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I am coming to the final stages of getting a new PC and wanted a final second opinion.

I have already bought the CPU (i7 4770K) and am 95% sure I want to buy these 2 HDs and RAM (maybe 16GB?):
Crucial MX100 256GB
Western Digital WD40EFRX 4TB Red
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3

Open questions right now are the motherboard, case and PSU.

Motherboard options are:
ASUS Micro ATX Z97M-PLUS
Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5

I am leaning toward the ASUS for its temperature monitors, as I am very concerned with temperature alerting, since it will be in a smaller closet and I don't want it to overheat. Also, TR recommended it.

For the PSU, I am looking at:
Seasonic SSR-450RM ATX 450-Watt
and 550 watt variation

At most will have a GPU + 4 HDD + 1 SSD, I did the math and it said 450/550 should be plenty. Looked like they will fit in the cases too.

For the case, I am between:
Corsair Obsidian Series 350D
Silverstone TJ08B-E
Fractal Design Define Mini

I really want a solid airflow case. I am leaning toward the Silverstone and Corsair currently as I saw a review saying the airflow is restricted by the noise dampening in the Fractal.

This computer will be on 24/7 and hooked up to a projector (HTPC) and monitor, running VMs and very occasional gaming. As for the GPU, I want to go with a low profile one (cheap, older). I was going to get this later and just use the IGP for a while.

What do you think? Do you think I should get an aftermarket CPU cooler? Any of those cases require special airflow/venting? I have seen a lot of cases mentioning flipping the PSUs, which troubles me since I don't monitor temps.

Thanks!

Chances are you'll want to pair that 4770K with a beastly graphics card later. Unless you're sure you're not going to, I suggest getting a 600w PSU or thereabouts. 450w may hold you back.

As for the CPU cooler, if your enclosure allows it I would point you towards something like a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (quite popular) or similar. Intel's chips may sport lower TDPs than AMD but they do get quite hot, I've heard.

tone21705 wrote:

I have already bought the CPU (i7 4770K) and am 95% sure I want to buy these 2 HDs and RAM (maybe 16GB?):
Crucial MX100 256GB
Western Digital WD40EFRX 4TB Red
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3

WD Reds are built for NAS devices. Is there any reason that you picked these over WD Greens?

If you're going to really run a lot of VMs then it makes since to get more RAM. Otherwise 8GB should be fine.

tone21705 wrote:

What do you think? Do you think I should get an aftermarket CPU cooler?

If you don't plan to overclock, you don't need an aftermarket cooler.

tone21705 wrote:

Motherboard options are:
ASUS Micro ATX Z97M-PLUS
Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5

The Z97M-Plus wastes two slots on obsolete PCI. There hasn't been a reason to have PCI slots since mid-2008, so look for a motherboard that has PCIe slots, instead.

In another thread, I wrote:

The Asus Gryphon Z97 would be my preference.
Asus Gryphon Z97 or Maximus VII Gene
MSI Z97M-G43 or Z97M Gaming
Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5
ASRock Z97M OC

tone21705 wrote:

Do you think I should get an aftermarket CPU cooler?

While the stock cooler will provide adequate cooling, I like the CoolerMaster Hyper212 Evo that ronch suggested. Even if you're not overclocking, it will be quieter than the stock Intel cooler.

ton21705 wrote:

G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3

The Ares series is a better choice than memory with ridiculously tall decorative heatsinks attached to the DIMMs.

In yet another thread, I wrote:

Crucial Ballistix Sport BLS2K8G3D1609ES2LX0 or Ballistix Tactical BLT2K8G3D1608ET3LX0 (16 GiB kits) or BLS2K4G3D1609ES2LX0 or BLT2K4G3D1608ET3LX0 (8 GiB kits).

ton21705 wrote:

Silverstone TJ08B-E

I've been pleased with this case. Plug the 180mm front fan's 3-pin analog connector into the motherboard's chassis fan controller, and you should have very good cooling control. The Corsair Obsidian 350D is a much larger case (as large on the outside as many ATX cases), so it might be easier to work inside while you are assembling the PC.

tone21705 wrote:

This computer will be on 24/7 and hooked up to a projector (HTPC) and monitor, running VMs and very occasional gaming. As for the GPU, I want to go with a low profile one (cheap, older). I was going to get this later and just use the IGP for a while.

If you don't want to go up in the PSU area, and are worried about heat generation, the 750ti might be a good choice of card for you. It's price/performance ratio is poor, but it's low heat and the fact it is newer, and therefore likely to receive more attention from driver updates than an outdated card, lends it to be my suggestion for your build should you choose to buy it now and not later. Even for light gaming it's MUCH better than the iGPU of your CPU. If you wait until later, the rest of the Maxwell family will probably be out and you will have more excellent choices.

Another thought, newer AMD cards have their "zero core power" feature. Since I was only worried about idle consumption because my computer runs 24/7 for WMC, the 7950 was a good choice for me. My computer is not locked away in closet, though.

kumori wrote:

tone21705 wrote:

I have already bought the CPU (i7 4770K) and am 95% sure I want to buy these 2 HDs and RAM (maybe 16GB?):
Crucial MX100 256GB
Western Digital WD40EFRX 4TB Red
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3

WD Reds are built for NAS devices. Is there any reason that you picked these over WD Greens?

I partially agree with Greens over Reds. They both run at 5400 RPM for lower power consumption. The Reds, as kumori points out, were desined with NAS devices in mind, and they also have longer warranties than Greens, IIRC.

The only thing I will add is that with only 256GB on your SSD, you might end up installing programs on your mechanical drive (especially if you install several games). If that ends up being the case, you might be happier with a WD Black drive, which spins at 7200 RPM for extra speed. If you are only gaming occasionally, you will probably be fine, and you can always add a faster hard drive later.

tone21705 wrote:

I really want a solid airflow case. I am leaning toward the Silverstone and Corsair currently as I saw a review saying the airflow is restricted by the noise dampening in the Fractal.

I love the look of Corsair cases, they're good on airflow, and they're very easy to build in...buuuuuuut they also tend to be poor on volume usage. If this is an HTPC, you're probably better off with a Fractal or Silverstone. You can choose an aftermarket cooler and a video card with a good cooler design to help cooling if you are worried about airflow.

tone21705 wrote:

What do you think? Do you think I should get an aftermarket CPU cooler? Any of those cases require special airflow/venting? I have seen a lot of cases mentioning flipping the PSUs, which troubles me since I don't monitor temps.

As others have said, Intel's stock coolers will keep your CPU cooled. An aftermarket model will get you better cooling/noise and generally keep things at lower temperatures. The end choice is yours.

The TJ08B-E is amazingly quiet and cool. I built a 4770K + ASUS Gryphon + TJ08B-E + GTX 770 system that I'm very happy with. I ran it with the stock cooler for months before putting in a Noctua NH-U12S. I definitely recommend putting in an aftermarket cooler, the difference is quite stark. The computer is practically inaudible even under load now. The Hyper 212 Evo others have recommended will give you comparable performance at a lower price point.

I'd say the end result is worth it, but you should know that the TJ08B-E can be a bit fiddly to work in since it is so compact. The drive cage in particular can be difficult to deal with. Unless your 24-pin ATX power cable is particularly flexible, it will intrude against the side of the drive cage once plugged into the mobo--you may want to grab an angled adapter for tor that. Additionally, once you have drives in the cage, the SATA cables might intrude into the "push" heatsink fan--again, you may want go grab some angled SATA cables.

superjawes wrote:

Intel's stock coolers will keep your CPU cooled. An aftermarket model will get you better cooling/noise and generally keep things at lower temperatures

Here are some numbers to back that statement up. (Intel cooler on top of list, 212 EVO on very bottom) As you can see, the 212 EVO won't be too much quieter, but look at that landslide temp. delta.

Tower-style CPU coolers work particularly well in the TJ08/(or PS07 that I have), especially with a fan populating the rear exhaust vent. Being so compact, the drive cage acts as a wind tunnel, opening up right before the air hits the tower's "push" fan. Then < 2" from the back of the tower, the exhaust fan picks that air up and throws it out the case. I have a single hdd + SSD in my PS07. Recommend putting the hdd in the slot underneath the drive cage and the SSD inside the cage to enable a "push" fan on the CPU. IIRC, if you put any hdds in the cage, you'll have to move the CPU fan to "pull" and in that case, you could probably forego the exhaust fan since the CPU fan will be so close to the back of the case anyway.

Losergamer04 wrote:

750ti might be a good card for you. It's price/performance ratio is poor, [but it's very low power for the performance you get.] Even for light gaming it's MUCH better than the iGPU of your CPU. If you wait until later, the rest of the Maxwell family will probably be out and you will have more choices.

I second this recommendation. If it's low power/heat you're looking for, the 750Ti is an excellent choice. It delivers solid 1080p gaming at High settings. The Maxwell refresh will likely slot in above the 750Ti, so no reason to wait if you don't need more performance than that.

tone21705 wrote:

This computer will be on 24/7 and hooked up to a projector (HTPC) and monitor, running VMs and very occasional gaming. As for the GPU, I want to go with a low profile one (cheap, older). I was going to get this later and just use the IGP for a while.

What VM software are you going to use? If you want to share out the GPU amongst the VMs, IIRC you'll need an nVidia card. I don't think Hyper-V or VMware support doing that with AMD cards (why? i dunno...).

What memory speed do you think I should get?

Those motherboards say they support:
GIGABYTE GA-Z97MX - DDR3 3100(OC)/3000(OC)/2933(OC)/2800(OC)/2666(OC)/2600(OC)/2500(OC)/2400(OC)/2200(OC)/2133(OC)/2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1800(OC)/1600/1333
ASUS Z97M-PLUS - DDR3 3200(OC)/3100(OC)/3000(OC)/2933(OC)/2800(OC)/2666(OC)/2600(OC)/2500(OC)/2400(OC)/2200(OC)/2133(OC)/2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1800(OC)/1600/1333

I was going to go with TR's recommendation of:
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-8GAO (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231544)

But it is only 1600, I don't want to really OC at all (scared of messing something up) but it seems you can get almost twice the speed?

Thanks!

Memory speed doesn't mean very much, and performance tests have shown that there is very little improvement when going beyond 1600. So I'd get some 1600 or 1866 that has good latency.

If you're not using the integrated graphics, your Haswell CPU won't be terribly sensitive to the speed of the memory. Look for some DDR3 memory that's got reasonably tight timings, voltage less than or equal to 1.5 volts and no ridiculously tall decorative heatsinks.

PC3-12800
$76 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 Crucial Ballistix Sport BLS2K4G3D1609ES2LX0 (DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.35 V, low profile)
$83 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 G.skill Ares F3-1600C8D-8GAB (DDR3-1600, 8-8-8-??, 1.5 V)
$85 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2K4G3D1608ET3LX0 (DDR3-1600, 8-8-8-24, 1.35 V)
$85 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 G.Skill Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR1 (DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.35 V)
$87 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 Mushkin Stealth 996988S (DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.35 V)
$90 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9W (DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.35 V)
$90 2x4 GiB PC3-12800 Mushkin Stealth 997043S (DDR3-1600, 8-8-8-24, 1.5 V)

PC3-14900
$80 2x4 GiB PC3-14900 G.Skill Ares F3-1866C9D-8GAB (DDR3-1866, 9-10-9-28, 1.5 V)
$89 2x4 GiB PC3-14900 Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1866C9R (DDR3-1866, 9-10-9-27, 1.5 V)
$90 2x4 GiB PC3-14900 Crucial Ballistix BLT2KIT4G3D1869DT1TX0 (DDR3-1866, 9-9-9-27, 1.5 V)
$93 2x4 GiB PC3-14900 AMD Radeon Performance AP38G1869U1K (DDR3-1866, 9-10-9-27, 1.5 V)
$93 2x4 GiB PC3-14900 Patriot Viper3 PVL38G186C9KR (DDR3-1866, 9-10-9-27, 1.5 V)

PC3-17000
$93 2x4 GiB PC3-17000 Patriot Viper3 PVL38G213C1KR (DDR3-2133, 11-11-11-27, 1.5 V)
$96 2x4 GiB PC3-17000 Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A2133C11G (DDR3-2133, 11-11-11-27, 1.5 V)

I've had the least trouble with Crucial memory.

Instead of the Gigabyte micro Atx motherboard you might want to consider the ASrock Z-97M Formula motherboard. It has 8 power phases I believe that is 4 more then the gigabyte board. It's also supports very high speed memory. Here is the link....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product Also it priced nice at $.
Also as someone else stated I cannot not see you not installing a nice graphics card like a EVGA GTX780ti 6gb classified card
Regaurdless of what video card you end up adding to your 4770k powerhouse of a gaming CPU I think you should get a good 650 watt PSU like this gold rated Corsair hx650 for 109$. Here is the link for that.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139012

Instead of the Gigabyte micro Atx motherboard you might want to consider the ASrock Z-97M Formula motherboard. It has 8 power phases I believe that is 4 more then the gigabyte board. It's also supports very high speed memory. Here is the link....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product Also it priced nice at $.
Also as someone else stated I cannot not see you not installing a nice graphics card like a EVGA GTX780ti 6gb classified card
Regaurdless of what video card you end up adding to your 4770k powerhouse of a gaming CPU I think you should get a good 650 watt PSU like this gold rated Corsair hx650 for 109$. Here is the link for that.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139012

I went with:
Corsair 450D
Corsair HX650
Asus Gryphon Z97
8GB 2x4 PC3-14900 Crucial Ballistix BLT2KIT4G3D1869DT1TX0 (DDR3-1866, 9-9-9-27, 1.5 V)
Crucial MX100 256GB

Still going to figure out between WD Red and Green for the HDD but will do that later.

Thanks again!