<$2000 Build help

Greetings friends. I'm researching a PC build for a family member, that I am going to build. I haven't followed the hardware scene too closely in the last 5 years as I only really delve in when I'm ready to build a new system or upgrade. I'd like some suggestions. Basically looking to futureproof it as much as possible so it can wreck some Doom 4 and future VR games. Don't feel like you have to go right up to the $2000, just whatever you think it's best. Feel free to include aftermarket air cooling, if neccessary (I know my old phenom II runs hot so i had to replace the stock HSF). But if it is a chip that runs cool, that's fine with stock.

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
Gaming @ 4k, VR at good framerates

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Under $2000 including taxes and shipping. Don't need a monitor or mouse/keyboard

3) Which country do you live in?
Massachusetts, United States

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
Mobo, PSU, nVidia Graphics card(s), RAM, SSD, Case (suggestions are cool, this is something more personal he might select based on the components)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
old SATA HDD for extra storage

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Currently 1920x1080, but will be upgrading to 4k monitor later on

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next few weeks

9) What features do you need in a motherboard?
USB 3.0, standard ATX size would be nice. room for two video cards if we will be going that route. Whatever it needs to futureproof it as much as possible.

10) Do you already have an OS?
Windows 7 64 bit. Possibly going Windows 10, haven't talked with him about that yet.

Thanks fine sirs.

Also if you don't feel like posting a full build, just some advice on what the best most futureproof chip and socket types are at the moment is cool and I can go from there on my own.

I don't think you can do a great 4k build for $2k...$2500-$3000 is probably more realistic.

My thinking is the setup to get for 4K is SLI 980 tis...you can't fit that into 2k unless you get a normal spinner hard drive and the cheapest of everything else.

You can maybe do an SLI 980 build, but I have SLI 970s at 2560x1600, I don't think I would personally find SLI 980s great at twice the pixels.

I wouldn't say 2500. Maybe 2200 for a little breathing room (ie one more stick of RAM, better case), but here's one for a bit over 2k:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($83.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($649.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($649.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($117.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2010.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-01 04:29 EDT-0400


Or for aftermarket coolers:
I can't do the markup because part of it is parametric and it doesn't properly add the SLI cards. =_=;
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bkQJdC
The reason I put that case down is because you don't have enough money to put the 980 Ti's on water. With aftermarket coolers, usually the top card gets pretty toasty in your usual computer case because the hot air from the bottom one just travels straight up. With the motherboard oriented like it is in that case, you can avoid that by putting that huge 200mm fan right above the GPU's and then putting two intakes right in front of them. I've personally used that case for a similar setup and it does work pretty well for keeping things cool, though I'm sure Dangman's gonna come in here and start thrashing it for the HDD slots or something any minute now. If you want to spend more, I've got a Core X9 and it similarly works well, but that's a hefty sum more.

Wait another month and ask for advice then. Intel's Skylake platform is coming out soon.

Honestly if you want a future proof socket you might look at the 2011 or 2011v3 sockets. I know performance wise they match up pretty closely to the 1150 socket initially, but the cool thing about these is that there is the trickle down effect (ebay) of older Xeon processors that are compatible with the socket. For example you can get an 8core 16 thread E5 2687w processor on the 2011 platform, or even a 10 core 20 thread processor on the 2011v3 platform. Assuming you need the cpu horsepower you are not going to find this in the consumer market for a while.

Also seeing as you are trying to go 4k you are really looking at at least 2 GPU's right now and even 2 980ti's is not really going to cover you at 4k60 with all of the eye candy cranked up for long. An additional benefit of the 2011 platform is more pci express lanes so that third card you might want is now able to run 16x.

QuiteSufficient said:

I don't think you can do a great 4k build for $2k...$2500-$3000 is probably more realistic.

Click to expand...

I game on a 4k HTPC that I spent about $1000 on. (Not including all the hard drive costs, the $120 case, the BD player, 360 controller or the 4k TV)

So add another ~$500 for a 4K monitor and you'll be able to do it with $1500. Therefore a $2k budget is MORE than plenty for a 4k gaming rig with descent/good FPS at a playable level.

Dangman said:

Wait another month and ask for advice then. Intel's Skylake platform is coming out soon.

Click to expand...

This is what I would suggest.

Much appreciated replies. I will be looking over it all to take it in.