New Build (Revised)

[Wowslayer7]

Howdy all!

I'm back again for some additional input after my previous thread a month or so ago. I have reevaluated what I'm going for with my current budget, however have also set a more defined upgrade path for the future, and just want to see if these expectations are reasonable.

Here is what I'm looking for:

Budget: $1750-$2000

Resolution: 1080p60hz currently, 1440p144hz after future upgrades (will explain in more detail below).

Games / Settings Desired: All Blizzard titles, LoL, Smite, with ability for some other current gen/next gen games at high-ultra range settings (current PC barely allows current/last gen games, things like Bioshock 3 can barely be run at 1080p lowest settings at a playable frame rate, so I don't have any current gen games to give as a benchmark that I can think of off the top of my head.)

Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): Planning for 1080p 60fps Twitch streaming and Youtube video content creation/editing.

Country: US

Parts that can be reused: No.

Do you need an OS?: No, already have a Win 8 Pro license available.

Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? No.

Here is what I'm looking at (sorry can't post links yet):

PCPartPicker part list: /p/cYwGMp

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($324.99 SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.89 OutletPC)

Motherboard: Asus Z97-DELUXE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($265.99 SuperBiiz)

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($134.99 NCIX US)

Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($481.99 @ Best Buy)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Rosewill THOR V2 ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 Amazon)

Power Supply: SeaSonic 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($140.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $1732.82

A few notes on things I have chosen for perspective:

• I picked a higher end mobo as my personal experience has been very poor with the budget or mid level mobos of the past, and I actually foresee the ability to use some of the extra features it brings like additional USB ports and built in AC Wifi.

• The RAM I choose is relatively higher price, but appears to have one of the best latencies for DDR3 I've seen. I'm willing to pay the premium now (~20-30 dollar increase) so I'm not tempted to do so in the future, since the likelihood of any more performance being pushed out of DDR3 is pretty low with DDR4 on the horizon.

• I would really like to just be able to have a single large SSD for all of my storage, but can't really decide if I'm going overkill on that or not. If I decided to stick with this size, the goal would be for it to last at least a couple of years with games and locally storing youtube recordings before needing to buy additional storage, whether it be a HDD or another SSD. If it is going to end up being relatively too small if I start making regular HD video content (let's say 4hr/week average), would I be better off just dropping to a 512GB Pro for OS/games and grabbing a WD 4TB?

Finally, I already have an upgrade path mapped out that I would plan on fulfilling throughout the remainder of the year:

• I intentionally picked a Plat 760W PSU to cover the dramatic increase in wattage with the following upgrades.

• I went with air cooling currently as the price/perf vs AIO water solutions is pretty equal if not slightly cheaper, and I would intend to look at a custom loop once the GPU upgrades have happened.

• I would be dropping the 960 for the (hopefully) soon to be released 980 ti, ultimately getting 2 of them for SLI. The goal here would be for 1440p144hz 60fps+ performance (though still only 1080p60hz streaming/recording since that is still widely standard). Is this a reasonable expectation given the rumored/expected stats for the 980 ti?

• I would get additional storage (most likely HDD's) as needed.

• I would get another set of the same RAM to max out the mobo at 32GB for workstation level speed increases.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

[Lathais]

That motherboard is super expensive. The 1TB SSD is kinda overkill as well. For the RAM, that latency is not going to make any sort of noticeable difference. If you got a Motherboard without the on-board wireless, picked up a wireless card and dropped the SSD to a 512GB and got less expensive RAM you could probably build a system right now capable of 1440p@144 with your budget. If you are unwilling to make those compromises, the build you have is good.

[Wowslayer7]

With those adjustments which card did you have in mind to switch to? I didn't think a single 980 was capable of handling 1440p144hz while streaming 1080p 60fps, unless you are suggesting to still wait for the 980 ti release for a card, or possibly a titan or AMD counterpart?

[Deleted]

I seriously doupt those ram sticks will fit below the noctua cooler unless you remove the top fins. Slightly different options, keeping in mind those 980ti's you mentioned. Also when you build a high end machine you don't care to have wifi on it for obvious reasons.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($306.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 93.3 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($89.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC FORCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($187.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($187.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Noctis 450 ATX Mid Tower Case ($139.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($140.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1498.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-22 18:26 EDT-0400

[Saphyron]

This is what I would recommend.

Means you can save even more money for stuff further down the line.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($315.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($118.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($187.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($187.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Noctis 450 ATX Mid Tower Case ($139.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($140.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($27.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1472.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-22 18:41 EDT-0400

[Phex42]

Why not kill the second SSD and invest the money in a better graphics card like a GTX 970 4GB?
And then later buy a 2TB Caviar Black. Or do you need that many open world games on the ssd?

[chazus]

Skip the 1TB/dual SSD. You won't have more than 500gb of programs. Heck, you may not even clear 256gb.

For the same price, get 8TB of storage. (Or dont. If you don't need it, dont get it)

Do not get a Black drive, though.

There's also no need for a Platinum power supply, let alone 750w ones. An OC'd CPU and a 980ti will pull like 350w.

[Phex42]

Just out of curiosity - why no black drive?

[chazus]

It's more expensive, and noisy, and provides no practical benefit. If it were your OS drive, it would be useful, but its not, and an SSD is better in every way.

Storage drives are not accessed often enough to warrant the faster speed. You aren't going to notice the difference of 1-2 seconds loading a movie once every couple days.

[Wowslayer7]

Skip the 1TB/dual SSD. You won't have more than 500gb of programs. Heck, you may not even clear 256gb.

For the same price, get 8TB of storage. (Or dont. If you don't need it, dont get it)

Do not get a Black drive, though.

There's also no need for a Platinum power supply, let alone 750w ones. An OC'd CPU and a 980ti will pull like 350w.

I'm rethinking my storage strategy and will most likely just go with a single 500GB SSD, while buying HDD's as needed for storage, and use my current PC as a media storage server if the need arises between new HDD purchases.

As for the PSU, I was planning on 2 980ti's, and for the sake of argument let's say I end up with like 4 additional 1TB HDD's during the lifetime of the computer, along with other odds and ends along the way, what would you suggest would be a reasonable wattage that allows for that expansion? Roughly estimating on pcpartpicker's usage (I know it's not hard and fast, but it's a ballpark at least), that build with regular 980's would at least break the 500w mark, and with titan's (which the ti would theoretically be more similar to with the GM200 core) is close to 700w. I would imagine the ti will fall somewhere in between, but even so a 660w would probably be pushing my luck, which is why I settled on the 760w.

It's also entirely possible that my logic is completely flawed, in which case please advise otherwise.

[chazus]

2x 980ti's + 4790K OC'd literally cannot break like... 580w. A 660w would really be fine, because keep in mind... 580w is if both the CPU and BOTH 980ti's are running full bore, a situation that will never even happen outside of the few benchmarks you'll do to get a screenshot.

Granted, the wattage is entirely irrelevant. My point was more leaning towards its silly to get a Platinum PSU. Get a good 750w Bronze for half the price.

Do you really think you'll need more than 250gb of space for games? It seems better to spend that money on storage... Getting multiple 1TB drives is just poor thinking, especially if you're spending that kind of money now. I'm trying to sort out what is best for the money and for future thinking, as well. 4x HDD's stuffed in your system on top of the other stuff is going to generate some heat.