Time to build a new gaming PC, ideally want to spend ~1750, but my cutoff is 2000. Let me know how this build is.

Ghastone · Jan 3, 2015

Hi all,

I'm new to this community but I'm wondering what you guys think of this build. I haven't built a PC in about 8 years and was hoping to get some advice. My budget is between 1500 and 2000. This build comes to a total of $1852.92. Let me know if there is anything that is totally off about it or just something you may change such as a core i7 for a core i5. I would like to stay as low in price as i can but 2000 is still my upper limit.

Thanks

Here is my build:

Tower:
Corsair Obsidian 750D Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139024

Graphics:
EVGA 04G-2983-KR GeForce GTX 980 Superclocked 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 ACX 2.0 PCI Express 3.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487079

power supply:
CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C11Q-32GXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231675

motherboard:
ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132125

cpu:
Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 Desktop Processor BX80646I54690K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117372

cpu fan:
ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003

ssd:
SAMSUNG 850 Pro Series MZ-7KE256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147360

i7Baby · Jan 3, 2015

Its all good stuff. I'd get a 1 or 2 tb HDD (eg WD Black or Seagate barracuda) as well though.

Looks like you're setting up for 980 SLI with that 850W PSU. I'd be inclined to point at an i7 4790k instead of the i5 to run that.

jimthenagual · Jan 3, 2015

For that kind of budget, I'd go something a little like this. It depends on what your monitor is though. If you're just on 1080p then this is overkill

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($317.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($150.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($130.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.85 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($339.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($339.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1830.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-03 03:11 EST-0500

Ghastone · Jan 3, 2015

How much of a performance increase will i get with 2 dual 970s over a 980? Also, I'd really like to stay with 32gb of ram as I use VMware with linux for programming. I will not need to go over 1920x1080, for now, but in the future I would like to do so, I have 2 1920x1080 displays as of now side by side.

KingSaif · Jan 3, 2015

980 has a much lower price/performance than the 970. A single 980 will probably get around 7-10 FPS more than a single 970, but you have to remember, you're paying $200 for a few more frames...certainly not worth it. Go with the 970 hands down, anyone will tell you (less power consumption, too!). Jim's build is probably the best combination of parts, so definitely go with that. See if you like the EVGA version of 970 tho, there are better ones imo such as the G1, MSI Twin Frozr, and ASUS Strix but that's just me. I'd also go with an Enthoo Pro over the Luxe.

Ghastone · Jan 3, 2015

I hear there is more hassle that comes with having 2 video cards though, is that correct, or it shouldn't be any harder?

KingSaif · Jan 3, 2015

Yea, single GPU setup is always the better option. Lower temps, better airflow, and some games don't support SLI setup from what I"ve heard. Also, getting a more powerful single card would be more "future proof" if u know what I mean. For instance, one could get a 760 and SLI it or one could get a 970 which is a very powerful card which would allow them to have the option to SLI in the future. As u can see, the second option is more "future proof" because once newer cards get released, it wouldn't be ideal to do 3 way SLI with 760 to keep up, but u could do 2 way SLI with 970. Idk if that makes sense lol, but if I was u I would go with one 970 for now and SLI it later in the future or sell it and get a better card that comes out (maybe 980 Ti? or AMD 3xx?)

i7Baby · Jan 3, 2015

See http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_970_sli_review,16.html - 2 x 970s = 1.5 980's

Ghastone · Jan 3, 2015

Along with fps, I play wow, I hear SLI can sometimes mess with wow, does anyone know of this? Im also assuming 1 970 could easily handle wow on ultra.

jimthenagual · Jan 3, 2015

I play wow regularly (I'm camping poundfist right now), and I have 970SLI. It's not needed for wow even at 1440p, but it doesn't affect my gameplay in any negative way.

i7Baby · Jan 3, 2015

SLI isn't officially supported for World of Warcraft (nor is Crossfire) but in most cases it should work fine, but as it's not supported you may run into issues using it (we can't guarantee anything when using an non supported configuration).

If you make sure the game is in Directx 11 mode that should help too, however if it doesn't, we can only recommend checking again in the future after updates to the game client and updates to your drivers.

Ghastone · Jan 3, 2015

I'm worried that my FPS will drop in raid. From what I hear, people will get 100-150 fps out in a city, but for some reason it drops to <50 fps in raid. Have you been experiencing that as well?

Ghastone · Jan 3, 2015

Sorry for all the questions btw, I like to be very thorough with such a big purchase

jimthenagual · Jan 3, 2015

I haven't looked at my fps during raids tbh. But I've never felt a stutter.

I wouldn't be surprised though if I was to drop below 50fps one some aoe fights. It'll happen I'm sure. Right now there are about 200 ppl camping poundfist with me and I'm getting about 30fps (1440p, ultra, windowed).

Let me shut off SLI and see what that does, brb.

Update: identical FPS with or without SLI enabled. I know it's not identical to a raid as I'm not in a boss fight right now, but I was curious

Ghastone · Jan 3, 2015

Thanks, This was all very helpful

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