Waiting on GTX 670 4GB - How does the rest look?

Budget:
Roughly $3500 USD for just the PC - Not too concerned if I go a little over

Expectations:
Mostly gaming on at 5760x1080 3 Dell 23" 1920x1080 UltraSharp monitors (Nvidia Surround). Some other things too (see Usage below).

Usage:
BF3, other less intensive games (Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Portal 2, etc. :-P). Also Skyrim with lots of mods (this is why I'm waiting for the 4GB 670s). Also acting as a media server with Plex, and running Linux for occasional programming/compiling either in VM or dual boot. This will be my primary/only computer. I would like it to be relatively future proof.

Special Needs:
1. 4GB GTX 670s - When will DS get these in stock? I hear that heavily modded Skyrim (all sorts of HD textures) greatly benefits from the extra RAM, and future proofing doesn't hurt.

2. PCI lanes for possible sound card - I'm thinking about the possibility of buying a sound card down the road if the onboard sound doesn't measure up. Would this system (3770k, Z77 Asus Deluxe, 2x GTX 670) have spare PCI lanes for a sound card while still running the GPUs at at least x8/x8 PCI 3.0? I can't find a straight answer for this anywhere online. If not, does DS offer any Z77 mobo that would? I'd rather not move up to X79.

3. LED Fans - I did not add the LED fans to this build as I read on these forums that they are 120mm fans, making them louder/worse than the 200mm stock fans. However, the Noctua NH-D14 is an ugly duck, and I'd like to replace the fans on it with some red LED fans. I'd want them to be the same size/speed as the stock Noctua fans, and to be equally quiet as well. I'd be OK having DS special order them. Can DS do this? If so, I wouldn't mind having them do the same to the other stock case fans. Of course I'd be willing to pay extra for this.

4. Cooling - Does this build have enough cooling? I think it does, just want to make sure.

Saved Ticket #: 691671
Total price including 10% discount: $3322.00

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.50 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core) (Requires Z77 Motherboard)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE (Intel Z77 Chipset) (Higher Overclocks and Unique Wi-Fi Features)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1050W Corsair Pro Silver 1050HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black)
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (240GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB (Includes PhysX)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro/Deluxe/Sabertooth Motherboard)
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 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
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty


This will be my first PC in a while and first gaming PC ever (I've been using a MacBook for a long time and have been gaming on Xbox) so any other tips are appreciated. Is there anything else I haven't covered or should be looking into? Thanks!

mrpotatohead1342,

Sound card shouldn't matter. 

We might have a sale, no promises.

I have been waiting for DS to stock the GTX 670 4GB cards myself.  Looks like I will have to special order too.

Quick question - With the internal lighting option, can the LED strips be hooked up to the button on the front that turns the front fan LED on the HAF X on/off? That would be neat. If not it's OK too.

Called the technical team and they said special ordering the 4GB GTX 670s would be no problem. There is a small fee for special orders, but that is all. They said to pick any video card and then put the following in the Special Assembly/Testing Instructions field, just in case anybody else wants to do this too:

"I wish to special order (1 or 2 or however many) of the 4GB GTX 670 cards (in SLI) instead of the video card(s) above."

They will then message you about the extra cost after you place your order.

They also strongly advised against putting the LED fans on the Noctua NH-D14, because they would be significantly louder and less efficient. I think I'm just going to suck it up and go for performance over looks.

Thanks for the info.  I'll look into it.  They are changing things real quick in the last couple of months.

After lots of hunting,  I still stand by the graphic lanes stuck at 16 total.  The PLX PXE8608 chip doesn't add pci lanes but is a switch to control 8 lanes of Pcie 2.0.  Without the plx chip some ports were disabled when others were in use.  The PLX chip switches pci lanes between the ports in use so all can be used.

Edited by bprat22 - 25 May 2012 at 11:40am

Great discussion.  When I get a second, I'll check those links out. My head hurts 

Here is a review by Anandtech covering the P8Z77-V Deluxe board. 

OK so I called Asus and got an interesting answer. After deliberating among themselves for a while they said that in an SLI and sound card setup the GPUs would run at x8/x8 and the sound card would ALSO run at x8. I asked if this was because the PCIe slot that the sound card was in was multiplexed by the PLX chip and they said yes.

If this is true, I'm guessing this means that the PCIe x1 slots are attached to the PLX chip, and that anything attached to the chip sees the full x8 lanes of PCIe 2.0 bandwidth?

The Asus guy could also be totally off base or thinking of the wrong motherboard, which seems a likely possibility given what we know about the motherboard so far. I think this is probably the case, because he seemed pretty confused about this all too.

Can Digital Storm test this? It would be great to have a definitive answer and they have the distinct advantage of having a ton of parts on hand.

Just got a response from DS and was told both cards would operate in x8 mode with the added sound card.    I was wrong and couldn' t be happier.      How great is DS to respond so quick      What a company.     

bprat22

Thanks.  This is going to make a difference for me as I recently purchased the Sound Blaster Recon 3D Champion.  I installed it in my current DS rig and wow what a difference.  I would prefer the Sabertooth if it can run SLI x8/x8 with the sound card.

Edited by Asangard - 26 May 2012 at 11:16am

Originally posted by dndell Just want you to know, MrPH, how grateful I am that you posted this.  Until I saw your config, I couldn't figure out a way to get a Z77 Motherboard from Digital Storm (can't call during Memorial Day).  I still don't know how you did it, since expert mode shows nothing but X79.  Anyway, I modified yours a little and I'm good to go, I think.

No problem, glad I could help!

From what I can see, whatever the default processor is on the rig you select, you're stuck with only compatible motherboards, even in Expert mode. The first two levels of the Dreadnought are Z77, and the upper two are X79. I imagine it's true for the other rigs too.

I think this is really new actually. When I was working on this config a few weeks ago I remember being able to change everything. Digital Storm probably got too many people trying to order a Sandy Bridge E processor on a Z77 board and figured it would be easier to limit the options a little.

Hey bprat22

It should be able to run both video cards at 8x with a sound card.

We just added the 4GB EVGA GTX 670 cards.