Buying new gaming PC

Hello squigy7. Welcome to the forums.

You didn't mention at what resolution that you wish to play games at so I guessed at 1920x1080. You also didn't mention any software other than games so I was a bit puzzled by your choice of a Blu-Ray DVD/CD Optical Drive.

You stressed quiet in your post, but I notice that you configured a machine other than the one marketed as quiet, the Slade. I worked up a Slade level 4 configuration for your review.



Configuration # 1006052
Price: $3,328.00

The items in bold are the changes I made to the base level 4 Slade.

Specifications:

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Corsair Obsidian 550D
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 4930K 3.4GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1866MHz Corsair Vengeance Pro (High-Performance)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair CX750M
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader (Burn + Play Blu-Ray & DVDs) (12x BD-R)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (128GB Samsung 840 PRO)
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 780 Ti 3GB (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: Upgrade All Fans to Corsair Airflow Performance Edition (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 1 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds Only)
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 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: FREE: McAfee AntiVirus Plus (1 Year Service Activation Card) (Not Pre-installed) ($35 Value)
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)




Edited by Theokritos - 06 Jul 2014 at 1:01pm

For a mostly gaming computer, X79 isn't really worth while. Though there are a few games that can take advantage of the extra memory bandwidth and cores, they are few and far between. I would stick with something closer to your original build.

Going with the Slade, you get a case that was designed for the sole purpose of keeping a system quiet. Here is a review of that case: .

I would also suggest switching to the Samsung 840 Evo for the SSD, it beats the Intel 730 in most benchmarks. Depending on your time frame for ordering, you might also want to consider waiting for the Samsung 850 Pro, supposed to be released on July 21st. Here is a review of the 850 Pro: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8216/samsung-ssd-850-pro-128gb-256gb-1tb-review-enter-the-3d-era

Most computer systems should not have a problem running Steam OS, if that is what you referring to in your post. Though, I believe it is true that the Bolt II was designed as a Steam OS system. I think Valve will include drivers to support most of current generation of hardware. It is important to them to get as large an install base as possible and Linux has pretty good driver coverage.