Help with new system spec please

[sjuk]

Hi all,

I am about to spec a new system and would like some advice on the choices I have made so far please

Firstly, I am probably going to buy a pre-built system rather than build one myself purely for warranty purposes. The system's "day job" is for my business and I really need on-site warranty if any component fails but can cope with collect and return - I have backup systems.

I am based in the UK and am looking at the 3xs systems from http://scan.co.uk plus systems from http://cclonline.com and http://overclockers.co.uk - I realise that overclockers UK don't offer on-site but, at a pinch, I could cope with their collect and return warranty.

Anyway, I have a budget of between £1800 and £2000 and my uses are as follows :

I don't need monitors/keyboard/mice etc...

HOW I RUN AT THE MOMENT :

I run a dual monitor setup (both running 1920x1200) for my daily needs.

In the daytime my system is used as a workstation and the average work session (I am a coder) will see, perhaps, Notepad++ open with maybe 10-15 documents. Outlook 2010 with 15 different email accounts. Maybe 2 instances of Firefox with about 10 tabs on each and the same with Chrome. FTP is usually running with active connections to 5-10 sites. Skype is always running with normally around 5 conversation windows open (and very regular calling and desktop sharing). Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks will usually be open as well and possibly Word and Excel 2010. There are always one or two random folders open and I run Avast and Spybot. Google drive is always active too. I often also have a WAMP stack running for testing PHP code.

By night I want to game. I would love to be able to play modern games at 1920x1200 at high detail settings. When I game, I only game on my primary monitor (full screen) but my secondary monitor is usually left running Skype and bits and pieces just in case I am needed.

HOW I *MIGHT* WANT TO RUN IN THE FUTURE (not essential) :

I am considering upgrading my monitors to 2560 x 1440 or possibly 2560 x 1600 BUT I would still only want to game on the one primary monitor (at full res). The primary motivation for upgrading would be to get more desktop real estate for my day to day work.

--------

Other notes :

I want the system to be as quiet as possible during my "day job" but I am not overly worried when gaming as I tend to wear headphones.

I want to order this asap but am unsure if I am going down the correct road with the configs I have chosen and would appreciate some advice please.

Config 1 - Cheapest and leaves me some money to spend on a new tablet :

Corsair Obsidan 550d case
Asus Maximus VII Ranger MB
i7 4790k OC'd to 4.6Ghz
Corsair H100i Cooler
16Gb Corsair Vengance Pro RAM 2133Mhz
Single EVGA GTX 970 SC card
750W Corsair RM PSU (Modular)
500Gb SSD Samsung 840 Evo system drive
2Tb Seagate Barracuda Storage drive
Basic DVD-RW
Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit SP1
Warranty : 3 years - 1st year on site and years 2 and 3 RTB
£1663

Config 2 - Next one up - SLI graphics

Same as config 1 above (exactly) apart from 2 x 970 cards in SLI
Warranty : 3 years - 1st year on site and years 2 and 3 RTB
£1945

Config 3 - Highest level (is it needed?)

Corsair Carbide 500r case
MSI X99S SLI Plus MB
i7 5930k OC'd to 3.8Ghz
Prolimatech CPU Cooler
16Gb DDR4 RAM 2133Mhz
Dual SLI 970 Graphics cards
1000w Super Flower 80+ Gold PSU
500Gb SSD Samsung 840 Evo system drive
2Tb Seagate Barracuda Storage drive
Basic DVD-RW
Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit SP1
Warranty : 3 years - Collect and Return
£2177

 

[DaveSimmons]

Just my opinion of course:

I'd never use an overclocked system for 9-5 day work. 99% stable with a 1% chance of corrupted work isn't the odds I want.

Maybe you need 2 systems and a KVM switch? Overclocked gaming-only system, stable stock system with a low-end graphics card.

 

[sjuk]

That's a good point Dave! Didn't think of that.

Maybe I would be better going along the lines of a 4790k due to the higher stock frequency?

 

[lehtv]

Maybe I would be better going along the lines of a 4790k due to the higher stock frequency?

That's a good idea IMO. 4.4Ghz turbo at stock is excellent for any gaming system. Not overclocking would allow you to stick to a more mainstream board and cooler, freeing up money for a second 970 which you'll probably want for a maximally smooth 1440p experience (not necessary but definitely not a waste of money either).

 

[Cerb]

Based on your proposed usage, an i7 is quite reasonable, but gaming and Photoshop will account for most of the real CPU load. Most of the rest will primarily either need a little bit of CPU time ASAP (4C8T > 4C4T), RAM space, or SSD latency.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£244.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£32.51 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£97.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£120.64 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 960GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£289.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£278.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (£74.23 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£89.59 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.46 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) (£109.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1401.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-12 23:33 GMT+0000

I get that you're looking to have one built, so take that as representative.

Case: the 550D isn't shabby, but the 500R...I don't know, at least without doing it all yourself.

CPU cooler: good air cooler, and not too dense with the fins. There are multiple Thermalright and Noctua models that would be good substitutes, at a bit higher prices. Assuming the Prolimatech is a Megahalems variant, it will be noisier at any given temperature.

Motherboard: a nice one, and not too expensive. A Maximus would be a waste. Even regular Z97 boards like the above one support SLI.

Video card: the MSI Gaming or Asus Strix would be ideal, for making no fan noise under light load, but also not getting loud under heavier load. One of the EVGAs does that at idle, but the OP does not offer enough info to tell if it's the selected one. If you go SLI, though, you might want to get Gigabyte G1s, or EVGA blower (not ACX), and accept some idle fan activity.

SSD: doing content creation, even if you don't get a big drive like that, do yourself a favor and get a nice speedy MLC model, that will remain speedy even as you write many GBs to it even over the course of mere minutes. Not an issue at all for normal desktop and gaming use, but you're doing more, and the cost difference is not high, in any size class.