Review a 2k-ish 4790k 2x970 build please

[Ragamuffin86]

Hi all, so my computer just died on me, one minute playing Endless Legend, then poof and the smell of burnt electronics (although I've been unable to locate exactly what went poof), I think my mainboard and/or PSU are dead anyway, refusing to boot or anything, and since they're fairly old I'm going to be getting a new one.

I'd really appreciate any input on what I've currently got listed, particularly if I'd be better off going from a 4790k to a Haswell-E.

Things to note:
-It'll be purely a gaming and everyday PC, no video editing or anything.
-I went for the Define R5 and the Noctua fans and cooler to try and make it as quiet and cool as possible.
-I've gone for two MSI GTX 970s as one is already in my now dead computer, so if it survived I'd like to get use from it.
-I'd like it to last a long time without having to upgrade anything, preferably 5years+, hence the high amount of RAM and dual 970s, also asking whether I should go for a Haswell-E build.
-I considered Windows 8, but I keep hearing terrible things about it, and at least I know I like Windows 7.

Anyway, this is what I'm looking at:

CPU: i7 4790k (OC'd to 4.6-4.7)
Mainboard: MSI Z97-GD65
GPU: 2x MSI GTX 970
PSU: 750w Corsair RM
System Drive: 512GB Samsung 850 Pro
Secondary Drive: 4TB Western Digital Black
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
RAM: 32GB (4x8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro, 2133MHz
OS: Windows 7 Pro
Case: Define R5, fans replaced with 3xNoctua NF-A14 FLX, 1 on rear exhaust, 2 intake.

Thanks in advance for any input and feel free to ask any questions.

[MrRockliffe]

You'll be able to get the 970 fixed under warranty if it is broken.

Since you're just gaming, seems silly going for an i7.

A Xeon E3 1230V3 would suffice and stay nice and cool with a good cooler.

You do NOT need 32GB of ram. If you're going to get more than you need, 16GB will last years.

MSI GD65 has a brown PCB I think. Go for one that has the features you want and looks. Personally? I'd get one with wireless AC built in, since you're now saving money on RAM and a CPU.

For silence, I wouldn't get a 3.5 inch HDD, go with a laptop size drive.

I can't see games taking advantage of more than 4 cores, but if you're worried that they will, you can always go for a 5820K (6 cores) and a socket 2011 board + DDR3 memory. However, a good Xeon would see you through years of torture.

[kalniel]

I wouldn't go for Haswell-E - they're slower for gaming for the most part. The 4790k is the best gaming chip due to high frequency (regardless of HT), though don't expect huge OC headroom. You probably ought to consider closed loop water cooling rather than air for it as well, especially if you do want to push the OC.

PSU, I'm not a fan of the RM series, I'd probably go for a Seasonic S12G-750 or if you want full modular and don't mind bronze efficiency (shouldn't be a concern) their M12-evo.

RAM, unless it's a negligible cost difference I'd get slower speed stuff - there's nothing significant to be gained pushing RAM that fast as mem speed is completely independent of CPU speed on that system. The pennies saved can go towards your pool of updating the GPUs sooner, which although I know you didn't want to change anything later, is really your best way of making the system last longer.

Windows 8 (and 8.1 in particular) is fine, you may even get a cheaper upgrade to Windows 10 by doing so. Windows 7 is being end of lined by MS so it's not what I'd now choose for a system you want to keep a long time.

[Marcvs]

A few games have started benefitting from the HT on the i7 but they are few and far between; if you wanna save a bit of $$ then a 4690k will suffice. Haswell E, is cool BUT because its DDR4 only has a really hefty price premium (for example £225 for DDR 3 (32gb), vs £450 for DDR4 with no noticable performance improvment.

Just be aware its better to spend half as much and upgrade twice as often.

[Ragamuffin86]

I wouldn't go for Haswell-E - they're slower for gaming for the most part. The 4790k is the best gaming chip due to high frequency (regardless of HT), though don't expect huge OC headroom. You probably ought to consider closed loop water cooling rather than air for it as well, especially if you do want to push the OC.

Honestly I'm just not that keen on closed loop coolers, I know it's unlikely, but I don't see the point of adding another potential point of failure for more money, especially when the NH-D15 is quieter and offers better performance than something like the Corsair H105 (according to the Hexus review).


Does anyone have any other input? Whether it's better to go for Windows 8.1 Pro with the Classic Shell (because Scan have an option for that I've noticed) or stick with 7? Whether I should go for a higher end Mainboard like an Asus Maximus VII Hero or Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1?

Thanks again.

[krazy_olie]

I haven't really had any issues with 8.1, most of the major issues have gone.

As for i7, techreport has shown there are certain advantages in it in terms of frame times http://techreport.com/review/26977/i...sor-reviewed/6

even if average fps values look the same.

My view to it was that cpus are basically not really upgradeable in the way they used to be because the sockets change so often, with an i5 in there any significant upgrade would more than likely require a new motherboard and with the move to ddr4 probably new memory.
The i5s are better value for money in terms of performance per pound but other factors involved. For gaming currently the 4790k is the best CPU around but you could save a bit by going with the xeon, clock speed difference is not major but in most cases you lose the IGP which is a potentially useful backup

32gb is probably unnecessary.

You may want to consider an exhaust fan gpu for sli.

[Ragamuffin86]

After looking around and some advice from others, I've made the following changes:

-Mainboard is now an Asus Maximus VII Hero
-PSU is now a 750w EVGA SuperNOVA G2
-Down to 16GB RAM
-Switched to Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell

The one thing I'm still not totally sure on still is the mainboard, I seen a lot of praise for the Asus, but also the odd comment saying the audio quality is poor, I'd prefer not to have to go for a separate sound card, does anyone have experience with the board, or could suggest another?

[eugenius]

For gaming/general use you don't need a D15, the D15 is only for x99, you don't need an i7, you don't need 32gb of RAM and expensive fast RAM is a scam (you're paying 50-100% more for 1% more performance).

I would go: i5 4690k, noctua u14s, Asus Z97-e, gigabyte g1 970 cards, 16gb value 1866/1600 ram - whatever's on sale, seasonic x760 - you don't save on the psu, define r5, extra front fan for r5, 512gb crucial mx100 ssd, hgst deskstar nas 4tb, cm storm rapid-i brown, steelseries kinzu v2 (pro pdition)

Also, if you can get sapphire tri-x 290's for a good price (like $250 a pop) those are a better deal than the gtx 970 especially for crossfire since crossfire has way better micro-stuttering and better scaling than SLI this generation because of AMD XDMA and the 512bit bus helps at higher resolutions. That and the fact that Freesync monitors are way cheaper pushes the 290's over the 970's if the price is right because it's not about the FPS it's about the smoothness. You'll need the x860 PSU if you get 290's though.

Personally, I feel people over-emphasize power consumption, the extra cost is trivial. Unless it makes the card noisy or too hot - which the Sapphire tri-x's aren't, power consumption is a non-factor for a fan-cooled system.