New build, first since 2007

[Medal]

High all,

I ordered my new pc and it should all be here sometime by the end of the week. Here is what I ordered:

Phantek ethoo evolve tempered glass (satin black)
Corsair ax1500i (was going with ax1200i, but Newegg sold out of it, so I just went with the ax1500i instead)
Asus Rampage V Edition 10
G.Skill Trident Z 64GB (8x8gb) DDR4 3200 (14-14-14-34)
Intel 6850k
Corsair H115i
Asus GTX 1080 Strix OC edition (x2 for sli...my first go at SLI)
Asus 3-way HB SLI bridge (so I can use it in 2-way sli "L" configuration)
Samsung 950 pro 512gb (Couldn't wait any longer for the 960)(this will be my boot drive)
Samsung 850 pro 1tb (this will be my gaming drive)
Corsair gaming k70 lux rgb keyboard (cherry mx brown switches)
Razor Deathadder chroma wired mouse
Corsair ML 140 fans (x5)(1 exhaust at rear, 4 push/pull on H115i at front of case)
Windows 10 home 64-bit USB flash drive

Now...I'm coming from this...which I build in 2007:

GTX 660ti (upgraded from the GTX 275 back in 2012)
Windows 7
WD Velociraptor 300gb (everything on this one drive)
CoolerMaster Storm Sniper case
CoolerMaster 700w power supply
G.Skill 6gb (3x2gb) DDR3 1600 (9-9-9-24)
CoolerMaster v8 cpu cooler (air/fan cooled)
intel 920 cpu

Obviously I'm going to see a bit of a performance increase. My question is, is there anything I need/should know going into this build? I haven't built a new rig since my current one back in 2007. I watched videos until my eyes bled regarding AIO coolers etc, and started to do the same for "how to" overclock my 6850 on the rampage v edition 10....but just wondering if there is anything, anyone, would specifically recommend that I either should be aware of, or should otherwise know going into this build? I will post pics of my current rig and throughout the build of my new one once I get the parts in. This forum got me through my first build 10 years ago, and I hope and know you can again through this one.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Forgot to add that I went with red/black cablemod cables for the ax1500i and the red/blue inserts for the h115i aio (blue and red come with one kit, will be going red). I also ordered the red corner angles for the ml 140s

 

[Medal]

Hey guys...

So one question that I thought of before going into this build, is how I should allocate my ssd's. My plan is/was to put the OS on the 950 pro, along with MS office and any other applications, then put all my games on the 850 pro, to include steam. I've read that some folks put the os, office, and steam on the primary drive, along with some steam games they play often....then put the rest of the steam games on their secondary drive. I'm wondering if that is something i should consider?

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

Hey guys...

So one question that I thought of before going into this build, is how I should allocate my ssd's. My plan is/was to put the OS on the 950 pro, along with MS office and any other applications, then put all my games on the 850 pro, to include steam. I've read that some folks put the os, office, and steam on the primary drive, along with some steam games they play often....then put the rest of the steam games on their secondary drive. I'm wondering if that is something i should consider?

There is no real difference either way. I have all my games on 1 SSD and my apps/OS on another just for organization. There is no or extreme minimal performance gain moving them in my opinion.

I wish I had your budget. My $0.02 is that 2x1080's is overkill. I see no mention of an upgraded monitor to run 1440p/2K/4K res so 2 1080's is rather pointless. I've always found SLI/Crossfire rather pointless for the small performance gain at such a great cost (power/purchase/heat). Course I'm kicking along on a 970GTX, so jealousy is slightly involved here.

 

[evilwon]

I'll give my criticisms first, then my applause.

SLI is a hit or miss with support in games. If the games you play do not support it, (if you are like me) you will be agitated that you spent ~$600 on a heat generator. You would've been better off with a Titan X for the money spent. For a gaming system, you went overkill with the 950 and 850. Honestly, you could've halved your ram as well - unless you plan on running several VMs.

Now, you'll love the system assuming the games you play support SLI. You will love the hard drive performance alone. Mouse and KB are always a personal choice in what you like. I do not like the Deathadder, my son loved it.

 

[Medal]

There is no real difference either way. I have all my games on 1 SSD and my apps/OS on another just for organization. There is no or extreme minimal performance gain moving them in my opinion.

I wish I had your budget. My $0.02 is that 2x1080's is overkill. I see no mention of an upgraded monitor to run 1440p/2K/4K res so 2 1080's is rather pointless. I've always found SLI/Crossfire rather pointless for the small performance gain at such a great cost (power/purchase/heat). Course I'm kicking along on a 970GTX, so jealousy is slightly involved here.

Hey buddy, thanks for your input, any little thing helps going into this build. I still have my old 2007 Dell u3011 (30inch 2560x1440), but I plan to go to a 4k monitor, most likely either the Acer XB321HK, ASUS PG348q, or the x34a when it comes out. I read a lot of places to build a 4k rig first before spending on a 4k monitor, so that's what this build is going to be for. Keep in mind the rig I'm coming from, it took me 10 years of work and career progression to afford this rig, it didn't happen over night! Thanks again, I've never done a build of this quality, so things like SLI are all going to be a first for me....so if your willing to share anymore words of wisdom, I'm all ears! Also, I'm most likely donating the parts of my old rig to folks here for the help over the years (my "Medal" account got removed for some reason, and the admins can't explain why, but I did go silent for at least 5 years, so they probably did some house cleaning). However, I say most likely because I don't know that anyone is going to want any of those parts lol, it is an old rig...but if any of it your specifically interested in let me know (message me). That and I might be able to get a couple hundred for it as is, which could go the the 4k monitor-fund

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

Hey buddy, thanks for your input, any little thing helps going into this build. I still have my old 2007 Dell u3011 (30inch 2560x1440), but I plan to go to a 4k monitor, most likely either the Acer XB321HK, ASUS PG348q, or the x34a when it comes out. I read a lot of places to build a 4k rig first before spending on a 4k monitor, so that's what this build is going to be for. Keep in mind the rig I'm coming from, it took me 10 years of work and career progression to afford this rig, it didn't happen over night! Thanks again, I've never done a build of this quality, so things like SLI are all going to be a first for me....so if your willing to share anymore words of wisdom, I'm all ears! Also, I'm most likely donating the parts of my old rig to folks here for the help over the years (my "Medal" account got removed for some reason, and the admins can't explain why, but I did go silent for at least 5 years, so they probably did some house cleaning). However, I say most likely because I don't know that anyone is going to want any of those parts lol, it is an old rig...but if any of it your specifically interested in let me know (message me). That and I might be able to get a couple hundred for it as is, which could go the the 4k monitor-fund

If funding is an issue (there's no point to spend everything you saved just because you can) you can certainly cost cut in a few areas. As evilwon mentioned. You don't need 64GB of RAM. Not even slightly. 16GB is good or if you must go higher 24GB (8x2 + 4x2). This all depends on what you are using the rig for. Seems like primary gaming, so 16/24 should be fine. I personally hate SLI configs unless you really push the graphical boundaries. Its partially supported/implemented, glitchy and very expensive for the hassles and slight performance gains you see realistically. Even if you buy a 4K monitor later on, you could always buy another 1080 when that times comes if you feel its required. Spending money on something you won't use until you get the monitor makes no sense either. Once you go 4K you can always get the new card if required for your tastes. Or as Evil mentioned, just up the anti to the Titan X and run singular saving some power and lots of heat.

In the end its what you're willing to spend, that's it. If you feel you need the powerhouse rig in full, by all means dive in. In my eyes though you could save ~$800 in dropping the RAM down, dropping to a lower cutting edge SSD and certainly ditching one of the 1080's. Real world tests/reviews will tell you if you "need" them or not so I would research a bit. When I built my rig, SLI wasn't even on my radar. If you decide against SLI then you can back down the motherboard as well most likely. (I haven't researched boards in a year, don't know what the rampage is like these days).

I'm a realist cheapskate when building game rigs. In your position and wants. I personally would do a I5 6600k with a 1080 and 16GB of RAM with a 256 SSD for OS and 256/512GB for games. I don't buy into the leave games installed forever mindset and delete them once played. If I need them back, reinstall.

Again this is your build, but if money is a factor, I wouldn't follow the extreme maximums some sites/people tell you is needed. Just my opinion, good luck with your build!

 

[Medal]

If funding is an issue (there's no point to spend everything you saved just because you can) you can certainly cost cut in a few areas. As evilwon mentioned. You don't need 64GB of RAM. Not even slightly. 16GB is good or if you must go higher 24GB (8x2 + 4x2). This all depends on what you are using the rig for. Seems like primary gaming, so 16/24 should be fine. I personally hate SLI configs unless you really push the graphical boundaries. Its partially supported/implemented, glitchy and very expensive for the hassles and slight performance gains you see realistically. Even if you buy a 4K monitor later on, you could always buy another 1080 when that times comes if you feel its required. Spending money on something you won't use until you get the monitor makes no sense either. Once you go 4K you can always get the new card if required for your tastes. Or as Evil mentioned, just up the anti to the Titan X and run singular saving some power and lots of heat.

In the end its what you're willing to spend, that's it. If you feel you need the powerhouse rig in full, by all means dive in. In my eyes though you could save ~$800 in dropping the RAM down, dropping to a lower cutting edge SSD and certainly ditching one of the 1080's. Real world tests/reviews will tell you if you "need" them or not so I would research a bit. When I built my rig, SLI wasn't even on my radar. If you decide against SLI then you can back down the motherboard as well most likely. (I haven't researched boards in a year, don't know what the rampage is like these days).

I'm a realist cheapskate when building game rigs. In your position and wants. I personally would do a I5 6600k with a 1080 and 16GB of RAM with a 256 SSD for OS and 256/512GB for games. I don't buy into the leave games installed forever mindset and delete them once played. If I need them back, reinstall.

Again this is your build, but if money is a factor, I wouldn't follow the extreme maximums some sites/people tell you is needed. Just my opinion, good luck with your build!

I'll give my criticisms first, then my applause.

SLI is a hit or miss with support in games. If the games you play do not support it, (if you are like me) you will be agitated that you spent ~$600 on a heat generator. You would've been better off with a Titan X for the money spent. For a gaming system, you went overkill with the 950 and 850. Honestly, you could've halved your ram as well - unless you plan on running several VMs.

Now, you'll love the system assuming the games you play support SLI. You will love the hard drive performance alone. Mouse and KB are always a personal choice in what you like. I do not like the Deathadder, my son loved it.

Thank you both for this, but I should have been clear, I ordered this rig already over last weekend, the parts are a done deal. I bought what I did because I do a lot of photo and video editing in edition to gaming. As far as the monitor, I just haven't decided on which one I wanted outta the three I laid out, it's not that I can't order one now. I just couldn't wait for a new rig anymore so ordered what I wanted. Yes, you both are right that I over did it on RAM, could have gone with one titan x etc, but as I said, I never tried SLI before and wanted to. So besides wanting to SLI, and planning to purchase one of the three 4k or ultrawide monitors I have my eye on, getting two 1080s was of more interest to me than one titan x. If it sucks and I come to regret it, well lesson learned and at that point would probably sell one of the 1080s to upgrade to the titan x....but i did a good amount of research and the games I play support SLI.

 

[Medal]

Now even with that said, I should say that I'm still interested in any input you guys have. Your thoughts on the sue of my HDs makes sense, anything else I should be aware of? Is setting up the SLI difficult? My plan is to start googling a step-by-step on how to configure SLI for 1080s on this motherboard. Oh and That_Sound_Guy, the Rampage V Edition 10 is a great motherboard but very expensive and therefore not recommended by a lot of folks. I ordered it because it's what I wanted, that's it. There are plenty of other Asus, EVGA, MSI, and Gigabyte boards that are cheaper that I could have gone with, it was just my personal choice. By the way, between the time of you guys replying to me and me posting this and the last message, I got some of my hardware in so I'll post pictures shortly.

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

Now even with that said, I should say that I'm still interested in any input you guys have. Your thoughts on the sue of my HDs makes sense, anything else I should be aware of? Is setting up the SLI difficult? My plan is to start googling a step-by-step on how to configure SLI for 1080s on this motherboard. Oh and That_Sound_Guy, the Rampage V Edition 10 is a great motherboard but very expensive and therefore not recommended by a lot of folks. I ordered it because it's what I wanted, that's it. There are plenty of other Asus, EVGA, MSI, and Gigabyte boards that are cheaper that I could have gone with, it was just my personal choice. By the way, between the time of you guys replying to me and me posting this and the last message, I got some of my hardware in so I'll post pictures shortly.

Oh you ordered it already! Nice. I ran SLI years ago so I'm afraid I'm no help with setting it up proper for a 1080 pair. Good luck and hope you enjoy the build.

 

[Medal]

Oh you ordered it already! Nice. I ran SLI years ago so I'm afraid I'm no help with setting it up proper for a 1080 pair. Good luck and hope you enjoy the build.

So anyone else? Anything I should know about setting up SLI? It looks like I plug the display port cable in the "top" card in the "top port of that card," then boot into windows, and enable SLI within the graphics properties. Does that sound accurate and all I need to do?

 

[sinisterDei]

I have SLI 1070 and as I've mentioned in numerous threads, I don't consider it a worthy investment. The only reason I have it is because I lucked into a free matching 1070 and didn't have anything else to do with it.

SLI has issues. Some games don't support it at all, some games SLI introduces problems - as an example, Dragon Age Inquisition began visibly stuttering the moment SLI was enabled unless I played in a borderless Window, where with a single card it didn't have any issues. Sometimes the games that DO support it only receive +20% performance rather than the doubling you'd expect.

Additionally, I think aiming for native 4k rendering in today and tomorrow's games is a bad idea- the cards just aren't fast enough, and you have to run bleeding edge hardware to get it there. That means more expense and less efficiency in terms of hardware.

My advice to anyone considering SLI is to instead bank the cash for the second card and spend it in two years. You can use the single 1080 for two years, and replace it with the 2019 model replacement using the cash you set away. You'll spend the same amount of cash overall, you'll get great performance and zero complications from using the single 1080, and whatever $600-ish card is available in 2 years will likely be faster than a 1080 SLI setup in most games, while retaining all the simplicity of a single card setup.

Obviously you've got some budget going on - more than I've ever had for a build, but your whole build is likely overkill. 64 GB of RAM is insane, and the 6850k is overkill as well. Overkill may be what you're aiming at, but I just wanted to point it out that it *is* overkill. Any amount of RAM >16 GB is more than enough for today and tomorrow's games, and a simple 6700k is as fast or faster than the 6850k in *all* games since most games barely manage to fully utilize four cores, let alone six. Cost may not be your primary concern, but the entire X99 platform is just significantly more expensive than the Z170 platform with very little performance difference to show for it. Your motherboard is $550, mine is $150 - your CPU is $500 mine is $300 - and our systems will run approximately the same for gaming. It just hurts my brain to spend the cash with so little to show for it.

 

[Medal]

I have SLI 1070 and as I've mentioned in numerous threads, I don't consider it a worthy investment. The only reason I have it is because I lucked into a free matching 1070 and didn't have anything else to do with it.

SLI has issues. Some games don't support it at all, some games SLI introduces problems - as an example, Dragon Age Inquisition began visibly stuttering the moment SLI was enabled unless I played in a borderless Window, where with a single card it didn't have any issues. Sometimes the games that DO support it only receive +20% performance rather than the doubling you'd expect.

Additionally, I think aiming for native 4k rendering in today and tomorrow's games is a bad idea- the cards just aren't fast enough, and you have to run bleeding edge hardware to get it there. That means more expense and less efficiency in terms of hardware.

My advice to anyone considering SLI is to instead bank the cash for the second card and spend it in two years. You can use the single 1080 for two years, and replace it with the 2019 model replacement using the cash you set away. You'll spend the same amount of cash overall, you'll get great performance and zero complications from using the single 1080, and whatever $600-ish card is available in 2 years will likely be faster than a 1080 SLI setup in most games, while retaining all the simplicity of a single card setup.

Obviously you've got some budget going on - more than I've ever had for a build, but your whole build is likely overkill. 64 GB of RAM is insane, and the 6850k is overkill as well. Overkill may be what you're aiming at, but I just wanted to point it out that it *is* overkill. Any amount of RAM >16 GB is more than enough for today and tomorrow's games, and a simple 6700k is as fast or faster than the 6850k in *all* games since most games barely manage to fully utilize four cores, let alone six. Cost may not be your primary concern, but the entire X99 platform is just significantly more expensive than the Z170 platform with very little performance difference to show for it. Your motherboard is $550, mine is $150 - your CPU is $500 mine is $300 - and our systems will run approximately the same for gaming. It just hurts my brain to spend the cash with so little to show for it.

Hey man, thanks for taking the time to write all that, I appreciate it. With that said, what I listed here in my original post has already been ordered...I actually have most of it, just waiting on the 1080's and the memory kit at this point. If I wasn't clear in past posts, I'm looking for some help/advice on this build based on the parts I ordered. Totally get what your saying, many agree and even I do for most of it. I chose what I chose for many reasons and totally get that I didn't chose the best components from a price to performance point of view. However with that said, just looking for some input, on things like SLI (mentioned above in my last post), configuration of my h115i (i want it at the front of the case and jw if that's what everyone here would recommend and if so, with the pump cables entering the rad at the top or bottom), using the stock thermal compound on the h115i ( I also bought some Arctic MX-4 incase: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186038).....that's just a few questions I have going into this build. Sorry again if I wasn't clear, but the parts are ordered and again, are almost all here already. Pics of what is here to come...

 

[Medal]

...and as promised, what I have so far...I intend to upload as I begin unboxing and install etc, the only thing not shown here it the case because it's still in the shipping cardboard box, but I will post a pic of that when I unbox it. If anyone wants a closer pic of any one item, just ask or wait for when I begin my build.

 

[sinisterDei]

Ah I obviously misunderstand. Your understanding of enabling SLI is correct. That's the bit I can confirm then.

 

[Medal]

Almost the rest of it....waiting on the red and blue inserts for the h115i and ml 140s....will start building soon...hoping for some more input!

 

[Flogger23m]

Nice PC. If this is just for gaming then you certainly went well above any requirements RAM wise. Aside from possibly DCS, I have yet to find a single game that requires more than 8GB of RAM. 16GB is rather future proof, but unless you plan on doing some high end professional video editing and the like, I am wondering what 64GB is for? Regardless, looks like you bought it already so you may as well enjoy it.

 

[Medal]

Nice PC. If this is just for gaming then you certainly went well above any requirements RAM wise. Aside from possibly DCS, I have yet to find a single game that requires more than 8GB of RAM. 16GB is rather future proof, but unless you plan on doing some high end professional video editing and the like, I am wondering what 64GB is for? Regardless, looks like you bought it already so you may as well enjoy it.

Hey man, yes I do video and photo editing in addition to gaming. Even so, I went overboard on RAM but i wanted that kit for a lot of reasons so it's all good....at least I don't have to worry about RAM anytime soon

 

[Medal]

OK....got it up and running, pics to come. Had a few difficulties i think folks should know about and I'll post those with the pics soon.

 

[Medal]

Ok here are few pics from the build!!!!!

 

[Medal]

Now, a few things I said I think folks should be aware of with this case and some of the parts I chose:

This case did NOT like size of the ax1500i and rampage v edition 10...it's that simple. The rampage v was a bit too wide because the case, near the end closest to the h115i, "curves" towards the placement of my 850 pro. This caused me to be unable to use the three standoffs on the far right....but I used the other 6 so no issues there. The ax1500i was juuuust too big to get into the bay for it in this case. I was able to force it in, as just the length was an issue. This PS is a monster though, and even after forcing it in, there was absolutely no physical damage done to it or the case...pheww. Now one last issue I had was with the h115i cooler. For whatever reason, the thermal paste pre-applied was not enough? When I booted (first try!) into UEFI/bios, temps on the cpu where at 88-degrees!! I found it immediately odd, so instead of shutting her down right away, I instead just pushed down on the top of the cpu block and watched as the cpu temp dropped immediately from 88 to 34-degrees. So obviously I removed the block, added more paste (MX-4) and rebooted into the UEFI again....this time temps where at a nice 34-degrees, period, no having to push down on the block. Keep in mind I obviously made sure I tightened the four cpu block screws before I did anything, but they where as tight as they should be, leading me to assume it was not enough thermal paste and it looks like I was right.

Other than those issues, everything went great, including loading windows 10 via usb. I'll post some benchmarks soon, as I'd like to hear from everyone here as to whether or not my rig is performing as it should. One thing I can say now, is I enabled rapid mode via samsung magician for the 850 pro, not the 950, as I could for only one of them. I figured the 950 is fast enough, why not boost the slower of the two, especially since the 850 is where all my games are. Not sure if my thinking is correct here, so by all means correct or confirm my thoughts.

My design goal was to have everything be black/white/red from a accent standpoint, but all rgb lights be blue. So the fans lights, mobo etc are all blue...well they are rainbow right now because I haven't configured them yet but you get the idea.

Thanks again!

 

[Medal]

Video of it running...I still have it in rainbow effects so if anyone wants to know what the Asus aura rgb looks like on their mobos and gpus, you can see it here...sorry for the watermark and quality, uploaded this from my laptop....and there is a 5mb upload limit

 

[Medal]

Can someone let me know if these scores seem accurate to my build? I just want to confirm my new rig is running as it should..please and thanks.

 

[geforce man]

Very nice work man, basically my dream machine. Similar to what I built my wife (minus the video cards) for her photoshop machine. She went with 32gb and a 5820k, as it was built a little over a year ago. Scores look right for SLI 1080's.

 

[SixFootDuo]

Wait ..................


wtf man ..... there is no way the Rampage V 10 fits in that case. I have that case and I had that motherboard. there is a lip on the inside of that case that gets in the way of motherboard. It will fit but you literally have to bend the motherboard up slightly. From what I remember, the part with the heavy plastic edge that holds the LED's goes over this edge maybe 2 or 3 inches. It's an E-ATX motherboard. Def bigger than an ATX form factor

I was FORCED to buy another case. And then I ended up having to return the motherboard because the 6950X was acting sketchy with the mobo.

I hope to god you did not force it to fit.

I was looking at the geometry / angles of the pictures you took and something def looks off.

 

[Medal]

Wait ..................


wtf man ..... there is no way the Rampage V 10 fits in that case. I have that case and I had that motherboard. there is a lip on the inside of that case that gets in the way of motherboard. It will fit but you literally have to bend the motherboard up slightly. From what I remember, the part with the heavy plastic edge that holds the LED's goes over this edge maybe 2 or 3 inches. It's an E-ATX motherboard. Def bigger than an ATX form factor

I was FORCED to buy another case. And then I ended up having to return the motherboard because the 6950X was acting sketchy with the mobo.

I hope to god you did not force it to fit.

I was looking at the geometry / angles of the pictures you took and something def looks off.

Hey man, I definitely didn't force it and here is my write up with pics of it all together. I explained the issue that you touched on here as well. Sorry it took so long to respond, I for some reason didn't get the notifications and just decided to randomly check on this post again: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/

EDIT: wanted to add I did absolutely no modifications to the case or mobo or anything for that matter...

if you don't want to read the write up here, all I did was use 6 of the 9 standoffs (didn't use the 3 on the far right as you said, because of that curve in the case. For the middle 3 standoffs, I stopped tightening them as soon as I saw the board having any kind of flex to it.

 

[Medal]

Very nice work man, basically my dream machine. Similar to what I built my wife (minus the video cards) for her photoshop machine. She went with 32gb and a 5820k, as it was built a little over a year ago. Scores look right for SLI 1080's.

Awesome, thanks man, first time I benchmarked a rig so wanted to be sure!

 

[Medal]

Sorry, wanted to just add one more point: I use this rig 10 hours a day, everyday, for work and pleasure and have had absolutely zero issues other than the one with the AIO that I explained here. The rig runs like dream and still don't know if I used samsung magician correctly (used RAPID mode for the 850, not the 950) and I still can't get AURA to work as I'd like, but I don't consider those issues. However, I did find out that I may have used the wrong AIO screw to attach it to the 6850k, because my cinebench temps at 100% load seem a little hotter than what others have reported, but it's also not so hot as to say I certainly used the wrong ones. I have more thermal paste on the way, because I can't find my tube from this build for the life of me...and when I gets here, I'll take off the block and see if that's the case or not.