Come help me with my $4500-5000 rig :)

[Chiaki]

Ok, so I am looking at a new rig, and I think I know what I want to put inside, but I need some comments from you guys.

 

So here is what I am thinking:

CPU: Intel i7-6850K

MB: Asus X99 Strix

Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX QC 4x8GB or an equal g.skill RipjawsV set of ram

SSD1: Samsung 950 Pro 512GB

SSD2: Hyperx Savage 480GB 

GPU: Asus GTX 1080 Strix (possibly SLI)

CPU-cooling: Corsair H115i

PSU: Corsair AX860i or AX1200i 

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Tempered Glass

 

The rig will mainly be used for 4k Gaming and I want to do it at Ultra settings. Also a focus is to future proof myself, expecting to just swap graphic card(s) next time.

 

Few comments on the components:

 

CPU: Yes, i7-6850K might not be your choise of CPU for gaming as pri1, I guess i7-6700K is a more natural choise. We don't see cores being utilized in games per now, but it is said that Dx12 will be using cores more effectively in the future, and I want to future proof myself this time. Also have a lot going on in the background of gaming, a billion web browser tabs, music etc. PCI-lanes might also matter more in the future.

 

MB: I went with this, as there are few other Asus X99 boards that offer USB-C, and going with a red/black theme here. X99 Strix also gives me the possibility to swap colors as I like, if I wanna go with another theme in the future. Also offers me WiFi/bluetooth, sure you got dongles etc. for that, but its a nice extra (even though I pay extra for it anyway).

 

Ram: I would love to go with Dominators in red, but not offered around where I live. Anyways, Ram is proven not to matter that much anyway, just grab the best MHz/CAS combination you can find and one that aesthetically fits your build.

 

SSD1: No comprimises here, who knows.. Maybe the extra speed will be useful one day.

 

SSD2: again, pure aesthetics. It will be faced in the front of the case, showing off the whole SSD. Fits perfectly in my red/black build.

 

GPU: GTX 1080, do I need to say more? However not that sure about SLI, "many" games don't even have SLI support at launch. As long as I am able to keep 60FPS or 90FPS VR, one might be enough.

 

CPU-cooling: Sure, when I am spending this much, why not get a fully custom watercooling? My answer to that, can't be bothered with maintenance. And 100-200 more MHz, is not too important.

 

PSU: Ok, so 1200w is totally overkill for this build, I know. Reason why I am considering is because that the fan in 1200i will not kick in before around 30-35% load = might even stay quiet even under load, X99 + GTX 1080 SLI should be pulling around 400w-ish(?). Also 1200i seems to be a little more stable on its voltage, not by much.. Just that I have suffered from other PSUs in the past that caused the water pump to make weird noises (whining) and the monitor/GPUs cause RGB-color flickering across the screens a few times.

 

Case: So funny story, LTT/Luke just released a vid today on this case, and it looks just so stunning every time I see it. I've planned this build a while before they released it, and funny to see them use the exact same PSU, CPU-cooler and SSD in front (Hyperx) as I am planning to use.. They got good taste  

 

Lastly, I want a quiet rig, yet not one that is overheating when overclocking, due to bad cooling/airflow. Luke is suggesting to mount the radiator in front, due to it dropping so low in front of the MB. I kinda agree, but what about air flow into the case, especially graphic cards? Should you still run a pull configuration if mounted in front? Push-pull? For aesthetics I am considering Corsair AF140 with red rings to complete my theme.. I originally thought I would put the radiator up top, using the stock AF140L fans that come with H115i in pull. Then put two BeQuiet Silentwings 2 in front for airflow into the case. And finally one Corsair AF140 in the back.. But after Luke says to put the radiator in front, I am not sure where to put my radiator anymore  If in front, I would do 3x AF140s one in the back and two in top, all with red rings.. again for aesthetics.

 

So what do you think guys, I am all ears.. Open for inputs. Just know that I love Corsair and Asus and they are close to my heart and been for many years  Unless there is an obvious reason to go for some other brand.

 

Reason for "Overkill rig"? I bought myself a Z97 system with i5-4960k and 970 SLI last year.. Sure it is a powerful system, but CPU is not even doing all I want and the 970s cant keep up in all 4k games.

 

Forgot to mention: Also topping it all off with Cablemod red/black cables.

 

Hoping for some valuable input!

[alphaproject]

Skip the SLI and get this instead...

 

Intel Boxed Core i7-6900K. The rest.... TLDR.

[ComeT]

I only have one comment... That rig is going to be amazing!

[Simon771]

Do you plan to water cool anytime in the future?

I mean your budget is flexible, and it would be perfect build to upgrade with custom water cooling  

[Chiaki]

22 minutes ago, Bigfootmandude said:

My thoughts

 

1. Unless I missed something, I didnt see you mention any hard drives. At the very least it would wise to have a drive to use to create back ups.

2. I think that rebalancing the budget in order to get a 1TB secondary SSD makes sense. If you want a system that will last, only having 1TB in total storage across two drives will force you add another drive later on. (Which is maybe what you are planning).

3. There is no "Future proof" 4k read card right now. The 1080 will handle 4k in most games, but it won't be able to max all of them out. If you want to max out 4k right now, you would probably be looking at 1070 SLI or 1080 SLI, which has the cons that you mentioned. Peronally, I would recommend a single 1080, and save money and plan on upgrading in ~2 years. 

4. If you want the most quiet system and have excess cash to spend, why not wait until AIO liquid coolers are available for the 1080?

5. Reconsider your budget. You are planning on spending a lot of money for small performance gains. If you want to spend that much money, you could look at adding additional monitors, peripherals, speakers, microphone, chair, etc. Unless you already have Grade A everything, you could spend that money improving other aspects of your setup, if you want it to be as BA as possible. It's your call of course, and I don't know your setup, but its worth a thought.

6. Damn thats gonna be a nice computer. If you are investing money into aethestics considering looking at custom PSU cables. 

1+2. I keep all my content on external backup as well on a NAS. This rig only needs some space for media I consume right away and games

 

3. 1080 seems to have made 4k possible on a single card at least, but I guess not forever. I think I agree on a single card and rather upgrade more frequently with single cards.

 

4. Don't want to void the warranty. And 1080 Strix doesnt turn on its fans before 50°C

 

5. Yeah very true, not the best gains.. But this Z97 + i5-4690k is bothering me a lil and not fulfilling all I want.

 

6. So do I think I believe it will future proof me on everything, except GPUs.

 

I will show it off with whatever I end up with here on the forum.

[Chiaki]

22 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

Do you plan to water cool anytime in the future?

I mean your budget is flexible, and it would be perfect build to upgrade with custom water cooling  

As mentioned, not bothered with the maintenance  AIO coolers will have to do.

[Chiaki]

41 minutes ago, alphaproject said:

Skip the SLI and get this instead...

 

Intel Boxed Core i7-6900K. The rest.... TLDR.

Not quite sure how 2 extra cores will help me? Unless I am doing a lot of editing/content creation. Is there any other benefit? I know I am already going for 6, which might not give me a huge advantage today.

[Chiaki]

34 minutes ago, ComeT said:

I only have one comment... That rig is going to be amazing!

Hoping so too  I will show it off when I decide what to go for.

[Dackzy]

Do NOT get a asus GPU they are bad, there is even a rumor that they are recalling the 1080 strix.

[Dackzy]

27 minutes ago, Chiaki said:

Not quite sure how 2 extra cores will help me? Unless I am doing a lot of editing/content creation. Is there any other benefit? I know I am already going for 6, which might not give me a huge advantage today.

No, just stick with the 6850k and keep the SLI, it is not like a better CPU will help you anything at all in games even with DX12  6 core is the best right now, 8 core does not really change anything, over 6 cores and it will not change anything. 

 

There is no single GPU that can beat 2x 1080 so don't listen to him, I am not sure that he knows what he is talking about.

[ComeT]

29 minutes ago, Chiaki said:

Hoping so too  I will show it off when I decide what to go for.

Nice, where will you show it? Really wanna see it when it's done!

[Chiaki]

2 minutes ago, ComeT said:

Nice, where will you show it? Really wanna see it when it's done!

I'll try to remember to keep it in this thread, if not.. you will find it in the "show off your rig" part of the forum here.

[Chiaki]

10 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Do NOT get a asus GPU they are bad, there is even a rumor that they are recalling the 1080 strix.

Rescaling them, you mean how they send review samples in OC mode?

[Dackzy]

8 minutes ago, Chiaki said:

Rescaling them, you mean how they send review samples in OC mode?

taking them off the market because of a fault, it should not be to any surprise asus GPUs are utter shit and have been like that for a long time when it came to cooling, sure the core is okay/meh in temps, but the vram is not and they are louder than other cards.

[Chiaki]

4 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

taking them off the market because of a fault, it should not be to any surprice asus GPUs are utter shit and have been like that for a long time when it came to cooling, sure the core is okay/meh in temps, but the vram is not and they are louder than other cards.

Really? hm, I see reviewers praising Asus all over. I've never had an Asus GPU, I went with MSI last time, and had other manufacturers like Sapphire before that.

[Dackzy]

1 minute ago, Chiaki said:

Really? hm, I see reviewers praising Asus all over. I've never had an Asus GPU, I went with MSI last time, and had other manufacturers like Sapphire before that.

Oh they are bad really bad, I have seen lots of people having problems with them and seen them run hot, but I have also had two 780ti from asus that both died with in a year. A asus gpu does not cool the vram very well and the fans on them are also not that great.

[Chiaki]

19 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Oh they are bad really bad, I have seen lots of people having problems with them and seen them run hot, but I have also had two 780ti from asus that both died with in a year. A asus gpu does not cool the vram very well and the fans on them are also not that great.

Hmm, thanks for the heads up. Though luckily we have 5 years warranty on mostly anything by law here

[alphaproject]

1 hour ago, Chiaki said:

Not quite sure how 2 extra cores will help me? Unless I am doing a lot of editing/content creation. Is there any other benefit? I know I am already going for 6, which might not give me a huge advantage today.

Well, you mentioned future proofing so why not more cores? I mean, I would if I was you with that kind of cheese.

 

As for SLI, just go to Teksyndicate's youtube and watch his 1080 review.

 

There are ALOT of people who reviewed SLI that only see benefits in benchmarks. Most games show an actual decrease in performance because SLI is of late a forgotten art form. 3way SLI is dead. Nvidia doesn't even WANT you to do it anymore.

 

A few really decent games are optimized for SLI but games like DOOM were optimized for one card. Far Cry 3 back in the day was awesome in SLI/Xfire, I got literally 50% more performance but that was the ONLY game I had to used it. So I ditched it. Just a bigtime space heater to me. One more powerful card is always the more professional choice among true gamers.

[Chiaki]

52 minutes ago, alphaproject said:

Well, you mentioned future proofing so why not more cores? I mean, I would if I was you with that kind of cheese.

 

As for SLI, just go to Teksyndicate's youtube and watch his 1080 review.

 

There are ALOT of people who reviewed SLI that only see benefits in benchmarks. Most games show an actual decrease in performance because SLI is of late a forgotten art form. 3way SLI is dead. Nvidia doesn't even WANT you to do it anymore.

 

A few really decent games are optimized for SLI but games like DOOM were optimized for one card. Far Cry 3 back in the day was awesome in SLI/Xfire, I got literally 50% more performance but that was the ONLY game I had to used it. So I ditched it. Just a bigtime space heater to me. One more powerful card is always the more professional choice among true gamers.

I agree, I can do nothing else than agree with you, 1 card >>>> multiple ones. Sadly one isnt usually enough for 60+ FPS in 4k Ultra settings. SLI comes with issues and thats how it is, though I cant say I have really noticed any, ever.. Been running 2 way CF or SLI for many many years now. Only thing is that it costs more and that some games doesnt support it.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080_SLI/

 

I will however try with one card first, see how it fares.. Maybe even consider 6900k, for as you say.. future proofing.

 

Speaking for reviews, what is LTT doing these days?

[Chiaki]

I would like to thank you all for input, I will post my rig once it is done.. Just placed an order with Cablemod today and ordered my Samsung 950 Pro 512GB.

 

I would love some input on how I should organize my air flow and placing of radiator.

[GarnetDevil]

It's midnight and I wonder why I'm drooling over my keyboard.....

 

Can't wait for pics

[Chiaki]

First part arrived  Few parts have a 1-2 weeks delivery, like the Phanteks case.. And GTX 1080 custom cards are not released here yet. I will probably be using my 2x GTX 970s until I am able to get hold of them. Or possibly go for one GTX 1080, until the HB bridge from Asus is out.

 

Expecting my Corsair AX1200i, i7-6850K and Asus X99 Strix to arrive on Monday.