Building my first: High end gaming PC 4k

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G

geese

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Jul 6, 2012
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Hey guys,

I'm trying to build my first PC. Budget will be upto $2500. Ideally I'd like a top notch gaming PC as I play alot of intense games at high settings, 4k would also be nice. Something that could future proof me. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Jul 27, 2011
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There really isn't such a thing as being completely future proof. And there's no benchmark that says that there's any noticable gains in performance using the i7-4790K vs. the i7-5820K. Plus the high cost of DDR4 isn't worth it if you ask me.

Try something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($317.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14CS_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($138.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.98 @ Directron)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($549.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($549.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($188.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Directron)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2373.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-02 16:44 EST-0500
 
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G

geese

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Jul 6, 2012
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Would $500 more allow me to do that?
 
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G

geese

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Jul 6, 2012
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By future proof I meant something like being able to upgrade CPU/GPU add more ram and hardrives etc for at least 3-5 years or so.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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I have a similar variant of that motherboard and it has plenty of SATA ports for hard drives and it also has multiple PCI-e x16 lanes so upgrading the GPU won't be a problem. The Enthoo Pro will allow for plenty of drive expansion and the EVGA P2 power supply is a top of the line model. Anything more than this is pretty much overkill.
 
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G

geese

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Jul 6, 2012
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Lets say I wanted max settings on 1080p and not 4k, would they only change in that build be that I minus 1 video card? Also on the other hand if I wanted to go all out max 4k settings is there anything else you would recommend adding or chagning (if cost isn't a issue)?
 
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G

geese

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I was also considering that as an option since I have an old laptop right now so I'm not totally in a rush. But it looks like skylake is going to be end of 2015 early 2016 so that might be too long of a wait for me.

 
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G

geese

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Jul 6, 2012
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I'm a bit of a noob here but whats gm210/bermuda?
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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Jan 4, 2012
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they are chip code names for this generations flagship silicon by nvidia and amd. the next generation is at least 2 years away.
 
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-Lone-

-Lone-

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Nov 5, 2014
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I was thinking more of $2,500 more, to the intense and high levels anyways.
 
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-Lone-

-Lone-

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Well, never mind, forgot I had a saved cheap 4k build, you could use this for now if you want and get 2 more GPUs later. You can change the fans if you want, that case should be able to fit 4 GPUs and that mobo. This build is for current use only with the ability to only upgrading the GPUs, everything else will still be fine without upgrading. That's assuming you don't need a display too or peripherals.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BnDt4D
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Oh yeah that build will handle 1080P without breaking a sweat.

we are too close to the next gen pc components. wait for skylake and gm210/bermuda. next gen monitors will be out by then too.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. New CPUs are generally released in July / August and typically don't offer much over the previous generation in terms of performance. Since the i5-2500K there really has only been a +-10% increase in performance from one generation to the next. New GPUs - at least from NVIDIA are released in late September. AMD didn't release any new GPUs last year other than rebranding the Radeon 78XX / 79XX as the R9 series, but I'm not sure what the next generation of Radeons will bring.

Ex: (Intel Processors) Sandy-Bridge < Haswell < Broadwell < Skylake (or.. that's how I remember it... Of course, there's older stuff, but I'm not sure of the names.)
Click to expand...

From what I've heard Broadwell is going to be a mobile only platform where Skylake will be the next generation of desktop processors. Of course there will also be high performance models in between.

And it actually goes like this:

Nehalem (X58) > Sandy Bridge (Z68) > Sandy Bridge-E (X79) > Ivy Bridge (Z77) > Haswell (Z87) > Haswell-E (X99) > Devil's Canyon (Z97) > Skylake (???)
 
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G

geese

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Jul 6, 2012
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Ok guys so I finally saved up enough money to start ordering all the parts and start my first build. A few questions I had though. The first being doing I need to get thermal paste for the CPU? Second: Do I really need a aftermarket cpu cooler? Third: I was thinking of maybe just getting one video card for now and maybe use the extra cash to upgrade the cpu a bit, would that be a good idea? fourth: I'm always concerned about loud fan noises as in the past I've had store bought PC's and the fans get quite loud. How would the noise on this build be like?
 
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-Lone-

-Lone-

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Nov 5, 2014
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I change my mind about what I said before since things changed, you should go with something like this for now, then get 2x 390x when they come out. The H100i should already have it's own thermal paste pad on it, so you shouldn't need that, the CPU is already best of z97 build. So I would use this for now, then sell the 295x2 later, use the money you get from that and the $500 left over from this build to get the 390x's. Then your 4k build is done, you shouldn't need more GPUs.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wGH9P6
 
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Bossyfins

Bossyfins

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Dec 27, 2014
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Bloom field was one of them I bet...
 
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Bossyfins

Bossyfins

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Dec 27, 2014
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I assume you went x99 for the PCI lanes?

I agree if he added like 3 gpus, and with the 5930k. But the Board is to expensive.. X99-Deluxe or Pro would be nice...
 
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-Lone-

-Lone-

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Was that question for me or for the OP?
 
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-Lone-

-Lone-

Admirable
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Oh, haha. I went with x99 just for silly reasons really. I was originally going to get the Asus Crosshair V Formula Z and stick with AMD for all parts and I wanted a red and black scheme. But I keep hearing how Intel is better so I guess I decided to give them a try and wanted a new mobo for red and black scheme (This is back when I don't know much about computers), I was just looking at Intel CPUs on their site and just decided to start off on their top tier CPU like I did with the GPU (295x2 is my first AMD GPU ever) and that led to the Asus Rampage V Extreme because it was red and black, then led me to G.Skill DDR4 RAMs, and so on. So to sum it all up, I just went with how they "sound" and look than having what was necessary, I actually didn't even know much about PCI-E lanes back then, so that was just a coincidence for more lanes. What I mean by sound is x99 sounds more complete than z97 to 100 I guess, like I said, all silly reasons that I came upon a x99 build, lol.
 
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G

geese

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Jul 6, 2012
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I'm not a big fan of buying something then selling it for a better card later. If you think the next gen cards will really be a improvement for 4k gaming then I might just consider holding off on my build until they release or I may just use 1 gtx 980 for 1080p max gaming until better 4k cards come out. Then again skylake cpu's in the second half are tempting and apparently I'll need a new motherboard in future if I want to upgrade again since they will use a different soc. Decisions, decisions....
 
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-Lone-

-Lone-

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I do believe the new 390x will be enough for 4k. I'm playing all of my games, newest and older games with a single 290x. If the 390x really is about 50% better than the 290x, then it will definitely be enough with just one, but I'm starting with 2 just in case, if I don't need the 2nd one, i'll just keep CFX off like usual. Plus the new VRAM feature will definitely help with higher resolutions. Also it will use less power, so yes, I do believe the new 390x is worth to wait for.
 
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