the switch to 4k (new system help!)

[Lord Lucifer]

Hi all, I just signed up today hoping that this wonderful community will help me build my perfect system.

 

I'm based in the UK, looking for advice on all components and monitor. I'm not too concerned about cost per-se I just want the most bang for buck. 

 

Starting witch graphics cards then, I can find the original Titans for a very reasonable price, would a 4-way SLI Titan run 4k well and at 60fps?

 

 

 

As you can tell, I'm not too clued up really and any/all help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Megazero]

Hi all, I just signed up today hoping that this wonderful community will help me build my perfect system.

 

I'm based in the UK, looking for advice on all components and monitor. I'm not too concerned about cost per-se I just want the most bang for buck. 

 

Starting witch graphics cards then, I can find the original Titans for a very reasonable price, would a 4-way SLI Titan run 4k well and at 60fps?

 

 

 

As you can tell, I'm not too clued up really and any/all help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

4 ways SLI Titan... I think this will answer your question.

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/5244/2/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-black-+-234-way-sli-in-ultra-hd--4k-review-benchmarks---crysis-3-far-cry-3-metro-ll

[Izaya Orihara]

4 ways SLI Titan... I think this will answer your question.

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/5244/2/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-black-+-234-way-sli-in-ultra-hd--4k-review-benchmarks---crysis-3-far-cry-3-metro-ll

Titan Black unequal Titan. 

[Megazero]

Titan Black unequal Titan. 

I know, but well, why just a regular Titan now :3?

[Lord Lucifer]

4 ways SLI Titan... I think this will answer your question.

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/5244/2/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-black-+-234-way-sli-in-ultra-hd--4k-review-benchmarks---crysis-3-far-cry-3-metro-ll

 

Thanks for that 2 SLI Titan Z might be the way forward then?

 

What sort of CPU would I need to accompany the cards?

[Ren]

Instead of going for original Titans, which actually cost almost the exact same as the Titan Blacks (which are essentially CUDA-based 780Ti's with 6GB of VRAM..), go for an R9 295X2, or two in Quad-SLI since it's a dual-GPU card. 295X2 = $1600 or so, Titan/Titan Black = ~$1150, with about half the performance at any resolution.

 

If you want cost-effectiveness, the best you can do is go with three R9 290X in triple crossfire I believe. It probably won't perform as well as a single R9 295X2 since SLI/XF isn't optimized properly most of the time, but the R9 295X2 is essentially in the same boat since it's a dual-GPU card..

 

 

 

The R9 295X2 is more the go-to option because it's not just a card with enough memory to handle 4k, it's enough GPU power to actually play games above low-medium settings at 60FPS. I do recommend going with something like an i7-4790k because you will want as much CPU power as possible but there's no telling when a game will be CPU-bound or GPU-bound, it's all situational. More cores can be better, but perhaps the extra threads will assist with something (i5 vs i7).. I don't know. Not an expert on that type of stuff by any means. The FX-8350 is a cheaper alternative that definitely will do well, but I'm just unsure of whether or not you'd want it.

 

The benefit of going with AMD on the CPU end is that you can utilize Mantle to reduce bottlenecks and force your GPU to work harder. At this time, Mantle isn't used widely but if you're dropping over $1,000 on a monitor and another $1,000+ on your GPU(s), I have a feeling you're preparing for the foreseeable future which should have more games with Mantle. No promises, as anything can change at any point.

 

 

 

At that point, you'd wanna go with a Z97 board if you do go Intel, because of the support for 5th gen core i5/i7 processors (AKA Broadwell), which I believe will have a 6-core i7-4790k equivalent. If I'm wrong, I apologize. If you go with an FX-8350, I recommend no less than a Gigabyte GA-990FX-UD5 or Asus Sabertooth/Hero/etc. motherboard so you can overclock the 8350 well beyond 4.6ghz and make the most out of your graphics card. Any Z97 is good, but the cheapest for overclocking well is the Gigabyte Gaming 5 Z97, which has VRMs equivalent to the UD3, UD5, UD7, and SOC. The SOC FORCE has something a bit better, but I don't quite remember. You'd wanna talk to the folks over at overclock.net if you want to make sure that the SOC FORCE is right for you.

 

 

Power supply is pretty standard; enough to handle a highly overclocked CPU, very heavily overclocked R9 295X2 (~450W on that alone, at least), and some head room for extra fans. You'll want case fans because the R9 295X2 is a dual-cooling solution video card; it uses both a blower cooler and a closed loop 120mm radiator so it'll be affected by case temperatures more than a purely liquid-cooled system. Case is up to you, but I don't recommend spending less than $80 on one. Many $80-$130 cases are insanely good and more than enough for you. Brands I recommend are Corsair RM/HX/AX/AXi, Cooler Master GT/whatever that new redux is, Be Quiet!, Seasonic, Superflower or w/e, EVGA Nexus G/G2, Thermaltake SMART,.. There's many to choose from across all price brackets. All of these are almost the same quality but some have better features, fans and/or prices.

 

A few cases I recommend are the Cooler Master N500, N600, CM Storm Scout line cases (Full ATX towers, though), Corsair 450D/550D, 760T, 730T, Air 540, etc., NZXT H440, H730 or w/e the Full ATX tower is, NZXT Phantom cases, Fractal Design Arc XL, various InWin cases, a few Lian-Li cases (very expensive for what they are, though), and lastly, Caselabs cases, which are superb quality but by far cost a premium like none other. I'd throw in Phanteks but right now you're pretty much limited to the Enthoo Primo, which is a fantastic case, but has a single color LED (blue) built into the case and doesn't offer much more than cheaper cases aside from being a superb Full ATX tower at only ~$160 or less.

 

SSDs to look into: Crucial M550, Samsung EVO, A-Data Premiere Pro 960 or w/e, and Kingston HyperX 3K. On the cheaper end you'll have the Crucial M500, PNY XLR8/XLR8 Pro (they're the same thing), A-Data XPG SX900 and the Intel SSD V300? Can't remember the exact name. The first ones mentioned are premium priced, the best on the market for SATA interface solid state memory, while the others are a bit slower on reads, mostly slower on sequential writes, and lower random IOPS by a fair margin (doesn't affect gamers much/at all I believe).

 

HDDs are up to you, but I really recommend multiple 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHDs, which are both cost-effective and very fast for mass storage on a budget. Even if you won't use that much memory, get one 2TB. $110-$130 investment for your pc's entire lifespan.

 

 

RAM brands I recommend: G.Skill, A-Data, Avexir, Kingston Beast or Fury. Those 3 brand names are the best, though I recommend you stick to Fury and Beast if you go Kingston. RAM speeds are subjective to what you think you'd want, but I recommend going with 1866/2133mhz RAM so that you can underclock them a bit by reducing frequency, and voltage if it's rated at above 1.5 volts, but get a slightly higher CAS latency without tossing your overclocked components into a hissy fit and causing system instability for a decent 24/7 overclock on the CPU and memory. Amount is, again, subject to what you think you'd want. I say go with 16 gigs if you can afford it, but if you really want to be budget-friendly, go with 8GB. It'll be fine. Just keep in mind that maybe 8GB won't be enough, and your GPU will be lasting for a long while as long as you aren't running it too hard all the time.

 

 

Did I forget anything? Peripherals?.. I can't help with the monitor, think I mentioned that before. Lots of keyboards and mice are up to the consumer because of how little difference there is between them aside from the aesthetics and the general comfort level of it. The comfortability of keyboards/mice can be judged before buying based on reviews/general homework of the product and by just looking at the pictures. Built in wrist rest for the keyboard might be a no-no for you, for example. You don't need to read a review to know that, but might wanna make sure the specs state whether or not it's removable.

 

 

 

Edit: Ahh! COOLING. Case fans, fan controller, heatsink/CPU cooler.. All up to you, but if you go with the R9 295X2 I recommend you don't skimp on case fans. Cheap options at this time are Be Quiet! Pure Wings. Something like $8-12 per 120/140mm fan and are better than 99% of case fans regardless of price. Cooler is up to you for the processor, air will be cheaper and around the same performance unless you go with something very expensive, above $100-$120, for an AIO or closed loop liquid cooler. Fan controllers are meh, but if you want one, look at NZXT's. They make pretty good ones for their price.

 

 

Forgot to state that overall, a pretty damn good 4k gaming system with my recommendations should cost around $2,100-$2,200, excluding peripherals and monitor. That's an estimate, but it's accurate. 

[Lord Lucifer]

Instead of going for original Titans, which actually cost almost the exact same as the Titan Blacks (which are essentially CUDA-based 780Ti's with 6GB of VRAM..), go for an R9 295X2, or two in Quad-SLI since it's a dual-GPU card. 295X2 = $1600 or so, Titan/Titan Black = ~$1150, with about half the performance at any resolution.

 

If you want cost-effectiveness, the best you can do is go with three R9 290X in triple crossfire I believe. It probably won't perform as well as a single R9 295X2 since SLI/XF isn't optimized properly most of the time, but the R9 295X2 is essentially in the same boat since it's a dual-GPU card..

 

 

 

The R9 295X2 is more the go-to option because it's not just a card with enough memory to handle 4k, it's enough GPU power to actually play games above low-medium settings at 60FPS. I do recommend going with something like an i7-4790k because you will want as much CPU power as possible but there's no telling when a game will be CPU-bound or GPU-bound, it's all situational. More cores can be better, but perhaps the extra threads will assist with something (i5 vs i7).. I don't know. Not an expert on that type of stuff by any means. The FX-8350 is a cheaper alternative that definitely will do well, but I'm just unsure of whether or not you'd want it.

 

The benefit of going with AMD on the CPU end is that you can utilize Mantle to reduce bottlenecks and force your GPU to work harder. At this time, Mantle isn't used widely but if you're dropping over $1,000 on a monitor and another $1,000+ on your GPU(s), I have a feeling you're preparing for the foreseeable future which should have more games with Mantle. No promises, as anything can change at any point.

 

 

 

At that point, you'd wanna go with a Z97 board if you do go Intel, because of the support for 5th gen core i5/i7 processors (AKA Broadwell), which I believe will have a 6-core i7-4790k equivalent. If I'm wrong, I apologize. If you go with an FX-8350, I recommend no less than a Gigabyte GA-990FX-UD5 or Asus Sabertooth/Hero/etc. motherboard so you can overclock the 8350 well beyond 4.6ghz and make the most out of your graphics card. Any Z97 is good, but the cheapest for overclocking well is the Gigabyte Gaming 5 Z97, which has VRMs equivalent to the UD3, UD5, UD7, and SOC. The SOC FORCE has something a bit better, but I don't quite remember. You'd wanna talk to the folks over at overclock.net if you want to make sure that the SOC FORCE is right for you.

 

 

Power supply is pretty standard; enough to handle a highly overclocked CPU, very heavily overclocked R9 295X2 (~450W on that alone, at least), and some head room for extra fans. You'll want case fans because the R9 295X2 is a dual-cooling solution video card; it uses both a blower cooler and a closed loop 120mm radiator so it'll be affected by case temperatures more than a purely liquid-cooled system. Case is up to you, but I don't recommend spending less than $80 on one. Many $80-$130 cases are insanely good and more than enough for you. Brands I recommend are Corsair RM/HX/AX/AXi, Cooler Master GT/whatever that new redux is, Be Quiet!, Seasonic, Superflower or w/e, EVGA Nexus G/G2, Thermaltake SMART,.. There's many to choose from across all price brackets. All of these are almost the same quality but some have better features, fans and/or prices.

 

A few cases I recommend are the Cooler Master N500, N600, CM Storm Scout line cases (Full ATX towers, though), Corsair 450D/550D, 760T, 730T, Air 540, etc., NZXT H440, H730 or w/e the Full ATX tower is, NZXT Phantom cases, Fractal Design Arc XL, various InWin cases, a few Lian-Li cases (very expensive for what they are, though), and lastly, Caselabs cases, which are superb quality but by far cost a premium like none other. I'd throw in Phanteks but right now you're pretty much limited to the Enthoo Primo, which is a fantastic case, but has a single color LED (blue) built into the case and doesn't offer much more than cheaper cases aside from being a superb Full ATX tower at only ~$160 or less.

 

SSDs to look into: Crucial M550, Samsung EVO, A-Data Premiere Pro 960 or w/e, and Kingston HyperX 3K. On the cheaper end you'll have the Crucial M500, PNY XLR8/XLR8 Pro (they're the same thing), A-Data XPG SX900 and the Intel SSD V300? Can't remember the exact name. The first ones mentioned are premium priced, the best on the market for SATA interface solid state memory, while the others are a bit slower on reads, mostly slower on sequential writes, and lower random IOPS by a fair margin (doesn't affect gamers much/at all I believe).

 

HDDs are up to you, but I really recommend multiple 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHDs, which are both cost-effective and very fast for mass storage on a budget. Even if you won't use that much memory, get one 2TB. $110-$130 investment for your pc's entire lifespan.

 

 

RAM brands I recommend: G.Skill, A-Data, Avexir, Kingston Beast or Fury. Those 3 brand names are the best, though I recommend you stick to Fury and Beast if you go Kingston. RAM speeds are subjective to what you think you'd want, but I recommend going with 1866/2133mhz RAM so that you can underclock them a bit by reducing frequency, and voltage if it's rated at above 1.5 volts, but get a slightly higher CAS latency without tossing your overclocked components into a hissy fit and causing system instability for a decent 24/7 overclock on the CPU and memory. Amount is, again, subject to what you think you'd want. I say go with 16 gigs if you can afford it, but if you really want to be budget-friendly, go with 8GB. It'll be fine. Just keep in mind that maybe 8GB won't be enough, and your GPU will be lasting for a long while as long as you aren't running it too hard all the time.

 

 

Did I forget anything? Peripherals?.. I can't help with the monitor, think I mentioned that before. Lots of keyboards and mice are up to the consumer because of how little difference there is between them aside from the aesthetics and the general comfort level of it. The comfortability of keyboards/mice can be judged before buying based on reviews/general homework of the product and by just looking at the pictures. Built in wrist rest for the keyboard might be a no-no for you, for example. You don't need to read a review to know that, but might wanna make sure the specs state whether or not it's removable.

 

 

 

Edit: Ahh! COOLING. Case fans, fan controller, heatsink/CPU cooler.. All up to you, but if you go with the R9 295X2 I recommend you don't skimp on case fans. Cheap options at this time are Be Quiet! Pure Wings. Something like $8-12 per 120/140mm fan and are better than 99% of case fans regardless of price. Cooler is up to you for the processor, air will be cheaper and around the same performance unless you go with something very expensive, above $100-$120, for an AIO or closed loop liquid cooler. Fan controllers are meh, but if you want one, look at NZXT's. They make pretty good ones for their price.

 

 

Forgot to state that overall, a pretty damn good 4k gaming system with my recommendations should cost around $2,100-$2,200, excluding peripherals and monitor. That's an estimate, but it's accurate. 

That was an amazing post sir thanks. I've generally been weary of AMD as in the past they've been slow with new game driver support etc, but by the sounds of things times are changing. Thanks for the amazing post, I'll get to ordering the parts and comeback with the shopping list and see if I need something/missing something. 

 

Price wise that sounds reasonable, I expected to pay a lot more! Thanks!

[Lord Lucifer]

So I'm just about to order the following:

 

Anything else? Have I made a mistake?

 

FINGER IS POISED ON THE ORDER BUTTON! 

 

Thanks

 

EDIT 2: Corrected list forgot PSU!

 

[Recon-UK]

Wait a none overclockable CPU?

A mid tower?

No CPU cooler?

 

 

And are you really buying this PC or just here to entertain yourself?

[Guest]

So I'm just about to order the following:

 

Anything else? Have I made a mistake?

 

FINGER IS POISED ON THE ORDER BUTTON! 

 

Thanks

 

EDIT 2: Corrected list forgot PSU!

 

That looks like a basket from Overclockers uk ? I would suggest heading on over there for a second opinion as well before ordering anything 

[Lord Lucifer]

That looks like a basket from Overclockers uk ? I would suggest heading on over there for a second opinion as well before ordering anything 

 

Wait a none overclockable CPU?

A mid tower?

No CPU cooler?

 

 

And are you really buying this PC or just here to entertain yourself?

That's why I need the advice, which CPU/CPU cooler do you recommend?

 

Oh, and yes. I do plan to buy this system.

[Recon-UK]

That's why I need the advice, which CPU/CPU cooler do you recommend?

 

Oh, and yes. I do plan to buy this system.

Sign up to OCUK forums mate, i have an account over there.

 

Proper people from that retailer will help you.

[Lord Lucifer]

That looks like a basket from Overclockers uk ? I would suggest heading on over there for a second opinion as well before ordering anything 

Ok thanks. It is indeed Overclockers UK.

[Lord Lucifer]

Sign up to OCUK forums mate, i have an account over there.

 

Proper people from that retailer will help you.

Urgh, how frustrating. There's a moderation queue!? Any ideas how long it takes to get activated? They seem low on stock too! Damn it!

[Alexdaman]

Hi all, I just signed up today hoping that this wonderful community will help me ....

 

....Thanks in advance!

The most important question here : wich game are we talking about?

I strongly advise against the Titan or Even an amd Card

If you want bang for buck you should wait till fall , the 880gtx and 5930k are comming , along with x99.

Titans arent that much better in gaming then a 780Ti .

My advise for you:

I7 4790k devils canyon

Any asus deluxe,ws or repuplic of gamers Z97 motherboard

Ax1200i

2x 780ti or even 3x

Custom watercoling

[Trik'Stari]

Is that the Wifi/blk edition of the gigabyte z97 g1 board? For what you're doing it sounds like you should go ahead and get the top of the line one that comes with a built in water cooling block on the chipset.

 

Just a thought.

[Lord Lucifer]

Thanks for the information guys.

 

I think I should go for the Asus Rampage IV Black Edition with water cooling block and that 4790k. 

 

My only concern is that I haven't watercooled in the past. Is it something I should be concerned about? Or is it relatively simple?

 

Thanks

[Trik'Stari]

To me water cooling seems simple enough, mainly because I build alot of potato guns as a kid, and in one case a pvc flamethrower, so I spent alot of time in the plumbing section. Water cooling seems simple enough to me, plug it all up, run it on a bridged powersource with paper towels for 23-48 hours to check for leaks, change the water every 6 months, thats about it as far as I know.

[Lord Lucifer]

To me water cooling seems simple enough, mainly because I build alot of potato guns as a kid, and in one case a pvc flamethrower, so I spent alot of time in the plumbing section. Water cooling seems simple enough to me, plug it all up, run it on a bridged powersource with paper towels for 23-48 hours to check for leaks, change the water every 6 months, thats about it as far as I know.

Just thinking about it, the R9 295x2 are already watercooled out of the box, thus is watercooling the motherboard and CPU worth it? Most of the stress will surely just be on the cards?

[Lord Lucifer]

Will something like the Corsair Hydro H105 CPU liquid cooler be adequate? Seems easy enough to install etc??

 

Thanks

[Trik'Stari]

Probably, but from what I've read. If you plan to heavily overclock then you will need a custom water cooling loop.

[Lord Lucifer]

So parts ordered! This is the final system:

 

 

+ Asus 4k PQ321Q Monitor

+ Intel i7 4790k

+ 4x 1TB Samsung 840 Evo.

 

Freaking excited!