Extreme Enthusiast Build - Recommendations Wanted

S

SirDeity1234

Geek Trainee
Cooler Master Cosmos II - Ultra Tower Computer Case with Metal Body and Hinged Side Panels

2x (2-way SLI) EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 06G-P4-5998-KR 6GB K|NGP|N w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent w/ Multi-Color LED Cooler, Customized Overclocking Graphics Card

CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 64GB (8 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2800 (PC4 22400) Desktop Memory Model CMD64GX4M8B2800C14

ASUS ROG RAMPAGE V EXTREME/U3.1 LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-5960X Haswell-E 8-Core 3.0 GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W BX80648I75960X Desktop Processor

Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit - OEM

2x BitFenix Spectre PWM BFF-BLF-P12025B-RP 120mm Blue LED Case Fan

Cooler Master Nepton 280L – All-In-One CPU Liquid Water Cooling System with 280mm Radiator and 2 JetFlo Fans

LG Black 16X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner WH16NS40 - OEM

Antec TwoCool 75241 120mm Blue LED 2 Speed Case Fan

EVGA 220-T2-1600-X1 80 PLUS Titanium 1600 W 10 yr Warranty ECO Mode Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support continuous Power Supply

SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 1TB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E1T0B/AM

Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD1000DHTZ 1TB 10000 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Creative Sound Blaster Z PCIe 116dB SNR Gaming Sound Card with 600ohm Headphone Amp and Beamforming Microphone

I already have 5.1 speakers, wide screen monitor, keyboard, modem, router, mouse and mouse pad. Please share your thoughts and let me know if you can think of any improvements to the above build. Please especially let me know if I've overlooked any potential compatibility issues. I'm also unsure about the cooling options I've selected. I don't know if I should buy more fans or use different cooling components. Please share thoughts and recommendations!

Thank you!


 
Looks good over all. Because of the potential top power draw, you might want to make sure this runs on its own circuit at home. If you're not going to run tri- or quad-SLI, the 1600W power supply is over kill, so you might consider a 850-1000W unit instead. eVGA can be hit or miss, so consider other brands like Seasonic, Silverstone, Antec...
 
This build seems to be "I put as much money as possible and get system that is expensive AND sucks" type.

Where to begin?

- Intel Core i7-5960X

You want gaming? Then this processor totally sucks considering price because low clock speed.

- 2x (2-way SLI) EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 06G-P4-5998-KR 6GB K|NGP|N w/ACX 2.0+

You are using what display? SLI systems are always more problematic than single card systems. Also Nvidia cards have serious problems with Directx 12 and VR. I'd go for AMD Crossfire.

- EVGA 220-T2-1600-X1 80 PLUS Titanium 1600 W 10 yr Warranty ECO Mode Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support continuous Power Supply

Even 750W power supply is more than enough. And it's also works much better on that system because effiency is better.

- SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 1TB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E1T0B/AM

Buying TLC crap drive on that budget, really?

So that build makes no sense at all. Questions:

- Using computer for what?
- Displays?
 
Thanks for the responses!

Wicked, I see a lot of criticism but not many recommendations. In response to your questions, I'm using a ViewSonic VX2703MH-LED 27-Inch LED-Lit LCD Monitor, Full HD 1080p, 3ms, HDMI/DVI/VGA, Speakers, VESA. It isn't great but I like the size. For a second monitor, I have the ASUS VG248QE Black 24" 144Hz 1ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD 3D Monitor (intended for FPS gaming).

The reason for the SLI is because I want to be able to run games in 4K at some point in the near future (as in sometime next year), without having to buy any extra hardware. The reason for the large power supply is because I'd like the option of being able to power 4 video cards in 4-way SLI in the future. I don't know if I'll decide to buy 2 more of these particular cards to increase the number to 4, or wait a couple years and then upgrade to 4 entirely new video cards instead. I'm spending a lot of money so I'm trying to build the best gaming PC while also making it as close to "future proof" as possible. In other words, I don't want to have to build a new PC for a long time.

The gaming PC I'm using now I built top-end about 8 years ago. Only this year (ie., 2015) have I encountered games I couldn't play on maximum or near maximum quality settings (the only thing I upgraded in that 8 year period was the video card). I also tend to play the most hardware-demanding PC games available.

I selected that processor, RAM, and power supply also because they were used in Maximum PC's Dream Machine 2015 (October, 2015 issue). Also, my last video card was an AMD 6970 GT. It died recently, and I've personally had much better luck in the past with NVIDIA products. EVGA as a manufacturer is preferred because I've had good experience with their customer support. That said, I am willing to consider other options.

By all means, please use an imaginary budget of up to about $6k and provide a build list for me. I'd welcome any helpful suggestions. Please make your suggestions quickly though because I'm eager to get my stuff ordered and my computer built before I begin my Thanksgiving vacation (to catch up on some games).
 
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I read about some noise problems regarding the cooler master CPU water cooler kit, so I switched that out for the Corsair Hydro Series H110i GT High Performance Water / Liquid CPU Cooler. I also removed the SSD I had originally selected and have decided to wait a week or two for the new Samsung 950 Pro to be released. I'll then buy the 512GB SSD version.
 
$6K? Holy crap if you're building it yourself. Even boutique builders can give you a nice box for that much. Unless we end up with quad SLI or Crossfire, there's plenty left over with that figure.

Money is nice and it's yours, but since we're going back to the drawing board, what do you want to do with this thing? It's a lot harder to justify blowing money on a LGA2011 build solely for gaming. It has it's uses, but for gaming, any decent Haswell, Devils Canyon (LGA 1150) or Skylake (LGA1151) will do just as good of job at half the cost. Unless you just want to burn money for the sake of doing so, then that's fine.

Also, what resolution do you hope to game at?
 
SirDeity1234 said:
The reason for the SLI is because I want to be able to run games in 4K at some point in the near future (as in sometime next year), without having to buy any extra hardware. The reason for the large power supply is because I'd like the option of being able to power 4 video cards in 4-way SLI in the future. I don't know if I'll decide to buy 2 more of these particular cards to increase the number to 4, or wait a couple years and then upgrade to 4 entirely new video cards instead. I'm spending a lot of money so I'm trying to build the best gaming PC while also making it as close to "future proof" as possible. In other words, I don't want to have to build a new PC for a long time.
Click to expand...

Current cards are useless on 4K resolution. Wait for next year.

SirDeity1234 said:
I selected that processor, RAM, and power supply also because they were used in Maximum PC's Dream Machine 2015 (October, 2015 issue). Also, my last video card was an AMD 6970 GT. It died recently, and I've personally had much better luck in the past with NVIDIA products. EVGA as a manufacturer is preferred because I've had good experience with their customer support. That said, I am willing to consider other options.
Click to expand...

Forget those dream PC builds. They are constructed on formula more expensive = better. i7-5820K is better choice.

SirDeity1234 said:
$6K? Holy crap if you're building it yourself. Even boutique builders can give you a nice box for that much. Unless we end up with quad SLI or Crossfire, there's plenty left over with that figure.

Money is nice and it's yours, but since we're going back to the drawing board, what do you want to do with this thing? It's a lot harder to justify blowing money on a LGA2011 build solely for gaming. It has it's uses, but for gaming, any decent Haswell, Devils Canyon (LGA 1150) or Skylake (LGA1151) will do just as good of job at half the cost. Unless you just want to burn money for the sake of doing so, then that's fine.
Click to expand...

This +1. Just wasting money is not preferrable.
 
Big B said:
$6K? Holy crap if you're building it yourself. Even boutique builders can give you a nice box for that much. Unless we end up with quad SLI or Crossfire, there's plenty left over with that figure.

Money is nice and it's yours, but since we're going back to the drawing board, what do you want to do with this thing? It's a lot harder to justify blowing money on a LGA2011 build solely for gaming. It has it's uses, but for gaming, any decent Haswell, Devils Canyon (LGA 1150) or Skylake (LGA1151) will do just as good of job at half the cost. Unless you just want to burn money for the sake of doing so, then that's fine.

Also, what resolution do you hope to game at?
Click to expand...

The PC's primary use will be top-end gaming (not just today's games, but any game released for the next 5 years or so). I only build PCs once every 5-8 years, so I need to go top-end to ensure it will stand the test of time. I understand when it comes to CPUs, it can double cost for a mere 6-15% increase in performance (depending on the game). I'll also use the computer for 3D modeling (home design) beginning at some point next year. Aside from this it'll be used for basic tasks like movies and music. The goal though, as I've said before, is to future proof it as much as possible while tailoring it for the absolute best gaming performance within the allotted budget. I'm okay with paying premiums for top performance. Aside from performance though, reliability is also vital. It won't stand the test of time if it fails after only a few years of use. So I need to find the best balance between quality and performance (perhaps with a slight edge toward performance). These are the two criteria I want to focus on the most.

I also understand a lot of games (especially older games) don't support SLI. That is okay, because I've been to the NVIDIA website and seen the list of games which do support SLI and it is enough to convince me that SLI is the way to go. For games which don't support SLI, I can simply disable the second card. I'm actually strongly considering two Titan Xs in SLI, based on frame per seconds comparisons I saw comparing 2-way SLI 980 Tis vs -way SLI Titan Xs. The difference was enough in my opinion to justify the added $600 ($300 per card) price. To clarify, I don't only play first-person shooter games, but also memory demanding RPG and TBS games such as Terran Conflict (with massive station complexes and potentially millions of interactive objects in the same system simultaneously rendered, with maximum draw distances), Skyrim, and Civilization V (huge maps with maximum AI). I do a lot of hosting for multiplayer game servers as well.

Also, as I've said before, I want the option of using 4K and 5K screen resolutions. I'll probably wait until early next year to buy a 4K monitor, but when I do I won't want to have to upgrade my other hardware to accommodate it. I understand from recent research that 8GB video cards are the minimum recommended for 4K resolutions, which is why I'm leaning toward the 2 titan Xs instead of the 6GB 980 Tis.

So with everything I've said so far, please share your build suggestions, while trying to utilize as much of the budget as possible. Try to keep it between 5-6k. Only include tower and internal hardware in your build list. Please stick with the case I've already selected (because I really like it).
 
Okay. The Cosmos II does have a lot of space and the LGA 2011 boards tend to have an EATX form factor.
Now, some things to put in your head. You've posted about getting two closed loop Titan X's and also running a closed loop CPU water cooling setup. Trying to fit that all in is going to be really complicated and possibly impossible with the Cosmos II, and probably a lot of other cases. Typically, when people run the GPU's and CPUs, they have it in one loop. If you're dead set on water cooling all three, you might want to really think about buying water blocks for both video cards and the CPU. Right now, the only way having all three water cooling systems installed is going to obliterate the use of the drive cages and removing the 200mm fan. Even if you don't do that, I'm not sure if you can squeeze a 240mm radiator and 120mm radiator together along the top. There might be some weird case out there that would, but that would be the oddball. You will have plenty of airflow in that case, so you might go with the closed-loop kit for the CPU and run the Titan X's with out it.
 
Also, consider that as nice as a closed-loop kit is, there are some nice air coolers around that do a great job. I mean, I had a Corsair H60 for awhile, but found it didn't quite hack it with a Pentium X6800, and moved to a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ EVO. The EVO has actually been a better performer. Just be aware that water cooling doesn't automatically mean better cooling over air, but they are nice competition.
 
Based on your advice, I went with regular Titan X Extreme Overclocked video card (overclocked at factory) without any water cooling. I purchase fans up the yazoo to ensure maximum airflow from every available slot on my Cosmos II case. However, I did keep the H100i CPU closed loop cooler. I thought in a giant Cosmos II case, having just one closed loop cooling shouldn't be a problem... Unfortunately, with the ATX Extended motherboard, I can't seem to fit the radiator at the top of the case where I wanted to put it. The radiator hits the ends of my RAM along the edge of the motherboard.

Even if the radiator were small enough to fit in the HDD dual 120mm fan slot at the bottom of the case, the hoses aren't long enough to reach the CPU. The same issue of insufficient hose length applies to the side door fan mounts.

This is frustrating because my research indicated full support for the H100i liquid CPU cooler in the Cosmos II case. It doesn't say anything about not being compatible when using an ATX extended motherboard. I already opened the H100i CPU cooler and threw away the packaging, so I doubt I can return it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Can anyone recommend an alternative cooling option for the Intel i7-5960X Haswell CPU? I want the most effective cooling method possible, but without having to create custom liquid cooling.
 
The component placement can vary from motherboard to motherboard, so my guess is that most of the time, there's not a problem. If you're still looking for water cooling, you should be able to use the rear 140mm fan spot and be fine. Corsair's H90 is one option, but NZXT and Cooler Master also have them. Otherwise, you'll move into air cooling territory. The main issue is finding something that doesn't have trouble with RAM clearance. Noctua, Thermalright and Cooler Master have some beasts to consider. The main issue is making sure they will clear the RAM.
 
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