Gaming and media centre build.

[Tropics]

I have pieced together this build which is to be built in about a week. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas about some modifications it would be cool to hear them.

It will be used as a media computer and eventually hooked up to a 4K projector for movie/TV watching and gaming (mostly heavily modded Skyrim). My goals were for it to be high powered for gaming on large displays at max settings and for the computer to be extremely silent when watching movies in a dedicated projector/media room.

CPU:IntelCore™ i7-4930K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 12MB Cache ($649)
Motherboard: AsusRampage IV Black Edition w/ Quad DDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, GB Lan, Wi-Fi, 4-Way CrossFireX / SLI, OC Panel ($529.99)
Memory: GSkill TridentX Series 16GB PC3-19200 Dual Channel DDR3 Kit (2 x 8GB) X2 ($209 X2 = $418)
Video: EVGAGeForce GTX 780 Ti Dual Classified 3GB PCI-E /w ACX Cooler, Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort X2 SLI ($799.99 X2 = $1599.98)
Heatsink: Corsair Hydro Series H110 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler ($129.99)
SSD (OS) : Samsung840 EVO Series Solid State Drive, 500GB ($289.99)
SSD (Storage) : Samsung840 EVO Series Solid State Drive, 1TB ($479.99)
PSU: CorsairAXi Series AX1200i Digital Modular Power Supply ($349.99)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 Enthusiast Case, Titanium Grey ($109.99)
Total: $4557 (Canadian dollars)
The case fans are all getting switched out to Noctua which will add a bit more expense.

 

[DSF]

I think you're spending TONS of money on numbers rather than performance. You could build a computer that's just as powerful for literally half the price.

1) It's a nice processor, but for 4k gaming you're going to be GPU-limited all day every day. You could step down to a lesser i7 without missing a beat.

2) Unless you actually plan to expand to quad-SLI you should stick to a motherboard that's around $200 or less. Motherboards have precious little impact on performance so the deciding factors are really expansion slots and peripheral ports above anything else.

3) Same basic idea with the memory. There's almost no benefit to such high-speed RAM, so you could go with DDR3-1600 to save a big chunk of change without any issue. Also, unless you know something I don't, 16GB is more than plenty for gaming. I would start there and expand later if you actually have the need.

4) As mentioned in another recent thread, the price premium for the 780 Ti really isn't worth it compared to graphics cards that are 90% as fast and only 50-60% as expensive unless you're OK with routinely buying super-expensive cards to maintain the level of performance.

5) All-in-one water cooling generally loses out to high-end air, even in terms of noise. If you want to build a water cooling system that is really worth the money set up a custom loop. The good news is you have the budget to do that if you so choose.

6) I wouldn't bother with one SSD for the OS and one giant one for storage. True "storage" doesn't need that blazing fast SSD response time and I'd rather have 3-4TB of spinning disk space for a media PC than 1TB of solid state. That said, you know your storage needs better than I do, and if 1TB is enough that's your call. SSDs also offer complete silence which spinning drives don't.

7) Even for a high end build your PSU is overspecced and overpriced. You would be more than fine with something like 850W, which should be less than half the price of that 1200W. Again, you'll have to adjust that if you are actually planning on going quad-SLI.

 

[Ken g6]

I think you're spending TONS of money on numbers rather than performance.

Basically, everything DSF said.

The other problem is that Skyrim is basically a two-threaded game. HT does nothing for it; neither will six cores. You need GHz and lots of it. So let's start over.

CPU: Probably a 4690K. No HT, but you can clock it really high. Actually, a Pentium G3228 wouldn't be a bad choice for Skyrim, and would run cooler, but you might want to play other games. I wouldn't blame you if you stepped up to the 4790K either, but if you do, turn HT off.

Mobo: Really your choice. I'll start with a suggestion for an ASRock Z97 Extreme 4, but still largely up to you.

Memory: 16GB DDR3-1600 will be more than enough. Unless you're trying to do something crazy like a gaming ramdisk.

Video: This gets interesting. HardOCP suggests two 4GB 290Xs over two 6GB 780s at 4K. Note that both have more RAM than the card you picked. In the past, Gigabyte Windforce 3-fan cards have run away with the cool-and-quiet awards. So here's a Gigabyte 290X 4GB. True, a blower would be better for Xfire/SLI, but blowers aren't quiet. So get lots of quiet case fans, I guess.

Heat sink: Apparently the H110 doesn't fit in that case. Although it is quiet. But an H55 does a pretty good job too if you want water cooling.

SSD : You won't miss any performance difference getting a HX100.

"Storage": Videos really do play back just fine from a HDD. Even a slow one. And slower drives are likely to be quieter than fast ones.

PSU: One thing AMD GPUs aren't known for is power efficiency. But I selected a 1KW PSU from Be Quiet! that should...well...at least for playing videos, and should cost about half what yours does.

Case: That's a good case. 🙂

So here's the build I put together on CA.PCPartPicker:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.98 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($57.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($154.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($224.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.79 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($509.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($509.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Titanium Grey) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: be quiet! Power Zone 1000W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($189.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $2281.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-27 15:25 EDT-0400

 

[Tropics]

I think you're spending TONS of money on numbers rather than performance. You could build a computer that's just as powerful for literally half the price.

1) It's a nice processor, but for 4k gaming you're going to be GPU-limited all day every day. You could step down to a lesser i7 without missing a beat.

2) Unless you actually plan to expand to quad-SLI you should stick to a motherboard that's around $200 or less. Motherboards have precious little impact on performance so the deciding factors are really expansion slots and peripheral ports above anything else.

3) Same basic idea with the memory. There's almost no benefit to such high-speed RAM, so you could go with DDR3-1600 to save a big chunk of change without any issue. Also, unless you know something I don't, 16GB is more than plenty for gaming. I would start there and expand later if you actually have the need.

4) As mentioned in another recent thread, the price premium for the 780 Ti really isn't worth it compared to graphics cards that are 90% as fast and only 50-60% as expensive unless you're OK with routinely buying super-expensive cards to maintain the level of performance.

5) All-in-one water cooling generally loses out to high-end air, even in terms of noise. If you want to build a water cooling system that is really worth the money set up a custom loop. The good news is you have the budget to do that if you so choose.

6) I wouldn't bother with one SSD for the OS and one giant one for storage. True "storage" doesn't need that blazing fast SSD response time and I'd rather have 3-4TB of spinning disk space for a media PC than 1TB of solid state. That said, you know your storage needs better than I do, and if 1TB is enough that's your call. SSDs also offer complete silence which spinning drives don't.

7) Even for a high end build your PSU is overspecced and overpriced. You would be more than fine with something like 850W, which should be less than half the price of that 1200W. Again, you'll have to adjust that if you are actually planning on going quad-SLI.

1) The alternate processor I was looking at was the i7-4790K. For gaming and the media it would be a better choice. The only thing is I "might" end up using this computer for doing some Petrel or Surpac 3D modeling and if/when that takes place the 6 core processor would actually be a benefit.

I plan on overclocking the processor to a point where it is still stable and relatively cool at load.

2) I was very close to putting a 3rd video card into it right off the hop and if I end up with struggles using a 4k projector I will likely get another card or two to make things run better. I was not sure on the MOBO really as opinions vary so much and seem largely subjective. There does not seem to be the one board everyone agrees does it all "the best". I do like the temperature monitoring display that the one I have in there atm gives you and the easy overclocking features.

3) The RAM I was completely stumped on. I have read many reviews on whether faster/OC RAM is even a benefit and the benchmarks I have seen seem to indicate that there is no real benefit to the faster clock speeds. That said at $209 for 16GB's those chips are not really much more expensive then 1866 RAM here in Canada. I would drop down to 1866 if they would actually result in more stability and result in similar performance. I will be honest, when it comes to timings and such on RAM I am at a loss as to what is better and if there really is much of a difference between one RAM chip and the other. AKA 1866 Corsair Dominator at $255 for 16GB's, are they only better at overclocking to extreme levels? That is not something I would be doing, the RAM will likely stay stock speeds for me.

4) For the video cards I do want to get close to the top. I skipped the Titan Blacks because it does not look like they are much of a step up from the overclocked 780's. The loss of the extra memory is the thing I wish I could avoid, if only 780 Ti's existed with 6GB of onboard memory... At $799/card those are $400 cheaper then a Titan Black and $800 cheaper in SLI. I went with these because they seem the best of the slightly cheaper, yet still right at the peak of performance, cards.

5) I want to avoid custom water cooling with a reservoir and all that jazz. I move around on occasion for work and my computer moves with me and I don't want the hassle of a finicky water cooling system and the potential for it to leak.

6) I went with the second SSD for storage because I want zero sound from the hard drives. My last computer had a SSD for the OS and a spin drive for storage and it ticked me off every time I clicked on the storage drive and heard it kick in and waited for the delay as it got up to speed. It was also the loudest thing in an otherwise fairly silent rig. I also like the added benefit of less weight from the SSD and the fact that it will take up less space in the case and allow for more air flow. I am done with spin drives, for large amounts of storage beyond what the SSD provides I am going external.

7) I tend to like to overkill the PSU. I have had issues previously when speccing my PSU to my power needs. I have found over-specced PSU's that are running way below capacity tend to ultimately be more reliable. Maybe I was just unlucky, but from experience I have found 1000 watt power supplies have an easier time running a 800 watts required computer then a 850 watt power supply would and ultimately last longer. Plus as mentioned above, I am not totally sure an extra GPU or two might not be needed down the road and suddenly that power supply becomes necessary.

Thanks for the help. I am definitely not sure on the processor to ultimately go with and the RAM is still totally up in the air. It is also not really my favorite MOBO but I have had a tough time really finding one board everyone raves about that has everything one could need.

 

[escrow4]

I'd actually keep the 1TB SSD(s). I have 2 - one for the OS, one for scratch in my work box. I'd also keep the 780 Ti and consider the GHz edition (I bought one myself). The rest I would downgrade - the CPU is pointless; a locked 4790 is sufficient (you wanted silence not overclocking the stuffing out of a CPU with piles of fans) with a Z97 board for the features/ports (Z97X-UD5H "BK" is solid), 16GB 1600MHz RAM is sufficient, and I'd adjust the PSU to a Seasonic Platimax 750w or so. I'd use a Noctua heatsink and bypass watercooling as well.

 

[mfenn]

:thumbsup: to what the others have said. The build in the OP basically looks like you went for all the biggest numbers. However, the only thing that methodology is good for is overspending on a PC.

I want to reinforce a couple of points:
- The GTX 780 Ti's don't make sense compared to R9 290X's. The two setups trade blows depending on the game, but the GTX 780 Ti SLI config costs $600 more. AMD also has better scaling on the R9 290 series with XDMA and 4GB of VRAM.
- You can set your HDDs to stay spun up all the time in the Windows power configuration. A couple of quiet HDDs will certainly be inaudible over a dual-GPU fire-breather.

 

[Wild Thing]

CPU is too expensive and so is the SSD for storage WTf?😵
Mobo is also too pricey.

 

[chusteczka]

7) I tend to like to overkill the PSU. I have had issues previously when speccing my PSU to my power needs. I have found over-specced PSU's that are running way below capacity tend to ultimately be more reliable. Maybe I was just unlucky, but from experience I have found 1000 watt power supplies have an easier time running a 800 watts required computer then a 850 watt power supply would and ultimately last longer. Plus as mentioned above, I am not totally sure an extra GPU or two might not be needed down the road and suddenly that power supply becomes necessary.

Yes :thumbsup:

You want a power supply large enough for the system consumed power to be 50% - 80% the capacity of the power supply.

Google - computer power supply efficiency curve

 

[mfenn]

Yes :thumbsup:

You want a power supply large enough for the system consumed power to be 50% - 80% the capacity of the power supply.

Google - computer power supply efficiency curve

Notice the bottom end of that curve. You want the PSU to to be in the ~80% range when fully loaded so that the PSU is still reasonably efficient when the machine is idle.

If you spec for 50% utilization at full load, then you're going to be down below 10% when idle, which leads to horrible inefficiency. Since PC's spend 95% of their time idle, that leads to overall lower efficiency.

 

[chusteczka]

Notice the bottom end of that curve. You want the PSU to to be in the ~80% range when fully loaded so that the PSU is still reasonably efficient when the machine is idle.

If you spec for 50% utilization at full load, then you're going to be down below 10% when idle, which leads to horrible inefficiency. Since PC's spend 95% of their time idle, that leads to overall lower efficiency.

Interesting perspective. Hadn't thought of that. :thumbsup:

 

[Tropics]

Welp, I did alter some stuff after all and cut down on the price quite a bit.

I went for a 4790k processor instead of the 4930k and saved a few hundred there. Most of the stuff I will do will do better with this chip. I got an Asus Z97 Deluxe Mobo and saved a hundred and change on that and got some more future proofing with SATAe and M.2 support.

I kept the ram at 2400, TBH the price difference between that and the 1600 or 1866 is virtually non-existent. I got each 16gb set for ~$190 Canadian due to price matching which is pretty much identical with the slower clocked ram prices.

I looked into the other GPU's but TBH on high settings the 780 Ti Dual Classified pulls way above the 290's and from most reviews I have read and forums that chat about it Nvidia and SLI have WAY better driver support then crossfire and AMD. Plus the NVidia supposedly run cooler and quieter as well.

I dropped the heatsink to a H105 as the H110 would not fit in the case, the H105 fit like a glove.

 

[mfenn]

I'm not sure what sites you were looking at, but data from respected sites like Anandtech and Guru3D suggests that you are wrong about performance. The (less expensive) R9 290X CFX configuration keeps up with GTX 780 Ti, closing the gap as resolution increases. FCAT analysis also shows that XDMA-equipped CFX setups like the R9 290X are just as good as SLI in terms of frame pacing.

I'm glad that your build went well, just make sure that you're making your decisions based on the right data. 🙂