3000 Budget Build Advice

[swanson813]

First off, I want to say a few things:

1) My budget is $3000 (+- 100) but that doesn't mean that I NEED to spend that much no matter what. This is just what my max budget allows if needed.

2) I mainly do video editing, encoding, web design, gaming and streaming of said games (though this doesn't mean I won't venture into other things as who knows what the future holds). With that said, I am VERY aware that this build (or any build for this price) is overkill for the current market of games. Also my current monitor (and HDTV that it may occasionally be on) is 1080p (1920x1080) and I am planning on OCing to 4.5Ghz minimum.

3) The major goal of this PC is longevity. I build a computer every ~5 years instead of constant, incremental upgrading of parts. My current one is running the end of its course as it cannot run the current gen. games on max anymore. So the only things I will be re-using is a blu-ray drive I bought last year and old corsair mechanical drives for RAID storage. This philosophy of spending may not be for everyone, but it is what has worked for me.

Here are the current parts that I have stopped arguing with myself about. Feel free to comment on any of them or make suggestions. That is why I am here.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gxl1

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($164.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Corsair Force Series GT 480GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($389.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card ($1210.59 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 600T White Graphite ATX Mid Tower Case ($148.15 @ Mac Connection)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($176.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $2090.70
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-04 12:39 EDT-0400)

The EVGA HydroCopper 690 was chosen due to the EVGA warranty and not voiding a warranty by putting my own block on it.

And here are the things that I am MAJORLY stuck between. x79 vs z77. 3770k vs 3930k:

The motherboard of choice for z77 is the Maximus V Formula for 2 reasons:

1) I am going to have a custom loop and the Thermo Fusion Solution on the board fits seems to quite a nice fit. Though this may just be more of an infatuation with it rather than actual performance.

2) I have an Astro A50 Gaming Headset that I current use on console that I will be aiming to use on the PC. The catch with this headset is you have to either have a sound card (usually recommended Recon3D or Xonar) OR a board that is compatible with an optical out (technically be compatible with Dolby Digital Live, but every board with an optical out that I have seen has been compatible).

I do not have a board of choice for x79.

Again all of these parts are up for debate. I am not an expert by any means so if there is anything that stands out as off, please let me know. And sorry for the long post but I tried to be thorough as I can't stand when people ask me for help then proceed to leave out details that could be important.

 

[TheBigTroll]

no i will chuck that build. its overkill

1: id get a single 670 instead. reason is that it is overkill already for 1080p gaming. if you want 2 from the get go, go ahead
2:i dont see the point of watercooling really unless you are doing the ultimate build
3:high speed memory does nothing to increase system performance


z77
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gxtY

x79
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gxvI

one is mostly for games and one is focussed around rendering and video editing

note: the 600t is not a case for watercooling. look at something like a silverstone tj11b

 

[swanson813]

I am very much aware that the build right now is currently overkill. But since my goal is longevity, its not a question of is it overkill now. It is clearly overkill currently. It's a question of is it overkill 3-4 years down the road.

I'd much rather spend the money on an entire system now than spending 1k every year and a half or so on upgrades.

Like I said in my first post, my current PC lasted a little more than 5 years. The goal is for this one to do the same or longer if possible. Now if you think that those builds can, I am more than willing to get a cheaper build.

 

[snowdweller]

What happened to a simple thanks for your input, i'll take it into consideration

 

[TheBigTroll]

either way, you can never futureproof. haswell will come out and easily beat our ivy bridge or sandy bridge e chips by a very least 10%. by another 3-5years, chips will be very least 25% faster so i dont see the point. computers nowadays advance way faster than it did 5 years ago since chip makers like intel only updated their stuff every 1.5-2.5 years. now its like 1 year or a little more before new stuff comes out

the z77 build will definitly last you 3 years given todays standards

 

[mastrom101]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gyL7

All you need, and then some. I opted for the 3930K to truly future-proof your system.
You don't need water cooling or 2133 MHz RAM. I picked out an amazing cooler for your CPU, and the memory is fast but not unnecessarily fast.

How does the build look to you?

 

[TheBigTroll]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gyL7

All you need, and then some. I opted for the 3930K to truly future-proof your system.
You don't need water cooling or 2133 MHz RAM. I picked out an amazing cooler for your CPU, and the memory is fast but not unnecessarily fast.

How does the build look to you?

1: higher speed memory does nothing to increase performance. could void your memory from intel as well
2:h100 is not the best cooler. its a jet plane at full load
3:no point of a 480gb SSD. sandforce loses performance
4:he didnt ask for a sound card. onboard stuff is good for most
5:he doesnt need 1000w
6: 600t is good but not my choice

 

[redeemer]

I would go with Mastrom101 advice, but I would drop that 600t for a Cosmos II

 

[bigcyco1]

1: higher speed memory does nothing to increase performance. could void your memory from intel as well
2:h100 is not the best cooler. its a jet plane at full load
3:no point of a 480gb SSD. sandforce loses performance
4:he didnt ask for a sound card. onboard stuff is good for most
5:he doesnt need 1000w
6: 600t is good but not my choice

+1 on the H-100 fisher price watercooling crap higher speed memory not worth the extra cost either crossfire as well as sli have their ups and downs.

 

[mastrom101]

1: higher speed memory does nothing to increase performance. could void your memory from intel as well
2:h100 is not the best cooler. its a jet plane at full load
3:no point of a 480gb SSD. sandforce loses performance
4:he didnt ask for a sound card. onboard stuff is good for most
5:he doesnt need 1000w
6: 600t is good but not my choice

I opted for slower memory than the OP did.

Here's my revision, you can drop a GPU if you feel it's way to overkill, but you had some room so I threw it in.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gyWT

 

[TheBigTroll]

1: crossfire (or SLI) doesnt scale too well after 2 cards. you would only see a 50-70% tops increase of performance. not to mention that the gigabyte cards will overheat given its open cooler design
2:bigcyco1 is going to yell at fisher price watercooling again
3:you need more than 256gb of storage
4cz power supplies arent that great. xfx, seasonic, corsair, and other seasonic, delta, and superflower rebrands are good
5:

 

[swanson813]

either way, you can never futureproof. haswell will come out and easily beat our ivy bridge or sandy bridge e chips by a very least 10%. by another 3-5years, chips will be very least 25% faster so i dont see the point. computers nowadays advance way faster than it did 5 years ago since chip makers like intel only updated their stuff every 1.5-2.5 years. now its like 1 year or a little more before new stuff comes out

the z77 build will definitly last you 3 years given todays standards

Great answer. Thanks, that is actually exactly what I was coming here looking for. If builds for longevity aren't worth it anymore and z77 builds can last 3 years, then that is good enough for me.

Edit: Also quick note to some of the above comments: I have storage drives already that I will re-use and I will just add a sound card as it is needed.

 

[bigcyco1]

For your PSU Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:BTW 690 that's not overkill.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us LOL!!



GeForce GTX 690 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 750 Watt power supply unit.
GeForce GTX 690 SLI - On your average system the cards require you to have a 950 Watt power supply unit as minimum.

If you are going to overclock the GPU or processor, then we do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina. Source: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guru3d.com%2Farticle%2Fgeforce-gtx-690-review%2F8&ei=BnxGUPrED5TlyAGOqoCwCQ&usg=AFQjCNHjp8-vxojQspLFbibrp0pXG6Gydw&sig2=SH51CLIbBH7bfWnm1h1Lzg&cad=rja