First build in years - Would love some help!

It has been about 12 years since I built a PC, so my knowledge is a tad dated….. I have some general ideas just from doing some lurking here recently, but I was hoping to get some advice.

Main use for the computer would be photo editing and gaming. I would like to go 4K, but will probably game at 1440p.

Some basics, as that is all I really have at this point…

It figures that I decide to get back into this months before a new chipset is being released. Due to this I am thinking about getting a good rig going, and not go completely nuts like I normally would. I would probably go with a 4k budget for the computer alone, but I am hesitant to do that with the 1151 coming out so soon. I am leaning towards not going nuts on the mobo or cpu right now, and just plan on changing those out after 1151 has been out for a few months, and keeping as many of the other components as possible. Unfortunately waiting isn't really an option, as I currently just have a Macbook Air at home, and that isn't cutting it!

So some initial component thoughts

Z87 or z97
potential for OC
Water cooled

2 or 3 way SLI with GTX 980 – Figure this would carry over to rebuild in 6 months. Looking for 4k for photo editing and 1440p for gaming. Will probably buy two monitors to maximize capabilities and limit sacrifices.

Planned on full tower – Size isn’t an issue, and the larger area would work well with my meat fist hands.

There is a Microcenter not too far from me as well.

Im not dead set on anything, these are just some ideas.


John

I'd look at this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/D8cBYJ

Case comes in black, white, and silver.
Could also look at a 750D or 900D for the case.

Honestly with good airflow you won't need WC for those GPU's.
Look at getting an H220-X or H240-X for the CPU and being done with it.

Monitor is 144Hz and supports G-Sync.

Thank you for the info, much appreciated. Couple of questions of course.

Are you suggesting to go with the Haswell-E and just ingore the upcoming upgrade I was planning, or were you suggesting to swap out that motherboard and CPU after the new chipset comes out like I had mentioned doing?

If I am going the swap route, I don't having a slower system for 6 months. If I am being realistic, I don't need anywhere near the machine I am going to build, but I am not planning on being realistic!

John

ETA - Forgot to mention RAID. I am paranoid about losing photos as well, so I will either be doing some sort of RAID configuration, external backup, or both. Any input on that would be appreciated as well.

Yes, I would just ignore the upcoming equipment. The extra 2 cores and 4 threads will do more for you in the long run than a few % more efficient on each core.
Also, the big difference of 1150 to 1151 is DDR4, which Haswell-E uses.

RAID is simple, grab a second of the same HDD and use RAID1 on the motherboard.

Good deal.

Do you think that the 5820 with the Extreme6 is the best way to go? No need to jump up one or two levels? Such as the 5960(or stick with 5820) and the X99 OC formula? The price on the 5960 is a tad high...

John

One thing to note since you did mention Photo work, is that the monitor ATMINSIDE reccomended has a TN panel. Don't get me wrong, its a kickass monitor, but I would consider at least PLS if not IPS screen if you want color accuracy. The rest of the system looks good to me as well.

I see no need for the 5930K or 5960X.
And the Extreme6 will take you to the limits (and beyond) of ambient cooling.

OP said he'd probably buy two monitors. Could easily buy one to game on and one for editing

Overlooked the 2 monitor part. In that case, I am very pleased with my ACER B326HK as a 4k monitor. I personally haven't seen G-sync in action and am dying to try it. Hopefully I can get someone at Microcenter to make a demonstration, they have been pretty good about showing stuff on prior occasions when I asked.

What is the max power consumption one would want to use on a PSU? 80%? 95%?

If I loaded the above system with the full 128gb of ram, and added another card it will be up at 881W(Not that I am doing this right away). Is 1kW sufficient, or is that running too close to the max supply. I know with breakers , you are not supposed to go over 80% of the rated trip draw due to shortening the life of the breaker and running the breaker hottter than normal.

John

That would be fine with the 1kw. What would you be doing that you would be able to use 128gb of ram? And I don't even think there are enough slots and or large enough dimms.

Janus67 said:

That would be fine with the 1kw. What would you be doing that you would be able to use 128gb of ram? And I don't even think there are enough slots and or large enough dimms.

Click to expand...

I have no plans to fill it out the board with ram, it was more of a curiosity. You are right that it can't go that high, I had a brain fart... In the mobo description it states 128gb capacity, but there are obviously only 8 slots. What are they referring to?

With the adjusted ram, the power consumption is showing 801W. Is that running to close to the 850 capacity? That 801 number is just pulled from pcpartpicker.

John

Yes, 1kW will be more than enough.

jrp3 said:

I have no plans to fill it out the board with ram, it was more of a curiosity. You are right that it can't go that high, I had a brain fart... In the mobo description it states 128gb capacity, but there are obviously only 8 slots. What are they referring to?

With the adjusted ram, the power consumption is showing 801W. Is that running to close to the 850 capacity? That 801 number is just pulled from pcpartpicker.

John

Click to expand...

PCP (and most other build sites/estimators) tend to over-estimate the power draw for most products. If you went with 4 980s, at full load and increased voltage I believe would pull ~175W each, so 700w, add the CPU of 150W (with a mild OC) and you have 850W, add some drives, etc and estimate a full system with 900-ish watts.

Of course that would be a crazy amount of products going into that, and have to be going at full load to everything (incredibly difficult unless you are benchmarking/stress testing all of it). And even with that, a good 1000w PSU from a trusted manufacturer should be plenty.

Good deal.

Will there be any need to have quad SLI for some of the upcoming VRs coming out shortly? I definitely plan to get one of them, and if there would be a benefit for quad SLI then that means I should be looking at a different mobo.

By the time quad SLI of 980s is able to be justified there will be a better GPU for the job

Roger that. Thanks again for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

John

Most of the components have arrived, just waiting on a few more. I think the SSD I ordered was the drive only, so I am assuming I need mounting hardware. I thought I saw a thread here somewhere that showed installation of the 850 EVO, but I have been reading so many threads I have no clue if it was here or not...

Any info on what mounting hardware to get, if needed? I did see the link in a server build thread for an aluminum one that seemed nice.

John

Most cases easily accommodate at least one SSD, if not 2 or 3 (or more, my 750D can take one in every 3.5" bay and 4 next to the motherboard tray) without the need for extra hardware.

I guess if I had read the specs of the case I bought I would have figured that one out! Haven't had time to even open up a ogle the items as of yet.

So I probably just need the cable? Drive is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, and I didn't see any info on the amazon link as to what was in the box.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E500B-AM/dp/B00OBRE5UE

Worst case scenario, SSDs don't really need to be mounted, they can be hanging upside down with velcro for all they care. there's no moving parts.