Blue Moon Upgrade

[drudge]

I have an opportunity to build one of the best gaming rigs I've ever had the pleasure of owning. Typically, the only time I've been able to buy new components is when the old one failed, and replacements have always been purchased while on a tight budget.

I've only owned four motherboards in the last 15 years.. the most recent one is from 2011. It may be another 3-5 years until I can really look at upgrading any major components.. (specifically, the GPU or mb+cpu+ram combo).

Things I should mention
according to the forum guidelines
and because it's just good manners.

• My budget is $1750 to $2250. Mostly aiming for a new tower -- I don't need a monitor, but I'd love to finally make the jump to 144Hz.
• My primary use for the system is gaming. Currently: Battlefront, Fallout 4, and Wowcraft.
• I'd like the system to still be viable for games that come out in the next 3-4 years.. (even if it means using Medium/Low settings).
• I don't live-stream, encode video, or do any rendering.
• I am rather interested in the potential for SteamVR in the near future, so I'd like it to be powerful enough to meet the HTC Vive's current needs.. and I'm hearing that Radeon R9s have the best potential (currently).
• My current rig is destined to be turned into an HTPC, so I'm not re-using any parts.
• I already have peripherals and a decent monitor (1920x1080 @ 60Hz).
• I can use my free "you bought Vista and we're so very sorry" Win7 key to get a free Win10 upgrade, so OS is not an issue.
• I favor Amazon for my ordering because most places don't actually offer free shipping to my location.
• Newegg charges me $20 shipping for the first item, and $5-10 for each additional item.
• If you have a considerably cheaper price at the hardware site you use and love, please check with US ZIP Code 99669 to verify shipping costs, or if they'll even send it my way -- we have UPS, FedEx, and US Postal Service.. but some places simply will not ship to my state.
• I don't want to go with an unknown brand just because they're cheaper.

This is my second wave of picks, using suggestions from the first few responses:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($394.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($79.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($329.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390X 8GB Tri-X OC Video Card ($408.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec P100 ATX Mid Tower Case ($92.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: BenQ XL2430T 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($378.01 @ Amazon)
Total: $2059.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-01 08:12 EST-0500

Thank you~

[mrgreenthump]

Failures.. CPU cooler pump probably(if you have a high uptime) and maybe the 970 if you OC a lot.

Performance issues, none really, though if you want to go for the long haul, we should be getting new generation GPUs next summer and AMD will launch new CPU next year around the same time. The GPU leap should be pretty sizable as it should make 4k with a single card a thing.

What comes to M.2, it's pretty decent tech.. but it's probably going to be phased out by u.2 in the near future. There shouldn't be any problems with the M.2 cards though.. at least if you run only one.

[drudge]

Failures.. CPU cooler pump probably(if you have a high uptime) and maybe the 970 if you OC a lot.

I've always left my PCs running 24/7, but with near-instant boot times (and moving all media server stuff to an HTPC) I don't think I will anymore -- I expect the PC to be on (and nearby) for 4-6 hours on Weekdays, and 10-15 hours on Weekends. No definite plans to OC the GPU, especially with the Mid- and High-end choices.

Performance issues, none really, though if you want to go for the long haul, we should be getting new generation GPUs next summer and AMD will launch new CPU next year around the same time. The GPU leap should be pretty sizable as it should make 4k with a single card a thing.

By the time summer comes around, there's a strong chance that I would have spent the money for this build on booze and steaks.

What comes to M.2, it's pretty decent tech.. but it's probably going to be phased out by u.2 in the near future. There shouldn't be any problems with the M.2 cards though.. at least if you run only one.

The only issues I've read so far about doing M.2 RAID is configuring the BIOS and possibly needing the driver on a USB stick (or slipstreaming it into the Windows image).

[Nellah]

Air cooling may not be "fun" but I've never seen the benefits of a closed-loop liquid cooler. Yes, you get lower temperatures and the increased power draw of the pump can be balanced somewhat by the reduced leakage currents from low CPU temperatures, but there are also more points of failure on a CLC. You have the fan (low risk), pump (moderate risk), and the tubes themselves (very low risk, but catastrophic if something bad did happen.) Air coolers are only slightly less effective, much cheaper, and if the fan fails it's a two minute job to put a new one on. I've never spent more than $30 on a CPU cooler and I build computers for everyone I know.

Regarding your memory choices, none of the motherboards listed are quad-channel. Four slots, yes, but only two RAM channels, so to max out RAM performance you only need two sticks. Granted, 16GB sticks are still pretty pricey so if you're getting a 32GB config four 8GB sticks will work fine for that, but even single-channel RAM only sees real-world performance losses in the tenths of a percent range.

If you're looking to get the most life out of your video card, I'd recommend the R9 Fury series of cards; Sapphire has a dual-BIOS model coming out very soon that might boast Fury X unlockability. The GTX 980 Ti is technically the king of video cards right now, but it demands a $100 price premium over the Fury (and personally I loathe and despise NVIDIA as a company.) Anything past $200 is way overkill for 1080p right now, but the future will demand ever-higher graphics processing power. Alternatively, the 750 Ti isn't a complete slouch at 1080p (should still be able to push Medium/High details in most games) and AMD/NVIDIA will have GPUs coming out around Summer 2016.

[Remilia]

I personally would just go with an X99 platform, 5820k to be specific instead of Skylake if you were gunning for a high end CPU.
Cheaper by $45 and you can put that into a better MoBo if you wish, despite that most X99 tend to be better built. LGA2011-3 is also compatible with Broadwell-E if you so fancy to upgrade.
Haswell to Skylake is only about 4-5% IPC difference, Broadwell to Skylake is about 2% IPC difference. Difference with the 5820k though is that you get two extra cores / threads to play with if you ever so desire. With some games taking more advantage of multi-core and hyper threading it may not be a bad investment. It also doesn't have a thinner PCB and shit TIM if you're into that thing. Uses solder actually in between the IHS and Chip.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80648i75820k
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80662i76700k

I realize that you like Corsair as a company, but there are better stuff out there for the price.
PSU if you're still gunning for 750W for whatever reason, you'd rather go with something like this.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-p...hcp750platinum
It's essentially a server quality (not joking) Delta made PSU. It doesn't have weird capacitors at the end of the cables to suppress ripple so you don't have any worries of another failing component or accidentally bending / breaking the thing.
Otherwise if you have to stick with Corsair, an RMx would better suffice however it does have said capacitors at the end.

If you really have to get DDR4-3000, you'd rather get these, http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-...3000c15d16gvrb
The Dominator you're paying for more, is literally the LEDs, and you said you don't care about any windows and stuff, you're actually paying extra for nothing.
For a X99 / 2011-3 Haswell, honestly any RAM speed is fine, like these: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial...ct2k8g4dfd8213
If you're going for Skylake, then a sweet spot of 2666-2800MHz CL15 would be better fitted from a price/performance view.

CPU cooler I'm partial to Noctua NH-D15(S), but in general for liquid cooling from my PoV, you either go full ham custom or not at all.

Unless I'm missing something, the only part selection that really has noise in mind, and probably inadvertently, is the PSU. If you have any concern for noise then some of the stuff would need to be changed.

Monitor a 1920x1080 > 60Hz, I'd go with either Eizo FG2421 or BenQ XL2430T.

[Aberrict]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($32.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($156.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: A-Data XPG Z1 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($329.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($623.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: BenQ XL2430T 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($339.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1934.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-31 21:23 EST-0500

This is what I've put together after reading through your OP.

I dropped the i7 for the i5 since the extra cores won't benefit you and the i5-6600K can hit 4.5GHz on air. Don't be afraid of rising the voltage. Speaking of air, I dropped the liquid cooling too. I'm in agreement with the prior posters. Air may not be as fun, but failure won't wreck the whole system. I was also confused about the desire to go with 16 or even 32GBs of RAM. Since games are only just pushing past 4GB now. I dropped it down to 8GB.

Now with those savings I went to the high end with the 950 Pro 512GB M.2, GTX 980ti, and 1080p/144Hz monitor. Which brings the build to your desired price point.

[drudge]

Air cooling may not be "fun" but I've never seen the benefits of a closed-loop liquid cooler.

I mostly like that the weight/stress that is put on the CPU socket is drastically lowered.. also, the way it looks (which is silly considering my dislike for case windows).

Regarding your memory choices, none of the motherboards listed are quad-channel.

It was something I considered, but didn't necessarily target for.. I mostly just wanted to fill the slots.

Alternatively, the 750 Ti isn't a complete slouch at 1080p (should still be able to push Medium/High details in most games) and AMD/NVIDIA will have GPUs coming out around Summer 2016.

Part of what I'm looking for here is SteamVR (HTC Vive) potential -- which is a GTX 970 at minimum, according to the info I was able to find. I'm currently using a 750 Ti, so delaying my GPU purchase is a potential option -- though my current card is destined for the HTPC.

- - - Updated - - -

I personally would just go with an X99 platform, 5820k to be specific instead of Skylake if you were gunning for a high end CPU.
Cheaper by $45 and you can put that into a better MoBo if you wish, despite that most X99 tend to be better built. LGA2011-3 is also compatible with Broadwell-E if you so fancy to upgrade.

My planning there was the expectation of Skylake/LGA1151 seeing newer/superior products than the older Socket/Architecture.

Otherwise if you have to stick with Corsair, an RMx would better suffice however it does have said capacitors at the end.

I'm not sure what capacitors you are speaking of.. it doesn't appear to have those? http://i.imgur.com/IPdVhFs.jpg

The Dominator you're paying for more, is literally the LEDs, and you said you don't care about any windows and stuff, you're actually paying extra for nothing.

Derp moment.

- - - Updated - - -

I dropped the i7 for the i5 since the extra cores won't benefit you and the i5-6600K can hit 4.5GHz on air. Don't be afraid of rising the voltage. Speaking of air, I dropped the liquid cooling too. I'm in agreement with the prior posters. Air may not be as fun, but failure won't wreck the whole system.

There's just something about the weight of the heatsink/fan combo that makes me want to reduce that stress on the motherboard.. I've considered going with a case that keeps the motherboard horizontal because of this.

I was also confused about the desire to go with 16 or even 32GBs of RAM. Since games are only just pushing past 4GB now. I dropped it down to 8GB.

I've been using 8GB, but getting 16 or even 32 is just gravy.

Now with those savings I went to the high end with the 950 Pro 512GB M.2, GTX 980ti, and 1080p/144Hz monitor. Which brings the build to your desired price point.

The inclusion of the monitor while keeping the price point is very, very tempting.

[Remilia]

My planning there was the expectation of Skylake/LGA1151 seeing newer/superior products than the older Socket/Architecture.

This is me speaking personally, but newer doesn't really always mean better especially when the newer one is a lot more expensive with not so much gain. When you're spending $420 for an i7 6700k for a marginal of 4-5% IPC increase at 4c/8t, or at $375 for a 6c/12t CPU. Of course for most purposes, those extra threads aren't useful outside of certain cases. For games it really depends on well, the game. Some games have some decent multi-thread scaling where as some doesn't. You're getting more overall performance with a 5820k than you are with a 6700k which is great for multi-tasking in general and some applications if you ever use, or the every so odd game that actually uses multiple cores well.

I'm not sure what capacitors you are speaking of.. it doesn't appear to have those? http://i.imgur.com/IPdVhFs.jpg

It's under the wrap which is why they're not all ribbon cables anymore.

In terms of VR, you're much better off using a 390x or Fury, as AMD's GCN have hardware better suited for VR which Nvidia doesn't, and considered a 'potentially catastrophic' for current Nvidia cards.

[drudge]

This is me speaking personally, but newer doesn't really always mean better especially when the newer one is a lot more expensive with not so much gain.

I guess I thought too highly of Intel's price points, then..

It's under the wrap which is why they're not all ribbon cables anymore.

Noted.

In terms of VR, you're much better off using a 390x or Fury, as AMD's GCN have hardware better suited for VR which Nvidia doesn't, and considered a 'potentially catastrophic' for current Nvidia cards.

Great to know.


I've updated my original post using the suggestions that have been made so far.

[Deleted]

You should eb able to fit in an AMD Fury or Fury X card in your opening budget, but that depends entirely on shipping to your Zipcode (I'm assuming it's off of continental NA for this).

I'd also consider the Intel 730 series 480GB SSD over the M.2 Samsung EVO, but that depends entirely on the shipping costs.

[drudge]

You should eb able to fit in an AMD Fury or Fury X card in your opening budget, but that depends entirely on shipping to your Zipcode (I'm assuming it's off of continental NA for this).

Still part of North America, just not part of the contiguous states... I'm in Alaska, to be specific.

I'd also consider the Intel 730 series 480GB SSD over the M.2 Samsung EVO, but that depends entirely on the shipping costs.

I can get free shipping on both of those through Amazon. The Samsung is $30 more, but I'm leaning strongly towards M.2 for storage.

[Alantor]

As Remilia said Antec High Current Pro/Platinium series are #1 right now but hard to find on amazon.com apparently. XFX PRO Black edition series and Seasonic M12II series are good options too.

[Speedlance]

6700 is not needed, I got one and it didn't give me any visible upgrade compared too my 3820.