4790K/GTX 970 Rig Help

[oparin]

Hello Guys, i've been checking this forum for a long time and now i decided to register.

I'm planning to build a PC around a I7 4790K and a GTX 970, and i would like to use the Samsung PCI-E SSD.

What would be a cost effective build, im plannig on spending:

CPU Core i7 4790K => 340.00 USD
GPU Geforce GTX 970 => 350.00 USD
MB Asrock Z97 Extreme6 => 160.00 USD
Samsung XP941 128 GB => 130.00 USD

total ~1000 USD

I have a Cooler Master Elite 333 case and a Corsair 550VX Power Supply, from my old Phenom II X4 965 and Radeon 5850 i guess they'll do.

Is there anything that could be improved in this price range?

how is the boot to M.2 SSD working right now?

Wich are the good versions of the GTX970?

Is there another motherboard in this price range that has the M.2 slot?

 

[Burpo]

I would skip the m.2 drive and get an MX100 256Gb for less money.
However if still inclined to m.2 this is probably a better motherboard choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-713-_-Product

What RAM are you using?

Also, new article by Gamespot this morning"GTX 970 is the GPU Bargain of the Year"
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/review-nvidias-gtx-970-is-the-gpu-bargain-of-the-y/1100-6422522/

 

[oparin]

I would skip the m.2 drive and get an MX100 256Gb for less money.
However if still inclined to m.2 this is probably a better motherboard choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-713-_-Product

What RAM are you using?

Also, new article by Gamespot this morning"GTX 970 is the GPU Bargain of the Year"
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/review-nvidias-gtx-970-is-the-gpu-bargain-of-the-y/1100-6422522/

This motherboard seems like a good choice, but isn't the performance of the xp941 superior to the MX100? i couldn't find real world comparisons only benchmarks, and i know that it doesn't always mean the real world performance is going to be that great.

For now i'm going to use 4x2 GB DDR 1600 ram from my Phenom build, the motherboard died (Asus M4A785TD-V Evo), I sold the CPU and GPU.

I'll read the article.

I know M.2 was a pain to get to use as boot drive, is that solved now?

I also have a Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB to install programs and 2 1TB plus a 3 TB HDD for data, so i think 120 GB is enough for Windows and the most used programs.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Is this a gaming/general use computer? You won't notice a performance difference for your usage scenario going from a cheap SATA III SSD like an MX100 to a costly PCIE SSD. Get a 256GB SATA III SSD for the same $$$ you were going to spend on the PCIE model. You seriously won't notice the difference. You might lose a second or two of your life every day but I don't think that's worth spending >$1/GB on storage. That's absurd IMO.

 

[oparin]

The use will be General/CAD/Gaming, but what i do is not GPU heavy on CAD, more CPU, i have used a W7000 and the image quality is better but performance is limted by cpu on what i do anyway, so i rather spend 350 in a 970 than 700 on a W7100.

I may stay on my 840 EVO then, perhaps getting more ram.

 

[Termie]

Just as a heads up, your old Corsair power supply may not properly support Haswell's low voltage sleep states, which will lead to crashes during sleep.

 

[mfenn]

I agree with the other posters here. Stick with your existing 840 EVO because the PCIe SSD isn't worth the minimal benefits in your use case. Putting that money towards 16GB of RAM will improve your CAD experience by a greater margin.

Here's what I would go with:

i7 4790K + ASUS Z97-A combo $465
Mushkin DDR3 1600 16GB $143
MSI GTX 970 $350
Total: $958

GTX 970 stock is really thin on the ground right now, but I expect that it'll improve on Monday or Tuesday as more shipments arrive.

 

[oparin]

Guess that's what i'm going to do, keep the 840 EVO and get 16 GB of ram, Thanks for the help.

The PSU is compatible (at least there are reports of that), it's a CMPSU-550VX, never gave me any headaches and was reasonably cheap.

The games i play the most today are Starcraft II, Diablo 3, after i sold my parts i only have a laptop with hd4000 so i don't have much choice. I like fps games but playing on low fps gets me VERY frustrated.

CAD Softwares: Siemens NX, NX Nastran, SolidWorks.

Other programs: Powerdirector, Mathcad Prime.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Get 2133Mhz RAM. Barely more expensive (if at all) than 1600 and Haswell scales very well with faster RAM. You can gain a couple of FPS for free.

 

[Jumpem]

Get 2133Mhz RAM. Barely more expensive (if at all) than 1600 and Haswell scales very well with faster RAM. You can gain a couple of FPS for free.

Can you select a higher memory speed without over clocking the CPU?

 

[mfenn]

Get 2133Mhz RAM. Barely more expensive (if at all) than 1600 and Haswell scales very well with faster RAM. You can gain a couple of FPS for free.

You should provide links to support both of these statements. There are some good deals on DDR3 2133 right now, with it being about $15 more than a comparable DDR3 1600 kit.

However, saying that Haswell scales very well with faster RAM in a discrete GPU scenario like the OP's is wrong. There is barely any difference in gaming, even when you run a test at low resolutions (to remove GPU bottlenecks).

 

[oparin]

Well, if i was only going to game, i would buy a i5 and a better GPU. If i can find a good price for a faster memory i will definitely get it.

But i can save valuable time in Finite Element Analysis with a better CPU, i even considered the 5820K, but the motherboard and ram are too expensive right now.

Even a i5 2300 is enough for most games on a high resolution and image quality.

 

[mfenn]

Well, if i was only going to game, i would buy a i5 and a better GPU. If i can find a good price for a faster memory i will definitely get it.

Here's the same memory benchmarks for some compute loads. You can see that any benefit from faster memory (if any) is hidden inside the margin of error. Finite element methods basically boil down to solving linear systems of equations, which are computed with simple loops that are relatively easy for the CPU to predict and pre-fetch, so memory speed usually isn't the bounding factor.