Some guys are just lucky

I currently have have a three year old DS HAF X with an Asus P8P67 deluxe motherboard and 2 GTX 570 graphics cards. I was hoping for the computer to last another year till the PCI 4.0 came out. But last week flames started to shoot out of the video card. Popped the video card out now I'm down to one video card. That card apparently took some damage and it too started to smoke. Motherboard POSTs but no video card.
Decision time:
Option one replace video card
Option two: do a complete rebuild motherboard & video card
Small or big solution, decisions always come down to this. Then my wife adds her two cents " Just go buy a complete computer that way you can take your time rebuilding the old one" Did I tell you some guys are just lucky.

Budget:
3000$

Usage:
Mainly gaming (Star Citizen will probably the most demanding) some 3d modeling but not enough to matter. Monitor 1900 x 1200

Special Needs:
I live in Phoenix Arizona and inside room temperature can rise to just above 80deg F. My wife likes the small form factor not sure if the Bolt 2 can Handel the heat I may have to go with the Apollo.

I will add a ticket when I can get to something other than a tablet.

If you see this unplug the computer. The power supply tripped off line. The the computer started to reboot and flames shot out again from the video card. My wife wanted to call the fire department ( I think she has a thing for firemen).

Star Citizen is having problems with SLI , I was not playing SC till they got that fixed.

That picture brings back memories. I can almost smell it.

I game in the very low 80's on occasion with no issues with a ODE 600t case. The Bolt should have no problem.

Well i can tell you the bolt can take the heat. I live in California and the temps where i live at here have been in the low 100's all week. I have the older model with a Titan in it, so i bet the newer models run a heck of a lot cooler.

Both builds look good. The case decision is yours.  The Bolt's advantage is its small size and the Apollo's advantage is easier to work on, sli capable with the right psu and over 16gb ram if ever needed.  For gaming on your single monitor, the single 780 and 16gb ram should do it.  

I was looking at the impact board but I'm a firm believer that the chip set is the most important part of the computer. I'm. not sure if there is a big difference between the chipsets.

Memory speeds above 1600Mhz  for most games you'll never notice.   Some games are starting to use the faster sticks, but the difference in performance is still very little.   The 1866Mhz is a good compromise between speed,  cost and not interfering with the cpu overclock if someone wanted a higher overclock, meaning past stage 1. 

You can't go wrong with the 1600Mhz.


Edited by bprat22 - 02 Aug 2014 at 10:23am

Here is what I settled on.
Digital Storm Desktop 631447 $2,738.00
System Configuration:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Pre-built Digital Storm Bolt II
Exterior Finish: Onyx Black Matte Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0 GHz (Codename Devils Canyon) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Z97I-PLUS (Intel Z97 Chipset) (Mini-ITX)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 500W Digital Storm Bolt II Edition (Quiet) (Gold Plus Rated)
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 8x / CD-Writer 8x) (Slim Slot Loading Edition)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (250GB Samsung 840 EVO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 3GB (Includes PhysX)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (Extreme-Performance Edition)
Chassis Fans: High Static Pressure - Corsair Air Series SP120 Fans (2x 120mm)
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Only (RGB LED Lighting System)
Airflow Control: Digital Storm Thermal Management Control Board & Software
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz

It's Monday and
Stage 3: (Phase 1 Phase 1 Integration)
Your order is now placed into one of our specialized test benches. The installation of the operating system, drivers and any applications that are specific to the system you ordered are completed here. Our Digital Storm Integration Engineer will also install any demos, benchmark utilities, and burn-in software necessary to correctly monitor your systems performance throughout our burn-in process.

My Bolt II (I need to name the little guy) just entered into Stage 4. I hope he handled the stress test better than I. I hate waiting.

Stage 4: (Engineering Lab)

Your order has successfully passed our phase 1 stress testing, it has now progressed into our engineering lab. A specialized Digital Storm Assembly Engineer will carefully put together your order as if it was their own. They have a passion to build every system as if it was their show piece.

 

 

 

Ordered: 8/2/14
Stage 1: 8/2/14
Stage 2: 8/4/14
Stage 3: 8/4/14
Stage 4: 8/7/14
Stage 5: n/a
Stage 6: n/a

Stage 7: n/a

Stage 7: (QA Passed)
Your order has successfully passed our stringent quality assurance process. Everything from top to bottom on your purchase has been verified by an experienced Digital Storm technician.

Ordered: 8/2/14
Stage 1: 8/2/14
Stage 2: 8/4/14
Stage 3: 8/4/14
Stage 4: 8/7/14
Stage 5: 8/7/14
Stage 6: 8/11/14
Stage 7: 8/11/14

Ready for shipping, I can not wait.
I found an add on the internet that gave a free shipping coupon, so if you see a Digital Storm add click on it!!!

Ordered on a Saturday so I lost a couple day due to the weekend

Bolt II next to my HAF X. Of course my wife said it’s so tiny

I had one bad temperature probe that was reading 239 f all the time. Digital Storm is sending a new one out. Overall really good build quality with on little hiccup, why would you attach the Led tape to the hard drive enclosure that says removable?

 awesome!