Please help guide my build!

[Illerthanwho]

Hey all, first post! Been referrering tto this site, articles and forums alot as blackfriday and cybermonday approached and I'm looking to take advantage of some of the nice savings I've seen going around. First I will let you read this (as I read the guide on how to ask for advice)

Approximate Purchase Date: Not sure really....it could be now if I decide to pull the trigger based on the advice given, but anytime from [ 1 ] the next few days after some advice, and personal research ( I double check advice most of the time, sorry dont take it personal haha much love!) [ 2 ] The next possible time to get savings (I'm a sucker for things on sale, bargain, openbox etc and have had good experiences with it so far since I decide to ask 1 million questions, or if someone says I can return something open box I'll take their name incase they say something different if there is an issue with the product. [ 3 ] Till my HDD or Mobo craps out (refer below)



Budget Range: Dont really have one....But I dont require the top of the line parts just cause I can afford it....I'd rather spend the difference on my car

System Usage from Most to Least Important:

My primary use of my computer is using the internet, microsoft office, and some other basic things. But we know most any computer can do that most easily nowadays.

I'm going to list my system usage in terms of my hobbies and things I like to/would like to enable my pc to do (such as hooking up the basement cable to my computer to be sent to my HD tv (next to my desk) so I can basically control all my media, tv computer music speakers etc from my "media station" half tv stand/speakers half 10 foot desk lol

1) Gaming
Play CS:GO, Heroes of Newerth, Dota 2
Always wanted to play(But didnt due to not having PC specs that can run the game on high) Crysis (any and all), Metro, Splinter cell, Tom Clancy, COD, BF, and a few other high profile computer FPS games

2) Video Editing
I havent video edited in years, but I have been wanting to get back into it recently....I use to make videos of cars racing, track...and some other things lol, now I want to get back into it to document vacations with friends, and things like going to the park with my dog, to sports, to shooting music videos/interviews for some friends of mine.

I have a buddy who is already pretty good at video editing and the edits are cleaner than your average person trying to make vacation mixes for their family.

(I will most likely be using the Adobe Suite)

3) Photoediting

Ive been getting into photography as Ive been getting older, I'm still practicing on how to take shots, and then will be playing around with photoshop and lightroom in the next year or two

4) 2D+3D+Animation+Design
Basically graphics design/animation

I like to mess around on sketchbook and draw, but I am going to be getting into simple animations soon.


Are you buying a monitor: Yes / No

No not as of right now, Will be needing one monitor for detail (Photo/Video) not sure how big I want it yet etc


Parts to Upgrade:
Reusing
EVGA GTX 680 SC
NXZT Phantom 630 Case
Samsung 23" LCD
BenQ XL2420te

Need
CPU
Mobo (would like to invest in a mobo that will let me upgrade later, such as 8 ram slots with 64gb max, with OC capability) CPU OC, 4 SLI all at PCIe3.0x16 if possible, if not the more the merrier, USB 3.0 front and back, thunderbolt (if possible)

My reason for wanting the OC room for the RAM and SLIx16 bandwith is later down the road Id like to be able to keep using my MOBO and upgrade if/when need be - am I thinking right like this?

HDD (does it really matter besides the capacity?)

Used for music, pictures, movies etc


SSD (prob samsung evo or pro)

Thinking one for OS and programs, One for my current workstations files (video projects, photo, and art)

What sizes do you recommend for the OS and programs...I know this depends on what programs I have so lets say:

Windows 7 Prof.
Microsoft office 2013
CS:GO
STEAM
CS:Source
BF4
Metro
5-6 other big title games
Sketch book
Adobe Suites (light room photo shop and premierre)
Autocad 3D
Animator 3.0
And some head room for up to 6-10 more programs as these editors
Plus microsoft office 2013


RAM Chips (16gb to start with is ok I think for me) Preffer the highest without having to OC (I think 1600 is the new standard and they say you cant notice much difference with 1833 or w/e the right number is unless you start rendering videos I believe?




Do you need to buy OS: Yes, does Microsoft Pro let you expand ram to 64gb or is that only ultimate?


I prefer websites such as Amazon, Newegg.....but I'm looking for the best prices from and seller with a good reputation!

Location: Rockville Maryland

Parts Preferences:
CPU: I prefer a Intel System looking for 6/12 threads as for video rendering etc

Overclocking: Want something that will hold up fine as is now, but gives me the flexibility to overclock in the next couple years if I feel the need to (at that time I will upgrade cooling as well as well as any other neccessary precautionary measures)

SLI or Crossfire: Yes later when I buy another gtx680 prefer as many x16 bandwith PCIe3.0 slots as I can get

Your Monitor Resolution: Right now TrueHD BenQ XL2420te and a Samsung 23" its not HD but it was the highest resolution LCD had to offer before HD hit the market.

Additional Comments:
Id like a quiet computer while gaming (I can understand rendering etc the noise and fans picking up I'm ok with that)

But when I'm playing games I want my computer to atleast be cooling my computer at a stable rate/speed/dB output (I game late at night dont want to bother the people I live with)

Currently with my i7-920 the CPU cooler goes beserk every 10-20 minutes for 7-20 seconds to cool down the CPU


And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I've been getting the blue screen of death every two weeks to every other month....I assumed my HDD was going bad till I decided to buy a new case (Due to a GPU upgrade/new heat concerns) and saw a orange light on my MoBo....


Being as my PC is a first gen i7 anyway I figured it may be time for a upgrade, and my old pc was a Dell so my upgrades are limited (leading me to build my own pc something I always wanted to do)

Ideally Id like to utilize the i7-920 as a living room PC for watching movies/youtube etc in the living room.


Thanks guys hope I cover this pretty well!

Anything you need just ask!

Thanks in advance.

ILL3r

 

[Rammy]

There's a lot of stuff in there, I imagine a lot of people were a bit put off by the wall of text

Firstly, spending an awful lot of money on a computer in an attempt to make it last longer is potentially a false economy. 5 years life for any computer purpose is a pretty big ask. 3-4 is pretty reasonable, but by 5 you will probably find certain technologies have overtaken you. A good example of this might be DDR4 memory, which should start appearing next year and in mainstream systems by perhaps 2015.

CPU socket Your main starting point is whether or not you go down the LGA2011 route, or stick with the mainstream 1150 boards. I get that you want to get a 6/12 thread system, but I would have thought that a standard i7 will serve you perfectly well, and give you potentially greater access to upgrades and motherboards.

SLI One thing to mention is that you talk about using multiple GTX680s and want as many x16 PCIe slots as you can.
Both of these things have issues.
The GTX680 no longer represents good value for money, it's effectively been rebadged and tweaked as a GTX770. Buying any more GTX680s (especially more than one more) is a huge waste of money.
Also, as far as I know, no motherboard on the market can run 4 graphics cards (the maximum on the ATX form) at x16 speed. the best you can get is basically x8 across the board (which isn't limiting at all).
In addition, there is almost never a good reason to run more than two cards in SLI/Xfire. Economically it rarely makes sense, and you get what amounts to diminishing returns. Often 4 cards in SLI produce similar results to 3 cards in SLI.
Also, for a single 1080P monitor, one GTX680 is likely to be plenty.

Thunderbolt If you desperately want this, it will drastically cut the number of motherboards available.

Memory - Yeah 1600Mhz is effectively the new standard. It's usually no more expensive than 1333 and offers a good level of performance and compatibility with all systems. Depending on the programs you use (and the CPU), increasing this speed can offer you good returns, but it will be in the region of a few % here and there. Ultimately, it's down to cost, and if it costs a lot more to get faster ram then there might be better ways to spend your money, but if you can pick up a 1866 or 2133Mhz kit for a good price, then it could be worth it. Do check motherboard compatibility first though.

SSD - Can't go wrong with the Samsung Evo or Pro really. Go for a 120/128Gb for a boot drive and important programs. If you want to install the majority of games and programs to it then a 250/256Gb might be a worthwhile investment.

HDD - Not a lot to it. Depends on how much capacity you need and how important a good warranty is to you. Caviar Black drives the way to go for a 5 year warranty. For smaller or cheaper drives Caviar Blue/Seagate Barracuda are perfectly serviceable.


Hopefully that covers a few of the questions at least. I think your start point is definitely deciding if LGA2011 is definitely the way you want to go. From what you've said, I'm not sure it's worth it, and it's no more "futureproof" really (hate that term). Some stuff to think about at least.

 

[mikerockett]

I think Rammy has covered most of the points i'd make so i wont go any further into that. Only extra thing i'll cover is that you specified you wanted quiet. The main components that are going to affect this are the case and the GPU. As you have both of those to be reused there's not much that can be done there.

Something like the below should be a reasonable system for you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($174.44 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($81.53 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($82.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro - 64-bit - OEM (64-bit) ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1188.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-05 04:53 EST-0500)

 

[Rammy]

I think Rammy has covered most of the points i'd make so i wont go any further into that. Only extra thing i'll cover is that you specified you wanted quiet. The main components that are going to affect this are the case and the GPU. As you have both of those to be reused there's not much that can be done there.

Knew I'd forgotten something. Good catch.
Also, We are experts in a lot of things. Icons flying everywhere.

On topic, if silence is a really big deal then you can always mod your case out with silencing foam. It's not going to do your system temps many favours, and it's probably fiddly and not terribly cheap, but it'll do the job.
The NZXT Phantom cases are unlikely to be the quietest in the world whatever you do to them as they are pretty well ventilated for good airflow.

 

[Illerthanwho]

There's a lot of stuff in there, I imagine a lot of people were a bit put off by the wall of text

SLI One thing to mention is that you talk about using multiple GTX680s and want as many x16 PCIe slots as you can.
Both of these things have issues.
The GTX680 no longer represents good value for money, it's effectively been rebadged and tweaked as a GTX770. Buying any more GTX680s (especially more than one more) is a huge waste of money.
Also, as far as I know, no motherboard on the market can run 4 graphics cards (the maximum on the ATX form) at x16 speed. the best you can get is basically x8 across the board (which isn't limiting at all).
In addition, there is almost never a good reason to run more than two cards in SLI/Xfire. Economically it rarely makes sense, and you get what amounts to diminishing returns. Often 4 cards in SLI produce similar results to 3 cards in SLI.
Also, for a single 1080P monitor, one GTX680 is likely to be plenty.



Hopefully that covers a few of the questions at least. I think your start point is definitely deciding if LGA2011 is definitely the way you want to go. From what you've said, I'm not sure it's worth it, and it's no more "futureproof" really (hate that term). Some stuff to think about at least.

Hey Rammy and thank you for your fruitful response! And sorry for my lack of better terms with "future proofing" as I've seen people write before that they dont like that term haha. I'm still hung up on the CPU and will have to do some thinking and let it sink in, as well as some reading of my own. I just read a article saying "Haswell-E" (next eight core?) will be coming back to LGA2011 with a slightly modified socket connection.

So I still have some thinking to do. I just worry when it comes time to render videos/when I start to get better at editing I will have regret having not gone 6/12.

My main interest from what you have said is regarding the GTX680 being replaced and not a good sli option. What would you consider a good sli option?

I'd honestly like to play BF4, Crysis, and a few other higher end FPS games in ULTRA and sometimes 3D.

See as I just purchased the ASUS VG248QE monitor, I intend to get the most out of the 144hz response time and my GPU, for the FPS games mentioned.


I purchased my GTX 680 SC from a local electronics store called Microcenter.

It was $250 open box (no cd included) and I saw that it was a $500 or so video card and took the steal. Read a few quick reviews and customer reviews online and saw it generally was a well spoken about GPU.

Also Microcenter has this kick ass protection plan where if something goes wrong with your product in two years they will swap it out with a new one no questions asked or give you the full amount you paid for the GPU INCLUDING the amount of the protection plan and let you apply it to something else (which I will likely end up doing now)


So my new question I guess is....what graphics card will keep me happy? Playing Ultra and Smooth gaming/somewhat impressive FPS?
I would like to keep the SLI option open as well...(if possible)

For example, I was browsing around and BF3 or COD3 (cant remember) suggested a 3GB GPU so I cant imagine crysis and BF4 must be. (I will look up benchmarks etc)

But the main reason I want to run a SLI is I dont want to purchase both cards at the sametime. Id rather save.

Although now that I think about it I might as well save and get one big card huh?

Is there an advantage of running 2 cards vs 1 big one?

 

[Rammy]

Hey Rammy and thank you for your fruitful response! And sorry for my lack of better terms with "future proofing" as I've seen people write before that they dont like that term haha. I'm still hung up on the CPU and will have to do some thinking and let it sink in, as well as some reading of my own. I just read a article saying "Haswell-E" (next eight core?) will be coming back to LGA2011 with a slightly modified socket connection.

Don't worry about it. It's thrown around a lot by people who use it to mean entirely different things. When it's used correctly, there is some merit behind it. Often it's just used as a justification to spend more money for no reason.

There's a few reasons you might want to go for the LGA2011 format, but honestly I really can't see it being a good value investment for you. Socket 1150 is pretty new, and will have the next generation of i7s going into it. If you want upgrade potential, it is there, and pretty much all of the things you listed are barely going to exploit a standard i7, let alone a 6or8 core variant.

So I still have some thinking to do. I just worry when it comes time to render videos/when I start to get better at editing I will have regret having not gone 6/12.

Perhaps, but it's worth remembering at that point that you probably have an extra $200+ in your pocket.
If I found $200 I'd be happy (and confused, because I live in the UK, and finding US dollars in my pocket would be very strange)

My main interest from what you have said is regarding the GTX680 being replaced and not a good sli option. What would you consider a good sli option?
....
It was $250 open box (no cd included) and I saw that it was a $500 or so video card and took the steal. Read a few quick reviews and customer reviews online and saw it generally was a well spoken about GPU.

$250 for a GTX680, even today, is very good. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a GTX680, it's a very good card. The problem is that as a card to buy today, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense. If you want to add a second for SLI, and can get one at a good price (like your $250 card) then it's a pretty great solution.
If you were building an entirely new PC, it'd be a really poor choice as in general the GTX770 is better and cheaper.
You were implying buying multiple GTX680s, and as I mentioned above, that makes less and less sense, both in terms of the performance you can get, and the fact that it's not a good value card right now.

So, to be clear. If you can find a GTX680 at a good price, it's worth getting, but only because you already have one.

Is there an advantage of running 2 cards vs 1 big one?

Not really, it's mainy negatives (microstutter, power demands). The reason people use multiple graphics card setups is to stagger purchase (like yourself), to gain performance at the very top end, or to extract value from well priced mid-high level cards.

 

[Illerthanwho]

Hey Rammy and thank you for your fruitful response! And sorry for my lack of better terms with "future proofing" as I've seen people write before that they dont like that term haha. I'm still hung up on the CPU and will have to do some thinking and let it sink in, as well as some reading of my own. I just read a article saying "Haswell-E" (next eight core?) will be coming back to LGA2011 with a slightly modified socket connection.

Don't worry about it. It's thrown around a lot by people who use it to mean entirely different things. When it's used correctly, there is some merit behind it. Often it's just used as a justification to spend more money for no reason.

There's a few reasons you might want to go for the LGA2011 format, but honestly I really can't see it being a good value investment for you. Socket 1150 is pretty new, and will have the next generation of i7s going into it. If you want upgrade potential, it is there, and pretty much all of the things you listed are barely going to exploit a standard i7, let alone a 6or8 core variant.

So I still have some thinking to do. I just worry when it comes time to render videos/when I start to get better at editing I will have regret having not gone 6/12.

Perhaps, but it's worth remembering at that point that you probably have an extra $200+ in your pocket.
If I found $200 I'd be happy (and confused, because I live in the UK, and finding US dollars in my pocket would be very strange)

My main interest from what you have said is regarding the GTX680 being replaced and not a good sli option. What would you consider a good sli option?
....
It was $250 open box (no cd included) and I saw that it was a $500 or so video card and took the steal. Read a few quick reviews and customer reviews online and saw it generally was a well spoken about GPU.

$250 for a GTX680, even today, is very good. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a GTX680, it's a very good card. The problem is that as a card to buy today, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense. If you want to add a second for SLI, and can get one at a good price (like your $250 card) then it's a pretty great solution.
If you were building an entirely new PC, it'd be a really poor choice as in general the GTX770 is better and cheaper.
You were implying buying multiple GTX680s, and as I mentioned above, that makes less and less sense, both in terms of the performance you can get, and the fact that it's not a good value card right now.

So, to be clear. If you can find a GTX680 at a good price, it's worth getting, but only because you already have one.

Is there an advantage of running 2 cards vs 1 big one?

Not really, it's mainy negatives (microstutter, power demands). The reason people use multiple graphics card setups is to stagger purchase (like yourself), to gain performance at the very top end, or to extract value from well priced mid-high level cards.

Once again I'd like to thank you for all your help sir! And nice to know your from the UK (just recently discovered Tom's is based there) I've been to London many times! and got to stay in SoHo this time. Fun place, and people actually can carry a decent conversation with whits at a bar in England!

Anyway I think I'm coming around to buying a GTX Titan, as one of my local stores has a complete open box for $675. I've read alot although the Titan performs very well it is terrible what it comes to the value per dollar.


Being $700 now, how is the value per dollar? Almost positive I'm talking in tomorrow to buy it as I have it on hold lol.


Thanks for all the advice Rammy your the man! (or woman) whichever it is.

 

[Rammy]

If you already have a GTX680 then it's not like you really need to be upgrading, especially not to a Titan.
They are pretty decent performers, and $675 for a Titan is actually very good. Problem is, the GTX780Ti is faster, and cheaper, it just has less memory, which isn't really a concern.

I'd either try and find a discounted GTX680 or if you want to go for a single super power card, go for a GTX780Ti.

 

[RedJaron]

Rammy has given some good answers and Mike's part list is a great start.

I would say there is some merit in getting triple SLI for video rendering ( but not so much for gaming. ) I may be wrong, but I believe video software scales better with multiple cards than gaming does. If you get that second, or even third card, and Adobe can use them all, that should speed up your encoding dramatically.

 

[Illerthanwho]

Thank you for the sound advice folks! After some research I did find the 780ti is apparently the card to go with for gaming, and Titan was aimed (by nVidia, I dont know if the intention was from the beginning or recently after releasing the 780ti to be for niche enthusiasts having something a step down from quadro and I forget the name of the second line of nVidia cards)

But thank you for the sound advice gentleman you've helped me come to some conclusions and decisions!