What RAM and GPU for this build?

[PC-FTW-No1]

I cannot for the life of me figure out what RAM I need for my new build. Here is a list of what is going inside my new PC. Could you please give me some advice on what 16GB kits would work well with gaming and some light encoding? Thanks in advance! -Luke

P.S. Do you think a 970 or a 980 would be an awesome card in this rig or should I go with a 780ti? (Sorry for asking a non-RAM question.)

CPU Intel Core i7-4790K

MoBo Asus Sabertooth Z97 Mark 2

GPU

SSD-OS Samsung 850 Pro 128GB

SSD Games Samsung 850 Pro 256GB

Case Corsair Obsidian 750D

LCU Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme

PSU Corsair RM850 Gold

RAM

Keyboard Corsair K70 Mechanical KB

 

[Eximo]

Any 1.5v DDR3 will be fine. I normally recommend G.Skill Sniper 1866 with a CAS of 9. But you can get faster memory as well. G.Skill Ripjaw is also usually available for a good price.

Either GPU is fine, at this price point it will only improve gaming performance really. GTX980 over a GTX780Ti.

Unless you already have one of them, just go ahead and get a 512GB SSD.

 

[geofelt]

Looks good.

a 2 x 8gb kit of 1.5v ddr3 1866 ram is appropriate.
More will bring marginal improvements(think 1%)
If anything, look for lower cas numbers @1866.
And buy low profile ram. Fancy heat spreaders are mostly marketing.

I have become a bit jaded on the subject of haswell cooling for overclocking.
How high you can OC is firstly determined by your luck in the bin lottery.
I had high expectations from the Devil's canyon parts and their better thermals.
I found out that the thermals really do not matter unless, perhaps, you are a competitive overclocker.
Haswell runs quite cool, that is, until you raise the voltage past 1.25v or so.
Once you go past 1.3v, then you really do need very good cooling to keep stress loads under say 85c.
But, the consensus is that voltages higher than 1.30 are not a good thing for 24/7 usage.
I have been unable to find any official Intel recommendation on what is a safe vcore limit.
If you are an enthusiast, you can go higher.
Even if you can handle the heat, how much do you really need that extra multiplier from say 4.4 to 4.6?
My thought is that it is better to use the exotic cooling funds for a quieter and less expensive air cooler.
I suggest a good tower air cooler like noctua or phanteks with 140mm fans.

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua NH-D15 or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

On the graphics cards, I would favor the Maxwell GTX980 card. It runs cooler and needs only a 550w psu.

For the ssd, I would go with a single 500gb ssd for both the os and games. Larger ssd's perform better and it is easier to manage space on a single device. Many things want to go on the "C" drive and 120gb may fill up quickly.
A single 500gb ssd will cost the same and give you more total capacity.
There will be no performance advantage to two ssd's.

The psu is a good one, but 750w will still do the job.
I would not chase gold rating or modular.
The Seasonic X750 is also a great unit.
If needed, either can run GTX980 sli.
But, my plans for upgrade would be to replace the GTX980 with big Maxwell.
GTX980 will game well on any single monitor short of a 4k monitor.

 

[eddieb101]

If in doubt, a good set of Corsair Vengeance RAM 2x4GB running at 1600MHz, CL9 and 1.5v always seems to work fine. I would also suggest just getting 1 500GB SSD

 

[faalin]

I find this ram to be the sweet spot for all around builds http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226420 Fast MHz for any rendering and low CAS9 for gaming.

And if money isn't an issue I would get this GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487089


There is only 2 ways I would ever touch corsair ram, A) someone threw at me and I didn't move out of the way fast enough B) to move it out of the way to buy something better and cheaper, but even then I would still use a stick or something so I wouldn't have to touch them :lol:

Set of Corsair Vengeance RAM 2x4GB running at 1600MHz, CL9 runs $70 on newegg, so $140 for 16gb like the OP wanted. Or get Mushkin 2x8GB 2133MHz CL9 for $140. I'd take the memory speed over premium price any day.

 

[PC-FTW-No1]

Very nice info. Thank you! As of right now, money is not an issue. Other people said to take the 980 over the 780ti. I will be getting the EVGA 980 for sure. Thanks!!


quotemsg=15356349,0,690511]I find this ram to be the sweet spot for all around builds http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226420 Fast MHz for any rendering and low CAS9 for gaming.

And if money isn't an issue I would get this GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487089


There is only 2 ways I would ever touch corsair ram, A) someone threw at me and I didn't move out of the way fast enough B) to move it out of the way to buy something better and cheaper, but even then I would still use a stick or something so I wouldn't have to touch them :lol:

Set of Corsair Vengeance RAM 2x4GB running at 1600MHz, CL9 runs $70 on newegg, so $140 for 16gb like the OP wanted. Or get Mushkin 2x8GB 2133MHz CL9 for $140. I'd take the memory speed over premium price any day. [/quotemsg]

 

[PC-FTW-No1]

Thank you for the tip. I will be getting an EVGA GTX980SC over a 780ti. Great advice!

Any 1.5v DDR3 will be fine. I normally recommend G.Skill Sniper 1866 with a CAS of 9. But you can get faster memory as well. G.Skill Ripjaw is also usually available for a good price.

Either GPU is fine, at this price point it will only improve gaming performance really. GTX980 over a GTX780Ti.

Unless you already have one of them, just go ahead and get a 512GB SSD.

 

[PC-FTW-No1]

I will take your advice regarding the SSD. You and a few others suggested the same thing. 1x500 over two SSD's is what I'll be getting now. Thanks!

quotemsg=15356309,0,1555009]If in doubt, a good set of Corsair Vengeance RAM 2x4GB running at 1600MHz, CL9 and 1.5v always seems to work fine. I would also suggest just getting 1 500GB SSD[/quotemsg]