$4,000 gaming/editing build

Processor: Intell 3930K …...................................................................$569.99

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme .........................................$449.99

RAM: G.Skill Trident X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) ….................................$279.99

Graphics Card: 2 EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified 4GB ….........$1,159.98

Sound Card: ASUS Xonar Essence STX …..........................................$189.99

SSD Boot Drive: 2 OCZ Vector Series 256GB SATA III .......................$579.98

1394b Card: Rosewll PCIe 1394b Card …..............................................$44.99

Power Supply: Corsair AX860i …........................................................$229.99

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black OEM Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D ....$69.99

Total: .................................................................................................$3,574.89

 

I want opinions on the build but mostely i want suggestions for cases. i'll be using an H100i (or Swiftech 220 if it's out when i order everything) so keep that in mind when suggesting cases. and i was wonder if anyone had any experience with the Samsung S27B970D. i know it'll be great for editing and color correcting, but is it good for gaming?

you shure that AX860I is going to be enough juice? 

For sli 680's its like 1000W + reccomended so will it actually draw that mostly no but to be safe I would get a large wattage powersuppy also make shure not to skimp on 80+ 

the corsair AX860i is 80+ Platinum... that's about as high as it goes. and i don't plan on running a tun of hard drives. so 860 watts is enough. getting a 1,000 watt PSU would make the buil less efficient. i'd be drawing alot of pawer from the wall for no reason.

hold on I can make one better, also just because it is a 1000w PSU does not mean it will draw 1000w all the time, it draws however much the system is using, it just means the system can use up to 1000w if it needs to

Okay, I'm leaving this to giga. He's got this :)

now this will have an 16 thread beast for editing as well as 32GB of 1866 ram with 4 more ports to upgrade later to 64GB

I went 78$ over with the -30$ promo code with the PSU, yes 750w is enough power, the CPU is 150w and each of the GPUs use 200w last time I checked 150+200+200 was 550w and at 90% effeciency the PSU provides 675w, 125w more than it needs, you have 2 more cores than the 3930K so thats great for editing, I don't imagine much you can't play with 2 4GB 680s SLI'd

I know you're thinking "how is that 64$ air cooler going to cool a 150w 8 core i7", well that 64$ air cooler is on par with the H100 and is 40 bucks cheaper, it has both heat pipes and vapor chambers to effectivly cool the CPU

I highly suggest investing in some 140mm and 120mm fans to outfit the case will, you got 550w of heat you need to move

fans types I suggest

thanks alot for the help. i'll probibly end up changing the PSU out for a Corsair, i don't trust rosewill and i'll probibly try to grab a nicer case. if i'm gonna be spending this much money on on somthing i'm most likely gonna have around for years i want it to look nice. but i really appreciate the feed back :)

hmmm, been looking at the ASUS P9X79. it's LGA2011 but everything i'm finding on it says it's no compatible with Xeon processors. infact i can't find a single socket Xeon compatible mobo, they're all dual socket.

Single socket Xeon boards are mostly green pcb and not worth the jump unless you really need the power and the buget is there.

also that ASUS board is ugly if you are out for features then its great but it is one of the nastyest board I have ever seen.

 

try dual xeon

xeons are socket 2011 the only difference is they don't support ECC ram, dual sockets isn't really practical for a 4000$ budget that is for BOTH gaming and editing

what is ECC RAM?

and can i run that Xeon in the Asus motherboard i originally listed?

server ram, it refreshes the memory every so often, its supposed to be super reliable as far as data integrety, nothing you need.

Lol, Gigabuster and I always have different philosophies when it comes to builds. I love it.

This is what I would go with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ykef

I do like the fans that Gigabuster picked out. The SP120's will be great for radiators and heat sinks, while those Xigmatek fans should be excellent case fans.

ok, thanks guys. gonna work on an updated parts list and i'll post it in a few days. i'm still waiting for some cash to come in so not in a big hurry and i want this to be perfect

You could always add another RAM kit down the line for 64GB too if you decide you need that much. You might want to go with the NZXT Kraken X60 instead of the Corsair H100i as long as it fits in the case. The Kraken should cool the CPU better.