High? end gaming build/Need assistance with parts

Geertt2 · Oct 10, 2014

Approximate Purchase Date: By the end of the year

Budget Range: $3000-$5000 USD. However keep in mind that I am located in China where computer parts have an increased 20% in taxes which means a $500 video card in the US might cost $600 to $650 here.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: (e.g.: CPU, mobo, RAM) Everything including case

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I usually use Newegg as a reference for the price of parts however, I get my hardware in a physical store.

Location: Shanghai, China

Parts Preferences: I tend to prefer evga for my graphics card but this isn't set in stone.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (I want to make a tri-monitor setup this time)

Additional Comments: There isn't a lot of watercooling options here in Shanghai for GPU, however I do want my case and parts to be cooled sufficiently for any overclocking I might do in the future.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: It's been 5 years and I am still using a i5 760 with a 1 year old gtx 660.

Any suggestions on parts will be greatly appreciated.

Joseph DeGarmo · Oct 10, 2014

If you get your hardware in stores, then you should generally get at least an i7-4790k CPU, a closed-loop water cooling system, EVGA GTX 970 SLI, and 16 GB RAM. Also get the largest case you can find and throw a bunch of fans in there.

ksarex · Oct 10, 2014

I would get something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($589.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-GAMING 5 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($264.60 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($529.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung XP941 Series 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($255.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($335.66 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($335.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 760T Black ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2996.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-10 11:09 EDT-0400

Geertt2 · Oct 10, 2014

ksarex :

Is there a specific reason your selection for video cards is gtx 970? it's 1/2 the benchmarks of a single gtx 780. Except perhaps for pixel rate (http://www.hwcompare.com/18223/geforce-gtx-780-ti-vs-geforce-gtx-980/)

Also I read that i7 is typically not necessary for gaming unless there has been changes I do not know about?

Thanks for the quick responses

geofelt · Oct 10, 2014

It is a bit premature for detail planning.
Prices and products will change by the end of the year.

That said, your budget is plenty for what you want to do.

1. 4k gaming or triple monitor gaming requires serious graphics capability.
It is not well satisfied by any single gpu. Possibly, if we see a GTX980ti that might change.
Today, you are looking at a good solution via sli GTX970 or GTX980 cards.
I like EVGA, and particularly the reference blower versions. They are better in sli configurations where the top card can otherwise get starved for cooling air.

2. On the cpu, there is nothing better than the i7-4790K.
You might be tempted by haswell-E.
Few games can use more than 2-3 cores, so the 6 and 8 core parts are not that helpful to the gamer.
Also, the tdp limit keeps haswell-E from overclocking individual cores to very high limits compared to a quad.
A i704790K will run at 4.0/4.4 turbo at stock. A conservative oc might add 0.2 more with a fair tower type air cooler.
More, and you are looking at a vcore of over 1.30 which ic not good for 24/7 operation.

3. Look at Phanteks or noctua for good air coolers. buy one with two 140mm fans for quieter operation.

4. Look at a sli capable Z97 based motherboard. All are good, pick your favorite brand. ASUS MAXIMUX VII hero as an example.

5. Whatever you do, plan on a SSD for the "C" drive. 240gb is fine. SSD prices are still dropping. You may find that 500gb will hold all you want.

6. Buy a case you love. You will be looking at it for a long time.
Now is the time to research cases.
A case should have at least two 120mm or 140mm intake fans. That should give you sufficient airflow to cool your parts.
I like washable front intake filters which keeps the case free of dust.

ksarex · Oct 10, 2014

Well you are comparing raw numbers there and your comparison is between 980 and 780 ti, not 780. I chose 970 because it is just 10% worse than gtx 980 when it comes to fps but 40% cheaper.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_970_SLI/6.html

Yes i7 is not typically necessary for gaming but you have a huge budget, why not use the top of the top like 5930k and ddr4?

PS. Even if exaggerated with some choice, the final build is still at the bottom of your budget.

Joseph DeGarmo · Oct 10, 2014

The 5930k is ideal for maximum SLI performance since it has a full 40 lanes of PCI-E support. So for going SLI, that CPU is not a bad idea at all. Pair that up with two GTX 980 Classifieds and you'll have one behemoth of a gaming beast. Unless, of course, you want to wait for a GTX 990 dual-GPU to be released. Then it will justify getting a 4790k. You can use the rest of your budget to get some 4K UHD monitors.

Geertt2 · Oct 10, 2014

ksarex :

Yes the budget is decent, however there is always the price to value ratio, also china have a huge tax on computer parts. I don't mind spending a bit more for more performance ( one reason I asked why 970) but going overboard isn't what I am looking for either ( no Titan blacks).

ksarex · Oct 10, 2014

Your last post confused me a little bit... You point the importance of value/performance ratio and then say that you dont mind spending a bit more for more performance. At that level any performance boost will cost you a lot... anyway i made some changes to the build i posted before so that it will have a better price/performance ratio. Didnt remove XP941, it is the fastest consumer ssd. Still sticking with dual 970...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($589.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($233.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung XP941 Series 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($255.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($102.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($335.66 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($335.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($144.30 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2438.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-10 12:59 EDT-0400

Geertt2 · Oct 10, 2014

ksarex :

Sorry for the confusion. What I mean was I don't mind spending more cash on graphics cards/CPU's/Motherboards for example GTX 780 TI SLI's, but at the same time I don't not want to spend more cash for super niche elitist hardwares (example: GTX Titan Blacks).

Again, I am still confused, is dual gtx 970's better for gaming? or dual gtx 780/780 ti's? or is it because I want a tri-monitor setup and gtx 970 is better for multi monitor/4k'd?

Geertt2 · Oct 11, 2014

Is there a difference between Haswell-EX99 and Ivy Bridge- E?

More specifically, between the I7-5930K and the i7 4960X?

Joseph DeGarmo · Oct 12, 2014

Haswell-E is the successor to Ivy Bridge-E. The 4960X has 15 MB L3 cache and is clocked at 3.6 GHz. The 5930k is nearly identical, but for one-half the cost. The 5960X Haswell-E has eight cores. Ivy Bridge-E runs on DDR3 RAM and Haswell-E runs on DDR4 RAM.

Geertt2 · Oct 12, 2014

I appreciate the help ksarex for giving me a baseline guide. I was wondering, I build a system I would possibly buy at the end of the year, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The link is http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zZfnNG, however there seem to be an error on the bottom, I am not sure what it means.

ksarex · Oct 12, 2014

You cant have 2 of these ssds, You mobo wont be able to support it. You will have to remove the small one
and get a nice sata hdd with the money. Western digital Black series is really good.

Geertt2 · Oct 12, 2014

ksarex :

Is there a compatible motherboard for the two ssd's that I choose? After I quit using HDD's a few years back, I don't think I would be able to use HDD's ever again.

ksarex · Oct 13, 2014

It wont be clever to use the small ssd as an primary and the large for media... The 512gb model is pretty faster. If you dont wont mechanichal drives just get a sata ssd instead of the 128gb m2 ssd.

Geertt2 · Oct 13, 2014

Oh.. I didn't even realize that it uses M.2 . I was wondering why it was more expensive then the rest.

Here is an updated link http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JxdGdC

I swapped out the Cosmos II for the Cosmos SE because the II won't fit in my computer desk. Also I used M.2 Samsung 256 gb for primary and a sata SSD 1T for my media/games whatever. I hope this would work.

Any advice on the mobo's? I never used MSI and Im wondering if Asus or gigabyte gaming mobo's would be better.

High? end gaming build/Need assistance with parts

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