Processor, Motherboard, Memory And Graphics
Users of Intel’s high-end platform accustomed to previous-gen interfaces, from LGA 1366 through 2011, welcomed the surprise of a more modern upgrade in its LGA 2011-v3. In addition to a quad-channel DDR4 memory controller, the latest architecture sports up to eight cores and 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes. On the other hand, you don’t get all features on all models, and the added cores are harder to manage at high frequencies. Still, six or more slower cores are better than four super-fast cores, right?
Processor: Intel Core i7-5820K
CPU editor Chris Angelini was among the first to note that there is no such thing as a mid-model LGA 2011-v3 Core i7. There’s a half-priced -5930K, but it enables only six of the die’s eight cores. For around two-thirds of that price, you can get the six-core -5820K. My biggest concern is how much its lower clock rate affects lightly-threaded benchmarks.
Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i7-5820K (opens in new tab)
There is a small snag with the Core i7-5820K, though. It only enables 28 of its controller’s 40 PCIe lanes. That means no four-way SLI, and most motherboards run a second graphics card in x8 mode. While we still haven’t seen any evidence that PCIe 3.0 graphics needs more than eight lanes for optimal configuration, the mere thought of a compromised specification annoys a lot of high-end buyers.
We’ll leave the second and third graphics card option at the winner of this system's discretion.
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus
While some of MSI’s competitors refuse to degrade the uppermost graphics slot to eight lanes, MSI knows that this is the only way to make three-way SLI work natively with the Core i7-5820K. Better still, the company uses the four leftover lanes for a fourth slot, or for a PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD, at the user’s discretion. It's unfortunate that none of those benefits help our SATA-based single-card machine.
Read Customer Reviews of MSI's X99S SLI Plus (opens in new tab)
Price is the primary reason I chose the X99S SLI Plus, though it did receive recommendation by our sister site. I’m just pleased with the merits of a $200 board that has more PCIe flexibility than some of its $300 competitors.
Memory: Adata XPG DDR4-2400 CAS 16 Quad-Channel Kit
I’ve tested a lot of memory priced over $300, so I was pleased to find a couple of 16GB quad-channel kits at Newegg priced under $200. Of those, Adata’s XPG stood out for its DDR4-2400 data rate and CAS 16 timings.
Read Customer Reviews of Adata's XPG DDR4-2400 16GB Memory Kit (opens in new tab)
Newegg has since added another sub-$200 kit, but I’m happy with Adata’s kit. Read on to my overclocking section to see why!
Graphics: Gigabyte GTX 980 Windforce 3X OC
With the above parts dominating my budget, the fastest graphics card I could buy would also be the cheapest of all GeForce GTX 980s. Newegg had a few $550 models, and all of them had internally-vented coolers, which I don't care for. Gigabyte’s Windforce 3X cooler was largest of these, and this overclocked model comes with a small factory overclock.
Read Customer Reviews of Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 980 Windforce 3X OC (opens in new tab)
I’ve said in the past that my focus on CPU cooling prevents me from choosing a graphics card that blows hot air into the case, but this time I didn’t have any choice. GeForce GTX 980s with blower-style coolers were priced $600 or more, and I really didn’t want to step down to an inferior GPU to keep my CPU cool. As for the paucity of blower models, I still blame graphics reviewers who refuse to think “inside the box”. At least our own graphics editor put some thought into this.
