First Build Advice: GA-Z87X-OC Force - i7-4770K - EVGA GTX 770

[Next.Level.n00b]

Components

Intel Core i7-4770K Quad-Core 3.5 GHz 8 MB Cache
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-4770K-Quad-Core-Processor-BX80646I74770K/dp/B00CO8TBQ0/

Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC Force
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128596
EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB GDDR5 256bit
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CZIQXFG/

Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR3 1600 MHz (4x8GB)
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Desktop-Memory-CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10/dp/B0068ZWZY0/

Cooler Master HAF XM (Black) ATX Mid Tower
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Q7EG7I

Corsair Professional Series HX750 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Gold
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (x2) (OSX boot drive & Windows boot drive)
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE120BW/dp/B00E3W15P0/

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-7200RPM-Internal-STBD2000101/dp/B005OKQUJ6/

Thermaltake Water 2.0 PRO/All In One Liquid Cooling System
http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Liquid-Cooling-System-CLW0216/dp/B007UIX1M4/

TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GMPZ0A/

Pioneer BDR-208DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Electronics-Internal-Burner-BDR-208DBK/dp/B00A4ZXE40/


Comments

After researching the forums here (thank you all for the great posts) and elsewhere, I put together the above list of parts I'd like to try for my first build. Ideally, I want a rig that's designed for video editing (OSX) but can handle some moderate gaming on the side (Windows).

My plan is to run 2 separate boot drives for each operating system. I've never been an Overclocker, but would like to give it a try in the future (perhaps 2-3 years from now when Intel has another "tock" CPU upgrade and the Haswells aren't as current) which is why I went with the "future proof" OC Force MB, the liquid cooling system, and the amped up PSU.

Here are my biggest concerns:

1) At $2,317.32, a friend told me it was worth the "extra $800" for a store bought Mac with better specs. Does this rig seem overpriced to you guys? Should I be getting the same quality for cheaper, or better quality for around this price?

2) I plan on running dual-monitors for video editing but heard SLI stutters a lot, so I'm running a single GPU for now. Would I be better suited running two GTX 680s with SLI or is the single 770 the better option?

3) Given that I want to do video editing and that I'm already spending north of $2k, would I be better served going with a Socket 2011 build (was worried that a Socket 2011 build would be more difficult for a novice than a Haswell build would be)

4) Since my case has slots for x4 200mm fans, would I be better served going with an all-air cooling system as opposed to risking leaks, my biggest fear, in an all-in-one liquid cooled system.

I haven't decided on peripherals such as which monitors, keyboard, and mouse I want because I'm still pricing/budgeting for the computer itself, but I imagine I'll go with dual 24" monitors, a wireless mechanical keyboard, and a wireless ambidextrous mouse.

Obviously not expecting anyone to be able to answer all 4 of those questions, but any advice anyone has to offer would be greatly appreciated.

I'd like to buy all the parts by the end of this week at the latest.

 

[cutterjohn]

LGA2011, that's what my primary desktop is 3930k ASUS P9X79 deluxe, however next year a new series enthusiast (-e) chips will be coming out, along with a new socket, so the best that 2011 will be able to do is the relatively recent Ivy Bridge (49x0k?) that was released(wasn't enough of a boost for me to bite).

Only reason that I'd buy a mac pro is for the peace of mind if it was for a business that relied on OSX and needed it up and running NOW, o.w. I really think that Apple is going psychotic and that the Mac Pros are WAY overkill for workstations, or at least in their of Xeons and ECC RAM. The "Pro" series GPUs I can take, but to me Xeons & ECC are for servers. If I'm doing something that needs Xeons & ECC RAM I'm likely going to need more than any workstation can give me anyways -> offload to some cluster/parallel machine setup.

Also those Pros look pretty unupgradeable which is a HUGE minus in my book, and why I lost interest in Apple lower end machines and notebooks when they started locking them down years ago, starting with no user replaceable batts and not being able to truly strip down the old Mac Pros(used to buy them almost totally stripped, spend a few hundred and have something better than the official topend).

Now their notebooks and iMacs are so feeble and unupgradeable that they're just a joke to me(seriously?! 755m the best dGPU that you order?!).

I really don't get what Apple is doing here, they have LOW end and they have uber extra HIGH end with a GAPING chasm in the middle. The only thing that I can see is that the new Mac Pros cover the old server territory and the old high end simultaneously as they no longer sell servers per se. They're missing the boat w/a c. $2k LGA2011 based desktop machine in the middle with a decent high end (mainstream) GPU IMNHO.

IOW it's up to you how much you know about maintaining your own machine, how much upgradeability matters to you, and how much downtime you stand(OSX mainly I'm thinking) along with the possibility of maybe being cut off from OSX upgrades(well sooner that I think that Apple will cut off official machines).

e.g. I just built a customac, i7 4770k, 16GB DDR3, ga-z87mx-d3h, 500GB + 1TB seagate for cheap sharing an ASUS 24" 1920x1080 with it and my primary machine ATM. I really did this because I was interested in seeing modern OSX(have older power macs/books, it's fairly ossified I see) and had a spare PSU & GTX 670 FTW lying around to use, so I managed to do it for c. $700, which is less than my last mountain bike cost me.

 

[Bigfoot438]

Hey, came across your forum. Looking at buying the same board. I've already got the same ram and many similar components to you. Was wondering how it worked out for you? I've got a DS3H board, and it fails if I use over 2 ram sticks, making it useless as I do pro photo and video work. Looking at the z87x oc force to replace it.