Original Parts Set

Originally I started with this particular parts set :

Intel Core i7-7700K
Aorus GA-Z270-Gaming 7
Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 3000 MHz CL15 2 X 8GB
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming
Corsair H115 AIO water cooling
Corsair AF 120 LED Quiet Edition fan
NZXT IU01 internal USB hub

Base which was waiting for the new set of parts was :

Cooler Master HAF XB case
Corsair AX 1500i PSU (will be featured separately soon on Solo Parts section)
Modecom CR-525 front panel
Samsung DVD SH-224DB recorder
2 X Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB HDDs
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

At the time of purchase (02.2017), there were no official Aorus GPUs on the market. Xtreme Gaming series was top-of-the-line when it comes to Gigabyte products. GTX 1080 (GP104-400) was second, most powerful graphic card for personal use.

GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming front view

GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming top view

GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming back view

There was only Titan X (GP102-400) that could beat it in terms of performance. So the choice for me was obvious, especially that Titan X was almost twice the price of the GTX 1080, even tho it was a custom cooled model with Titan X class chokers and capacitors and many many other upgrades compared to Nvidia`s Founder Edition GTX. It also came with neat little set of goodies since it was a Premium Pack version. The box included :

Xtreme Gaming SLI HB bridge with led lightning
Xtreme Gaming premium mouse pad
Front VR panel with 2 X HDMI and 2 X USB 3.0 ports
Rear PC case panel for HDMI output
Wrist wrap and few other things

Premium Pack

Premium Pack Full set

The motherboard itself is perfectly and precisely crafted piece of electronic equipment. Many premium features distinguish it from other products like dual bios, RGBW (!) lightning, quad core sound card, metal PCI slots and many others.

Aorus Z270 Gaming 7

Of course motherboard alone can`t do much, that is why it`s paired with this little bad boy – the brand new (at the time) Kaby Lake superstar, the unlocked, 8 core (logical) i7-7700 K with base frequency of 4200 MHz and a turbo boost to 4500 MHz when needed.

i7-7700 K Box

i7-7700 K CPU

To keep this monster cool and quiet I`ve decided to use All In One water cooling from Corsair. H115i seemed to be the best choice due to performance it delivered and maximum size of the radiator that could fit into HAF XB case. Dual 140mm fans are more than enough to keep everything cool maintaining moderate amount of noise… at least it seemed like that at that time but we will pick it up later 😉 For me it was first encounter with liquid cooling, that is why I`ve decided to use AIO set instead of a custom loop. Plus, full Corsair Link support via USB connection and an RGB water block tilted the scale. For everyday use temps maintain at 30 ~ 35 degrees which is a very good level as far as I`m concerned. Stress is a different story but as I wrote few lines earlier we will pick it up later because the solution was found.

Corsair H115i AIO

Corsair H115i RGB Water Block

Last but not least is the most advanced RAM that Corsair has in their offer, the Dominator Platinum series. I`ve chosen the 3000 MHz edition with Cas Latency of 15. The chosen capacity is two dimms of 8GB each for a future expansion to 32 GB of total RAM. Maybe it`s not the newest RAM in terms of design date, but still Corsair claims that it`s the most advanced RAM they produce. Specially selected chips, unique PCB design, advanced passive cooling, led lightning and temperature monitoring and reporting technology seems to confirm that statement.

Corsiar Dominator Platinum 3000MHz

Corsair Dominator Platinum special PCB design

So the building began, first of all I had to make space for my brand new parts. This is why I had to say good bye to this aristocrat. But not for ever of course, old set is waiting to be featured on Modern Builds soon 🙂 Yey !

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770