Hello,
This is my first PC that I am going to build. I know that it is a bit overkill but I want to do 1440p gaming at around 55-60 fps and media/web browsing at 1440p. (I have a 1440p monitor). This PC is suppose to last me around 4-5 years so this is why I am going a bit overkill, so I do not have to upgrade in the future. Help and suggestions are extremely appreciated.
Here is my parts list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/KQh6FT
You might want to go with an i7 processor if your planing to have this for another 5 years. I have an i5 3570k in my build and I have recently noticed that in some games mostly cpu bound like guild wars 2 my cpu can get maxed at 100%. IF your only going with 1 gpu in your build you will be fine with a slightly lower wattage power supply try a seasonic 750w gold power supply I have one and its awesome. I also have a 1440p Asus pb278q monitor I paired it with a 970 ftw card and it runs great. The major issue I see is 5 years is an incredibly long time to have 1 graphics card. You might be better off going with a 970ftw card and then in 2 to 3 years upgrade the graphics card, that is an incredibly easy part to upgrade. Then you might have room in your budget for a bigger hard drive and maybe an ssd for a boot drive.
Okay, thank you for your advice. I might have enough room in my budget so if I really wanted to I can squeeze in a low storage SSD. Do you think it would be worth it? If I get it what other things would I put on it other an my OS? And what SSD would you recommend?
I think its worth it everything boots much faster with an ssd. Apart from the os and depending on the size of the ssd you could put all of the applications you use like media player, office, etc and maybe a few games its also nice because you have separation like your os on one and alot of your games on another so if you ever get a virus or your os corrupts you just have to reformat the ssd instead of everything. As for what type I would recommend the Samsung evo works pretty well. I also have a Kingston hyper x in my gaming pc that hasn't let me down
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/8VnQnQ
i7, 980, 16gb ram, ssd, 1tb hdd, good psu (seasonic oem) - no need for overpriced corsair fans - the ones that come with the case are fine. Move the top pre-installed 140 to the front. ~ also under budget
Okay, thank you! If I am just going to put my OS and office or my most used software (Google Chrome, CoreTemp, Speedfan, Razer Synapse) do you think I should go with a 60 or a 120 GB SSD?
Really appreciate the help
Thank you for your advice.
Is the EVGA 850w G2 not good enough of a power supply? The EVGA 850w and the 750w are only seperated by a $15 price point on Newegg, so I just want to a 850w psu just in case maybe in a couple of years that I do want to do SLI 980's then my psu will support it.
Also, is the i7 really worth it if I am not going to be doing any video editing? I have heard that if you are not doing any video editing then the i7 will not be beneficial .The heaviest program that I am going to do will probably be Abode Photoshop.
But again, I will have the PC for around 4-5 years, so I cannot decide.
I dunno how much a 295x2 is in canada, but it's almost as much as a single 980 here. You'd just need a better PSU, and you could totally just run linux*wink* wink and save a ton of money off that windows CD.
Also the HAF XB is like the best case ever, again, dunno how much it would cost over there.
I would go with a 120gb ssd I have one my self and right now with all my applications and stuff Ive used about 80gb. I havent put any games on that drive eather.
You can go with an 850w power supply its fine when I was looking at your build I was assuming your were going with just a 1 graphics card setup without the intention to sli in the future. As for the i7 the reason I recommend it is purely based of of assumption that games will become more demanding and utilize more cores in the future. Right now more and more games are beginning to utilize quad cores who knows what will happen in 2 to 3 years but there are games that recommend i7 cpu so it my become the norm in a few years. Im also a heavy multitasker I run a three monitor set up and at one time may have google open along with teamspeak, steam, google plus, my music player as well as my game open and my i5 gets pushed to the max.
The G2's are fine (they're using a superflower design). Tis a shame the quality of the G2 range doesnt extend to the rest of their lineup. I put the CM unit in the build as it fits the bill, uses a Seasonic design, and was cheaper so as to keep on budget. You'd be very hard pressed to get anywhere near the psu's limit with 2x 980's in the future. I pull just over 200w under full load with my 980 + old oc'd 2700k + full water loop etc.
I7 - yeah, i5 will suffice but if an i7 can be had on budget I know what I'd rather.... also resale value is always higher.
For the next five years wouldn't a non-overclocked core i7 be fine ? Especially at a higher resolution like 1440p you don't need cpu as much.
I mean in the next five years games are going to become more optimized for 4 cores and beyond, so really I think a core i7 should be more than enough, hell I'm expecting my non-overclocked core i5 to last 3-4 years atleast.
That really depends on what games your going to be playing and at what settings.
Arghhhh!!! Who needs things like SSDs or watercooling when you can have 6Cores of Godliness, 3 Ways of SLI, a CPU COOLER that actually cools your GFX cards, and a Powersupply large enough to power a small african village!!!!! (Also going to be I think 2.5-3 years before we see >quad core on mainstream platform).
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/LdLknQ
Also don't have any illussions, going to want to replace those GPUs every 2-3 generations.
EDIT SCREW 2560x1440, get yourself a ~40in ginormous 4K TV!, and get one of them 2GBps NVME M.2 ULTRA SSDs when they come down in price, that can be your SSD :D Oh and two Extra case Fans.. EDIT
If you leave your computer always running you never need to reboot :P, that is what I have done, computer still going strong after like 5 years! Alternatively you can make it sleep when inactive, that reduces the startup time considerably. And the NVME m.2. Ultra SSDs is where it is at, like 4x faster than regular SSDs. It's crazy! It's also expensive but I see that dropping fairly quickly.
EDIT SSDS and watercooling do not really get you extra FPS or performance in gaming, more of a luxury. Have trouble recommending when you can get like an whole extra GFX card for the price. Also in SLI/XFIRE CPU cooler can help if mounted vertically, to extract heat from GPUS and exhaust through top air-vents (particularly as it is drawing air closer to GPUS) EDIT
I thought you were being sarcastic but apparently no...
Who needs SSDs??? Everybody. At this point in time, I wouldn't even recommend a budget build without an SSD in it. They are cheaper now and the performance gains of having your OS on it is too great to pass up. And to address the second comment... Idk about these "ultra" SSDs, but I'd assume they matter little considering the difference is slow with HDD, fast with SDD, slightly faster with... whatever that is in the future. The difference starts becoming unnoticeable.
SSDs don't get you better FPS, correct, but they help your computer in most other ways. Even gaming computers aren't just for gaming. The general usability and satisfactory experience of a computer goes up with the OS on a SSD.
Now for the elephant in the room... please, please never recommend 3 way SLI 970s. Or 980s. It's wasteful, not even wasteful in terms of ever so slightly better FPS, it's completely wasteful. Yes, at 1440p 3 way SLI 970s would have great FPS, but not a godly amount more than 2 way 970s. Diminishing returns hit hard after 2 way and you are spending another times more money. And at greater than 1440p, the choice of graphics card becomes a problem. 4k, for example, can easily use 6+GBs of VRAM if it's a demanding game. Shadow of Morder HD texture pack ultra settings at 4k? Ouch... If you were going to do something above 1440p, I'd advise 2 way 6GB 290x. I can think of no situation in which 3 way SLI is in any way worth it.
Hehehe yeah I also zealously recommended he ditch the 27in 2560x1440 monitor and get an awesome 40in 4K tv instead :p. That is comparable DPI to the U2412M (similar to those Korean 27INs), and like having 4 of them!. Great for productivity aswell with virtual desktop/monitors. Definitely diminishing returns, but more cost effective than the 980s..
Those NVME drives litterally operate at like 2GBps, which is about 4x faster than conventional SSDs. So 125/250/500GB of that is definitely a strong upgrade path. And the 8GB variants of the 290s are going to add $200 EA! to the price of those GFX cards... Alternatively could go with 290s for 4GB of ram instead of 3.5GB. That is definitely and option although they will run hotter and louder!!!
You seem to get reasonable FPS at 4k with the 970s on demanding games like crysis which looks really good. I think you could probably turn the AA down, and maybe one of the settings which makes a small difference and get really nice FPS.... Plus with DX12 Vram may become additive, there is that. In which case you have 10.5GB of it!
All right where do I begin. You forgot to include the os in your build and the cost of the monitor you so zealously recommend. Also 40 inch 4k I'm assuming with his set up he will only be about 3 feet from the monitor so the neck aches will be insane constantly having to crain his head to see everything. Then there is diminishing returns on 3 way sli like Tek_Elf stated. Then there are games that don't support 3 way sli or even 2 way sli so he would have to probably play at non native resolutions which will look horrible. And you never had to reboot in 5 years on a windows machine considering windows comes out with updates pretty much every week that usually require you to reboot your system must be extremely outdated.
Scrap the SSD and get a Velociraptor. For the same price as an SSD you can have a speedy 10k RPM HDD only it is 500GB and has a 5 year warranty.
For the CPU cooler, I changed the AIO to the Noctua NH-D15 since the AIO most likely wont last 5 years.
I changed the RAM to less expensive and 'better' RAM.
The Motherboard is a Gigabyte Black Edition board with Amazing ratings and has passed the 168hr Server grade testing phase.
CPU is I7-4790K so he can do KVM if he wants to.
Changed the Case to the Coolermaster one. Great case for less.
Changed all the fans to Noctua Case fans. High CFM and low price.
Added a fan controller and a 24" 144hz panel.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $385.00 @ Canada Computers
CPU Cooler | Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler | $109.95 @ Amazon Canada
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $168.98 @ Newegg Canada
Memory | Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory | $153.33 @ DirectCanada
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $59.99 @ Canada Computers
Storage | Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive | $156.94 @ shopRBC
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card | $684.99 @ NCIX
Case | Cooler Master CM 690 II (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case | $99.99 @ Memory Express
Power Supply | SeaSonic Platinum 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $204.92 @ DirectCanada
Optical Drive | LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer | $70.98 @ Newegg Canada
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) | $165.98 @ DirectCanada
Case Fan | Noctua NF-P14s redux-1200 PWM 64.9 CFM 140mm Fan | $14.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-P14s redux-1200 PWM 64.9 CFM 140mm Fan | $14.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-R8 redux-1200 21.1 CFM 80mm Fan | $11.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan | $13.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan | $13.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan | $13.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan | $13.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan | $13.99 @ NCIX
Case Fan | Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan | $13.99 @ NCIX
Fan Controller | NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller | $29.99 @ Memory Express
Monitor | BenQ XL2411Z 144Hz 24.0" Monitor | $289.99 @ NCIX
Other| fan y spliter cable| $3.98
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $2740.92
| Mail-in rebates | -$30.00
| Total | $2710.92
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-03 13:15 EDT-0400 |
The Velociraptor is another options he can go with though an ssd would still be faster and quieter than the Velociraptor so he would need to account for that. Also I dont think he needs an 80+ Platinum power supply a gold would be fine and save him some money. As the initial article states he wants to game at 1440p so recommending a 1080p monitor seems like a downgrade. Also I would go with a WD Black drive over a blue seems like a better option. He never stated that he was going to be playing blue-rays off of this so I don't see a reason for a blue ray drive. As for cases that is a very good case but I have always found cases to be more of an aesthetic thing so if he likes the look of the initial case why noc it.