The haswell CPU heating problem is a known one. On Sandybridge CPUs the heatsink is soldered on the chip, giving it excellent heat transfer and allowing the cooler to do its work. On Ivybridge and Haswell they used cheap thermal compound instead, which does give much less heat transfer, meaning that the chip will run hot because the cooler simply can't cool it efficiently.
Gamers and geeks apparently tend to cut the Ivy and Haswell heatsinks off with a razor blade and apply their own thermal compound before putting all the parts in their motherboards' CPU socket. (see
this youtube vid for example).
I finished a rebuild of my own PC last night, and for that problem alone I decided not to get an 1150 motherboard and CPU but stuck with my old Sandybridge i5-2500 and get a new 1155 motherboard.
As long as they don't sort out the heating problem, I'm not jumping on the 1150 wagon yet. Considering that this problem is a generation old (Ivy also has it), I don't think Intel is in any hurry to do something about it.
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32GB SSD isn't going to get you far. That's enough to install Windows 7, Libreoffice and maybe a few more programs.
If you really want to use the PC for gaming, I'd recommend a bigger SSD. a 128GB Agility 3 or similar is really fast and shouldn't break the bank.
I highly recommend something that size because I started out with a 60GB Vertex 2 a few years ago and always wanted more because the disk was filled to 75% of its capacity before I knew it. (and back then I already used to store all my personal files on another HDD)
I'm currently running a pair of 128GB Vertex 4s in raid 0, but that's just stupid. In fact the Sata3 controller can't keep up, making them read and write at 750MB/s while it should be 1.1GB/s.
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Cases ... it's hard to recommend stuff. I personally love the HAF X because of its versatility, the nice cable management, the airflow and the room inside (which makes installation a lot easier). However you'll need a big house to store that kind of case.
Whatever you choose, make sure it :
- weighs a ton. Light cases tend to be flimsy. Flimsy means the case will warp if you ever need to move it. Warping can crack the motherboard.
- allows for cable management. So check for rubber grommets, mounting points for tie-wraps, enough room behind the motherboard tray, etc etc. Not only does it look better with nice cable management, it'll also help reduce turbulence inside the case, helping cooling.
- has enough airflow. The best CPU cooler in the world isn't going to save you if the lack of airflow means you can't get new air into the case and/or hot air to exit it. Look for what kind of fans it'll hold and how many of them. Personally I prefer 140mm or bigger, as 120mm fans or smaller tend to make a lot of noise if you have many of them.
- supports your motherboard. Plenty of form factors around. That Sniper is a micro-ATX, and I'm not sure if all cases will have mounting points for that form factor.
- has plenty of room. Not only does it make working on the PC easier, it helps the airflow. a big graphics card can really disrupt airflow or even stop the top half of the case from getting any cold air at all.
As for that last point, I've made that mistake myself.
This is what happens when you start out with a regular PC in a small case and then try to stuff a gaming PC in there. That monstrous CPU cooler simply couldn't draw cold air because the GFX card effectively split the case into 2 sections. the top half simply wasn't getting any air in except for whatever it could draw from those small vents near the front.
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As for PSU choice, you don't really need as much as you think. 550-600W will do.
I have measured my PC under full load (benchmarking, transferring movies and doing a stability test at the same time), and I never saw it draw more than 420W from the plug. The calculated worst-case scenario figure was slightly more than 600W. At some point it may reach 500W during a game that actually supports the card's native Crossfire, but even then I'm nowhere near the calculated figures.
A friend of mine has a GTX550Ti on the same CPU as mine (i5 2500) and his PC doesn't go past 350W with 2 instances of World of Warcraft running simultaneously. (Ultra graphics settings, both in 1920x1080 windowed on 2 screens)
Seeing as most PSUs are said to run at their best at around 2/3 load, I see absolutely no need to get more than 600W.
Whenever I build a PC for my friends, I end up using a BeQuiet! Dark Power Pro PSU. I find them more quiet (no pun intended) than most others and the modular design makes neat cable management very easy.