Need help deciding to jump to x99/DDR4

[Dookie]

I am putting together a build that I will be purchasing before the end of the year and I am on the fence about jumping to x99/DDR4. Here's the rundown:

I plan on using the machine as a workstation first and a gaming box second. I would like to be able to run a few VMs (4-5) as a lab. So I don't expect they will require a ton of resources as I will be using them to play with and get familiar with things like DNS, AD, etc but the utilization will not be high. Ideally I would like to be able to have enough resources to run the VMs while doing everyday things like browsing, watching video, or listening to music.

As far as gaming is concerned I'd like to be able to play the lastest titles but I'd be happy with being able to run skyrim, Civ5, and insurgency. I have a laptop that has a Radeon HD7570M and from my experience it is just about adequate for what I want, for now at least.



My budget tops out at around $1300 and I understand that it's a small budget for early adoption so I'm willing to forgo some GPU/gaming in order to get to x99/DDR4 if it is worth it.


I am in the US but not near a Micocenter. I do not have any brand preferences.
I do plan on re-using a 1TB drive for my build and I really want to go with a m.2 PCIe drive for my OS. From what I've been able to find there's really only 1 drive available at this point.


I am not opposed to overclocking but I'm not going to get really deep into it. I don't see myself messing with memory timings or anything that deep.


My display is an ASUS pb278q at 2560x1440.

I'm not really looking for a build out at this point, I'm trying to determine if adopting the new platforms is worth the investment at this point or would I be spending money on improvements that I will not see the effects of.

I have a couple builds I've put together for a bit of reference.

DDR4 build

DDR3 build - Hadn't looked at this one in a while, could use some re-working.


I hope I've given enough information but if not let me know.

 

[Cerb]

TBH, you're not describing a workload that needs more than H97 (at most Z97), much less X79, much less X99. But, is one that 4C4T would leave you wanting, were you to see what it's like with 4C8T or higher (Intel) or 4M8T (AMD, not good as good for the $).

Something like Mfenn's midrange build, upped to an i7, and a GTX 980 (for the monitor), would probably do well, and be right bout at budget (maybe a little over, even). For high quality settings, that 1 GPU might be stretching it, but if a HD 7570M is adequate even at 1366x768 (but I'd guess 1080P), I'm guessing that's not a high priority.

X99 will absolutely not be worth it, for you, and I doubt X79 would be, either.

 

[Dookie]

Thanks for the info! I'm pretty happy to hear that I've been over-estimating my requirements. It opens up a lot of room in the budget to work with.

Any thoughts on if the M.2 drives are worth it at this point? I am prepared to sacrifice some bang-for-buck to get stupid fast OS boot times.

EDIT: I put an H97/DDR3 build together. Does this look more appropriate?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Plextor M6e 128GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Platinum 550W 80+ Platinum Certified ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $934.92

 

[Cerb]

Stupid fast boot times can be had by booting EUFI only with Windows 8+, no RAID, and having fast startup/fast boot/quick boot/hybrid boot turned on. Boot times across SSDs are almost always within hairs-widths of each other, when tested, which is part of why most review sites aren't doing it, anymore.

Also, some mobos take longer to boot, with a PCIe drive installed, so you'd want to check that out, if possible.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...6113-plextor-m6e-256gb-pcie-ssd-review-8.html
They have to add things like malware scans at login (more or less pointless for a personally owned PC), to get any differences (plain boot tests I've seen show no to negligible differences w/ the PCIe drives). TBF, the results are impressive, but who does that? Even most businesses, with their IT nazis (like me?), only do it weekly or monthly.

Having done it more due to another thread/curiosity a few days ago than I usually do all year, my Windows 7, with a slightly older SATA SSD (M500 480GB), and plain BIOS+EUFI boot, takes about 20 seconds from choosing shut down to having a login prompt again. Anywhere from 10-30s is typical, depending on configuration. I boot quicker than some review platforms I've seen, FI, but both the slower and faster ones still show the SDDs themselves to mostly make very little difference. I'm pretty sure the add-on chips, RAID ROM, etc., making slower ones slower, and pure EUFI boot making faster ones faster.

For now, a good SATA SSD will be your best bet, overall, and not cost too much. If you want some assurance of speed, the Sandisk Extreme II 240GB isn't too expensive, right now. It, the Samsung 840 Pro, and Sandisk X210 (variant of the Extreme II), and Sandisk Extreme Pro (follow-on to Extreme II, but still kind of pricey), would all be good choices. Even they will probably be wasting some money, compared to say a Ultra Plus, M500, M550, MX100, 840 Evo, etc., but anything costlier definitely would be throwing away your money.

P.S. (I was replying to the post before the edit w/ the build): if you're going for an i7, get the i7-4790K. It's 4.4/4.0GHz, at stock speeds.
For 2560x1440, the GTX 750 Ti is going to be anemic. A GTX 780 or GTX 970 might do, but the 750 Ti will falter with newer games at even lowish detail settings.

 

[Dookie]

This is why I always come to these forums. Thanks for all the info!
So if I'm understanding correctly I'm not going to see a noticeable difference between a fast SATA 6gb SSD and a m.2 PCIe SSD.

I'm going to be running Win 8.1 without any RAID so I should be able to use pure UEFI. Which seems like it will have the most effect on boot time.

As for the CPU, if I go with the K i'm thinking it will worth it to get a CPU cooler and do at least a bit of overclocking. Any thoughts?

And I don't know if I should take this question to the video card forum but I've always been a bit confused by what to look at in cards other than the chipset. I mean this EVGA card is $134 cheaper than this PNY card. Although I did just notice it's on sale so that probably explains that...

 

[Cerb]

This is why I always come to these forums. Thanks for all the info!
So if I'm understanding correctly I'm not going to see a noticeable difference between a fast SATA 6gb SSD and a m.2 PCIe SSD.

Pretty much only in mass file copying within the same drive, where SATA itself is a bottleneck, at 180-270MBps. SSD<->HDD copying will always be bottlenecked by the HDD.

Once M.2 NVMe gets more popular, and drives that can compete w/ those Samsung and Intel server drives [in desktop workloads] come out, it'll be worth it[, assuming the prices aren't too high]. For now, not really, at least not for file and program load times.

As for the CPU, if I go with the K i'm thinking it will worth it to get a CPU cooler and do at least a bit of overclocking. Any thoughts?

Adds to cost, time, and effort, like always. The 4790K is one of the odd K CPUs that are worth it even w/o OCing.

And I don't know if I should take this question to the video card forum but I've always been a bit confused by what to look at in cards other than the chipset. I mean this EVGA card is $134 cheaper than this PNY card

The 780 have gone down in price since the GTX 970 came out at $350, and is offering similar performance. The PNY hasn't caught up.

You'd be better off waiting for the 970 4GB ards to get back in stock, IMO.

 

[Dookie]

Thanks again for the help!
I think I have a pretty good handle on what I need and I've got a good starting point to work from.

Here's the build I'm starting with and I'm sure I'll be making some adjustments between now and when I'm ready to start purchasing.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($329.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Platinum 550W 80+ Platinum Certified ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $0.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor (Purchased For $0.00)
Keyboard: Corsair K95 Wired Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Mouse: Razer Taipan Wired Laser Mouse (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $1214.92

Is there anything major on the horizon for the next 1-2 months I should keep my eye on?

 

[mfenn]

Great advice from Cerb as always. Your build looks like it has the right general idea, but the best deal on any given component can and will shift over the course of weeks, let alone months. You shouldn't get your heart set on any particular part and should ask for an update when you're ready to pull the trigger.