This build was relatively straight forward. The person ordering this machine wanted a rig that could play any games at 1080p at 60fps on high settings, along with something that would be good for streaming and 3d modeling.
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. It’s also good for programs that do 3d-modeling, as they often utilize mutli-threaded processors well.
Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme
I’m starting to switch away from the h100i. I still love that CLC, but this one offers comparable performance with much quieter fans
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, as well as support for crossfire. I don’t see myself moving away from this board any time soon.
RAM – Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB
RAM is RAM. I think at the time the 1 stick version was cheaper so we went ahead with that.
GPU(s) – EVGA GTX 780 3GB
A 780 will destroy everything you throw at it for 1080p, and it fit in the budget of this system.
Storage – 840 EVO 250GB & Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5″ 7200RPM
The 840 EVO’s are priced really nice compared to the amount of storage they offer, and the 840 controller is one of the best on the market at the moment, making this SSD an excellent choice. The Seagate Barracuda’s are priced really well compared to the amount of storage they offer as well.
Case – Zalman Z11 PLUS HF1
I would not recommend this case, heh. The customer wanted to give this case a shot for this particular build and we went ahead with it, but there were a few problems (which you’ll see in the video) that came up. The side fans are a bit excessive (for cooling the HDD bay) and, more importantly, there is no support in this case for a 120mm radiator. The workout for this was sticking the fans on top of the case and removing the fins. I could also make some complaints about the cable management in the case, but those weren’t major.
PSU – SeaSonic M12II 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified
Good PSU, good price. Could have skimped a bit here, maybe 620 or 600W, but this is fine for this build.
DVD Drive – LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer
Just a standard optical drive for reading DVDs.