Thoughts on $1500-$1600 gaming rig (not including GPU)

Kyyou

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Hello Tom's Hardware, I've decided to make a major upgrade from my old Intel Core Duo E8400 to this http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Nw9X3C What are your thoughts?


CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($413.98 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.79 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($299.85 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($232.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Kingston 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($324.99 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($137.27 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 580 3GB Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Antec P183 V3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($164.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($164.16 @ DirectCanada)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan ($16.99 @ NCIX)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan ($16.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1804.95

Can't decide on which RAM to get, any suggestions? is $90 worth it for a lower CAS and higher speed?
 
Solution
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5090/antec-p280-when-enthusiasts-are-engineers
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6102/fractal-design-define-r4-case-review-evolution-not-revolution
note the way temps are measured is different . If a room was at 20C[ about 70 F ] the P280 is cooling way better

The fractal design R4 is obviously inspired by the P280 , and some say its better .
I have not used one though so I cant comment .
I do have a P280 here and with the case fans on the low setting it is only audible in a very very quiet room . Cooling is still good , but it is not a purpose designed gaming case for very high powered builds . It can work that way but it will not cool quite as well as a purpose designed gaming case . It will cool well...

Rapajez

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Assuming this is for gaming:

In that pricerange, I'd save your money and stick with a i7-4790K, and a Z97 motherboard. You'd save several hundred on everything, and could put that toward a much more current GPU, such as the GTX 970 or 980. You'd also save on the DDR3 RAM, and save by dropping the PSU down to 650-750W.

That all depends of course on your intended use, specific games and applications, and your monitors native resolution. Could you provide that info?
 
Games are not using even 8 gig of RAM so 32 gig is wasteful
the limitations of a gaming rig are the graphics card so the socket 2011 processor is wasteful
An SSD is slower than a good M.2 hard drive
The p183 was a decent case but its old and cramped for a build like this . The P280 would be a better call

so with socket 1150 i7 , and 2 x8 gig of RAM and a Z97 board
you could also include a GTX 980 in that budget and have much better gaming
 

Rapajez

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Agree with all points above, except for the M.2 comment. If you're coming from an old SSD, or no SSD, the 840 EVO is going to be a huge leap in performance. It depends again on your exact usage of the PC, but I don't think the slight storage gain is worth jumping on the M.2 train yet. Just IMHO.
 


6 Gbits/s vs 10 Gbits/s = 60% performance increase
I'd want the extra speed if I was spending that5 much on a computer
 

KNARF XD

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Nov 28, 2013
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from 6 to 10 isnt an increase of 60 percent, it is a gain of 66.67% (theoretically)
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Yeah I agree, I'd go the 4790K route and invest that difference elsewhere. I wanted to upgrade my rig to X99 until I saw how much DDR4 is going for currently, and that is a major deal breaker if you ask me. There's also no reason to pair a $400 CPU with a $30 cooler, that is, no bueno. You also don't need the extra case fans.

This is what I would do:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($357.98 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($116.66 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($189.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($204.29 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($626.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($124.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1910.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-14 17:02 EST-0500
 

Rapajez

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(in response to the M2 drive)

Well, I'd argue:

A) That's the max speed of the interface, not what the drive is actually capable of.

B) That's assuming sequential read speeds, which may impact virus scan and backup speeds, but may not yield a real-world, every-day, gaming 60% performance increase.

C) It's a 220% cost increase, for that 60% theoretical increase (based on the M.2 Samsung's on Amazon).

D) You're already getting lighting fast 840 EVO SSD. Even if you got the full 66.6% storage speed increase, is going from a ~2 second load time to a ~1 second load time worth $220? Especially when you could be upgrading your GTX 580?

It depends on what your primary goals are for the PC I suppose, and how much disposable income you have to put toward this PC. I'd still argue for lot of other uses for that $$$ though. A mechanical keyboard, nicer monitor, gaming mouse...more games? All more noticeable than 66% storage boosts.
 


There are m.2 drives hitting their theoretical maximum interface speeds of 10 Gbits/sec
Just as there are conventional SATA SSD's that cant get near the theoretical 6 Gbits/s connection speed

Using a 120 Gig M.2 boot drive costs $134
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mzhpu128hcgm00000
A 128 gig Samsung 850 pro conventional SSD costs $109
though you could buy a cheaper SSD , and you could buy a cheaper M.2 drive as well

A cost increase of 23 % , and a speed increase of a minimum 66.66666666666666666666666666 [ I'm trying to be precise for you ] %

 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Yeah I agree on both counts here, plus on the proposed build the RAM sets don't even match. You need identical sets with identical speeds, having mixed sets would cause some serious system instability, I think.
 

Rapajez

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Nobody said anything about an 850 pro, which I agree is overpriced for most users. Now compared to the 840 EVO you're taking DOUBLE the price for that capacity. All for a boost you may not even notice. With games like Titan Fall and Star Citizen using 50 to 100GB you're going to want that bigger SSD.

Nobody is arguing that M2 isn't better, only that there are other ways to allocate the budget first. (Like a GTX 980!)


 

Kyyou

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Sep 11, 2014
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Thanks for your comment as well as everyone else! Sorry for getting back a little late! First off I posted both sets of RAM wondering which one to pick, I would only be going with 1 set of 16 GB. I made this build to keep me as future proof as possible, eventually purchasing a 4k monitor as well as a much better graphics card to go with it when prices for 4k monitors drop further. I was thinking about looking into the M.2 solutions for an SSD, but advice from a friend (the 2 seconds to 1 second bit) as well as never getting around to it prevented me from doing so.

The cheaper RAM in my build is ~$50 cheaper then the DDR3 posted above, is that a big difference considering the quad channel vs 2 channel?

I went with the $30 cooler on the advice from my friend, as well as high ratings on it, is air cooling not good enough then?


I looked into the P280, which specs are
Maximum Video Card Length 330mm
Dimensions 561mm x 231mm x 525mm

The P183 V3's specs are
Maximum Video Card Length 394mm
Dimensions 505mm x 205mm x 520mm

Not a big difference right?

I mainly use my machine simply for high end gaming as well as watching tv/movies. Am I seriously over budgeting for what I am building for?
 


http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te120kw

how is $102 half the price of a $134 M.2 drive?
 


The internal layout of the P183 with the secondary lower chamber restricts space a LOT compared to the P280 .
To get the maximum graphics card length in the 183 you have to remove a hard drive cage , but Im not sure there are many card available that need more than the P280's 330 mm anyway since even the dual GPU R9 295 x2 will fit easily in the P280

The P280 is probably the largest mid tower available , and the extra inch of width is all behind the motherboard , which makes cable management very simple



 

Kyyou

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Sep 11, 2014
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Ahh ok, I see, is the case also as quiet? Or are there better quieter cases? Any other comments on what I posted above?
 
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5090/antec-p280-when-enthusiasts-are-engineers
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6102/fractal-design-define-r4-case-review-evolution-not-revolution
note the way temps are measured is different . If a room was at 20C[ about 70 F ] the P280 is cooling way better

The fractal design R4 is obviously inspired by the P280 , and some say its better .
I have not used one though so I cant comment .
I do have a P280 here and with the case fans on the low setting it is only audible in a very very quiet room . Cooling is still good , but it is not a purpose designed gaming case for very high powered builds . It can work that way but it will not cool quite as well as a purpose designed gaming case . It will cool well enough though
 
Solution

Rapajez

Distinguished


I was comparing the 500GB models, $500 vs $240 on Amazon (US). Anyway, don't want to beat that aspect to death. :p

+1 the Fractal Design F4. The Antec is nice and quiet though, for what that's worth.
 

Rapajez

Distinguished
I'd also throw out the Corsair Carbide 500R, NZXT Phantom series, and the Cooler Master HAF 922 as some other solid alternatives. Cases are very subjective, but you want to see room for your GPU, good airflow, cable-routing options (rubber grommets to route things behind the motherboard), solid builds and reviews that don't mention "it arrived with a big dent". :)
 
Sell your 580 ($100). For $1800cad try -

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($358.89 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($184.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($89.99 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme II 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($120.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($418.95 @ Vuugo)
Case: Cooler Master HAF XM (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($103.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($19.95 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($104.94 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $1670.57
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Those are all solid choices, I'd also add the Phanteks Enthoo Pro and the Fractal Design Define R4 Blackout Edition.