Workstation + High-End Gaming

Budget:
$3,000

Expectations:
Need stability for work and power for play. I am a current Digital Storm customer with a 3+ year-old ODE system. Frankly, it still works great and has plenty of power, though I am running up against the wall in terms of the video card, memory, and storage -- and I'd like to go ahead and do a complete refresh rather than an upgrade (good news for my son, since he'll get the ODE).

Usage:
Design Work (primarily Photoshop) plus gaming (current flight sims plus some of the upcoming games such as Elite, Star Citizen, Witcher 3, etc.)

My questions:

My current ODE system is slightly loud for my taste. I am tempted to look at the Slade, but am concerned about sacrificing cooling for quiet (especially with an aggressive overclock). Any thoughts?

I have another system for the home theater with an ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard. My favorite feature is the fact that it boots up in like 2 seconds. It's amazing. And this isn't coming out of Windows sleep mode (which, in my experience, never works right once once the system is a few days beyond fresh install), but from a cold start. AsRock calls it "Fast Boot". Which mobos offered by DS have a similar feature?

For the Stage II overclock, what is considered a high-end motherboard? Is the cooling I've selected here sufficient?


Saved Ticket #: 1005930

Specifications:
System Configuration:
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0 GHz (Codename Devils Canyon) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core) (ETA 6/25/14)
Motherboard: ASUS Gryphon Z97 (Intel Z97 Chipset) (Features Thermal Radar) (MATX)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1866MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair CX750M
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 SSD (250GB Samsung 840 EVO)
Storage Set 3: 2x Storage (2TB Western Digital/Seagate/Hitachi)
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: Corsair H100 Liquid CPU Cooler (240mm Radiator) (Extreme-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
CPU Boost: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires High-End Motherboard Selection)
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
OS Boost: - 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
NVIDIA SHIELD: - 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)

I would go with a Samsung for the SSD. If you can wait a few weeks (July 21st, I believe) you could get an 850 Pro, which is the very best preforming consumer (non-enterprise) SSD. I link a review in the General forum under the thread: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/forums/samsung-850-pros-unveiled-tidf22835/

Gaming and professional use of Photoshop are a bit at odds. The Titan might be a better sweet spot for a graphics card. I am not sure how much either will accelerate Photoshop, so it would be best if someone else comments on that.

If stability is very important when working, I would suggest multiple sets of settings; one for gaming (with an OC) and one for working (without any OC).