My next gaming PC build - Suggestions?

[ITGL72]

Its time again, and I have some budget to work with. I have some thoughts on what I want to do. I have some parts loosely selected and would appreciate any feedback, or just help me remember what I don't already know or forgot.

This will be a PC used as a gamer, but I'll also do some playing around with VMware as I load up windows server OSs in a lab environment. Here goes...

For CPU, I prefer Intel and I've researched the Intel Core i7-4790K Devil’s Canyon Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150. I'll pick up an aftermarket heat sink as well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369

It seems I can go higher but I'm not sure its worth it.

For the video card, I've eyeballed the Nvidia GTX 970, but something tells me I need to go more along the lines of the 980. However, my goodness, the price difference from the 970 to the 980 might not seem worth it. Here is the one I have saved to look at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125682

I also plan on this finally being my first true 3 monitor setup. I'm looking forward to using it in flight and race simulations/gamesI have to ensure the card will work well with Nvidia surround.

I plan on starting with 16GB of memory, of which I have not settled on yet because I have not settled on what I need for a MOTHERBOARD.

Power supply I'll be sure to find something modular and, powerful.

I'll go some flavor of SSD as well.

The last build was inside of a Cooler Master HAF 922 and to be honest I felt that's all I needed this time too. I really liked it. This time around I'm leaning towards the Cooler Master HAF 932 but the extra expense on it is gnawing at me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

What do you guys think? Comments, suggestions, pitfalls, questions?

Thanks in advance for the help everyone!

 

[mfenn]

Can you help us out updating your post to include answers to the following questions? Importantly, we need to know your budget and what all it should include.

 

[ITGL72]

Can you help us out updating your post to include answers to the following questions? Importantly, we need to know your budget and what all it should include.

Sure, and thank you for my mis-re-direction to the correct information

PLEASE when you POST threads asking for input on system builds tell us...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
We can't be expected to scour the internet on your behalf, chasing down deals in your specific country... Again, help us, help YOU.

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?

At the end of the day it's your money. There's only so much we can do.

1. Gaming, its a gamer PC with a touch of flight and race simulation. I'm also using the machine as a virtual server host to build labs for work. mainly windows servers. My test bed if you will, but its not its primary job here.

2. Budget, *trying* to not go over $1500 for the PC itself as I still need to budget for 3 monitors (later)

3. USA

4. N/A

5. Prefer Intel CPU, although I've built other PC machines with AMD as lesser powered gamers for my two kids. Prefer Nvidia because of past good experience and some slight issues with XFX AMD/ATI in past. I like ASUS and GIGABYTE for motherboards, but not die hard on them only.

6. No

7. I do not overclock, but I would not mind the option to do so. Not a deal breaker.

8. A lot of 1920x1080 I believer, however for flight and race simulations I want to use 3 monitors with some flavor of wide resolution, I plan to purchase monitors after this build.

9. Within the next few weeks.

10. No

 

[Charlie98]

Which flight sims are you running? FSX is notoriously underutilized, but something like X-Plane can make use of more CPU cores and I think HT.

 

[ITGL72]

Which flight sims are you running? FSX is notoriously underutilized, but something like X-Plane can make use of more CPU cores and I think HT.

It can be anything, I own FSX and DCS, but a sale comes by one day, I might tinker with xplane.

 

[Ken g6]

Well, here's a $1500 build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: *Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.45 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: *Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($96.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: *PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($92.77 @ Amazon)
Storage: *OCZ ARC 100 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($70.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($661.23 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1497.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-17 23:57 EDT-0400

It is possible to do a build with the HAF 932, but you have to give up some niceties. The mobo is a Z97, not H97, and is capable of SLI (though you'd have to upgrade the PSU.) Plus it's red and black to match your case. I also figured you'd need that 2TB of drive space for those VMs.

I debated between 2x970 in SLI or 1x980ti, but you said you wanted minimal issues, so I went with the single card. 980 isn't worth the price, but 980ti is more likely to be.

 

[rcarlos243]

If you are into racing games, I would say you should get a 144Hz monitor.

Benq XL2411z is a good value monitor but if you want a better one, the Acer XB270HU 1440p 144hz IPS w/ G-Sync is the best.

 

[Charlie98]

The last build was inside of a Cooler Master HAF 922 and to be honest I felt that's all I needed this time too. I really liked it. This time around I'm leaning towards the Cooler Master HAF 932 but the extra expense on it is gnawing at me.

My first PC build was in a HAF922... while it was a decent case, it is unnecessarily large for a mATX build (IMHO) and, in my case, was a poor choice due to lack of filtration. My house is pretty dusty and I found I was having to open it up every 2-3 months to clean it, even after buying aftermarket magnetic filters and such.

My solution was to move to a more closed case... a Fractal Define Mini. Not only do I feel it is a much better case (build quality, material) but because it has built-in filtration, I have to open it up less to clean it, and wound up with better temperatures (I'm assuming because of better managed air flow.) In your 'case', maybe look at the Fractal Define R4/R5 series cases... I don't think you would be disappointed.

 

[DigDog]

i'd say wait, new stuff is coming out just now.

 

[ITGL72]

Define.... Just now.....

 

[Charlie98]

Define.... Just now.....

He means August, most likely, when Skylake comes out.

 

[mfenn]

Well, here's a $1500 build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: *Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.45 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: *Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($96.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: *PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($92.77 @ Amazon)
Storage: *OCZ ARC 100 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($70.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($661.23 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1497.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-17 23:57 EDT-0400

It is possible to do a build with the HAF 932, but you have to give up some niceties. The mobo is a Z97, not H97, and is capable of SLI (though you'd have to upgrade the PSU.) Plus it's red and black to match your case. I also figured you'd need that 2TB of drive space for those VMs.

I debated between 2x970 in SLI or 1x980ti, but you said you wanted minimal issues, so I went with the single card. 980 isn't worth the price, but 980ti is more likely to be.

I like this build overall, but I really don't care for the HAF 922, especially not at that price. OP, I understand that you specified it, but the case industry has moved on. For example:

- Quiet and understated, but very nice to work in and with a side window for a little flair: Fractal Design R5 Windowed $120
- A little more angular and "bling-bling", but still sleek: NZXT Phantom 410 $100
- Full-on "gamer": Corsair 500R $120 AR

 

[ITGL72]

He means August, most likely, when Skylake comes out.

Oh thanks! Thats much longer than I plan to wait. I'm looking to have things ordered by end of month so I'm reading this forums, and reading articles online to try and get back up to speed. I'm like this, if I keep waiting for the next thing to come out, I will never *be ready* so I go when I'm ready and move on.

 

[ITGL72]

I like this build overall, but I really don't care for the HAF 922, especially not at that price. OP, I understand that you specified it, but the case industry has moved on. For example:

- Quiet and understated, but very nice to work in and with a side window for a little flair: Fractal Design R5 Windowed $120
- A little more angular and "bling-bling", but still sleek: NZXT Phantom 410 $100
- Full-on "gamer": Corsair 500R $120 AR

Interesting that you state tower industry has moved on. I'll take a closer look at those case links.

 

[ITGL72]

My God, I don't think I can drop that much on the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti ACX 2.0+ Graphics Card 06G-P4-4991-KR. I dont think I can actually click the mouse button on that one. ;-)

 

[Charlie98]

My God, I don't think I can drop that much on the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti ACX 2.0+ Graphics Card 06G-P4-4991-KR. I dont think I can actually click the mouse button on that one. ;-)

Then the alternate would be a GTX970 variant, whatever might be on sale.

Interesting that you state tower industry has moved on. I'll take a closer look at those case links.

I'm thinking he means that tower design has progressed past the open design of the HAF series. There is nothing that says you can't get good air flow through a properly design closed case; and, as I mentioned, at least in my instance, I actually got better thermals from a very closed case (Define Mini) vs an open case that is the HAF922, et al.

 

[ITGL72]

As for video card, I was thinking anything $600 or more is a bit tough to swallow, on one component. Which is why I listed something a little more in the middle compared to the 970, I had this 980 or something similiar http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125682

As for cases, the first thing I noticed was, how does the air get into the case?! The front is closed off. It made me feel like, this goes against what I've always thought.

 

[ITGL72]

Another thing that interests me, I'm planning on that Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.00GHz listed, however the Intel Core i7-5820K @ 3.30GHz scores higher on https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I guess because one has six cores, and the other has 4 cores it affects their scoring result. Its just that the 4790 is a 4.00GHz CPU, and in gaming, how many games utilize more than one core? (I'm not sure thats why Im asking)

 

[ITGL72]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a

and

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xgaming5

So far the reading up on this, I really like it...

 

[escrow4]

Interesting that you state tower industry has moved on. I'll take a closer look at those case links.

Not really. I use a HAF XM for my gaming box and I can't complain.

 

[freeskier93]

Another thing that interests me, I'm planning on that Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.00GHz listed, however the Intel Core i7-5820K @ 3.30GHz scores higher on https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I guess because one has six cores, and the other has 4 cores it affects their scoring result. Its just that the 4790 is a 4.00GHz CPU, and in gaming, how many games utilize more than one core? (I'm not sure thats why Im asking)

At this point in time both 4.0 GHz and lots of cores are very superfluous for gaming. Moving forward with DX12 I believe more cores will be more important over clock speed. More cores will also be advantageous for VMs.

Also the more common LGA 1150 socket only supports 4 physical cores, jumping up to hexa core means LGA 2011 which is a huge increase in motherboard price.

You might also consider some of the LGA 1150 Xeons.

 

[ITGL72]

I've got a rough draft here. Based on several recommendations, feedback from you folks, and my own reading, researching, etc. Yes, there is a Ti on this list, I am going a little crazy and exploring that possibility.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LVjKVn

 

[Ken g6]

It looks like your budget ballooned a bit. Let me see if I can help shrink it:

RAM: Brand doesn't matter that much. Now I see what you meant by "I do not overclock, but I would not mind the option to do so." Anything over 1600 is overclocking.

HDD: There's no reason to get a hybrid drive here. If you want SSD caching, your mobo supports Intel Smart Response, so you could dedicate a portion of your real SSD to that. As for brand, you didn't specify, but I'd understand if you prefer Seagate for $15 more.

GPU: There's a reason I picked that particular 980ti: It has a dual-fan cooler that is likely to be quieter than a blower. And, look, it has free shipping now!

PSU: You only need 850W if you're going to SLI two 980ti's. As I don't see that happening, I picked out a really nice 650W unit for you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ B&H)
Memory: *Kingston Fury Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($142.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: *Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($55.57 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($649.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1600.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-20 11:55 EDT-0400

Not $1500, but closer.

 

[mfenn]

My God, I don't think I can drop that much on the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti ACX 2.0+ Graphics Card 06G-P4-4991-KR. I dont think I can actually click the mouse button on that one. ;-)

I'm not sure that I understand how the price of any one component matters as long as the whole build is under your budget and it's a balanced build suitable for your purposes.

Now, if your budget needs to be lower than $1500, that's also fine and we can work up a build on that.

I'm thinking he means that tower design has progressed past the open design of the HAF series. There is nothing that says you can't get good air flow through a properly design closed case; and, as I mentioned, at least in my instance, I actually got better thermals from a very closed case (Define Mini) vs an open case that is the HAF922, et al.

Indeed. The HAF922 has plenty of airflow, but it is overly loud for that cooling power compared to more recent cases.

 

[ITGL72]

I'm not sure that I understand how the price of any one component matters as long as the whole build is under your budget and it's a balanced build suitable for your purposes.

Now, if your budget needs to be lower than $1500, that's also fine and we can work up a build on that.



Indeed. The HAF922 has plenty of airflow, but it is overly loud for that cooling power compared to more recent cases.

I believe you. I also believe I am going to go for that Ti because it might be right for now, here, this build. I have never spent that much on a video card either. Of course my circumstances now have changed from what I've built over the years.