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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Feedback on Spec?

Hello,
Make sure your software supports multiple GPU's. Otherwise you are wasting money.
I would recommend Corsair or Seasonic when it comes to the PSU.
Are you going to overclock the ram yourself? It is not going to run at 2400MHz out of the box.
 
4.6GHz should be a probable on that CPU. Normally 4.5Ghz is easy on all of those. I would suggest getting a kit of 4 sticks though especially if you plan to clock them above 1866. Often the 2133 sticks and above you have to enable the XMP and then clock them to a slower speed to make them work all 4 sticks populated.
 
Thanks guys - have a few changes. Actually found a killer Christmas deal - was able to get an ASRock X99 Extreme 4 motherboard and an i-7 5820k for less than the original mobo/cpu i spec'd. I know the cpu isn't worlds above the 4790k, but it lets me get a mobo with a longer lifespan. X99 just arrived while the other board is about at the end of it's run. I'm also picking up DDR4 2133 4x4gb (will eventually double this). I'm debating just going ahead and getting a GTX 980 over the 970... should I do that? Everything else should be the same.
 
Thanks Eric. I just have to figure out if I can swing the 980 over the 970 price wise. I originally planned on going 970 x 2 (picking up one now and one later for SLI).
 
Then I would definitely go with the 970GTX and 32GB of ram if its in the budget. The 32GB of ram will mean far more with R3D and then 980GTX will with 16GB. 16GB would also limit the GPU acceleration performance which means the 980GTX wont handle as much as it could.
 
+1 to that in regards to the RAM -- 32GB for sure, and I would recommend going to 64GB if you can. However, 32GB is an OK place to sit for the moment since DDR4 memory is still quite expensive. If you use Resolve or something else that supports multiple GPUs, you can add a second GTX970 later. I do think that going with the X99 was the right choice. You're more future-proof in a sense that you can use faster RAM and potentially swap out the CPU for one with more cores down the road. We'll see some exciting new GPU options and bigger/ cheaper RAM modules as 2015 rolls on.
 
If you want to install the Mac OS, you should probably stay with Gigabyte or Asus motherboards. The Z87/97 series is pretty solid and budget oriented, and the X99 series could still use a little more refinement.
 
+1 to that in regards to the RAM -- 32GB for sure, and I would recommend going to 64GB if you can. However, 32GB is an OK place to sit for the moment since DDR4 memory is still quite expensive. If you use Resolve or something else that supports multiple GPUs, you can add a second GTX970 later. I do think that going with the X99 was the right choice. You're more future-proof in a sense that you can use faster RAM and potentially swap out the CPU for one with more cores down the road. We'll see some exciting new GPU options and bigger/ cheaper RAM modules as 2015 rolls on.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Ok - so I may bite the bullet and grab an additional 32GB (4x8) to go with the 16GB I just picked up to get up and running (4x4) giving me effectively 48GB DDR4 2133 (plan on overclocking a little) and then going with the GTX 980. Think that will be my best bet?
 
Running 4GB and 8GB sticks requires the board to run asynchronous timings. They are suppose to handle that but are not very good at it especially at quad channel. I would be very wary of doing that. I suggest returning the 4GB sticks and just run the 8GB sticks.
 
Running 4GB and 8GB sticks requires the board to run asynchronous timings. They are suppose to handle that but are not very good at it especially at quad channel. I would be very wary of doing that. I suggest returning the 4GB sticks and just run the 8GB sticks.
Oh wow, didn't realize that. Thanks for the info.
 
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