$2200 Config. Would you make any changes?

Welcome to DS, Feroce! We're happy you've decided to have DS build your gaming rig.

Here's a build I made that's within your budget:

858646 - $2232 - The 770 is much better than the 760 (especially in SLI mode). I upgraded your PSU to 1050 as you will honestly need at least a 850W PSU to run SLI at full power. I also downed your RAM 1600 as you won't ever notice the difference. I also changed the CPU to the i5 4670 as gaming doesn't really utilize multi-threading and the money saved put towards the 770. I also upgraded the lighting to LED as they offer a better look than the cold-cathodes. Plus you can change colors and effects.

Here's a review on Anantech comparing the 760/770.

Almost forgot to show you this... It compares the 2 processors.

CPU World

Just remember, 95+% of gaming is single thread... So there's a 3% difference between the i5 & i7 at that point. And from the link I listed above, there's about 20-30+% increase in graphics performance between 760 & 770. Just a little more info for your brain to chew on...

Welcome to the forums and to Digital Storm. These guys on here are real helpful and knowledgeable and will set you on the path to Gaming Goodness.

Ordered my rig today.  Took what you guys said and combined it with what the tech on the phone was saying and slightly changed a few things while keeping the price actually lower.  TBH I'm pretty excited, anyway here is the final setup:

System Configuration:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Digital Storm VIRTUE
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 4770K 3.50 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Gryphon Z87 (Intel Z87 Chipset) (Features Thermal Radar) (MATX)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W EVGA SuperNOVA Gold Rated (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (256GB Solid State (By: Samsung) (Model: 840 Pro Series)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
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(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB (Includes PhysX)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (High Performance Cooler)
H20 Tube Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: Digital Storm LaserMark Service - Text (Plexiglass Acrylic Window)
CPU Boost: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8 (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 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 (Medium)
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


Couple following notes:

Went with smaller power supply to save a bit of money, I think I should be ok to run SLI considering I have the Haswell architecture.  If it turns out not to be so I will buy a new power supply.
Removed overclocking from the CPU with consideration to the mediocre OC benefits on the 4770k chip and long term lifespan.  This allowed me to go with a good air cooling setup and save $ and complication compared to the H20.
Decided that I wanted moody lighting rather than bright lights of any sort and just left the blue fans in there to provide light, should give good contrast with the video card glow.
Went ahead and got the i7 vs the i5... well I really wanted an i7 rig and it gives me a bit more peace of mind about not upgrading the chip anytime soon.  Small concession to "because I wanted to" here lol.

Once again thanks for the input, cant wait for this thing to arrive




Edited by Feroce - 08 Aug 2013 at 4:01pm

Checking into changing it.  Thanks for the link

Definitely up the psu to the 1050HX, for example.  Why buy twice?   850w would do it, but DS doesn't have one.    The 750 will barely make it, if at all.  For the sli 760 you could, but sli 770 gets you over the 80% thresh hold for clean usage.  

Edited by bprat22 - 09 Aug 2013 at 6:03am

Originally posted by fstcvc "Power Consumption Results: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 SLI setup uses roughly 20 Watts more power at idle than a single card and about 200 Watts more at load! The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB reference card has a TDP of 230W, so this is right about where we expected to see the 2-way SLI configuration land. NVIDIA recommends at least a 600 Watt power supply with a minimum +12V current rating of 42A for one GeForce GTX 770 video card. Since each card has a 250W TDP, it is safe to assume that you should have a 850W or larger power supply for a setup like this (SLI)."

People often confuse TDP (total design power) with power consumption, but it is actually a measure of the maximum heat output. So a 250W TDP does not directly indicate the maximum power usage, though it is usually close. Actually with a max pull of 42 amps, with SLI is 84Amps so 82x12=984W so at least a 1000W power supply would be best.

Edited by danjw1 - 09 Aug 2013 at 11:32am