Firstly, I must confess I have been a Mac user for the past 7 years, previous to that I built my own computers.
I currently own a MacBook Pro 15" retina (late 2013, 2.3GHz i7, 16Gb DDR3 1600, 512Gb SSD, GT 750m 2Gb) which has and currently still is serving me perfectly for work. This involves using the Adobe CS and AutoCAD which work brilliantly on OS X.
Thing is, I've been starting to play some games on OS X and Windows. Some games run okay at 1080p but with a lot of the settings dialled way down.
I had and sold my Mac Pro 3.5GHz 6-core, 32Gb RAM, dual D7000 cards as actually didn't perform much better for the cost for my work and games under Windows on bootcamp were still sluggish.
Now, ideally I'd like a new laptop to replace the MBP but finding something with the same build quality but better spec is challenging. The Dell XPS 15 caught my eye but I don't think the 960M w/2Gb would be a massive jump. I did also look at Alienware 15 & 17" laptops with a 980M but they are just too bulky.
I figure my best solution is to build myself something to use at home and keep the MBP as a road warrior.
Here's what I have thus far: Case - Fractal Design R5 PSU - Corsair Modular RM 750W Gold GPU - MSI GTX 980 4Gb RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 32Gb DDR4 2133MHz SSD - Samsum M.2 850 Evo 500Gb HDD - WD Black 2Tb SATA3 OS - Windows 10 Home
CPU and Motherboard are a complete question mark however. I would like a 6-core CPU (such as the i7-5930k Haswell-E) but would the newer Skylake 4-cores be a better choice? With regards to the motherboard, the only feature I really would like out of the norm is a onboard Thunderbolt 2 port.
My budget is £1500-1800.
I have a NEC PA322UHD monitor but I'm happy gaming in 1080p so I can't see much benefit going to a 980Ti or Titan.
Any advice you guys can give me will be much appreciated.
That might do ya, but I think someone else could come up with something better. Obviously if you don't like the full ATX case change that if you like, I'm just thinking airflow for CS and CAD work.
I'm running a very similar setup right now, same case, same capacity and speed memory, with an x99 deluxe and 5960x, and a 980ti. and use it for video editing, sketchup, some 3d rendering programs like keyshot, and of course gaming. I think haswell-e is your best bet, especially if you want to do CAD work on it sometimes. I have not purchased the thunderbolt card, so I can't comment on that, but I love the motherboard so far. I am also using a Samsung m.2 drive. The 5960x is probably overkill, so for you I would recommend the 5930k, unless you see yourself adding a lot more pci-e based storage and need the extra lanes.
I'm suggesting the Fury mainly because you'll save money on an adaptive sync display should you so choice to get one for gaming, there's still room in the budget for one
Thanks for the input so far guys, a full size case is fine with mine (i'd go with the Fractal Design R5 though as I love the look of the thing).
The 5930k is probably as far as I would go but I have had another thought...
I understand you can do Steam home streaming, now this may actually be a better option for me. I can continue to use the MBP as my main system - I do prefer Adobe CS on OS X and the better scaling options for my monitor and aside from gaming it suits me fine.
Can anyone enlighten me into the draw backs with home streaming from another system? I'm not a competitive gamer and just need something that can run games at 1080p on medium - high settings to keep me going insane from time to time.
Thanks again and sorry for throwing in a curve ball.
Streetguru this system seems to fit the bill very nicely, but the nVidia GTX 980 4Gb is £400 and I know they have better support by the gaming titles - as corrupt as it is.
I won't be changing my monitor, my current NEC monitor might be a dog on response time but it is probably the most expensive component I've ever bought just to get a super accurate panel so will be with me till it dies! lol