Need Help with my X99 PC build (https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Silent_Rogue/saved/#savedbuild_1913725). I'm trying to keep the build around $1600 but i am willing to spend more if I need to. The main questions I have are. . .
-Should I upgrade from 8GB (2 x 4GB) to 16 (4 x 4GB) or ram (for an additional $140)?
-Should I upgrade the GTX 970 to a GTX 980 (for an additional $260)?
P.S. Any help or suggestions on better parts are welcome!
Depends on what you're doing. Strictly gaming, first and foremost, X99 is overkill. My other advice is more the same. If you're just gaming, 8GB is plenty for now, and you can upgrade in the future once prices drop. I, personally, wouldn't pay more than $10/GB as far as RAM is concerned, although I understand DDR4 is at a premium now, and can't really be found that cheap. As per the second, again, if you're just gaming, anything more than 970 just isn't worth the upgrade price, imho.
However, if you're doing a lot of video editing and rendering, the upgrade cost for both could be easily justified. If you're doing some casual editing (as in it's a hobby) I'd stick with the 970, but I'd consider a RAM upgrade. 16GB seems to be the norm for editing, plus that opens up quad-channel for extra bandwidth.
I do a fair bit of video editing for work but I am also a hard core gamer. This is not a budget build but at the same time I will not be going to throw money away with out just cause ^~^. That said I would like this to be slightly future proof this is the reason I decided to go with Haswell-e. I will be building this pc mid February hopefully I can find a decent 16GB (4 x 4GB) kit of DDR4 by then. Any other feed back you have is appreciated and thank you for your response.
X99 seems overkill for your usage. I would not go with a 980, 970 is a far better bargain and with a good overclock will performance the same or better than a 980.
I would say that the X99 is overkill and if you have the extra few hundred dollars for the 980 I would suggest that but otherwise the 970 is great overall. Also 16gb for ram is tooooo much unless you are doing a lot of editing/rendering and a lot of multitasking. 2x4gb DDR3 1600 is the sweet spot for gaming. You could save some money if you go with something like the RipJaw series. Also a Quad-Core CPU is enough now and I would probably suggest a i7-4770k. Also 2TB is too much unless you are editing/rendering. Just one 240GB ssd is enough.
Sorry in advanced if you think I am telling you what to do. But those are just my opinions on your PC. You could save some money and spend it on other parts or games/programs. Just my opinion though.
If you do allot of video rendering work, i would indeed recommend a X99 build. Also would i recommend to go with a 4x4GB quad channel instead of 8GB dual channel, because quadchannel will realy be bennefitical in rendering.
About the GPU, THe GTX970 is indeed a decent card, GTX980 is offcourse better, but idk if the performance diffrence is big enough to justify the premium price for it. That highly depends on how much of an hardcore gamer your are.
Also AMD is comming with their new 300 series, so it could be interessting to wait for that, unless you need cude for your rendering apps.
You should see quite a bump in performance in video editing.
Give this a look? http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WzKk7P
Looks good to me basicly.
I would only recommend to change the motherboard for a slightly more decent one. The MSi X99S Sli Plus does seem to have some quality issues. Till now i have seen several people with similar complains about this particular board. As far as i know Msi did not responsed to this yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CXb6J4fZ50
(http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LnVLYJ) this is my current build; from what i understand the msi x99s sli plus bored is tested before sent out, I'm not sure if this person just happened to get a bad bored or what but i will consider getting a new board and would like to know if you have any suggestions?
as far as i know Msi only tested their Mpower and Xpower boards in the past. Not their gaming or normal boards.
I have to say, that i have seen allot more people who had similar issues what this particular board. So i would not call it coincidence. Also the msi´s bios on the Sli plus and the Gaming 7 in particular have some issues wenn comes to overclocking, and some ram kits.
I would personaly realy recommend a better mobo, But offcourse you allways get warrenty, so if it is going wrong, then you can allways RMA the board.