Updating boyfriends computer

[RussianRaider]

My boyfriends computer is about six years old. I would love to upgrade his computer for him.  I don't know a lot about computer components (but I do watch Linus videos and the WAN show).  While he loves his system the way that it is, I have to wonder if something newer would speed things up and be more efficient.

 

Here is currently what he has:

• Rampage III Formula with i7 950
• 24 gb corsair dominator gt ram
• sapphire hd 6870 (crossfire)
• corsair h100 lcs
• 10 hard drives (multiple raid setups)
• fans
  • noctua   (2)
  • scythe ultra kazes (8)
  • cougar (2)
  • thermaltake fans (2)
  • delta northbridge fan (1)
• soundblaster sound card
• raid card
• lamptron fan controller
• icy dock internal hdd dock
• corsair ax 1200 power supply (overkill I know)
• ssd
  • crucial m4
  • crucial m500
• Windows 7 ultimate x64 (will be staying with this)
• xaser vi case
• there could be a few more things I am leaving out

Budget

So. . . budget $2000 (location Texas - hot).

 

Aim

System is used for photo/video/audio editing (Adobe CS6 MC), light creation of 3D models (autodesk), gaming (Crysis 2, ARMA (all), my Harry Potter collection, and many other graphic intensive games.  Thanks to Linus, he is now becoming fond of Star Citizen.  Would like to have a system to shorten video rendering time.  Be capable of dual gpu's (which I am sure he will add when the time comes).  I would like the  system to last at least 3-4 years without upgrading (I would prefer longer).

 

Monitors

He is using 2 monitors (one IPS and one LED); he will be running eye infinity (27" IPS 1080P) here shortly with a side monitor.

 

Peripherals

none needed at this time

 

 

I would love to stay with a ASUS ROG motherboard because this one as lasted a long time.  It is red and black (my college's school colors - go Tech) which is a huge selling point for me.  I would like to keep the color scheme red and black.  Is it time for an upgrade?

 

Below are things I have been eyeing:

• ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition LGA 2011
• Intel i7-4820k or i7-4930k
• ASUS GTX 780 (unsure which model) or ASUS GTX 780ti (non-reference), EVGA 780ti (03g-p4-2884-kr)
• RAM -prefer Corsair Dominator (red and black)

I have also been looking at the ASUS LGA 1150 line of motherboards with a I7-4770K with the same gpu setups. 

 

 

This forum has helped me a lot so thank you in advance for your suggestions and patience with me.

 

Christie

[helping]

I'd look at an i7k with a Z87 board and a 780/780TI

 

the rest of his build is actually quite good. 

[Shd0w2]

Wow, your dedicated to him... $2000!

[Shd0w2]

I would try to get a g-sync monitor, or a kit. 

[SAV1OUR]

just carry the ram and other parts over hes got a solid build right now 
 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor  ($564.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard:  Asus Sabertooth X79 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($314.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($489.99 @ NCIX US) 

Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($489.99 @ NCIX US) 

Total: $1859.96

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-22 19:23 EST-0500)

[defunkt]

Wow, your dedicated to him... $2000!

I can't help but feel you wouldn't say the same thing if a guy was upgrading his girlfriends PC.

[alpenwasser]

Aim

System is used for photo/video/audio editing (Adobe CS6 MC), light creation of 3D models (autodesk), gaming (Crysis 2, ARMA (all), my Harry Potter collection, and many other graphic intensive games.  Thanks to Linus, he is now becoming fond of Star Citizen.  Would like to have a system to shorten video rendering time.  Be capable of dual gpu's (which I am sure he will add when the time comes).  I would like the  system to last at least 3-4 years without upgrading (I would prefer longer).

Going by that info, I'd say a hexcore CPU is not a bad idea. The GTX 780

or 780 Ti are also good choices. If you're not going to watercool them

I would definitely recommend going with a non-reference cooler (the Asus

DirectCu for example, or the EVGA ACX etc., I'm not 100% up to date on

which one of these is the best, but I'm sure somebody else can answer

that). While the reference cooler is actually pretty good, I recently

noticed it does start to struggle a bit when I put my Titan under really

heavy loads (computing, to be precise, which sounds like your BF is

going to do as well).

EDIT:

And that's with the comparatively fresh ambient temps we have here, with

Texan ambient temps it's going to be even louder and hotter.

[RussianRaider]

Thanks for the great info..  Yes it is very hot in Texas.  I guess that is why he has 20 fans :rolleyes:. and also why I can't hear myself think when his computer is on. :lol:

 

would a i7-980x along with new gpus be a simple solution?

[alpenwasser]

Thanks for the great info..  Yes it is very hot in Texas.  I guess that is why he has 20 fans :rolleyes:. and also why I can't hear myself think when his computer is on. :lol:

would a i7-980x along with new gpus be a simple solution?

That's actually not too ridiculous of an idea IMHO. LGA1366 hexcores are

still pretty powerful if you give them something that can make use

of its cores (I'm running two X5680 Xeons and see no reason to upgrade

to anything newer in the coming few years). Sure single-thread

performance lags a bit behind, but in general they can still keep

up adequately well for most things.

Basically what you have available are the 970, 980, 980X and 990X,

plus the Xeons (I do not know if they are compatible with your board

though, so lets stick to the consumer side for now).

The 970 is a pretty good CPU AFAIK. It's not unlocked, but since you

can overclock on LGA1366 with the baseclock you could still get a

pretty decent overclock out of it if your M/B is a decent enough

overclocker and you have adequate cooling.

I don't know much about the 980 TBH, it doesn't seem to be very

common.

The 980X, albeit unlocked, allegedly requires some serious voltages

to get high overclocks, so this one would not necessarily be at the

top of my list.

The 990X is pretty much the best binned silicon LGA1366 had to offer

on the consumer side.

I would have a look around and see which of these you can get for

what price in what condition. Be careful with used CPUs though,

especially with the Extreme Edition ones: If they were seriously

overvolted their remaining lifespan might be considerably reduced.

Personally I would probably go for a 970 or a 980 (non-extreme).

I have found one or two 970s for ~350 USD on eBay, you might find

more (I only searched for ones that ship to me), the regular 980s

seem to be rather hard to find.

If you can't find one of those (for a decent price), I'd next

recommend the 990X, and the 980X last.

Put the money saved either in some new (less noisy) fans or towards the GPUs.