No pics yet, just the specs for this workstation I'll be setting up this week for a friend.
It's mainly a 3D editing & rendering, PS editing and game test machine (he's a 3D/2D artist for a game studio). It's going to be attached to a humongous Cintiq pen display.

I'm trying to make it silent, but I couldn't make compromise on the GPU and the HD so I have no idea how good is going to be. But at least on idle should be just ok.

Corsair Obsidian 550D, one additional 120mm Enermax quiet fan and Seasonic X-750 PSU
i7-4770K with Thermalright HR02 rev. A (why -K? Just because it's the fastest i7)
Gigabyte H87-D3H (absolutely zero OC needed)
32GB (4*8) Crucial 1600
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB and WD Black 2TB
and... GTX 780 :0 (reference)

Total cost is circa 4000€ including the Cintiq, OS and accessories (kb, mouse, Xonar DX).

Pics and comments will follow :j

PS: my own build with a 65W Haswell is here.

You have an interesting build list, it'll be pretty fast I'm sure.

What brand GTX780 did you go for? MSI, Asus and Gigabyte tend to have the coolest running models I've seen. I do Blu-Ray editing with the Adobe CS6 suite and I settled for the GTX660Ti. I'm sure I'll upgrade it by next year, but it's one of the more expendable parts, easiest to upgrade to give me some better speed.

I sure hope that the software does use the GPU for rendering. I know that a lot of the Adobe software only uses it for certain actions, making something as powerful as the 780 a little pointless, when some of the lower end cards give near identical results.

The Samsung 840 is a great drive, just make sure your friend makes consistent backups. Seagate 3TB backup drives (I forget which model exactly) ship with backup software that works using the incremental backup method. One good long backup, then the rest just updates changes. I have a customer that uses one, and I've gone back to his office twice, once to add a computer to his network, and a second time to give him my opinion on a new file server. No problems in 2 years.

I do applaud you for using a pretty frugal PSU. Too many people build computers with similar specs to this and think it needs 1000W+.

For some suggestions of the build, I would avoid using side fans, and just use the rear exhaust and top exhaust closest to the back of the case. Let the air pressure work it's magic and you'll see better temps than you expect. You aren't going to need a million fans to keep that cool, just make sure that the fans increase speed with the load, and your friend will be quite satisfied with it.

I went for a stock Zotac GTX780 with the standard cooler just like most of the other card. Didn't look for exotic cooling or factory OC (out of question on this machine), we'll see how good is in idle.
Yep the software is gonna use the GPU pretty well, both in DX (gaming and 3DSMax) and OGL. It's definitely a beefy GPU, but will be of good use both during editing and game testing.

I choose the 750W so the system has 200W of overhead on the maximum power it needs when all the parts are in full load (according to the TT web calculator).
200W overhead in a worst case scenario with a gold rated PSU seems good enough. Can't see why ppl are buying kilowatt PSU, it's just crazy. Or hype :j

The extra fan is just to ensure a little more ventilation for the intake (or top rear?). I'm not planning to open the top or the sides, it's definitely better to preserve acoustic and flow as you say :j

Probably closer to 380W under stressed load (84W CPU, 250W GPU, 40-50W for everything else).

Finally, the pic of the final build:


A no-nonsense motherboard. No OC.


This is how 32GB of RAM look like. Stock clock & voltage. I couldn't find the low voltage Ballistix I bought for my system.


An obscene GPU.


Almost complete, still no SSD and a cable in the wrong place. Can you spot it?


Routing in the back.


This is with the Macho 120 installed and the 140mm outtake. I had to RMA a Macho rev. A because the mounting plate was BENT.


Another look at the inside. The Macho 120 fan is just a couple of millimeters from the first DDR3 slot, but there's no obstruction and there's a bit of margin to move the fan, higher on the heatsink and away from the RAM.




Final build, with no GTX.



Random impressions (in progress):
-The 780 GTX is incredibly silent in idle. Didn't expect this considering the beast it is.
-a good Speedfan setup for the CPU and case fan, together with the Seasonic PSU makes it an incredibly silent machine.
-please Seasonic, avoid to ship the PSU with those useless bags for modular cable and PSU. It's just a waste or resources and materials.
-the obsidian is a great chassis, but I don't see this huge difference with a Fractal Define R4 which is much cheaper. The lock mechanism of the door is way too cheap, the fan are just ok and there isn't a true vantage in using aluminum panels instead of steel. Also the design of the front IO panel is not so smart because cables and stuff obstruct the door opening. There's of course a lot of room for a top radiator, but I'd still prefer my Fractal Design Define (mini).

Nice build, really interesting, i never seen the Macho 120 installed, i have recommended in the past on builds below 160mm, but never really seen it on a build.

I'm interested, in case you can, into whats the PWM range of the 120mm fan from thermalright, as in TY140/141, used Thermalright on the Standard HR-02 Macho, states 900-1300, but in reality it can be dropped to 700rpm, this Macho 120 has a fan rated 600~1500RPM, but wondering if 600 is lowest rpm.

This is not my build, but I have a Haswell build with the same Macho120. I can't remember the exact minimum RPM for the fan, but I can tell you that I approximated the minimum fan speed with Speedfan at 20%, which translate in 750RPM approx. IIRC the real minimum is around 15%.

Pretty. What are the idle and load temps? Does the PSU fan ever turn on?

It's probably not the best time of the year for a temperature read. Today was almost 40° in Sardinia, Italy, and my friend decided to make the PSU active (there's a switch as you probably know), at least for now.
Anyway, idle temps are 32° for the CPU, 39° for system and 45° for the GTX. All read outs from Speedfan.
This is with the Macho120 fan at 30% via Speedfan and the big 140mm outtake at 100% (my friend say it's not loud at all).