New Aussie build help

[Krustocious]

Hey there, been watching Linus' videos for a while now but this is my first post here.

 

1. Budget & Location

$3,500 AU & Melbourne, Australia

 

2. Aim

Gaming with maxed graphics (e.g Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Killing Floor 2), using the unreal 4 engine, some application programming, photoshop, light-medium use of render engines.

 

3. Monitors

Current setup is two 24' 1920x1080 monitors, but would like to upgrade at some point to two 27' 2560x1440

 

I'm good for peripherals.

 

Upgrading because my 6+ yr old pc is showing it's age, barely being able to run recent games smoothly on lowest settings (currently have an ATI Radeon HD 5850), and looking to play with maxed out graphics. Would also like to build this one by hand.

 

I'm not in a rush to buy the parts, but I would like to get them soon.

 

Other notes:

Looking for decent cooling, and would like a case to keep as much dust out as possible (with easy to remove filters). Not really fussed about making it silent or anything.

I have a Samsung 850 EVO 500gb SSD to use for the new build.

 

I had a go at a build, but not really sure about any of it. Here it is though: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/Krustocious/saved/#view=kts2FT

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

[JebKerman]

I can't say there's anything really bad about it (very well done).

 

I do have a suggestion though:

I'd go for either a big air tower like the R1 Ultimate, Bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 3, or Noctua D14/D15 (there would require a RAM change to something more low profile like the Kingston hyperX Fury Kits) or an AIO with a 240/280mm (2x120/140mm) radiator. as single fan AIOs perform worse than any air cooler at their price point (admittedly most of the ones listed fall considerably lower in price, but sill outperform it). only dual fan AIOs are able to slightly outperform them, but at a higher price point.

[kameshss]

This can max out any games at 2x2k monitors with decent fps rate at high settings!

 

WD Blacks are way overpriced. So I swapped them to a WD Blue. They're reliable and good.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($355.00 @ Centre Com) 

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($193.00 @ IJK) 

Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($239.00 @ Centre Com) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($137.00 @ IJK) 

Storage: Western Digital Blue 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($239.00 @ PLE Computers) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1099.00 @ CPL Online) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1099.00 @ CPL Online) 

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  ($139.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($199.00 @ Umart) 

Total: $3699.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-01 22:16 AEDT+1100

 

Little bit over your budget.

 

But for focusing only on gaming, Intel Quad Core CPU is enough.

[HKZeroFive]

Your build is good. If all you want is a single 980Ti, it's fine. I would manage your storage to a less expensive WD Blue HDD and reduce the RAM to 8GB to save money.

 

I've had a go at it. There's an important rule that I've learnt to never let the CPU be the priority in medium to high end builds and to let the GPUs have priority instead. I've added in another 980Ti and reduce your RAM to 8GB since 16GB is overkill for gaming (unless you plan to use this as a workstation build which I doubt). I've managed your storage options a bit, but feel free to tell me if you think 1TB is not enough (it is more most people). This is slightly more than what you presented but it is within your budget and it's pretty much only $400 more for a new GPU rather than $1000 more. The i5 6600K will do just fine as a CPU.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($355.00 @ Centre Com) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($159.00 @ CPL Online) 

Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($239.00 @ Centre Com) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($78.00 @ IJK) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1049.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1049.00 @ Centre Com) 

Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case  ($155.00 @ Scorptec) 

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($199.00 @ Umart) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit)  ($35.00) 

Total: $3387.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-01 22:25 AEDT+1100

 

Alternatively, if you want the i7 6700K, here is another option that's within your budget:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($513.00 @ IJK) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($159.00 @ CPL Online) 

Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($239.00 @ Centre Com) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($78.00 @ IJK) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1049.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1049.00 @ Centre Com) 

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($108.50 @ CPL Online) 

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($199.00 @ Umart) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit)  ($35.00) 

Total: $3498.50

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-01 22:37 AEDT+1100

 

@Krustocious, please follow your own topics.

[shanmu54321]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($355.00 @ Centre Com) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($159.00 @ CPL Online) 

Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($239.00 @ Centre Com) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($78.00 @ IJK) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($295.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1049.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($1049.00 @ Centre Com) 

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($108.50 @ CPL Online) 

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($199.00 @ Umart) 

Total: $3531.50

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-01 22:40 AEDT+1100

[Krustocious]

Wow, didn't even think I would be able to get two gtx 980 Ti's in the budget. Looks like the i5-6600k and the Z170 mobo are more appropriate. I'll look into cases a bit more. Thanks for the input all!

 

Also following the thread now, didn't know about that.

[Krustocious]

Just had a thought: would it be better to get the two GTX 980 Ti's, or just one but upgrade the monitors to the 27' 1440's?

 

I know performance would be better with SLI in 1440 res, but would it make much of a difference? Would the SLI on 1080 res be much better performance wise over a single card on 1440 res?