New High End Build

[jophde]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
A lot of software development. I mostly work with Android. So the more ram this has the better. I want to be able to spin up 10 different emulators. Building the Android source itself requires 16gb of ram. I also do a lot of virtualization.

I also want to be able to game on my 20/30/20 PLP setup. From what I understand this resolution requires a single graphics card. In the next couple of months I plan to buy a Vizio P series 4k/UHD TV for my living room. I plan on hooking my machine up to it as well.

I also do some photo and video work Also, Linux support is a must. I plan on a tri-booting Windows 8.1/Arch Linux/SteamOS.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2-4k but I am flexible. I just want a good value.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Santa Cruz, CA USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, Motherboard, RAM, SSD, HDD, Optical Drive (BlueRay?), Video Card, Optical Drive, Case, Power Supply, Water Cooling.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Monitors, Keyboard, Mouse
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes, but not the extreme. I mainly want water cooling for the silence.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
My main monitor is a Dell u3014 2560x1600. It is flanked by a pair of 20 inch Dell 2007fp in portrait at 1200x1600. I will probably also have a 4k TV this year. It will also do 1080p.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP, but if waiting for Maxwell/Broadwell is a good idea I could wait. I currently use a Mid 2012 Macbook Pro but 650M has been rough on my new monitors in titan fall. It can play CS:GO and SC2 fine at 2560x1600 on just the 30.
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, since I will probably add a second card when I go to 4k. I would like have RAID, USB 3.0, ATA 6Gb/s as well or whatever is the fastest. I like having a nice board.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have Windows 7 Pro but I am considering getting Windows 8. Is it worth it?


I have been considering a quad core i7 and a Titan Black for the vram. I am interested in messing CUDA programming too. How much ram can I get? I have never done water cooling before but I am interested because it's cool and quiet. I really like nice cases and have been considering the one [H] just reviewed.

Phantek Case

What other stuff would I need to water cool my rig?

Sorry for the new account I can't remember my old one. I have been on a Macbook Pro far too long and I am out of the loop.

Thanks!

 

[Dangman]

I have been considering a quad core i7 and a Titan Black for the vram. I am interested in messing CUDA programming too. How much ram can I get?

With a $2000 to $4000 budget, you're aiming too low on the CPU. With that much money and your planned usage scenario, I would recommend the Core i7 4930K with the Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard. That CPU is a hex-core CPU which should help out with all those VMs. In addition, the X79 platform will allow you to install 64GB of RAM should you want to. Though that will probably push you into the $3,000 budget territory.,

I have never done water cooling before but I am interested because it's cool and quiet.

.....

What other stuff would I need to water cool my rig?

First foremost: Are you talking about an actual water cooling setup where you have to buy the block, rads, tubing, etc all separately or those liquid All-In-One cooling setups?

 

[jophde]

Most likely the all in one setup unless doing the actual setup isn't too difficult or time consuming. I was under the impression that the Phantek case made it pretty easy to plug all in one setups in? Can the Titan Black accept something the like the Kraken? I imagine it will be pretty loud stock.

What should I be looking at ram wise? This kit seems about right.

I had no idea there were hex core processors. That's awesome. Is the Ivy Bridge part the newest one or is there Haswell?

Assuming I would add a second Titan Black down the road what size power supply should I be looking at? Does using a bigger power supply than you actually need matter at all?

 

[Dangman]

Most likely the all in one setup unless doing the actual setup isn't too difficult or time consuming. I was under the impression that the Phantek case made it pretty easy to plug all in one setups in?

In regards to the AIO, the majority of cases these days can fit those easily. The Phantek stands out because it allows for an easier time installing the actual water cooling setups. However, the included pumps in most of those liquid AIO are relatively noisy. If you truly want quiet and don't want to go through the higher costs, time, and effort for a water cooling setup, then you should be looking at a normal air-cooling HSF instead like the Noctua NH-D14.

Can the Titan Black accept something the like the Kraken? I imagine it will be pretty loud stock.

Assuming that you're talking about the Kraken G10 adapter and not the Kraken X40/X60 liquid AIO, the Titan Black isn't technically on the list of approved GPUs for the Kraken G10 adapter. In theory, however, it might be compatible since the 780 TI is compatible with the G10.
'

What should I be looking at ram wise? This kit seems about right.

You should be looking at RAM without tall heatsinks like the G.SKill you linked since those may interfere with a lot of air-cooling HSF out there. I'd go for two of this RAM instead:
$149 - Kingston HyperX Red 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

I had no idea there were hex core processors. That's awesome. Is the Ivy Bridge part the newest one or is there Haswell?

IB is the newest available for the socket 2011 platform. There will be Haswell later this year but it more than likely won't be worth it on account of it using DDR4 RAM.

Assuming I would add a second Titan Black down the road what size power supply should I be looking at?

At a minimum, good quality 850W PSU like the Corsair AX860 or Seasonic SS-860XP2. Though something like the Seasonic X-1250 1250W would not necessarily be a bad idea for your type of system.

Does using a bigger power supply than you actually need matter at all?

No, not at all.

 

[Quartz-1]

If your budget can be significantly flexible upwards, you might look at the Intel Xeon E7v2 processors.

And I suggest an external USB optical drive. One that you can put away where it won't be affected by dust.

 

[rastaban]

Your biggest concern is Haswell-E. It certainly looks that your budget will be able to handle DDR4. Integrated USB 3.0 and 10x SATA III ports are a huge plus in my book, but it depends on your usage. Also, PCI-e 3.0 is officially supported. It should be launching in Q2, so the wait will be over soon.

Don't bother with AIO liquid coolers. The fans they come with are usually very loud. You're better off with a high end air cooler and then upgrading the rest of your case fans with something a little more exotic. I recommend the Multiframes (120mm) and BlackSilentPros.

Another option for RAM is 2 of these kits:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231558
Same price, lower latency than the Kingstons.

But your budget is tempting to push a little higher. For a bit more, you can get two of these kits:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231628
Don't mind the tall heat spreaders, the extensions are removable. CL7 at 1600 MHz is pretty much the limit at that clockspeed. It's pretty insane considering the DIMM's are 8 GB and run that tight at 1.5V. Now I don't know how much of a difference this will translate to in your real world applications (maybe 5% over CL9?) but it's worth mentioning that it gets harder to run memory at tight timings as you increase capacity and add more DIMMs, so perhaps it is worth the additional cost to you.

...or just wait for DDR4.

 

[jophde]

Thanks for all of the feedback. If I decide to go water cooling I will do it the real way. Is the Overclocking forum a on [H] a good place to start learning? I just think it's badass and something I always wanted to do.

The Intel Xeon's look so sick as well. Being server processors I bet the Linux support is good. I will probably stay away from server parts for this build though. I have interest in doing a vm server build down the road and getting a static IP so that I can just host my own stuff out of the cloud so maybe then.

Would it be a good idea buy a 4930K and x79 board used? Being a few years old native Linux support should be pretty good compared to the new Haswell part coming out this year I think. I am thinking I could just throw a usb 3.0 card on it. I also don't use a ton of drives, just an SSD and an HDD so I only need a couple SATA III ports. How big of deal is the PCI-3 3.0 support since I am getting a Titan Black? Maybe I should just wait for Haswell-E though since big Maxwell might be out by then.

Thanks for all of the help. This has been super helpful.

 

[Quartz-1]

You mentioned watercooling for its quietness. If you can do without overclocking, then I can heartily recommend the Nofan CR95 CPU cooler. See my sig for my full spec.

 

[rastaban]

You mentioned watercooling for its quietness. If you can do without overclocking, then I can heartily recommend the Nofan CR95 CPU cooler. See my sig for my full spec.

There's no way a Nofan will be sufficient for a 130W IVB-E. Your 3770S is only a 65W part. The OP also wants to OC so a real cooler is a necessity.

 

[tenub]

You mentioned watercooling for its quietness. If you can do without overclocking, then I can heartily recommend the Nofan CR95 CPU cooler. See my sig for my full spec.

Contrary to popular belief, quality watercooling is anything but quiet. Unless you do like 3 quad rads or something with no fans and somehow find a quiet pump.

 

[jophde]

If I went the Intel Xeon E7 v2 route what is good board and case? I have no idea about server parts. Having 48 threads would be god like. If I got a couple of 4k Selki monitors I could easily run a tablet/phablet/phone emulator for every Android SDK level to do builds and tests against ha.

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for all of the feedback. If I decide to go water cooling I will do it the real way. Is the Overclocking forum a on [H] a good place to start learning? I just think it's badass and something I always wanted to do.

Yes, especially the Water Cooling subforum.

Would it be a good idea buy a 4930K and x79 board used? Being a few years old native Linux support should be pretty good compared to the new Haswell part coming out this year I think. I am thinking I could just throw a usb 3.0 card on it. I also don't use a ton of drives, just an SSD and an HDD so I only need a couple SATA III ports. How big of deal is the PCI-3 3.0 support since I am getting a Titan Black? Maybe I should just wait for Haswell-E though since big Maxwell might be out by then.

No considering that 4930K and the X79 isn't technically outdated, EOL, or being replaced any time soon

If I went the Intel Xeon E7 v2 route what is good board and case? I have no idea about server parts. Having 48 threads would be god like.

That route would not be good for you at all since A) you plan on overclocking and B) you plan on using SLI. Most server motherboards do not support overclocking or SLI for very obvious reasons.

 

[jophde]

Please delete.

 

[jophde]

I am probably going to pull the trigger on an IB-E build. My thinking is that I will never use 10x Sata III ports, DDR 4 will be expensive and buggy, and while 8 cores would be nice 6 is still sick. I also think that Linux support will likely be much better on the IB-E system at least to start. My only dilemma now is now is trying to figure out how much the price on these parts will drop when Haswell-E comes out. I could definitely wait for a big discount.

CPU:
Here is where my build is at right now:
Intel Core i7-4930K Ivy Bridge-E 3.4GHz LGA 2011 130W 6-Core Desktop Processor BX80633i74930K

MOBO:
ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-19200CL10Q2-64GBZHD

SSD(s):
2x SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

HDD;
WD BLACK SERIES WD4003FZEX 4TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

GPU:
EVGA GeForce TITAN BLACK Superclocked Signature w/G-Sync Support 6GB GDDR5 384bit Dual-Link DVI-I DVI-D HDMI DP (06G-P4-3793-KR) Graphics Cards 06G-P4-3793-KR

Power Supply:
SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM3 Active PFC F3) 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

Case:
Phanteks Phanteks Enthoo Series Primo Aluminum PH-ES813P_BL Black w/ Blue LED Aluminum faceplates / Steel chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case

CPU Cooler:
Phanteks PH-TC14CS_BK 140mm UFB (Updraft Floating Balance) CPU Cooler

Optical:
ASUS Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS

OS:
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro - 64-bit - OEM

Are the Samsugn 840 Pro SSDs still the way to go or should I be looking at PCI-e drives?

Am I pick a good memory kit? I am also considering ddr3 1600 with 7-8-8-24 timings.

Right now the build is at $4k. Is there any chance it moves below $3k when Haswell-E comes out?

 

[Dangman]

Honestly, not that good of a build and you're overspending as it is now.

Let's go down the list:

So far you have not stated anything that would make justify the extra $196 for that motherboard over the Sabertooth X79 mentioned earlier. So I still recommend the same Sabertooth X79 mobo mentioned earlier:
$311 - Asus Sabertooth X79 Intel X79 Motherboard

RAM wise, overpriced for what it is. With Intel setups, lower timings and/or higher frequency really do not matter. In other words, in a three way battle between CAS 10 DDR3 2400, CAS 7 DDR3 1600 and CAS 10 DDR3 1600 RAM, they effectively perform the same to the naked eye/feel. So I recommend this RAM instead:
$512 - 8 x Kingston HyperX Blu KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

I highly doubt you'll notice enough of a difference between the RAM sets I linked above and the one you chose that'll justify the extra $238.

That Black drive really isn't worth it from both a performance standpoint and storage standpoint. For $40 less, you can get 2TB more space and add a tiny bit of data survivability by splitting the data across two drives:
$220 - 2 x Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Stick with the Samsung Pro drives.

HSF wise, for $10 less, you can get a far better cooling liquid AIO:
$55 - Cooler Master Seidon 120V Liquid Cooling System

So for $484 less, you're basically getting the same performance and roughly the same quality.

 

[jophde]

Thanks for the feedback! I made most of the adjustments. I think I want to stick with Rampage IV mobo. The sound card sounds like it's really high quality. It also has 6 SATA III 6.0 GB/s connections compared to to just two on the Sabertooth. If I run out of space on the OS drives I plan on just adding more 840 Pros in Raid 0 until I hit the 6. So, down the road I could have 2x 256 in Raid 0 for Windows, 2x 256 for Arch Linux (development), and maybe even 2x 25s for SteamOS or some other combination. I really like your idea of putting the storage HDDs in Raid 1.

It also has 4x PCIe x16 slots which I assume would be better for for quad SLI if I ever got that. I doubt I would but... I also really like the onboard wireless and bluetooth since this machine might end up in the living room some day hooked up to a UHD TV. Hopefully I would be able to stream back to my office PLP setup with a netbook and SteamOS or GStream.

I also really like how the Rampage Black looks and end of life Asus boards are pretty legendary. It seems to me that it gets you most of the way to x99 without the impending DDR 4 disaster with it's extra SATA III and USB 3.0 ports.

 

[Dangman]

Still all rather poor justification for that Rampage: The onboard sound is still nowhere near the level of a dedicated sound card like Asus' own $80 Xonar DX sound card. Not to mention that you need good quality speakers or headphones in the first place to justify the purchase of a sound card.

The extra SATA 6.0Gb/s are not native Intel ports and are powered by an Asmedia controller. So it's not going to be as fast as the Intel controlled SATA 6.0Gb/s ports. That's the main reason why Haswell-E's exta SATA 6.0Gb/s matter in a sense: They're actually native SATA 6.0Gb/s ports and not some cheap controller. Not to mention that neither RAID 0 or the actual SATA 6.0Gb/s affects the real performance driver for SSDs: the random read/write speeds. So in other words, in every day use, you more or less won't be able to tell the difference between a SATA 6.0Gb/s and a SATA 3.0Gb/s port unless you're constantly transferring files to the OS SSD from another SSD.

As for the onboard wireless and blue-tooth, they're not features you're using now. Nor is it completely locked down that you're going to turn this into a HTPC one day (an overkill one at that). So why pay for them something you're not going to use? Especially since it's really easy and relatively cheap to add better/more up-to-date wireless/blue-tooth adapters later on.

So at the end of the day, you're basically $200 for better looks, slightly better onboard sound, slightly theoretically better storage performance, and features you might not end up using. Doesn't sound like a good idea IMO.

 

[jophde]

After some thought I think you are right about the board. I will go with the Sabertooth and just upgrade to wireless/bluetooth/sound/sata as a I need it.

My thinking with the HTPC is that the desktop would be hooked up to a 4k TV in my living room and if streaming technology was good enough I could stream to my Macbook Pro (Bootcamp) in my office that is hooked up to monitors.. This is a long way away though. I could also go the other way and have the rig in my office and stream to a box in my living room. From what I can tell you can't stream to a higher res though.


I think i am going to just scratch the storage drives/optical/32gb of ram for now. I have a lot of NAS storage for now now and I haven't used discs in years. When I actually find I need more than 32gb I will upgrade. I ran the numbers on my workflow and I should only need about 24gb to run an emulator for every Android SDK and build the OS source.

With those cuts it brings the price of the build down to about $3300 after tax and shipping which is right on budget. I still can't decide if I want to wait for X99 or not. I guess I could always get this then sell the mobo/ram/cpu and upgrade to Broadwell after things have stabilized.

 

[Krazy925]

I think i am going to just scratch the storage drives/optical/32gb of ram for now. I have a lot of NAS storage for now now and I haven't used discs in years. When I actually find I need more than 32gb I will upgrade. I ran the numbers on my workflow and I should only need about 24gb to run an emulator for every Android SDK and build the OS source.

With those cuts it brings the price of the build down to about $3300 after tax and shipping which is right on budget. I still can't decide if I want to wait for X99 or not. I guess I could always get this then sell the mobo/ram/cpu and upgrade to Broadwell after things have stabilized.

I don't know if this has been asked but why the Titan Black (I did a quick search)? You could purchase 2 GTX 780s, probably close to 3 if you bought used. Are you using the card for its prothusiasts attributes or only because it is new and shiny?

Also because of the price of ddr4 being high on release of x99 I think waiting will require additional waiting because of high release window prices. the g10 bracket is neat (I have one) but it is rather unfulfilling and looks pretty trashy with huge NZXT symbols all over it.

 

[jophde]

I want the Titan Black because of the 6GB of VRAM and 780 TI performance in games. I also want to play around with CUDA programming. Also, the Titan Black seems to sell out instantly so I am sure the resale is great. If a 6GB 780 TI I came out I would probably jump on that though.

 

[jophde]

http://www.evga.com/articles/00830/

I just found out about this and signed up to be notified. I will probably pull the trigger on this build with the eVGA 780 Ti 6GB once I get notified about it.

I am still interested in messing with CUDA eventually when I need it. Could I run an Nvidia Tesla alongside one, two, or three 780 Ti 6GB if I picked one up in the future? I know Teslas are more expensive but when I need that kind of massive concurrency I wouldn't mind paying for a separate card that would probably stomp a Titan Black. I am assuming I could just run a mix of cards and hook the SLI 780s up to a different input on my monitor than the Tesla.

 

[Cerulean]

I've got an unopened box of G.Skill DDR3-1600 64 GB kit (8x8GB) I could sell you

 

[jophde]

Sent you a PM.

 

[Krazy925]

http://www.evga.com/articles/00830/

I just found out about this and signed up to be notified. I will probably pull the trigger on this build with the eVGA 780 Ti 6GB once I get notified about it.

I am still interested in messing with CUDA eventually when I need it. Could I run an Nvidia Tesla alongside one, two, or three 780 Ti 6GB if I picked one up in the future? I know Teslas are more expensive but when I need that kind of massive concurrency I wouldn't mind paying for a separate card that would probably stomp a Titan Black. I am assuming I could just run a mix of cards and hook the SLI 780s up to a different input on my monitor than the Tesla.

Would you mind throwing up what items you plan on buying again or is the list on the other page *fairly* accurate?

 

[jophde]

Here is my updated build. I just filled in a 3 GB 780 Ti for now. Supposedly the new 6 GB is launching at $550! I will just put all the parts up I will potentially get. I might nix the hdds and optical drives. Cerulean has a great deal on a ddr3 1600 cas 10 64 gb kit that I will probably go with as well.

CPU:
Intel 4930K

RAM (I will probably buy Cerulean's 64 GB. I would consider cutting this to 32 GB otherwise:
Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 cas 10

Mobo:
Asus Sabertooth X79

Windows/Gaming SSD:
Samsung 840 Pro 512 GB

Arch Linux/Dev SSD:
Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB

Storage(2x in Raid 1):
Seagate Barracuda 3TB

Case:
Phantek Entho Series Primo

PSU:
Corsair RM850

CPU Cooling:
Cooler Master Nepton 140XL

Optical:
Asus BD/DVD Burner

The eVGA 780 TI 6GB isn't out quite yet and the Titan Black is never in stock. It's between those two cards though.

 

[jophde]

evga 780 6gb step up

Could someone explain to me how exactly this works again? I am assuming that I would just need to buy a GTX 780 3 GB now and then I can step up to the 6 GB when it comes out in a month or so?

 

[Cerulean]

Informative must-read for Adobe After Effects & CUDA:
http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/AfterEffects.htm

CUDA benchmarks (includes Titan and 780 Ti):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-780-ti-review-benchmarks,3663-14.html

 

[Dangman]

I am still interested in messing with CUDA eventually when I need it. Could I run an Nvidia Tesla alongside one, two, or three 780 Ti 6GB if I picked one up in the future? I know Teslas are more expensive but when I need that kind of massive concurrency I wouldn't mind paying for a separate card that would probably stomp a Titan Black. I am assuming I could just run a mix of cards and hook the SLI 780s up to a different input on my monitor than the Tesla.

AFAIK, that plan is not possible since (well in the case of Windows 7 anyway) you can't run two different drivers from the same manufacturer. I.e you couldn't install both the GeForce and Quadro drivers even when you had a GeForce and Quadro card installed.

PSU:
Corsair RM850

Not a good PSU at all:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/11/13/corsair_rm750_750w_power_supply_review/#.UzO9ifldVWw

The eVGA 780 TI 6GB isn't out quite yet and the Titan Black is never in stock. It's between those two cards though.

Now that I think of it, I don't think you need that much VRAM. 3GB is quite enough. THe two games you've mentioned so far (CS:GO and SC2) aren't exactly games that would require more than 1GB of RAM even at that high res.

evga 780 6gb step up

Could someone explain to me how exactly this works again? I am assuming that I would just need to buy a GTX 780 3 GB now and then I can step up to the 6 GB when it comes out in a month or so?

Exactly that. You just pay the cost difference between the two cards.

 

[jophde]

Well the main reason I only play SC2 and CS:GO is because I only have a MBPR and it struggles a bit at 2560x1600. I plan moving to Titanfall, BF4, and Planetary Annihilation after I upgrade.

I will fix the power supply.

 

[Dangman]

Well the main reason I only play SC2 and CS:GO is because I only have a MBPR and it struggles a bit at 2560x1600. I plan moving to Titanfall, BF4, and Planetary Annihilation after I upgrade.

Even then, the GTX Titan Black still wouldn't be a worthwhile option. I highly recommend waiting for the GTX 780 TI 6GB. While still more than necessary, it's technically a far more cost-effective option than any of the titans.

 

[jophde]

Do you think I would be fine buying a regular eVGA GTX 780 3 GB now and stepping up the eVGA GTX 780 6B? The Ti doesn't seem to be coming until June so I am worried that it would be out of my stepup range of 90 days.

 

[SpeedyVV]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc I also want to be able to game on my 20/30/20 PLP setup.

You cannot game across a PLP setup. I had that setup for a few years and loved it, but gaming was mostly on the centre 30" Dell.

Some of the older DX9 games can use a hack to make it work, but not all games worked and was a trial and error thing.

Too bad, because to me the Dell 20/30/20 setup was in my opinion the perfect setup for everything I did, including games that supported it.

My old 20/30/20 gaming setup, but also used for development.

 

[jophde]

Yea sorry I forgot to mention that I have pretty much accepted I will only be gaming on the center 30. I agree this is the best setup. I won't upgrade until I can get a 50 inch 4k 16:10 curved OLED Monitor that can be sectioned in software to be PLP.

I do plan on upgrading to a 4k TV at some point in the near future and plan on using this build on it from time to time when I want to game on a controller. Will 2x regular GTX 780s 6GB be enough for this? I think I am going to buy a eVGA GTX 780 3GB and step up to 6GB when it comes out. Then buy a second card when i get the 4k TV. Do I really need a 780 TI 6GB?

 

[Cerulean]

How much video editing do you plan to do, and are you doing it with Adobe After Effects / Premiere Pro or with AViSynth scripts, MeGUI, and x264 via command line? I haven't done research on others like Sony Vegas, but with Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro they're very dependent on CUDA and more VRAM is good.

 

[jophde]

I don't do much video at all. I was mainly interested in the Titan Black to actually write CUDA software. I think there would be a lot to learn about hardware and concurrency. I am pretty sure nothing I currently do will sped up by CUDA though. I do heavy Android development meaning I need to have about 15 - 30 virtual devices running to handle testing different SDK levels and device types hence the ram and hex core. I do some light Photoshop work and will probably rip BluRays/DVDs with the machine. Besides that it's other types coding and gaming plus general computer use.

 

[SpeedyVV]

To do CUDA development you don't need a Titan. The Titans would be good for running CUDA code in an operational environment to run faster.

Based on what you said, a 6GB 780 plus another one later would be enough.

 

[Cerulean]

Ah, well then in that case I'd save some money and stick with the 3GB VRAM cards. ;o It's important to evaluate that applications and purposes if you technically even need that much VRAM. For something like Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro it would be useful, but -- unless I am wrong and if I am wrong please point it out -- for typical developmental things such as the things you have identified, it would be wasted. It's also known that as far as gaming goes 6GB VRAM doesn't really benefit enough to justify the costs.

 

[jophde]

I have heard that it will be useful for future games at 1600p and I do plan on moving to 4k TV as soon as the Vizio P Series comes out in a few months.

 

[Cerulean]

I have heard that it will be useful for future games at 1600p and I do plan on moving to 4k TV as soon as the Vizio P Series comes out in a few months.

Then if you can afford the 6GB VRAM cards, go for it.

 

[jophde]

I am pretty certain I am going to buy eVGA GTX 780 3GB then step up to the 6GB. The 6GB isn't supposed to cost any more when it comes out. It's supposed to be $550.