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Gaming build, double check me for wonkiness

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Decalod85

Decalod85

Registered
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Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Location
Burnsville, MN
My son is getting my 2500K gaming system (he has been working his *** off in the yard, weeding, mowing, raking all summer). It needs replacing.

Here is what I plan to replace it with.

Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 High Airflow White LED ATX Cube Computer Case - Black
Corsair CX Series CX750 750 Watt ATX 12V Power Supply
Intel Core i5-4690K
ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan
Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 8GB Memory Modules)
Crucial MX100 Series 256GB SSD
Samsung SH-224DB24x SATA Internal DVD Burner
Windows 7 Ultimate

I also have an older PCI video card going in here, and a 3.5 2TB hdd. I will upgrade the video card eventually.

A little worried about the motherboard. I went with the z97-AR over the z97-p mostly for more fan connectors. It's a $30 difference.

Does anything here look out of place? Too expensive, too cheap, won't fit?
 
I'd go 4690K, Z97 Extreme6, G.SKILL Ares 2133MHz (for gaming I would do 2x4GB with a CAS Latency of 9), and an EVGA SuperNova G2 750W.
The rest of it looks pretty good.

Keep in mind the 212 EVO is a pain to mount. I would consider the NH-D14 or NH-D15 if you plan to OC very far.
 
Nope, everything will fit just fine! Your son is really going to enjoy it! As fan connectors go, only fan I attach to the mobo is the cpu cooler's fan. All other fans I like to connect straight to the psu. Less stress on the board.

Your ram selection has blue heatspreaders. Are you going with a specific color theme? If so I would snap the ASRock Z97 Extreme4/6 or that ugly Asus board. Plenty of fan headers if you choose to connect your fans to the board, and the 4 is a bit cheaper than the 6. Both boards have blue heatsinks which will match up the ram nicely.

If you son likes gaming, consider an R9 280 or 280x.

I concur with my comrade about the Evo heatsink. It is quite the pain to mount.
 
Last edited:
Nebulous said:
Nope, everything will fit just fine! Your son is really going to enjoy it! As fan connectors go, only fan I attach to the mobo is the cpu cooler's fan. All other fans I like to connect straight to the psu. Less stress on the board.

Your ram selection has blue heatspreaders. Are you going with a specific color theme? If so I would snap the ASRock Z97 Extreme4/6 or that ugly Asus board. Plenty of fan headers if you choose to connect your fans to the board, and the 4 is a bit cheaper than the 6. Both boards have blue heatsinks which will match up the ram nicely.

If you son likes gaming, consider an R9 280 or 280x.

I concur with my comrade about the Evo heatsink. It is quite the pain to mount.
Click to expand...

Gonna stick with the EVO, I have one in my 2500k/p8z68. But you make a good point, and I had forgotten what a pain it was to put on. I went with the Kingston HyperX on that PC, and that is somewhat low profile RAM.

Switching the RAM to Crucial Ballistix Sport from the Ballistix Sport XT. Those big heat spreaders will make installation of the EVO harder, and people are complaining a more about the Ballistix Sport XT on both Microcenter and NewEgg.

Interesting point on the ASRock z97. The Corsair 540 has a big *** window. It should look pretty in there. It's hard to pull away from ASUS, I have had such good luck with them...
 
Decalod85 said:
It's hard to pull away from ASUS, I have had such good luck with them...
Click to expand...

Nobody gives you more for your $150 than ASRock with the Extreme 6. You'd be nuts NOT to buy it.
ASUS' closest competitor is the Z97-A. That's still a great board, but it doesn't have the features that the Extreme 6 gives you.
Extreme 6 gives you TWO full length M.2 slots. That's unheard of for $150. And the rest of the board is quality too. No good reason not to buy the Ex 6.
 
The 212 Evo is all you need for a quad core. I don't remember the installation being difficult at all.
 
NiHaoMike said:
The 212 Evo is all you need for a quad core. I don't remember the installation being difficult at all.
Click to expand...

I believe you're the only one...

ATMINSIDE said:
Keep in mind the 212 EVO is a pain to mount.
Click to expand...

Nebulous said:
I concur with my comrade about the Evo heatsink. It is quite the pain to mount.
Click to expand...

Decalod85 said:
But you make a good point, and I had forgotten what a pain it was to put on.
Click to expand...

Also, Mike, the EVO struggles to keep up with the 4690K once you get to about ~4.4GHz.
 
Funny I just gave my son my 2500k/Asrock Extreme 4 setup :thup:

I agree with the above also, that Extreme 6 is a darn good board for the money.
 
Decalod85 said:
I'll think about the ram and the mobo. Anyone have experience with the Corsair Air 540 case?
Click to expand...

No but it's an excellent design. Easiest case ever to do cable management (or not bother and still have it look good).


I'm actually considering it VS the 760T for my next build. They both have a lot of strengths.
 
Went to Microcenter today. They had a very good deal on the ASRock Extreme6, so I bought one. Yeah!

They don't sell G.Skill ram there. So, I got the Crucial. Eh, probably be fine.

I also talked myself into getting a Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB SSD, instead of the Crucial one.

Went with the Corsair 540. It is super cool!

Working on the build now, let you know when I get it going.
 
ATMINSIDE said:
Be sure to update with some pics :)
Click to expand...

I'll send some pics tomorrow, my phone is dead.

Build took about 3 hours, easier working with a partner (my son was totally into it).

Fiddliest part was the evo 212. It wasn't any easier the second time, but I got it done.

Powered up and posted on the first try! Yay! Had a little panic with the onboard ethernet, until I remembered I had not loaded the drivers yet.

Windows 7 Ultimate installed, games downloading, patches applied. 2 hour long session with Prime95 yielded no higher temps than 45C (idle temps are 30c).

I thank you, and my son thanks you (as he has hauled my beloved 2500k off to his room to play League of Legends).
 
Decalod85 said:
I'll send some pics tomorrow, my phone is dead.

Build took about 3 hours, easier working with a partner (my son was totally into it).

Fiddliest part was the evo 212. It wasn't any easier the second time, but I got it done.

Powered up and posted on the first try! Yay! Had a little panic with the onboard ethernet, until I remembered I had not loaded the drivers yet.

Windows 7 Ultimate installed, games downloading, patches applied. 2 hour long session with Prime95 yielded no higher temps than 45C (idle temps are 30c).

I thank you, and my son thanks you (as he has hauled my beloved 2500k off to his room to play League of Legends).
Click to expand...

Always good to hear a build you helped suggest parts for has turned out well.
Pics!
 
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