Need Some experienced Help with a gaming rig

[Cablejack247]

Hi guys I am new to this forum. Can't believe I haven't joined before. Just been a lurker. Anyway I've built computers in the past and kind have been out of the game for the past 3 years. I'm looking to build a new PC that's good for gaming, photo editing, etc. I just bought a Dell U3014 monitor which I love but my old rig is just not cutting it. I've got a budget of $2,500 all in for the pc. Any hardware suggestions I haven't kept up with the new tech. I did see the obsidian 550D case and do like the looks of it. I also prefer to not do water cooling. Any help would be fantastic. Thank you all look forward to contributing to the community!

 

[Cablejack247]

I'v seen these questions on other threads so I will answer ahead of time:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? I would like to do high end gaming and photoshop/AutoCad
2) What's your budget? $2500 Are tax and shipping included? No
3) Which country do you live in? USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, SSD, Motherboard, Graphics Card, CPU cooler, Case, PSU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Only external components
6) Will you be overclocking? No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? I have a Dell U3014 2560 x 1600
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? If it comes with wireless that be great.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? Yes I have both windows 7 and windows 8 pro

 

[Dangman]

Just how much of your time is spent on Photoshop/AutoCAD? Is it for work, play, or both? In other words, how heavy is your Photoshop/AutoCAD work?

What are the specs of your old rig?

 

[Cablejack247]

This PC will be for work and for play. I am not on AutoCAD an incredible amount. However, I have recently gotten into photography and am looking do use Photoshop regularly. My old PC that I'm trying to sell has the following:

-NZXT phantom case black
-(2) EVGA Superclocked Nvidia 580GTX
-12GB Corsair Ram
-i7-960 CPU
-Zalman Cooler
-ASUS P6X58D
-Soundblaster Xfi Fatality soundcard

The computer still runs great I would prefer to upgrade/have a smaller less in your face form factor.

 

[Dangman]

Here's a quick and dirty build:
$297 - Intel Core i7-4790 CPU
$106 - ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance Intel h97 ATX Motherboard
$290 - 2 x Crucial BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$500 - EVGA GeForce GTX780 SuperClocked 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$255 - Samsung 840 Pro 500GB SSD
$100 - Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$140 - Seasonic X750 Gold 750W Modular PSU
$32 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo HSF
---
Total: $1720 shipped

As for cases, I recommend the following cases:
$65 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Case
$75 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black w/ Window ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$105 - Antec 1100 V2 ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Obsidian Series 450D ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$110 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom 530 Black Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Graphite Series 730T ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Obsidian Series 750D ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$170 - NZXT Phantom 630 Gunmetal Full Tower ATX Case
$170 - NZXT Phantom 630 White Full Tower ATX Case
$190 - Corsair Graphite Series 760T ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B-USB3.0 ATX Case
$250 - Silverstone FT02S-W-USB3.0 ATX Case

Case (Low Noise Oriented):
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl ATX Case
$114 - Fractal Design Define R4 Titanium Grey ATX Case
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case

 

[Cablejack247]

I appreciate the help thank you.

I was thinking of the obsidian 550D looks nice. What are your thoughts on quad core vs hexcore processors? I did some extensive research and came up with some of the specs below. I'm thinking this may be my new system.

-Corsair Obsidian 550D
-Intel i7 4790k
-Asus z-97 Deluxe
-16GB 2400MHZ Corsair vengence pro
-EVGA supernova 750
-Samsung 840Pro 256gb ssd
-EVGA superclocked GTX 780ti.
-Corsair hydro 100i

It looks like I can build this system for around $2,000. I guess I just want some input now into if this looks like a good combination of hardware. What is everyone's thoughts of switching it up to a hex core processor? Is that really necessary?

 

[rhansen5_99]

Seeing as you currently have a 1366 socket system you could always look at getting a 6core xeon process off the ebay for relatively cheap. That being said going from 580gtx sli to a 780ti is probably a wash in raw performance. (BTW I hate when people say wait for a card, but the 880 GTX series is right around the corner). You could also get a nice bump on your old system going to ssd (although you are probably constrained by sata 2 on that asus board). You might want to look at this thread (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1783399) for some info on the 6 core 1366 and overclocking.

So basically from neilaham to haswell you are probably only looking at a 25% jump in ipc for similar clock speeds. So adding two extra cores and ocing you can make up a huge margin in the performance for a low $$$. (Check out http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/444?vs=1260) The oc'd sixcore 1366 or close to 990x vs the 4790k just for giggles.

Lol not to bad of a jump for $80 vs $1500

 

[Dangman]

I appreciate the help thank you.

I was thinking of the obsidian 550D looks nice. What are your thoughts on quad core vs hexcore processors? I did some extensive research and came up with some of the specs below. I'm thinking this may be my new system.

-Corsair Obsidian 550D
-Intel i7 4790k
-Asus z-97 Deluxe
-16GB 2400MHZ Corsair vengence pro
-EVGA supernova 750
-Samsung 840Pro 256gb ssd
-EVGA superclocked GTX 780ti.
-Corsair hydro 100i

It looks like I can build this system for around $2,000. I guess I just want some input now into if this looks like a good combination of hardware. What is everyone's thoughts of switching it up to a hex core processor? Is that really necessary?

Not that great of a setup for a few reasons:
- You answered no when asked if you're overclocking. As such, no point in getting that 4790K unless you're 100% guaranteed to overclock or live near a Microcenter. That extra $40 is otherwise a waste of money. No that 400Mhz clock is not even worth an extra $10 let alone $40.

- Besides wifi, you didn't mention anything else where that motherboard would be remotely a justifiable purchase. Not to mention that the mobo is waay too close to the price range of good X79 mobos. So no matter what, unless you just want to waste money, that mobo is not a good choice. If you need wifi so badly, just buy a seperate PCI-E wireless adapter made by Asus or Intel.

- You won't notice any sort of real world difference between DDR3 1600 and DDR3 2400 RAM. Not worth the extra money at all:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Photoshop-CS6-Memory-Optimization-182/

- It isn't clear which eVGA Supernova 750W PSU you're listing. But just to make sure: You want the SuperNova 750 G2. Don't get the lower-end B2 model.

- You're not overclocking nor have you stated that your neck of the woods gets extremely hot. SO it's odd to me to see the H100i there without that kind of information.

- IMO, if you're just looking for fastest video card possible from Nvidia, the 780Ti is the card to get. If you want the highest-end best bang for the buck card, the 780 ti is nowhere near that. Even with your overly expensive setup, you might just be better off getting two GTX 780 cards for SLIif you really want to up your GPU performance.

Also, since you're not doing that much AutoCAD work, no reason to get a hex-core processor besides "I want to spend money" in your case.

 

[Cablejack247]

Thank you for the response that post actually helped a lot. I actually do live near a microcenter. Can they over clock there if I build the PC? The only reason I said I would not overclock is that I do not have much experience with it. I've started ready up and it really does not look that difficult so I may start experimenting. Would this set up make more sense if I was planning on overclocking? (ram aside).

My main thing with the hex core was that I do have the money now and I was just trying to build a machine that is more future proof. I can change the GPU and RAM but changing the processor would be a pain since it would require a new Motherboard.

 

[rhansen5_99]

In all reality if you are planning on making the leap to 6 or 8 core chips and willing to spend some cash the best long term solution would be to wait on the x99 / 2011v3 chips and ddr4. You are probably going to spend a fortune in doing that for the small gains you are going to see. In essence the 2011 x79 boards and chips are pretty much end of line, so what you see out is basically what you are going to get.

As far as the hex core 1366 chip I listed earlier it should be compatible with your existing Asus board if you wanted to play around with some overclocking on the cheap. That way you can see if you even like doing it / want to get into with tweaking your systems and all that jazz.

Personally I like the smaller systems like the itx form factor stuff as you can cram a bunch of stuff in a small space and get your desk or area back, with awesome performance. I would personally go for the 4770k or 4690k and a Asrock z97-itx board with maybe 16gb ddr3 1600 or 1866 or 2133 depending on the price between them, and a 250GB Samsung evo msata ssd (*they are 130 on newegg right now ac). Maybe stick all of that in a CoolerMaster elite 130 with a closed loop water cooler for the cpu. I would seriously wait on the gtx 800 series to come out (at least to see how much faster the new maxwell cores are vs kepler) but it looks like 780ti prices are really falling so it might be a time to buy. Couple all that with a nice corsair 750 or 800 watt psu and you will have a nice small capable machine.

 

[Dangman]

Thank you for the response that post actually helped a lot. I actually do live near a microcenter. Can they over clock there if I build the PC? The only reason I said I would not overclock is that I do not have much experience with it. I've started ready up and it really does not look that difficult so I may start experimenting. Would this set up make more sense if I was planning on overclocking? (ram aside).

My main thing with the hex core was that I do have the money now and I was just trying to build a machine that is more future proof. I can change the GPU and RAM but changing the processor would be a pain since it would require a new Motherboard.

First and foremost: There is no such thing as "future proof". More than likely, whatever you buy in terms of mobo and CPU is pretty much what you're going to be stuck with for the duration of the PC's useful life due to both lack of possible upgrades and lack of justifiable upgrades.

How long is the drive to the Microcenter? If you're within a 30 to 40 minute driving time to Microcenter, then yes the Core i7 4790K is a valid choice since it comes with a $40 to $60 off deal if you buy a compatible LGA 1150 motherboard from Microcenter.

They probably won't overclock it for you. That setup still wouldn't make that much more sense if you're planning on overclocking since the motherboard is still beyond overkill. In other words, the primary reason for you to get that Z97-Deluxe has to be "to waste money". For $270, I'd rather just spend the extra $30 to $40 and get the Sabertooth X79 motherboard as least I'll be able to use 64GB of RAM. If you're planning on overclocking with the 4790K, I'd go with the Asus Z97-A or the AsRock Killler Z97 motherboards.

As for the hex-core, again, you're really not doing anything that would justify that CPU. Photoshop isn't quite multi-core aware yet and you're not even doing that much Auto-CAD work. While there are games that do scale well with multiple cores, the performance increase isn't quite worth the significantly higher costs for going hex-core. With that said, if your Photoshop use well exceeds 32GB of RAM, then it might make more sense for you to go with the X79 or, if you're willing to wait, the X99 platform.