1440p Gaming System

[SouthOfTheRiver]

I'm building from scratch a new rig for gaming at 1440p. I don't play any FPS or anything competitive, so I'm not worried about 144fps, but I'd like it to be stable at 60fps for the next couple of years. I play pretty much everything else though - real time strategy, adventure (Assassins Creed/Tomb Raider), turn based strategy, racing, RPGs (skyrim/fallout4).
The upgrade path would be another 980 in a couple of years, (hence the power supply), and more RAM when needed.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3dRmYJ

So my question is, have I messed anything up? Is there any scope for saving money? is 1440p at 60fps at very high/ultra going to be possible for a few years? I know that a 980 is a bit of an unusual choice, but I really don't want to pay for the 980Ti and I don't think a 970 would be powerful enough.

Thanks!

SotR

 

[jollypirate]

If you want to play on highest setting for some time on 1440p i would get a 980 ti, you can save some money on ram and get a 8gb set which wont limit any games and you can get a cheaper case like the define s to lower the overall cost

 

[SouthOfTheRiver]

If you want to play on highest setting for some time on 1440p i would get a 980 ti, you can save some money on ram and get a 8gb set which wont limit any games and you can get a cheaper case like the define s to lower the overall cost

Thanks for the reply. Downgrading to 8MB and the Define S would save me (about) £60, but upgrading to the 980 ti is going to be ~£170, so I'm not too keen on that. And games are already being released with 8GB reqs (Battlefront, Fallout4) so I dont think it will be too long before more than that is needed.

So are you saying that I'd need to drop to high settings to stay at 60fps in a year or so? I think I might be ok with that...

 

[sizzling]

From a cost/performance perspective it's hard to justify the 980. It's only performs about 10% better than a 970 but can access all 4gb VRAM without any slow down. The 980ti however performs inline with sli 970's so you get a lot more for its extra cost. Agree a 970 wouldn't be my choice for 1440p, I'd probably wait until I could get the 980Ti as it's such a big step up.

Also you want a better quality PSU for such a high end setup.

 

[SouthOfTheRiver]

From a cost/performance perspective it's hard to justify the 980. It's only performs about 10% better than a 970 but can access all 4gb VRAM without any slow down. The 980ti however performs inline with sli 970's so you get a lot more for its extra cost. Agree a 970 wouldn't be my choice for 1440p, I'd probably wait until I could get the 980Ti as it's such a big step up.

Ok, seems like I will have to go and see if I can find some extra cash then...

Also you want a better quality PSU for such a high end setup.

Could you recommend one? PSUs are the area I know the least about, so I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

A GTX 970 is perfectly capable at 1440p, assuming you run most games at high rather than ultra. At that resolution you don't really need AA, which will save a considerable amount of GPU power. A 980 Ti is only required if you demand very high frame rates and are a complete graphics snob. Personally, I'd rather keep my £170.

I definitely agree that a better PSU is required, particularly if any CPU overclocking is involved. Tom's Hardware has a PSU tier list at http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html which you should check. Seasonic and XFX are very highly rated, but I've never seen Seasonic PSUs available in the UK.

 

[SouthOfTheRiver]

Thanks for the feedback. I think that a 980Ti is really out of the question, so I've saved some cash, gone for a 970, and will be happy to live with the lower settings.
I've also updated the PSU to a more highly rated one (Thanks for the link bicycle_repair_man - super helpful!)

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/W6C2Hx

Any more comments?

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Looks good to me, although you only need such a high wattage PSU if you plan to SLI the GTX 970.

 

[SouthOfTheRiver]

I do plan to eventually go down the SLI route, so that's why I went for the high wattage PSU. I actually realised that the MoBo doesnt support SLI, so I swapped it out for ASUS Pro Gaming. It's a little bit more expensive, but I think the extra features make it worthwhile (and since I saved some money on the graphics card I can afford it). Thanks everyone for your help - here is the final build if anyone is interested:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/t76h4D