Desktop configuration

[Hydro_Homie]

This is about what an appropriate pc build for the next 4 years. Limit is 4k.
Please post your opinion, but have some merit and backing to what your saying. Have fun!

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

引用自 Cryptonick：

thanks for your help guys, but since i feel more confident by buying one online... i am not a hardware afficiando and i am willing to pay the couple extra bucks

If you really want to buy ready-made then forget ibuypower and cyberpowerpc, they are not exactly known for quality.
Here, this is pretty much exactly what I put together, just replace HDD with 4 TB Western Digital Black and SSD to 480 GB Corsair Neutron. And add Creative Labs Xi-Fi Titanium sound card.
You will end up paying more though compared to self-built system.

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadODE.asp?id=845936

[Hydro_Homie]

How do you guys feel about falcon northwest?

I just want the relief of knowing that I am buying a quality product, if I have to dish out a couple hundred extra dollars then so be it

[Mr Moopsy]

First....dont plan to ever build a computer to last 4 years. Technology moves to fast. Build a computer with the hopes it remains upgradeable for 4 years. That aside....

Please...just please try building your own...I mean unless price really does not matter. But my rig probably cost me about 2.5k the "equivilant" that I could find already made, all cost at least 3.3k-4k and guess what, mine still pushed the better hardware...and was cheaper.

CPU
Might I recommend Intel I7 3930k(EDIT: 4930k is probably better by a hair) its a 6core beast of burden. base clock is 3.2, but it easily can be put to 4.0 on an air system. 5.0 liquid. Closed loop liquid.. 4.5 clock.(I use closed at 4.6 just fine)

I might be going against my statement of build to keep it upgradeable here, but I just love the lga2011 x79 chipsets for motherboards and cpu's.
Personally I say they overclock amazing, and offer the best cpu's currently. They are just the best there is right now. Technology is moving away from them because the average consumer browses the web and doesnt do the things us gamers can really appreciate.

GPU
With your budget, Either get a titan or two 780's. The 780's will be faster and have alot more performance. They have higher clocks than titans but less memory.
Its a personal choice, I went with the 780's because my budget will let me get 4 of these much faster than getting 4 titans. And for the cost, differences are....less than noticable.
HOWEVER
If you want some massive resolution gaming, get titans. if you stick to 1080p even 3 screens get 780s. if you get into 1440p or even the 4k screens, titans for sure. That is where that memory makes any real difference.

MOTHERBOARD
I stick to asus. just make sure you get a board with a 2011 chipset. And otherwise, anything works. My board is P9x79 Pro from asus and the 8dimms of ram really lets 64bit shine. and It has good onboard sound(surround even) with enough pci slots for my cards and upgrades.

Case
BIG
really size DOES matter. bigger is easier to work with, and offers good upgrade room.
I use a CM Storm Trooper case. And it is not as huge as an obsidian 800D but it provides great compromize to size and workspace. It is plenty big for what I am describing and can support a 240mm fan/radiator on the top and the bottom of the case.

RAM
up to you. At minimum with an 8dimm mobo I say 16gb(8,2gb sticks) You want something amazing so I would say at least 32gb(8,4gb sticks) really you wont ever use more than that while gaming but there is always the 64gb(8,8gb sticks) option. Really, only if you do alot of 3d rendering, photoshop and that stuff.

POWER SUPPLY
nothing less than 1200 watts.

COOLING
VERY important. Most store bought computers skip out on this. This shortens the life of the computer and runs everything hot, not too hot. But at temperatures that you might not want to have your equipment at especiallly when it costs 2.5-4k.
With your rig,look into watercooling. You have 2 options with it, a closed loop radiator,meaning you have some fans and prefilled tubing with a coolant going through the radiator. It is really easy for starters and is a good step up from air.
Or, you get into the open loop cooling. Custom done by yourself or you can buy a kit such as the kraken x40 and modify things. Open loop really Is only done by yourself modifying parts...it is worth it though.

HDD
Personal preference of mine is a 120gb ssd dedicated only to my OS. Nothing else is allowed to touch it. And then get other ssd's or sata whatever drives you want to actually put other things on.

Extras
DISK READER
I think disk readers are useless. And take up space which makes things hotter. When I use a disk, I have a usb powered reader that gets used one time, when installing my OS. Otherwise movies, games, music, you name it....its all online.
WIRELESS CARD
I go wired...and dont value wifi over more video cards or sound card.

DISPLAY(s)
These are almost as fun aas the computers themselves. By that...I mean cost.
At least if you want the good stuuf.
500$ can get you a 27" 144hz 3d display.(if you are like me, you want 3)
If you dont like 3d, no problem you havnt even bought the 3d pieces needed to run things in 3d. if you like 3d, go to nvidea page and look for their 3d kit. Glasses and reciever. 120$

Want to have a really fun display?2-4k setup
Get 3-4 projectors 720p=500$ 1080p=1000$ each. 4 720s is equal to 2560x1440 resolution
Get yourself some highquality canvas/fabric/projector screen. Build or look for a curved semicircle type of "display" that the canvas goes on. Project to the left, middle, and right. You now almost have a truely 3d immersive setup that surrounds you.
Cant remember off top of my head, but there are programs that your computer uses to have projectors calculate for these curves and boy...does it just look and feel amazing.

SOUND
Seems you have a 7.1 emulated headset. Keep in mind, if you use skype or most VOIP you cant use surround sound. Axon, does support surround sound though.
Otherwise unless you are really picky, your screens should be ok. When you need the real sound you have your headset.

I am happy to answer any questions you have.
Edit: If you live in the US I might consider building it for you if you really wanted. Or at the very least, help you know how to build things properly, it is actually pretty simple. Could even help you overclock to some safe numbers, safe for me, I could tell you how to push your machine higher to values it can handle, but it would be your task to do as I am not responsible for giving you high clocks that can ruin anything. As I mentioned earlier, air = 4.0-4.2ghz Closed loop=4.5ghz water=5ghz or close to it.

Sub zero cooling...is possible, will get higher clock rates, but take in mind you will need to waterproof everything as below 0 celcius water will condense and be potentially moist. You also need to know the dew point of where you live.

On top of that most watercooling open loop needs insulated pipes. And the norm is to use copper fittings.

[Hydro_Homie]

This is my Dream Build (at v3gamingpc.com)
CHASSIS V3 AVENGER II Obsidian 650D Chassis by Corsair
CHASSIS COOLING V3 Ultra Cyclonic Positive Pressure Airflow System
EXTERIOR FINISH Black
GRAPHICS CARD 1 NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780 3GB @863MHz Max Boost @902 w/PhysX
GRAPHICS CARD 2 NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780 3GB OC@954MHz Max Boost @1006 w/PhysX
GRAPHICS CARD 3 None
DEDICATED PHYSX YES, Using Last Graphics Card
LCD DISPLAY 1 None
LCD DISPLAY 2 None
MOTHERBOARD ASUS® X79 P9X79 Pro 3-Way SLI/CrossFireX w/USB 3.0, Bluetooth, Dual SATA III 6Gb/s RAID
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-3930K 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Hex-Core, 12M Cache w/HT
PROCESSOR COOLING V3 GAMING LC570ZS by Asetek Zero-Service Liquid Cooling
V3 LC™ OVERCLOCKING YES, V3 GAMING Launch Control Stable Overclocking
POWER SUPPLY 1050W Corsair HX1050 SLI/CrossFire Ready 80 Plus Modular Power Supply
MEMORY 16GB Corsair Vengeance/Kingston HyperX Dual-Channel DDR3 (4X4G) -1600MHz CL9
OPERATING SYSTEM HARD DRIVE 1 512GB Crucial RealSSD M4 SATA III 6.0Gb/s MLC SSD Ultra-Performance
OPERATING SYSTEM HARD DRIVE 2 None.
OPERATING SYSTEM HARD DRIVE RAID None.
DATA STORAGE HARD DRIVE 1 1TB SATA III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM High-Performance
DATA STORAGE HARD DRIVE 2 None.
DATA STORAGE HARD DRIVE 3 None.
DATA STORAGE HARD DRIVE 4 None.
DATA STORAGE HARD DRIVE RAID None.
OPTICAL DRIVE 1 None
OPTICAL DRIVE 2 None
MEDIA READER None.
AUDIO 8-channel Digital High Definition Surround Sound Optical S/PDIF Out
NETWORK ADAPTER 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
WIRELESS ADAPTER None.
OPERATING SYSTEM Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit w/DVD
OFFICE SOFTWARE None
KEYBOARD None.
MOUSE None.
SPEAKERS None.
HEADPHONES None.

i really like these guys beacuse they are small and therefore really personal and great with customer service. Chuck Morris is like the BEST customer service person you will ever meet
The build was around 4.5k but im going to try and get the Asus Xonar essence Stx 7.1

[Mr Moopsy]

引用自 Cryptonick：

This is my Dream Build (at v3gamingpc.com)
Cut stuff to save space

But that is nearly exactly as I posted above you ahahahh. ;)
You want a 1200W power supply. With multiple cards, and overclocking going on you would be crazy to not get a 1200W. Not to mention it should last you longer for upgrades.

(as an owner of such a rig, it is godly) You can easily overclock that cpu to 4.6ghz (closed loop cooling) or even 4.2ghz if all you have is air. I imagine 5ghz woould be easily reached with open loop cooling. As my cpu and board are having no issues whatsoever in my overclocking. Sems to scale nicely.

Buying all the parts by the way costs 3k on newegg. If you have a Frys electronics store near you, they match any prices online so you could just get your stuff there and then. I even think that store would build it for you.

[Uueerdo]

引用自 Mr Moopsy：

First....dont plan to ever build a computer to last 4 years. Technology moves to fast. Build a computer with the hopes it remains upgradeable for 4 years.

I was going to say something like that, but even the "upgradeable" bit seems a bit much to ask for anymore. I'd say, if you've got 4k for 4 years of computing, spend 2k now and 2k in two years... or 2.5-3k now, and 1-1.5k on upgrades in 2 years.

[Mr Moopsy]

I would like to mention, that if looking at the 3930k I7 cpu 4930k is probably the better option. They are %^&mn near identical, in fact the clock almost exactly the same. But the 4930k will be more energy efficient.

You get maybe 3% better performance with 4930k. And for overclocking it is ever so slightly better at ghz per voltage.

[Hydro_Homie]

Hey guys, I want to ask what do you think I should have as my hard drive? The more capacity an SSD it dramatically increases in price , I was wondering If I should go with a 120-180gb SSD for my OS and have another 250GB (ish) for games and stuff. I also noticed that the higher space an SSD has the lower write and read times it generally has. I would of course get a final 1-2 TB HDD @7200rpm.
What do you think, suggestions?

[Mr Moopsy]

What I do is have a 120gb ssd that is ONLY for my OS

Then i have a 3tb drive for games and stuff.
If you record or anything having another 120gb or so ssd to record onto is not a bad idea either. But dedicate it to recording.

[Rove]

AMD FX 8350 + 2*6GB HD 7990 crossfire
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Flni
Base Total: $3571.18
Promo Discounts: -$25.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$100.00
Shipping: $7.28
Total: $3453.46

Intel i7-4930K + 2*4GB GTX 770 SLI
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Ho2b
Base Total: $3514.18
Mail-in Rebates: -$120.00
Shipping: $7.28
Total: $3401.46

You can swap GPUs between builds to mix and match AMD + Nvidia or Intel + AMD.

You can also game very very well with something much cheaper for $1000 or $2000 like:

AMD $1000~
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/1UUW

Intel + Nvidia $1000~
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/2eDC

Intel + AMD $1000~
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/2q8t

or AMD $2000~
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/210b

[Ashes of Samsi]

WOW O.o

引用自 Mr Moopsy：

First....dont plan to ever build a computer to last 4 years. Technology moves to fast. Build a computer with the hopes it remains upgradeable for 4 years. That aside....

Please...just please try building your own...I mean unless price really does not matter. But my rig probably cost me about 2.5k the "equivilant" that I could find already made, all cost at least 3.3k-4k and guess what, mine still pushed the better hardware...and was cheaper.

CPU
Might I recommend Intel I7 3930k(EDIT: 4930k is probably better by a hair) its a 6core beast of burden. base clock is 3.2, but it easily can be put to 4.0 on an air system. 5.0 liquid. Closed loop liquid.. 4.5 clock.(I use closed at 4.6 just fine)

I might be going against my statement of build to keep it upgradeable here, but I just love the lga2011 x79 chipsets for motherboards and cpu's.
Personally I say they overclock amazing, and offer the best cpu's currently. They are just the best there is right now. Technology is moving away from them because the average consumer browses the web and doesnt do the things us gamers can really appreciate.

GPU
With your budget, Either get a titan or two 780's. The 780's will be faster and have alot more performance. They have higher clocks than titans but less memory.
Its a personal choice, I went with the 780's because my budget will let me get 4 of these much faster than getting 4 titans. And for the cost, differences are....less than noticable.
HOWEVER
If you want some massive resolution gaming, get titans. if you stick to 1080p even 3 screens get 780s. if you get into 1440p or even the 4k screens, titans for sure. That is where that memory makes any real difference.

MOTHERBOARD
I stick to asus. just make sure you get a board with a 2011 chipset. And otherwise, anything works. My board is P9x79 Pro from asus and the 8dimms of ram really lets 64bit shine. and It has good onboard sound(surround even) with enough pci slots for my cards and upgrades.

Case
BIG
really size DOES matter. bigger is easier to work with, and offers good upgrade room.
I use a CM Storm Trooper case. And it is not as huge as an obsidian 800D but it provides great compromize to size and workspace. It is plenty big for what I am describing and can support a 240mm fan/radiator on the top and the bottom of the case.

RAM
up to you. At minimum with an 8dimm mobo I say 16gb(8,2gb sticks) You want something amazing so I would say at least 32gb(8,4gb sticks) really you wont ever use more than that while gaming but there is always the 64gb(8,8gb sticks) option. Really, only if you do alot of 3d rendering, photoshop and that stuff.

POWER SUPPLY
nothing less than 1200 watts.

COOLING
VERY important. Most store bought computers skip out on this. This shortens the life of the computer and runs everything hot, not too hot. But at temperatures that you might not want to have your equipment at especiallly when it costs 2.5-4k.
With your rig,look into watercooling. You have 2 options with it, a closed loop radiator,meaning you have some fans and prefilled tubing with a coolant going through the radiator. It is really easy for starters and is a good step up from air.
Or, you get into the open loop cooling. Custom done by yourself or you can buy a kit such as the kraken x40 and modify things. Open loop really Is only done by yourself modifying parts...it is worth it though.

HDD
Personal preference of mine is a 120gb ssd dedicated only to my OS. Nothing else is allowed to touch it. And then get other ssd's or sata whatever drives you want to actually put other things on.

Extras
DISK READER
I think disk readers are useless. And take up space which makes things hotter. When I use a disk, I have a usb powered reader that gets used one time, when installing my OS. Otherwise movies, games, music, you name it....its all online.
WIRELESS CARD
I go wired...and dont value wifi over more video cards or sound card.

DISPLAY(s)
These are almost as fun aas the computers themselves. By that...I mean cost.
At least if you want the good stuuf.
500$ can get you a 27" 144hz 3d display.(if you are like me, you want 3)
If you dont like 3d, no problem you havnt even bought the 3d pieces needed to run things in 3d. if you like 3d, go to nvidea page and look for their 3d kit. Glasses and reciever. 120$

Want to have a really fun display?2-4k setup
Get 3-4 projectors 720p=500$ 1080p=1000$ each. 4 720s is equal to 2560x1440 resolution
Get yourself some highquality canvas/fabric/projector screen. Build or look for a curved semicircle type of "display" that the canvas goes on. Project to the left, middle, and right. You now almost have a truely 3d immersive setup that surrounds you.
Cant remember off top of my head, but there are programs that your computer uses to have projectors calculate for these curves and boy...does it just look and feel amazing.

SOUND
Seems you have a 7.1 emulated headset. Keep in mind, if you use skype or most VOIP you cant use surround sound. Axon, does support surround sound though.
Otherwise unless you are really picky, your screens should be ok. When you need the real sound you have your headset.

I am happy to answer any questions you have.
Edit: If you live in the US I might consider building it for you if you really wanted. Or at the very least, help you know how to build things properly, it is actually pretty simple. Could even help you overclock to some safe numbers, safe for me, I could tell you how to push your machine higher to values it can handle, but it would be your task to do as I am not responsible for giving you high clocks that can ruin anything. As I mentioned earlier, air = 4.0-4.2ghz Closed loop=4.5ghz water=5ghz or close to it.

Sub zero cooling...is possible, will get higher clock rates, but take in mind you will need to waterproof everything as below 0 celcius water will condense and be potentially moist. You also need to know the dew point of where you live.

On top of that most watercooling open loop needs insulated pipes. And the norm is to use copper fittings.

[duplissi]

引用自 Cryptonick：

引用自 edWADส็็็็็็็：

Do you have a HIGH end sound system hooked up to your computer? If not you really have no need for a soundcard other than the integrated chip on your mobo. No matter how great your soundcard is, you will always be limited to the quality of your speakers.

I am getting a Steelseries Siberia elite headset... It's 7.1 surround (emulated I think) and its really high-end

That is not a "really high-end" headset.. lol. It should be decent though.

This headset will offer better sound quality, and if you want the simulated surround you can always install razer surround.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106474

and this one has the simulated surround without razer surround

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106639

[{AMI}SirMisAlot]

onboard sound still can not compare to the sound from a installed card
even with crappier headphones.the soundcard will sound better

[Hydro_Homie]

引用自 duplissi：

引用自 Cryptonick：

I am getting a Steelseries Siberia elite headset... It's 7.1 surround (emulated I think) and its really high-end

That is not a "really high-end" headset.. lol. It should be decent though.

This headset will offer better sound quality, and if you want the simulated surround you can always install razer surround.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106474

and this one has the simulated surround without razer surround

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106639

it gave me an empty link, can you just tell me what it is? btw, the siberia elite isnt even out yet

Oh hey guys, I need a great reccommendation for a great 7.1 surround card card. I plan on using headsets, like the tiamat which use all the connectors. unless someone reccomends i go with 5.1 please help me find one. BTW, i appreciate all your help so far; you guys are awesome!

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

引用自 Cryptonick：

Oh hey guys, I need a great reccommendation for a great 7.1 surround card card. I plan on using headsets, like the tiamat which use all the connectors. unless someone reccomends i go with 5.1 please help me find one. BTW, i appreciate all your help so far; you guys are awesome!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132010