8+yrs system need upgrade advice & VR #AnalysisParalysis

[createdbyx]

Frig I hate upgrading. Just had to get that out of the way Last upgrade was Oct 2008 (just over 8+ years) and I don't really fallow computer hardware trends that much between upgrades so I end up having to relearn a bunch of stuff come time to upgrade. Me mind is going all mushy   If you are TLDR adverse read Intro then skip down to bottom.

 

Intro

------------

/Sigh time for some TLDR. First a little background about myself. I'm a self taught programmer of 30+ years going back to MSDOS. I currently don't really make any money programming but hoping to change that … eventually. Although I consider myself a gamer I have not really been playing to many games these last few years. Mostly simple games like Utopian Miner, Agar.io, Solitair, Duck Tails, Brutal Doom. Simple games that don't require a huge time investment. I also played World of Warcraft from late BC to end of WoD 5/3/15 but grew disinterested, because various reasons and my system can't play it at max settings & addons, getting sluggish frame rates. Again 2008 system can't exactly play DOOM 4 at ultra settings,.  so have not been playing any recent games. GTA IV was very sluggish.

 

And much as my steam library keeps growing with never played games, THANK YOU LORD GABIN, THANK YOU SO DAM MUCH! #TwoFingerEyePoint #SteamSales #Sarcasm, VR may get me playing larger games that require a longer investment of time. And I very much would like to dabble in VR development as I have some ideas I'd like to play around with. 

 

My current 2008 system specs can be found here https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/createdbyx/saved/#view=smNqsY

 

I started using google spreadsheets to list off all the various upgrades I was interested in but it quickly became too cumbersome when I started trying to mix and match items. Spreadsheet available here (out of date don't use as reference) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x5doU2-TaIgSKVsjjt_XGTNq7un7_iKPSmzte-eLcEs/edit?usp=sharing

 

So then I figured I would just write a WPF app to help me decide what hardware to go with. It's not helping either and is leading me to suffer the dreaded Analysis paralysis.

Cost Calculator app available as attached file (Works but still beta, ask if it does not work for u, Windows 7+, WPF & .NET 4 etc) 

CostCalculatorDataNew.xml is my current dataset as of Nov 14, 2016

 

Fanboy much?

----------

Quick note about AMD/Nvidia/Intel, I don't consider myself a fanboy of any company, but traditionally I have only went with AMD parts CPU and GPU all the way back to 2000's. I have gone with AMD all these years because I understand what can happen if AMD were ever to tank. You think Intel prices are high? How high would they be with out AMD keeping them in check. I mean who else is there that has the resources to get into the CPU/GPU game? Qualcomm? Hah, das funny. My point is I have gone with AMD not because they offer the best of the best parts but because they offer a decent cost effective alternative to there competitors. Without them I fear what could happen.

 

So for the last 2-3 years I've been hearing about AMD's ZEN and have held off upgrading these last few years so that I can purchase a Zen cpu but go figure here I am again with money in the bank for a upgrade and Zen is no where to be found. Pushed back til sometime 2017 and as of yet Nov 2016 with no real hardware in the hands of reviewers other then one controlled blender benchmark. I'm sorry AMD but it's time for me to upgrade, I've waited and been waiting and your offerings are too little to late. I suspect high end Zen chips will still not be able to compete with the likes of a 6900K or just barely. And heard rumors of $300-$400 price?  I can't see them releasing a enthusiast CPU that can compete with a 6950X or Xeon. 

 

It sucks but it is what it is. Perhaps in another 6+ years I'll go back to a AMD offering but for this upgrade cycle it's not looking good.

 

About Programming

---------------

I have  23Gigs of compresssed (*.zip) json files that I have downloaded from the blizzard world of warcraft auction house API. From Dec 2013 to Dec 2014. Was going to use it for my Wowtracks website so I can perform an analysis of economic changes both before and after the realm merges that blizz was doing. Thought it be interesting to see how a realm merge affected the economy of a server. But uncompressed it's like 100Gb and would require painful amounts of processing time. I am also writing a search app to parse through it and ask questions etc. Not even gonna attempt it with my current system as I'll be dead and buried before I get back any results. 

 

I also would like to start getting more into Genetic algorithms (specifically terrain generation, procedural game worlds), been dabbling with them a bit but again it can require a lot of processing, and take a long time, and greatly benefits from more cores if coded right.

 

I also need to develop some unity3d related code that requires a whole lot of processing time. 

 

Because my system is unable to play modern games I have been spending most of my time programming my various projects. It spend virtually 7 days a week coding, and usually up til 4am & sometimes 7 am. Stupid primate body always having to waste time sleeping and pewpin and stuff  

 

Current 2008 system

-----------

Although it has served me well, my $3200 2008 system is showing it's age. Running VS.NET 2015 with a few extensions, and a 240 project solution can be unbearably slow at times, and even doing simple actions, takes 1-2 seconds where back 2008 there was no waiting, almost all tasks were instant and no lag. Last big game I played was GTA IV and even on low settings it was sluggish, probably CPU bound. Have not bought any new games last few years because can't run em at max settings. got a GTX 660 hand me down from my brother but yeah, twas not an upgrade.

 

Ran Steam VR test and said CPU was good but I don't trust it given my experience. See attached screen shot.

 

Because Reasons:

------------

Processor: 6 Core minimum 6850K & 10+ Cores prefered E5-2640 V4 / E5-2697 V3 / E5-2690 V4 -> For your average Gamer/Power user a 6700K from what I'm reading is more then enough, but for me the more cores I can get my hands on the better. 6700k-6800k 28 PCIE lanes, and only 4-6 cores makes me uneasy as I don't think it can stand the test of time IE: 8+ year upgrade cycles. 10-14 Core chips I think will hold up much better long term for programming, video editing etc, but may suffer long term for gaming in terms of there slower clock speeds & single core performance. On the other hand DX12 looks to improve multicore gaming perf and 6+ years down the line having those extra cores could prove beneficial and may not be a bottle neck after all. Kind of a toss up. Going with a 10+ core system means making sacrifices. Not costly sacrifices just undesirable ones aka no VR! /SadFace. BTW I believe the E5-2697 V3 is what linus used in the 7 gamers 1 pc build so I know it can play modern games. 

 

Video Card: Minimum RX 480 (or crossfire) but GTX 1080 preferred not because Nvidia fan boy but because it's one of the best single card solutions available at the moment, Titan X too pricey for budget. RX 480 in crossfire is cheaper and basically on par with GTX 1080 performance but again 2 cards, double power usage, and if water cooled need 2 water blocks which adds cost. RX 480 PCI voltage drama a little while back and I'm hearing 1080 over heating/smoking on some cards don't give me a lot of confidence but what can you do when they are the only viable options /shrug If I get VR with my upgrade will need best GFX card I can get.

 

Power Supply: I've got a Corsair TX850 watt. It's got plenty of power for any system I build, but again it's 8+ years old. How long can a power supply last? I'm a heavy computer user & on the computer every day multiple hours a day. Do I really want to trust a heavily used 8+ year old PSU with new (expensive) system components, and for how much longer before I upgrade it. I'm leaning towards a 1200-1500 watt PSU. I don't care about power bills, I care about dead silent operation under demanding CPU/GPU loads. 1200W and above seems like they don't kick in there fans until 40% power usage and my various components will probably be 400W to 550W putting it at basically that 40% power usage rate.

 

Fa, la, la, la ,la,... la la la la: Christmas sales or boxing week sales? Buy now or wait a few more weeks? Decisions decisions.

 

VR Gets & Deserves it's own dedicated section!

-----------------------

Oh VR, the little technology that could. For you youngins out there us old geezers remember the day way back when. A time when Nintendo power magazine was the shit, the SNES was king and the internet was but a dream. A 56k dialup dream. Oh yes VR was not invented by the lucky palmer, but in fact has been a technology in development for many a decades. So why is it only gaining popularity now? Because it's only now that it actually makes sense from a hardware specs perspective. I made a blog post on my website where I laid down some of my thought about the recent state of VR. In that (more TLDR) blog post I lay out my concerns and the almost dejavu history of VR as we know it today.

 

20 Years ago I had the opportunity to buy a VR head set Forte VFX1 but never did. With the way things are going I fear VR is teetering on the edge of falling back into the abyss of oblivion. Only to be resurrected once again in the future. Again it's dejavu, here I am with the means to get into VR and here I am again on the fence. I hate that feeling. I HATE IT. Do I dive in, or do I wait. We are already seeing vr adoption rates plateauing according to steam surveys. If you are reading this you are already a technology inclined person. This is linus tech tips after all. So don't ever forget that you live in a technology bubble. So don't think VR is here to stay. It's way to early to call it. 

 

It's about the exercise! No, really. It really is. If you read through all this TLDR you know that I spend a lot of time on my ass. VR, especially room scale VR will get me off my ass and get active. Especially over the winter months up here in Canada where I don't get out side much. Summer time I'm out side cycling, swimming every other day. But sure would be nice come winter where I could stay active and play games to boot!

 

I'm also wondering what the refresh cycle of VR is going to be like. Yearly, every 2 years? I'm already seeing revamps from both Oculus and Vive with wireless functionality, and new controllers, tweaked headsets. Given VR has been available for a few months now should I wait? Or say screw it and dive in nao. 

 

If I did get a VR helmet I think I would start making VR videos of various types. Certainly not what every one else is doing but something different from a programmers perspective.

 

As for Vive or Oculus?

 

Oculus: Room scale *beta*, Initially designed for seated experiences, no controllers til December, better designed controllers then vive in my opinion, Facebook #grumble #grumble stupid facebook, Flirting with DRM in the past, causing uproars/drama. What did you expect it's Facebook, aesthetically better overall look/feel/design!

Vive: Room scale, comes with controllers, light houses, some researchers/articles claiming 0.3mm accuracy (lasers beh beh! pew pew), front facing camera, chaperone system, STEAM! Our lord and savior Gabin. Half-Life 3 confirmed & coming soon for VR. Don't act like it isn't! Really, Gabe, really? Kind of on the nose there partnering with HTC. HTC = Halflife Three Confirmed!. You want to sell a crap ton of headsets. Half life three confirmed. Aw yeah!

 

Also I would love to start programming some VR stuff that I have been thinking about but kinda need a headset to do that. Very pricey head sets. See Sacrifices section. 

 

Sacrifices

------------

I'm willing to forgo a M.2 SSD, Power Supply, Quieter Case Fans, Water Cooling. Also willing to go air cooling and put up with more unbearable fan noise, *sigh* if I have to. I have a Surface Pro 2 and dam, the only thing I hear is the click of a mouse. Was really hoping to build a dead silent PC but we'll see. My current system is 2-3 feet away and is loud as *bleep* and very annoying. 

 

I really really really, perdy pweeze can i haz some VR? Pleace don't repeat your self history please don't.  In some builds I sacrifice VR and put that money towards a beefier CPU and system, but no VR /cries

 

*Some* Builds I'm considering

--------------

All builds you see here are copied from the CostCalculator app i wrote. See attachments

Budget $5000

Tax Rate 12% BC/Feteral tax

Shipping $200

 

Low End --> 6800K / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 3200 / Air / Fans

x1  $578.85   Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $259.99   Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x2  $42       Corsair ML120 Two Pack
6 items
$1611.97  Item Total
-----------------
$193.44   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$2005.41  Total
$2994.59  Remaining Budget 

 

Workstation --> Xeon 2640 V4 / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 2133 / VR / Air

x1  $1236.1   Intel Xeon E5-2640 V4 2.4GHz 10-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $189.99   G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $1149     Vive VR
6 items
$3264.22  Item Total
-----------------
$391.71   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$3855.93  Total
$1144.07  Remaining Budget 

 

Workstation --> Xeon 2640 V4 / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 2133 / VR / Air / Fans / Power

x1  $1236.1   Intel Xeon E5-2640 V4 2.4GHz 10-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $189.99   G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $269.99   EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Fully-Modular
x1  $1149     Vive VR
x2  $42       Corsair ML120 Two Pack
8 items
$3618.21  Item Total
-----------------
$434.19   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4252.4   Total
$747.6    Remaining Budget

 

Workstation --> Xeon 2640 V4 / RX 480 / 16Gb DDR4 2133 / VR / Air / Power / M.2 SSD

x1  $1236.1   Intel Xeon E5-2640 V4 2.4GHz 10-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $115      Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $269.99   EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Fully-Modular
x1  $238.98   Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
x1  $1149     Vive VR
8 items
$3698.2   Item Total
-----------------
$443.78   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4341.98  Total
$658.02   Remaining Budget 

 

Workstation --> Xeon E5-2690 V4 / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 2400 / Air

x1  $2776.76  Intel Xeon E5-2690 V4 2.6GHz 14-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $219.99   Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
5 items
$3685.88  Item Total
-----------------
$442.31   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4328.19  Total
$671.81   Remaining Budget 

 

6800K Everything --> 6800K / RX 480 / VR / Prededor Water / Power / Fans / M.2 SSD

x1  $578.85   Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x2  $9        water block fitting
x2  $7        water block plug
x1  $350      EKWB Predador
x1  $160      480 ekwb water block
x1  $259.99   Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $269.99   EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Fully-Modular
x1  $238.98   Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
x1  $1149     Vive VR
x2  $42       Corsair ML120 Two Pack
12 items
$3712.05  Item Total
-----------------
$445.45   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4357.5   Total
$642.5    Remaining Budget 

 

Any advice or experience you have with these parts or similar builds or better deals would be great. I primarily use https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/ for item selection and finding prices.

CostCalculatorBeta126.zip

CostCalculatorDataNew.xml

[Guest]

use pcpartpicker.com as it is faster

[Stardar1]

3 minutes ago, createdbyx said:

 

Spoiler

 

Frig I hate upgrading. Just had to get that out of the way Last upgrade was Oct 2008 (just over 8+ years) and I don't really fallow computer hardware trends that much between upgrades so I end up having to relearn a bunch of stuff come time to upgrade. Me mind is going all mushy   If you are TLDR adverse read Intro then skip down to bottom.

 

Intro

------------

/Sigh time for some TLDR. First a little background about myself. I'm a self taught programmer of 30+ years going back to MSDOS. I currently don't really make any money programming but hoping to change that … eventually. Although I consider myself a gamer I have not really been playing to many games these last few years. Mostly simple games like Utopian Miner, Agar.io, Solitair, Duck Tails, Brutal Doom. Simple games that don't require a huge time investment. I also played World of Warcraft from late BC to end of WoD 5/3/15 but grew disinterested, because various reasons and my system can't play it at max settings & addons, getting sluggish frame rates. Again 2008 system can't exactly play DOOM 4 at ultra settings,.  so have not been playing any recent games. GTA IV was very sluggish.

 

And much as my steam library keeps growing with never played games, THANK YOU LORD GABIN, THANK YOU SO DAM MUCH! #TwoFingerEyePoint #SteamSales #Sarcasm, VR may get me playing larger games that require a longer investment of time. And I very much would like to dabble in VR development as I have some ideas I'd like to play around with. 

 

My current 2008 system specs can be found here https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/createdbyx/saved/#view=smNqsY

 

I started using google spreadsheets to list off all the various upgrades I was interested in but it quickly became too cumbersome when I started trying to mix and match items. Spreadsheet available here (out of date don't use as reference) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x5doU2-TaIgSKVsjjt_XGTNq7un7_iKPSmzte-eLcEs/edit?usp=sharing

 

So then I figured I would just write a WPF app to help me decide what hardware to go with. It's not helping either and is leading me to suffer the dreaded Analysis paralysis.

Cost Calculator app available as attached file (Works but still beta, ask if it does not work for u, Windows 7+, WPF & .NET 4 etc) 

CostCalculatorDataNew.xml is my current dataset as of Nov 14, 2016

 

Fanboy much?

----------

Quick note about AMD/Nvidia/Intel, I don't consider myself a fanboy of any company, but traditionally I have only went with AMD parts CPU and GPU all the way back to 2000's. I have gone with AMD all these years because I understand what can happen if AMD were ever to tank. You think Intel prices are high? How high would they be with out AMD keeping them in check. I mean who else is there that has the resources to get into the CPU/GPU game? Qualcomm? Hah, das funny. My point is I have gone with AMD not because they offer the best of the best parts but because they offer a decent cost effective alternative to there competitors. Without them I fear what could happen.

 

So for the last 2-3 years I've been hearing about AMD's ZEN and have held off upgrading these last few years so that I can purchase a Zen cpu but go figure here I am again with money in the bank for a upgrade and Zen is no where to be found. Pushed back til sometime 2017 and as of yet Nov 2016 with no real hardware in the hands of reviewers other then one controlled blender benchmark. I'm sorry AMD but it's time for me to upgrade, I've waited and been waiting and your offerings are too little to late. I suspect high end Zen chips will still not be able to compete with the likes of a 6900K or just barely. And heard rumors of $300-$400 price?  I can't see them releasing a enthusiast CPU that can compete with a 6950X or Xeon. 

 

It sucks but it is what it is. Perhaps in another 6+ years I'll go back to a AMD offering but for this upgrade cycle it's not looking good.

 

About Programming

---------------

I have  23Gigs of compresssed (*.zip) json files that I have downloaded from the blizzard world of warcraft auction house API. From Dec 2013 to Dec 2014. Was going to use it for my Wowtracks website so I can perform an analysis of economic changes both before and after the realm merges that blizz was doing. Thought it be interesting to see how a realm merge affected the economy of a server. But uncompressed it's like 100Gb and would require painful amounts of processing time. I am also writing a search app to parse through it and ask questions etc. Not even gonna attempt it with my current system as I'll be dead and buried before I get back any results. 

 

I also would like to start getting more into Genetic algorithms (specifically terrain generation, procedural game worlds), been dabbling with them a bit but again it can require a lot of processing, and take a long time, and greatly benefits from more cores if coded right.

 

I also need to develop some unity3d related code that requires a whole lot of processing time. 

 

Because my system is unable to play modern games I have been spending most of my time programming my various projects. It spend virtually 7 days a week coding, and usually up til 4am & sometimes 7 am. Stupid primate body always having to waste time sleeping and pewpin and stuff  

 

Current 2008 system

-----------

Although it has served me well, my $3200 2008 system is showing it's age. Running VS.NET 2015 with a few extensions, and a 240 project solution can be unbearably slow at times, and even doing simple actions, takes 1-2 seconds where back 2008 there was no waiting, almost all tasks were instant and no lag. Last big game I played was GTA IV and even on low settings it was sluggish, probably CPU bound. Have not bought any new games last few years because can't run em at max settings. got a GTX 660 hand me down from my brother but yeah, twas not an upgrade.

 

Ran Steam VR test and said CPU was good but I don't trust it given my experience. See attached screen shot.

 

Because Reasons:

------------

Processor: 6 Core minimum 6850K & 10+ Cores prefered E5-2640 V4 / E5-2697 V3 / E5-2690 V4 -> For your average Gamer/Power user a 6700K from what I'm reading is more then enough, but for me the more cores I can get my hands on the better. 6700k-6800k 28 PCIE lanes, and only 4-6 cores makes me uneasy as I don't think it can stand the test of time IE: 8+ year upgrade cycles. 10-14 Core chips I think will hold up much better long term for programming, video editing etc, but may suffer long term for gaming in terms of there slower clock speeds & single core performance. On the other hand DX12 looks to improve multicore gaming perf and 6+ years down the line having those extra cores could prove beneficial and may not be a bottle neck after all. Kind of a toss up. Going with a 10+ core system means making sacrifices. Not costly sacrifices just undesirable ones aka no VR! /SadFace. BTW I believe the E5-2697 V3 is what linus used in the 7 gamers 1 pc build so I know it can play modern games. 

 

Video Card: Minimum RX 480 (or crossfire) but GTX 1080 preferred not because Nvidia fan boy but because it's one of the best single card solutions available at the moment, Titan X too pricey for budget. RX 480 in crossfire is cheaper and basically on par with GTX 1080 performance but again 2 cards, double power usage, and if water cooled need 2 water blocks which adds cost. RX 480 PCI voltage drama a little while back and I'm hearing 1080 over heating/smoking on some cards don't give me a lot of confidence but what can you do when they are the only viable options /shrug If I get VR with my upgrade will need best GFX card I can get.

 

Power Supply: I've got a Corsair TX850 watt. It's got plenty of power for any system I build, but again it's 8+ years old. How long can a power supply last? I'm a heavy computer user & on the computer every day multiple hours a day. Do I really want to trust a heavily used 8+ year old PSU with new (expensive) system components, and for how much longer before I upgrade it. I'm leaning towards a 1200-1500 watt PSU. I don't care about power bills, I care about dead silent operation under demanding CPU/GPU loads. 1200W and above seems like they don't kick in there fans until 40% power usage and my various components will probably be 400W to 550W putting it at basically that 40% power usage rate.

 

Fa, la, la, la ,la,... la la la la: Christmas sales or boxing week sales? Buy now or wait a few more weeks? Decisions decisions.

 

VR Gets & Deserves it's own dedicated section!

-----------------------

Oh VR, the little technology that could. For you youngins out there us old geezers remember the day way back when. A time when Nintendo power magazine was the shit, the SNES was king and the internet was but a dream. A 56k dialup dream. Oh yes VR was not invented by the lucky palmer, but in fact has been a technology in development for many a decades. So why is it only gaining popularity now? Because it's only now that it actually makes sense from a hardware specs perspective. I made a blog post on my website where I laid down some of my thought about the recent state of VR. In that (more TLDR) blog post I lay out my concerns and the almost dejavu history of VR as we know it today.

 

20 Years ago I had the opportunity to buy a VR head set Forte VFX1 but never did. With the way things are going I fear VR is teetering on the edge of falling back into the abyss of oblivion. Only to be resurrected once again in the future. Again it's dejavu, here I am with the means to get into VR and here I am again on the fence. I hate that feeling. I HATE IT. Do I dive in, or do I wait. We are already seeing vr adoption rates plateauing according to steam surveys. If you are reading this you are already a technology inclined person. This is linus tech tips after all. So don't ever forget that you live in a technology bubble. So don't think VR is here to stay. It's way to early to call it. 

 

It's about the exercise! No, really. It really is. If you read through all this TLDR you know that I spend a lot of time on my ass. VR, especially room scale VR will get me off my ass and get active. Especially over the winter months up here in Canada where I don't get out side much. Summer time I'm out side cycling, swimming every other day. But sure would be nice come winter where I could stay active and play games to boot!

 

I'm also wondering what the refresh cycle of VR is going to be like. Yearly, every 2 years? I'm already seeing revamps from both Oculus and Vive with wireless functionality, and new controllers, tweaked headsets. Given VR has been available for a few months now should I wait? Or say screw it and dive in nao. 

 

If I did get a VR helmet I think I would start making VR videos of various types. Certainly not what every one else is doing but something different from a programmers perspective.

 

As for Vive or Oculus?

 

Oculus: Room scale *beta*, Initially designed for seated experiences, no controllers til December, better designed controllers then vive in my opinion, Facebook #grumble #grumble stupid facebook, Flirting with DRM in the past, causing uproars/drama. What did you expect it's Facebook, aesthetically better overall look/feel/design!

Vive: Room scale, comes with controllers, light houses, some researchers/articles claiming 0.3mm accuracy (lasers beh beh! pew pew), front facing camera, chaperone system, STEAM! Our lord and savior Gabin. Half-Life 3 confirmed & coming soon for VR. Don't act like it isn't! Really, Gabe, really? Kind of on the nose there partnering with HTC. HTC = Halflife Three Confirmed!. You want to sell a crap ton of headsets. Half life three confirmed. Aw yeah!

 

Also I would love to start programming some VR stuff that I have been thinking about but kinda need a headset to do that. Very pricey head sets. See Sacrifices section. 

 

Sacrifices

------------

I'm willing to forgo a M.2 SSD, Power Supply, Quieter Case Fans, Water Cooling. Also willing to go air cooling and put up with more unbearable fan noise, *sigh* if I have to. I have a Surface Pro 2 and dam, the only thing I hear is the click of a mouse. Was really hoping to build a dead silent PC but we'll see. My current system is 2-3 feet away and is loud as *bleep* and very annoying. 

 

I really really really, perdy pweeze can i haz some VR? Pleace don't repeat your self history please don't.  In some builds I sacrifice VR and put that money towards a beefier CPU and system, but no VR /cries

 

*Some* Builds I'm considering

--------------

All builds you see here are copied from the CostCalculator app i wrote. See attachments

Budget $5000

Tax Rate 12% BC/Feteral tax

Shipping $200

 

Low End --> 6800K / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 3200 / Air / Fans

x1  $578.85   Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $259.99   Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x2  $42       Corsair ML120 Two Pack
6 items
$1611.97  Item Total
-----------------
$193.44   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$2005.41  Total
$2994.59  Remaining Budget 

 

Workstation --> Xeon 2640 V4 / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 2133 / VR / Air

x1  $1236.1   Intel Xeon E5-2640 V4 2.4GHz 10-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $189.99   G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $1149     Vive VR
6 items
$3264.22  Item Total
-----------------
$391.71   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$3855.93  Total
$1144.07  Remaining Budget 

 

Workstation --> Xeon 2640 V4 / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 2133 / VR / Air / Fans / Power

x1  $1236.1   Intel Xeon E5-2640 V4 2.4GHz 10-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $189.99   G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $269.99   EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Fully-Modular
x1  $1149     Vive VR
x2  $42       Corsair ML120 Two Pack
8 items
$3618.21  Item Total
-----------------
$434.19   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4252.4   Total
$747.6    Remaining Budget

 

Workstation --> Xeon 2640 V4 / RX 480 / 16Gb DDR4 2133 / VR / Air / Power / M.2 SSD

x1  $1236.1   Intel Xeon E5-2640 V4 2.4GHz 10-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $115      Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $269.99   EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Fully-Modular
x1  $238.98   Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
x1  $1149     Vive VR
8 items
$3698.2   Item Total
-----------------
$443.78   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4341.98  Total
$658.02   Remaining Budget 

 

Workstation --> Xeon E5-2690 V4 / RX 480 / 32Gb DDR4 2400 / Air

x1  $2776.76  Intel Xeon E5-2690 V4 2.6GHz 14-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x1  $99.89    Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
x1  $219.99   Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
5 items
$3685.88  Item Total
-----------------
$442.31   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4328.19  Total
$671.81   Remaining Budget 

 

6800K Everything --> 6800K / RX 480 / VR / Prededor Water / Power / Fans / M.2 SSD

x1  $578.85   Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor
x1  $249.99   MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
x2  $9        water block fitting
x2  $7        water block plug
x1  $350      EKWB Predador
x1  $160      480 ekwb water block
x1  $259.99   Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
x1  $339.25   Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
x1  $269.99   EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Fully-Modular
x1  $238.98   Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
x1  $1149     Vive VR
x2  $42       Corsair ML120 Two Pack
12 items
$3712.05  Item Total
-----------------
$445.45   Tax 
$200      Shipping 
$4357.5   Total
$642.5    Remaining Budget 

 

Any advice or experience you have with these parts or similar builds or better deals would be great. I primarily use https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/ for item selection and finding prices.

CostCalculatorBeta126.zip

CostCalculatorDataNew.xml

 

 

That... was a lot of words. 

 

 

this will help you greatly: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/

 

as for AMD VS Intel VS NVidia, as of the moment of me writing this, for high end PCs, Intel wins every time. As for GPUs, again, for high-end single cards, NVidia wins, but Rx 480s are good cards. 

 

At your budget I'd recommend an i7 6800k, a nice ASUS X99 board, a Corsair or NZXT water cooler, 32GB DDR4, a 500 GB M.2 SSD, a 2TB HDD, a nice case, a GTX 1070 or 1080 and a nice PSU. 

 

I can design you a specific build, but I would like to know if you have any size/color preferences

[Clyne]

Now this may be a unusual idea, but a X79 setup with a Xeon wouldn't hurt.

Or just go with a X99 board and a used Xeon, like a E5-2658V3 or a 2683V3

Ebay=2683-V3 http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR4.TRC2.A0.H0.Xe5+2683+v3.TRS0&_nkw=e5+2683+v3&_sacat=0

Ebay=2658-V3 http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=e5+2683+v3&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC2.A0.H0.X+E5-2658V3.TRS0&_nkw=+E5-2658V3&_sacat=0

[Energycore]

TX850s are good quality PSUs, don't worry about running it until it dies That said, if you want to upgrade it, I will give you a PSU that can be controlled by software, it will allow you to set a custom fan curve and change its configuration for single or multi rail power delivery.

 

If you haven't tried an SSD, you won't want to come back after checking it out, so I would at least get one for the OS and maybe a couple games that you can load very fast.

 

The Xeon 2630 V4 is the best value imo, it boosts up to 3.1GHz at low core counts (and you can tweak its boost in the BIOS), and has 10 cores for $1000 canadian.

Don't worry about the lack of PCI-E lanes, there is no way to future proof a system for cases where a technology that isn't relevant becomes so, or a new one appears. This system will do VR, perhaps a bit held down by the 3.1GHz CPU, but probably not. If you don't mind paying $300 more the E5-2630 V4 boosts up to 3.4GHz, at 10 cores that means a more significant gain than is intuitive, but still not worth it imo. The only upgrade I would do over the 2630 V4 is a 6900K or 5960X, that you can OC to beat the 2630 in multithreaded tasks because it will hit 4.2-4.3GHz.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630 V4 2.2GHz 10-Core Processor  ($930.99 @ PC Canada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($98.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Taichi ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($359.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($159.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($89.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING Video Card  ($519.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($223.99 @ PC Canada)
Total: $2383.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-14 23:05 EST-0500

[GalacticRuler]

This would give you 10 cores, but with a little less cash available for VR. It has 64GB of RAM, and a GTX 1080. The fans I chose are the quietest ones on the market. Best of all, it has a super fast PCIe SSD and 4TB drive for storage.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6950X 3.0GHz 10-Core Processor  ($2204.25 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($124.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($249.99 @ Memory Express) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($429.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Kingston Predator 240GB PCI-E Solid State Drive  ($230.05 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($179.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Video Card  ($839.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($149.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($124.99 @ NCIX) 
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 3 59.5 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.99 @ NCIX) 
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 3 59.5 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.99 @ NCIX) 
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 3 59.5 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.99 @ NCIX) 
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 3 59.5 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.99 @ NCIX) 
Total: $4638.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-14 23:03 EST-0500