Haswell-E? CPU mobo ram $800 (to go with my 980 SLI)

J

jblue42

Limp Gawd
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Jan 18, 2004
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Just got a great deal on a pair of 980's so I need to upgrade my current i7 950 system, not sure if I should go haswell-e or not..

Would like to buy a combo deal at microcenter which is 1 mile from my house.
will purchase RAM and HSF online most likely

I am also planning on using my i7 950, mobo, and ram for a HTPC build, but I will be re-using my case, power supply, SSD, optical drive, and storage drives for my new build.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
--- Mainly gaming, then photo editing with photoshop/lightroom

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
--- 700-900

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
--- USA, and Yes, microcenter is walking distance

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
--- CPU MOBO RAM COOLER

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
--- SeaSonic SS-1050XM (should be fine for SLI 980s?) Full Tower Corsair 800D case, samsung SSD, assorted WD Green storage drives, optical drive

6) Will you be overclocking?
--- Absolutely, would prefer a very easy overclock GUI

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Will get getting a 4K G-Sync, or 1440p 144Hz G-SYNC.. decisions...
right now 3007wfp-hc 2560x1600

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
--- Yesterday

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 Overclockability (concerned about the entry level haswell-e limited PCI lanes)

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
--- Yes, Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
 
Since you're only using two cards, you'll be fine with the cheaper 5820K. Not only would you save $200 from the cost of a 5830K, you would save an additional $40 off the cost of the motherboard. Also note that the $40 off CPU + mobo deal applies to ANY LGA 2011-3 motherboard that's sold at Microcenter as long as you buy a 5820KI. See the flyer here:
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3ef7d9a9#/3ef7d9a9/33

So from the above motherboard list, I'd go with ASRock X99X Extreme4. As for the RAM, I recommend this:
$190 - Crucial 2 x 8GB DDR4 2133 RAM

In regards to the HSF, I would go with this HSF at a minimum:
$55 - Noctua NH-U12P SE2 HSF

As for your current PSU, that's more than enough power for GTX 980 SLI. HardOCP's test setup with a massively overclocked Core i7 3770K and GTX 980 SLI took up about 446W under full load:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014..._980_sli_4k_video_card_review/10#.VLnHZivF_t8

SO your 1050W PSU is fine ;)
 
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Thanks for the advice dangman! You are most helpful in a lot of build advice threads.

If my primary goal is gaming, just curious why you think the 5820k over 4970k? From what the guys at microcenter were saying, if I were to go haswell-e I should go 5930k at minimum, otherwise the 4970k would be better for gaming if I only have 2x 980. Although with the 4970k I couldn't have any other PCI devices? No M.2 SSD upgrade in my future then..

Thanks again
 
If primary goal is gaming, technically yes the 4790K is the better choice since it being clocked 700Mhz higher. However, I mainly recommended the 5820K in this case since:
A) You have the budget for it. This is reason #1 really.
B) Games are become more and more multi-threaded so the
C) You can always overclock the 5820K to 4Ghz and thereby matching the 4790K.
D) If your photoshop work becomes more serious, the higher amount of RAM is well-needed
 
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