Gaming/Work Build Advice

[sc123]

Hi, all! Looking for some advice on a rig I'm pricing. I've got a general idea of what I want, listed below, but I'm interested in recommendations for the motherboard. I've got a Cooler Master 690II Case and a Themaltake 850W PSU which I'd like to use with the new build. Primary uses will be for gaming and work, which involves CPU intensive tasks such as Photoshop and Premiere, but the focus of the build will be for gaming. Here's what I'm thinking:

• PNY GeForce GTX 980 4GB CG
• Samsung 950 Pro M.2 512GB SSD
• CORSAIR H80i GT Water Cooler
• Intel i7-6700k or Intel i7-5820k
• G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000

One big concern I have is over PCIe Lanes. I want to make sure the Samsung 950 and the GTX 980 aren't performance limited, and that I can add another card in future if I want. So that's 20 lanes gobbled up right away and the 5820k only has 28. Not sure what the hit to performance would be if I added a card in future and it could only use half the lanes, and maybe 5820k isn't even an option to get full 32gb performance from the 950 Pro SSD and DDR4. Also, I like the design of the ASUS Z170-A which lets you tuck away the SSD and easy cool it, but the reviews aren't great and my experience with ASUS support has been terrible.

 

One possible limitation I have are my monitors, which are good Viewsonic IPS screens but only have DVI connections. I have two of them and the GTX 980 only has one DVI output so I guess I'll need to buy DP to DVI adapters, though I don't know if that would affect visual quality or performance. Eager to hear your thoughts, and thanks!

[Cvdasfg]

Hi, all! Looking for some advice on a rig I'm pricing. I've got a general idea of what I want, listed below, but I'm interested in recommendations for the motherboard. I've got a Cooler Master 690II Case and a Themaltake 850W PSU which I'd like to use with the new build. Primary uses will be for gaming and work, which involves CPU intensive tasks such as Photoshop and Premiere. Here's what I'm thinking:

•  
• PNY GeForce GTX 980 4GB CG
• Samsung 950 Pro M.2 512GB SSD
• CORSAIR H80i GT Water Cooler
• Intel i7-6700k or Intel i7-5820k
• G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000
•  

One big concern I have is over PCIe Lanes. I want to make sure the Samsung 950 and the GTX 980 aren't performance limited, and that I can add another card in future if I want. So that's 20 lanes gobbled up right away and the 5820k only has 28. Not sure what the hit to performance would be if I added a card in future and it could only use half the lanes, and maybe 5820k isn't even an option to get full 32gb performance from the 950 Pro SSD and DDR4. Also, I like the design of the ASUS Z170-A which lets you tuck away the SSD and easy cool it, but the reviews aren't great and my experience with ASUS support has been terrible.

One possible limitation I have are my monitors, which are good Viewsonic IPS screens but only have DVI connections. I have two of them and the GTX 980 only has one DVI output so I guess I'll need to buy DP to DVI adapters, though I don't know if that would affect visual quality or performance. Eager to hear your thoughts, and thanks!

drop the 950 and get a 850 pro instead. With the money saved get a 980 TI.

 

what are you looking for in a motherboard? 

 

x99 is the way to go for sure if your going to be doing creative suite stuff. I have a 5820k and love it. WAYYYY better then skylake. 

 

Also general budget? do you need windows? periphs?

[stealth80]

Id stick with the 950 pro but drop to a 256gb version for a boot drive and do as Cvdasfg said and use that money towards the 980ti. If its mainly gaming then Skylake is better as its IPC is better than X99. Although new X99 CPU's are coming later this year so you would be on a platform able to use those chips. 4.5ghz is pretty doable on a 5820k which would put in on par with 6700k at stock (single core)

[sc123]

Id stick with the 950 pro but drop to a 256gb version for a boot drive and do as Cvdasfg said and use that money towards the 980ti. If its mainly gaming then Skylake is better as its IPC is better than X99. Although new X99 CPU's are coming later this year so you would be on a platform able to use those chips. 4.5ghz is pretty doable on a 5820k which would put in on par with 6700k at stock (single core)

 

That's a good idea - going to 256GB on the boot SSD and bumping up to the 980ti. I think Skylake is the way to go for me since I'll be doing more gaming than multi-core CPU processing and with the water cooler I should be able to bump the clock a good bit on the 6700k. Any recommendations for that 980ti and the motherboard?

 

drop the 950 and get a 850 pro instead. With the money saved get a 980 TI.

 

what are you looking for in a motherboard? 

 

x99 is the way to go for sure if your going to be doing creative suite stuff. I have a 5820k and love it. WAYYYY better then skylake. 

 

Also general budget? do you need windows? periphs?

 

I already have all the perihps - Logitech G933 wireless headset, USB keyboard/mouse, USB external HDD, USB wireless adapter, and a few others. Windows 10 for the OS, which I also already have. I'd like to end up around $1,500.

[EZWalk]

drop the 950 and get a 850 pro instead. With the money saved get a 980 TI.

 

what are you looking for in a motherboard? 

 

x99 is the way to go for sure if your going to be doing creative suite stuff. I have a 5820k and love it. WAYYYY better then skylake. 

 

Also general budget? do you need windows? periphs?

If he is using it for video editing and content creation the 950 pro might be a better idea for him and also assuming you are gaming at 1080p a 980ti would be overkill. 

A note on windows: I have installed windows on 4 different machines a total of about 8 times and most of the time it installs with a full licensed version of windows 10 so I would wait to buy it until after it is installed and then if it prompts you to activate windows, then buy a licence.

[Caine]

Hi, all! Looking for some advice on a rig I'm pricing. I've got a general idea of what I want, listed below, but I'm interested in recommendations for the motherboard. I've got a Cooler Master 690II Case and a Themaltake 850W PSU which I'd like to use with the new build. Primary uses will be for gaming and work, which involves CPU intensive tasks such as Photoshop and Premiere, but the focus of the build will be for gaming. Here's what I'm thinking:

• PNY GeForce GTX 980 4GB CG
• Samsung 950 Pro M.2 512GB SSD
• CORSAIR H80i GT Water Cooler
• Intel i7-6700k or Intel i7-5820k
• G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000

One big concern I have is over PCIe Lanes. I want to make sure the Samsung 950 and the GTX 980 aren't performance limited, and that I can add another card in future if I want. So that's 20 lanes gobbled up right away and the 5820k only has 28. Not sure what the hit to performance would be if I added a card in future and it could only use half the lanes, and maybe 5820k isn't even an option to get full 32gb performance from the 950 Pro SSD and DDR4. Also, I like the design of the ASUS Z170-A which lets you tuck away the SSD and easy cool it, but the reviews aren't great and my experience with ASUS support has been terrible.

 

One possible limitation I have are my monitors, which are good Viewsonic IPS screens but only have DVI connections. I have two of them and the GTX 980 only has one DVI output so I guess I'll need to buy DP to DVI adapters, though I don't know if that would affect visual quality or performance. Eager to hear your thoughts, and thanks!

 

scrap the pny card and get the evga classified acx 2.0+ gtx 980 instead

[Cvdasfg]

Id stick with the 950 pro but drop to a 256gb version for a boot drive and do as Cvdasfg said and use that money towards the 980ti. If its mainly gaming then Skylake is better as its IPC is better than X99. Although new X99 CPU's are coming later this year so you would be on a platform able to use those chips. 4.5ghz is pretty doable on a 5820k which would put in on par with 6700k at stock (single core)

4.5 all day on x99. I have  mine at 4.7 and it runs very smoothly. 

 

That's a good idea - going to 256GB on the boot SSD and bumping up to the 980ti. I think Skylake is the way to go for me since I'll be doing more gaming than multi-core CPU processing and with the water cooler I should be able to bump the clock a good bit on the 6700k. Any recommendations for that 980ti and the motherboard?

 

 

I already have all the perihps - Logitech G933 wireless headset, USB keyboard/mouse, USB external HDD, USB wireless adapter, and a few others. Windows 10 for the OS, which I also already have. I'd like to end up around $1,500.

I'll do a pcpartpicker in a few minutes when I get home. Do you want wifi/bluetooth on the motherboard? I will warn you about skylake and the whole bending thing. I've seen it first hand with aftermarket coolers. Its up to you ))

[sc123]

4.5 all day on x99. I have  mine at 4.7 and it runs very smoothly. 

 

I'll do a pcpartpicker in a few minutes when I get home. Do you want wifi/bluetooth on the motherboard? I will warn you about skylake and the whole bending thing. I've seen it first hand with aftermarket coolers. Its up to you ))

 

Thanks for your help! Nah, don't need wifi/bt on board. I'll be gentle with the chip - thanks for the reminder about them bending.

[sc123]

Here is the build as it stands now: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mfcYnQ

 

Still not sure on the mobo. What do you all think?