$8500 Build - Months in the Making

[Awakening]

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Awakening/saved/v77P6h

 

I've been saving up since the beginning of putting a list together and I've been making small incremental changes to this build for months now. I'm sure it'll change a bit more by the time I actually have enough money to buy all of it, but I thought I could get your thoughts and feedback on it anyways because I'm pretty happy with its current state.

 

This is my first build and it'll be mostly for gaming and I don't really plan on doing any editing on the system other than some occasional Photoshop stuff. I completely understand that the 5960K is overkill for my needs and in some instances even worse than how a 6700K would perform in games with its considerably better single-core performance. However, I need the extra PCIe lanes as is explained in the note under the CPU in the build list. Having gone with a 6700K, SLI would have taken up all available PCIe lanes leaving nothing for future storage devices or add-on cards that will need PCIe lanes to function. Besides, I won't have to upgrade my CPU for a stupidly long time by going with a 5930K; likely not until it dies.

 

I'm also paying that much for a motherboard because it has Thunderbolt 3.

 

The last thing I'll mention is that all of the SSDs are for RAID 0. I chose this solution over a 950 Pro for [1] more than twice capacity and [2] similar performance for the same price point. Incremental backups will happen every four hours that will all be consolidated daily into a single backup and will be kept on a separate drive (WD Blue 6TB). I understand five failure points is asking for trouble, but the extra capacity over the 950 Pro is important.

 

I understand that there are other things that might be confusing, however, I could go on forever explaining my reasoning behind everything. If you have any questions though I'd be happy to answer.

 

Your feedback is important as this is a ginormous purchase.

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, Awakening said:

6700K, SLI would have taken up all available PCIe lanes leaving nothing for future storage devices

With x170, you have anouther 20 pcie lanes for storage and pcie cards in addition to the 16 from the cpu.

[GalacticRuler]

Any reason you went with a 5930K instead of a 6850K?

[Awakening]

Just now, GalacticRuler said:

Any reason you went with a 5930K instead of a 6850K?

Because I only wanted the PCIe lanes. That's the only reason I switched to X99.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Awakening said:

Because I only wanted the PCIe lanes. That's the only reason I switched to X99.

but 6850k also has 40 pcie lanes. Id get a 6800k those lanes won't make a difference.

 

Id also suggest getting a single pcie ssd instead of a lot of sata ones.

[Awakening]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

With z170, you have another 20 pcie lanes for storage and pcie cards in addition to the 16 from the cpu.

 

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id also suggest getting a single pcie ssd instead of a lot of sata ones.

4

I've contemplated that decision for a very long time. I gave in recently and chose RAID 0.

[Steven9595]

First off, holy shit. Second, any particular reason you're going with the Audio Engine A5+'s as your desk speakers? I recommend taking a look at this guide by ZeosPantera. I feel like you could get a much nicer set of speakers for that $400.

[asdf2061]

14 minutes ago, Awakening said:

 

I've contemplated that decision for a very long time. I gave in recently and chose RAID 0.

RAID will deteriorate a SSD's performance over time, so no. I wouldn't go there. Also, why do you need that much storage?

 

*Most motherboards that support USB 3.1 Type C will have Thunderbolt 3.

[NumLock21]

All I see is a bunch of random parts thrown in without any knowing it's actually needed or not. For half the price of this budget, one can build themselves a dual Xeon workstation with a pair of GTX 1080 in SLI.

[Awakening]

6 minutes ago, Steven9595 said:

First off, holy shit. Second, any particular reason you're going with the Audio Engine A5+'s as your desk speakers? I recommend taking a look at this guide by ZeosPantera. I feel like you could get a much nicer set of speakers for that $400.

 

 

Aha, yeah.

 

Because they're white and have a simple method of connectivity (literally just a subwoofer cable to connect the bass). I'm sure there are better speakers for the price, but I don't want a pile of adapters. If you could find me something that's monochrome with decent looks and better sound with similar connectivity, I'd be happy to make the change. It'd take me forever to come up with something like that because I'm not very experienced in the audio department.

 

I'll definitely take a look at the link though.

 

 

[Awakening]

2 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

All I see is a bunch of random parts thrown in without any knowing it's actually needed or not. For half the price of this budget, one can build themselves a dual Xeon workstation with a pair of GTX 1080 in SLI.

 

Just because you see a high price tag you automatically assume it's a build with no thought behind it? If you actually looked, you'll see there's a chair in there for $1000, an audio setup for a little over half that, and then other miscellanious things. The actual PC is probably a little under $4000.

4 minutes ago, I_IHaveNoLife_l said:

RAID will deteriorate a SSD's performance over time, so no. I wouldn't go there. Also, why do you need that much storage?

 

*Most motherboards that support USB 3.1 Type C will have Thunderbolt 3.

 

I've read that. I'm okay with resetting the RAID 0 array every two months or whenever it starts to slow down.

[Steven9595]

4 minutes ago, Awakening said:

Aha, yeah.

 

Because they're white and have a simple method of connectivity (literally just a subwoofer cable to connect the bass). I'm sure there are better speakers for the price, but I don't want a pile of adapters. If you could find me something that's monochrome with decent looks and better sound with similar connectivity, I'd be happy to make the change. It'd take me forever to come up with something like that because I'm not very experienced in the audio department.

Ah alright gotcha! Yeah sometimes simplicity and ease of use is worth the cost. I'll poke around a bit and see what I can find!

[Awakening]

8 minutes ago, Steven9595 said:

Ah alright gotcha! Yeah sometimes simplicity and ease of use is worth the cost. I'll poke around a bit and see what I can find!

 

 

 

 

Appreciate it.

 

I also just discovered something that I'm not sure how I've been missing. I'll be using this for the monitors and headphones: http://amzn.com/B00LP3AMC2. If that can output to the bass with the coaxial and then to the monitors with the line out that would solve all of my problems because I wouldn't have to rig something up for the studio monitors to output to the bass or the other way around 

[Steven9595]

4 minutes ago, Awakening said:

Appreciate it.

 

I also just discovered something that I'm not sure how I've been missing. I'll be using this for the monitors and headphones: http://amzn.com/B00LP3AMC2. If that can output to the bass with the coaxial and then to the monitors with the line out that would solve all of my problems..

That looks like it should work, seeing as the A5+'s and your sub are powered!

[Awakening]

1 minute ago, Steven9595 said:

That looks like it should work, seeing as the A5+'s and your sub are powered!

Awesome! If you end up finding a better pair of monitors though let me know. Without having to worry about the bass I can now get pretty much anything that's monochrome/grayscale 

[Steven9595]

18 minutes ago, Awakening said:

Appreciate it.

 

I also just discovered something that I'm not sure how I've been missing. I'll be using this for the monitors and headphones: http://amzn.com/B00LP3AMC2. If that can output to the bass with the coaxial and then to the monitors with the line out that would solve all of my problems..

One thing I might recommend though is holding off on the sub until after you get and listen to the speakers to determine if you actually want the additional sub. The A5+'s have some killer bass already.

[NumLock21]

I saw your 1K chair and it's a waste.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6850K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($609.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X99 GAMING ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($322.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($305.50 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($147.82 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($147.82 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case  ($137.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer  ($14.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full - USB 32/64-bit  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Acer XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 165Hz Monitor  ($748.09 @ B&H)
Total: $4174.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-19 22:44 EDT-0400

[frunze]

With all of those SSD, but still choose 5400rpm HDD? Curious why you don't pick the 7200rpm Black drives?

[Awakening]

6 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

I saw your 1K chair and it's a waste.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6850K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($609.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X99 GAMING ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($322.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($305.50 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($147.82 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($147.82 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case  ($137.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer  ($14.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full - USB 32/64-bit  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Acer XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 165Hz Monitor  ($748.09 @ B&H)
Total: $4174.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-19 22:44 EDT-0400

 

 

 

I don't really see any real performance gains or price savings once you break my list down to those parts. And how do you figure a $1k chair is a waste when I'm spending a majority of my day in it every day?

8 minutes ago, Steven9595 said:

One thing I might recommend though is holding off on the sub until after you get and listen to the speakers to determine if you actually want the additional sub. The A5+'s have some killer base already.

 

 

 

Yeah, that would be a good idea. From my understanding though a dedicated subwoofer is better for the low-low end frequencies like 20-100 Hz.

3 minutes ago, frunze said:

With all of those SSD, but still choose 5400rpm HDD? Curious why you don't pick the 7200rpm Black drives?

 

 

Because I don't need the speed or the added cost of that. It'll be pretty much only for media (4TB) while the 6TB drive will be for backup only.

[ThomasD]

If I'm going to spend $1k on a chair it better come with features I cannot mention on LTT.  I too am skeptical of the SSDs in RAID, but its not a huge expense and even if you end up replacing it next year with a single large high performance SSD the cost will only drop.

 

Really wish I could be more critical, but I you're pushing beyond the limits of my experiences.

[Awakening]

3 minutes ago, ThomasD said:

If I'm going to spend $1k on a chair it better come with features I cannot mention on LTT. 

 

It's all in the secret manual.

 

 

Spoiler

On a serious note, I'm willing to spend that much on a chair because of the sheer amount of time I'd spend in it. I'm sure my body will be glad I made that decision.

 

 

[ThomasD]

1 minute ago, Awakening said:

It's all in the secret manual.

 

Who needs VR goggles when you have a VR seat...

[NumLock21]

17 minutes ago, Awakening said:

I don't really see any real performance gains or price savings once you break my list down to those parts. And how do you figure a $1k chair is a waste when I'm spending a majority of my day in it every day?

 

I spend most of my time in my chair and it doesn't cost $1,000. IMO go to a office supply store or IKEA and try out the chairs before buying. What you see on picture and a expensive price tag, does not mean it's actually good. I can lower the cost of the build by getting a 6800K and ditching that G-Sync monitor by getting a standard 1440P or 4K. But since you want 40 PCIe lanes, there's not much choice with CPUs. Broadwell-E supports up to 128GB of ram while Haswell-E tops out at 64GB, except Xeon where they can support way more.

SSD in RAID 0 is stupid, just use a single SSD and the speed of that should be sufficient enough for your needs. The high numbers just looks pretty in benchmarks.

Your build has ram at dual channel while X99 runs on quad. Get the Deluxe II because you need TB3 which comes in a PCIe card.

[rm -rf]

Why are you willing to spend that much money?

Why not put it towards a deposit for a home?

[Steven9595]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

I spend most of my time in my chair and it doesn't cost $1,000. IMO go to a office supply store or IKEA and try out the chairs before buying. What you see on picture and a expensive price tag, does not mean it's actually good.

Herman Miller chairs are actually REALLY nice. Having worked for a furniture installation company, Herman Miller is a VERY reputable commercial furniture company with extremely high quality products. Having sat in a few of their desk chairs myself, while they're expensive, are definitely worth the cost in the long run.