Mega gaming build; X79 and Ivy Bridge-E ready. Opinions please...

dafadau · 30 Jul 2013 at 18:05

Allo.

It's time to build my mega vanity gaming machine. It's the first time I'll have had money to build an "almost" money no object build. It's going to be used mostly for gaming (FPS, RTS, etc. -a mix of everything), plus it'll be used as a HTPC. I'd like it to be as quiet as possible, without compromising the features I want.

This machine is being built as Ivy Bridge-E ready; that is, as soon as IBE is released I'm going to buy the crazy priced 4960X, so in the meantime I'll be getting a second hand 3820 (& cooler) to tide me over until that's released.

I have storage drives, so just need the fast SSD as a boot and (some) app drive. The huge case is for future expansion with more drives and water cooling (when I get around to it). I'll listen to alternatives though.

The single Titan will do for now, but I'll get another in the near future.

The budget here is a max. of £2200 to allow me room to get the temp. 3820 and grab the 4960X when it's released.

Asus Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard Asus Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard
£349.99

Asus GeForce GTX Titan 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£799.99

Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Case - Black Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Case - Black £285.95

Kingston HyperX Beast 32GB (4x8GB) PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX21C11T3K4/32X) £239.99

Seasonic 1000w '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply
£189.95

Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM)
£45.95

Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO
187.99

Total £2,120.03

I'd really welcome opinions or suggestions.

Ta.

Doomedspeed · 30 Jul 2013 at 18:10

That is massively over the top for gaming.

A haswell (i7 build would give you simiular/same performance...

Why are you going for the X chip rather than the (half price) k varient which will perform (near as makes no difference) the same.

dafadau · 30 Jul 2013 at 18:25

Doomedspeed said:
That is massively over the top for gaming.

A haswell (i7 build would give you simiular/same performance...

Why are you going for the X chip rather than the (half price) k varient which will perform (near as makes no difference) the same.

You know it!

It's going to last many years and have the **** clocked out of it (eventually).

David Bisset · 30 Jul 2013 at 18:28

Looking at Kaap's lastgen chips the 3930k was not just cheaper but faster than the 3960X I seem to remember. Though of course its all a bit of a lottery and perhaps a very different tale this gen.

Edit: 8 pack seems pretty keen though....

OLDPHART · 30 Jul 2013 at 18:40

Hi, at least wait till the IVY-E is out > 4930k.

=XDC=FluphyBunny · 30 Jul 2013 at 19:58

Am I missing the obvious or is there no monitor?

Titan now the 780's are out, no, unless you are going multi monitor and vram is a worry?

4960X ? Not if they release a 4930K. If its the same as SB-E, same performance for much less money.

You money though and you will have a killer system.

dafadau · 30 Jul 2013 at 21:16

=XDC=FluphyBunny said:
Am I missing the obvious or is there no monitor?

Titan now the 780's are out, no, unless you are going multi monitor and vram is a worry?

4960X ? Not if they release a 4930K. If its the same as SB-E, same performance for much less money.

You money though and you will have a killer system.

Forgot to say, I don't need a monitor - I have a 27" 1440p monitor, plus I will be using multi-monitors, but not for gaming.

Edit: Just saw EVGA GeForce GTX 780 ACX Superclock 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (03G-P4-2784-KR) - this really does seem to beat the Titan...

dafadau · 1 Aug 2013 at 12:23

Well I've gone for it; bits arriving tomorrow. 6 weeks or so being bottlenecked by the 3820, but lots of other cool stuff to play with!

DaleTheWhale · 1 Aug 2013 at 15:17

Why not a Haswell 4770k system?
Still unsure why you went the direction you did, besides it being very expensive?

jamiehavok · 1 Aug 2013 at 19:51

games in the next few years will likely start taking advantage of more cores so a 4930k will likely last longer than a 4770k, he has the money so why not, difference in ipc will hardly be noticable, especially if the 4930k clocks better. the 4960x really isn't worth it however.
if my motherboard/cpu broke id likely get a 4930k otherwise i'm holding out for a decent 8 core.

dafadau · 2 Aug 2013 at 10:39

jamiehavok said:
games in the next few years will likely start taking advantage of more cores so a 4930k will likely last longer than a 4770k, he has the money so why not, difference in ipc will hardly be noticable, especially if the 4930k clocks better. the 4960x really isn't worth it however.
if my motherboard/cpu broke id likely get a 4930k otherwise i'm holding out for a decent 8 core.

This!

Doomedspeed · 2 Aug 2013 at 11:10

ThaReaperGuy said:
Why not a Haswell 4770k system?
Still unsure why you went the direction you did, besides it being very expensive?

I totally agree with you.

I know the 3930k (and now 4930k) have there uses for video editing CAD and the like but using one for gaming seems a false economy.

It will use as much as the CPU as it would a 4770k.

Even in 2-3 years i'd be very suprised to see the extra 2 cores make any difference, that or intels 5770k/6770k (or whatever it will be) will be Hex-core to keep up with game dev's and be price simularly to the 4770k.

It seems a huge waste in my opinion but i (and others) have said that.

There is a reason why these components carry a high price tag, its because there for specialist programs and types of work, not general browsing and gaming.

The system you have bought is great but i feel you could have got better value for money..

dafadau · 2 Aug 2013 at 11:16

Doomedspeed said:
I totally agree with you.

I know the 3930k (and now 4930k) have there uses for video editing CAD and the like but using one for gaming seems a false economy.

It will use as much as the CPU as it would a 4770k.

Even in 2-3 years i'd be very suprised to see the extra 2 cores make any difference, that or intels 5770k/6770k (or whatever it will be) will be Hex-core to keep up with game dev's and be price simularly to the 4770k.

It seems a huge waste in my opinion but i (and others) have said that.

There is a reason why these components carry a high price tag, its because there for specialist programs and types of work, not general browsing and gaming.

The system you have bought is great but i feel you could have got better value for money..

I don't really disagree - but this system was never about value for money!

Besides, for the next 6 weeks or so till IBE I'm using a 3820...

dafadau · 3 Aug 2013 at 18:17

Built. Have to say the case is a bit of a monstrosity, but it's amazing to work with - easiest and most satisfying build I've completed.

dafadau · 18 Sep 2013 at 22:03

And I've finally added the 4960X...

DaleTheWhale · 18 Sep 2013 at 23:09

Still think you should have went with a cheaper CPU and more graphics power.
4930k + 2 780's over a 4960X & 1 Titan.

4960X for gaming... I dunno.

snips86x · 19 Sep 2013 at 07:40

jamiehavok said:
games in the next few years will likely start taking advantage of more cores so a 4930k will likely last longer than a 4770k, he has the money so why not, difference in ipc will hardly be noticable, especially if the 4930k clocks better. the 4960x really isn't worth it however.
if my motherboard/cpu broke id likely get a 4930k otherwise i'm holding out for a decent 8 core.

I have to add that the chances of games using any mode than 4 cores over the next few years is slim. They still have to perfect the use of hyperthreading as its only utilised in a small percentage of games.

Personally, a 4770k with 16gb RAM and 2x780 Lightning's or 2x 7970 Matrix would have lasted just as long. Before you know it, you'll be upgrading for DDR4 so your expectation of "long lasting" could be skewed.

ThaReaperGuy said:
Still think you should have went with a cheaper CPU and more graphics power.
4930k + 2 780's over a 4960X & 1 Titan.

4960X for gaming... I dunno.

Sorry, but the titan was a poor purchase. 780/7970 would have been a better investment.

I cannot stress enough how correct DOOM was.

dafadau · 19 Sep 2013 at 22:20

snips86x said:
I have to add that the chances of games using any mode than 4 cores over the next few years is slim. They still have to perfect the use of hyperthreading as its only utilised in a small percentage of games.

Personally, a 4770k with 16gb RAM and 2x780 Lightning's or 2x 7970 Matrix would have lasted just as long. Before you know it, you'll be upgrading for DDR4 so your expectation of "long lasting" could be skewed.

Sorry, but the titan was a poor purchase. 780/7970 would have been a better investment.

I cannot stress enough how correct DOOM was.

Sure, point taken, but this is a bit of a vanity build tbh. I'll be grabbing another Titan soon anyway.

jamiehavok · 20 Sep 2013 at 11:27

snips86x said:
I have to add that the chances of games using any mode than 4 cores over the next few years is slim. They still have to perfect the use of hyperthreading as its only utilised in a small percentage of games.

.

isn't that what they said about the e8400 -->>> q6600!? Even now a q6600 overclocked can still play the latest games with a decent gfx card (about radeon 6950/560ti level) at highish settings, i would say an e8400 would seriously struggle now, with new consoles having such low cpu power but a lot of threads developers will be forced to utilize them. I remember gta iv was the first such game that had real trouble on dual cores like the e8400 for the time while running fine on a q6600 or q9xxx, (core I5/7 etc hadn't yet hit the shelves), How long until we get the next "gta iv"! However hopefully there will be more affordable options when that time comes, heck that game might even run better on an fx 8350!

Roady · 20 Sep 2013 at 12:47

jamiehavok said:
Even now a q6600 overclocked can still play the latest games with a decent gfx card (about radeon 6950/560ti level) at highish settings

I run BF3 @ high on my Q6600 with 7950, both at stock. Will be clocking both for BF4 and fully expect to play it on High.

But I'm not even running 1080p (1440x900) and only single monitor...