid cooling. As it turns out, just because its closed loop doesn't mean it isn't going to leak. As I understand the NH-D14 is the best air cooler on the market, is there anything more efficient?

 

Thanks again

Andy

[Ntr09]

That's certainly the best air-cooler but I've never had a closed loop system leak, haven't even heard of one leaking for quite a long time now. The are extremely reliable these days.

 

Liquid cooling is exponentially more efficient than the best air-cooler, especially for overclocking.

 

-NR

[sqrt(-1)]

Liquid cooling is exponentially more efficient than the best air-cooler, especially for overclocking.

 

And when properly set up, much quieter as well.

[hobofat]

Hey,

 

So I find this build really interesting because I *just* hit order on amazon.com for my own custom build that is more or less the same.  I had to make a lot of compromises because of budget, one of which was not getting an SSD.  But I feel like it was a fairly good go for my first try! Now just to await the arrival of all the parts ...

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14

Motherboard: MSI Z87 MPOWER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive x2

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card

Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case 

Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)

[Ntr09]

I like your choice of hardware hobofat. Only things I would've changed would be a different brand of motherboard, which is purely a preference thing, different brand case (preference thing), liquid cooling, which could cost more and is not always necessary, and WD Black drives, which wont make much difference to X-Plane besides startup time. 

 

Enjoy these new systems guys!

 

Also, if anybody needs advice during the build process I am always willing to help.  

 

-NR

[hobofat]

I like your choice of hardware hobofat. Only things I would've changed would be a different brand of motherboard, which is purely a preference thing, different brand case (preference thing), liquid cooling, which could cost more and is not always necessary, and WD Black drives, which wont make much difference to X-Plane besides startup time. 

 

Enjoy these new systems guys!

 

Also, if anybody needs advice during the build process I am always willing to help.

 

-NR

 

Thanks for the feedback!  There were a lot of tough choices to be made, as I had a very strict budget.  A few items I did not want to compromise on, CPU and video card in particular.  But with the rest I had to shave off $15 here, $30 there.  

 

I ended up paying more for the PSU because I wanted it fully modular.  I've used a non-modular PSUs before (had to replace one in my old Dell) and it was a nightmare. But blue drives were cheaper than black, the Fractal Design case was the cheapest of the full towers I was interested in, air cooler etc.  But they were all compromises I can live with, and things can be adjusted in the future.

 

The hardest item to pick was the motherboard, since I'm not all that computer savvy and they all kind of looked the same to me.  I always inspect the 2 - 4-star reviews on Amazon and Newegg, and every motherboard I looked at had a similar amount of disgruntled users with a varying array of problems, so I went with a board that people said "felt solid." Not sure if that was the best choice or not, but I'm hoping it will be sufficient.

[Ntr09]

Yeah I would feel quite confident in that motherboard, I wouldn't consider it to be a compromise at all. 

 

-NR

[rlk281]

Curious why you chose Windows 8 over Windows 7...

 

Thanks!

[hobofat]

Curious why you chose Windows 8 over Windows 7...

 

Thanks!

 

Didn't see any compelling reason not to choose Windows 8.  I've used it and like it and haven't seen anything that suggests it's in any way inferior to 7, aside from people grumbling over UI changes. I haven't read anything that suggests it's *better* then 7 either, so it just came down to personal preference.  Windows will largely be for simming and gaming, I'll also be running a version of linux on its own drive for programming work.

[rlk281]

Thanks for your thoughts; they helped me with my pending build...

[OlaHaldor]

I've been using Windows 8 for about 6 months. Have nothing to complain about. The biggest concern for many is that the usual Windows Start menu.

In Windows 8 it's a "full screen start menu", where you can place and reorder shortcuts and gadgets in whatever fashion you like.

I actually like it.

The usual desktop with windows and explorer and whatever is intact. The biggest visual difference is that everything is flat. No shading and fancy color effects. It looks very clean and easy on the eye. Best thing Microsoft has done in a long time for me.

My short experience with Windows 8 has in general been more stable than Windows 7 on the same hardware.