Building first rig, need some pointers

[Nutri]

Hi MMO,

Currently I'm using my iMac for some music production and WoW, but it's running WoW just at 29 FPS with the 'good' settings. I'm willing to spend some money for a high-end rig with the intension of running games like WoW, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3 etc on ultra settings.

Now, last time I build a PC was when the Nvidia 6800 was brand new so it's been a while. I could use some advice and would apreciate if you could point out what I am missing, or what I am overdoing.
This is what I've selected:

Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1000W
Corsair Hydro H75
SSD Samsung 840 Evo 120GB
500 GB SataIII
Windows 8.1 NL 64Bit
Nvidia GTX780 3GB
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB DDR3-1600
Intel Core i7 4770K 3.5 GHz + MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
Cooler Master CM 690 III

This machine cost's around 1750 euro's.
Anyting I'm missing / overlooking?

Small thing; I'm having doubts on using the GTX780, or grabbing a 2x SLI GTX770. Tho I will be using just one monitor.

Thanks a bunch!

[glo]

You can further optimize this build a buttload by doing the following:

1. The PSU you selected is super crazy overkill. 1000w units are only appropriate when using triple card configurations. Get a quality 550-600w unit for single GPU configurations. Should run you half the price of the one selected.
2. Drop the 4770K down to an i5-4670K unless you plan on doing a lot of video editing. The i7's hyperthreading nets zero gains in current games over the i5. This will save you a considerable amount of money.
3. Get a better liquid cooler, if that's what you want. Anything less than the H80i will be a downgrade from similar priced air coolers such as the DH-14 from Noctua.
4. Get a better case. CM cases are behind the times and have pretty terrible cable management. Similar priced cases from makers like Fractal Design and Corsair are better built, more optimized for liquid cooling and have superior cable management. Take a look at the Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 for something very close in aesthetics to the 690.
5. Take all of the money you saved with the above suggestions and buy a 780 Ti or custom 290x when they release.

[yurano]

4. Get a better case. CM cases are behind the times and have pretty terrible cable management. Similar priced cases from makers like Fractal Design and Corsair are better built, more optimized for liquid cooling and have superior cable management. Take a look at the Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 for something very close in aesthetics to the 690.

Strongly disagree.

CM cases are better built and have better cable management (bar HAF 912). CM cases also come with a bunch of very large and fairly nice fans. They just tend to be expensive and not look so nice on the inside (with regards to painted interior and sleeved cables).

Corsair cases look and feel cheap, especially their HDD trays. Corsair cases are extremely expensive and tend to lack fans.

Fractal Design cases are heavy, use flimsy metal, and have poor clearances all around; this impacts cable management, AIO mounting, and ODD mounting.

[glo]

Strongly disagree.

CM cases are better built and have better cable management (bar HAF 912). CM cases also come with a bunch of very large and fairly nice fans. They just tend to be expensive and not look so nice on the inside (with regards to painted interior and sleeved cables).

Corsair cases look and feel cheap, especially their HDD trays. Corsair cases are extremely expensive and tend to lack fans.

Fractal Design cases are heavy, use flimsy metal, and have poor clearances all around; this impacts cable management, AIO mounting, and ODD mounting.

What?! Fractal Design using flimsy metal and poor management space? Corsair feeling cheap? Where in the world is this coming from, as it contradicts pretty much the entire internet.

The Arc Midi has over 26mm of cable management behind the motherboard tray. Think about that, an entire inch! Same goes for the current Define line. How is that giving poor clearance? How are their side panels flimsy when they're nearly half an inch thick? Citing that their cable management is poor is just ludicrous. This is what mine looks like after a whopping 1 hour effort...:



Want to see what OP is considering? This is the best that CM's own promotional team could muster up on their official site:



It's a joke. No grommets, cables all over the place since there's no where to route them and cables stuffed behind the PSU and HDDs.

Honestly, unless you're mixing up reviews, your statements make little sense. Of course, if you can provide any kind of citation to your claims, please do so. Otherwise, just about all of the reputable reviewers disagree with you. There's tons of videos from Linus that you can view to learn about the various recent releases from Corsair and Fractal.

[yurano]

The Arc Midi has over 26mm of cable management behind the motherboard tray. Think about that, an entire inch! Same goes for the current Define line.

A 24-pin cable is easily half an inch. 24-pin cables are so inflexible that it bulges my Arc Midi R2's side panel?

How is that giving poor clearance? How are their side panels flimsy when they're nearly half an inch thick? Citing that their cable management is poor is just ludicrous. This is what mine looks like after a whopping 1 hour effort...:

I'm pretty sure side panels aren't "half an inch thick". Plus, thickness has little bearing on mechanical strength. Carbon fiber is incredibly light and thin, yet extremely strong. Yet proponents of Fractal Design cases tout its heft as a testament to its durability when its simply not the case. The HAF 922 has thinner and lighter panels, but has less give when pressure is applied.

You're missing a couple of things:

• CPU hole is covered by the side panel lip. Grommet makes it worse
• PSU cable hole is tiny
• You don't have a 240mm AIO, push-pull is nearly impossible to set up
• Top mounted AIOs block the top part of the motherboard, it would be impossible with your motherboard's large heatsinks
• Can't top-front mount a fan without interfering with the top optical drive

Grommet holes are overrated.

At least top mounting the radiator is possible and it comes with a 200mm fan.

Honestly, unless you're mixing up reviews, your statements make little sense. Of course, if you can provide any kind of citation to your claims, please do so. Otherwise, just about all of the reputable reviewers disagree with you. There's tons of videos from Linus that you can view to learn about the various recent releases from Corsair and Fractal.

I don't see why you're placing reviewer opinion on a pedestal. Guess what? These people get paid to do these reviews. In particular, Linus is funded by Corsair. Unlike Fractal and Corsair, CM doesn't do as many reviewer promos. Buying into reviewer hype (Apple-esque) without actually building with a CM case is misguided.

Building with a 3 year old HAF 922 was more convenient than building with the Arc Midi R2.

The sole reason I speak out against Fractal Design cases is because I bought an Arc Midi R2 on an impulse buy due to the hype. I regret my purchase.

The difference between your build and mine is that I've push the case to the limit.

• I filled up every fan port and found out that the top fan port blocks the top ODD slot.
• Top mounting my H100 push pull showed me that despite the Arc Midi R2's offset for radiators, its still not enough; radiator blocks CPU fan headers, weight of the H100 bows the top panel grill.
• Found out that the H100 can't be mounted cable ports forward because there's simply not enough horizontal clearance
• In addition to your usage of the PSU cable hole, I have to thread two fan cables to the motherboard and I have an additional SATA power cable for my drives and I need additional molex power for the H100; the PSU cable hole is simply not large enough.

There are other problems with the Arc Midi R2:

• Stock fans rattle at 12V
• Side panel window is a massive dust and scratch magnet; no amount of cleaning fixes it
• Paint from painting the interior fouled the standoff holes. A lot of standoffs didn't go in straight, making motherboard mounting exceedingly painful
• No motherboard speaker
• Side panels don't fit fully flush at the back; minor point