Advice needed

As far as the dusty environment, the big thing is to have positive pressure in the case. So you want the intake fans pushing more air in then the exhaust fans. This means that the case will be pushing air out of and holes in the case. This can be done with fan tuning. I am guessing that if you select "Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 1 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds Only)", and add a note that you have a dusty environment and need positive pressure in the case, that DS will tune that for you. It would be best to ask DS about this.

You will also want to make sure that the case has intake fan filters and to clean them frequently.

As for the rest, it is hard to say without knowing what resolution you will be wanting to play at. If you can get that to us we can better advise on what kind of hardware you will need to drive it.

Edited by danjw1 - 28 May 2014 at 4:54am

Hi Ailoading.....    The Vanquish level 4 at $1259 will give you High to Max gaming with its gtx 770, depending on the game.    It is tough to beat for the price.

If you want an overclocked cpu, a better cooler and power supply and a full size motherboard , here's another way to go.   More money, but more options because its a custom build.

Config # 983353     Cost $ 1767

  Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Digital Storm VIRTUE
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i5 4670K 3.40 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Z97M-PLUS (Intel Z97 Chipset) (MATX)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W EVGA SuperNOVA

Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (120GB Samsung 840 EVO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)

Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB (Includes PhysX)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 120mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (High-Performance Edition)

H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Boost Graphics Card(s): - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
Portable Gaming: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)  

The full size mobo does have more Sata  ports for more drives, more fan headers to add fans to, and allows up to 32GB ram as opposed to 16Gb with Vanquish.  For most, the 16GB is all you need, and if you won't be adding fans to the mobo, or using more than 3 HDD/SSD drives then the smaller mobo in the Vanquish is fine.

Performance wise in gaming, the Vanquish 4 and this build are very close.  The overclocked cpu in my build does add a few percentage points in performance with certain games. 

Hope this helps  and stay in touch.


Edited by bprat22 - 28 May 2014 at 8:48am

Good point. 

With the stage 1 oc'ing, the stage 1 air might work just fine.  I personally like air cooling over liquid for its dependability but everyone loves the new sealed units. 

Not sure what DS is now using for the air cooler.    The original Hyper 212 worked good.  If this one is the same performance then I would go with the air cooler.


EDIT...  You could go with the Noctua D14 for tops in cooling, but a larger case like the ODE 600T case is needed.   The Noctua cools great, is quiet and just works for years.  But, it does take up space, which is OK with me. 



Edited by bprat22 - 28 May 2014 at 10:14am

We'll be here whenever you're ready.  

Well worth it my friend!!