Guidance/advice regarding building a gaming system

[omerimran]

Hello everyone,

I am planning on getting myself a new gaming rig soon. Need some advice regarding certain components as I do not know much on the tech front, only have some very basic knowledge and this will be my first serious gaming rig.

Plan on getting Gigabyte G1 980TIs (Dual SLI) for graphics + 32gb RAM (Gskill ripjaws 4x8gb 2666MHz) + Crosair 780T casing

1) Mainly need advice regarding the motherboard+processor combo. If you could have a look here you will be able to see all the processor choices I have.
- I am primarily inclined towards the ASUS Rampage V Extreme as the MB, so seemingly the best choice of processor would be the intel i7-5960X. Is this correct?
- However, I have doubts regarding the 5960X being the best bang for the buck, purely for gaming performance. The price is quite steep as compared to 6700K or 4790K. Corresponding MB choices can be viewed here

In short, which is the best processor for gaming purposes - this will automatically reflect on the MB choice as well. Planning on taking best in class processor for the MB (and vice versa). [see link again]

2) PSU - recommended power supply by the supplier was CORSAIR AX1200i platinum 1200W. Again, I think that money can be saved there to a certain extent. I intend to OC the processor as well as the 2 GPUs "to a safe extent" (will be done by the supplier). Do not think I will need 1200Watts of power. So the next choices are: Crosair 1000 platinum, or Crosair 1000W Gold.

Kindly outline the difference between Gold vs Platinum certifications; also if 1200W is necessary, then I will go for Cooler Master 1200W gold (it is significantly cheaper, almost $100).

3) Cooling - for the cooling system, I chose the Crosair Hydro series H110i GT 280mm - but i do not know jack about cooling in a proper gaming system, just used some intuition to reach to this choice. Any comments or further suggestions are welcome, other options available can be viewed here

4) Storage - Samsung SSD840 Eco 500gb + Seagate 4TB SSHD 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s. Advice regarding the SSD counterpart will be helpful, other options that I have can be seen here

5) Display - for the monitor, I would only be able to buy a single display for now as I am exhausting most of my budget on the machine itself. Pretty inclined towards the BenQ 2730z. Any comments are welcome.

6) Any other advice regarding overall usability of this configuration, update capabilities etc. will also be appreciated. Also, if any new tech is coming soon and I should wait, please do let me know.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and sharing some golden advice, cheers!

 

[sadams04]

MB + CPU - Maybe the best option is with the i7-5820k on the X99 platform. It will overclock the same as the 5930k. The 5960k is very nice, but the extra cores / hyperthreads over the other two Extreme processors isn't exactly needed.
SSD - Look toward the newer 850 EVO series. ...and M.2.
HD - Seagate failures are on the rise a bit. Look toward WD or Hitachi.
GPU - If you are looking at a single 1440 monitor for now, then go with a single GTX 980 Ti. Add a second in SLI when / if you increase your resolution or add another monitor.
PSU - For a pair of GTX 980 TI GPUs look toward a 1000w unit. Stick with XFX, Seasonic, the EVGA G2 lineup, or filter through the Tier 1 or Tier 2 list. www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($374.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($65.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-SLI ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($244.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Green 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($676.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 780T ATX Full Tower Case ($189.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($155.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.45 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: BenQ GW2765HT 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($366.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2606.20

 

[logainofhades]

First off, to make things easier, you can put your build idea together using pcpartpicker. It will show potential compatibility issues, and estimated wattage, of the system. http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

I would not go gigabyte, on the graphics cards. I would stick with Evga or MSI. 5960x is not necessary for gaming. A 4790k or a 5820k would be more suitable. I have a hard time recommending the 6700k, because the price difference is minor, vs a 5820k build, when looking at systems with more than 8gb ram. Evga G2 series would be my pick, for PSU. 10yr warranty is nice to have, and they are solid units. 32gb ram is not needed either. 16gb is plenty, as most still use only 8gb. I would probably choose the Coolermaster Nepton 280, for cooling. Tend to cost less, and are good coolers. SSD wise I say go with Samsung 850 evo, Crucial, or Mushkin Reactor. For monitor, the ASUS MG279Q looks to be cheaper and similar on specs.

 

[omerimran]

So I take it that the 5820K is better suited than 5960X (cuz its overkill) and 4970K ? Actually the 5820K seems great, I can go for Rampage V for the motherboard and it saves me quite a bit of money without sacrificing any gaming performance.

 

[logainofhades]

More than a 4790k, is really unnecessary, to be honest, just for gaming. I just see little point in a 6700k, given the price differences.

 

[omerimran]

Sorry for being so uneducated in the matter; but there seems to be an implication in your message that 5820K is necessarily better than 4790K in terms of processing power. I guess what is confusing me is that the 4790K "can go up to 4.4GHz" whereas 5820K is limited till 3.3GHz. The 4790K costs me around $355 and the 5820K around $405 (difference of $50) here in the UAE.

I dont mind spending the $50 as long as I can be sure it's well spent.

Regarding the PSU.. upon recommendations above, I will switch from Crosair or Cooler Master .. to either EVGA G2 1000W (http://computerpad.ae/product/evga-supernova-1000w-g2-80-plus-gold-full-modular-psu/) or SeaSonic X series 1050W (http://computerpad.ae/product/seasonic-x-series-x-1050-1050w-eps12v-slicrossfire-ready-psu/). Any clear winners among the two? Apart from SeaSonic being a little cheaper.

 

[logainofhades]

Most games cannot make use of the extra cores of a 5820k. And neither chip is limited, to those clock speeds, as they are unlocked and can be overclocked. The 5820k can do 4.0ghz, with ease. Now should you decide to get into recording gameplay, or doing any kind of video editing, the 5820k is a good choice. For straight up gaming, the 4790k is plenty.

If you intend to keep this system a long time, the 5820k makes sense, as the future is multithreaded, so the longevity of the system would be better with it.

Both of those PSU's are nice. I would probably go with the Evga, due to the better warranty.

 

[Barty1884]

Regarding the PSU.. upon recommendations above, I will switch from Crosair or Cooler Master .. to either EVGA G2 1000W (http://computerpad.ae/product/evga-supernova-1000w-g2-80-plus-gold-full-modular-psu/) or SeaSonic X series 1050W (http://computerpad.ae/product/seasonic-x-series-x-1050-1050w-eps12v-slicrossfire-ready-psu/). Any clear winners among the two? Apart from SeaSonic being a little cheaper.

SeaSonic being a little cheaper, and slightly more Watts is really it - although EVGA have the better warranty (10year I believe) vs SeaSonic's 7 year. Any of the Tier 1 PSUs will serve you well.

 

[omerimran]

Thanks for the replies. Yes I plan to use the system for the long term and might get involved in recording or streaming down the road; 5820K with EVGA PSU it is.