Need Help Selecting a Model

So I am semi-hardware literate newbie. Having built my own computer 5 years ago, I am l looking in the market for a new one. I like knowing I have the comfort of someone being responsible for my rig should problems arise, something I learned you don't have when you build your own, and as such I am willing to pay the extra for someone else to build my computer. I am fairly competent with most things and how they work but I lack the knowledge base and experience about all the parts. My question is: I am currently running a dual monitor system at 1080p, both at 1960 and 1280 resolution. I normally play League of Legends, Blizzard games (Primarily SC2) and I have intentions to play Titan Fall on my pc. I do run at least 3 programs at all times while my game is running (I tend to stream to my friends to help them improve). Is the Vanquish lvl4 a good purchase and can it handle what I plan to put it through or would a Apollo lvl 3 work. If going the Apollo I plan to replace the gtx 780 with two gtx 770 SLI. I am asking for practical advice. I am on a budget and the less I have to spend to accomplish what I need for a few years until I finish my degree, the better; seeing as if I don't ask I am always tempted to go harder (IE: I'd go for a lvl 1 Hailstorm with everything being liquid cooled).

ps - I also posted in the Hardware section. I assume this is a more appropriate place to ask my question?

Hello Ruefio, welcome to the forums. 

While the Vantage II level 3 and 4 should run all of the programs that you mentioned just fine, I am not certain about the streaming. Hopefully one of the folks with more experience can provide you with detail answers to your questions.

Will you be recording and editing your video streams as well?

You don't need to increase your PSU as the Apollo lvl 3 comes with a 750 watt PSU which will run a GTX 770 SLI build. A 600 watt PSU in the Vanq lvl 3 won't.

You also can run two monitors off a single GTX 770. If you're running 2x 1080p monitors, I'd personally say just go with the Apollo lvl 3 with the GTX 780 instead of sli 770's. As it will run both of your monitors no problem, still let you run most games on high/max settings, allow you to stream with barely any fps lose thanks to the 4770k.

The liquid cooling on the cpu will allow you to overclock your 4770k nicely.

From everything you've said the lvl 3 on the Apollo build will do everything you absolutely need, flawlessly. And it gives you room to upgrade. IE maybe a 250gb or 256gb ssd for your primary instead of a 120gb.

Being someone who streams myself... I can honestly say, that the Apollo lvl 3 sounds like a perfect match.

No... You can't. The entire Vanq line is a prebuild pc. IE it is already built and usually ships within 3 business days. Where as the Apollo is a fully customizable build that they only build when you order it.

And I'm implying that with the Apollo build you won't need to change anything. As the lvl 3 comes with everything you already need to be able to do everything you want absolutely flawlessly.

I merely said that with the tiny PSU in the vanq line you can't really upgrade anything... But as for the Apollo line, it's a larger case, larger psu, everything... so you could throw in another GPU (If you ever wanted too in the future)... you also have the ability to increase your SSD when you're building it here on the site.

That's all.

Originally posted by Meller But the flag shot up as soon as you said you stream. I too am an avid twitch streamer, and streaming is taxing on your cpu more than anything. If you want to stream on anything above 720p (IE 1080p... even @ 30fps), you will want an i7. Such as the 4770k. But in all realize, @ 1080p, due to encoding and compressing, the 2011 sockets will dominate here.

Returning to my prior inquiry: when is 16 gbs of ram necessary? Will I ever utilize 16gbs based on what I have mentioned? Additionally, I find myself more and more intrigued by the Hailstorm II. Is that just overkill? Anyone with in depth hardware knowledge please apply! Looking to absorb as much of your knowledge as possible. Most forums I visit for tech info say a couple of things most commonly that I don't find helpful: when asking about ram they always say 8gbs of ram is never enough or, when I mention that I choose not to build my own rig this time, they tell me that I am way overpaying redirect me to sites about building my own.

Edited by Ruefio - 14 Jul 2014 at 4:01pm

16GB ram will be utilized nicely as OBS will eat up a lot of ram, dual monitors with a game running on one, and your stream on the other, vent/mumble/skype/ts... all this will probably equate to 4-6GB of ram. 16GB of ram, just gives you enough head room to allow maximum multi-tasking without much worry of truly eating it all up.

Plus, if you're doing media encoding/compressing... that extra ram will really be nice.

While yes, you could probably get away with 8GB of ram, and not actually ever use all 100% of it, 16GB is kind of the sweet spot without going truly overkill.

The biggest difference between the hailstorm II and the Apollo is in the hailstorm, you have the ability to put your cpu, chipset, and all your video cards under water.

This will allow for higher overclocking on well... everything, giving you better stability, especially if you choose to run high frequency ram, as the IMC (Internal memory controller) is located in your CPU. So, keeping your cpu cooling = better.

Now you're probably thinking "But, the Apollo cools the CPU also."

The difference where is the size of the case, amount of fans and radiator size. This all allows for better heat dispersion.

Plus, keeping your GPU's under water keeps the internal temps of your case down also... so once again helping everything run more stable.

Another benefit here is, typically all liquid cooled systems are quieter. So you're getting a system that allows for much better cooling, better stability, and is quieter.

There are draw backs though. All of this = more of a power draw. Now your power bill isn't going to shoot up no $100 because of this. We on average in the US, especially during the summer when the A/C is usually running... you're probably looking at ~$5-$10/month higher electric bill when comparing the Apollo vs Hailstorm II.