Monster Rig Under 3500

[HiP0WER]

Hey everyone!

Been trolling the Tom's forums for years now, but I figured it was finally time to join the collective!

Approximate Purchase Date: End of March / Beginning of April

Budget Range: $3500 USD

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Hardcore gaming ultra settings with highest FPS and lowest lag possible.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080. I just bought a VG248QE and I absolutely love it! I'll probably be purchasing two more to run a triple tree setup.

Additional Comments: I have stated that I want to run SLI, although I want to wait for the GTX 800s to be released, so I will purchase one to start and do SLI a month or two later.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Elder Scrolls Online is coming out, and I've been waiting for an upgrade since the days of WOW to dump some serious money on a powerhouse that can run anything to the MAX. ( I know ESO won't require all the power I desire, but I'm going for other games as well, along with the best futureproofing I can afford).

My parts list that I put together, let me know what you think!: ($3400 on the dot)

Part: Product: Price:

Case Cooler Master HAF X - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with Windowed Side Panel 199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225

CPU Intel Core i7-4930k Ivy Bridge-E 3.4GHz LGA 2011 130W Six-Core 579.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116939

CPU Cooler Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler 99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181032

Motherboard ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard 319.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131801

Memory G.SKILL Trident X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) 354.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231624

Storage SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) 399.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147194&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Solid+State+Disk-_-SAMSUNG-_-20147194

Video Card Nvidia GTX 800 (Aprilish Release)? 1000?
Not Released Yet

PSU XFX ProSeries P1-1000-BELX 1000W ATX12V V2.2 & ESP12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply 279.999
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207019&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6146836&SID=axgk3nafmr13

Optical Drive ASUS Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive 58.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247

Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?gclid=CNiE3afayLwCFaVQOgodcW8AUQ&Item=N82E16832416776&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Operating+Systems-_-N82E16832416776&ef_id=Uvw1tAAAAUXyABkz:20140213084041:s 99.99

Let me know what you guys think! Thanks so much!

 

[Lostredneck]

I think the processor is a little too much. I understand that you intend to do more that just play elder scroll online, but nothing short of a CAD program is going to be able to take advantage of a hexacore processor. You would be just as well served running a 4770k and sinking the extra $400 you would save from the CPU and motherboard into a nice full liquid cooling solution so you could overclock your new video card as well.

 

[StarBG]

The ram... wont be even used to 25%.

 

[bullbearish]

Agree. You don't need to sink that kind of money in a processor for the extra <5% margin you're going to get in gaming. Use the money for video cards.

Anything more than 8G RAM for gaming is overkill. Spend the money on video cards with plenty of RAM.

Also, if your going to sink that kind of money into a system, then it would be a shame to play at only 1920x1080.

 

[HiP0WER]

Thanks for the input guys! That was my resolution as of current off my MBP, Im not sure what Ill be able to run/running once I build her. Same with the RAM, I know I will not be using probably half of it, but I like to be prepared for the future and for an extra 160 or whatever the upgrade from 16GB was, to me I was just like.... "Sure, why not"

The $400 im saving by degrading the CPU isnt't reall that major of an issue for me, although I will take into consideration the 4770k instead because my cousin has said the same as you guys.

The only reason I havent liquid cooled it is because I have heard the horror stories and although I love the way it looks an everything, is it really worth it?

Ps: do we think the GTX 800s will be out before April or should i just settle (not realy settling) for a GTX Titan?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[bullbearish]

Liquid cooling is worth it if you intend to overclock, and a liquid cooler isn't hard to set up at all.

Others' may have different opinions, but I doubt the 800s will be out by April.

For reference, I run SLI 780ti at 2560x1400 on BF4 Ultra and still get 120 FPS. If you're going to run at 1920x1080, then even a single 780ti is overkill. I still understand the desire for an 880 though.

The Titan is overpriced for the performance. A 780ti is as capable and is $300 less expensive. Read some of the comparisons in the video section here.

 

[HiP0WER]

Bullbearish, do you run a triple monitor setup with that resolution (I'm guessing yes)?

I think in regards to the GPU I will probably take your advice and for now I will just run one 780ti for the initial build and see if there is any more info on a release date for the 880s. Then depending on how well a single 780ti performs, I will either grab a second, or just wait for the 880s and get sli 880s after selling the 780ti.

I just wanted to add about the water cooling: I have heard that the H100i should be good enough, even for when I overclock. I would love to liquid cool it after a few months possibly, but by how much would it really lower my temps, especially when people without watercooling are able to overclock substantially as well? Also, I would liquid cool most every component that I could, and that would run me about an extra $600 or so if not more

 

[marc79]

He's running a single 1440p monitor.

 

[bullbearish]

Bullbearish, do you run a triple monitor setup with that resolution (I'm guessing yes)?

I think in regards to the GPU I will probably take your advice and for now I will just run one 780ti for the initial build and see if there is any more info on a release date for the 880s. Then depending on how well a single 780ti performs, I will either grab a second, or just wait for the 880s and get sli 880s after selling the 780ti.

I just wanted to add about the water cooling: I have heard that the H100i should be good enough, even for when I overclock. I would love to liquid cool it after a few months possibly, but by how much would it really lower my temps, especially when people without watercooling are able to overclock substantially as well? Also, I would liquid cool most every component that I could, and that would run me about an extra $600 or so if not more

I have but a single 2560x1400 monitor. I run the MBT, so 3 monitors won't give me any more peripheral vision than one.

The H100i is probably pretty nice. I run an H80 and get 4.4G out of my 3.3G 2600k processor. I haven't measured temps since I got the stable OC. I just left it there and moved on.

 

[Lostredneck]

Bullbearish, do you run a triple monitor setup with that resolution (I'm guessing yes)?

I think in regards to the GPU I will probably take your advice and for now I will just run one 780ti for the initial build and see if there is any more info on a release date for the 880s. Then depending on how well a single 780ti performs, I will either grab a second, or just wait for the 880s and get sli 880s after selling the 780ti.

I just wanted to add about the water cooling: I have heard that the H100i should be good enough, even for when I overclock. I would love to liquid cool it after a few months possibly, but by how much would it really lower my temps, especially when people without watercooling are able to overclock substantially as well? Also, I would liquid cool most every component that I could, and that would run me about an extra $600 or so if not more

With your setup you would want to overclock more than just your processor though. Running a full liquid cooling solution would let you add individual loops for each video card letting you overclock them more than what air cooling would provide.

 

[HiP0WER]

Oh absolutely, I would watercool everything that I could in it. I'm the type of person that is go big or go home. I wouldn't just cool my CPU, I would be forced into cooling everything that I could just so I wouldn't have to tinker around later for upgrades.

How much would a full watercooled setup for SLI run about for the HAF-X case do you guys think? Could you offer any specific parts that may be best? Thanks again!