Images (Some of these are blurry, oops)
Assembly Video (This video got chopped in half due to one of the outlets I was using dying and me flipping a ton of switches, so I decided not to upload the fractured VOD to Youtube, and I’m too lazy to combine them and edit out the messing around in the middle. Here are the links to the two VODs – http://www.twitch.tv/destiny/b/457329704 and http://www.twitch.tv/destiny/b/457428078)
This computer didn’t have the most strict budget (fluctuating anywhere from $1,300 to $2,000), but the goal was to play games at a high level and stream at the same time. With that in mind, we sought to build a computer that could handle both of those tasks with ease.
CPU – Intel 4770k
Haswell offers the best single-threaded performance on the market right now. That makes it a great choice for gaming, as many games still do poorly in regards to multi-threading. The fact that this offers hyperthreading also makes it a good candidate for streaming, as programs like OBS and Xsplit definitely take advantage of multi-threaded processors.
Cooler – Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
This is a sick, budget cooler. It’s cheap and it performs very well. This has been the standard “go to” cooler for overclocking for quite a while.
Motherboard – Gigabyte UD3h
Gigabyte was the king of Z77, so I’m still a bit partial to their UD3H boards. This board provided excellent OC support for me, and has plenty of features for extra USB/SATA ports. This is just an all around, awesome motherboard.
RAM – Patriot Signature 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600
Just 8 gigs of DDR3 RAM, nothing special about it.
GPU(s) – EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB
Crossfire’d 7970’s would probably out-perform this 780, but there’s something to be said for the elegance of a single-card solution. Zero hassle with SLI/Xfire, less PSU requirements and the ability to upgrade down the line made the 780 a decent choice here.
Case – Fractal Design Define R4
Expect to see me use this case a lot. I just love it. It’s small, it looks nice and clean, it’s not “plasticy”, it has padding on the inside to dampen sound and there’s plenty of room inside for managing cables. I absolutely love this case.
What can I say? I love SeaSonic PSUs, and 620W is easily enough here to get the job done.
DVD Drive – LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer
Just a standard optical drive for reading DVDs.