Anyway! Some questions I have in no real order:
Well, I like order, so FTFY:
- What am I looking for in a motherboard aside from compatibility?
- Should I consider watercooling? Is it easy to install? Does it cool both CPU/GPU? Any maintenance on it or drawbacks I should know?
- What should I be looking for in RAM? I plan to get an unnecessary 16gb due to extreme multitasking at times. Does it matter (Aside from future expansion) if I go 4x4gb or 2x8gb?
- Will a 750W PSU be fine if I don't plan on dual-GPU?
- What should I be looking for in a case? I like pretty colors (specifically purple) and bright lights but I'm not willing too spend too much extra. Ease of installation and performance are my most important priorities.
- As an MMO player my SSD is extremely important. I gather I should be getting a 840 Pro. Are there any real performance differences between 128/256 models? Are there any multiple SSD setups that will improve the performance?
- I was told to wait on my video card, especially since I was looking at a 780 Ti. Any recommendations on this now in terms of high end GPUs? It seems dumb to not purchase something during Black Friday assuming there are some good deals.
1. Features that match your needs and budget. Some features you may or may not be interested in: overclocking-compatible chipset, overclocker features like high number of power phases, WLAN, high end integrated sound, SLI/Crossfire compatibility, microATX or mini-ITX form factor (= case compatibility), number of fan headers. If you don't know, then you will probably be fine with something rather mainstream.
2. You should not consider it unless you're interested in water cooling for sake of water cooling. It doesn't actually benefit you much compared to air cooling, because overclocking with air cooling is pretty doable these days. For a first timer, it is not that easy to install and setup. It can be used to cool both CPU and GPU(s). It requires regular maintenance (while air cooling requires none). However the main drawback on it is cost. A good water cooling setup is not even close to being worth it in terms of cost per clock speed.
3. You should be looking for the best cost per capacity among RAM that is rated for 1600MHz or more, 1.5V or less and does not have huge heat sinks that can obstruct CPU cooler installation. 4x4GB vs 2x8GB matters because with the latter you still have slots free for later expansion, and you put less strain on the memory controller, and you are less likely to receive a DOA part, and 2x8GB kits will retain resale value better despite costing the same as 4x4.
4. 750W will be fine if you do plan on dual GPU, apart from some high end overclocked setups. For a single GPU, 500W is generally fine - provided it is a reliable, good quality unit, of course. Wattage is not an important metric for a PSU, what matters is the maximum current on the +12V rail and the stability of the unit up until that maximum current.
5. What does case performance mean to you? No case, whichever one you get, directly influences the performance of the PC itself. Are you referring to cooling performance, or acoustic performance, or something else? What I would look for in a sufficiently decent looking case of my chosen form factor (ATX, mATX and mini-ITX) is (1) build quality versus price (2) cooling-to-noise ratio, and (3) ease of use features, in that order.
6. The 840 Pro is poor value for money and not needed for most users. You cannot notice a difference between that and the 840 EVO for instance, or even a Crucial M500 or a Sandforce-based drive like Kingston V300. As for performance differences between 128 and 256 models, there are some benchmarked differences (256 being faster) but nothing you would ever notice in real world use. The same applies to using SSD's in RAID 0, it's not worth it. I'd just get the 840 EVO (120gb or 250gb, depending on budget) unless there's a sale on a different drive at a significantly lower $/GB.
7. It's sad that the 290 and 290X are all still reference models, otherwise I'd be recommending a custom 290(X) from Asus, MSI, Sapphire or Gigabyte. The GTX780 is a decent choice though, as is the 280X if your budget isn't huge. Not sure if Black Friday prices are actually any lower on video cards than usually.
