Need advice, quick... $4k budget

J

JLangevin

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 13, 2007
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Hey guys, so I am building a brant new Intel tower for a friend and I am an avid AMD builder but he insists on Intel. Im perfectly ok with that, however I am a little behind on my Intel builds.

Things I need answered

(The budget cap is $4k and I have cash in hand, however we dont NEED to spend it all, in fact I know its complete overkill but the guy honestly is a millionaire and has cash to blow so whos to argue, my commission is based on parts so I dont mind lol)

I want the most for the money but still makes sense practically speaking. The budget is high because he wants a 900D, watercooling etc.

1. Z77 or something else?
2. (2) 16x PCI-E only or do the boards that down scare it to (2) 8x enough for dual 680s? (Maximus V for instance)
3. 16gigs Vengeance for gaming is what Im going with since he does NO rendering and doesnt need 32gigs.
4. Since ALL he does is gaming, Im leaning towards the 3770k as I feel the 3930k is too far overkill on this build.

Anything else you would like to inform me of since this is the first Intel build I have done in about 5 years?

Going with Dual GTX 680s and this will be a custom watercooled loop build.

Heading to the gym, Ill check for responses when I get back.
 
I think you're solid with a Z77 board and a 3770K. Even for SLI'd GTX 680s one x16 and one x8 won't hurt you here.
 
Z77 only has 16 PCI-E lanes for communication. A duplex chip increases the amount of lanes for PCI-E devices, like on the Maximus V Extreme, but there still is only 16 lanes from the CPU. Even so, x8 PCI-E 3.0 lanes are not going to bottleneck a 680.

I would stick with 8gb RAM for gaming.

Dual 680s, 3770k, and a good Z77 board of your choice. If you want to impress him with ROG features, get him a Maximus V Formula.

I would personally go for an XL-ATX board for the 900D. Unfortunately, the only Z77 XL-ATX board is the Gigabyte G1. Sniper 3. The design scheme is a bit ugly IMO, but the features are impressive. The audio chipset is an actual Creative chip, not the regular Realtek stuff.

A good way to burn a lot of money while getting something that might be useful is to get a 512gb SSD. Or two of them. And add a 4tb Western Digital Black for all his por... *cough* blu-ray rips.

With that kind of budget, he can watercool tri-SLI 680s, and probably quad if you're savvy enough. Make sure to get 4gb 680s though.
 
Wow, I sound like a BAFOON with the typos in the first post. Sorry about that, I was literally running out the door.

Anyway, Since AMD is still on PCIE 2.0 I wasnt aware that the 3.0 PCIE 8x wouldnt effect performance of dual 680s, so this is good news.

I already had the Sniper motherboard in the shopping card on newegg but I was not sold on the Nvidia Green color scheme as he wants something less flashy. Since I personally own a Crosshair V Formula, love the ROG features and want to software control his fans like I do, so I think I will go with the Maximus V Formula. I was concerned that the board would look small in the 900D but we will see. I might even go with a Mountain Mods case instead.

4k is a lot to play with and its pretty exciting.

I will be sure to do a build log, plus I am a YouTube with a technology channel and will do a build log video as well. Link is in the sig.
 
If you want to be able to expand to tri-SLI/quad-SLI, you should go with the Maximus V Extreme. Looking again, the Sniper3 isn't XL-ATX, it's actually E-ATX. Some sites had it mislabeled. There are no XL-ATX boards for Z77.

The only good XL-ATX board I can find is actually the X79 MSI Big Bang Xpower II. Pairing it with a 3820 might be a good build for him. You'll probably have to bump it up to 16gb RAM for quad channel.
 
Tsumi, here are some particulars he told me

"I have no desire to keep the PC past year and half, 2 years tops"

"I dont give a shit about future proofing"

So, given that info, Z77 or X79? Im shopping as we speak.

Also, Im torn on SLI 680s or SLI 670s.
 
JLangevin said:
Tsumi, here are some particulars he told me

"I have no desire to keep the PC past year and half, 2 years tops"

"I dont give a shit about future proofing"

So, given that info, Z77 or X79? Im shopping as we speak.

Also, Im torn on SLI 680s or SLI 670s.
Click to expand...

Lol yeah, silly. If you have 4k to burn and only plan on keeping it 2 years tops then 670's shouldn't even be a consideration. Get the best of what you can fit into that budget (which is pretty much anything) and blow everything away.
 
Its funny, even though its not my money, its hard for me to think like that because I have to be frugal with my money... thats why I own AMD lol... but in any case, since hes running 1600p Dell 30" Ultrasharp, Im having a hard time pulling the trigger on 4gb 680s at $529 each.

Zotac is the only reference card 4gb in stock on Newegg... Their reputation seems to be pretty decent though. Anything I should be worried about going with Zotac?
 
They seem to have some QC issues, at least with their mobos anyway. I can't vouch for their customer support either.

Want me to put together a build list for ya?
 
There's a thought, low ball his PC and chuck in another Dell 30" monitor. Multi monitor setups should be mandatory now.
 
Hes buying 2 of the Dell's on his own, he ordered them today. He doesnt have the room for 3 of them, and only wants to game on one of them. He does lots of MMOs without surround support so Im not going to push the fact.

Danny, Id love to see what you would do with the money, keep in mind, this will be custom watercooled and thats where my area of expertise is so there needs to be budget enough for that. This thing wont be on air and I like the fact that the Maximus V has built in northbridge and power cooling block.
 
How much would the water cooling setup cost for this kind of build? I haven't done watercooling yet so I don't have a good frame of reference for pricing. And the 900D is locked in, correct? Speaking of which, where are you getting that 900D from?
 
Since I need 2x waterblocks for the cards, and such, I would consider $650 of it set aside for the loop, possibly a little more, but 4k isnt the absolute cap, He will add more if it needs it...

This is all starting to seem a bit ridiculous to me and Im actually trying NOT to upsell this.
 
$310 - Intel Core i7-3770K CPU
$270 - Asus Maximus V Formula Intel Z77 Motherboard
$100 - Corsair Vengeance 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$1080 - 2 x Gigabyte GTX 680 4GB PCI-E Video Card
$480 - Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD
$139 - Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$144 - Seasonic X750 Gold 750W Modular PSU
---
Total: $2523 plus tax and shipping.

Normally I'd scoff at recommend any z77 mobo above $200 but in this case, it looks like you'll actually be taking advantage of the water cooling features of the Max V.

EDIT: And to be honest, a lot of the above setup was based off Tsumi's recommendations.
 
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How funny, I had the EXACT same parts except for the PSU. I chose an AX850.

Guess I am on the right track then.
 
Watercooling for top end parts estimate (being extravagant here, it can definitely be much less):

The 900D supports two 480mm radiators.

2x UT60 480mm radiators: ~$130 each
Koolance CPU-380i: ~$80
2x MCP655 (for the heck of it): $80 each
Dual 655 top: ~$50
Each GPU block: $110
Compression fittings: ~$200
FrozenQ T-virus reservoir: $150
Tubing: $30
8x Gentle Typhoons AP-12 or 13: $15 each.

For a dual GPU system, you're looking at around $1.2k. Expand that to quad-SLI, you're looking at $1.4k. If you want to add a motherboard block, which I think you should if only for aesthetic purposes, add another $100. Max, you're looking at around $1.5k for the watercooling setup if you go all out in a 900D case. That leaves you $2.5k, which fits perfectly with Danny's estimate.
 
Well Im going with the Maximus V which has mobo waterblock included so no worries there.

Where are you finding the 900D in stock, Newegg doesnt have it, and I havent looked elsewhere yet. He instructed me to build it as if I owned it and I personally hate the Tvirus res. I prefer the Corsair fans over the GTs personally because of the gray blades on the GTs but for performance, I may just get the GTs.

I have an MCP655 Variable myself and I dont think we will need 2, unless you just think it will look cool lol.
 
Can you put any of this money into his sound system or peripherals, or does he already have that covered?
 
Hes got ALL of that covered, this is just for the tower.

Tsumi, something just dawned on me... if I get 4GB versions, wont there be uncooled VRAM on the back of the card?!
 
As I said, two for the heck of it. And it'll provide a measure of redundancy for someone who is probably not going to be on top of computer maintenance.

At the low RPM speeds (1200 or less) most of the fans are so close to each other that it doesn't really matter. I say Gentle Typhoons because that's what I prefer, but for your situation it really doesn't matter. Go with the Corsair fans if that's what you like. I prefer performance when I want it, so I go with high speed fans on a fan controller (2150 RPM Gentle Typhoons).

The 900D is not available anywhere yet. Considering how it's showing up as not in stock at Amazon, we can probably expect the launch to be soon. So far it's only been a paper launch/demos.

Pick a reservoir you like then, whether it's a bay reservoir or an internal reservoir. I personally like the Alphacool Repack Dual D5 bay reservoir. He can see the reservoir levels from the front, and refill it without ever having to remove anything. The thing about the Repack is that it only supports dual loop mode, so you'll have two separate loops in your system. It really isn't a problem though since they share a common reservoir, so it should even out. One loop can contain CPU/motherboard/top radiator, and the other can have the GPUs and bottom radiator.

I would still consider getting a real motherboard block for the motherboard. The barb fittings on the MVF are 3/8" ID only, and you'll have to use worm gear clamps on them instead of compression fittings. But apparently the only non-EK motherboard blocks are for the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7 and the Asus P8Z77-V series boards.

You can get backplates for the GTX 680, but I really wouldn't worry about it. VRAM rarely ever gets hot enough to matter unless you're doing some serious overclocking.
 
Tsumi said:
Watercooling for top end parts estimate (being extravagant here, it can definitely be much less):

The 900D supports two 480mm radiators.

2x UT60 480mm radiators: ~$130 each
Koolance CPU-380i: ~$80
2x MCP655 (for the heck of it): $80 each
Dual 655 top: ~$50
Each GPU block: $110
Compression fittings: ~$200
FrozenQ T-virus reservoir: $150
Tubing: $30
8x Gentle Typhoons AP-12 or 13: $15 each.

For a dual GPU system, you're looking at around $1.2k. Expand that to quad-SLI, you're looking at $1.4k. If you want to add a motherboard block, which I think you should if only for aesthetic purposes, add another $100. Max, you're looking at around $1.5k for the watercooling setup if you go all out in a 900D case. That leaves you $2.5k, which fits perfectly with Danny's estimate.
Click to expand...

His parts list doesnt include a case which puts the build over budget... I dont think the WC will cost me as much as you are allowing for though. Fortunately, watercooling is my specialty so I can deal with it.
 
Like I said, I was being extravagant when compiling the list. I probably overestimated quite a bit on the compression fittings, you probably wouldn't need more than $100's worth. The other reservoir I recommended, the Alphacool Repack, is half the price of the T-virus. The 380i can be replaced with a $50 Raystorm, and the radiators can be swapped out for cheaper ones as well.

And 1.5k was for 4 GPU blocks, 1.3 is for 2.
 
Can you give some insight to the 4GB cards and uncooled VRAMS on the back of the card? Will this be an issues for the cards when watercooled? I know they are passively cooled without heat sinks now... backplates perhaps?
 
Most of them are passively cooled. GDDR5 doesn't get all that hot, and the heat will bleed to the other side where it can be cooled.

Backplates just increase the surface area on the back side to allow for better passive cooling. The backplates also help offer additional support to the card.
 
Ok cool. So then the GPU side of the card on 4GB models are the same as reference and reference blocks should work I assume?

My personal 680 is a reference model 2GB so I had no concerns with mine.
 
There are those built on reference boards and the RAM chips doubled, and then there are custom designs.

Edit: nvm
 
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How about an E5-1650 or E5-1660?

1650:
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...ca416c78e98b&gclid=CLLvhen207UCFahDMgodsxsAtA

1660:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117273

Asus board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131798

Now grab him as many 8GB ecc unbuffered sticks as he needs.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LMNXS0/?tag=extension-kb-20

Redundant PS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817338062

Toss in ~ 1TB of ssd storage, some video cards, some spinners & a raid controller.
 
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With that kind of budget go at least 64GB of RAM together with Primo RAMDisk for a gaming rig. I'm not sure why RAM disks aren't talked about more here, but they destroy SSD. Primo makes it super easy to use one with multiple games.
 
joikd said:
With that kind of budget go at least 64GB of RAM together with Primo RAMDisk for a gaming rig. I'm not sure why RAM disks aren't talked about more here, but they destroy SSD. Primo makes it super easy to use one with multiple games.
Click to expand...

Meh, RAMDisk is only really useful for games if you have a small SSD for the OS only, and a large storage drive on which you would store multiple images for games. And only really feasible if those games store the saved games files in the My Documents folder, which most games do nowadays.

The real world speed difference between an SSD and RAMDisk is fairly minimal.
 
Put 2 Titans in there and tell them you get them when he upgrades in a couple years. ;)

Other than that...
Asus Sabertooth Z77
i7-3770K
4x8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1.5V 1600
Corsair AX750
Samsung 840pro or Plextor M5p Xtreme 256gb
1TB+ 7200rpm SATA HDD
Corsair 400R or 500R
CM Hyper212+ Evo
 
for 4000 you can probably cram in an SR-2 based build with dual 6-Core Westmere EP and 3 or 4 7970GH z in CFX, Case would be obsidian 900D and you could get a tri channel 24GB Kit of Dominator or the like.

For your storage I'd reccomend a 4TB Caviar Black(you can enable UEFI boot on the SR-2) and 2x 512GB Samsung 840 Pro.
 
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