what is overkill

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Depends on what you will be doing and what you want to know. There are many examples in different aspects of computing. You need to be a bit more specific.

Geforce Titan X on a 1080p monitor would be a bit overkill.
A 42" desktop monitor (You would have to turn your head to look at the edges of the screen depending on how close you are.)
3 SSD drives in RAID 0 (overkill for most things but not if you are setting up a server with many user's accessing the files at the same time. Same goes for most PCIe SSD cards.)

CPU: eh, most are not overkill.. Xeon processors a generally not needed in home desktop computers (I'd stick with Intel core i5 or i7 CPU)
RAM: Really depends on what the computer will be used for. 32 GB is more than enough for just about anything you'd do these days

It really all comes down to what the computer will be used for so how about some more info...
 
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[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YwfpTW) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YwfpTW/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Xeon E5-2699 V3 2.3GHz 18-Core OEM/Tray Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-cm8064401739300) | $3914.99 @ SuperBiiz
**CPU** | [Intel Xeon E5-2699 V3 2.3GHz 18-Core OEM/Tray Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-cm8064401739300) | $3914.99 @ SuperBiiz
**CPU Cooler** | [Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-h80i) | $192.95 @ Amazon
**CPU Cooler** | [Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-h80i) | $192.95 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [Asus Z10PE-D16 WS SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011-3 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z10ped16ws) | $487.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Memory** | [Crucial 128GB (4 x 32GB) DDR4-2133 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-ct4k32g4lfq4213) | $1560.43 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [Crucial 128GB (4 x 32GB) DDR4-2133 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-ct4k32g4lfq4213) | $1560.43 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [Crucial 128GB (4 x 32GB) DDR4-2133 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-ct4k32g4lfq4213) | $1560.43 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [Crucial 128GB (4 x 32GB) DDR4-2133 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-ct4k32g4lfq4213) | $1560.43 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Intel DC P3608 3.2TB PCI-E Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-internal-hard-drive-ssdpecme032t401) | $7999.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Intel DC P3608 3.2TB PCI-E Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-internal-hard-drive-ssdpecme032t401) | $7999.99 @ Newegg
**Video Card** | [AMD FirePro W9100 16GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-video-card-100505725) (4-Way CrossFire) | $2998.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Video Card** | [AMD FirePro W9100 16GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-video-card-100505725) (4-Way CrossFire) | $2998.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Video Card** | [AMD FirePro W9100 16GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-video-card-100505725) (4-Way CrossFire) | $2998.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Video Card** | [AMD FirePro W9100 16GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-video-card-100505725) (4-Way CrossFire) | $2998.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Case** | [Cooler Master Cosmos II (Black) ATX Full Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-case-rc1200kkn1) | $306.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Power Supply** | [EVGA SuperNOVA P2 1600W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-220p21600x1) | $338.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Optical Drive** | [Lite-On iHAS224-06 DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas22406) | $179.99 @ Amazon
**Optical Drive** | [Lite-On iHAS224-06 DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas22406) | $179.99 @ Amazon
**Optical Drive** | [Lite-On iHAS224-06 DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas22406) | $179.99 @ Amazon
**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Full (32/64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-fqc09131) | $199.99 @ B&H
**Monitor** | [Eizo CG318-BK 31.1" Monitor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/eizo-monitor-cg318bk) | $5690.00 @ B&H
**Monitor** | [Eizo CG318-BK 31.1" Monitor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/eizo-monitor-cg318bk) | $5690.00 @ B&H
**Monitor** | [Eizo CG318-BK 31.1" Monitor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/eizo-monitor-cg318bk) | $5690.00 @ B&H
**External Storage** | [Buslink CipherShield 6TB External Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/buslink-external-hard-drive-cse6tu3kkb) | $2335.99 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$63733.46**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2015-10-26 09:11 EDT-0400 |
 
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Your better off saving your money and making incremental upgrades.
 
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lets see about how you save ?? you buy a psu 550w 80 bucks now you need / want a top end card but your now wondering if the psu will handle it cause recommended says 650w your back at toms asking to find no better goet new powerful psu so another 100+ bucks

now I could of just got a evga g2 850 with a 10 year warrentee fpr 109 after rebate and would not worry about any card I want to slap in


ya, I see all that savings going with the first ' psu deal and with that 850w and 10 years I can move it up to at least 3 new build before I feel I need to rebuy ????

buy right -buy once think ahead and plan it out

do as you think is right and live and learn
 
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Generally, when it comes to overkill, there are some things you can skip but still have a decent rig.

First up, when it comes to CPUs, no need to overkill. Looking at gaming (specifically) most games are not CPU bound if you get a decent CPU. Most i5's these days even from the original i5-6xx series up through Haswell have more than enough power to run all modern games without issue. Getting a -k model to overclock makes it more likely to last longer. Thus - most Haswell i5's will last for quite some time. If you need to upgrade, you can then go i7 (which will have hyperthreading for better performance)

Motherboards: No need to 'overkill' - just get something with 4 DIMM slots (use 2 now, and allows you to upgrade memory if needed) and SLI certified (ie: can handle two x16 physical slots and x8/x8 graphics. This allows you to have a single powerful GPU and add a second if needed down the road.

RAM: Most systems can handle everything just fine at the 8GB mark. So you can get 2x4GB at the fastest speed that the motherboard/CPU can handle. Down the road, if you need more GB you can go to 16 by adding a 2x4GB set or more. Just be careful to get the identical type/speed/make of RAM and while it -should- play nicely, there's no guarantees. You may have to sell the 2x4GB and buy a 4x4GB (or 4x8GB) certified set cause RAM is sometimes picky.

GPU: Here's where overkill is sometimes useful because face it, games only get more technically and physically demanding on the GPU hardware down the road. Buy the single most powerful GPU your budget can afford. Don't aim for the x2 GPUs as scaling and microstuttering is sometimes a problem. This could be rectified down the road by DX12 releases which have better support for multiple GPUs (even of completely different types!!!).

Disk drives: For the most part, any good brand name SSD's are more than sufficient and will be for some time. You don't need a -huge- SSD, a 120-240GB is sufficient for the OS, with a good (7200rpm 1-2TB) desktop HDD for bulk storage and games. Total cost for a SSD/HDD combo is in the range of $200.00. If the 1TB SSDs come down to the $200-250 mark (currently they're a little above that @ $350 for a Samsung 850 EVO) then that would be a good route but they're not quite there yet and would constitute a 'minor' overkill. Major overkill would be the 2TB Samsung EVO @ $800.00.

PSU - here's another area where overkill sometimes necessary for a variety of reasons. First, a good quality PSU is always recommended because face it - it connects to everything in the system and if it fries, it can take out and/or damage your entire system. Also, overbuying on the PSU allows overclocking down the road and addition of a bigger and/or secondary GPU. For the most part, you should plan on what your system could WIND UP BEING - and buy the PSU as appropriate. For example, if you start with an i5 non OC, with a GTX 970. Plan on an overclocked i5 and twin 970's for the wattage and buy appropriately (130w cpu + 2x150w gpu + 100w assorted + 40% overhead (so you hit the efficiency sweet spot) = 800w PSU.

Hope that helps.
 
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ya like he said with the cpu part -- i5 or i7 ?? I got a i5 now there been a few times I wonder if the extra I would of got with a i7 would of come into play but few so it was not like I kick my self fornot having one it affected me some but not to the point I had to go get a i7 now a xeon may of been a better choice for me overall in the end but still the i5 is doing what I need fine except for 1 or 2 realy unimportant things I came across ..

i7= 320$ xeon= 240$ i5 [non k] 210$ ??? so with hind sight now the xeon was the real deal for me but I'm not saying the i5 is any disappoint just seen where the hyperthreading may of came in handy once or twice overall but not as for a everyday things I do

so for the that I feel the i7 may not of been worth it but for the few bucks the xeon was over the i5 it may of been the ??

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75054,75047,75122

I don't care about being able to overclock I can take it or leave it so ......
 
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Well, here's the big difference between the Xeons and the i5/i7 parts. The Xeons are going to be lower-clocked, and the reason why is they're rated in a much different fashion than the consumer parts. Xeons are geared and rated to run at that particular speed 24/7/365. In other words, full tilt, all day long. Because of that, they're for the most part a lower-clocked i7 (as most Xeons have hyperthreading). Another area where they differ is in the use of ECC RAM. Problem with that, is that ECC ram will be clocked at STOCK speeds (for a new Xeon, that means DDR3/1333mhz) instead of the 1600 (or more) that they i5/i7's can be clocked to. Another problem with DDR3 ECC? More expensive. Might require different motherboard. There's a lot of subtle places that working with server/workstation grade hardware can trip up a build.

When it comes down to it, gaming usually does best with some high-mhz CPUs - this means an i5-k part, or a i7, not a Xeon. Xeons are great for servers, for running virtual machines, rendering videos which can take hours on end, not so much for gaming (at least compared to the consumer CPUs).

If you got an i5 - especially one of the better higher clocked ones (i5-4670 k or non-k) you'd be fine for almost every game out there - if it's not quite enough and you're CPU bound (and there are ways to check) then sell the i5 and replace it with an i7. Intel chips hold their value pretty well on the secondary market (eBay) and careful shopping can get you a pretty good deal.
 
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First, you picked the lowest i7 to compare to your mid-level Xeon -hardly a fair comparison. So, going with the fastest i7 vs fastest Xeon - the i7-4790k has a BASE of 4.0, with turbo set of 2/3/4/4 which means with 4 cores = 4.2, 3 cores = 4.3, and 2 or 1 core = 4.4 ghz.

The fastest E3 Xeon (1286 v3) has a base of 3.7 with turbo states of 2/3/4/4 which means with 4 cores active = 3.9ghz, 3 cores = 4.0, 2 cores = 4.1, and 1 core = 4.1. At that point it's giving up 300mhz of speed - or about 8% SLOWER than the i7, and this isn't even touching on overclocking as all these turbo states are based on thermal headroom. Pick a better air cooler than stock, or even good water cooling, and the CPU can maintain it's higher boost states longer, not to mention if you OC it, you can hit a consistent 4.7ghz easy on all 4 cores.

That's significantly faster than what the Xeon can hit as they will not overclock.

Pricewise, the fastest Xeon E3 V3 I could find was the E3-1276-V3 @ $360.00, while the fastest i7-4790k came up at $340.00 - about $20 cheaper. I'm sure if you could find the top of the line 1286-V3, it would be a bit higher still than the 1276.

Any way you break it down, the Xeons are going to be slightly declocked i7's - that's the only way they can be rated to run 24/7 like they are. They won't be faster (unless you go with a different motherboard and the higher core counts), but comparing equal cores and comparable rating levels - the consumer parts will be faster because they DON'T run 24/7 at full tilt.

Does that mean the Xeons are bad? Nope. Does that mean you can't use them for gaming? Nope. The consumer i7's will be slightly faster and slightly cheaper though.
 
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ok spend that extra 100 bucks on that .7ghz @ 8w more fine with me its not like 2.3 ghz compared to 4ghz now is it ?? how slight ?? were looking at tenths I mean really

any way good luck on what ever you decide on

just to add for .7 ghz why would I not want this as you put it ?? '' Any way you break it down, the Xeons are going to be slightly declocked i7's - that's the only way they can be rated to run 24/7 like they are. They won't be faster (unless you go with a different motherboard and the higher core counts), but comparing equal cores and comparable rating levels - the consumer parts will be faster because they DON'T run 24/7 at full tilt. ''

so you want a .7ghz chips that's not going to last the long haul ?? lol I want will do not may not. LOL
 
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