New to Forums, First Build, Lots of questions! 2-2.7k budget

[bigpappa1983]

Aloha!! So about a month ago my pc finally kicked the bucket, gpu and HDD went out, and Fry's told me they dont make **** for my motherboard anymore. I managed to make this thing last for 10 years so I believed him.

So i decided to build my own system. I have put together a few barebone kits from tiger direct for friends before with success. However I want to be more custom than just a simple barebone kit. So with places like pcpartpicker and newegg I have been playing around and reading getting some advice here and there. So now that I am a little bit more knowledgeable I wanted to come to a community for help on solidifying a shopping list of all the parts Ill need and hopefully learn a thing or 2!

As for my actual skill/knowledge level. Putting it together is easy. Installing BIOs/OS/Drivers can do. Ask me why I want this particular motherboard or what features I like on it, I would stare at you like a deer in the headlights! I am capable, and looking to do more than play legos this time

All parts will be purchased around black friday/Cyber Monday to attempt and save while doing mostly top of the line parts. But I am not opposed to saving money either so if a suggestion or 10 can save a lot please dont hesitate to toss it out!

The build will be for gaming/editing/vocal recording/voice over work.
Budget(to include monitor, but not speakers/mouse/keyboard) 2,000-2700(which will drop some during holiday sales )

What I know I want.....z87 board, i7 4770k, 780 ti

Here is build I have been playing around with.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/21DPY

Overclocking: I have never done it before, but I want to play around with it, nothing to cray cray. Which brings me to my next question....water cooling? Do I need it? Or will the phanteks cooler be sufficient? I know if i decide to go SLI down the road I will def need to look into custom water cooling kit, but figure when i do the systems frst upgrade that can be a second gpu and custom cooling system. Also what are the top of the line air coolers? Doing some reading this phanteks one sounded like one of the best bets.

SLI: I decided I really do not need to go SLI, yet at least. So I want to keep the option open, but do not see ever doing more than 2 cards. I also heard that there is some bugginess to going sli. I am however not at all opposed to the idea since picking up a pair of 780s will prolly be cheap Black Friday LOL. Just everything i heard its just easier if you don't need to to not do it!

Monitor: I didn't think this was going to be a hard choice but apparently there are a lot of things to think of when picking a good monitor! lol I know I do not want dual monitor. I would rather have single or triple. What are the thoughts for gaming wise at least on the Ultra Wide 21:9? Or a 1440p? I think thats right at least? LOL I am personally leaning towards liking a single larger monitor like a 27-30 inch but open to the idea of triple 24s or something. I guess it would be nice to watch out for monitors with the G sync chip in it or what ever Nvidia brought out with the 780ti.

Fans: Since I am hopefully leading towards air cooling for now, i heard a lot of fans that come stock with the case, and coolers are not the best and can be replaced with a better quality fans. If so what fans would be suggested? As I would rather install new fans while doing the build. Also I guess there is a thing to the way the fans are configured? I am really liking the http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-case-rc942kkn3 so any suggestions to help modify air flow would be helpful.

Here are a couple other builds I did with varying parts, maybe to give some insight to help you help me! Ideally I want to come up with a master buy list of everything I need so i can just be ready to shop around.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bigpappa1983/saved/2Mw5
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bigpappa1983/saved/2Mvd

Other random notes: Since I was wanting to use this for some vocal recording/voice over work should i look into perhaps a cheaper mother board and a high end sound card?

Sorry for the huge wall of text, and thank you for any and all help!!

 

[manu2b]

Overall, that looks good, but:
- MotherBoard is overkill: an Asus, Asrock or Gigabyte ine the $130/$160 range will do a perfect job as soon as it has the features you need unless you plan on extreme overclocking (LN2, Dice, Phase change...).
- Grab some low profile RAM, as the heatsinks might be a problem with the Phantek, and with such a budget, go with some 1866/Cl9.

 

[Mjolnir]

I notice a common theme of 'ugly' in your cases haha. Otherwise the build itself is fine but like Manu said; your board choice for the Asus was a bit much; yet you went for the Micro ATX Sniper Gigabyte model; in a huge case.

I'd PERSONALLY opt for a Fractal Arc Mini R2, throw in an M-ATX board in there (So that sniper M5?), stick with a single GTX 780 Ti, so stay single card. Go for a 1440p or Ultra wide 2560x1080 monitor, (sticking single monitor). Grab a Seasonic G 550 PSU. And use a Swiftech H220 or Corsair H100i or something; then throw the extra fan the case comes with from the top where the H220/H100i goes(comes with 3, 1 front 1 top 1 back) into the front; and then swap the rear exhaust to an intake and throw on a magnetic dust filter on the back; so 3 intakes, 2 exhausts(radiator fans). Then pimp out colour-wise whatever you like.. I think a nice soft white-glow LED strips would go well in this case with a smoked window which it comes with...

I am also very much a minimalistic person though; and will always personally stick to single-screen gaming as well as single-GPU, and prefer small-form factor systems. So my choices are somewhat bias haha.

 

[bigpappa1983]

Thanks for the great responses! I have no plan on doing any major Overclocking, just some basic. As for the case, i kinda like the look! LOL Also, I have very large hands, and my last pc was so tiny to work in! So I want to have some room to actually work around in LOL. I was aware of the sniper being a M-ATX and wasn't sure if it would work in a larger case, but assumed it would be fine. I'd consider going smaller, perhaps the mid towers will still give a good amount of work room. That set up does sound pretty sweet though Mjolnir!

Made some adjustments based on new info coming in.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bigpappa1983/saved/2Mw5

 

[EarthDog]

You honestly don't even need the hero... Id get a MSI Z87 G43 personally.