Gaming build + looking for a price check

Hey everyone!
I’m looking to build a new rig—primarily for crushing the latest AAA titles on max settings, though I’ll also be using it for work (CAD, Corel, Photoshop, etc.).
I'd ideally like this machine to last me about 6 or 7 years, so I’ve set a budget of roughly total 17,674.01 USD.
I have a few specific requirements regarding components—I'll likely be ordering from Micro Center, so I've included their links—but I'm definitely open to your suggestions.
Here is what I'm thinking:

Intel Core i7 (

Corsair Hydro Series H110 (

NVIDIA GTX 980

At least 16 GB RAM

Corsair Air 540 (

A Samsung 850 Series SSD plus at least a 2 TB hard drive.

Regarding the power supply—if you could suggest something beefier just in case I decide to add more components later, that would be great.

So, that’s the gist of the new build. On a separate note—and please don't kill me for not starting a new thread—I could use some help valuing a laptop.
Since my budget is around total 17,674.01 USD, I’m hoping to offset the cost by selling my current laptop. I already have a buyer lined up, but I want to make sure my pricing is actually realistic.
It’s a Lenovo IdeaPad with an Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GTX 660 2 GB, a 30 GB SSD plus a 750 GB hard drive, 16 GB of Corsair Vengeance CL10, running Windows 8.1 (I currently play Battlefield 4 on max settings, everything at level 5 😁). http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c28....asp?tab=Specs

Thanks in advance!

From what I can gather, you're looking at an $1,800 budget without having to part with your current laptop, right? If that's the case, I'd say aim for the Intel X99 chipset and DDR4—because if you settle for the Intel Socket 1150, you aren't going to be able to hit that $1,800 mark very easily (assuming you're really set on spending the full amount), especially if you still need to pick up a monitor and other peripherals too, don't you think?

You’re right about the laptop. As for the budget—I don't necessarily have to blow through the full 18,000 USD. I’d really like to stick to the components I listed, or maybe upgrade to a better processor and motherboard if possible. Let's just say 18,000 USD is more of a ceiling. I don't need any peripherals, just the "box" itself. 😉

1 x Intel Core i7-5820K 3.30GHz,1.5MB,15MB,140 W,Intel Socket 2011-v3 without cooler
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1 x Fractal Design Define 2TB, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, Barracuda 7200
1 x Fractal Design Define R5 Titan
4 x DDR4 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 2133MHz, CT4G4DFS8213
1 x Samsung 850 Series SSD, Capacity 120 GB, 2.5", SATA
1 x NOCTUA NH-D14 - 120mm, 6 heatpipe
1 x MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4GB GDDR5, GTX 980 GAMING 4G, 256 bit
1 x Fortron 850W Aurum PRO, 80+ GOLD modular, 135mm
1 x ASUS X99-A, 2011-v3, Intel X99, DDR4, 8 slots, 2133 MHz

$5400 ADM

^^

Do you need peripherals too?

Are you planning to build it yourself?

Regarding the laptop, it really depends on whether you can find a buyer. I'd suggest aiming for about 20-30% less than what you originally paid when it was brand new.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Do you need peripherals too?

Are you planning to build it yourself?

Regarding the laptop, it really depends on whether you can find a buyer. I'd suggest aiming for about 20-30% less than what you originally paid when it was brand new.

Alex Sullivan4 said:You’re right about the laptop. As for the budget—I don't necessarily have to blow through the full 18,000 USD. I’d really like to stick to the components I listed, or maybe upgrade to a better processor and motherboard if possible. Let's just say 18,000 USD is more of a ceiling. I don't need any peripherals, just the "box" itself. 😉

😉

Sell your laptop first, then show up to build a PC 🙂
Not like this.

Just so there’s no "I didn't know" excuses later. 😁

@Robert Rodriguez2 - the laptop is basically sold—it’s staying "in the family" 😁 just so we can settle on a price $333 —which is why I was asking here to see if anyone else had suggestions

@crimsonstag84
I was thinking about going with the Corsair Air 540 case and pairing it with the Corsair Hydro Series H110 liquid cooler.

Alex Sullivan4 said:@Robert Rodriguez2 - the laptop is basically sold—it’s staying "in the family" 😁 just so we can settle on a price $333 —which is why I was asking here to see if anyone else had suggestions

@crimsonstag84
I was thinking about going with the Corsair Air 540 case and pairing it with the Corsair Hydro Series H110 liquid cooler.

Honestly, you don't really need recommendations when you already know exactly what you want—especially since with a budget that massive, everything will fit. crimsonstag84 already suggested a best-buy high-end case (the R5), which offers just as much airflow for a better value.

From what I can see, all you really need is a recommendation for a motherboard compatible with your chosen CPU—something like a Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming 5. If you want some serious high-end swag for a power supply, look at a SuperFlower Leadex 650W Gold; it can handle 2x NVIDIA GTX 980 cards without breaking a sweat. For an SSD, definitely grab a Samsung 850 Series SSD (maybe the 250GB version).

Alright, I'm stuck between two paths—Z97 or X99. I've been doing some digging online, and for my specific needs (mostly gaming), everyone seems to be pointing me toward the Z97. If I jump over to the X99, I suspect I might not actually tap into its full potential—given that I'll be gaming and doing some CAD work, maybe even some Corel or Adobe stuff. To make sure the Z97 setup lasts me maybe five or six years, I've picked out higher-end components, whereas the X99 build is more of a middle-of-the-road approach. I'd love your take so I can finally settle this dilemma.😁

z97

1 x ASUS Z97-DELUXE, Intel Socket 1150
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K (4.00GHz,1MB,8MB,88W,1150) Box
1 x DDR3 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair, 1600MHz, CML16GX3M2A160C9, 9-9-9-24
1 x MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4GB GDDR5, GTX 980 GAMING 4G, 256 bit
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB HyperX Fury, 2.5", SATA 3 6G
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB, SATA III, 64MB Cache
1 x Corsair Hydro Series H110, liquid CPU cooling, 280mm top-mounted
1 x Corsair AX Series, 860 Watt full modular PSU, ATX PSU
1 x Corsair Air 540, Mid Tower Case, black

$5535

x99

1 x MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4GB GDDR5, GTX 980 GAMING 4G, 256 bit
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB, SATA III, 64MB Cache
1 x Corsair Hydro Series H110, liquid CPU cooling, 280mm top-mounted
1 x Corsair AX Series, 860 Watt full modular PSU, ATX PSU
1 x Corsair Air 540, Mid Tower Case, black
1 x Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming 5, Intel Socket 2011-v3, Intel X99 Extreme
1 x Intel Core i7-5820K 3.30GHz,1.5MB,15MB,140 W,2011-3 without cooler
4 x DDR4 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 2133MHz, CT4G4DFS8213
1 x Samsung 850 Series SSD, 120 GB, 2.5"

$5891

Regarding that first build—I don't really see the point of getting $767. Even 1,300 USD feels like an overkill, especially since you opted for a budget SSD in the 16,500 USD build 🤷

That power supply is massive overkill. A decent 550-650W Gold unit would handle dual GTX 980s without breaking a sweat, let alone just one

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Regarding that first build—I don't really see the point of getting $767. Even 1,300 USD feels like an overkill, especially since you opted for a budget SSD in the 16,500 USD build 🤷

That power supply is massive overkill. A decent 550-650W Gold unit would handle dual GTX 980s without breaking a sweat, let alone just one

Fair enough—that’s exactly why I mentioned going with the pricier options.🤔
Maybe swap in an ASUS Maximus Z97 or something similar along with a 650W Gold PSU, then take the savings and put them toward an SSD—like that Samsung 850 Series SSD you mentioned earlier. 🙏
Also, if you don't mind me asking: which do you think is better, an MSI card or an ASUS Strix GTX 980?

From what I can gather looking at these two cards, I’d personally lean toward the ASUS Strix model. It comes with the DirectCU II cooler straight from the factory and stays about 30% quieter during use.
I think the MSI version lacks that 0dB fan technology, which basically means the fans stay totally silent when you're just idling or doing light tasks.

Alex Sullivan4 said:Fair enough—that’s exactly why I mentioned going with the pricier options.🤔
Maybe swap in an ASUS Maximus Z97 or something similar along with a 650W Gold PSU, then take the savings and put them toward an SSD—like that Samsung 850 Series SSD you mentioned earlier. 🙏
Also, if you don't mind me asking: which do you think is better, an MSI card or an ASUS Strix GTX 980?

If you're looking at an admin, go ahead and grab it. This is it. It’s an absolute beast—go with the ASUS Maximus Z97. Honestly, everything listed above is just throwing money down the drain.

Drew Sanchez82 said:From what I can gather looking at these two cards, I’d personally lean toward the ASUS Strix model. It comes with the DirectCU II cooler straight from the factory and stays about 30% quieter during use.
I think the MSI version lacks that 0dB fan technology, which basically means the fans stay totally silent when you're just idling or doing light tasks.

Both options are solid for gaming, honestly. In my opinion, the ASUS Strix pulls ahead slightly because it actually features a backplate. These days, the Twin Force models feel like they're made mostly of plastic compared to how they used to be, but they definitely aren't worth an extra $100. To be fair, no GTX 980 is truly worth that kind of premium, but if someone is dead set on it...

If I end up picking up a new GPU anytime soon, there's a pretty good chance I'll go with the ASUS Strix GTX 970. Sure, it’s maybe $100 more expensive than the Gigabyte model, but honestly, I think it's worth the extra cash.
Does anyone know if there are actual benchmarks for GPU coolers? Like, how can you tell if the WF3 is actually better than the DirectCU II?

I mean, why wouldn't you just go with the Intel X99 platform and an i7-5820K? Even looking at the price, it isn't significantly more expensive than the Intel Core i7-4790K, yet you're getting two extra cores, which makes it a much stronger and better choice if you're thinking about longevity. It seems pretty easy to overclock that thing to 4GHz or maybe even a bit higher. Also, instead of just one NVIDIA GTX 980, I suspect that running two ASUS Strix GTX 970s might actually be the smarter move here.

Given how things look with CPUs right now, you probably won't need to swap out that 5820K for another 6 or 7 years.

crimsonstag84 said:Given how things look with CPUs right now, you probably won't need to swap out that 5820K for another 6 or 7 years.

That's the part I'm most stuck on—🤔
it’s a new processor, which is what you said—and the price gap isn't too massive, I guess, +-$33.
As far as gaming goes, I shouldn't run into any issues there.
But if you could walk me through this DDR4 thing regarding the X99 motherboard... if I were to go with X99 right now, I'd probably just grab some cheaper memory, like 4x4GB—they're pretty pricey at the moment—but I want to know my options if I decide to upgrade later.
For instance, on this ASUS board http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/X99A/overview/
, could I use something like Kingston 3000 MHz RAM?
http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?product_id=15599

If you could clear that up for me.

I've sorted out the rest of the components based on previous comments.
Thanks, everyone. 👍

It would work, but why on earth would you drop nearly $867 on that RAM? You could just grab two of these or four of these instead.

That extra speed isn't even going to give you any noticeable boost click here.
Besides, your motherboard and CPU are natively rated for 2133MHz anyway; anything higher is just an overclock profile (using XMP in the BIOS).

8 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR4 3200(O.C.)/3000(O.C.)/2800(O.C.)/2666(O.C.)/2400(O.C.)/2133 MHz Non-ECC, DDR4 Memory Specs

Memory Types DDR4 1333/1600/2133

http://ark.intel.com/products/82932/...up-to_3_60-GHz

Save your money; spending 100 USD on this would be throwing it right out the window.

EDIT

When it comes to gaming, there’s honestly not much difference between an Intel Core i7-4790K and an i7-5820K. In most games, you won't see a huge gap even comparing an i5 to an i7, or sometimes even an i3. It's the same deal with DDR3 versus DDR4 (as you can see in the link provided). The only exception is if you're doing professional work with heavy software—though even then, the margin isn't massive.click—you've got Photoshop under Adobe.

Then again, like others have pointed out, that $18,000 price gap between those i7 chips is a massive ocean to cross. Sure, you get more expensive memory and a better motherboard, but that $18,000😬 is just overkill.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:It would work, but why on earth would you drop nearly $867 on that RAM? You could just grab two of these or four of these instead.

That extra speed isn't even going to give you any noticeable boost click here.
Besides, your motherboard and CPU are natively rated for 2133MHz anyway; anything higher is just an overclock profile (using XMP in the BIOS).

8 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR4 3200(O.C.)/3000(O.C.)/2800(O.C.)/2666(O.C.)/2400(O.C.)/2133 MHz Non-ECC, DDR4 Memory Specs

Memory Types DDR4 1333/1600/2133

http://ark.intel.com/products/82932/...up-to_3_60-GHz

Save your money; spending 100 USD on this would be throwing it right out the window.

EDIT

When it comes to gaming, there’s honestly not much difference between an Intel Core i7-4790K and an i7-5820K. In most games, you won't see a huge gap even comparing an i5 to an i7, or sometimes even an i3. It's the same deal with DDR3 versus DDR4 (as you can see in the link provided). The only exception is if you're doing professional work with heavy software—though even then, the margin isn't massive.click—you've got Photoshop under Adobe.

Then again, like others have pointed out, that $18,000 price gap between those i7 chips is a massive ocean to cross. Sure, you get more expensive memory and a better motherboard, but that $18,000😬 is just overkill.

Fair enough. I wasn't actually planning on buying the expensive one—I was mostly just curious about how it worked.

So, just to wrap this up—between X99 and Z97, which one would you pick?