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4K Gaming PC - Advice Request

A

AJ847.63

n00b
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
11
Hi Folks,

I'm looking at building a new desktop PC for 4K gaming and wanted to get some parts advice. Looking at spending around $4000 AUD

I was looking at something like the following:

CPU] 1 x Intel CORE i7 5820K
RAM 16gb 2400Mhz G.Skill Trident-X $213
Motherboard 1 x ASUS Maximus VII Hero $269
GPU 1 x Gigabyte GHZ edition (OR EVGA SUPER OC) GTX TITAN BLACK 6GB
SSD (FOR OS) 1 x Samsung 840 Pro 1TB SSD MZ-7PD256BW
HDD (storage) 1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB,7200RPM
ODD 1 x ASUS BluRay Writer SATA
Keyboard 1 x Logitech G19S Gaming Keyboard
Mouse 1 x EVGA TORQ X10 (tech buy)
OS 1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 – Professional – 64-bit – Eng
CPU Cooler 1 x Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H110 Liquid CPU Cooler
Case 1 x Corsair Obsidian 900D
Lighting1 x NZXT SLEEVE LED CABLE 100CM GREEN
PSU 1 x EVGA SuperNOVA G2 80Plus Gold Modular 1300W

Obviously open to part changes and suggestions. Only 2 things I will not change, AMD had too many problems with them so no AMD tech. ASUS has always been my motherboard manufacture love their ROG gear.

Also, HDMI 2.0 is that out yet and supported by the titan black? I know my TV has it, but I remember reading recently that GPUs are still locked to 30FPS for 4K because of port bandwidth issues.

Thanks!
 
Budget permitting I was also looking at getting the following networking combo:
ASUS PCE-AC68 Dual Band Wireless AC1900 $ 109
ASUS RT-AC87U AC2400 $329
Especially the router, anyone have some advice on it? Anything better out there?
Also for a NAS drive which would be a good choice? Looking to use one mainly for WIFI music streaming, I'm getting a Bose Soundtouch soon so it will be used with that.
 
The 5820 doesn't have as many PCIe lanes. You should get the 5830 or 5840. The Titan Black will do you admirably for games at 4K, but doesn't have the oomph for high quality on modern games. You'll need two. Rumour has it that Nvidia will be releasing their next generation of GPUs later this year, so you may wish to save money and get a 780 Ti now with the aim of replacing it later.

At least one UK etailer has had a BOGOF offer on Titan Z cards, so it might be worth checking that out down under, but you'll need a beefier PSU.

I don't see a 4K monitor in your list. I use the Samsung myself, but G-sync models are available.

You might consider getting an external optical drive.
 
Thanks for the response. I don't have a 4K monitor there because I'm getting a 4K TV so it will live off that. Shame no 4K TVs have display port tech yet. :(

I was thinking more the 5930K and rampage V extreme, seeing the hero does not support the new CPUs. Forces me to get DDR4 which is a bummer too, oh well its not too much more expensive only 100 bucks extra and your boosted from 2333 to 3000 so nice speed boost.

Guess there goes the idea of the matrix cards, not enough VRAM. I either go with the R9290X Matrix card, or I was also thinking of the X2 ASUS STRIX GTX 780 6GB edition. Any thoughts on whether this would be powerful enough for 4K? Hopefully that will be enough to tide me over till maxwell finally releases, which I remember reading a article not so long ago saying its been delayed till 2015. sad!
 
i'd hold off on that 4k tech for a couple of years myself. just throwing your money away atm
 
Yes, you need to be certain that your 4K PC will work with your 4K TV. And right now, no GPU fully supports HDMI 2, and I'm not spotting a DP 1.2 to HDMI 2 converter cable.
 
September 19 NDAs suppose to be up. Apparently its only going to be a very small performance boost though, and only 4GB the 8GB won't release till later. I know I should wait, but I can't afford to wait till October by the time the 8GB version releases it will be far too late.

Think I'll stick with the 780. SLI. Which is the better overclocker, the STRIX, or the EVGA super OC? EVGA has a higher boost clock speed, and is actually 50 bucks cheaper so im leaning towards that.

Also which water cooling gear would you recommend? I was thinking the Corsair H110 and custom water blocks for both the GPUs. Any specific parts you would recommend?
 
Michdog22 said:
i'd hold off on that 4k tech for a couple of years myself. just throwing your money away atm
Click to expand...

4K is 4K today. Nothing will change by waiting. If you can afford it why not go for it? I've seen it, and now I don't want to play anything without it. So I'm planning to buy a second 290x for crossfire. But I'm not to disappointed with even one, as I'm satisfied if the FPS is around 25-30.
 
M76 said:
4K is 4K today. Nothing will change by waiting. If you can afford it why not go for it? I've seen it, and now I don't want to play anything without it. So I'm planning to buy a second 290x for crossfire. But I'm not to disappointed with even one, as I'm satisfied if the FPS is around 25-30.
Click to expand...

There are two problems with 4K gaming today. The first is cost; in addition to the 4K display (a good monitor costs upwards of $600), you need at least one high-end card (or, ideally, two high-end cards for SLI or CrossFire).

The second is that the technology isn't mature yet. I haven't heard of any video card that supports HDMI 2.0 yet, which is needed to play games on 4K displays at 60Hz. (HDMI 1.4 uses 30Hz, which most gamers believe is unusable for gaming.) Most TVs don't have DisplayPorts, which are also hit-or-miss depending on who you ask.

So why wait for 4K? Simple; it's not as good as it could be, but it'll get better in a year or two.
 
Dont forget that HDMI 1.4 can do 4k at 30HZ, but from all of the reviews out there this is way to jittery. So yes you should wait if you are going a TV route for a. the TV to have the HDMI 2.0, or Display port which has the bandwidth for 4k 60p. and b. the videocards to support HDMI 2.0 or at the very least some adapter to convert from Displayport to HDMI 2.0.

All of that being said, based off benchmarks Dual Radeon 290x's should have the horsepower to drive 4k 60 fps on most games. I think if you get the 780ti's with 6gb ram they should do this as well.

I was ready to pull the trigger myself, but decided to hold off in lieu of 2560X1440 and am very happy versus a 1080p setup. But good luck in your quest as it really depends on what you are after.
 
tiraides said:
There are two problems with 4K gaming today. The first is cost; in addition to the 4K display (a good monitor costs upwards of $600), you need at least one high-end card (or, ideally, two high-end cards for SLI or CrossFire).

The second is that the technology isn't mature yet. I haven't heard of any video card that supports HDMI 2.0 yet, which is needed to play games on 4K displays at 60Hz. (HDMI 1.4 uses 30Hz, which most gamers believe is unusable for gaming.) Most TVs don't have DisplayPorts, which are also hit-or-miss depending on who you ask.

So why wait for 4K? Simple; it's not as good as it could be, but it'll get better in a year or two.
Click to expand...

You're making no sense at all. I have a 4K monitor, it has Displayport, and I have a high end card, end of story. If you can't afford a high end gpu, then of course it's not good for you. But it's like saying that Mercedes makes bad cars, because you can't afford it.

If you want cut corners and use a TV instead of a Monitor then you have to wait. But that doesn't make 4K any less usable today on a monitor.
 
Similar to 7680x1440 Eyefinity or larger, if you're gonna do 4K it's kinda dumb not to go SLI or Crossfire. Unless you're one of those people who spends what some consider to be a lot of money on your rig just to turn down settings in the Options menu...

What's more, why get a Titan Black if you're just going to get one? If you're pretty set on how this system is going to play out budget-wise, get SLI 780 (or even better, SLI 780ti if your budget is flexible) and call it a day. Is Watch Dogs the only game you're going to be playing? Because it's the only game that comes to mind which hits the 3GB RAM wall to the point of not allowing highest ingame texture settings. For every other game out there that supports SLI, a single Titan Black and its processing limits will hold you back more often than the 3GB RAM limits of an 780(ti) SLI setup.

I understand your total budget is $4000AUD, but if this is a gaming machine first and multipurpose machine second, 50% of the budget should be spent on the GPU side of the fence, the single most important part of any gaming machine -- tied with the monitor, with CPU being second. The rest doesn't even matter, especially that 1TB SSD which is nice for epeen but not necessary if you're on a budget. A 512GB (or 480GB depending on overprovisioning) should suffice for OS and plenty of games, with the extra $200+ saved going towards extra platter drives for storage and/or redundancy. Or you could use the extra $200 for games or gaming accessories (e.g. steering wheel) if you're actually buying your stuff legit and don't care to have more than that single 3TB HDD.

And did you mean the 850 Pro 1TB SSD? 840 Pro doesn't come in any larger size than 512GB, though 840 EVO does (if you want TLC sure, but to each his own).

Also, that 1300W PSU is straight OVERKILL unless you plan to go TRI SLI or really love the number 1300. And I understand you may be looking at 6GB for future proofing's sake, but by then you'll have bought the 8XX series unless this whole experience ruins your taste for money-spending. Have fun reselling that Titan Black though, similar to guys who were trying to offload their Titans for near MSRP once 7XX series was coming out (lol?) or on AMD side of the camp, 295x2 offloaders when that time comes...
 
Last edited:
Xinmosni said:
Similar to 7680x1440 Eyefinity or larger, if you're gonna do 4K it's kinda dumb not to go SLI or Crossfire. Unless you're one of those people who spends what some consider to be a lot of money on your rig just to turn down settings in the Options menu...
Click to expand...

Really? I'm playing Borderlands 2 and Darkstar One at 4K at max settings apart from AA on a single 780 Ti.
 
Neither the most demanding of games or even close, Borderlands 2 being a console port with PhysX thrown in (like so many games lately, "next" gen bullshit included). Even Watch Dogs is gimped due to being developed with consoles in mind first, hence why the 2012 E3 footage looks better than even the Worst Mod can.

But I guess you're right, it also depends on which games he's playing. With how good games like Watch Dogs and Crysis 3 and BF4 can look, there's a bunch of better games out there that are 10x more fun and 10x less demanding. Hell, look at WoW (if that's your thing sure, but to each his own :D)...
 
Xinmosni said:
Similar to 7680x1440 Eyefinity or larger, if you're gonna do 4K it's kinda dumb not to go SLI or Crossfire. Unless you're one of those people who spends what some consider to be a lot of money on your rig just to turn down settings in the Options menu...

What's more, why get a Titan Black if you're just going to get one? If you're pretty set on how this system is going to play out budget-wise, get SLI 780 (or even better, SLI 780ti if your budget is flexible) and call it a day. Is Watch Dogs the only game you're going to be playing? Because it's the only game that comes to mind which hits the 3GB RAM wall to the point of not allowing highest ingame texture settings. For every other game out there that supports SLI, a single Titan Black and its processing limits will hold you back more often than the 3GB RAM limits of an 780(ti) SLI setup.

I understand your total budget is $4000AUD, but if this is a gaming machine first and multipurpose machine second, 50% of the budget should be spent on the GPU side of the fence, the single most important part of any gaming machine -- tied with the monitor, with CPU being second. The rest doesn't even matter, especially that 1TB SSD which is nice for epeen but not necessary if you're on a budget. A 512GB (or 480GB depending on overprovisioning) should suffice for OS and plenty of games, with the extra $200+ saved going towards extra platter drives for storage and/or redundancy. Or you could use the extra $200 for games or gaming accessories (e.g. steering wheel) if you're actually buying your stuff legit and don't care to have more than that single 3TB HDD.

And did you mean the 850 Pro 1TB SSD? 840 Pro doesn't come in any larger size than 512GB, though 840 EVO does (if you want TLC sure, but to each his own).

Also, that 1300W PSU is straight OVERKILL unless you plan to go TRI SLI or really love the number 1300. And I understand you may be looking at 6GB for future proofing's sake, but by then you'll have bought the 8XX series unless this whole experience ruins your taste for money-spending. Have fun reselling that Titan Black though, similar to guys who were trying to offload their Titans for near MSRP once 7XX series was coming out (lol?) or on AMD side of the camp, 295x2 offloaders when that time comes...
Click to expand...

3GB of VRAM isn't enough for 4K though. Definitely want to run HD textures in watch dogs, whats the point of spending 2 GRAND on just GPUs when you can't max everything out? I'm leaning more towards the 780 STRIX or EVGA SC 6GB cards. Yea they don't have as much performance but a good OC should fix that, most benchmarks put 2 of these around 30FPS in most games and seeing I'm going to be locked at that anyway because of the lack of HDMI 2.0 support of current GPUs, whats the point shelling out a extra $600 bucks for 2 TI's when the extra frame rate is not going to be used due to the HDMI 1.4 limitations. My TV is HDMI 2.0 capable, but sadly no GPU ATM is.

I'd go the 880 but that wont be out for another month, and leaks put it only slightly more powerful than a ti, and also only 4GB. 8GB wont be released till later. So it seems pointless waiting a month for something which still wont be sufficient. A nvidia version of the R9295X2 would be ideal, but does not seem anything like that is in the pipeline. The 780 6GB edition seems like the most practical solution to me.
 
AJ847.63 said:
3GB of VRAM isn't enough for 4K though. Definitely want to run HD textures in watch dogs, whats the point of spending 2 GRAND on just GPUs when you can't max everything out? I'm leaning more towards the 780 STRIX or EVGA SC 6GB cards. Yea they don't have as much performance but a good OC should fix that, most benchmarks put 2 of these around 30FPS in most games and seeing I'm going to be locked at that anyway because of the lack of HDMI 2.0 support of current GPUs, whats the point shelling out a extra $600 bucks for 2 TI's when the extra frame rate is not going to be used due to the HDMI 1.4 limitations. My TV is HDMI 2.0 capable, but sadly no GPU ATM is.

I'd go the 880 but that wont be out for another month, and leaks put it only slightly more powerful than a ti, and also only 4GB. 8GB wont be released till later. So it seems pointless waiting a month for something which still wont be sufficient. A nvidia version of the R9295X2 would be ideal, but does not seem anything like that is in the pipeline. The 780 6GB edition seems like the most practical solution to me.
Click to expand...

i've got two of the acx cooled 780 6gb cards for 4k. in a vengeance c70 case i can get both cards to run with 100mhz off sets for core and memory without having to touch the fan profiles. at these overclocks, the cards will sustain a boost to 1190mhz. crysis 3 performance maxed out minus aa easily nets 40+ fps.
 
Wow really? benchmarks I've seen put crysis 3 maxed out round average 22FPS!
Thanks, given me a lot more confidence in sticking with the 780s.
 
Would the 5820K 28 PCI lanes cause problems for me over the 5930Ks 40? How many lanes does each GPU normally use? I'll probably only ever use 2 GPUs max, seeing tri SLI scaling is pretty crap. Would 28 of the 5820K be plenty for 2 SLI 880s when they eventually release, and in future for future cards?
 
AJ847.63 said:
Would the 5820K 28 PCI lanes cause problems for me over the 5930Ks 40? How many lanes does each GPU normally use? I'll probably only ever use 2 GPUs max, seeing tri SLI scaling is pretty crap. Would 28 of the 5820K be plenty for 2 SLI 880s when they eventually release, and in future for future cards?
Click to expand...

For two cards you should be fine with the 5820K. The difference between 8+8 vs 16+16 would be negligible with PCIE 3.0. Maybe as much impact as faster ram would have on gaming.
 
gadget.jpg
@ that pic, wow
 
Thanks guys think I'm pretty much set on the parts now just gotta wait for the 980s to hurry up and release! Really don't want to wait because it's going to be a while till they hit AU we always get massive delays, and leaks put it at not that much more powerful than a 780, but i just cant buy a 780 knowing its replacements coming. Worst thing that can happen is I wait a extra month or so to find out the 980s a massive disappointment, I buy the STRIX 780 and waiting the month lowers the price on it.
 
Actually one last thing, would you recommend me going the corsair H110 for the CPU and grabbing a custom water loop for the GPUs? Or have everything built into one? Thought being I wont need the open loop for the CPU, I seriously doubt I'll be touching the CPU at all, but GPUs definitely will be upgraded in future. Want to run 2 radiators and 2 pumps anyway to help boost the cooling capacity.
 
Get yourself a rotated case and don't worry about fluid cooling.
 
i'm almost definitely getting gtx980s when they drop and selling off the superclocked 780 6gb's. hit me up if you want them op. the near 1 to 1 aud to usd exchange rate means it'll probably cost you south of 1000 aussie dollars to get them.
 
Hey guys anyone know what size fans would fit in the 900D? Only part I forgot to get advice on. I was thinking of putting 2 200mm fans up the top which will be replaced by the radiator when I upgrade to the 980s and grab a water cooler for them. I was thinking of front mounting the H110 so the fans for that will be at the front. Where else could I chuck a few fans to help cool those cards?
 
if you're only installing fans on the chassis itself and not the side window, the case supports multiple 120/140 at the top, multiple 120 fans at the front, and single 120/140 fans in between. no mount holes for 200, but you could always drill your own. i think corsair intentionally limits fan size to the units they sell themselves.
 
Thanks. Got most of the parts today, running around like a headless chook trying to find the motherboard, DDR4 RAM, and GPU now. Decided to go with the matrix, I doubt I'll need the 6GB VRAM too often. No one seems to stock the RAM or motherboard though, some places i ask say they have not been released yet which is rubbish as plenty of stores had them on sale last week and have since sold out. Knew I should of bought the V extreme last week when i saw it, now everyones sold out and dont know when the next batch is coming! :( even the X99 deluxe is sold out! Same for the DDR4 RAM.

Onto what I do have though how the blazes do you secure the HDD cady to the front drive bay slot? I removed the bays from the botom of the case as I want to install other fans there, and I will probably put a radiator for the GPUs there in future. I wanted to have my SSD and HDD underneath my ODD at the top of the case underneath the IO ports, but cant for the life of me figure out how to secure the bays in there. Theres no holes or anything to screw it in.
 
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