$2500 - $3000 Build [Game/PS/Server] Help/Advice/Recomm.?

Fookafoo

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Context: I'm building my PC, not my first, but my first price heavy machine. Money in a sense, is not an issue, I have expendable income but I don't believe in blowing wads of cash for no good reason. My friends are all tech-savy so everyone wants to put their 2 cents in and recommend something. So this is the build so far, the price tag is for the tower only. All periphreals are not included in the $3k cap but please feel free to recommend!

[$2500 - $3000 Tower]
CASE: NZXT Switch 810 Hybrid White Tower [This will NOT be changing.]

PSU: NZXT Hale90 1000W [This will NOT be changing.]

CPU COOLER: NZXT Kraken X60 [This will NOT be changing.]


GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Dual Classified w/ EVGA ACX Cooler 3GB ($760 x 2 )

MOBO: ASRock Z87 OC Formula/ac LGA 1150 Intel ($275)

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 ($340)

RAM: G.SKILL Trident X Series 32GB(4) DDR3 2400 ($340)

SSD: SAMSUNG 840 EVO 250G ($155)

HDD: WD BLACK SERIES WD4003FZEX 2TB 7200 RPM ($147 x 2)



[Seperate budget $1K]
MONITORS: (Will have 3, saw none I like so far, still debating between IPS/TN)
Keyboard: Steelseries Apex
Mouse: Razer Naga MMO
Tri-Mount for monitors: No idea

SLI: Yes.
OC: Yes
Raided hhd: Yes
Custom Loop: Yes in June/July when I can set it up (Tight on time for May)

Things I'm pretty solid on and would need to see a big difference to change would just be the MOBO and Keyboard/Mouse.

* Extra info, I live in the Southeastern USA, the computer will be running 24/7 [I know what this entails.] It will be used primarily for gaming, but I will host a small server. I also Photoshop/SAI when gaming, usually when doing texture work and uploading/making changes on the fly in-game.

*Websites I prefer are Newegg and Amazon if I have to, I prefer keeping it strictly on the egg. All parts are being purchased this month, with the last day of purchasing being the 30th of May so it can be built and running in June.

*My questions: First, any major things you would recommend, please be specific but precise on why not to choose a part if so, not just from your own isolated experience. And puhleaaaassseee help with the monitors of choice, I will be price nit-picky with monitors since I have had great ones for low prices.

:: Not and AMd/ATI fan, personal preference, won't buy them.


 
Solution

g-unit1111

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The Hale 90s are excellent units, but why are you set on getting 1KW? You only need that much power if you're going to be running more than two GPUs. 850W max for your setup. Alternately you might want to consider the EVGA Supernovas - they're currently one of the highest scoring units on Jonnyguru.

As far as the peripherals go - I'm not a fan of Razer by any means. I think their peripherals are ridiculously overrated and overpriced. I have the Gigabyte Osmium for my keyboard and it's great, I like it way better than the Steelseries.

I also think the storage is a bit overkill. The 500GB SSDs you don't come out ahead purchasing. The cost per GB is just way too great to justify the cost right now, let alone getting two of them. And putting them in RAID 0 isn't the greatest idea because it sets the drives up for failure far more than running them independently. I also think the motherborad is a bit expensive too and doesn't really overclock better than one that is 1/2 the cost. Put that money elsewhere - get an optical drive or external hard drive for backups.
 

Llamaluvr97

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Alright i'm gonna address all of your questions :) -
1. For the Peripherals I would STRONGLY recommend Logitech, specifically the G710+ and the G700s. They are amazing and just perfect.
2. Good choice on the CPU, Cooler, GPU, and Storage.
3. I personally don't like the Hale, I would go for something like the EVGA SuperNOVA P2 1000 watt.
4. Man get a Asus Maximus VI Formula, they are soo hot, or a sabertooth for that matter. Much better then the one you selected.
5. You don't need 2400MHz for ram for a few reasons, one, the timing is going to be terrible, its going to output heat, and it is higher voltage. I would recommend going down to a 2133 set of 2x8 in the beginning and then maybe upgrading later. The timings are going to be much better.
6. If you are running 24/7 then maybe look into a Xeon E5?
7. With that budget do a custom loop. It will be quiet and more efficient.
8. Here is a build that I would recommend for you: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Llamaluvr97/saved/4DW1

Before I forget, for your monitor, I would suggest that you wait for Asus to release their ROG series 1440P 120+Hz monitor. It is going to be amazing for gaming and a great resolution. After all you are getting 2 780ti's.
If you have any questions please ask me! I will be glad to help! Good luck!
 

Fookafoo

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Okay, thought it over, talked it over with a friend. What about these changes.

MOBO: Personally I'm not convinced with switching from the ASRock just because of a slight price gap (100$ is minor), it doesn't seem to be lacking in any of its departments compared to its rival ASUS/Giga, I think anyway.

SSD: SAMSUNG 840 EVO 500GB ($280)

HDD: WD BLACK SERIES WD4003FZEX 3TB 7200 RPM ($195) x 2 Raided

RAM: I'd be willing to drop to 2133 x 2 (16GB) With reccommendations

Mouse: Logitech G700s ($80)

Keyboard: Logitech G510s ($90)

Monitors: If waiting for ROG isn't an option, I realllly would still like some input on these.
 

g-unit1111

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OK that's a bit better but with a couple of suggestions:

1. You still don't come out ahead buying 500GB SSDs, let alone two of them. The cost per GB is simply not justifiable. No matter if you're on a $500 budget or a $5,000 budget.

2. As far as monitor goes there's several parameters that would be taken into account such as:

- Preferred screen size
- Preferred resolution
- Preferred refresh rate
- Budget
- How many monitors you plan to run off a single GPU
 

Fookafoo

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1. I was going to swap for just 1 ssd and 2 hdds. If the 500GB is a debating factor, which I don't really see it being I can settle for the 250GB but won't go lower then that.

2. The remaining seperate budget for the monitors is $900 with breathing room. The max on either of the cards (2waySLI) is going to be 2. 2 monitors on 1 GPU, and 1 monitor on the other GPU, my plan at least thus far.

As for resolution I'm sated with full hd but my budget restricts it so I don't see much breathing room for preference to be honest.

Low bezel is important, preferably

As for the monitors, 21-30in. For 21-27in it would be 3 in landscape position, if it were the 30in's they would be in portrait, which I've never done but I'd be up for having fun with it.

Monitors aren't my niche, I'm not so in the know how about them, but I'm not into add-on gimmicks that I won't ever use besides the first time I get them and try it out. I'm not so into the whole 3D or built-in speakers, unless it just has to come along with it; ie if its available without it, I prefer without it but not at the cost of a great product, if that makes sense.

- Also much thanks to both of you thus far!
 

CrysisX

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Sorry to not provide much help, seems like everyone has it covered anyway, I ASSUME it was a typo on the OP but where are you finding 32GB of Trident X 2400 for 190$, that's the 16Gb price for the most part.
 

Fookafoo

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Yup it was a copy paste typo on my part! I have multiple revisions of the parts and got the price swapped! Fixed

I think I'm finalizing on most of the build now except the monitors and getting up a reliable 32GB(4) 2133 RAM.
 

Llamaluvr97

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So for the Asus motherboard, I think it just looks much more visually appealing and since you are going to be using 2 video cards, a better bios and more overclock headroom is really nice. How pretty do you want your computer to look? I am spending $500 for my pretty section, because IMO performance is only half the equation. I would also say that the 2 by 2133Mhz 2x8gb kit is really good. It also has CAS 9 which means really fast slow speeds and fast speeds. Especially since you got a really nice looking case. I would definitely say just keep the 500gb SSD, you are going to love it. Games load in a blink of an eye and they last much longer then Mechanical drives do. For the monitor, I still need some information to help you pick.
1. What refresh rate do you want? (Max fps)
2. IPS or TN panel?
3. What res? 1440P or 1080P?
4. I can get you 2 beautiful 1440P asus monitors for $900, or 3 144Hz asus monitors for $750.
5. How much do you care about the beauty of your build?
6. If you dont care about cleanliness then I would say get the maximus hero, if you do then the sabertooth or the formula. Im personally not a fan of Asrock because they are the cheap brand of asus. Its like the chevy of the car market. That was a bad analogy.
Anyway, hope that helps.
 

Fookafoo

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1. 120+
2. I'm divided between the two, I can go either way so long as 2-5ms
3. I would prefer 1440P but can settle for 1080P
4. You can show me any, Ill just get them next month. The 1k budget is for this month. But I won't go crazy on the monitors since most likely theyll have add ons I won't ever use.
5. I'd of course like it to be pretty. Aesthetics are always nice (we were actually looking at Sabertooth/Maxi Hero Z97s if I lean to looks.)

So far for monitors we were looking at the ASUS VG248QE

We are going for a 2133 set but 32GB to have the same rev set. Someone mentioned earlier about a custom loop, I will have one but I don't have the time to set it up this month/next. It will most likely belate June/Miv-July.

The build has gone through numerous revisions.
 

Llamaluvr97

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Alright good. So the reason I would say get 2 sets of 2x8gb is because if you get the set of 4x8gb then you can't get the nice Latency of 9. I would recommend a set of this ram if you go for the sabertooth: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmd32gx3m4a2133c9, or get 2 sets of this ram if you go for the formula or hero: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmy16gx3m2a2133c9r. Either ram is great and they have a CAS of 9 and a clock of 2133MHz. Also quad channel is only useful for LGA2011 as it has 8 sockets. LGA1150 only uses dual channel ram so there is no point to get a 4 channel set, but it doesent hurt either. Thats for ram. As for the sabertooth, its only $230 compared to the $275 for your asrock, and it looks sleek. The formula is $290, only a little more. The formula is much better for the money then the Asrock. So honestly go for the formula or sabertooth. Depends what color you want honestly, they are both great boards.
Alright for the monitor. If I were you, I would get 1 maybe 2 monitors for now and then wait for the Asus ROG monitor to come out so I could get 1440P and 120Hz. Right now the choice is a IPS with 1440P but only 75Hz and 5ms response, or a TN with 1080P and 144Hz and 1ms response. There is no point in getting a 27" 1080P monitor because then there is very little PPI and it looks like poo. So I would say if you want then get 1 1440P IPS monitor and you can game on that at 70fps and get the 1080P 24" TN display so you can game at 144Hz. I would just get the IPS 1440P for now and then wait for the ROG monitor to come out so then you can get a triple monitor setup of those. The new ROG is supposed to have 6mm bezels and just the best of both worlds. So yeah, those are my 2 cents. The 1440P 27" 75Hz IPS monitor: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pb278q The 1080P 24" 144Hz TN monitor: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vg248qe. Also I would recommend that you start a PC Part Picker list for your ease and so you don't forget what choices you need to make.

EDIT: This the current build I have for you: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Llamaluvr97/saved/4DW1
 
Solution

g-unit1111

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The 500GB SSDs are nice to have but they're crazy expensive. They're currently about $350 for a 500GB, which translates to about $1.42 per GB. On the other hand if you take a 250GB Crucial M550 which retails for about $150 right now, and add a 2TB mass storage drive, that translates to $0.13, which is much better if you ask me.

2. The remaining separate budget for the monitors is $900 with breathing room. The max on either of the cards (2waySLI) is going to be 2. 2 monitors on 1 GPU, and 1 monitor on the other GPU, my plan at least thus far.

That makes sense.

As for resolution I'm sated with full hd but my budget restricts it so I don't see much breathing room for preference to be honest.

Low bezel is important, preferably

There's different HD resolutions and different monitors will use those resolutions:
- 1366 x 720 (720P)
- 1920 x 1080 (1080) - this is the most common HD resolution
- 1900 x 1200 (1200P) - most common on HD laptops
- 2560 x 1440 (1440P) - much higher resolution
- 2560 x 1080 (1080P) - ultra wide format
- 3840 x 2160 (4K) - ultra high definition

Depending on what resolution you want will determine what monitor you want.
 

Fookafoo

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I am staying with the 2133, I can't say I'll notice enough about the latency 9 from the 16 to 32. But thanks on that will consider it.


We're actually just looking at the Rog Maximus VII HERO and the Asus Z97 deluxe.If not it would fall back to the ASRock or the Sabertooth (Z87's).


We tried looking up what ROG Asus monitor you were talking about and only saw one for 800$ for Q2 release, then saw this one that seemed to be the exact same thing minus the ROG branding? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236294


I was trying to figure out why you were so against the 500GB when its been sitting at $250 for like a month now on Newegg, the Samsung EVO at least. I get the price per gig, but for $250 I wouldn't mind getting a 500GB, but if it does go back up from the sale price when I purchase it Friday, I'll look at the Crucial 250GB or stick with the EVO 250GB. I wouldn't do $350 for 500GB lol.


1080P-1440P is what I'm aiming for. 4K I don't think is possible for the budget this month. However, I can compromise and get two monitors now. And just a third next month.

And thank ya both so much thus far, my bad if I seem difficult!
 

Llamaluvr97

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Alright so for the RAM I think you got that figured out. For the motherboard, I would reccomend that you stay away from the normal asus boards and just go for either the Maximus VII Hero or Formula. As the sabertooth doesent have a Z97 yet. But just choose what fits your liking. For the monitor, the difference between the asus one and the ROG one im talking about is that the ROG one is going to be 1ms gtg and 120Hz compared to the 5ms and 60Hz of the current one. I would just say go for the 500gb, I mean im getting a 1tb EVO with my next computer and I don' care what people tell me. Your fine, I enjoy helping people. BTW here is a link to a build I made you.
LINK: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Llamaluvr97/saved/4DW1

I lied about there being no Z97 sabertooth, there is. The thing I like about sabertooth boards is that they have a 5yr warranty and look all nice with that black and sleek look.
 

g-unit1111

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I was trying to figure out why you were so against the 500GB when its been sitting at $250 for like a month now on Newegg, the Samsung EVO at least. I get the price per gig, but for $250 I wouldn't mind getting a 500GB, but if it does go back up from the sale price when I purchase it Friday, I'll look at the Crucial 250GB or stick with the EVO 250GB. I wouldn't do $350 for 500GB lol.

I'm not entirely against 500GB SSDs, it's just that right now the cost per GB is so high I don't think it's justifiable enough to put them in any budget whether it's $1500 or $5500. They'll get cheaper though, they certainly are now from where they were 3 - 4 years ago. The Crucial M550, Samsung 840 Evo, and OCZ Vertex 460 are currently the best SSDs on the market.

1080P-1440P is what I'm aiming for. 4K I don't think is possible for the budget this month. However, I can compromise and get two monitors now. And just a third next month.

Yeah 4K monitors are ridiculously expensive right now, 1440P or the ultra wides are what I'd go for.