4790k + 980 gaming rig for $2000

[Golbam]

Any improvement between the two is unrelated to DDR4 performance - I've only seen RAM write speeds increase, else they're pretty much the same.

The first one (i7-4970k) can't handle DDR4. It is the main improvement.

[Deleted]

Another option if you wish to consider, without getting another 980 later, i don't think its worth it. The 750W psu is there to give you enough headroom for cpu and 2 gpus to be overlocked.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 93.3 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($173.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($208.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($369.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($369.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case ($157.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1973.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 04:42 EDT-0400

[Tehterokkar]

The first one (i7-4970k) can't handle DDR4. It is the main improvement.

The day we need DDR4 ram for gaming is the day SSDs come in 2TBs like HDDs are atm and everyone is running 4k resolution as standard.

[Saithes]

The day we need DDR4 ram for gaming is the day SSDs come in 2TBs like HDDs are atm and everyone is running 4k resolution as standard.

The day we need DDR3... oh wait... DDR3 is standard now :P

[Cyanotical]

2. Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($187.99 @ Newegg)
Has about the best sound among all affordable motherboards. Sound is very important for me, so I am willing to overpay for this mobo.

nothing against your board choice, but if sound is that important you should get a discrete soundcard or an external DAC

- - - Updated - - -

Secondly, CPU's with the K are meant to be overclocked. If you won't overclock, don't buy it. And if you are going to overclock, get an i5 instead, save yourself $100. CPUs are almost never the bottleneck of a gaming rig, its almost always the hard drive (when loading level/zone/whatever) or GPU.

the 4790k comes pre-overclocked (in concept) and still has more L3 than the 4690k, both are DC making them better long term at high frequency than the standard haswell 4670k and 4770k

wow 'bottlenecks' on the cpu, but bottleneck is the wrong word

[BicycleMafioso]

The first one (i7-4970k) can't handle DDR4. It is the main improvement.

I know this. Look at any memory benchmarks between DDR3 and DDR4. Apart from write speed, it's not related to DDR4 being superior to DDR3.

http://www.sweclockers.com/image/dia...464c1a4f0ad370

http://www.sweclockers.com/image/dia...98bdfdbf839897

http://www.sweclockers.com/image/dia...349952fc9114dd

Basically, it's completely pointless to wait for DDR4 especially considering how prices are likely to stay the same.

[May90]

There's really no reason to go SLI 980s for 1080p gaming. A single 980 is designed for 1440p and up resolutions, so it basically demolishes 1080p all by itself. As was mentioned previously, if you wait for price drops in the future, you could save yourself a lot of money and not really lose any performance at 1080p, especially if you're going to overclock it.

I am not so sure. Let's take a look at some benchmarks at 1080p:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/N...980_SLI/9.html
We can see that in Crysis 3 (I do not play this game, but I just want to illustrate that there are such games) 980 SLI at 1080p gives about 88 FPS - and they only used 4xMSAA. Like I mentioned, I am an anti aliasing junkie, I just absolutely cannot play with anything below 8xMSAA+FXAA/SMAA, and on this rig I expect to be able to play most games with 8xSSAA. SSAA has a HUGE impact on performance, so in this case it would probably be something like 30 FPS. If I also enable 16xMSAA and enhanced bloom via SweetFX, the performance will drop to 20 FPS or something. Turning shadows off will improve it, of course, but still we look at 40-s at best, and I personally can't play FPS games below 60 FPS. And with just one 980 it will be like even 30% less.
There are always ways to utilize any video card at full at any resolution. For example, I recently played original KotoR (released in 2003) at only 40 FPS as I enabled all crazy kinds of anti-aliasing, and the game, even though so old, looked stunning.

If you aren't going for a heavy CPU overclock, I'd save money on the cooler and go with a decent air cooler, like Noctua NH-D14 or even the old standard CM Hyper 212 Evo. They're more than capable of keeping moderate overclocks cool. Water cooling is for pushing OCs as far as possible, not light-to-moderate OCs.

I've heard about this cooler. I am more inclined to buying an air cooler now after discussion with you guys, so I will take a look at this and other variants.

I suggest going for a more beefy PSU for the long term, 650W is cutting it close and it's kind of a bitch to replace later on. I suggest looking at Super Flower as a manufacturer. I know, it's a stupid name, but read up on them. Managed to get myself a 1000W 80+ plat from them last year for a very low price, very happy with it.

This is a good advice, thank you. I don't think I will ever need 1000W, but 750-800W is not going to cost much more than 650W while leaving a lot of room in case PSU fails later.

Finally, consider adding a classic HDD from the begining for storage, downloads, moving stuff around etc. The more you take care of your SSD, the better.

Thank you again, I didn't think about it, but I see how it might be relevant. Although, I believe, the SSD is going to last, at least, 3 years anyway, and by then SSDs will become so cheap that buying a 1TB one won't be too hard on the wallet. Still, 500GB HDD costs, what, $40 today, so I might consider buying it.

for cases take a look at lian-li if you want quality stuff and amazing air flow. hands down the best cases on the market although they can be a bit expensive but they are worth it.

I looked through them. I might have gotten a wrong impression, but aren't they more for office use? They don't look like they support that much air flow for gaming rigs.

I dont know if you play anything else than WoW. (Actually you MUST since your going for SLI 980). But the newest most graphically intense games easily take up 30GB each. BF4 not even fitting on a 64GB SSD..

Actually, I don't even play WoW. I always keep my PC clean and remove games I am not playing currently. The games that are always on my PC are Starcraft 2 (~15 GB) and Guild Wars 2 (~20 GB). Except for these 2 games, I have only a maximum of 3 single-player games at the same time, and I don't play any other multiplayer games. So, for games I never ever need more than 70-80 GB. Same with movies: those I have watched already, I remove, and I never add any more if I already have 2-3 movies I haven't watched yet. So 200 GB would be way over what I actually need, and even more so 256 GB. If I ever need more space, I always can buy another SSD or HDD, but I don't think that will be the case.

I recommend against a mechanical hard drive, they add noise!
Also, I don't honestly see an advantage in overspending on motherboard on the basis of sound when there are sound cards that are generally better.
Even if it ends up costing more, I would want to hear some strong convincing on the motherboard beyond "sound" for me to agree with such a decision.

Noise is not really an issue for me: I live in a basement so no one above can hear what's going on here, and I game with insulating headphones so I don't hear anything from around. It might distract a bit when I am studying, but I am used to all kinds of noise from my previous low budget PCs.

As for sound card... I thought about it and decided against it. I don't really have that kind of sound equipment to potentially hear the difference between high quality mobo sound and dedicated sound. Of course, I admit, I am very ignorant when it comes to audio card since I haven't owned one since 2003 or so - but, from what I've read, dedicated sound card will just waste space and energy while not making any real difference.

Then, again, I finally got a stable income and can afford buying an expensive hardware every now and then, so if I decide eventually that I do need a sound card, I will just go buy one.

Imo you should wait a little for the i7-5770k and DDR4. Go check benchmarks 5930k vs 4930k. DDR4 is a huge improvement.

The way I understand it, RAM doesn't make any difference whatsoever these days (unless its size is too small or it is too outdated, like DDR1) since CPU and GPU start bottlenecking games way before the RAM latency and speed starts making any difference. The i7-5770k itself might be faster than 4790k, but CPU is a bottleneck mainly in RTS and MMO games, and I play only Guild Wars 2 among MMOs (not that demanding game) and Starcraft 2 among RTS (again, 4790k is a hard overkill). Single player RPGs which I play the most shouldn't benefit from anything beyond 4790k at this point in time.

snip

OK, let me respectfully disagree with some of your points.

First of all, like I said before, there are always ways to push GPU to limits in nearly any game: there are in-game settings, there is NVidia Control panel with different anti-aliasings, there are all kinds of injectors and post-processing utilities like SweetFX, there are downsampling utilities - if you just max all of these, you probably won't get an acceptable framerate with quadruple 980 (assuming they all are used up to 100% which is, of course, impossible ) in Quake 3. Then there are often mods with better textures and models... In other words, there is no overkill for all cases, you can always create a situation in which your current configuration is not enough.

Next, I am going to overclock, I just won't close the dangerous threshold: that is, if my GPU is at 80 C at full load, I won't try to overclock it any more, and same with CPU. And I want to get i7 since I am going to do a lot of computer modeling in astrophysics and I will need a strong CPU for it. 4790k is just $300 which is, basically, only 25% of what I am willing to spend on GPUs in the end, so I don't think I need to save on it.

I share your concern about low wattage power supply, but isn't 900w too much? With one 980 the estimated wattage is below 400W, and for 980 SLI it is something in the range of 500-550W. I think 750W is a total overkill, isn't it?

Also, I want to add that I personally see a HUGE difference between 60 FPS and beyond. Even 60 FPS and 85 FPS are totally different, and my laptop has 120 Hz, so after gaming on its internal screen for 3 years and then switching to external 60 Hz monitor, at first I had headaches due to jerky motion. Currently I have a 60 Hz 50" TV as a primary monitor, but in a couple of years I am planning on buying a 120 Hz TV, and then I might need 120 FPS to fully use it.

Another option if you wish to consider, without getting another 980 later, i don't think its worth it. The 750W psu is there to give you enough headroom for cpu and 2 gpus to be overlocked.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 93.3 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($173.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($208.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($369.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($369.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case ($157.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1973.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 04:42 EDT-0400

This looks like a great rig, but I totally decided to go with 980 GTX. I will buy the second one only if I need it, but at least one 980 GTX should be there. If I have two 970, I will always wonder how much better performance I would have with double 980 GTX instead.

nothing against your board choice, but if sound is that important you should get a discrete soundcard or an external DAC

But then, to utilize THAT kind of sound, I will also probably need expensive headphones (I don't game with peripheral sound, only in headphones). Besides, there is an argument that the difference between audio cards and top motherboard sound is not that big, unless you have absolutely high end dynamics (which I definitely don't, not even close). I don't want to buy something that is questionably effective. Maybe I am wrong here - if so, I will research this later and maybe buy a dedicated audio card eventually. But not at this point, I think.

[Tehterokkar]

But then, to utilize THAT kind of sound, I will also probably need expensive headphones (I don't game with peripheral sound, only in headphones). Besides, there is an argument that the difference between audio cards and top motherboard sound is not that big, unless you have absolutely high end dynamics (which I definitely don't, not even close). I don't want to buy something that is questionably effective. Maybe I am wrong here - if so, I will research this later and maybe buy a dedicated audio card eventually. But not at this point, I think.

It's not about having high end headphones, it all depends on what Ohms the headphone needs to drive the sound at best quality.

Something like Audio Technica ATH-M50 only need 38 Ohms and are considered excellent Headphones. But for example I use Sennheiser PC350 SE which require 150 Ohms and I have Soundcard for them. The difference is noticeable if I try using my Motherboard's Soundcard compared to the dedicated one(SoundBlaster Z) from what I tested in Battlefield 4, which has pretty amazing sounds for testing purposes.

TL;DR(somewhat): Whether or not you need a Soundcard depends on the Ohms of your headphones/headset.

PS. Ohms aren't everything and shouldn't really be a "benchmark" for headphones, there are many great headphones that are at the both ends of the Ohm spectrum(under 50 and above 300) and there are also many bad ones.

[May90]

It's not about having high end headphones, it all depends on what Ohms the headphone needs to drive the sound at best quality.

Something like Audio Technica ATH-M50 only need 38 Ohms and are considered excellent Headphones. But for example I use Sennheiser PC350 SE which require 150 Ohms and I have Soundcard for them. The difference is noticeable if I try using my Motherboard's Soundcard compared to the dedicated one(SoundBlaster Z) from what I tested in Battlefield 4, which has pretty amazing sounds for testing purposes.

TL;DR(somewhat): Whether or not you need a Soundcard depends on the Ohms of your headphones/headset.

PS. Ohms aren't everything and shouldn't really be a "benchmark" for headphones, there are many great headphones that are at the both ends of the Ohm spectrum(under 50 and above 300) and there are also many bad ones.

I will honestly say that I am deeply ignorant when it comes to computer sound. I understand the intended impedance is important, however there should be some reason some headphones cost more than others, right? Mine were a little bit over $100 when I bought them in Jan 2013, and now they probably cost nothing. I might buy better headphones in the future (especially since these are starting to wear out), but it won't be very soon. When I decide to upgrade them, I might look into dedicated audio cards, but so far I get the impression that with my equipment I won't be able to tell any difference between a very good mobo sound and some X-Fi for $250.

---

I updated the list of components: I chose a 850W PSU instead of 650W (it is still Gold-Certified), changed cooler to the best air cooler according to benchmarks, added 1TB HDD for just $60 and picked a case which has been praised in the Internet a lot:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($336.74 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($187.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($196.97 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($569.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition ATX Full Tower Case ($215.87 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Cooler Master V850 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1943.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-04 03:38 EDT-0400

I am pretty confident in most parts now. I am still not sure about the case: this one is very effective, but I'm not sure there are none better for this price. Also, I have perhaps a silly concern: won't HDD slow down my SSD? The way I understand it, Windows constantly monitors all the drives and performs some work over them. Since HDD has much bigger delay, won't my SSD waste a lot of time waiting for HDD to perform its operations, or is it the thing of the past?

[Remilia]

If you -really- want a 850W~ PSU I'd get this.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasoni...ly-platinum860
Platinum and full modular by a very good manufacturer. Barely any more expensive than the coolermaster one and the same price if you disregard the rebate (granted there is a discount thingy for the SeaSonic one).
or
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-x850
Which is just cheaper and good.

That said, I'd go with http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasoni...upply-ssr750rm if you plan on SLIing, cheaper, gold, semi modular. A lot cheaper and still good.

[May90]

If you -really- want a 850W~ PSU I'd get this.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasoni...ly-platinum860
Platinum and full modular by a very good manufacturer. Barely any more expensive than the coolermaster one and the same price if you disregard the rebate (granted there is a discount thingy for the SeaSonic one).
or
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-x850
Which is just cheaper and good.

That said, I'd go with http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasoni...upply-ssr750rm if you plan on SLIing, cheaper, gold, semi modular. A lot cheaper and still good.

The 750W one is nice. I have to ask here since I am not a pro when it comes to PSU: are two PSU labeled both Gold or both Platinum generally equal in terms of quality? Or are there some hidden differences between different manufacturers and such?

[Remilia]

There can be differences between providers/manufacturers. That said you kind of just look for reviews of em.
SeaSonic PSUs / OEMs have been consistently high quality (even their low end) which is why I opt to just suggest their stuff instead of others even if it's potentially not a good money saver idea.

[BicycleMafioso]

(...)
As for sound card... I thought about it and decided against it. I don't really have that kind of sound equipment to potentially hear the difference between high quality mobo sound and dedicated sound. Of course, I admit, I am very ignorant when it comes to audio card since I haven't owned one since 2003 or so - but, from what I've read, dedicated sound card will just waste space and energy while not making any real difference.

Then, again, I finally got a stable income and can afford buying an expensive hardware every now and then, so if I decide eventually that I do need a sound card, I will just go buy one.
(...)

But then, to utilize THAT kind of sound, I will also probably need expensive headphones (I don't game with peripheral sound, only in headphones). Besides, there is an argument that the difference between audio cards and top motherboard sound is not that big, unless you have absolutely high end dynamics (which I definitely don't, not even close). I don't want to buy something that is questionably effective. Maybe I am wrong here - if so, I will research this later and maybe buy a dedicated audio card eventually. But not at this point, I think.

To be quite honest, if you want better sound, it might be more worth it for you to buy that other equipment than that expensive motherboard, then. And then supplement that with a sound card later on.
A sound card does provide a tangible different, but good sound equipment still has priority. Or you can do the other way around. But I would call the solution more flexible to get a sound card, whether or not you do it in reverse order. Until then, integrated sound isn't bad -- it's just not as good.

[Deleted]

This is the core of what I'd buy for a base unit:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($336.74 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool LUCIFER 81.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Red 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk X300S 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($146.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($569.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H630 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1636.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-04 04:17 EDT-0400

That leaves $350 for a high-quality DAC/Soundcard combo if sound is that important to you. The Deepcool Lucifer is an amazing piece of kit for cooling, equalling the absolutely insane NH-D series from Noctua in terms of single-fan air cooling; I changed the SSD for the Sandisk, although you might be better off with a single MX100 512GB from Crucial at ~$210. I changed to the NZXT H series case as those are typically the 'silent' cases form that company, and I've plumped for the RM750 for future SLI shenanigans.

[May90]

There can be differences between providers/manufacturers. That said you kind of just look for reviews of em.
SeaSonic PSUs / OEMs have been consistently high quality (even their low end) which is why I opt to just suggest their stuff instead of others even if it's potentially not a good money saver idea.

OK, thanks. I didn't even know that in PSUs anything mattered aside from wattage.

To be quite honest, if you want better sound, it might be more worth it for you to buy that other equipment than that expensive motherboard, then. And then supplement that with a sound card later on.
A sound card does provide a tangible different, but good sound equipment still has priority. Or you can do the other way around. But I would call the solution more flexible to get a sound card, whether or not you do it in reverse order. Until then, integrated sound isn't bad -- it's just not as good.

Well, first I want to assemble the PC itself, focusing on performance and longevity, and then later I will think more about the sound, I guess.

This is the core of what I'd buy for a base unit:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($336.74 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool LUCIFER 81.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Red 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk X300S 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($146.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($569.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H630 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1636.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-04 04:17 EDT-0400

That leaves $350 for a high-quality DAC/Soundcard combo if sound is that important to you. The Deepcool Lucifer is an amazing piece of kit for cooling, equalling the absolutely insane NH-D series from Noctua in terms of single-fan air cooling; I changed the SSD for the Sandisk, although you might be better off with a single MX100 512GB from Crucial at ~$210. I changed to the NZXT H series case as those are typically the 'silent' cases form that company, and I've plumped for the RM750 for future SLI shenanigans.

Actually, this got me thinking. The difference between a "normal" Z-97 mobo and the one with high quality sound is about $70. For $70 I could buy a decent sound card and, probably, have much better sound than internal one. Am I right?

[Tehterokkar]

Actually, this got me thinking. The difference between a "normal" Z-97 mobo and the one with high quality sound is about $70. For $70 I could buy a decent sound card and, probably, have much better sound than internal one. Am I right?

When going up in prices of Motherboards, the soundcard that is integrated into the Mobo rarely if ever changes to a higher quality. It's mostly offering more stability, more/better PCI-E lanes and more SATA 6GB connectors. On top of that they can be higher build quality overall like using transistors/etc. that are made from more durable material so it's less prone to failures.

[Spalding]

id say get a better psu. get a corsair ax1200i !

[Hotto Pantsu]

OK, thanks. I didn't even know that in PSUs anything mattered aside from wattage.

There can be huge difference. If only looking at wattage, you can find e.g. 600W psu for as low as 30$ and then another that costs 80$. Now that big of a difference in price certainly would make you think what's going on. Well the quality of the parts is what's going on. Cheaper one has, surprise surprise, cheaper and lower quality parts, which won't last long under load and are likely to blow up on your face sooner than later (and take rest of your parts with them to hell). There are plenty of sites though where you can find list of respected and reliable brand names to choose from. PSU is definitely the most important part in your rig when it comes quality as it can take rest of the rig with it when going haywire.

Ps. I use Seasonic.

[Tehterokkar]

id say get a better psu. get a corsair ax1200i !

Don't post stupid shit. 1200W PSU is more than enough for 3-way SLI or Tri-Fire even. OP is looking for a single GPU setup therefore a 750W is plenty.

[Festisio]

Don't post stupid shit. 1200W PSU is more than enough for 3-way SLI or Tri-Fire even. OP is looking for a single GPU setup therefore a 750W is plenty.

The OP stated he intended to add a second 980 in November.