New High End Build

Ri_Nollaig

Hi,

Have been toying with the idea of moving back to a High End Desktop from a Gaming Laptop (Clevo, i7 2nd gen, 8gig ram, amd 6990m, 512 gig Samsung SSD). No longer 'mobile' and really want to get a 1440p screen. With that in mind a 1440p screen (at playable FPS and not something I need to worry about for awhile) being driving by a silent machine is the goal.

1. What is your budget? [~€2000]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming @ 1440p/Internet/Java Development/General Use] (BF4, Arma3, Dayz, pretty much everything from "Papers please" to "Crysis".)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [This I am not sure! I have a retail copy of Win7 but I am wondering should I make the switch to Win8 at this point?]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Yes, I plan on holding on to the 512gig SSD and just getting a 2TB+ HDD for this build. Have a good mechincal keyboard and gaming mouse as well so will be holding onto them.]

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes, a good IPS 1440p screen. But I don't like the idea of going down the Korean/Ebay route. I was thinking a Dell Ultrasharp]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [27"]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [Do have a Samsung SA300 (its a TN panel) 24" @ 1920*1080, will probably hold onto this as a secondary monitor for now.]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Nope]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes but should hopefully not be necessary yet]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/bartering goats if required]

9. When are you purchasing? [I am not in a mad rush! I was keeping an eye on what was being annouched at CES and if anything was worth waiting for. Nvidia 8xx and Mantle for example, obviously there is always something better "just 6 months away" so might go ahead and just bite the bullet in the coming weeks.]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Will build it myself]

Some components I had been looking at already:
Item|Price
Dell UltraSharp U2713HM|€526.04
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4|€103.63
R9 290 OC WindForce 4096MB|€470.00 x 2
Intel Core i5-4670K|€200.00


I really like the look of that case and really want the system to be as quite as possible (hence the non-reference 290) but after that its basically all about the monitor and what is required to drive it.

So Looking for advice on if cross-firing is necessary and what CPU/Ram/Mobo/PSU would work best. Or should I go a Nvidia route?
Was also thinking of adding one of those closed loop CPU coolers like the H100i from Corsair.

Thanks!

marco_polo

No time for a build suggestion but the cards alone will be over €100 less each (€367) on Hardwareversande if you use geizhals.de.

http://geizhals.de/gigabyte-radeon-r9-290-windforce-3x-oc-gv-r929oc-4gd-a1049151.html

EoinHef

The dell ultrasharp can be gotten for under €500 also:

http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/product/zkb-04rand/20177535/dell-ultrasharp-u2713hm-27/details.aspx

Some amazon sellers were selling them for €470 awhile ago if you can use parcel motel for delivery

yimrsg

Looking at those GPUs would you maybe consider an eyefinity set up rather than a single 1440? You'll probably definitely get huge frames per second with the two 290s even in BF4 on max but your Dell monitor won't display higher than 60 so you won't notice any advantage.

Ri_Nollaig

thanks for the suggestions lads.

The links were just to product pages, when it comes to pulling the trigger I will definitely be checking every retailer to get the best bargain
Saying that, that link for the 290s looks unreal! great value! Might result in doing this a lot sooner.

What do you think of that monitor? Would anyone recommend an alternative ?

Thanks for all your help!

EoinHef

Ill save you the hassle of reading through the catleap thread, a good few posters in there with the Dell and thet seem to be happy with the purchase.

Its cheaper than the Asus alternative most of the time and nearly all reviews ive seen have said get which ever one is cheaper because there quite similar, with the dell edging it on some reviews

yawhat!

You definitly need crossfire/SLI to max out games at 1440P. A single card is fine if you don't mind having AA switched off. I have a signle R9 290, it maxes out games at over 60FPS with AA off. With AA on its a struggle. Qnix monitors are excellent. Just look at the guys feedback on ebay that are selling them. Basically no one ever had a problem.

Item|Price
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€51.31
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€84.99
Nanoxia Deep Silence Two Anthracite, ohne Netzteil|€83.09
ASRock Z87 Extreme4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€119.99
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€294.41
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€74.67
Corsair Enthusiast Series RM1000, Modular, 80 Plus Gold 1000 Watt|€158.87
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€30.23
2 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC Windforce 3, 4GB DDR5, PCI-Express|€770.60
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1687.15

Ri_Nollaig

thanks for the build suggestion!

Couple of questions:
-Would you go for an i7 over and i5?
-The PSU is 1000watt, is that the level I should be look at for crossfire/sli.
-That case, I had the heart set on a Fractal r4 but would you recommend that one over it? I do like the idea of a window but reducing noise is definitely something I want to achieve first...

Those r9 290's are definitely looking like the ones to get though!

Still on the topic of monitors; I more or less spent the day looking at reviews and the like. Now can't decide if going for a 24" 120+hz panel is a better option?

Serephucus

I'll spec up a build for you later (busy ATM), but something to think about:

What's your thoughts on custom watercooling? It's the best way to go if you're looking for silence, and you have the money for it.

Have a look at the Deep Silence 1 from Nanoxia. It's very similar to the Define R4, but it offers much better watercooling support.

It's a toss-up between the i7 and i5 really. There isn't much benefit with i7 at the moment, but that might begin to change with next-gen games.

As for the PSU, a 1KW unit is complete overkill. A 750W unit will leave you with plenty of spare room, even with a tonne of overclocking. You could get a 650 and still be fine.

yawhat!

Serephucus wrote: »

I'll spec up a build for you later (busy ATM), but something to think about:

What's your thoughts on custom watercooling? It's the best way to go if you're looking for silence, and you have the money for it.

Have a look at the Deep Silence 1 from Nanoxia. It's very similar to the Define R4, but it offers much better watercooling support.

It's a toss-up between the i7 and i5 really. There isn't much benefit with i7 at the moment, but that might begin to change with next-gen games.

As for the PSU, a 1KW unit is complete overkill. A 750W unit will leave you with plenty of spare room, even with a tonne of overclocking. You could get a 650 and still be fine.

The R9 290s are hungry power wise. I would definitly be getting a minimun 850 Watt power supply for the them especially if there is any plans to overclock them. 700 Watt would be grand for 760's are an Nvidia setup.

Serephucus

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,4.html

Power consumption of two 290s is around 600W, at the wall. Factor in CPU load, and PSU efficiency, and you're looking around 600-620W through the PSU.

yawhat!

Its still very close for comfort. I'd be inclined then for a 850 watt power supply. That article is not taking in overclocking the two graphics card which could draw an extra 100 Watts and that article even recommends 850 Watt as a minimum. Just my 2c and only 20 euro or so between getting an 700 Watt and 850 Watt so I would advise him to definitely get it.

500 Watt for two graphics cards not overclocked is very high in my opinion. Im not sure what the processor draws but lets say 125 watts overclocked and that is leaving 75 watts for everything else.

Its also never a good idea to be maxing out your power supply. 700 watts would be perfectly fine for a 770/760/7990 SLI/crossfire setup.

yimrsg

If you go for a 120mhz monitor then you're probably not going to get a 1440 screen unless you go with a Korean/Ebay model so you won't need two GPUs as a single 290 should get do you fine at 1080. Bit of a catch 22 there for you.

Ri_Nollaig

yimrsg wrote: »

If you go for a 120mhz monitor then you're probably not going to get a 1440 screen unless you go with a Korean/Ebay model so you won't need two GPUs as a single 290 should get do you fine at 1080. Bit of a catch 22 there for you.

I thought ensuring 120+ fps @ 1080p would also be very demanding?

At the moment, I am still not decided but I do think I will go for a 1440p monitor. I am not a competitive gamer [...or anywhere close] so I don't think I will get the same benefit from a 120/144hz 1080p screen vs a 60hz 1440p.

Saying that I would love to hear from people who have tried/used both.

I want to try and budget 500-600 eur for the monitor; here are some of them I have been looking at:

• Dell UltraSharp U2713HM
• Asus PB278Q
• iiyama ProLite XB2779QS-S1

Serephucus

If you're not a competitive gamer, then forget anything TN. I'd personally wait for a 1440 IPS monitor with G-Sync.

What's your thoughts RE DS1 and watercooling?

yimrsg

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

I thought ensuring 120+ fps @ 1080p would also be very demanding?

At the moment, I am still not decided but I do think I will go for a 1440p monitor. I am not a competitive gamer [...or anywhere close] so I don't think I will get the same benefit from a 120/144hz 1080p screen vs a 60hz 1440p.

Saying that I would love to hear from people who have tried/used both.

I want to try and budget 500-600 eur for the monitor; here are some of them I have been looking at:

• Dell UltraSharp U2713HM
• Asus PB278Q
• iiyama ProLite XB2779QS-S1

I've a 280x and I get over 100 fps on BF4 on nearly all max settings at 1050, a 290 should match or beat my 280x at 1080 if you drop one or two things down a bit. I don't think it gives me an edge but it's nice to know that even in the more intense moments I won't drop below 60.

I was going to go for a 1440 monitor at first (probably the Dell) but I'm leaning towards an ASUS VG248QE as it looks to be very good price point for me compared to the Dell and has a better stand and doesn't take up too much desk space.

Ri_Nollaig

Serephucus wrote: »

What's your thoughts RE DS1 and watercooling?

I don't think I'll go down the road of a custom-watering cool solution but was thinking of a closed loop like the Corsair h100.

That DS1 does look very nice! was looking at some reviews, I love the simple plain designs which was why I was drawn to the r4 in the first place.

delta36

In terms of OS, I have seen a lot of reports that Battlefield 4 is getting higher frame rates under Windows 8 than under Windows 7. There's lots of comparisons on sites if you google it (too many to list here). If you're looking to get a little bit extra out of games, Windows 8 may be the way to go.
As you have W7 already, if you have access to a college email address, or know anyone who does, you can buy a student upgrade to windows 8 from windows 7 for only €60, if you're so inclined.

kaimera

Serephucus wrote: »

If you're not a competitive gamer, then forget anything TN. I'd personally wait for a 1440 IPS monitor with G-Sync.

What's your thoughts RE DS1 and watercooling?

g-sync only works with nvidia cards?

don't mean to derail but be kinda pointless buying a r290 and a g-sync monitor if thats the case.

Serephucus

So get a 780 instead. :P

Ri_Nollaig

Serephucus wrote: »

So get a 780 instead. :P

Ha, well this gone full circle.

I was originally planning on getting a 780 or some variant of. But decided to hold off and see what the Haswell/8xx might bring. I wanted to go back to Nvidia again after using the 6990m (the 'm' is roughly an underclocked 6870) great card but drivers used to annoy me. The CCC routinely deciding to not launch and some other annoying issues but possible due to the set up I have (laptop connected to an external 24"). But then the r9 290 got such good benchmarks...

So now, I don't know where to go. I am thinking maybe just hanging though for a little while longer is the best course of action. BF4 is perfectly playable at medium/high no AA @ 1080p on my current set up, love that game. Definitely only want to update for something that will really make a visually impressive difference, i.e. a 1440p setup with all the bells and whistles.

Thanks for all your help and ill probably resurge this thread when it comes to ordering time again!