$1000 Semi-Portable Oculus Machine

[wicked_chicken]

I realize I didn't answer these question initially. I've added them to assist in feedback. Thanks everyone.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

This build will be pushing a Oculus DK2 that I will be using in my doctoral research protocol. DK2 recommendations state that 75fps is a minimum.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

I'm hoping for approximately $1300.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Orlando, FL
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

This is a complete, from scratch build.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

I will not be reusing any parts.
6) Will you be overclocking?

No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

1920x1080. I will be running 2 monitors, minimum.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Next 4-8 weeks.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

SLI and SSD optimized. Onboard WIFI would be nice, but isn't a dealbreaker. UEFI is also nice.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

I will be using windows 7, 64bit.

I'm in the market for a portable or semi-portable machine that I'll be running an experiment on for my masters thesis using the Dk2. I'd like input as to the build to see if I can squeeze anything else out of my budget.

Coolmaster Elite 110 ($49.99)
Vantec Stealth 80mm x2 (11.99ea)
Asus Z97I-Plus LGA 1150 Z97 ($159)
MSI GTX 760 Gaming ITX ($269)
Intel Core i5-4570 3.2 ($199)
Seasonic M12II 620 Bronze ($90)
Intel 530 120Gb SSD ($110)
G.Skill 16bg DDR3 1600 ($140)

The primary thing I need is: Enough performance to push the DK2 and a secondary display smoothly, mobility, and quiet. I realize a laptop might be better, but I think performance wise this looks pretty good?

Thoughts and input well appreciated.

 

[Dangman]

Why is the pricing for some of the parts higher than the links? But i can definitely see that the PSU, SSD, and motherboard are not good choices for the money, whether at their Newegg pricing or the pricing you've provided.

 

[wicked_chicken]

Not sure how I pulled the wrong prices, but they should be fixed.

As I said, I'm open to suggestions. I'd like a modulate PSU as it's a small case, and I like intel's SSDs, but I don't have to have that brand. Mobo has WIFI, which would be nice onboard.

 

[Dangman]

It can be improved:

I recommend this higher quality and newer Seasonic PSU instead:
$90 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU

IMO, that Intel SSD doesn't really offer large enough advantages to justify its price considering that you can get a 250GB SSD for $25 more:
$135 - Samsung 840 Evo Series 250GB SSD

Passing on the motherboard for now.

 

[wicked_chicken]

Dangman, thank you for the PSU and SSD thoughts. Both of those are really useful!

Let me know your thoughts on the MB

 

[wicked_chicken]

Also, as I'm looking for something mobile, would I be better suited to go something like the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p with the GT 755M SLI?

 

[Dangman]

Let me know your thoughts on the MB

My main issue with that motherboard is that it's a recently released motherboard. As such, its reliability hasn't been established yet. If you want something with a bit of a established reliability at the cost of the newer stuff like M.2, AC wifi, and Sata Express, I'd go with the Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi or the AsRock Z87E-ITX.

Also, as I'm looking for something mobile, would I be better suited to go something like the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p with the GT 755M SLI?

Ehhh...if mobility is absoultely the priority, it's probably the better choice. If you're looking for bang for the buck, desktop.

 

[wicked_chicken]

Mobility isn't absulutely the priority, performance is. If I could find a laptop that would get me near the performance of my 680, I would probably jump at that, but I don't know enough about mobile GPU's to make that decision.

 

[Dangman]

Mobility isn't absulutely the priority, performance is. If I could find a laptop that would get me near the performance of my 680, I would probably jump at that, but I don't know enough about mobile GPU's to make that decision.

I'm pretty sure that a laptop with performance close to the 680 would well exceed your $1000 budget.

If performance is indeed a priority, you might want to look at the R9 280X instead: It actually outperforms the GTX 760 and costs about the same price:
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1130

 

[wicked_chicken]

Dangman, thanks for the feedback.

I've been doing lots of reading lately. To be honest, I'm really biased against AMD. I had so many issues with my HD 5970 and CCC that I don't really want to return to their drivers.

That being said, I've been looking at performance requirements, and I think I might bump the form factor up to a mATX to give me the option of SLI. This is a bit outside my original budget, but I think the performance tradeoff might be worth it. I realize this will run hot. I won't be overclocking anything.

MSI Z97M 1150 - $159.99

i5-4460 Quad-Core 3.2Ghz - $189.99

G.Skill DDR3, 8Gb - $83.99

Samsung 840 Evo 250Gb SSD - $139.99

SeaSonic X650 Gold - $129.99

EVGA GTX 760 in SLI - $259.99/ea - $500

Crammed into a Silverstone Sugo SG10B - $109.99

I realize I've sort of been all over the place. While mobility would be nice, the research this is being used for is a priority and I need as much performance as I can get out of the GPUs.

 

[Dangman]

The main problem with your mATX SLI plan, besides the obvious heat problem, is that we don't know for sure how well Oculus Rift works with SLI setups. Not to mention we don't know the VRAM requirements for Oculus Rift enabled games. So the 2GB of VRAM on that GTX 760 may not be enough.

Did you find any sort of information that actually shows that the problems I bring up with SLI and Occulus Rift aren't major issues.

The other problem, although a relatively minor one, is that the Seasonic X650 Gold isn't quite that great of a deal when the significantly higher and actually in-stock Seasonic SS-660XP2 costs only $15 more:
$145 - Seasonic SS-660XP2 660W Modular PSU

The final problem is CPU cooling: With that much GPU power, I would highly recommend investing into 3rd party HSF for the CPU.

 

[wicked_chicken]

Dangman,

You may have just saved me from a big mistake. Sli appears to have latency issues that would be a big concern for me. I think I'll have to stick to a single card setup, as the optimization towards fps at the cost of latency appears to disproportionately and negatively affect the OR at this time.

Vram may not be an issue for now, but maybe in the future. I'm doing research, not hardcore gaming, so I have some latitude in what visual settings settings I use, although I'd prefer to keep this on the high end.


I'll look at the PSU and a cooler.

What would you do if you were me?

 

[Dangman]

What would you do if you were me?

The problem is that my experience with AMD, despite one major issue on one time, has still been fairly decent to the point that I upgraded to a R9 280 3GB after four years with the HD 6850. As such, I really can't recommend GTX 760 SLI on a cost to performance basis.

Regardless of whether you go AMD or Nvidia, you should stick with a single card as much as possible for simplicity's sake. Adding in another variable/element (SLI or CFX) might affect your research. I would also hit up and scour the Oculus Developer Forums for any sort of information they can provide in regards to computer hardware

 

[wicked_chicken]

I'm going to check into that. I appreciate your time. I'll post back once I have a better idea.