High end system feedback

[starshade]

The necessities? 

1.) Budget $7500 (USD)

2.) IDE, 3d, vr, 4k gaming, (light) video editing, general purpose

3.) 1x4k monitor (wouldn't this be the same realestate as roughly ~4x 1920x1200, or 1900x1080ish?)

4.) n/a

5.) it's that time. and vr. and star citizen with vr, well, maybe my foray into unreal engine 4 / 3d modeling is relative too.

 

The rig:

1x Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0 and All-Black Interior
1x EVGA X99 Classified (151-HE-E999-KR) LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard
1x EVGA 220-P2-1200-X1 80 PLUS Platinum 1200 W 10 yr Warranty ECO Mode Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support Continous Power Supply
1x Intel Core i7-5960X Haswell-E 8-Core 3.0 GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W BX80648I75960X Desktop Processor
2x SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V5P512BW
2x EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 06G-P4-4998-KR 6GB CLASSIFIED GAMING w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card
1x G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 128GB (8 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2800 (PC4 22400) Intel X99 Platform Extreme Performance Memory Model F4-2800C15Q2-128GRKD
1x Noctua NH-D15 SSO2 D-Type Premium CPU Cooler, NF-A15 x 2 PWM Fans

 

Please offer feedback/suggestions.. I tried to find components with: the most price/performance benchmarking & customer reviews, but there are a few concerns I have..:

 

1.) I would love to ensure that the PSU is enough to push 2x 980 TI and the processor; and will it support two pascal gpus (I plan on upgrading q1 or q2 of 2017 to pascal, giving my wife the 980tis.)

2.) I was concerned about the ripjaw memory, it wasn't the most expensive (this isn't my qualifier anyway), but the difference in price is enormous, but it seemed like cycles were faster on this particular memory set, then say, the 1,100 corsair dominators of the same size.. am i thinking wrong?

3.) Is the samsung 950 m2 really as nice as it's benchmark indicates, or is the sample pool of entries not enough? http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/high_end_drives.html

4.) Am i overlooking anything.. ?

 

 

Notes:

 

I've interested watercooling, but dang the Noctua's are so nice, and in a huge case, i'm not sure that having water cooling > the noctua fan? Should I add any extra cooling devices, or consider water cooling ? I do not want the maintenance and hassle, and i've never had issues with fans. (I don't overclock, who would need to with these specs), so I've never had one burn out on me. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Lethal Seraph]

I wouldn't do a water-cooling PC just yet if this is your first build. The PSU seems good even for Pascal (I think Pascal is even more power efficient than Maxwell.) Have you checked with Noctua NH-D15S? It seems like they fixed the ram clearance on some brands.

[starshade]

Oh very cool, thanks for the note on the clearance.

 

It's not my first build, I've built hundreds(thousands?) (and ran a family business PC shop for commercial repairs/service/units) ! But, it does represent my first rig over 2500, and the most high-end unit i've put together, so I have some reservations and am a bit nervous.

 

I still was uncomfortable with water cooling (and i've never even tried to give it a go, which probably adds to the concern.). I guess a better question would be, with noise not being a factor, is it even needed? Noctua's keep things so cool, and they're fairly quite anyway.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

edit: funny cat signature.

[DaltonM]

Wait for Pascal/Polaris. Get a single 970 for now

[xwboy]

Don't worry about water cooling for now. If you want to try it later, just make sure your case is big enough. In terms of the RAM, 128 GB seems pretty overkill. I can't see what you could possibly need that much for. You may be able to find a faster 64 GB set (ideally 4 x 16GB) and upgrade later if 128 GB ever becomes a necessary. That could also save you some money (although since you have such a big budget I doubt money is a concern). Lastly, head over to https://pcpartpicker.com/ to check the voltage required for your whole rig and if your PSU could support those GPUs.

[starshade]

@xwboy It might also help to specify that I spin up several virtual machines (local development) at any given time, I could have 16-32gb saturated in those machines alone. I have 32gb right now, which is ample enough when it's not being allocated for that, but I'd rather not have to look back in 3-4 years, wishing I had more ram. Windows 10 seems to hog (or maybe the notification just makes it's usage more apparant) a lot of ram anyway, I bet this trend wont' decrease over time; but with those things in mind, do you still think 64gb? (particularly in reference to the virtual machines)

Edit: Oh! And thanks for the tip on watercooling. The box is a super tower, so it's huge. I think it will accommodate the addition of liquid cooling fairly easy, in the event I decide to move to it later, appreciate the direction ! 

 

@DaltonM WIth pascal slated for release in ~month (right..?) I think that the price/performance/culling of first iteration would be prudent to wait for ? I am not against early adoption, but this was my reservation here; I suppose knowing whether or not the price points are comparable would be helpful, but I'm not really trying to shell out a full $2,000 on the brand new chipset/architecture, whereas with a year or so of maturity, i might consider that more comfortably. Thoughts?

 

Thanks once more for all the time.

[DaltonM]

5 minutes ago, starshade said:

@DaltonM WIth pascal slated for release in ~month (right..?) I think that the price/performance/culling of first iteration would be prudent to wait for ? I am not against early adoption, but this was my reservation here; I suppose knowing whether or not the price points are comparable would be helpful, but I'm not really trying to shell out a full $2,000 on the brand new chipset/architecture, whereas with a year or so of maturity, i might consider that more comfortably. Thoughts?

I see what you're saying. but the only reason I even suggested waiting is because the change in architecture (nanometer manufacturing process) and VRAM has been a long time coming. We've been at 28nm for years now. At the very least, the current cards will drop in price. But Pascal will feature cards at all the current price points. And with the rise of UHD gaming, more VRAM will be needed. 6gb is fine in the 980ti, but the lower cards could see 4gb start to struggle in next gen 4k games. 

 

Since you're spending so much, just wait and see. 

 

As for the RAM, I recommend at least 64gb for the VM set up you desire, but you will be set for life at 128. 

 

You should get some mass storage or 1tb 2.5 SSDs

You won't really need to OC this build, but if you want to speed up rendering, an occasional OC won't hurt. At this point, there's no need for watercooling unless your live in a really hot environment. You can get a program that lets you quickly overclock so you can render a video or animation and then drop it back down. With your build, no game will struggle to run. I can't get my stock 4690k to bottleneck me in games at this point. 

[xwboy]

@starshade Being very cautious, I will lay out a situation for you: You have quite a few VMs open, using up 32 GB of RAM. Let's say your browser and some various applications use up another 10 GB. You mentioned gaming, that will probably take 4 GB max, but let's say it uses up 8. While doing this you decide for some reason to render a video, using up 16 GB of RAM. Then of course, Windows and system processes, under all this heavy load need (and I doubt they would use this much but I don't know how demanding some of your drivers and processes are) 2 GB or so of RAM. That, all put together, equals 68 GB of RAM. Is this a situation you see yourself ever being in within the next 4-5 years? If so, go for 128 GB. Even if you were in this situation, I doubt that all of your RAM would be utilized. I gave you huge, over-exaggerated numbers. Also remember that developers strive to make their applications more RAM efficient with every update. Windows 10's ram usage was up to a GB when I fist downloaded it, but now it's down to about 150-200 MB (when browsing). I doubt you would need 128 GB in the next 5 years, but with the activity you seem to be doing, it seems reasonable.

[starshade]

@DaltonM and @xwboy

 

Understood and noted, i really appreciate the feedback, thoughts, and time. This will help my consideration so much more!

Ah, note: xwboy, it seems silly -- but, yeah. The older I get, the less I want to close applications :P. In sincerity though, I don't seem to get similar results, i'm sitting at 40% ram usage (of 32gb), with a few (2, less then usual) virtual boxes, slack, firefox, a few ides (phpstorm/webstorm), unreal engine, and a few terminals. Computer is clean as well, although at this level, i'm sure that is a given, incase it's not. 

 

So one of the issues I've been facing, previously, before shoving another 16gb into the machine (I originally thought 16gb would be enough, back in 2013...), let's say I went to open photoshop, .. at this point, it would crash due to memory consumption.  (tried to add extra info.)

 

@Lethal Seraph The more compatible S version looks like a winner. I'll buy an extra a15 fan just incase !  Thanks!

 

If any other thoughts are floating around, please don't hesitate!!

 

Thanks once more.

[Lethal Seraph]

Yeah Noctuas are the best on air cooling and noise balance...unless you go for the industrial PPC which is loud since they can go up to 3000rpm.

 

Might off topic but... why the Cooler Master HAF? It looks ugly to me lol.

[DaltonM]

@starshade I am the resident 'wait for Pascal' troll, I have been reciting these lines for a while now. I especially try to let high end system builders know that this is a rare occasion where you want to wait it out and see. If you were considering getting a 780 a few years ago, I wouldn't tell you to wait for the 980 unless you were in it for a possible price drop. 

 

Either way, you mentioned VR. While current cards support it, I'd be willing to bet the next gen cards will be even better for it. Think of it this way, the 980ti aims for the ultimate 1080p gaming experience, while the rest of the cards scale back from there. The GTX 1080 will aim at 4K and the rest of the cards will scale back from there. There's also rumors of insane amounts of VRAM, like 32gb. That could drive 3 4K monitors at Ultra texture resolution, which will become a lot more common once 4K gaming starts to pick up. 

 

Our GPUs know nothing of UHD textures and I think it's going to be the downfall of 4gb cards, which barely had a chance to become the norm with 2gb going out so fast lately. 

 

Regardless, we are in a precarious situation, foaming at the mouth for 4K and VR, but not knowing how to properly power it.

[starshade]

@Lethal Seraph I own two of these cases, and you're right, i'm not a huge fan of their appearance.. I'd love more sleek & elegant.. BUT, they're all steel and huge. Plus their rating vs price is phenomenal.

 

Do you have any other super / full towers in mind that you would recommend?

[starshade]

@DaltonM

 

It's killing me, because I put this rig back together in November, and just sat on it (sorta waiting around for pascal, and some funds to drop from clients), and while I know your advice is prudent, being a week away from this behemoth is so enrapturing...

 

I think i'm prepared to step away from the 980ti's once pascal is available (and maybe needed.. I'm pretty sure 2x980ti is going to smoke anything anyone builds for atleast a minute), at which point, once we move passed there (end of 2017/2018?), i'll make the difficult choice of self-sacrifice, giving my wife the 980tis... [ahem, and purchasing a pair of pascal gpus)  

[Lethal Seraph]

IDK, I liked cases with windowed panels. I personally like the cubed Corsair Air series. I've had the Corsair 760T but I found it way too big. Have you checked In Wins '707' full tower?

 

For a high budget project, I'd rather want a more expensive tower to showcase the rig. Likely a In Win S-frame or the new H-frame. Or perhaps a full customized table like Lian Li.

[NumLock21]

Maximum amount of ram on the 5960X is only up to 64GB. At 128GB, you'll need to get a Xeon, which can support up to 768GB of ram.  5960X Xeon equivalent will be the Xeon E5 1680 v3. Most X99 boards will also have just 1x M.2 connector, but I see you're planning to get 2  Samsung 950 Pros. Are you planning to do raid? If yes, then might want to get Intel 750 PCIe card models. Can save by getting a 80 Plus Gold power supply, it also comes with a 10 year warranty.

 

 

 

 

[starshade]

Thanks a ton for the heads up @NumLock21 - I will go re-review those 3 items, it seems like 64GB is going to be the limit though, thanks for the catch.

 

Is the server-chip xeon brand comparable at all? I would think it wouldn't be, but I see you listed the "equivalent" (I think a server chip would handle differently, then say, the consumer chip. Sorry if that's ignorant )

[NumLock21]

1 minute ago, starshade said:

Thanks a ton for the heads up @NumLock21 - I will go re-review those 3 items, it seems like 64GB is going to be the limit though, thanks for the catch.

 

Is the server-chip xeon brand comparable at all? I would think it wouldn't be, but I see you listed the "equivalent" (I think a server chip would handle differently, then say, the consumer chip. Sorry if that's ignorant )

I'm using a Xeon on my Asus X99 Deluxe. The only thing that probably won't work is the ECC support because it needs a server chipset. Other than that, it acts the same as a Core i7. Some differences are, 99% of Xeons are locked and they cannot be overclock like a Core i7, some support a much lower ram speed, like only up to DDR4 1866MHz, so if you get DDR4 2133 or 3000MHz, it will just drop down to 1866MHz. But with Xeons you do get higher core count, up to 18 cores vs 8 cores max on the 5960X and support for dual and quad socket configurations.

[starshade]

Thanks for all the help!