Advice for Designing Gaming Rig?

Hi jpforensic..... Welcome to the forums.

All 3 build s are very good, and about the same performance.   The second build doesn't allow a sli, 2x gpu setup, the others do.  Depends if you ever want sli.  With your single 1080p monitor, a single card is excellent.  

The case difference, the Virtue 350D vs the Apollo 760T is more a personal choice.  They both work.

I personally would opt for the 3rd config, and change the mobo to the Gryphon and the psu to the 750W EVGA Super Nova.    Even if you don't sli, the Gryphon mobo has a 5 year warranty as opposed to 3 years for the others.     The 750W EVGA has a 10 year warranty, I believe, as opposed to 3 years for the other.    The 10 year might require registration in a certain time frame, but that's something to check with their website.

The other difference was the cpu coolers.  Either will work just fine with your overclock.  The 240mm rad will mount under the top and give the case more airflow, plus more cpu cooling potential, but both work great.

The overclocked 970ACX card will give you a few frames per second better performance over the reference card.  It will dump more heat into the case, being the dual fan, but shouldn't be a problem in either case.  If you meant the Graphics Boost, I wouldn't.  The 970 ACX has it already.   If you get the reference card with single fan, I would just leave it as is. 

I wouldn't opt for the sound deadening.  No place for the material to mount and the fan speeds are easily tweaked by you.

Not sure what storage you need, but if the budget is getting stretched, I would drop to the 1TB Western Digital Black and put some of the money into  a larger 256Gb SSD. 

Hope this helps and good luck.






Edited by bprat22 - 01 Nov 2014 at 6:04am

My pleasure.  

The knowledge from the forum members is a definite step above any other site.  And just good fun. 

The internal lighting isn't as in-your-face as some of the pictures imply, IMHO.  At least for me, it's a soft lighting that does a great job of showing off the guts of the rig without distracting at all.   Plus, there is a small red switch on the back I/O panel that you can use to switch them off if needed.
 

That looks like a very solid build. I think you made the right decision on a 256GB SSD, it seems to be a sweet spot for most people. Good luck on holding out for the next deal. ;-)

Thanks for the heads-up. As I am totally unfamiliar with purchasing through DS, I had no idea what to expect as far as whether or not to expect significant discounts during holiday sales. Im itching to place the order, but I wanted to avoid seeing the 25% off per card less than a month after I make my purchase if at all possible. I'd also be just as disappointed (maybe a little more so) if I elected to wait for a significant drop in price and it never comes so thanks again for passing along some crucial information to help me make my decision! I'm hoping that the next time I post it will be as one of DS's newest customers. Cheers!

I agree regarding properly preparing for raiding. The rig I have now is functional with the latest patch, but only tolerably so. I can still play but only with barely reasonable fps at the lowest WoW settings. Im anxious to take advantage of the upgraded graphics for WoW so I will most likely be purchasing my DS rig now instead of waiting until the end of a month for the possibility of a slightly better deal. I know if I dont order now Ill be disappointed that I dont have the new DS rig up and running for launch. Thanks Meller!

I know a lot of folks recommend this monitor: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-VG248QE/23454553

Thanks! I picked up the VG248QE last night.

Originally posted by jpforensic Incidentally, I was also going to purchase the rig last night and it appears I missed the boat on the Halloween promotion. Unfortunately, I think that means I'll be waiting until the end of the month to make the purchase in order to take advantage of the promotion running at that time. Thanks all for your help and here's to waiting patiently for the next three weeks!

I would keep an eye on their homepage for new deals popping up.

Originally posted by danjw1 Originally posted by jpforensic Incidentally, I was also going to purchase the rig last night and it appears I missed the boat on the Halloween promotion. Unfortunately, I think that means I'll be waiting until the end of the month to make the purchase in order to take advantage of the promotion running at that time. Thanks all for your help and here's to waiting patiently for the next three weeks! I would keep an eye on their homepage for new deals popping up.

Absolutely - Im checking daily. If a promotion pops up that is similar/equivalent to the recent Halloween promotion I'll take advantage of it immediately.

While Im waiting, is it worthwhile to make a small upgrade from the DS 16GB 1866MHz memory to the Corsair Vengeance Pro equivalent?

Originally posted by danjw1 Originally posted by jpforensic While Im waiting, is it worthwhile to make a small upgrade from the DS 16GB 1866MHz memory to the Corsair Vengeance Pro equivalent? DS uses a variety of brands of memory, but the ones they use are all high quality brands. The main reason to go with a particular model would be to lock in the timings. For a gaming rig, I don't think that minor variances in timings between brands is going to make a perceivable difference.

10-4 I'll keep it as is.

Thanks danjw1!

Coil whine has been around forever, and not just the graphics card.     Some have it and find it annoying and some don't even hear it. Depends on your sensitivity. Completely random.

Edited by bprat22 - 10 Nov 2014 at 6:52am

Sabertooth is a full size ATX MoBo with two additional PCIe 2.0 x1 slots and a higher quality audio processor. If the chassis has the space, I would opt for the Sabertooth.

Thank you both - my desire is to make the system I purchase to be as amenable to upgrading for as long as I possibly can. I'll change to the Sabertooth and submit the order.

That's a nice rig. 

Congrats and stay busy.    The waiting is tough.  

The overclocked 970ACX is out of stock with no current ETA. Is there a compelling reason to wait for it or is the single fan reference card ok?

While Id like to have the ACX, I don't think the unknown wait time is worth it to me at this point. I'd like to get my rig as soon as possible so Im willing to give up a few fps to get it sooner rather than later. Here I come stage 6! Thanks!