New Build - Input Requested - $3,000 Budget

[abraham linksys]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming and work. I generally don't do any video/image editing and if I'm going to watch movies I prefer to do it on my TV.

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

~$3,000 for computer AND peripherals

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA, unless it's cheaper and easier to order parts from outside the USA. I'm an Amazon Prime member, so I'd like to take advantage of free two day shipping to the extent possible. I'm also currently getting between 3-5% back on Amazon purchases with credit card rewards, so all else being equal I'd prefer to go through Amazon.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

No real brand preferences, but I do prefer to have matching peripheral brands to the extent possible.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

The only "parts" that I have are a two terabyte external hard drive and a printer. Otherwise, the PC is being built from the ground up.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Default, unless overclocking is simple and has minimal risks.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?

I was planning on two 24" monitors at 1920x1080, but it depends on recommendations in this thread.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Within the next two weeks. However, I may consider waiting until the end of November if the conventional wisdom is that black friday brings great deals on computer hardware.

The current plan for the build is:

Computer:

Case: NZXT H440 ($119.00) (Newegg)
CPU: Intel Core i7 5820k ($389.59) (Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI X99S Gaming Motherboard ($273.99) (Newegg)
Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 2666 ($319.99 - $15.00 coupon = $304.99) (Newegg)
SSD : 500GB Samsung 840 Evo ($238.02) (Amazon)
GPU: MSI GTX 970 4GDT5 ($339.99) (Amazon) (currently out of stock)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 750W ($79.99 - $20.00 rebate = $59.99) (Newegg)
Cooling: NZXT Kraken X61 280mm ($139.99) (Newegg)
Wireless Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 ($28.99) (Newegg)
Bluetooth Adapter: AZiO BTD-V201 (12.99) (Newegg)

Peripherals:

Monitors: Dell U2414 ($276 x 2 = $552) (Amazon)
Stand: Dell MDS14 ($155) (Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair K95 ($135.99) (Amazon)
Mouse: Corsair M95 ($64.99) (Amazon)
Mat: Corsair MM600 Dual Sided Gaming Mat ($39.99) (Amazon)
Headset: Corsair Vengeance 2100 Headset ($90.00) (Amazon)
Speakers: Harmon Kardon Soundsticks ($229.95) (Amazon)

Misc: Windows 8.1 64 bit ($90.00) (Amazon)

Grand total before tax/shipping: ~$3,270

I'd like to get the price down some if possible. If not, I guess I'll just blow the budget. There are some obvious items up for discussion:

Monitor Stand - I prefer the looks of a single stand for both monitors and I'd also like to save desk space. I've found cheaper stands that do the same job but the Dell is the only only one I've found that's semi stylish and doesn't look like its made out of cheap plastic. I wouldn't mind using an arm that can attach to my desk, but all the ones I've seen attach with a clamp and the clamps are never big enough to attach to the back of my desk (which is approximately 6 inches long).

Speakers - I'm not much of an audiophile and this is an area where style is winning out over substance. I need wireless speakers that are good (but not necessarily great) quality and look nice. I've searched but haven't found anything I've liked as much as the Harmon Kardons, but I'm willing to sacrifice some in this area if anyone has alternative recommendations.

Cooling - I've heard that water cooling is more or less necessary for the NZXT H440 because it doesn't have great airflow. Could I get away without water cooling if I don't plan on overclocking? Are there better cooling solutions than the Kraken that are cheaper?

Any other advice/recommendations?

 

[Defenestration]

It's unlikely you'd need water-cooling unless you're overclocking, but a decent aftermarket cooler would be recommended.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Any other advice/recommendations?

For a 3k build, my first reaction is that you're spending an awful lot on RAM, and surprisingly little on your GPU(s). Additionally, you're spending a lot on buying into the x99 platform if you're not even planning to OC it.

If you're mostly gaming, gaming on dual monitors isn't really a good idea...the "center" will be at the monitor junction. I'd go with 3x monitors for a surround gaming set-up, for which you'll almost certainly want SLI/XFire GPUs to push high FPS, or a single nice monitor to game on combined with a 2nd less expensive (but still good) monitor for non-gaming multi tasking. For the monitors, I would either:
1) drop the $155 stand, pick up the U2414 at $275, and then pick up a dell p2315 for $155 as a 2nd'ary.
2) Toss both monitors and the stand for a 27'' 2560x1440: either a dell u2713hm for $550 or an asus PB278Q for $460

Right now you're spending $1400 on peripherals, so I'll assume you've got $1600 for the main build. Here's another pass at that:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling ACFZ13 36.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($115.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Dark Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($77.09 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Tri-X Video Card ($402.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($75.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($13.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $1327.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-04 12:03 EDT-0400

You even have some money left over. You could, for example:
1) upgrade to the scary-fast i7-4790k
2) Add another intake fan to the case
3) Upgrade to a higher end CPU cooler for improved OC'ing potential, or for quieter max speeds. The 350D is compatible with 280mm rads like the H110, or the kraken x61.

Anyway, I think this is a more efficient use of funds. It includes a better PSU, some non-ssd storage for your game library, and a more efficient CPU/MoBo combo.

 

[abraham linksys]

Thanks for the input. I'll end up using the computer more for work than I will for gaming, and dual monitors is a must for my job. To the extent I'm playing games, I'll likely only utilize one monitor.

My idea behind going for X99 was just that it's more future proof if in a few years I decide to upgrade. If it's not worth it, then I suppose I can go with a 4790k, a cheaper motherboard and save a bunch by not having to invest in DDR4 ram. Am I missing out on that much speed by going with a 4790k instead of a 5820k?

 

[nsafreak]

Thanks for the input. I'll end up using the computer more for work than I will for gaming, and dual monitors is a must for my job. To the extent I'm playing games, I'll likely only utilize one monitor.

My idea behind going for X99 was just that it's more future proof if in a few years I decide to upgrade. If it's not worth it, then I suppose I can go with a 4790k, a cheaper motherboard and save a bunch by not having to invest in DDR4 ram. Am I missing out on that much speed by going with a 4790k instead of a 5820k?

That really depends on what your work entails. Gaming wise you're not going to see much (if any) of a difference between a 4790K and a 5820K. However if the applications you use for work are heavily multi-threaded then you could see a difference between the two. We would need more information as to which applications you use for work before knowing for sure though.

 

[Jumpem]

Thanks for the input. I'll end up using the computer more for work than I will for gaming, and dual monitors is a must for my job. To the extent I'm playing games, I'll likely only utilize one monitor.

My idea behind going for X99 was just that it's more future proof if in a few years I decide to upgrade. If it's not worth it, then I suppose I can go with a 4790k, a cheaper motherboard and save a bunch by not having to invest in DDR4 ram. Am I missing out on that much speed by going with a 4790k instead of a 5820k?

Not at all. I would go 4790k.

 

[abraham linksys]

That really depends on what your work entails. Gaming wise you're not going to see much (if any) of a difference between a 4790K and a 5820K. However if the applications you use for work are heavily multi-threaded then you could see a difference between the two. We would need more information as to which applications you use for work before knowing for sure though.

I don't imagine anything that I do for work would be that CPU intensive. I just need the ability to have lots of documents open simultaneously.

If it doesn't make a difference for gaming, I think I'll go with the 4790k and forget about X99.

 

[Essence_of_War]

more future proof

I'll reiterate the usual refrain here that the only way to be future proof is to save money and spend it on things in the future 😛

Am I missing out on that much speed by going with a 4790k instead of a 5820k?

See for yourself:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1260?vs=1320

The 4790k is clocked to 4GHz, with turbo up to 4.4 GHz out of the box. It's missing two cores, but unless you spend like, the majority of your time time video encoding, or some other easily parallelized tasks, the faster single threaded performance from the 4790k makes it a very competitive choice. The i5-4690k is quite competitive also, and is a good price/perf recommendation, especially if you're planning to OC.

 

[Defenestration]

The 4690k has been found to be slightly faster for gaming than the 4770k for some reason, but now that the 4790k is out I would go with that if you don't decide to go with the 5820k.

BTW, for hyper-threading, I've found that each hyper-thread "core" is roughly equivalent to 25% processing power of an actual core, although that's just a rough figure.

 

[mfenn]

For a 3k build, my first reaction is that you're spending an awful lot on RAM, and surprisingly little on your GPU(s). Additionally, you're spending a lot on buying into the x99 platform if you're not even planning to OC it.

If you're mostly gaming, gaming on dual monitors isn't really a good idea...the "center" will be at the monitor junction. I'd go with 3x monitors for a surround gaming set-up, for which you'll almost certainly want SLI/XFire GPUs to push high FPS, or a single nice monitor to game on combined with a 2nd less expensive (but still good) monitor for non-gaming multi tasking. For the monitors, I would either:
1) drop the $155 stand, pick up the U2414 at $275, and then pick up a dell p2315 for $155 as a 2nd'ary.
2) Toss both monitors and the stand for a 27'' 2560x1440: either a dell u2713hm for $550 or an asus PB278Q for $460

Right now you're spending $1400 on peripherals, so I'll assume you've got $1600 for the main build. Here's another pass at that:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling ACFZ13 36.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($115.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Dark Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($77.09 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Tri-X Video Card ($402.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($75.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($13.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $1327.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-04 12:03 EDT-0400

You even have some money left over. You could, for example:
1) upgrade to the scary-fast i7-4790k
2) Add another intake fan to the case
3) Upgrade to a higher end CPU cooler for improved OC'ing potential, or for quieter max speeds. The 350D is compatible with 280mm rads like the H110, or the kraken x61.

Anyway, I think this is a more efficient use of funds. It includes a better PSU, some non-ssd storage for your game library, and a more efficient CPU/MoBo combo.

I agree with this build, except that I would stick with a GTX 970 for $350 or GTX 780 for $340 (preference for GTX 970 but stock is thin on the ground right now). The 290X isn't worth the heat, power, and noise in the face of the GTX 900 series and deep discounts on the GTX 780's.

 

[Cerb]

Gigabyte's Windofrce GTX 970 also has a much higher TDP limit than most, for little added cost. So if the OP were to want to OC the video card, it can get the best performance with minimal effort. Otherwise, MSI (looks like the Twin Frozr model is all-around a better one) and Asus Strix pretty much have it down for quietness.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I agree with this build, except that I would stick with a GTX 970 for $350 or GTX 780 for $340 (preference for GTX 970 but stock is thin on the ground right now). The 290X isn't worth the heat, power, and noise in the face of the GTX 900 series and deep discounts on the GTX 780's.

I'd agree if we were talking about reference designed R9-290x's, but while the Sapphire's Tri-X design obviously draws the same amount of power, it isn't nearly as loud, nor do its core temps run as high.

But that being said 970s, 780s, and even 780Ti's are well positioned right now. EVGA has a 780Ti for only $420 AR, and that will edge out an R9-290X in everything but possibly 4K, for a 5% price bump. Not bad at all.