Z97 Build: Flight Simulation, Gaming, & Office Productivity

[XJP05]

After several months of research, I've begun to assemble the parts for my new build and I'd like to share the details with you in order to get some opinions & suggestions.

My Background: Server / Storage Engineer for a large global company, primarily supporting the network infrastructure, virtualized server environment, and data storage platforms. Approx. 15 years in the technology field. * Side Note - many of the ROG members here are much more experienced in assembling new high-performance desktop systems, so don't hesitate to offer input. I'm always willing to learn!

Purpose: Flight Simulation ( X-Plane 10 ), Light - moderate gaming, and office productivity ( internet research, MS Office & personal financial applications ). I plan to setup an overclocking profile in the Asus TurboApp software so the CPU will run at base speed normally, when doing routine tasks like internet surfing etc. and when it runs certain simulation or gaming apps, it will O.C. the processor.

The following parts have already been purchased:

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro
CPU: Intel Devil's Canyon i7-4790K
PS: EVGA SuperNova G2 1000w - fully modular / Gold Cert.
Memory: G.Skill Trident-X 1866MHz 2x8GB (F3-1866C8D-16GTX) - Timings: CL8-9-9-24 (1.60v)
Secondary HDD (Data Drive): WD Caviar Black 2TB - WD2003FZEX
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12s - (I added a 2nd NF-F12 pwm fan for push-pull configuration)

Case Cooling: inexperienced w/ water cooling, but may attempt it in the future. For now, I have setup a positive air-pressure case, with the following fans. All are PWM with the exceptions as noted:

Front Intake: 200mm Phanteks fan (non-pwm)
Top Intake: (3x) 140mm Phanteks (PH-F140XP_BK)
Rear Exhaust: (1x) 140mm (PH-F140XP_BK)

* Will manage all fans through Fan Expert 3.


I'm considering the parts below to finish up the build, but have NOT purchased them yet, so feel free to critique . I'm undecided on a few areas, which are shown with a question mark. Your input is appreciated!

OS: Win 8.1 x64
MB: Asus Z97-WS
Primary SSD: 2.5" Samsung 840 EVO 500GB (MZ-7TE500BW)
Graphics Card: (Nvidia-based card preferred) ?
Monitor: ( Single 27" Min. res. of 2560 x 1440 and less than 5 ms response time, and quality color rendition preferred.) ?
WiFi Card (internal): (802.11ac) ?
KB: Corsair Vengeance K70
Mouse: Corsair M65
Line Conditioner / Voltage Regulation: Tripp-lite LC-1200


Thanks for taking the time to read this and offer your suggestions. Much appreciated. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Heini]

XJP05 wrote:
Case Cooling: inexperienced w/ water cooling, but may attempt it in the future. For now, I have setup a positive air-pressure case, with the following fans. All are PWM with the exceptions as noted:
Front Intake: 200mm Phanteks fan (non-pwm)
Top Intake: (3x) 140mm Phanteks (PH-F140XP_BK)
Rear Exhaust: (1x) 140mm (PH-F140XP_BK)

Four fans in and one 140 to exhaust?

[XJP05]

Heini wrote:
Four fans in and one 140 to exhaust?

The design for it came after referencing this Silverstone article (scroll down to the bottom) Keep in mind that the fans are not all running at max rpm. Positive pressurization inside the case will also reduce dust buildup as a side benefit.

[Heini]

XJP05 wrote:
The design for it came after referencing this Silverstone article (scroll down to the bottom).

Thanks for the link, it's very informative. I have a CM HAF XB Evo with two 120's in the front, one 120 in the back and a 200 in the top, all exhausting. There's vents in both sides allowing air to intake and it works well for me.
I have the 4790 (non-K) and it works well on air but I dont OC so the 4790K would be as good or better for cooling. If there's a chance you'll be upgrading the GPU in 2 or 3 years a reference 780 would be ok but if not get the biggest your budget will allow. I can vouch for the Samsung SSD's, it was the biggest PC eye opener for me in years.

[XJP05]

Heini wrote:
Thanks for the link, it's very informative. I have a CM HAF XB Evo with two 120's in the front, one 120 in the back and a 200 in the top, all exhausting. There's vents in both sides allowing air to intake and it works well for me.
I have the 4790 (non-K) and it works well on air but I dont OC so the 4790K would be as good or better for cooling. If there's a chance you'll be upgrading the GPU in 2 or 3 years a reference 780 would be ok but if not get the biggest your budget will allow. I can vouch for the Samsung SSD's, it was the biggest PC eye opener for me in years.

No problem. That article opened my mind to some information I never really gave much thought to, until now. Let's face it, we're all "managing" heat in our systems, regardless of build. Like everything else, I'll give it a try and fine tune it for my specific build if it doesn't work out as planned.

Yeah, I feel like I'm coming out of the dark ages with the system I have here. That's why I'm not going to go cheap on the graphics card, since my main goal is a high-quality graphics system. Can't afford, nor would I even consider spending the kind of money they're asking for Titan Z, but I have thought about 4K. The fact that I'm not going to run multiple screens (right now) makes me wonder if I would benefit from that new technology.

I'm definitely looking forward to faster IO with regard to the SSD primary drive. My current system is PAINFULLY slow. It's amazing how this seemed fast, years ago. Thanks Heini .

[MeanMachine]

Sounds like a decent build XJP05

I would definately consider an SSD for your boot drive and your WD HDD for program storage.
I have the same Samsung as you are proposing and they are lightning fast and good quality.
The Nvidia GTX 780 is an excellent card for the current price.
If you already have W7 stick with it. W8 or 8.1 still have driver issues with some games imo.

[XJP05]

MeanMachine wrote:
Sounds like a decent build XJP05

I would definately consider an SSD for your boot drive and your WD HDD for program storage.
I have the same Samsung as you are proposing and they are lightning fast and good quality.
The Nvidia GTX 780 is an excellent card for the current price.

MM, that's exactly the plan. The Samsung EVO as the primary boot drive with OS, and the WD Caviar Black for Data. Good to hear about the speed on that SSD. That's what I was hoping for. The video card is another story altogether.

I originally had my eyes on an EVGA 780 TI but I've been reading numerous posts about RMA's due to the ACX coolers rattling, and coil whine, etc., so now I'm looking closely at the Asus offerings, and also considering the reference cards as an option. Specifically, I'm waiting for the Asus Matrix GTX 780 Ti to see where they price it. If it's not much higher than the other Ti cards, I' might buy one. If it's too expensive, then I'll find another option.

My guess is that they might release it next month, in July. I'm not going to use multiple graphics cards in an SLI array, so to get the best possible visual experience out of X-Plane 10, I''d like to have a decent card. I tend to keep my systems for at least 5-6 years, on average.

As far as OS, I'm still on an old XP machine, believe it or not. Since we're moving to Server 2012 at work, and it looks somewhat similar to Win8.1, I may just bite the bullet and go with 8.1, to get familiar.

[abvolt]

How about the corsair h100i cpu cooler over your Noctua air cooler. I own both and can say the h100i is a lot better..

[XJP05]

abvolt wrote:
How about the corsair h100i cpu cooler over your Noctua air cooler. I own both and can say the h100i is a lot better..

I'll definitely keep your suggestion in mind. If I see the CPU temps running too high under load, I may switch to water cooling. Thanks for the feedback abvolt. I do appreciate it!

[HiVizMan]

Good information in this thread. OP enjoy your new system.