Time for a New Build

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NExUS1g

Gawd
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
554
To give you an idea where I'm starting from, I currently have an i7 920 @ 3.6 GHz with 6 GB of RAM and 2x GTX 580s (this will be going to my wife).

I want to change to extremely high-resolution gaming (triple monitor setup). I currently have a Samsung 2233rz, and I LOVE 120Hz gaming. I typically don't like dropping below 85 FPS in my games as that's about the point when I start noticing declining smoothness from 120 FPS. The higher I stay above 120 FPS and away from drops below 85 FPS, the happier I'll be with the build (I honestly don't know if I can do a triple setup with 120 Hz monitors). I also from time-to-time use NVidia 3D Vision and am planning on checking out the new Oculus Rift.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Game development including 3D modeling, design and compiling. Intense gaming (I like setting everything to max without having to worry too much about the performance). Video editing and encoding. 2D imaging using large files for large-format printing.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Don't worry about the cost, just try to meet my expectations as best as possible.

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

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.
Motherboard, RAM, CPU, video cards, PSU, hard drives, case, monitor(s), Blu-Ray burner (3D support), cooling (liquid preferred for OCing).

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I'm not reusing any parts.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I would like to do 3 panels for a total resolution of 5760x1200 (at 120Hz if possible)

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next four to six months.

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.
I have an iPad, and I would like to be able to charge it through my system's USB so high-powered USB 3.0 is a must (10 watts would be best if it's available). SLI/CrossFire depending on the video card array you recommend, 32- or 64-GB RAM support. I like running my games on a RAM Drive, and I want that to be future proofed for larger games as best as possible. (I suspect with new consoles on the horizon, games will be increasing in file size and the largest games now are pushing about 20GB with some a little over that.)

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I already have Windows 7 64-bit. I would be interested in Windows 8 depending on the feedback I get. I've heard that it is a "lighter" OS in regards to its overhead on system resources, but I'm not sure of the validity of the rumors I've heard.
 
As much as I would love to build you a SLI Titan setup with your unlimited budget, the fact that you want to build in four to six months would be pointless for me to give you a list of items right now.

So come back in 4 months when you're ready to buy everything with that unlimited budget and I'll gladly build the best system money can buy to get your triple display to 120 FPS @ 120 Hz.
 
NExUS1g said:
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next four to six months.
Click to expand...
You're planning this build too early then. The parts we recommend today won't be the same parts we recommend 1-2 months from now let alone 4-6 months now. Especialy considering that there will be new CPUs and GPUs coming out within that time frame. Not to mention changing pricing and availability of parts.

Then again even if you were planning on building today, I'd still recommend waiting another 1-2 months as current Intel CPUs do not offer that much of a justifiable performance increase over your current i7 920 @ 3.6Ghz to justify the purchase/upgrade costs. One to two months from now is when Intel is releasing their newer, faster, and new socket requiring Haswell CPUs.

So in other words, please come back when you're no more than one month away from buying all the parts and 1-2 months from now.
 
Thanks for the heads up regarding new CPUs coming out. I wasn't greatly thrilled by the reviews I was seeing on processors currently available, but my system is starting to lag behind a little bit with BF3 dropping in the 80s.

I always make these forums my first stop when I'm building a new system and take the advice into consideration as I carefully plan out my build. It's been my experience that it's usually a few months later before I settle on a build and order the parts from the time I post here. I'll review the new Intel chips when they come out and post again later.
 
I'll probably be back before a few months' time. After the Haswell benchmarks, OC data and all that are up later next month.

I know what you're trying to say, "Don't come here until you're ready to buy," but I don't buy quickly. If I come back and ask in a few months, then I still will mull over the purchase and tweak the build for a few months after I get all the advice from here.
 
Yeah we are saying that, but do you know why we say that?
 
Because technology changes, I imagine is why you say it.

With all due respect, this isn't my first rodeo. I've been building systems for the last 20 years starting with a 486 dx4. The thing is that when I'm not looking at upgrading, I don't keep up with everything that's out there. That's where you come in. You can help mitigate the amount of learning I have to do on my own, provide knowledgeable feedback and personal experiences and you have more knowledge of the available information out there that I've not kept up with (e.g. Haswell). In short, I have a buying process and this forum is a part of that buying process, but what it isn't is the alpha and omega of my buying process. I hope this doesn't come across as too douchebaggy, but I thought I should outline my expectations and the role you're actually filling in my plan.
 
I'm refreshing this posting for some ideas to help me with this build since the Haswell is now out and we have some benchmarks to go on. Thanks in advance.
 
Here's a quick and dirty build:
4770K
Some Asus Z87 Motherboard
4 x 8GB of DDR3 1600 RAM rated at 1.5V
GTX 780 SLI
256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD
Corsair AX750 or Seasonic X750 PSU
Corsair H100i Liquid AIO Cooler

Of course, if video games are on the bottom list of priorities after all of the usage scenarios you listed in the first post, then swap out the CPU and motherboard for the Core i7 3930K and Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard
 
Danny Bui said:
Here's a quick and dirty build:
4770K
Some Asus Z87 Motherboard
4 x 8GB of DDR3 1600 RAM rated at 1.5V
GTX 780 SLI
256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD
Corsair AX750 or Seasonic X750 PSU
Corsair H100i Liquid AIO Cooler

Of course, if video games are on the bottom list of priorities after all of the usage scenarios you listed in the first post, then swap out the CPU and motherboard for the Core i7 3930K and Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard
Click to expand...

Why a 780 SLI over a TITAN SLI?

Regarding OC'ing, will any Asus motherboard not choke any OC'ing features?

Would 750W truly be enough for an OD'd SLI system with water pump and all?

Why 1600MHz RAM instead of something like 2666MHz?

In regards to the last bit, I would say most important is saving time rendering video, but it doesn't look like any current options are going to save a huge amount of time either way -- maybe 10 seconds or so off the top.
 
I would say wait to see if those 8 core sandy bridge-e rumours are true.

And for triple screen at 120Hz, nothing less than 3 Titans would do acoording to some of the comments on the Nvidia threads.
 
NExUS1g said:
Why a 780 SLI over a TITAN SLI?
Click to expand...
Because GTX 780 SLI is more cost-effective. If money is absolutely no object, then go for the Titan SLI.
NExUS1g said:
Regarding OC'ing, will any Asus motherboard not choke any OC'ing features?
Click to expand...
I would start at the Asus Z87-A and look higher.

NExUS1g said:
Would 750W truly be enough for an OD'd SLI system with water pump and all?
Click to expand...
For the setup that I listed, yes. But for a Titan SLI setup, go for the 850W versions of the PSUs I listed. If you're going to go with the Core i7 3930K route and GTX Titan SLI, then go for the Seasonic Platinum-1000. If you want to go tri-SLI with those titan cards, look at the Seasonic X-1250.
NExUS1g said:
Why 1600MHz RAM instead of something like 2666MHz?
Click to expand...
Because with Intel platforms, there's little to no performance improvement with RAM speeds over DDR3 1600 RAM. The only difference you'll see between DDR3 1600 RAM and DDR3 2400 RAM are in unrealistic synthetic benchmarks.
NExUS1g said:
In regards to the last bit, I would say most important is saving time rendering video, but it doesn't look like any current options are going to save a huge amount of time either way -- maybe 10 seconds or so off the top.
Click to expand...
I think the difference is larger than that betwen the six-core HT having Core i7 3930K and the quad-core HT having Core i7 4770K.
 
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