High End System – Now you are talking!
With the High End system comes a lot more budgetary freedom while still remaining less expensive than a comparable boutique system. The processor is fastest Haswell processor currently available, the unlocked 4770K running at 3.5GHz stock with the potential to overclock it even further.
The motherboard paired with this processor is the ASUS Z87-EXPERT which features a lot of added functionality even for a high end Z87 board. You get the ability to use two of the three PCIe 16 slots at 8x if you pick up a second GPU which will offer enough bandwidth for you to get the most from your investments. Eight SATA 6Gbps ports and eight USB 3.0 ports allow plenty of peripherals to be attached and built in WiFi frees you from needing proximity to your router but the most unique feature is Thunderbolt support, something not many boards offer.
For the GPU the current best value for performance is the EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SuperClocked as sadly the prices of the R9 290 have gone through the roof at the same time availability has plummeted. That is not terrible news as the SC model will match up head to head with the R9 280X and allows you to consider picking up a G-Sync capable monitor.
RAM prices are always unstable but the quality of DDR3-1600 has only improved. Sure there are faster kits out there but you will end up doubling your investment for percentage increase in performance measured in single digits. On the other hand the Samsung 840 EVO 250GB is inexpensive and hard to beat as far as performance goes. 250GB should hold your OS, programs and Steam library with an inexpensive HDD relegated to long term storage as it should be.
In this day and age a discrete soundcard is truly a personal choice and is best left to those who not only know what an OPamp is but also has good enough ears to hear the difference between them. The ASUS Xonar DSX 7.1 is a great choice if you are doing more with your audio system than MP3s and gaming, otherwise it is arguably not the wisest use of your money.
It is wise to give this system a little more juice than it really needs as there is no reason your next upgrade should not be a second GPU. The CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W sports four 6+2 PCIe power connectors which allows you to make that upgrade while also providing enough power to keep them both running.
| High End System Leaderboard | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-4770K – $328 |
| Motherboard | ASUS Z87-EXPERT – $239 |
| Memory | G.Skill 8GB DDR3-1600 – $83 |
| Graphics Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SuperClocked – $339 |
| Sound Card | ASUS Xonar DSX PCIe 7.1 – $56 |
| Storage | Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB SSD – $169 |
| Case | Corsair Carbide 200R – $59 |
| Power Supply | Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 – $122 |
| Optical Drive | ASUS 24x DVD-RW – $21 |
| OS | Windows 8 OEM – $99 |
| Total Price | $1515 |
What is the case in the
What is the case in the picture for this article that you dont even use in the article?
Stole it from Ryan’s Hadron
Stole it from Ryan's Hadron review … we didn't have a good half built system picture handy
That is an EVGA Hadron Case.
That is an EVGA Hadron Case. Here is the link: http://www.evga.com/articles/00777/
I like that case .
I think it would be better if
I think it would be better if you replace the APU with the Athlon x4 750k and then add an HD 7770 or 7790 maybe? Also that RAM is so expensive! ._.
Really great choices, you
Really great choices, you can’t go wrong with them. I personally would pony up for the i3-4340 and a decent motherboard for the mid-range and then go for the i5 4670k on the high end. Gaming isn’t really effected by the CPU beyond that 😀
So how good is the A8-6600K +
So how good is the A8-6600K + Radeon HD 6670 in hybrid Xfire?
Is 1080p gaming possible with that combo or is hybrid Xfire a joke?
Yay I’ve been waiting for
Yay I’ve been waiting for this 🙂
Nice but can you give some
Nice but can you give some though to doing SFF builds as well? That’s a growing market 🙂
Yay for all Nvidia garbage
Yay for all Nvidia garbage for all these builds…. Guess the writer of this article loves the money he is getting from the Green trolls!! I come out cheaper with my custom water cooled R9-290X that is OC to 1275 MHZ that &*^% all over the so called “Dream Machine” build with its pathetic 780Ti. Guess I’ll be racking up the kills in BF4 on you Nvidia users. lol! Enjoy the low FPS.
Just wait till mantle. LOL. Then you Greenies will be crying as the red lava of AMD/ATI takes you down. The burn is already there with the cheap R9-290X slapping around the 780’s like little candies, but it will be complete vaporization when mantle comes rolling around town.
…. Guess the writer of this
↑↑↑ You sir, are an idiot ↑↑↑
For future guides, I still
For future guides, I still think it would be helpful for you to include a liquid cooling recommendation since they are almost mandatory these days. With so many choices, it is hard to know which coolers to choose from.
Cases and coolers may be
Cases and coolers may be subject to personal preference, but they are also potential sources of parts incompatibilities. For example, there are motherboard / RAM / cooler combinations that just won’t physically fit for say lack of physical clearance above the RAM heat spreaders. For that reason its hard to put much faith in system recommendations you haven’t built and can’t guarantee even are buildable.
In addition to flat out incompabilities, there are also more subtle synergies or conflicts that can make one set of gear achieve much better or worse cooling & acoustic performance than another. These factors can be hard to predict ahead of time especially working just from spec sheets; it seems one of the critical things a build guide should do is check that a proposed set worked out in an unusually good way vs an unusually bad way.
A checklist for those kinds
A checklist for those kinds of specs might be a good idea, I'll think about that
Just listened to the last
Just listened to the last podcast…
How do you cat proof your computer?
And I mean that as a serious question, pulling cat hair out of everything is never fun.
I’m currently running an old case Thermaltake VA3003BWS and it’s an excellent vacuum for cat hair.
Any suggestions would be welcomed from everyone!
I’m using an NZXT Hush, so
I'm using an NZXT Hush, so the entire outside is coated in high density foam, including all the intakes for fans and on thr floor. It works great at slowing the penetration of cat hair and the hair seems to prefer sticking to it, not the PCBs.
You could always try shaving the cat too.