Hi-end Build - Help me pick the best!

[Nephi]

I'm looking to build the following for gaming, photography, web design, office work:

BenQ SW2700PT
Intel 6700K
Windows 10 64 Bit
Samsung 950 Pro 512MB X 2
Geforce GTX 980Ti's X 2
Kingston HyperX Fury Black DDR4-2666 32GB
BeQuiet 1000 Watt Platinum
Noctua NH-D15
MSI Z170A Gaming M9
Corsair Carbide 600Q

Roughly $3000 USD

Only the processor has been purchased thus far. I am very open to specific suggestions on any or all parts. Is there anything you would change, add, or recommend?

In particular I'm wondering if I made the right choice as far as an SSD is concerned. It meets my 1TB requirement, relatively affordable at $660, and faster than the Intel 750 and Samsung 850 Pro.

I'm also wondering if I should go with water cooling instead. My experience with water cooling has been poor. I really did not like the Corsair H series. I found Corsair Link to be buggy and the pumps and fans were much louder than the Noctua!

Also, I kinda of just picked that RAM speed at random. Should I go faster?

Will the MOBO I picked work with all my gear w/out any issues or conflicts? Specifically will my graphic cards and dual SSD run at full native speeds?

Lastly, do you think my case will stay cool with all that gear (overclocked 6700K, dual 980s, dual Samsung 950)?

Any advice and feedback appreciated. Like I said I'm open to all advice.

Thanks!

-Brian

 

[theAnimal]

Only a Gold PSU? Should be Platinum at least, and if you're overclocking I'd probably go with 1k.

You didn't mention which case you're using, or what resolution monitor(s).

 

[Nephi]

Only a Gold PSU? Should be Platinum at least, and if you're overclocking I'd probably go with 1k.

You didn't mention which case you're using, or what resolution monitor(s).

Funny you brought up the PS as I was just deciding on what one to buy. I was going to get a BeQuiet 850 Gold Plus. This was based over multiple calculators showing I would be below 800 watts. They did not, however, factor in overclocking.

Should I pony up for a 1000 watt platinum then? That's a lot more $$$

I updated the other missing specs.

Thanks for the feedback.

-Brian

 

[Nephi]

Only a Gold PSU? Should be Platinum at least, and if you're overclocking I'd probably go with 1k.

You didn't mention which case you're using, or what resolution monitor(s).

I updated the build. I was going to buy an Be Quiet 850 Gold PS. Several calculators put me below 800 watts at full load. Think I should upgrade then? A platinum 1K fully modular PS is a lot of $$$$.

-Brian

 

[zir_blazer]

Sad that you already purchased the Processor. That build deserved a Ci7 5820K, as you would feel PCIe Lanes starved otherwise.

Also, the Motherboard specifications says...

2 x M.2 slot*
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards,4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card**

* M.2, SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 1x M.2_PCIe + 6x SATAs or 1x M.2_SATA + 1x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs.

If I read that correctly, only ONE Samsung 950 Pro would work since the other is a SATA M.2, not PCIe.

 

[Nephi]

Sad that you already purchased the Processor. That build deserved a Ci7 5820K, as you would feel PCIe Lanes starved otherwise.

Also, the Motherboard specifications says...



If I read that correctly, only ONE Samsung 950 Pro would work since the other is a SATA M.2, not PCIe.

Here's the dual SSDs I want to use:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-950-5...id=1450849606&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+950+pro

I don't know enough about the MOBO or SSDs to interpret the specs. Does it look like I won't be able to use both? If so, is there a MOBO that supports the dual SSDs? Preferably one that has a better audio solution than ALC1150.

Thanks for the feedback. I would have been bummed if I bought the wrong parts!

-Brian

 

[Erithan13]

I feel the dual 980s are not the right route to be taking with a gaming build right now,for a few reasons. Firstly SLI game and driver support can be flaky and depending on the resolution and framerate you're targeting the second card may be a complete waste. The second thing to consider is that next year a new generation of gpus are launching that will bring vastly improved performance, this time next year the 980ti is not going to be nearly as impressive as it is just now. It's said a lot round here but I'd advise going for a single card (980ti or 970/R9 390) and putting the money aside until the new gpus are here, you'll get far better bang for the buck.

The 6700k may be the better choice over the 5820k depending on how heavily threaded your applications are, there's still a surprising amount of photography software that is only single threaded. 5820k vs 6700k when both are overclocked is very much a wash, the 5820 excels at heavy multitasking/multithreaded work, the 6700k edges it in single thread performance and is cooler as well.

For storage, although you have a high budget I wouldn't recommend the 1TB SSD unless you're absolutely sure you will benefit from it. If it's going to be half filled with photos you'd get much better value from a smaller SSD and a large HDD for the photos. Games definitely benefit from a SSD for loading times although it's fairly easy to keep only the games you're currently playing on the SSD and the rest on the HDD and swap them from one to the other as needed. 2666 mhz is fine for the RAM although again I'm questioning if you really need 32GB, there's no point in getting that amount for the sake of it, you need to know if you'll benefit from it otherwise it's throwing money away.

I have broadly similar needs to you and I went for a 6700, 16GB ram and a single gpu with the expectation I'll upgrade when the new generation gets here. Storage is 250GB SSD + 4TB SSHD. This cost far less that your current build and would be fine for you unless you're chasing very high resolutions in gaming or need the extra SSD/RAM space. I think the current build is on the overpriced/overbuilt side for your use and you shouldn't feel like you have to spend $3k on it just because you can.

If you did decide to go for the 5820k I'm sure you could sell the 6700k for a great price since the supply is so limited at the moment.

 

[Nephi]

I feel the dual 980s are not the right route to be taking with a gaming build right now,for a few reasons. Firstly SLI game and driver support can be flaky and depending on the resolution and framerate you're targeting the second card may be a complete waste. The second thing to consider is that next year a new generation of gpus are launching that will bring vastly improved performance, this time next year the 980ti is not going to be nearly as impressive as it is just now. It's said a lot round here but I'd advise going for a single card (980ti or 970/R9 390) and putting the money aside until the new gpus are here, you'll get far better bang for the buck.

The 6700k may be the better choice over the 5820k depending on how heavily threaded your applications are, there's still a surprising amount of photography software that is only single threaded. 5820k vs 6700k when both are overclocked is very much a wash, the 5820 excels at heavy multitasking/multithreaded work, the 6700k edges it in single thread performance and is cooler as well.

For storage, although you have a high budget I wouldn't recommend the 1TB SSD unless you're absolutely sure you will benefit from it. If it's going to be half filled with photos you'd get much better value from a smaller SSD and a large HDD for the photos. Games definitely benefit from a SSD for loading times although it's fairly easy to keep only the games you're currently playing on the SSD and the rest on the HDD and swap them from one to the other as needed. 2666 mhz is fine for the RAM although again I'm questioning if you really need 32GB, there's no point in getting that amount for the sake of it, you need to know if you'll benefit from it otherwise it's throwing money away.

I have broadly similar needs to you and I went for a 6700, 16GB ram and a single gpu with the expectation I'll upgrade when the new generation gets here. Storage is 250GB SSD + 4TB SSHD. This cost far less that your current build and would be fine for you unless you're chasing very high resolutions in gaming or need the extra SSD/RAM space. I think the current build is on the overpriced/overbuilt side for your use and you shouldn't feel like you have to spend $3k on it just because you can.

If you did decide to go for the 5820k I'm sure you could sell the 6700k for a great price since the supply is so limited at the moment.

I was actually thinking about a single 980ti for now so I think that's the route I will go. I do use 32MB on some occasions when dealing with several 42MB Sony A7R II files so I think I'll stick to that for now.

I'm stuck on the storage though. I'm going to use a plug in drive for all my photos and long term storage so I'd like fast storage in my actual build, hopefully around 1TB. That being said it looks like dual 950s won't work with my MOBO. This stuff is all new to me so I just don't know enough to know wither or not it will work.

Can anyone confirm/deny the mobo will work and suggest an alternative? Should I just forgo dual 950s and instead get a 950 and an 850? I would be very grateful for feedback!

Regarding the processor most of the software I use is single threaded (PS, LR, many games) so I think a 6700K would be a better fit. I have not opened it so I think I can return it to Newegg.com though. Surprisingly, the 6700K does not appear to be that much faster than my current overclocked 4770K.

Thanks for the feedback! Any help with the SDD in particular would be great.

-Brian

 

[Nephi]

I spoke to MSI. They were, how do I put this, less than knowledgeable.

They said that I could use both cards natively however I would lose two of the SATA ports by doing so. With 6 ports I don't see this being an issue.

Like I said they did not seem overly knowledgeable on the subject however. Hopefully someone with more info on this topic can chime in.

So the issue is can dual Samsung 950s be used natively, at full speed, w/out an adapter with the following board:

http://www.msi.com/product/motherboard/Z170A-GAMING-M9-ACK.html#hero-specification

Thanks guys!

-Brian

 

[theAnimal]

I updated the build. I was going to buy an Be Quiet 850 Gold PS. Several calculators put me below 800 watts at full load. Think I should upgrade then? A platinum 1K fully modular PS is a lot of $$$$.

-Brian

Well, the PSU is the most important part in the PC, so may as well get something really good. Personally I'd choose Corsair or EVGA over BeQuiet even though they are also very good.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If you are more partial to gaming then get a monitor that supports 144Hz refresh rate and a low response time like 2 or <