Hardware & Technical X99/5930/GTX980 build - comments?

[jabokai]

Don't want to get into the X99/Z97 debate, but any comments/suggestions on the following? I plan to add a second GTX980 at a later date.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/kzhVf7

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£409.98 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110 94.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£88.31 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus X99-DELUXE ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£279.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£358.80 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£158.95 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card (£429.00 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case (£117.59 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£148.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£70.56 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £2073.08

 

[Patrick_68000]

No comments. I am open-mouthed !

 

[jabokai]

They're convincing me on overclockers that I may as well spec down the memory and the CPU... they're probably right and it saves £300!

 

[Davevti]

If money is not an issue then go for it! Does wonders for epeen!

 

[Slawkenbergius]

Worth taking a look at the MSI GTX 980 as a possible alternative to the Zotac. Apparently it has a slightly higher factory overclock, and has plenty of headroom left should you want to take it further. It's also one of the thinnest cards around, which would be a benefit if you end up running two in SLI. The cooling system is supposedly fairly quiet even with the fans running 100%, and the fans actually don't run at all if the card is under 50c.

Tweaktown pass judgement here. It's a tad more expensive than the Zotac, but you could shave the price difference off by downspeccing to a 750W PSU... 1000W seems overkill to me.

 

[Zieman]

The system looks great!

Don't skimp on the PSU, you might want add another GT980 for SLI in a year or two...
That said, something like 850W would still suffice, but 1 kW gives more headroom, which helps to keep the temps & noise low.

 

[jabokai]

I chose the PSU because I just like Seasonic, and it was the cheapest Platinum rated one that showed up on Parts Picker >= 850! I could save £50 on the PSU but am not fussed about that really.

I chose the Zotac just as the cheapest reference card (basically I planned to pick whatever was the cheapest at the time of order!) - I was under the impression that the stock Nvidia cooler was pretty good - is that not the case? I've been ATI/AMD for my past 3 PCs, although was green before that.



Now they're talking me down to 5820/16Gb on overclockers I'm back to thinking "well, should I just build a 4790k/Z97 rig instead - it basically pays for the second 980 if I do so. Indecision is the absolute worst part of PC builds for me!

 

[Zephyriel]

You're basically getting the best of everything. Don't expect anyone to come and tell you you've got a bad build

However I think 32Gigs of RAM is massive overkill. 16Go is already way more than needed. Save the money toward your second GTX 980

 

[Slawkenbergius]

I chose the PSU because I just like Seasonic, and it was the cheapest Platinum rated one that showed up on Parts Picker >= 850! I could save £50 on the PSU but am not fussed about that really.

I chose the Zotac just as the cheapest reference card (basically I planned to pick whatever was the cheapest at the time of order!) - I was under the impression that the stock Nvidia cooler was pretty good - is that not the case? I've been ATI/AMD for my past 3 PCs, although was green before that.

Even with a second 980, you're still only looking at around a 550W system, I believe (without overclocking). It used to be that overspeccing PSUs was terrible for efficiency, because most of the time your PC is basically idling and the efficiency of PSUs dropped off badly when outputting less than 20% of their maximum. I think that the power-switching systems in modern PSUs has made that less of a concern though.*

The reference cooler is presumably fairly good, and the 980s aren't exactly so hot that it's as important as in some other cards. Aftermarket coolers are generally better though, and the MSI is a dual slot card, rather than a triple slot.

* EDIT: Couldn't resist! If you check out the table showing efficiency under low loads for the 1000W and 750W models, you'll see that the 750W is about 10% more efficient. At the end of the day, it's probably only 10-20W difference though, so basically a lightbulb or two.

 

[jabokai]

To be honest I never really looked at the energy efficiency of the PSUs, until now! I figured if I picked a Platinum it would be pretty damn good, without having to go into the nitty gritty and I could be assured that whatever I stick in it over the next 4 or 5 years, and however much I overclocked it, it would handle the load. I'm happy to go downwards as long as I know I have enough headroom for whatever I may add without stressing it.

I just specced a Z97/4790K system and I can get it with 2 MSI 980 Twin Frozrs for the price of the X99 build above (although I was thinking I'd reduce the CPU to a 5820 and the memory to 16Gb anyway).

On the 980s - isn't the reference one 2 slot too? It looks it in the photos.

 

[Slawkenbergius]

On the 980s - isn't the reference one 2 slot too? It looks it in the photos.

Oops. I think you're right. I was originally looking at the non-reference Zotac, and didn't really look at the reference one.

Edit/ Removed some stuff that might not be that helpful. /Edit

Here's a bit of an overview on the various coolers. Gigabyte G1 seems to be the best performer, but is most expensive and maybe a bit overkill. Asus and MSI seem about level pegging as far as I can tell.

On the PSU front, I'd personally be happy with 750W*, but wouldn't recommend it with unswerving confidence. If a monster new card comes out with higher TDP and you want to run that in SLI, then all of a sudden maybe the 750W seems a bit iffy.

Is this all for driving the Rift, or do you have a monitor that would benefit? It seems a perfect system for driving a 2K monitor at 144hz...

*Actually I'd stick with my 680W PSU, and not try to push beyond the factory overclock.

 

[Dusty]

Don't want to get into the X99/Z97 debate, but any comments/suggestions on the following? I plan to add a second GTX980 at a later date.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/kzhVf7

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£409.98 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110 94.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£88.31 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus X99-DELUXE ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£279.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£358.80 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£158.95 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card (£429.00 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case (£117.59 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£148.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£70.56 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £2073.08

I'm also planing to buy simlar specced rig next year because I want a chipset the supports DDR-4.

My questions are:

1. Is it worth getting the i7-5820K over the i7-5930K since they seem very simlar in performance and the 5820K is cheaper?
   
2. Would it be better to to get a Noctua NH-U14S, Silverstone's Argon AR01 or a decent 120mm fan and heat sink over the Corsair H110 Liquid CPU Cooler since those types of fans give you the same performance without the worry of leakage etc.
   
3. Considering Window 7 or waiting for Windows 9 over Windows 8, Windows 9 see's a return of the Start menu with the option of Metro-style live tiles while Windows 7 is much more stable and is at that sweet spot for gaming.

 

[SuperG]

In case of SLI

5960X 40 lanes
5930K 40 lanes
5820K 28 lanes // not so well for triple SLI, dual SLI?

 

[NotFragile]

Doing something similar and upgrading to 1440p. The monitor got an extremely positive rating from Toms Hardware and it was seriously discounted, normally $1000 USD. I'll re-use my Western Digital Black 1T HDD for storage.


Fractal Design Define XL R2 FD-CA-DEF-XL-R2-BL Black/Pearl Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Model #:FD-CA-DEF-XL-R2-BL

GIGABYTE GA-X99-UD4 LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

x2 SLI ZOTAC ZT-90101-10P GeForce GTX 970 4GB 256-Bit DDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready G-SYNC Support Video Card

EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified 1000W Active PFC ATX12V v2.31/EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready ECO Thermal Control Full Modular PSU 10 Year Warranty 220-P2-1000-XR Intel 4th G


Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W Desktop Processor BX80648I75930K

SAMSUNG 850 Pro Series MZ-7KE512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Value 16GB (4 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133 (PC4-17000) Desktop Memory Model F4-2133C15Q-16GNT

BenQ BL3200PT Black 32" 4ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor VA Panel

The monitor, case and PSU are ordered and on the way, with the rest in a few days.

I'll probably never leave the house again

 

[jabokai]

Is this all for driving the Rift, or do you have a monitor that would benefit? It seems a perfect system for driving a 2K monitor at 144hz...

For the Rift, yes, but I do also have a normal monitor of course! Currently a 1920x1200 but as a follow up to this build I will possibly look at a 4K monitor - I'm not so sure about the higher refresh ones, 60Hz is fine for me.

1. Is it worth getting the i7-5820K over the i7-5930K since they seem very simlar in performance and the 5820K is cheaper?
   
2. Would it be better to to get a Noctua NH-U14S, Silverstone's Argon AR01 or a decent 120mm fan and heat sink over the Corsair H110 Liquid CPU Cooler since those types of fans give you the same performance without the worry of leakage etc.
   
3. Considering Window 7 or waiting for Windows 9 over Windows 8, Windows 9 see's a return of the Start menu with the option of Metro-style live tiles while Windows 7 is much more stable and is at that sweet spot for gaming.

I've been advised that unless I go for more than two GPUs the 5930 is a waste of money over the 5820 - there will be no discernible difference between x16/x16 and x16/x8

I've used closed loop watercoolers for a while now and prefer the space/cooling/airflow... never had any leaking, nor ever worried about it! As you say though, some air coolers are pretty much as good when it comes to actual cooling - bit of a personal choice really.

I don't like Windows 8 metro either, but I built a PC for the girlfriend's kids and put it on with Classicshell and it's fine... and it's rumoured that Win 9 may be a free upgrade from Win 8 although I'll believe that when I see it!

In case of SLI

5960X 40 lanes
5930K 40 lanes
5820K 28 lanes // not so well for triple SLI, dual SLI?

As above, apparently no/next to no difference for the 5820 in dual SLI... I don't plan to go more than 2 GPUs ever (particularly with the Rift), I'd buy newer cards instead.

 

[jabokai]

Oh, and to keep Slawkenbergius happier with my carbon footprint I've decided to go for a lower power PSU, the EVGA Supernova G2 850W - it got a great review from someone who seems a little obsessed with PSUs here and is £54 cheaper. :smilie: