Gaming/Workstation Build

CreativeHD

Hey guys, I'm interested in building a gaming/workstation pc. I am willing to flex my budget a little but I would like to stick around 5k. A few questions I have is how much RAM do I need? How much VRAM should the graphics card have? Is it better two have 1 or 2 graphics cards? What type of monitor is most beneficial? Just some questions that float around in my head so I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction. Here's my current pcpartpicker build. Thanks.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CKmMHx

Intel Core i7-5960X 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor
Asus X99-DELUXE/U3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
EVGA GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Superclocked Video Card
Thermaltake Core X9 ATX Desktop Case

CreativeHD

I put this in the wrong section by accident. Can a mod move it? Thanks.

RobeOmega

Remove the sound card because you should have one in your motherboard.

Motherboard is way over what you should need. Look for a cheaper one that is compatible.

Downgrade the CPU to something like Intel Core i7-4790K the cpu currently you have selected is much more than you will need.

You may want to use stock cooler if you are not overclocking your CPU or use a cheaper CPU cooler if you are.

I would look for a cheaper kit of 32gb ram also.

You are almost certainly should get at least a 2tb hard drive and a much much smaller SSD around 512gb should do.

Drop the Titan X and get a 980ti at the most although a 980, 970 or 960 should also do. NOT A QUADRO!

You can go for the case if you like the look of it although I would personally get a cheaper case.

Get a smaller power supply your current system is at 513 watts go for gold or silver rating power supply but at a maximum of 700 watts with your current build and lower than that if you change the parts.

You may want a cheaper disk drive and two seems a bit too many of them.

EarthQuake

+1 to Robeomega's advice. You should be able to cut the cost of this build to half if not less with very similar performance by going with reasonable hardware. Basically you've picked all the most expensive stuff, where the price curve is absolutely terrible (very poor value). This is the sort of build people together to brag about on the internet, not because it makes any sort of logically sense to do so.

LMP

Yeah, get a Smaller Cheaper SSD, use that for your OS and Programs. And get a Big Cheap Hard Drive for your storage.

ZacD

I agree with everyone else, you are much better off building a $1500 computer every year than spending $4.5k every 3 years (but you'd probably just need to spend $700 a year at most to keep it top of the line), future proofing doesn't work, and your better off just upgrading over time, rather than spending thousands of dollars at once.

Odow

this is one hell of a @penis computer.

beefaroni

On phone but..

5820k
MSI x99 sli plus
32gb ram
980ti
512gb or 1tb SSD
27 1440p as main and 2 1080p on each side

maxivz

I have a 4790k myself and id suggest getting a cheap aftermarket cooler like the 212 evo, i had terrible temperatures when rendering (90+ degrees).

EarthQuake

Alright, time to break down the economics. I was on the way out so I couldn't post in more detail last time.

First off, drop the sound card, drop the water cooler (unless you really need an absolutely silent build or something). Swap the 2TB SSD to a 1TB (EVO 850 is a good choice), throw in a 1-3TB HDD, archive files onto this when your SSD fills up. This saves you roughly $600 off the bat. A 500GB SSD would be reasonable as well and save you another $200 or so.

Now, let's look at CPUs.
The sweet point for price/performance currently is the 4790K, below this the price curve is pretty linear, in other words, you get what you pay for. Above this, the price curve gets very steep, in other words you pay more and more for less and less.

Using the $340 4790K a baseline, the $390 5820K is not a terrible choice, its about 15% more expensive and about 15% faster, on face value this makes sense, however, the 5820K requires a more expensive motherboard and RAM, you'll likely pay about $200 extra, or about 73% more for that extra 15% in performance. Even here, we're at a place that simply does not make economic sense. When we get to the $1000 5960K, you're spending 195% more for 42% better performance. Sure, 42% is significant, but are you willing to pay three times the price for it? I would only recommend this if you're a freelance artist and spend most of your time doing offline rendering, basically, if you make money rendering stuff then time is money and this cpu would pay for itself in short order, otherwise it's excessive.

Now, the GPU. We'll use the $480 980 as the baseline, as again below this you generally get what you pay for and above it, the price curve hits you hard again. With the $650 980 Ti you'll pay 35% more for 15% better performance, again this represents a bad value. With the $1000 Titan X, which is actually marginally slower than the 980 Ti you pay 108% more for... 14% better performance. The 980 Ti is sort of a bad deal, but the Titan X is downright moronic.

Your motherboard is also crazy expensive. I won't give a specific recommendation here, but you don't need to spend more than say $125-150 if you go with the 4790K. Certainly no more than $200, $250 max for a LGA2011 cpu. Generally, super high end motherboards just mean you're buying tripple, quad SLI and other silly features you'll almost certainly never actually use.

So, there you have it. If you want to build a sane system, you can cut roughly $2000 off your current build and still have an incredibly good workstation just by switching from ultra-high-end to high-end components. If you're dead set on blowing a bunch of money, get a nice IPS monitor or two, maybe even a quality ergonomic chair if you're planing on spending on a lot of time working at this computer.

References:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

maxivz

Exactlly what EarthQuake said. You could also get a 970 instead of the 980.
Just think that getting he best thing on the market at the moment doesnt make your pc last 10 years.
Id rather get some good component without breaking my wallet and upgrating them again in 4 years

JedTheKrampus

EarthQuake wrote: »

I would only recommend this if you're a freelance artist and spend most of your time doing offline rendering, basically, if you make money rendering stuff then time is money and this cpu would pay for itself in short order, otherwise it's excessive.

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's excessive either way. If you're rendering stuff a render farm + 4790k is more efficient because that way you can work and render at the same time. You can get a really nice renderfarm put together with the amount of money you'll save on not getting an absolutely absurd sound card, CPU and GPU. See: http://www.helmer-air.com/

Use Linux and FX-6300s or FX-8320s instead of Intel quad-cores and you'll get copious amounts of rendering power for around $370 per node if you source your parts correctly. That's around $2400 for a 36-core renderfarm+ethernet switch which isn't too shabby and would actually fit inside OP's dick-sized budget if he spent a more reasonable amount on his main workstation.

It's good for rendering and it's good for building lightmaps too, if you're using a tool that supports it. Of course if you want to use a renderer where you have to pay per node you'll want to use more expensive parts and have fewer nodes.

sargentcrunch

n/a

CreativeHD

Thanks for all the advice! I changed a lot of parts to things that are more reasonable. I do plan on overclocking the cpu quite a bit. The only reason I'm using that power supply is because it was given to me unopened. Also is it worth the money to get a monitor that's 114Hz and has adaptive sync (GSync/Freesync)?

ZacD

Gsync is pretty much objective better until free sync fixes their ghosting issues and improves the frame windows and how low FPS is handled. Something like the Acer XB270HU would be a great primary monitor. You do want an IPS screen for better color and viewing angles, 144hz and Gsync are worth it if you are going high end already.

CreativeHD

ZacD wrote: »

Gsync is pretty much objective better until free sync fixes their ghosting issues and improves the frame windows and how low FPS is handled. Something like the Acer XB270HU would be a great primary monitor. You do want an IPS screen for better color and viewing angles, 144hz and Gsync are worth it if you are going high end already.

.

That's the exact monitor I was looking at for the primary one.

.Wiki

CreativeHD wrote: »

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That's the exact monitor I was looking at for the primary one.

Really? I read some amazon reviews and this monitor seems to have horrible backlight bleeding.

CreativeHD

It's the only one I found at 2k with 144Hz, IPS, GSync. I found ones I like better but it has Freesync. I like the Asus ROG Swift but it's a TN panel. Asus is coming out with a newer Swift at 4K IPS 60Hz GSync monitor but its probably going to be double the cost of this one.

m4dcow

Skylake is supposed to drop in the coming week and while the stock improvement over 4790k isn't that much, it's supposed to have a lot of overclocking headroom.