Mostly new living room game build (~$900)

[arosequist]

I've got an old HTPC box in my living room in desperate need of an upgrade. I'm planning on keeping the hard drive (and OS/peripherals), but nothing else. This is what I've got so far:

Part list
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($234.97 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($108.39 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87E-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $986.31

I've got a few questions:

1. This is for HTPC stuff (streaming movies, music, etc) and gaming (in 1080p via HDMI). Is there anything I should upgrade and is there anything I can afford to downgrade? I'd like to get an SSD someday, but hopefully that's not critical to do right now.
2. My main question has to do with cooling. This will be in my living room, within an enclosed TV stand, with these dimensions:

• Height: either 16" or 23" depending on how I do the shelving (case is 11.4")
• Width: 22" (case is 10.9")
• Depth: 15.5" (case is 13.8")

The back of the stand is completely open (and is 5" from the wall). When I'm gaming, the front door of the stand will be open. Otherwise, the front will be closed. Given that amount of free space and the H100i, should I have any cooling concerns? Would overclocking probably be safe?

I've built a few computers before, but never a real gaming one or a small form factor one, so hopefully I haven't made any stupid mistakes.

 

[ASUS ROG]

Everything look ok to me, at for cooling, you don't really need the H100i, H80 or something similar should be enough, save money for an ssd, this one cost under $130
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-2-5-I...F8&qid=1395883531&sr=1-1&keywords=seagate+ssd

At for oc your CPU, you can safely oc your CPU to 4.2ghz with the H80 or another AIO cooler

 

[NiHaoMike]

Stick to air cooling on that CPU. (The Hyper 212 Evo is considered best value but I don't think it would fit in that specific case.) Rest of build looks good. For cooling, add some case fans (don't need anything fancy for your build) as well as a fan or two to assist with ventilating the stand.

 

[arosequist]

Thanks a lot for the help, guys. I'll look into downgrading the cooler and spending the savings elsewhere.

Given that I'm gaming at 1080p, would it be worthwhile to invest in an i7, or should I just get an SSD (or upgrade to the GTX 770 or something)?

 

[LoganG]

Put the money into a better GPU or SSD

 

[NiHaoMike]

What's the existing case? If it can be reused, do so.

I would go for a better GPU, especially if you're planning on 120Hz or above and/or 3D. The SSD would make a much smaller difference on a desktop as desktop HDDs are pretty fast compared to laptop HDDs.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Grab a 750/750Ti instead of a 760, much less power draw for HTPC uses and still capable of running games if you want to.
Its also smaller and produces less heat.

 

[ASUS ROG]

Grab a 750/750Ti instead of a 760, much less power draw for HTPC uses and still capable of running games if you want to.
Its also smaller and produces less heat.

 

[NiHaoMike]

If he's going to run it at 120Hz or above (pretty much all good TVs support that nowadays) and/or use 3D, he'll definitely want plenty of GPU. Modern GPUs don't run particularly warm until they're loaded down anyways.

 

[arosequist]

Yeah, my TV is 120Hz. It also has 3D, and it sounds like nvidia cards can maybe support that rather than going through the custom nvidia glasses. Either way, I'd love to experiment with 3D gaming. I'll look and see if I can go one notch up on the graphics card or not.

 

[Theocnoob]

If he's going to run it at 120Hz or above (pretty much all good TVs support that nowadays) and/or use 3D, he'll definitely want plenty of GPU. Modern GPUs don't run particularly warm until they're loaded down anyways.

Doesn't work like that. No TV takes a 120Hz signal. They take 60Hz signals and use clever tricks to produce 120Hz. You can't see more than 60 "actual" frames per second in those 120 frames. The rest are interpolated.

 

[NiHaoMike]

I think the point is because a 120Hz or above panel must transition very fast to make that framerate. Also note that in 3D mode, the effective framerate is halved (except for projector systems), so you'll want to start out with plenty of FPS.

Also note that even on a 60Hz panel, you'll want to turn the details up high as you'll really notice it on a big screen.

 

[Theocnoob]

I think the point is because a 120Hz or above panel must transition very fast to make that framerate. Also note that in 3D mode, the effective framerate is halved (except for projector systems), so you'll want to start out with plenty of FPS.

Also note that even on a 60Hz panel, you'll want to turn the details up high as you'll really notice it on a big screen.

The effective framerate is not halved in 3D mode. You are ALWAYS seeing a 60Hz signal on an HDTV unless you are looking at a set that does a 24Hz mode.

In 3D mode, a 120Hz TV (all 3DTV's are minimum 120Hz) displays alternating left and right eye frames every 1/120th of a second. Effectively a 60Hz picture. In 2D mode, every other frame is an interpolated frame, not a true frame, making for again, effectively a 60Hz picture. The TV always receives a 60Hz signal from the PC and always displays 60Hz.

How fast the panel transitions is irrelevant to this conversation.