OK guys. I think this is it. Third time's the charm right? This is the 3rd time I've made one of these topics, but the big difference this time is I have some serious cash in the bank, with plenty of margin for rent/tuition/student loan payments etc. I think the time has come for an upgrade. For reference, here is my current machine:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4011672
Back in 08' when I bought it, it was a beast. 1920x1200 res screen, dual core, nvidia 8800M, 400GB Raid 0, Vista Ultimate, wireless-N. She was beautiful, and she's served me well. But all things must pass, and I think the time has finally come.

So! Where to even freaking begin? I'm at square 1 here. I need the works:

CPU, heatsink, cpu cooler compound, MOBO, PSU, RAM, GFX, Case, SSD, HDD, Monitors, Mouse, Keyboard, Soundcard, Wireless card, case Fans. (I miss anything?)

Budget? Shooting for US $2000. There's potential upward headroom, but I don't want to get carried away by radical enthusiasm either. If I sneak in under $2500 I will be happy. Here's my rational: I jumped for the big expensive machine back in 08, I took good care of it and it has served me well, no regrets. I'm looking for a similar jump here. So a few big points for me:

1). Screens. I got 1920x1200 back in 08 on my laptop which was top of the line (most laptop screens back then were like 1360x768). Did not regret it. However, I don't need 4k either, but I'm willing to invest in some quality screen resolution. Do want dual-monitors. I don't necessarily need 55 inch screens or any shit like that, ballpark 27ish is fine, but I like the high resolution. Maybe even 3x monitors, though I'm not qualified yet to make that decision. Hit me. Yield your experience to me like a ripe fruit.
2). CPU. Going for top-of-the-line. The latest and greatest skylake. Honestly, part of me wants to wait for an -E chip so I can get the extra cores, but single threaded performance is probably still most important, and I saw something with a 2017 release for skylake-E, definitely not waiting that long. Definitely want hyperthreading, I write multithreaded code all the time and will love having 8 virtual cores to use.
3). RAM. I want fucktons of fast RAM. I routinely run into RAM caps in the code I write. If I had 64GB of DDR4 2133MHz RAM or whatever (part of me thinks the main clock is probably meaningless, RAS/CAS latency is where its at right?) I would use every byte of it. What the fuck am I doing needing that much RAM? Can't tell you sorry, I work in a closed minded industry.
4). Storage. Thinking .5-1 TB SSD + 2x HDD. Honestly storing movies and stuff, I don't do much of so this is probably way overkill. Someone talk me into something more reasonable please.
5). Cooling. Sticking with air cooling, I'm not hardcore enough to go overclock+water cooling. I may want to actually overclock at some point so I'd like a nice air setup. I'm willing to put out some dough for some quality fans in the case, but I'm looking for low noise also. My plan is to have it exhaust into a well-ventilated hallway, but noise will bother me. So I'd like a cool low-noise air setup for sure, OC optional for someday.
6). I'd like a wireless AC capable card. We're currently still on wireless G but we might upgrade our router soon and if we go with AC I don't want to be left behind.
7). Figure with all this I might as well get a quality sound card as well.
8). Case. Don't give a shit about how it looks, just functionality. Billion USB ports, good airflow, that sort of thing.
9). GFX. I don't do any gaming enough to warrant an SLI or anything, just want whatever the latest top-tier good card is. Something to let me play shit on high on a high res, but I don't need to power a triple monitor setup at 60fps with ubershading or some shit.

Time frame for this purchase is probably over the next month or so. Not gonna go crazy and buy all the parts this week, and I've been disconnected from the market for so long that I need one of you guys to slap me upside the head with how dumb my build will be and make it better (*cough cough Ex cough cough*).

So. Where do I start?

Hey man nice timing, I just built a new PC myself after my mate purchased my old PC. Arguably a bit of a luxury purchase, but it may help you with making decisions for your own build. Keep in mind I didn't buy the cutting edge Skylake microarchitecture (1151 socket) with DDR4-only RAM, but instead opted for the older Haswell microarchitecture (1150 socket) with DDR3.

I should also note that I got a all-in-one liquid cooling kit for the CPU instead of using the stock fan and heatsink. Once again I should warn that this was purely a luxury purchase with minimal performance gain, and will only have any functional use for overclocking. And lots of hardcore performance techies look down on all-in-one kits compared to custom builds. So you have to make two choices do you want liquid cooling and if so do you want to do all-in-one (liquid cooling for noobs, essentially) or make your own custom liquid cooling (MUCH more expensive, and a higher risk of fuck-ups if you're inexperienced, but ultimate cooling). If you want to go fans well, you should just use the stock fan, and then if you decide to OC in the future you can start looking for different cooling options. I did notice when looking at the Skylakes none of them come with thermal paste and stock fans, unlike Haswell which all came bundled with thermal paste and fan/heatsinks.

I present to you: The Tuxedo. My black-and-white themed build.

SPECS
CASE: NZXT White Phantom 630 Windowed Edition
MOTHERBOARD: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition (LGA1150)
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7 4790K (4Ghz)
CPU COOLING: NZXT Kraken X41 140mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
GRAPHICS CARD: Gigabyte G1 Gaming Nvidia GTX 970 (4GB VRAM) (from old build)
MEMORY: Kingston HyperX Fury HX318C10FWK2/8 8GB (2x4GB) White
MEMORY: Kingston HyperX Fury HX318C10FBK2/8 8GB (2x4GB) Black
POWER SUPPLY: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W G2 Gold Power Supply
HARD DRIVES: 250GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 3TB HDD (from old build)
OPTICAL DRIVE: Black DVD/RW (from old build)

This is a video of me building the PC.


Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 5 2015, 7:57 am by Oh_Man.

I'd start by saying what the computer will actually be used for. These are not specs for a programmer, nor a gamer, nor a modeler (though it's closest to the last one). I'll go with your requirements as stated:



Notes:

• You could go cheaper on the HSF, like the 212 Plus/EVO. Most coolers are quiet when the fan isn't maxed.
  
• 32GB of RAM with an option to add up to another 32GB. A disgusting price that I wouldn't actually pay.
  
• AMD for the GPU because their cards scale better with higher resolutions.
  
• Seasonic-built PSU with overhead for overclocking.
  
• Cheap monitors with positive reviews. Only 25" to stay in budget because the RAM stole all the money.
  
• Random mouse because I don't really know much about budget mice.
  
• The K120 keyboard is rock solid. You didn't indicate wanting a mechanical keyboard, so I didn't suggest one.
  

Edit: XFX 750W Bronze PSU for $35. Great deal on a Seasonic OEM if you want it (though non-modular).

Edit2: Skylake with DDR3, which apparently doesn't save you any money for high-capacity modules:



Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Oct 5 2015, 11:48 pm by Roy.

I did two versions of this:





For reference, here's the outline for my next build due in around New Years:



Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 5 2015, 11:57 pm by Excalibur.

Here's a build that actually has 64GB of RAM in it and stays under $2500:

I think it's been made apparent that it's difficult to get everything you want into a budget.

So you may want to consider this:

What is the computer's primary function (e.g., programming, gaming, graphic editing) and what specifically will it be doing (e.g., protein folding simulations, web app development, 3D modeling).

Next, what is the computer's auxiliary functions? Such as casually playing games, watching movies, or some lightweight graphics work.

---

With a $2000 target, your computer can be very good at a couple of things and respectable at a number of other things. Ultimately though, sacrifices are going to have to be made. Hopefully you can elaborate on what the most important thing is so we can focus on spending most of the budget there.

Ok guys, my bad, I can see that I'm being a big jerkface. But that's what I have you guys for, to slap me upside the head when that happens.

The primary purpose of this computer will be scientific computing. My requirements as stated are based off of my experience in the computing that I have done. Gaming is a second-class citizen on this machine, I want to play legacy of the void and anything we're putting together at this stage will probably make that a joke. I was not joking about the 8 virtual cores, I'm pretty effective at utilizing superscalar architectures in my code. I have not gotten as deep into GPU coding yet, so I'm not as focused on the GPU because lack of skills + Amdahl's law. That said, there are always stages where single threaded performance is still king for me.

1) Real-world benches > synthetic tests. http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6700K/2384vs3502
2) Inverse hyperthreading was a rumor based on certain benches giving larger discrepancies favoring Skylake chips. Intel improved the hyperthreading technology, but inverse hyperthreading does not (yet) exist.

The 5820K doesn't have the fastest single-core performance, but it's certainly fast enough. Just as an example to put this in perspective: I have a Sandy Bridge 2500K that doesn't even struggle with any applications or modern games to this day, even at stock speeds, and it's 10% slower than the 5820K's single-core performance.

No, if I thought the 4790K is the CPU you should get, I'd have told you (again?) to give up on the ludicrous idea of 64GB of RAM. But now that you mention it, I don't think there are any 1150 boards that support more than 32GB of RAM.

DDR4-2133 is the "official" max speed supported on those processors, but DDR3-1600 is the "official" max speed supported for Haswell and earlier, so you can probably guess how much meaning Intel's specifications have. Faster RAM is just a factory overclock, basically.

Yes, CAS/RAS is still worth looking at (assuming you're actually doing something which faster RAM would impact), at least for DDR3. Comparing DDR3 to DDR4 is like comparing CPUs from different architectures, though: only benchmarks would tell you for sure which one is faster. Since DDR4 isn't nearly as mature, most timings are just going to be the same (2133 CL15), and paying a premium for CL14 is just not going to be worth it.

The monitors I suggested are 2K/1440p and IPS, so they should have great viewing angles and color. If you want a refresh rate higher than 60Hz, you'd probably end up with a TN panel at 144Hz. It ultimately depends on what you want in a screen: buttery-smooth motion, or vivid and crisp picture.

If you were working more toward a gaming build, you would also want to possibly consider a FreeSync monitor (or G-sync with an Nvidia card), which reduces stuttering by utilizing variable refresh rates.

Full towers typically have better airflow simply because there's more room. I would definitely skip the fans on the first iteration and see how it runs; configure the fans that come with your cooler and case to run at lower speeds when temperatures are low, and you'll more than likely end up with a whisper-quiet rig unless your cooling is insufficient.

Why spend more than you have to? I think the $30 PCIe card would work just as well as the $80 one, unless you need to use it across an exceptional distance or through a wall of microwave ovens. I have a cheap $15 wireless adapter that has no problems going through to the other side of my apartment, so I find it hard to justify spending as much as I would on the PSU for a wireless card. Maybe Ex knows something I don't, though.

You can get them as low as $550 on the EVGA B-Stock page if you don't mind factory-certified, but they're insanely hard to get from there. Personally, I think a 980 Ti would be overkill for you anyway; with Pascal coming next year (and Nvidia promising groundbreaking performance improvements over Maxwell), the safest bet would be to get a card that's good enough for gaming today, and upgrading down the line if necessary.

Unfortunately, that leaves you with the GTX 970 (VRAM scandal) or GTX 980 (horrible price/performance) on Nvidia's side of things; their other cards don't handle >1080p very well. From AMD you could pick up anything from a 380, 290X, 390, or 390X. They're power-hungry cards, but they scale better to 1440p than Nvidia's options.

Roy's has a max of 867mbps.

Mine has a max of 1300mbps, better range and coverage.

867Mbps is enough for in-home streaming, let alone an internet connection. The only reason to spend more is if you need the additional range, and the $30 Gigabyte works well for a 3-story house according to the top review.

It also looks like the Gigabyte is a mini PCIe wireless card mounted on an adapter, which means you could just pop it off and replace it with any wireless card to upgrade it in the future if necessary (e.g., when 802.11ad reaches the market). Seems like the smarter choice all around, in my opinion.

Ex just one thing I wanted to note you picked monitors that utilise Freesync (AMD only) yet you are planning to get a Nvidia GPU. You should get Gsync instead. If you don't care about either of those and just wish to use vysnc then I'm sure you could find a cheaper 144hz monitor.

If you're going 980 TI you may as well get the ASUS Predator xb270hu, has 144Hz AND 1440p as well as Gsync for your video card.

Not concerned with sync-shit. The BenQs are used in multiple pro gaming tournaments and are sick as fuck.

Good catch, though I have to say FreeSync is technically not AMD only: it is an open standard for adaptive synchronization, and therefore there's no reason an Nvidia card couldn't support it (though you're correct in saying currently Nvidia refuses to support it). G-sync, on the other hand, is proprietary hardware designed to only be compatible with Nvidia graphics cards.

You should care: adaptive synchronization is the way of the gaming future. BenQ makes G-sync monitors as well, which you should opt for instead for better performance (though if you have no limiting budget, I'd go with either the Asus ROG Swift or the Acer Predator like Oh_Man suggested).

Or you can stick with what you chose and hope that Nvidia eventually embraces FreeSync (which seems like a pipedream at the moment).

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Oct 7 2015, 1:10 pm by Roy.

This is what I'm thinking on an i7 6700K build. I just don't know if I can justify the price difference up to a 5930K or the performance difference with a 5820K. I don't get my 64GB of RAM though also, I could not for the life of me find a mobo/i7-6700K/64GB RAM combination, of course that means cheaper as well, but I might need to reconsider a i7-5820K/64GB setup. Drew heavily on your guys suggestions too, but rip me a new one if I messed something up. I'll deal with mouse/keyboard stuff later. Wow, wish I'd bought the GFX card when you made your list roy, the price jumped by like $50 bucks. Also, I omitted any HDD for now. I think I'll buy them as-I-go instead of right now. Sprung the extra $40 bucks for 2 extra fans, though I picked lower decibel versions of what you suggested Ex.




Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Oct 7 2015, 6:01 pm by Vrael.

Why not 64 GB of RAM?

I was discussing it with some friends of mine yesterday and came to the determination that you would actually benefit from getting an older chipset so you can get 64GB of RAM by saving money with 8x8GB instead of 4x16GB. Skylake is really only there for the novelty factor.

Regardless of what they tell you, you're the best person to decide whether you need it or not.

Actually as Sac pointed out, I can get my 64GB of RAM via 4x16GB modules. It's expensive though, but I come in at just over my budget cap. I might roll with this.

To get into budget you can skip the sound card. It's completely irrelevant for your requirements. OnBoard doesn't sound worse if you're just doing playback of games and music. I mean it: It DOES NOT sound worse AT ALL.

And if you later decide you're going to produce music or need hardware sound decoding, you can still add it, no strings attached.

If you actually wanna improve sound quality spend it where it makes a difference: The loudspeakers. $50 should get you something nice and small for PC use. But if you wanna go awesome be prepared to spend $200+ and make sure the left and right main speakers are 3-way. No subwoofer bs (except IN ADDITION to proper speakers). In my personal opinion you don't even need satellites if you know how to setup stereo properly. But that's just me.

Questions/Concerns:

1) Thermal paste: Why did you choose AS5 over MX4? It's harder to apply and doesn't perform much better, if at all. Further, a poorly-applied paste is going to perform much worse.

2) Motherboard: Looks pricy. What features are on it that you want and can't find on a cheaper board? You mentioned you're uninterested in SLI/CrossFire, so you don't need to buy a board that has more than one PCIe x16 slot. If you're looking for USB 3.1 / the Type-C connector, the Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ($125) or Asus Z170-K ($132) both have you covered for less (although the Asus's Type-C is 3.0); if you're uninterested in the Type-C connector, the MSI PC Mate ($99) has USB 3.1 for much less. The only reason to choose the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 is if you need the extra two SATAe connectors and/or the extra M.2 connector, which if you do (or think you might in the future), just ignore this entire paragraph.

3) Video card: Don't worry, the R9 390 goes on sale all the time. All the time. You don't need to rush into it.

4) Case: Consider taking a look at the Phanteks Enthoo Pro. The nice thing about cases is that you can reuse them for future builds, so if you want to be spendy in this category, that's fine too.

5) SSD: Excalibur might have his reservations (because the 840 EVO series had firmware issues), but the 850 EVO is better in regards to price/performance. I'd wait for it to go on sale for $150 and then grab one. Or, if price is no concern, wait a week for the 950 Pro to be released.

6) PSU: Wait, no, stop! That's the G1! Unless you meant to link this one, which at $100 is not the best deal. If you want a 750W PSU, get the Corsair AX760 for $100, which is platinum certified and built by Seasonic. But 750W is way too much for your build; you're looking at 450W max power draw with overclocking; a 600W PSU will be more than sufficient. Remember that power supplies are least efficient at <20% utilization and most efficient between 50%-80% utilization.

7) Case fans: While you're considering spending $20 on fans, take a look at the Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex (which apparently PCPP doesn't have any listings for; here it is on Amazon), which has ~100 CFM at 18 dbA (read: pushes lots of air quietly). Here's a push test against a Noctua A14 and Thermalright TY-141. If you're gonna buy a lot of fans, though, you may want a fan controller for them (the Enthoo Pro I mentioned above has a PWM hub that can connect up to three fans, though, so between that and the mobo a fan controller may not be needed).

1). Thermal paste. No idea, it looked cooler and only cost like $0.50 more. I'll get the easier one though.
2). Don't think I need the extra M.2. I'll go with the other gigabyte z170 board.
3). How long should I wait for the GFX sale?
4). I'm gonna stick with the corsair I picked out unless anyone has some huge objections.
5). Price is definitely a concern. Not sure what to do here. I'm looking at like a $50 discount for the EVO but I was reading something where the lifespan of the Pro is like 3x the lifespan of the evo based on the manufacturing tech. I might be willing to pay a $50 premium for a 3x less likelihood of failure.
6). Corsair AX760
7). Looks like prolimatech fans are the way to go.


I also dropped the sound card for now. I figure I can always pick one up at a later date if I'm unsatisfied.


I think I might start purchasing parts now. Any reason not to?

If you're still looking for a mouse, maybe take this one: http://slickdeals.net/f/8157578