Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
Solved

Is my system config OVERKILL for my gaming needs? Advice please.

Tags:
  • Gaming
  • Configuration
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
Share
June 17, 2014 7:28:03 AM

Hi guys, was really hoping for some help on a few questions I have about the latest and greatest builds. I've read through the forums and seen a lot of nice builds some seriously talented people here. Maybe one of you can help answer some of my questions and in the process steer me towards the right configuration. After 6 years I am updating to a new Gaming PC with no set budget. I I think I might have OVERKILL here for a system.

First off, play games like:

Battlefield 4
World Of Tanks
Bioshock Infinite
Civ 5
Metro Last Light

When the PG278Q ROG SWIFT Gaming Monitor comes out I'm buying it so that puts me in the single monitor gaming group I get vertigo with 2-3 Monitors. That also puts me in the 2560 X1440 resolution so whatever I buy I want to be able to max out the game collection to enjoy that resolution. With that being said I think my config below is overkill because:

I picked the Rampage IV to give me the flexibility to add a 3rd Ti GPU. Is that not recommended?

I have heard funny things about SLI rigs and micro stuttering etc. Should I just get one big card and not go down this path?

ATI -vs- Nvidia the classic matchup I defaulted to Nvidia but I see ATI Xfire has great numbers should i be considering an AMD Xfire GPU setup?

Seen alot of 770 SLI vs 780 discussion here any thoughts on card choice?

I want to go with a single loop CPU/GPU/MB Cooling system because, well, I don't know exactly I figured it was the best alternative to having a 747 fan setup in my office. Anyone have any comments on fan vs liquid?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VjGH8d
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VjGH8d/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($578.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Black Edition EATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($468.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M550 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($156.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($194.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($699.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($699.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Corsair 900D ATX Full Tower Case ($279.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 1050W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($217.04 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.98 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z 70SB150200000 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Liquid Cooling Parts ($500.00)
Total: $4234.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-17 10:26 EDT-0400

Thank you, look forward to some feedback!

More about : system config overkill gaming advice

a b 4 Gaming
June 17, 2014 7:39:19 AM

This would be overkill for 1080p 60Hz.

But since youy are planning to go 1440p it's not quite as much overkill...especially since the monitor you are considering is supposed to be 1ms 120+ Hz capable.

My only suggestion is, if an intel 6 core is available in the new Devils Canyon line up, get that instead. It should be fairly close in price if it follows the existing i5 and i7 update. But the improved TIM on the IHS means lower temps. It may also have a higher stock clock speed.

Optionally, consider the R9 290x or even the 295x2 dual GPU card, which already comes with a liquid cooler. AMD has lowered some of their GPU prices recently. You might be able to get the same performance but save some cost.
m
0
l
a b 4 Gaming
June 17, 2014 7:42:28 AM

Looks like a beast build. Im not ganna lie, its way overkill. But it will last you a LONG time.

Have you looked into watercooling? because just the water blocks will cost $500. if you want a decent water-cooling loop, it will cost at least $800-$1000 for that system.

I also think you should buy 6gb 780tis.
m
0
l
Related resources

Best solution

June 17, 2014 7:46:51 AM

First, SLI works, but I wouldn't plan for SLI to start. I would use SLI as an upgrade avenue down the road when your single card can't play games at the resolution/framerate you want. It performs just fine, but if there are driver issues with new games and such you have to deal with that. One card is just easier.

Next, I would use Tom's "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" list for the most recent month. Simply choose your budget and buy the best single card solution you can get. Obviously the 780 and Titan cards are great, but I think the Radeon's are leading some of the popular categories right now.

Your Rampage board is great, but maybe overkill. I've bought a Rampage board for the last 4 generations of gaming and they are good, but if you're not doing some serious enthusiast overclocking, you're probably wasting money. A good ASUS Pro board will due just fine.

You can find a cheaper 3TB drive. Don't worry about Black vs Green. You won't be installing games/programs on it.

I would choose an aluminium case from Lian Li or Silverstone. Don't get a cheap steel/plastic case. It won't dissipate heat nearly as well and will weigh twice as much

Everything else looks good.

I will say this. My largest and most costly build was one exactly like the one you are buildling (with similar parts at the time). The i7 920 and the GTX280 cards were pretty much the best at the time along with the Rampage $450 board. I had 3x of the graphics cards in a 3 way SLI, a waterblock for each and then waterblocks for the CPU, voltage regulators, motherboard NB/SB as well. I bought a killer Swiftech pump and some large tubing in a Silverstone TJ case with a triple radiator and a dual radiator dedicated to the cards.

In the end, I wish i hadn't done it. After time, cleaning and flushing the fluid and replacing the tubes due to regular maintenance was a huge pain. There were always small leaks that seemed impossible to correct, even with silicon and the best and most expensive compression fittings. I also spent a ton of money on a x16 PCI-E Sata card and 8x SSD's to try and break 2GB/s Read/Write. All that got me was a benchmark screenshot, that's it.

Now i use a small system with two 680's (just added the second one to keep surround gaming at good framerates). I have a stock CPU cooler, a nice small Micro ATX case, 12GB of memory (not overclocked) and a simple CPU overclock to 4GHz and I couldn't be happier. Much less money, less worry and i can play any game at any setting i want.

I suggestion steering clear of the massive binge that I did. I had the money to burn at the time, but overall, it was such a waste of time. I love the small LianLI microATX case on my desk that doesn't weigh 80lbs and I love not having to screw with my desktop every week.


Share
June 17, 2014 8:29:35 AM

cirdecus said:
First, SLI works, but I wouldn't plan for SLI to start. I would use SLI as an upgrade avenue down the road when your single card can't play games at the resolution/framerate you want. It performs just fine, but if there are driver issues with new games and such you have to deal with that. One card is just easier.

Next, I would use Tom's "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" list for the most recent month. Simply choose your budget and buy the best single card solution you can get. Obviously the 780 and Titan cards are great, but I think the Radeon's are leading some of the popular categories right now.

Your Rampage board is great, but maybe overkill. I've bought a Rampage board for the last 4 generations of gaming and they are good, but if you're not doing some serious enthusiast overclocking, you're probably wasting money. A good ASUS Pro board will due just fine.

You can find a cheaper 3TB drive. Don't worry about Black vs Green. You won't be installing games/programs on it.

I would choose an aluminium case from Lian Li or Silverstone. Don't get a cheap steel/plastic case. It won't dissipate heat nearly as well and will weigh twice as much

Everything else looks good.

I will say this. My largest and most costly build was one exactly like the one you are buildling (with similar parts at the time). The i7 920 and the GTX280 cards were pretty much the best at the time along with the Rampage $450 board. I had 3x of the graphics cards in a 3 way SLI, a waterblock for each and then waterblocks for the CPU, voltage regulators, motherboard NB/SB as well. I bought a killer Swiftech pump and some large tubing in a Silverstone TJ case with a triple radiator and a dual radiator dedicated to the cards.

In the end, I wish i hadn't done it. After time, cleaning and flushing the fluid and replacing the tubes due to regular maintenance was a huge pain. There were always small leaks that seemed impossible to correct, even with silicon and the best and most expensive compression fittings. I also spent a ton of money on a x16 PCI-E Sata card and 8x SSD's to try and break 2GB/s Read/Write. All that got me was a benchmark screenshot, that's it.

Now i use a small system with two 680's (just added the second one to keep surround gaming at good framerates). I have a stock CPU cooler, a nice small Micro ATX case, 12GB of memory (not overclocked) and a simple CPU overclock to 4GHz and I couldn't be happier. Much less money, less worry and i can play any game at any setting i want.

I suggestion steering clear of the massive binge that I did. I had the money to burn at the time, but overall, it was such a waste of time. I love the small LianLI microATX case on my desk that doesn't weigh 80lbs and I love not having to screw with my desktop every week.




Wow, your thoughts are right in line with what I was thinking. Perhaps a single GPU on not such a robust motherboard would be a great place to start and benchmark from. I've done the expensive PC thing over the years (38 years old) one of my first rigs was a falcon northwest back in 1996 since then I've been doing DYI/BYO boxes but I'm definitely intimidated about messing with cooling. Now that I look at the price of a digitalstorm and I realize there's not alot of overhead in there when you see how much work goes into the tubing, etc. It's amazing where PC gaming is going with the steambox and other xbox-ish type designs coming out. Do you have your current build spec somewhere so I can take a look at it?
m
0
l
June 17, 2014 10:30:57 AM

I've modified my setup at home quite a bit to take care of some things my massive PC used to. For instance, I have a small ITX box running windows server and 24TB of storage for my household media.

My current system is:

Core i7 950 @ 4GHz
Two GTX 680's in SLI (bought the second one just recently to keep up with surround gaming)
Two Samsung 512GB 840 Pro's in RAID 0 for Games and Programs.
Bluray burner
1000w PSU
Lian Li PC-06B
An external ESATA 4TB drive for local backups and such.
12GB RAM
ASUS Rampage Gene MOBO (can't remember the exact model).
Stock air cooler on the CPU (stays cool even when overclocked)
Other than the GPU and drives, I've had the system for quite a while now. If I were to build a new system now though i would probably get this:

Core i7 4770k
GTX 780 Black
Some kind of Micro ATX board to leave the option of SLI open, maybe one of ASUS's Pro models, something a step down from the Rampage series.
1TB Samsung 840 Pro (I have the RAID for capacity, but the SATA bus will max with just one drive, so you get no speed improvement with RAID 0 really)
A good 800-1000PSU Silver or better.
I really nice Lian Li mATX case, something compact that will run cool
16GB of memory with some overhead for OCing, like 2133 or something.

Yeah its pretty amazing where things have gone. When i was drooling over those custom automobile quality paint jobs on the Falcon NW boxes and really wanting the best alienware had to offer, enthusiast PC builds were just becoming popular, so my first quality PC was one i built. I remember having to use a friends drill press to drill a circular hole in the top for a fan, since no cases came stock with an exhaust fan in the top lol. Then i had to buy switches from radioshack to control the fans.

I agree on the overhead. I'm amazed at how some of these manufacturers that use LCing can offer competitive pricing AND a warranty on them. It's pretty incredible. Steambox is going to be pretty neat too.

Most of my time recently has been building up my media center PC for my home theater and utilizing that server I mentioned to stream media. You can then use the xbox 360's to run live HD TV through your provider directly to every TV in the home. Using Mediabrowser 3 (an addon for WMC) you can access all media (music, Blurays, TV) from any PC and even iOS and Android devices.


m
0
l
!