Building a computer

[Lord of Planar]

I'm coming across some cash in the next few weeks. I'm either going to buy a second car, or build a sweet computer. Maybe even both. If you had as much as $4k to spend on a computer build, what would you choose for your components?

Required:

PCIe 4 lane SSD.

2011-3 processor.

 

[PeteEU]

I'm coming across some cash in the next few weeks. I'm either going to buy a second car, or build a sweet computer. Maybe even both. If you had as much as $4k to spend on a computer build, what would you choose for your components?

Required:

PCIe 4 lane SSD.

2011-3 processor.

4k? If you stay clear of Apple crap and build it yourself, then you could get one hell of a rig for 4k.. water cooling, PCIe SSDs, Intel 6th generation processor and so on. The graphics card omfgs... but then again tone it down a bit and get a kick ass 24-7 ultra HD screen instead

 

[Lord of Planar]

4k? If you stay clear of Apple crap and build it yourself, then you could get one hell of a rig for 4k.. water cooling, PCIe SSDs, Intel 6th generation processor and so on. The graphics card omfgs... but then again tone it down a bit and get a kick ass 24-7 ultra HD screen instead

I haven't checked recently, but my thought as of a few weeks ago was, with Amazon pricing:

$461.42 MSI X99S Gaming 7 ATX
$214.00 Seagate 6TB ST6000DM001
$322.57 Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB NVMe
$699.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR EDITION
$602.00 Intel Core i7-5930K
$630.99 Corsair Dominator Platinum 64GB DDR4 3333

I haven't kept up with the latest since. I'm sure when I'm ready to buy, these prices and technology will change.

I also want a modular power supply , and most likely an E-ATX motherboard rather than an ATX.

 

[OpportunityCost]

I'm coming across some cash in the next few weeks. I'm either going to buy a second car, or build a sweet computer. Maybe even both. If you had as much as $4k to spend on a computer build, what would you choose for your components?

Required:

PCIe 4 lane SSD.

2011-3 processor.

If you spend much over 2k you are into server territory. If you really want to build it yourself: Build. Invent. Amaze. | Newegg.com

Go crazy!

 

[OpportunityCost]

I haven't checked recently, but my thought as of a few weeks ago was, with Amazon pricing:

$461.42 MSI X99S Gaming 7 ATX
$214.00 Seagate 6TB ST6000DM001
$322.57 Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB NVMe
$699.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR EDITION
$602.00 Intel Core i7-5930K
$630.99 Corsair Dominator Platinum 64GB DDR4 3333

I haven't kept up with the latest since. I'm sure when I'm ready to buy, these prices and technology will change.

I also want a modular power supply , and most likely an E-ATX motherboard rather than an ATX.

I see one component missing. External backup storage.

 

[PeteEU]

I haven't checked recently, but my thought as of a few weeks ago was, with Amazon pricing:

$461.42 MSI X99S Gaming 7 ATX
$214.00 Seagate 6TB ST6000DM001
$322.57 Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB NVMe
$699.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR EDITION
$602.00 Intel Core i7-5930K
$630.99 Corsair Dominator Platinum 64GB DDR4 3333

I haven't kept up with the latest since. I'm sure when I'm ready to buy, these prices and technology will change.

I also want a modular power supply , and most likely an E-ATX motherboard rather than an ATX.

Gezz ram that costs more than the processor?

And if it is games you are going to use it for.. i7 aint worth it. Stick to i5s. And do you need 512 GB SSD? Not really... 250 would be more than enough imo.

 

[Lord of Planar]

I see one component missing. External backup storage.

I'm focusing on the primary. The secondary will also be a large HD with automatic daily backups. I currently have a fast computer with two HD's and a SSD. It uses the i7-4790, and 32 GB of memory. My laptop uses the i7-4720HQ, 16 GB, and the GT-950m. It is the MSI leopard pro 486 and cost me $1,050. The Tower I have is the Dell XPS 8700 which I removed the 8 GB and added 32 GB, bluray rewriter, and the two drives. it only has a GTX-720 card though.

I have two USB HD's and a USB3 6x Bluray rewriter.

I'm talking about just the new tower I plan to build.

 

[Lord of Planar]

Gezz ram that costs more than the processor?

And if it is games you are going to use it for.. i7 aint worth it. Stick to i5s. And do you need 512 GB SSD? Not really... 250 would be more than enough imo.

But the RAM is 64 GB of DDR4 and 3,333 mhz!

probably a little cheaper since i last priced it, but I will use 4 ghz DDR4 if it's available when I'm ready. The motherboard will support 128 GB. I'm only filling half the slots.

 

[PeteEU]

But the RAM is 64 GB of DDR4 and 3,333 mhz!

Yea but you would have to overclock the processer for it to be able to keep up!

probably a little cheaper since i last priced it, but I will use 4 ghz DDR4 if it's available when I'm ready. The motherboard will support 128 GB. I'm only filling half the slots.

TBH, dont need more than 8 unless you running a server. I have 8 and can run several games at the same time, plus a lot of other jobs and still not fill out the 8 GB. Windows 10 is very good at memory management.

 

[Lord of Planar]

Gezz ram that costs more than the processor?

And if it is games you are going to use it for.. i7 aint worth it. Stick to i5s. And do you need 512 GB SSD? Not really... 250 would be more than enough imo.

LOL...

I have a 256 GB SSD in my tower.

No...

It isn't enough...

I want a general purpose computer. Not just a gaming computer. I use dual monitor and will play blurays on my 1080P at the same time I'm using several open windows on my WUXGA monitor (1200P).

Oh...

I plan to use two or three WQXGA monitors (1600P).

 

[PeteEU]

LOL...

I have a 256 GB SSD in my tower.

No...

It isn't enough...

I want a general purpose computer. Not just a gaming computer. I use dual monitor and will play blurays on my 1080P at the same time I'm using several open windows on my WUXGA monitor (1200P).

Oh...

I plan to use two or three WQXGA monitors (1600P).

You be crazy....

I got an i5 2500k running with 8 GB ram, 128 Samsung EVO 850, some ATI graphics card (cant remember) and dual 24 inch HP Pavilion 23xi screens.. works fine for gaming and tv/movie watching...

 

[Brochacholomigo]

Judging from this thread, if I had 4k to build a computer, I would use a portion of that money to pay one of you tech geniuses to do it for me!

 

[Lord of Planar]

Yea but you would have to overclock the processer for it to be able to keep up!

Maybe. I do plan on overclocking the i7-5930K... If a better processor is available without a skyrocketing price difference, I will use a better one yet.

TBH, dont need more than 8 unless you running a server. I have 8 and can run several games at the same time, plus a lot of other jobs and still not fill out the 8 GB. Windows 10 is very good at memory management.

I have one game alone that will use over 5 GB. I prefer to allow the system to use memory rather than virtual memory. I am looking forward as to what application will no doubt do.

Why does a person need to buy a Hellcat?

Because they can!

 

[Lutherf]

I haven't checked recently, but my thought as of a few weeks ago was, with Amazon pricing:

$461.42 MSI X99S Gaming 7 ATX
$214.00 Seagate 6TB ST6000DM001
$322.57 Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB NVMe
$699.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR EDITION
$602.00 Intel Core i7-5930K
$630.99 Corsair Dominator Platinum 64GB DDR4 3333

I haven't kept up with the latest since. I'm sure when I'm ready to buy, these prices and technology will change.

I also want a modular power supply , and most likely an E-ATX motherboard rather than an ATX.

Last summer I decided to upgrade and got:

i5 6400
GTX 970
250GB SSD
2TB HD
and a 27" monitor for less than $1700 including tax. It does everything I need it to and runs current games on ultra with no lag whatsoever. Spend half your money and save the rest.

 

[Lord of Planar]

Last summer I decided to upgrade and got:

i5 6400
GTX 970
250GB SSD
2TB HD
and a 27" monitor for less than $1700 including tax. It does everything I need it to and runs current games on ultra with no lag whatsoever. Spend half your money and save the rest.

I could just put a better graphics card in my current system and beat that.

 

[Lutherf]

I could just put a better graphics card in my current system and beat that.

Then why not just do that and buy the car?

 

[PeteEU]

Maybe. I do plan on overclocking the i7-5930K... If a better processor is available without a skyrocketing price difference, I will use a better one yet.


I have one game alone that will use over 5 GB. I prefer to allow the system to use memory rather than virtual memory. I am looking forward as to what application will no doubt do.

Why does a person need to buy a Hellcat?

Because they can!

What game is that?

 

[Southern Dad]

Big question is what are you going to do with the computer? I've got a friend who has a very expensive top of the line gaming computer that would make most gamers drool. It's got pretty lights, a Razor keyboard and mouse, it's loaded with RAM and video cards. The sound system is outrageous. I don't really think he plays any games. But he's got a smoking system. The computer that I'm typing this on right now is a Mac Pro from Early 2008. Works perfectly, runs latest operating system. Again, it is what do you want to invest and what do you want to use it to do. My Macs are mostly dual boot (Windows and OS X).

It sounds like you play some serious gaming. Then a big investment like that sounds reasonable. When I first moved into the PC realm coming from Commodore Vic 20 / 64 / 128 / Amiga, I spent nearly $3k on my first 80286 machine with an amber monitor, 10 mb hard drive, single floppy, and a really small amount of RAM.

 

[Lord of Planar]

Then why not just do that and buy the car?

Actually, I might. I'm still not set on if I'm going to build a new computer, or buy another car. I might even do both.

I bought a new car in 2000. A brand spanking new Z28, with $19,000 down. I don't plan on buying a new car again unless it's something like a Tesla. LOL... I even contemplated buying a Smart... probably won't though.

I never built my own computer before. When I had the rev 6A Amiga 500, I modified the motherboard. Put an A3000 Agnus in it and 2 meg chip memory. I'm an electronic tech with almost 40 years paid experience, studied since 1968, and I never built my own computer. I'd like to do it once, and it will be far more than I need. Just because...

Just because I can afford it, and just because I can then say I did it.

Even before my Amiga, I modified my 1541 for my C64 with a parallel interface, and more:

I was into program hacking back then, and I could lock in and spool a half-track, and more. I still have my C64 and three drives. I miss my Amiga A4000, but do have an A3000 with a Cybervision 64 3D graphics card and I wrote a machine language routine to reduce the wait states of the memory.

I have not kept up with modern PC's, but I have forgotten more about past PC than most people have ever known.

 

[Baralis]

I haven't checked recently, but my thought as of a few weeks ago was, with Amazon pricing:

$461.42 MSI X99S Gaming 7 ATX
$214.00 Seagate 6TB ST6000DM001
$322.57 Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB NVMe
$699.99 EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR EDITION
$602.00 Intel Core i7-5930K
$630.99 Corsair Dominator Platinum 64GB DDR4 3333

I haven't kept up with the latest since. I'm sure when I'm ready to buy, these prices and technology will change.

I also want a modular power supply , and most likely an E-ATX motherboard rather than an ATX.

It is of course your money to do with as you wish but I would advise a different approach. There comes a point where the smallest performance increase comes with a massive premium. You could probably build a system that would preform 95% as well in all but the most exclusive tasks for half the price.

 

[Lord of Planar]

What game is that?

Kerbal Space Program, with it's 64 bit implementation, on very-very large space craft. the normal load limits itself to about 3-1/2 GB, but it';s a 32 bit executable. if you go into the program files, there is a 64 bit variant too.

Just for fun:

Large Mining Station to orbit - Album on Imgur

Mun Rocked Three tankers to Fill lander in kerbin orbit - Album on Imgur

Mun Rocked Challenge - Landing the Monster - Album on Imgur

The program really taxes my i7-4790 as the Unity game engine only uses one core for the physics of the connections between the 1900+ parts. My i7-4790 is rated as the 7th fastest (last time I looked) process for single thread speeds. the i7-4790K being the fastest. This program will start chocking at 2200 parts or so when limited to 32 bits (4GB) of memory access.

 

[Lord of Planar]

I spent nearly $3k on my first 80286 machine with an amber monitor, 10 mb hard drive, single floppy, and a really small amount of RAM.

I placed a hold on an Amiga 4000 before they were available, and bought one of the three that hit the Portland Oregon area, the day the arrived. Cost me $3,000...

October 1992...

 

[Lord of Planar]

It is of course your money to do with as you wish but I would advise a different approach. There comes a point where the smallest performance increase comes with a massive premium. You could probably build a system that would preform 95% as well in all but the most exclusive tasks for half the price.

I absolutely agree. I'm not going for the absolute top though. If you look at the performance vs. pricing, I am going top end before the price takes a radical increase. Unless you look, the Samsung 950 Pro may seem overpriced. However, it is a 4 lane PCIe SSD, with superior performance to any mSATA out there. However, it requires a motherboard and BIOS capable of recognizing it too. Once you get to SSDs that outperform it, they are so much more money yet.

I chose the 2011-3 processor for the memory lanes available. Most gaming PC's I think today are using the 1151. I want more than just gaming though. i want a computer that will still service me well for over 5 years. I have my daughters old laptop from over 10 years ago that i bought for her architectural design college courses. When she needed a faster laptop for college, I told her I wanted it back. I replaced this old $1,300 laptop (2003?) in September 2010 with a $1,100 18.4" Toshiba Satellite for her, that had the second fasted GPU available at the time. She loved how fast it would render her designs in 3D. The only reason i didn't pay the extra $200 at the time for one with the fasted GPU was how much more power it used. i was concerned about a computer claiming only 2 hours with a 87 watt/hr battery. the one i bought claimed 2 hrs with 44 watt-hours. Anyway, this old laptop is still a sweet laptop except so many applications refuse to run on the older OS, and newer OS will not work on it. I've been meaning to play with UNIX on it, but those round-tuits are hard to find.

 

[Mycroft]

I'm coming across some cash in the next few weeks. I'm either going to buy a second car, or build a sweet computer. Maybe even both. If you had as much as $4k to spend on a computer build, what would you choose for your components?

Required:

PCIe 4 lane SSD.

2011-3 processor.

You won't need that much money for a kick-ass system. Here's one for $2000 that stands on its own, but has plenty of room for expansion.

Processor Intel Core i7-6700K $380
Motherboard Asus Maximum VIII Hero $230
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V Series DDR4 2666 (16GB) $90
Graphics card MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G $660
Power supply EVGA Supernova 850 watt G2 80 Plus Gold $140
Primary storage Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD (256 GB) $180
Secondary storage Samsung 850 EVO (500GB) $150
CPU cooler Corsair H90 $90
Disc drive LG Blu-ray reader $35
Case Fractal Design Define R5 $90


$2045

PC build guide: high-end gaming PC | PC Gamer

 

[Lord of Planar]

You won't need that much money for a kick-ass system. Here's one for $2000 that stands on its own, but has plenty of room for expansion.

Processor Intel Core i7-6700K $380
Motherboard Asus Maximum VIII Hero $230
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V Series DDR4 2666 (16GB) $90
Graphics card MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G $660
Power supply EVGA Supernova 850 watt G2 80 Plus Gold $140
Primary storage Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD (256 GB) $180
Secondary storage Samsung 850 EVO (500GB) $150
CPU cooler Corsair H90 $90
Disc drive LG Blu-ray reader $35
Case Fractal Design Define R5 $90


$2045

PC build guide: high-end gaming PC | PC Gamer

Thank-You, but it doesn't meet my basic requirements.

I have an EVO SSD in my current XPS 8700. The LGA 1151 also doesn't match my requirement for the LGA 2011-3, and that motherboard only has four memory slots. It says 6 gb M.2 SATA... That means it isn't the 4 lane PCIe. It does not say it's a 4 lane PCIe, and there are currently 4 different M.2 formats! 4 lane PCIe is far superior to SATA at 32 gb/s instead of 6 gb/s.

The 950 pro I'm looking at is twice the size. If they made a 1 TB size, I would use it. As it stands, if I use a secondary SSD, it will be the 850 EVO 1 TB variant. However, I think I'm OK with two large 7200 RPM drives. One as a secondary, and the next for backups.