The "Help Me Because I Only Know Enough to be Dangerous" X99 Build

[NH_Patriot]

I'm new to this forum and while not new to building PC's, I might as well be as the last ones I built were about 15 years ago, hence the "I know Enough to be Dangerous" Title. I'm interested in a X99 build for my new home office.


Here's the list of parts I have already ordered:
Cooler Master HAF-X Case
Corsair H115i Extreme 280mm CPU Cooler
Corsair HX1000i Power Supply
The purpose of the Corsair Cooler and Power Supply was to take advantage of the Corsair Link Software.



Here's the rest of what I think I'm doing:
Intel i7-5930K CPU (I want 40 Lanes, but I don't even know why and I don't feel like paying double the price for 2 more cores)
Corsair Dominator Memory (but I think I need to know the motherboard prior to deciding this so I can insure compatibility??)
Samsung 950 Pro M.2 System Drive


Video Cards:
2 - EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Hybrid
or maybe
2 - Corsair Hydro GFX (which I believe is a MSI GTX 980 Ti)
Unless some one has a better/more cost effective suggestion??


Motherboard - I'm agonizing over the motherboard. Possibilities have included:

EVGA X99 Classified - but I ruled that out when I was on an EVGA forum and I read that their M.2 slot was slower that M.2 is supposed to me (25% of what M.2 should be)

Asus Rampage V Extreme/U3 - Reviews are all over the map for this board, but I don't know how much of that is from guys who know what they're talking about or morons like me that have no idea how to overclock a toaster. I've never overclocked before, but this might be a fum machine for me to learn on.
Asus X99 Deluxe - Same as Rampage Extreme

MSI Godlike Gaming - I'm not even sure what to make of this boards name, but I may get to finally be somewhat Godlike.
MSI Gaming 9 ACK - I don't even know what ACK stands for?


Uses for the computer would possibly include:
Ham Radio Control (not very demanding, but I would love the ability to run 4-6 monitors for this use)
Gaming (I'm not a gamer, nor do I have the time for serious gaming, but I might like to keep my options open for iRacing or Flight Sims)
Home Video Editing (I don't do any now, but as my daughter gets older, I may like to try some home video editing of her gymnastics stuff / family vacations, etc)
General Web Surfing and Research (I'm a serial researcher of all my hobbys and will have many windows open at a time to refer back to)
Possible CAD work (I do a bit of CAD work occasionally. I have Auto-Cad on my Laptop, but having multiple, larger screens would be nice)

This would not be my primary work, or even secondary work machine for that matter, I have a Dell Precision Workstation Laptop and a MS Surface Pro 4 for that stuff. This is more of a fun to build, fun to play with machine.

As you can see, I truly only know enough to hurt myself, so I'd really appreciate input from some guys that have already made the mistakes I'm about to make!!

Thanks!

 

[OptyTrooper]

I'd steer away from MSI. They are not known for creating quality components.

 

[EarthDog]

MSI makes fine components on the Intel side... AMD people don't like them much, but I haven't had any real issuses across my reviews and use.


Anyway, why are you looking at such expensive boards? A quality $200 motherboard would be PLENTY.

You aren't a gamer, yet want $1200+ in GPUs???

Dominator memory looks good, but fetches a premium.

It's up to you, you can of course get those things, but we can save you an arseload of money if you get things more appropriate.

 

[Lochekey]

Personally I would pick up the I7-5820K. Unless you have a tangible need for the extra pci-e lanes I see no point in them.

AS for the video cards you may have some trouble finding mounting spots for both of the rads. Also, I agree with Ed why the need for the 2 980 ti's

 

[NH_Patriot]

The Dual Video Cards was for the ability to run more than 4 monitors. I thought I read in the specs for the Video cards that they support 4 monitors each?

I have seen instances where people have built machines with a high end video card and a second less expensive card. I don't understand how that works, my simple mind thinks that they should be the same for some reason?

Do I need video cards with radiators? I kind of have a habit of over building things. I just figured if one video card has a radiator, for only a few more bucks, then shouldn't both?

If there's money to be saved without sacrificing performance and longevity, please, by all means, I'm all ears.

 

[Lochekey]

How many monitors are you looking to run and what will you be doing with more than 4 monitors. Depending on your usage and the demand on the gpu's you may not need matched cards.

As an example i run a gtx960 on my main monitor for running games and such. I also run a gt740 to drive my 2 secondary monitors that I just use for web browsing and to run my monitoring programs.


There are also cards available that are designed to run multi monitor setups (6+) as long as they are not graphically intensive. The one workstation that we use at my work uses a quadro card for the main monitor and to accelerate cad programs there is an additional 6 monitors on this workstation that are used to monitor different plant operations and have general files pulled up on them and they are all driven off of a single matrox gpu.

 

[NH_Patriot]

I'd probably max out at 6 monitors. The Ham Radio Gear that I run can be connected to PC via USB.

When I'm on the radio I like having a screen for the following functions:
Radio Control Program
Log Book Program
Google Earth
Desktop / Browser Screen
Weather Screen
News / TV Screen

Obviously, the News/TV Screen doesn't need to be fed from the PC, but if for some reason I needed a 6th, I could drive it.

When doing CAD work:
CAD Screen
2nd CAD Screen
Info about the Job I'm drawing screen
Specification for the job I'm drawing screen
E-Mail Screen
Schedule Screen

For possible Gaming:
The idea of having 6 screens available for iRacing or Flight Sim just seems plain fun to me. I might even try Call of Duty or some similar game, but again, I don't anticipate having enough time to get too serious about it.

The monitors I've been buying are 24" with Display Port, DVI and VGA.

I also have a question about larger screens.....

If I have 2 or 3 - 35"-40" TV's hooked up to the HDMI our on the video cards, will the computer be able to change modes between the 6 - 24" Monitor Rack that I have and the 3 - 40" TV's, depending upon which ones are on when I turn the computer on??

 

[wingman99]

I would just purchase 2 EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 06G-P4-4995-KR 6GB SC+ GAMING w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487142 , unless you plan on spending a lot of time overclocking I would just get air coolers instead of water less problems with the pumps going out or water contaminating, plugging up the radiator AIO is suppose to last longer however they only have 2 year warranty. EVGA uses double ball baring fan on the air cool card with a 3 year warranty.

 

[JrClocker]

I use an EVGA GTX 980 Ti hybrid...great card...runs cool...love it. (Planning on a second one soon).

I also run the Corsair H110i GTX (which I think it pretty close to the H115i). The stock fans are loud, so I replaced them with the Prolimatech in my signature...4 setup in push/pull. Keeps my 5820K below 70 C running folding@home 24/7 with a 4.3 GHz overclock.

You didn't mention anything about the case.

You have called out a good amount of radiator...280 mm for CPU cooler, and 2x120 mm for the GTX 980 Ti hybrids. Get a case that can support the 115i as intake, and you will have no problems mounting the 2x120 mm radiators as exhaust.

 

[NH_Patriot]

You didn't mention anything about the case.

You have called out a good amount of radiator...280 mm for CPU cooler, and 2x120 mm for the GTX 980 Ti hybrids. Get a case that can support the 115i as intake, and you will have no problems mounting the 2x120 mm radiators as exhaust.

I actually already purchased a Cooler Master HAF-Xfor the build. Could I still use dual hybrids with that case?

- - - Updated - - -

After doing some more research last night, I came upon the Asus X99-E WS motherbord, which to me seems like a more rugged, option filled board, with maybe less of the potential bleeding edge over clocking features of the Asus RVE.

Are the WS boards even still available? I can't find them available anywhere. And pricing g ranges from $550.00 - $750.00. Seems like a large gap. What gives with these boards?

 

[EarthDog]

If you can fit a 280mm in front, you have 2 120mm, one on the back (its 140mm) and one (there are more and they are 200mm x2) up top. The tubing on these hybrids are not very long, particularly when have a full tower case.

http://www.coolermaster.com/case/full-tower/haf-x/

After doing some more research last night, I came upon the Asus X99-E WS motherbord, which to me seems like a more rugged, option filled board, with maybe less of the potential bleeding edge over clocking features of the Asus RVE.

Are the WS boards even still available? I can't find them available anywhere. And pricing g ranges from $550.00 - $750.00. Seems like a large gap. What gives with these boards?

Workstation level boards... unless you need the features it has that other boards do not (not sure what that is...) then it could be worth it. As I said, for your defined uses, a $200 motherboard will be plenty. Id go with something like this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...57600&cm_re=ASrock_X99-_-13-157-600-_-Product


Not sure about availability on the WS board... sorry.

 

[JrClocker]

I actually already purchased a Cooler Master HAF-Xfor the build. Could I still use dual hybrids with that case?

That's a pretty "long" case. You'll have to get out your ruler and see if the hoses are long enough.

The hoses on my Corsair H110i are longer than the hoses on my 980 Ti hybrid. For my case (NZXT Notcis 450) the H110i radiator fits in the front with length to spare on the hoses. However, in this configuration, I cannot use the internal hard drive bays. Not really an issue for me as I use an m.2 SSD on the motherboard, and the case has a 3.5" HDD mounting on the bottom.