Vanquish 5 Build / Happy New Year

First off, happy new year.

Long-time lurker, first-time poster, so thanks for all the information up to now on various build decisions. A couple of you - I'm sure you know who you are - have already been very helpful with your advice to past posters, so thank you especially.

A few questions upfront and then, any feedback on the build below would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

1. I've long debated the Vanquish vs. Apollo route, and have landed on the former, primarily due to keeping the cost as low as possible. Please tell me I should not be concerned with quality of components and overall build with this decision.

2. WIFI: does the default option below have WIFI or not? I have seen conflicting information on this. If not, do you recommend choosing one of the DS options for wifi, or simply grabbing one and installing myself?

3. GPU: I chose the ASUS 1070 ROG Strix over the EVGA 1070 ACX 3.0 due to the higher OC speed and extra fan. A couple things on this: A. Should I be concerned around overall ASUS quality and support? Based on reviews elsewhere on sites I will not mention, this is a highly-rated card. B. I assume this card fits in this case without issue, correct? It is, afterall, offered as an option in the configurator, but I have just seen some comments elsewhere that is larger than normal. C. And finally, is the extra $40 over the EVGA worth it?

4. Cooling: Is the air cooling that this "Best" level Vanquish comes with adequate for the heat that this GPU/CPU/PSU combination will generate? I chose this level partially because I prefer to avoid LC and its possible maintenance issues down the road - I know, it's probably not much work at all, but my perspective is I would just rather not deal with it.

5. Storage: It has been a while since I had a legitimate desktop, so my sense of scale is less than stellar; is 1TB enough to store a bunch of photos and a half dozen or so AAA games? (I have a normal amount of photos, nothing crazy). Do you store games on the HDD or the SSD?

I think that's everything; here's the build info. Thanks again.

Budget:
$1600-1700

Expectations:
Gaming at max settings for at least the next five years, on most likely a 1080P monitor; considering upgrade to 1440P in future.

Usage:
3-4x per week, 1-2 hours

Special Needs:
None

Saved Ticket #: 1576667

Specifications:
System Configuration:Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Digital Storm VANQUISH 5
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz (Codename Skylake) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS/GIGABYTE (Intel Z170 Chipset)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Digital Storm Performance Series
Power Supply: 750W EVGA/Corsair
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) (Internal)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (240GB Digital Storm Performance Series)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Seagate / Toshiba)
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
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 GeForce GTX 1070 8GB (ASUS ROG STRIX) (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: High Performance Cooler with Large Fan and Copper Pipes
HydroLux Tubing Style: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
HydroLux Fluid Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
Cable Management: Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Remote Controlled LED Lighting System (Multiple color options and lighting effects)
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU - Up to 4.4GHz (Depends on Cooling and Motherboard)
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Factory Reset Feature (Restore Windows + Drivers) (Partition up to 50GB of Storage)
Virus Protection: FREE: McAfee AntiVirus Plus (1 Year Service Activation Card) (Not Pre-installed) ($35 Value)
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 15-20 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)

As far as the Rog Strix vs ACX 3, both cards are a winner, with their custom boards, coolers and zero rpm fan features.   Not sure the Asus is worth the extra $40, but it's not all that much more in comparison to the whole build.     

The Asus will fit, although it is about and inch longer.   You won't see much difference in performance with the extra clock speed on the Asus. Nvidia does limit what each card can do.    If that's the reason for buying the Asus then it might not be worth it, but it does have excellent features and nice led display.

EVGA, even though it has had a couple of missteps with cooling, has a proven , consistent reputation of being there.   Asus has had mixed, from what I have read.

Air cooler on the Vanquish will work just fine to keep the CPU in the safe zone.   No worries there. The gpu has nothing to do with it, the video card taking care of itself.

Hope this helps.

The zero rpm fan is when the video card fans stay off until the card temp reaches a set temp, usually about 64c.   It makes for a quieter computer, even when gaming I found with my MSI version. The video card is typically the noisiest part of a gaming rig and this feature has kept my rig quiet and still great temps. Even when on, they are quieter than reference fans.

The 1070 will play most games at 1440p on high settings or better.   I'm sure a game or two might push it but it's a good card.   

Here's a link comparing 1080 to 1070 at various resolutions, games, etc....

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1714?vs=1731


Edited by bprat22 - 02 Jan 2017 at 2:28am

You can use MSI Afferburner or EVGA Precision to oc the card.   I would read up on it, because as you overclock you want to run it under a stress program to make sure it stays stable with no crashes. Trial and error.   It is easy and fun once you get the hang of it.