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What would you consider the best non-workstation PC? Compare to mine?

Tags:
  • Intel i7
  • RAM
  • CPUs
  • GPUs
  • SSD
  • HD
  • Radeon
Last response: in Opinions and Experiences
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September 20, 2013 2:19:31 PM

Hi, I don't know if this is the right forum section so I'm sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place.

I am keeping an eye out for the Radeon HD 9970 which is assumed to outperform the Titan and 690.
Alright, let's begin the list:

CPU: $1050 Intel i7 4960x Six-Core OC ~5.3GHZ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I went with the i7 4960x because it honestly seems to be the best CPU on the market right now. It has 12 hyperthreads while the FX 9590 only has 8 Normal Threads. The FX 9590 seems to be outperformed by CPUs like the 4770k according to benchmarks as well, so the 4960x seems to be the best option here. I would assume to get the max performance that this would be overclocked to around 5GHZ.

As an added note, I believe that hyperthreading is amazing and that games are only just starting to make use of quad-core processors. Having a six-core is more than enough in my opinion.

GPU: $4000 4-Way SLI 4x EVGA Geforce GTX 690
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

For the GPU, I went with a 4-way SLI GTX 690.

"But wait, why not the 780 or Titan?".

While the 690 has higher power usage, it basically out performs any other card that has been made to date. It has amazing memory allocation and clock speeds, and 4GB of video ram is all you'll really need even for 3D Rendering.

RAM: $1500 G.SKILL Trident X Series 32GB (8X4GB) 3000MHZ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

For RAM, I went with the G.SKILL Trident X Series. This ram is top of the line, with the highest clock speed on ram this big to date. 32GB is PLENTY and it is all you will need for anything you plan to do non-workstation wise.

SSD: $908 2x 512GB Samsung 840 Pro - Read: 540MB/s, Write: 520MB/s
RR/RW: 97k IOPS/100k IOPS
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-SATA...

For the SSDs, I went with 2x 512GB Samsung 840 Pro.

The read/write speeds seemed amazing for the price (while still expensive, SSDs are 7-8 times as expensive per unit of storage to that of an HDD). I considered to go with the OCZ Vertex 4 vtx4-25, but the Samsung 840 Pro SSD outperforms it by a lot in benchmarks.



I have yet to find a suitable motherboard/pc case/cpu cooling, etc. The temperatures would be EXTREMELY high, but assuming you had a lot of money lying around, I am sure you could find suitable cooling.

I am looking forward to seeing your opinions on this build, and if you could find an even better one.

More about : workstation compare mine

a b à CPUs
September 20, 2013 3:01:24 PM

there is already a thread somewhere around here for the most expensive pc you can build which would top this pc.

honestly unless you have money to burn or intend to play the newest game at maximum resolution across multiple monitors its completely overkill.

$1000-2000 is all anyone really needs for a good gaming pc.
September 20, 2013 3:10:17 PM

ssddx said:
there is already a thread somewhere around here for the most expensive pc you can build which would top this pc.

honestly unless you have money to burn or intend to play the newest game at maximum resolution across multiple monitors its completely overkill.

$1000-2000 is all anyone really needs for a good gaming pc.


You might only need $1-2k for a good gaming pc. The type of PC I listed might be a bit overkill. But that is not the goal, I want to know the best of the best that is a non-workstation computer. I looked for other topics on this forum and all I saw was workstation parts, and things listed like a xeon processor.
a b à CPUs
September 20, 2013 4:21:17 PM

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/302251-31-expensive-g...

if you are going to choose the best of the best... go all out.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($949.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme EATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($416.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($334.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($334.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($712.87 @ Amazon)
Storage: OCZ R4 1.2TB PCI-E Solid State Disk ($7499.99 @ Mac Mall)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($999.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($999.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 900D ATX Full Tower Case ($299.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 1250W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($239.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG BH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($113.98 @ Outlet PC)
Optical Drive: LG BH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($113.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($182.27 @ TigerDirect)
Monitor: Dell U3011 60Hz 30.0" Monitor ($1029.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $19220.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-20 19:24 EDT-0400)

+custom watercooling solution $2000-4000+++ (to start... things can get expensive)
+unicomp customizer mechancial keyboard & razer mouse $150
+home theater receiver and sound system $1500+++ (to start... it can easily go over $100,000)
+studio headphones + mic $400+++ (to start... can get really expensive)

of course there are other alternatives such as using two revdrives, using a raid card with ssd drives, etcetera. i just picked one way of going about it.

also... until the gtx790 comes out i put the 690 in its place.
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