Single GPU X99 PC for Photo Editing and a little gaming

[skyqpic]

Hi there,

I am building a X99 PC for Photo Editing and a little gaming

I could not decide which motherboard and graphics card to go for...please help me

SSD and HDD recommendations welcome

CPU: i7 5820k

Cooler: NZXT X61

Motherboard: ASUS X99-A/USB3.1 or MSI X99A Gaming 7 ???

Graphics Card: ASUS STRIX OC GTX970 or Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX970???

PSU: EVGA G2 650W

SSD: ?

HDD: ?

[safetravels]

Go-to SSD recommendation is the Samsung 850 EVO series, have served me well in several situations.
For HDDs I usually go with Seagate, no problems so far, but looking at reliability stats HGST models seem to be the best.

For GPUs I'd recommend either the nVidia GTX 1070 if you're a bit more serious about gaming, or the upcoming AMD R480 if you're more budget focussed.

Why x99 btw?

[Bonebreaker777]

I would say any SSD is fine. Haven't had anything really unreliable. The performance is usually determined by the price so a mid-range SSD would be the best call.

HDD - HGST suggested also. Had WD Purple for a while now, zero issues. I think as long as you take care of your machine.

GPU - nVidia 970 sound like a good choice, both for gaming and the 'professional' aspect. No sure if you couldn't/wouldn't rather wait for the new gen 14nm GPUs.

[RapsterUK]

No recommendations for the i7 6800K?

I know it's more expensive (about £30 at time of writing) than the 5820K, but it is newer, shinier, consumes less power, has slightly better IPC...

I'm going the way of the 6800K and the new ASUS X99-A II - OP, I suggest you look at it as it's the newer version and has both Type-A and Type-C USB 3.1 ports on the backplate, giving you at least some future proofing.

[Dashers]

On an X99 motherboard get a PCIe NVMe SSD. You've got lanes to burn, even on a 5820K. Agree with the above though, get a Broadwell-E instead of a Haswell-E, because there is no reason not to.

[XRoyalT]

Any SSD will work work, I'd recommend the 840 Evo from samsung its what I use and it has a great price to performance ratio, also make sure your getting the right speeds after you install by running a benchmark app for SSD's, I vote for theASUS X99-A/USB3.1 and if you haven't already purchased this setup, look at the new 10series gtx Nvidia cards for a GPU.

Regards