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i7-5930K quiet-ish gaming system, suggestions, improvements?

Tags:
  • Intel i7
  • Haswell
  • X99
  • suggestions
  • quiet
  • Z97
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
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October 12, 2014 6:05:27 PM

My current system died Saturday evening, just as I was expecting an quiet evening of gaming. So I expect to make the purchase this week. Usage is typically gaming and some personal programming.

I already have a 24 inch Dell Ultrasharp IPS-panel 1920x1200, and plan on replacing it with a high resolution 27-inch at a later date.

Here my current idea for a system:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($605.99 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 93.3 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Canada Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WIFI EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($344.99 @ Memory Express)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($259.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial M500 960GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($486.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($218.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($569.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($179.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($64.99 @ Canada Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (OEM) (64-bit) ($146.98 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $3058.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-12 20:48 EDT-0400

I'm not attached to any of the choices beyond the CPU, and realize that there are numerous things I could do to reduce the cost (e.g. replace the Crucial SSD, use a Z97 mb with i7-4790K) I am preferring performance over cost savings.

I do want VT-x and VT-d support for performance improvement in virtual machines, which is not found in all i7 chips. My present system has 12 GiB of RAM, so it would feel odd to reduce the RAM, even though I doubt I gain much benefit from 16 GiB vs. 8 GiB, and the cost difference is also modest. I also want AVX2.0, AES-NI, and RDRAND instructions support as well, which isn't too hard on Haswell or Haswell-EP processors.

While I have selected an unlocked CPU, an overclocking capable motherboard, and a factory overclocked video card, I don't have plans to do any overclocking myself. My preference tends to be reliable yet fast components for a fast but reliable system.

I have tried to select quiet components, with low RPM fans for forced-air cooling, but if anyone has constructive suggestions for improvements I would be interested in them.

Thanks.

More about : 5930k quiet ish gaming system suggestions improvements

October 12, 2014 11:14:21 PM

The RAM is quad channel potentially , so use 4 x4 gig

But alternately ditch the build entirely and build socket 1150
i7 4790k
Z97 mb
2 x8 gig of RAM
GTX 970 SLI
October 13, 2014 10:31:03 AM

Thanks for the point about the RAM.

Okay so more like this?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($358.95 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 4 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.84 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME9 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($279.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-2800 Memory ($499.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Intel 730 Series 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($399.99 @ NCIX)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($179.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($64.99 @ Canada Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($112.48 @ DirectCanada)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DSX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($54.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $2860.18


Which is cheaper, but does trade the large Crucial SSD for an Intel 730 480GB, and is based on the i7-4790k and Z97 motherboard rather than a Haswell-EP and X99 mb, and this one has dual nvidia 970 SLI rather than a single 980.


I have not used either the be quiet! or Scythe Mugen 4 cpu coolers before, so those are my best guess. I prefer to listen to in-game audio over fan noise.

The motherboard, ASRock Z97 Extreme9 I picked because it supports x16 / x16 SLI according to one review (and Expansion / Slots)

Is any potential conflicts I missed? As before my goal is a fast but reliable system, and a flexible budget of around $3000.
Related resources
October 13, 2014 10:43:50 AM

I would go with a Noctua D15, it is second to none in terms of cooling performance and quality. While you won't be overclocking, it will be able to operate at a low RPM and be very silent.

I would get a 2x8GB kit instead, Haswell uses dual-channel RAM, so save your DIMMs.

The EVGA G2 850 watt is rated just as high as the SeaSonic by JohnnyGuru, but it's a good bit less money. I would also consider a storage system, you don't want to bog down the SSD with random stuff, grab a few storage drives and run them in RAID5.

October 13, 2014 11:34:40 AM

If you go to a socket 1150 build the RAM can only be in dual channel , so in that scenario you do use 2 x 8 gig .
Its only socket 2011 that can run in quad channel .
Changed to a blue kit to match the mb

The Asrock mb has an M.2 slot for an SSD mounted directly to the mb . These can be much faster than a SATA SSD

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/6mgZqs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/6mgZqs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($358.95 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 4 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($101.55 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME9 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($279.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($166.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial M500 M.2 480GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($362.26 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($349.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($179.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($64.99 @ Canada Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($112.48 @ DirectCanada)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DSX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($54.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $2491.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-13 14:46 EDT-0400
October 14, 2014 10:59:37 AM

This is what I ended up ordering.

PCPartPicker part list
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($358.95 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME9 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($304.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($368.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Intel 730 Series 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($399.99 @ NCIX)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($961.91 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($961.91 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($64.99 @ Canada Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($112.48 @ DirectCanada)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DSX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($59.90 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $3944.06

Memory: The Haswell Refresh i7-4790K recommends a V_ram of 1.5 (+/- 5%) for an upper limit of 1.575 V, so I replaced the higher OC memory with slower clockrate that works at 1.5V. I also upgraded to 32GB for the hassle. Brands: I try to stick to tier 1 brands, Kingston, Crucial, Samsung, but have been impressed with Consair reviews. I've been disappointed by G.Skill in the past, but perhaps they have improved their memory quality.

I stayed with the Intel 730 SSD because it has better endurance (see the 2nd chart in AnandTech review) and in a desktop I won't notice the minor higher power consumption. The Cruical M500 would be an excellent alternative at a better price.

I don't know if the M500 M.2 has an PCIe controller, which can be faster than SATA-III (6Gbps), or a SATA controller. As a replacement system I didn't get into researching that.

After a disappointment when ordering the two EGA 970 for SLI, turns out all the nVidia Maxwell cards are scarce in Canada at the moment, I splurged for two Asus 980 in SLI. (In reality the models orders are the STIX line from Asus).

For a small savings based on a strong review I swapped the Seasonic X-Series for an EVGA Supernova G.2 850W supply. JonnyGuru is my best source for power supply reviews, use the site for PS purchase please.

I've swapped in a Noctua NH-D15 based on Transmaniacon's recommendation, and my positive past experiences with Noctua coolders and fans, being quiet yet perhaps a bit pricey, although it was a few cents less than the Scythe Mugen 4.

Oh, the biggest oddity is going with an ASRock motherboard. The last time I purchased an ASRock, it was because money was tight, and I didn't expect much, and wasn't overly impressed, since then I have heard bad things about them. I use to prefer Intel (boring but reliable) and Asus (premium but at a premium price), but Intel doesn't make motherboards for the most part any more, and Asus still commands a top price, their quality and/or reliability appears to be suffering (IMHO). So until now I've been using Gigabyte as a nice, but solid motherboard manufacturer.

!