Need Suggestions: New Gaming PC - PSU & Mobo

[vladman]

Wanted to see if I could get some opinions on my next build. I'm strongly considering Crossfire, but I'm unsure about my power supply or which motherboard I will use, or case for that matter. I'm an experienced builder, just undecided about the direction I want to go with my next build.

I'm considering the following:

- CPU - Core i7-4790K
- CPU Cooling - Corsair Hydro H110
- Case - Undecided. Something that can easily support the H110. I live close to a Micro Center, so I'd prefer to buy there instead of having it shipped.
- Motherboard - Undecided. Something Z97. I'd prefer around $150 but can go as high as $350 if it has PLX chip for more PCIe lanes. Only will consider ASUS or Gigabyte. Again, Micro Center only.
- RAM - 16GB Crucial Ballistix low profile DDR3 1600, already own, will re-use.
- Graphics - I'm about 85-90% sure I'm going to go with R9 270x Crossfire, since this solution seems to be faster in most games than R9 290x:

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/5...2gb-toxic-video-cards-in-crossfire/index.html

I will however be using this 4GB card x 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202049

- Power Supply - I plan on using my current Corsair RM750. Hopefully that will be enough? I've never Crossfired or SLIed, so I'm unsure about this. Should I go for an RM1000? I like PSU's that have flat modular cables.
- Storage - I plan on getting a Highpoint 2720SGL RAID controller & running a RAID 0 with 4 256GB Crucial M100 SSDs (slip in half for Win 8.1 & games) along with a 750GB 2.5" WD HDD for general storage. Thus my dilemma with a mobo - I need Crossfire plus an 8x PCIe slot for the 2720SGL.

Any recommendations on the PSU & mobo would be much appreciated.

I'm also more that a little concerned about the reliability of AMD R9 series graphics cards. If you browse NewEgg, you'll see all kinds of 2D issues like flickering, although the R9 270x cards seem to have the fewest issues.

 

[nsafreak]

Before I make suggestions I have some questions for you (as the rest of the board does I'm sure)

1) Are you set on water-cooling the CPU? Because frankly nowadays you're typically better off going with an air cooler as many of the perform on the same level (if not better) than even the H110 for a fair bit less money.

2) The R9 270Xs do perform well in the benchmarks on that site, but here's the problem that I have with going CrossFire/SLi: you typically have to wait a while before you get those kinds of results. CrossFire/SLi setups are the minority of the PC gaming community and games are typically not well optimized for them out of the gate. Frankly I only recommend CrossFire/SLi nowadays if you're going with a multi monitor setup where you want to game across 3 or more monitors or if you plan on getting a 4K monitor. Otherwise you're far better off going with a single GPU such as a R9 290X or GTX 780 TI.

3) Going with SSDs in a RAID array frankly is a waste. You'll never see the difference between a single SSD for gaming and a RAID array. Frankly if you have the budget I'd recommend going with a Crucial/Samsung 500GB or even 1 TB SSD if you really want that much solid state storage. 4) Please answer the questions in this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

 

[vladman]

Before I make suggestions I have some questions for you (as the rest of the board does I'm sure)

1) Are you set on water-cooling the CPU? Because frankly nowadays you're typically better off going with an air cooler as many of the perform on the same level (if not better) than even the H110 for a fair bit less money.

2) The R9 270Xs do perform well in the benchmarks on that site, but here's the problem that I have with going CrossFire/SLi: you typically have to wait a while before you get those kinds of results. CrossFire/SLi setups are the minority of the PC gaming community and games are typically not well optimized for them out of the gate. Frankly I only recommend CrossFire/SLi nowadays if you're going with a multi monitor setup where you want to game across 3 or more monitors or if you plan on getting a 4K monitor. Otherwise you're far better off going with a single GPU such as a R9 290X or GTX 780 TI.

3) Going with SSDs in a RAID array frankly is a waste. You'll never see the difference between a single SSD for gaming and a RAID array. Frankly if you have the budget I'd recommend going with a Crucial/Samsung 500GB or even 1 TB SSD if you really want that much solid state storage. 4) Please answer the questions in this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

1) I'm not dead set on water cooling. I'd also consider a very good Noctua cooler.
2) As of now, I have a nice HP 27xi 27" IPS monitor, that I'll consider selling at some point. I think I'd like to game at 2560x1600, maybe even 4k, however 60Hz refresh rate is important to me at the minimum.
3) Your average SSD does 500MB/Sec read, x4 should equal approx 1600-2000MB with overhead in RAID 0, and yes I will notice the difference since I've done it before. Check it out:

http://www.thessdreview.com/our-rev...ing-3gbs-recorded-with-8-crucial-c400-ssds/3/

I may have to re-think this with an Areca controller, which might get better performance.
4)
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
> Mostly gaming, but other general things as well.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
> approx $1600

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
> The good ol' USA

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
We can't be expected to scour the internet on your behalf, chasing down deals in your specific country... Again, help us, help YOU.

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
> High Intel CPU preference, Graphics - whatever is fastest for lowest price, mobo eith ASUS or Gigabyte, SSD same as graphics

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
> Corsair RM750 PSU, 16GB Crucial Ballistix LP DDR3 1600

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
> It's an Intel K CPU - you can probably guess

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
> 1920x1080 now, maybe 2560x1600 or 4K Later

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.
> 1 to 2 months from now (if I can wait that long)

 

[mfenn]

2) As of now, I have a nice HP 27xi 27" IPS monitor, that I'll consider selling at some point. I think I'd like to game at 2560x1600, maybe even 4k, however 60Hz refresh rate is important to me at the minimum.

Like nsafreak mentioned, Crossfire/SLI low end cards doesn't really make too much sense. Multi-GPU setups have frame pacing issues on even high end cards with a lot of resources. Doing it with low-end cards that may hit frame stalls at any time is going to be an overall poor experience. It's even worse for AMD right now since their frame pacing issues are essentially unfixable until all their cards have an XDMA engine like the Hawaii chips (R9 290(X)) have.

You have the budget get a proper setup, so why screw around with something that'll be finicky?

3) Your average SSD does 500MB/Sec read, x4 should equal approx 1600-2000MB with overhead in RAID 0, and yes I will notice the difference since I've done it before. Check it out:

http://www.thessdreview.com/our-rev...ing-3gbs-recorded-with-8-crucial-c400-ssds/3/

I may have to re-think this with an Areca controller, which might get better performance.

There's a huge difference between "can you measure the performance difference in synthetic benchmarks" and "can you see a performance difference in the desired task (gaming)". Nsafreak's answer is spot on. For this machine, you don't need to bother with a RAID card and a bunch of smaller SSDs, just grab a big drive and call it a day.

So, if your goal is overall performance and reliability, my advice is, "don't make it complicated just for the sake of making it complicated". If your goal is to have something to tinker with, then that's a different story.

 

[nsafreak]

Taking in mind the points I have already made, I'm going to stand by them and here's what I would suggest:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($485.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1370.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Your budget really allows for either an R9 290X or a GTX 780 TI, feel free to go with either one I just tend to prefer AMD nowadays but there's nothing wrong at all with nVidia. I also skipped the idea of going with multiple SSDs in a RAID array and just picked a pair for 1TB of storage. I didn't include mechanical HDDs in this build but your budget easily allows for whatever size you need, so get a 2-3TB HDD of your choice. The case really is a personal preference to a degree other options would be the Fractal Design Define R4 and the Nanoxia Deep Silence 4. The PSU you have should be just fine, if you were to get another GTX 780 Ti or R9 290X then I might suggest upping it to an 850 watt but otherwise your current one is just fine. And yes I realize the links are to places other than Microcenter, it's just that PCPartpickr makes the whole parts list put together quicker & easier.

 

[mfenn]

Taking in mind the points I have already made, I'm going to stand by them and here's what I would suggest:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($485.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1370.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Your budget really allows for either an R9 290X or a GTX 780 TI, feel free to go with either one I just tend to prefer AMD nowadays but there's nothing wrong at all with nVidia. I also skipped the idea of going with multiple SSDs in a RAID array and just picked a pair for 1TB of storage. I didn't include mechanical HDDs in this build but your budget easily allows for whatever size you need, so get a 2-3TB HDD of your choice. The case really is a personal preference to a degree other options would be the Fractal Design Define R4 and the Nanoxia Deep Silence 4. The PSU you have should be just fine, if you were to get another GTX 780 Ti or R9 290X then I might suggest upping it to an 850 watt but otherwise your current one is just fine. And yes I realize the links are to places other than Microcenter, it's just that PCPartpickr makes the whole parts list put together quicker & easier.

Nice build! Here are MC links for the CPU, mobo, and case:

i5 4690K $200
GA-Z97X-UD3H $105 after combo with CPU
Corsair 400R $100