Hi, Diversemanx, and welcome
We have much in common, so I think I get it with your emphasis and uses for the rig you're building. I did come up with some comments:
You pretty well filled the budget with just a Hero and 4790K. Haswell-E and DDR4 are in the early-adopter price structure now and would be a big budget hit.
Are you planning any overclocking? That's what the K CPUs are for. The downside is that air cooling is even less effective on overclocked CPUs. If you're not expecting to overclock, maybe a 4790 or 4790S would be a better choice for the budget.
The PSU looks good. The GTX980 runs remarkably cool for its performance. I'd recommend a higher powered PSU if you were using an AMD GPU.
I advise sticking with the 2400C10 RAM. That's the speed I use with 4790K and 4770K -- different make of RAM, but same speed and voltage. Running with overclocks at RAM voltage of 1.68 hasn't hurt any of my CPUs nor hurt the RAM.
Your fan and splitter plan should work well. Any splitter from one of the dealers you are considering that has the right number of pins for the fan cables will work. I ordered mine when ordering other things to keep down the impact of shipping costs for a low-cost item.
Keyboard and mouse should be connected to USB2 ports so they are fully functional in BIOS where no USB3 drivers are installed. The printer can be connected through a USB3 port and work well - that's how I have mine.
I recommend Prolimtech PK-1 TIM. It's easy to apply and works well. It's thermal conductivity is great and makes PK-1 quite cost effective. A second choice, and first choice for some of us around the forum, is Arctic Silver 5. Other TIMs in that performance range are a little more expensive and don't give noticeable improvement in cooling. The next big step is to liquid metal, which you don't want to do. It's worthless without delidding a Haswell CPU and is electrically conductive. The risks and trouble aren't worth it unless overclocking is a big thing with you.
I understand your reluctance to use water cooling. I had the same and started with a CM Hyper 212 EVO. It's still around here somewhere. It works as well as most air coolers and is very cost effective. I ran into one problem with it, though. The heat spreader fins on my Corsair RAM are about as high as those on a G.Skill Trident X. That big RAM wouldn't fit in the first RAM slot under the 212EVO on a Maximus VI Hero (it's around here somewhere, too.) You may have to make a compromise by putting the A channel RAM in the second slot. I think ASUS recommends the first slot for one DIMM per channel. The other alternative compromises the budget - an All-in-One water cooler. Water will definitely run the 4790K cooler, will be quieter and should relieve the RAM fit problem in the first slot. Sorry, I don't know enough about the available AIO kits to recommend one.
I have bought many parts of my rig on line, but most of it came from the local MicroCenter. Do you live near one of their stores? It may be worth a day trip if one is within a 1 or 2 hundred miles. Microcenter prices, especially motherboard/CPU combos, are very good. Otherwise, any of the online outlets I've seen covered on pcpartpicker are reputable.
Of course, these are all my own opinions and YMMV.
Jeff
We have much in common, so I think I get it with your emphasis and uses for the rig you're building. I did come up with some comments:
You pretty well filled the budget with just a Hero and 4790K. Haswell-E and DDR4 are in the early-adopter price structure now and would be a big budget hit.
Are you planning any overclocking? That's what the K CPUs are for. The downside is that air cooling is even less effective on overclocked CPUs. If you're not expecting to overclock, maybe a 4790 or 4790S would be a better choice for the budget.
The PSU looks good. The GTX980 runs remarkably cool for its performance. I'd recommend a higher powered PSU if you were using an AMD GPU.
I advise sticking with the 2400C10 RAM. That's the speed I use with 4790K and 4770K -- different make of RAM, but same speed and voltage. Running with overclocks at RAM voltage of 1.68 hasn't hurt any of my CPUs nor hurt the RAM.
Your fan and splitter plan should work well. Any splitter from one of the dealers you are considering that has the right number of pins for the fan cables will work. I ordered mine when ordering other things to keep down the impact of shipping costs for a low-cost item.
Keyboard and mouse should be connected to USB2 ports so they are fully functional in BIOS where no USB3 drivers are installed. The printer can be connected through a USB3 port and work well - that's how I have mine.
I recommend Prolimtech PK-1 TIM. It's easy to apply and works well. It's thermal conductivity is great and makes PK-1 quite cost effective. A second choice, and first choice for some of us around the forum, is Arctic Silver 5. Other TIMs in that performance range are a little more expensive and don't give noticeable improvement in cooling. The next big step is to liquid metal, which you don't want to do. It's worthless without delidding a Haswell CPU and is electrically conductive. The risks and trouble aren't worth it unless overclocking is a big thing with you.
I understand your reluctance to use water cooling. I had the same and started with a CM Hyper 212 EVO. It's still around here somewhere. It works as well as most air coolers and is very cost effective. I ran into one problem with it, though. The heat spreader fins on my Corsair RAM are about as high as those on a G.Skill Trident X. That big RAM wouldn't fit in the first RAM slot under the 212EVO on a Maximus VI Hero (it's around here somewhere, too.) You may have to make a compromise by putting the A channel RAM in the second slot. I think ASUS recommends the first slot for one DIMM per channel. The other alternative compromises the budget - an All-in-One water cooler. Water will definitely run the 4790K cooler, will be quieter and should relieve the RAM fit problem in the first slot. Sorry, I don't know enough about the available AIO kits to recommend one.
I have bought many parts of my rig on line, but most of it came from the local MicroCenter. Do you live near one of their stores? It may be worth a day trip if one is within a 1 or 2 hundred miles. Microcenter prices, especially motherboard/CPU combos, are very good. Otherwise, any of the online outlets I've seen covered on pcpartpicker are reputable.
Of course, these are all my own opinions and YMMV.
Jeff
