Dreadnought: HAF-X / 780 Ti... Gaming Greatness!

Ordered: November 2013

Case: Cooler Master HAF X
CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K Quad Core Overclocked to 4.2GHz
CPU Cooling: Corsair H100i 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1866MHz Corsair Vengeance Pro
Power Supply: 1050W Corsair Pro Silver 1050HX
Optical Drive: ASUS Blu-Ray/DVD-R/CD-R
Storage 1: 256GB Solid State Drive (Samsung 840 Pro)
Storage 2: 4TB Western Digital Black
Storage 3: 2TB Western Digital Black
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB EVGA Superclocked with ACX Cooling
Sound Card: Creative Labs Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion 5.1
Internal Lighting: LED strips with remote control
Op. System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Cost: $3700

I was going to order this and get a 780 but then the 780 Ti was announced so I held out until it was available and off we went. I actually special ordered the card, but it as my system was being built Digital Storm started stocking it and were kind enough to refund me the special order fee. Soon after I ordered the build someone on the forum encouraged me to get the remote LED lighting option so I made a change. All emails and communications were answered promptly throughout the process. Overall I think it was about 18 days from ordering until I received the system. Top marks there for speed and service.

So the machine...I'm not highly technically, so I'll use simple terms - it's AWESOME! I came from using a laptop so obviously it was going to be a huge improvement in speed and performance..but WOW.. I'm now in a world of gaming bliss! With the SSD it boots up from cold and is ready to go in about 25 secs. Games load near instantly... bonus of this playing Battlefield is I'm usually first spawned into a map and get first pick on vehicles! All round speed and performance is amazing. I'm no benchmarker but I tried out 3Dmark and the results put me in the top 10% (don't have the score to hand right now).

I have dual monitors. One for gaming and one for anything else, like the Battlefield Battlescreen (big map), or hardware monitoring utilties, etc.

The 780 Ti graphics card handles anything I've thrown at it with ease. This includes Battlefield 3 and 4, Metro 2033 and Last Light. Playing Battlefield on all Ultra settings gets around 100 FPS. Turn down some of the ambient occlusion/anti aliasing/etc and FPS shoots through the roof. I'm seeing things in the game that just weren't there in my old laptop life of all Low settings and 35ish FPS. My in-game performance took and instant turn for the better. Sure, hardware doesn't make the player, but it sure plays its part. No matter what i've thrown at the graphics card it has not went above 73C. I'll probably install EVGA Precision X soon and give it a bit of an overclock... not that it really needs it.

I have done some game recording using Shadowplay and edited and rendered out a few videos. I don't know any numbers...I'm not too technical, but I can say it edits with ease and renders out fast and with no issues.

I take a lot of photos and videos from my adventure/mountaineering trips so I wanted a lot of storage. The 4TB hard drive will store these in addition to my day to day files.

The 2TB hard drive is for game installations and game recording.

The 256GB SSD stores operating system, programs and any game of the moment I want to benefit from the load speeds (eg Battlefield 4)

In the future I'll probably add a second 780 Ti (when the price drops) to better prepare myself for 4K gaming. One of those 4K Gsync monitors perhaps....

Alright...it's time to overdose on pictures.....


The package arrived in 5 days. I wasn’t going to be at home on the delivery day so I had it held at my local FedEx office. When I collected it, it was evident the box wasn’t going to fit in the car. Not in the front, back, or the trunk. In the end I opened the box and laid the packaging in the trunk and the machine sat on it just fine and was secure.


Unfortunately I couldn’t go right home and fire it up, instead having to return to work. At least I could read the paperwork/manuals instead of working!


































I added air filters to all intakes (http://www.demcifilter.com/). These aren't necessary and I keep the house clean but in my circumstances that include pets, dusty log fire, and dusty gravel road I decided it was a worthwhile option to get a set of custom sized air filters for the machine.


Side of case with air filter over intake fan




LED lighting
www.youtube.com/embed/6nb98_Lt9jA

Remote control














Front fan (with cover temporarily removed so I could fit filter)






Game time :)
www.youtube.com/fjFJwef2QGM

Set up


Most important part of all…the legendary free t-shirt


Not enough pics for you? Full set of 100+ pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/highlandsc/sets/72157639356586556/


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Update: February 2013
I have added a backplate to my 780 Ti graphics card. Not totally necessary but some discussion with others made me aware of the potential for these big heavy graphics cards to sag a little over time. A backplate can help prevent this and has the added bonus of looking cool and also helping the card keep a few degrees cooler. Not a bad investment for $20.
Here's some before and after pics:

Before:




After:








Edited by ScottishBattleAx - 05 Feb 2014 at 8:54am

awesome review

Congrats!

Looks awesome. Definitely drool worthy

GOD, I can't wait until I get my Haf X rig, that case looks so well.....Bad*ss. Nice setup and rig btw. Love that monitor setup.
And if you could, could ya post the filter sizes for the fans?

Edited by Tanker201 - 28 Jan 2014 at 8:23am

Thanks BattleAxe, I live in northern Michigan by a HUGE!!!!! chemical, and energy plant. (Dow Chemical headquarters) and as such I don't want my pc to be exposed. Besides that I'm a paranoid freak when anybody touches my pc. Even microscopic particles.

Very very nice system. Awesome looking!

Blackplate looks good! 

Just a quick update since its now been a year I've had the machine.

Not much to report (that's a good thing). Have had no real issues. No need to contact DS support.
She's running very well and I still don't foresee upgrading it in during the next year. I built it to last 2 or 3 years to avoid the need. Maybe I'll add another SSD but i don't know.

My wife's prebuilt vanquish is also running great (9mths old). No issues with that either.

Sure wish they'd include more cases like this. Plus, let's face it, the word 'dreadnought' just screams power.

Hi ScottishBattleAx,

Thanks for the update. That is still one heck of a system.
Enjoy the laptop offerings. They are new.


Edited by hoserator - 08 Apr 2018 at 3:07am

That was (and is) one hell of a case. 

Originally posted by Alci Thanks for updating this post. I just bought a 1080 ti and then noticed the fan shroud in my HAF-X. I wasn't sure if it came off until your pics.

Yeah it comes off. I had to remove it to install my 1070.

Nice review, Fantastic Photos

love your set up as well.