Need advice on new PC

Firstly, DS sells their items in regards to the cost it was for them when they purchased said cards.

So if DS bought them when they were $1500 then you can expect that price until their stock reflects as such. Though you can always call and talk to their sales team about it, I'd think.

My recommendation would be the following:

More storage space. Especially if you want a gaming machine. Get either another SSD that is bigger than 128GB or increase your one drive to something larger.

Swap that R9 295X2 to some GTX 980's. If DS is charging $1400 for a R9 295X2, then you can get 2 GTX 980s for a much cheaper price and they will perform much better. For close to $1500 you can possibly get a triple SLI GTX 980.

And lastly, I'd drop the Noice Reduction package. ASUS motherboards have some of the absolutely best integrated fan controllers thanks to their AI Suite 3 software.

And an opinionated upgrade. Get that Hardline tubing to cool your CPU and GPU's. Especially if you want an extremely quiet system. And if you do decide to get it, make sure you refer to it as the EllerLux cooling system.

Let me know if you have any questions over any of my recommendations.

That's fine. To each their own. I only use nvidia now a days. Even so, you can probably save money and get as good of performance out of 2x R9 290X over a single 295X2. Given that the 295X2 is so expensive on here.

Everyone has their own taste. I, for one, will keep using EVGA cards for a good long while.

Given that you have a larger data storage set up and another SSD, then my recommendation would be to:

Drop noise reduction

Swap the 295X2 for either 2x R9 290X or 2x GTX 980's (I know, you don't like nvidia... but I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing I didn't state it in my recommendations).

And if it fits you budget, since you're saving money on noise reduction and replacing that expensive 295X2, look at liquid cooling. It'll drastically help with sound, and give much better overclocking and overall cooling results.

The difference in cooling here, because I mentioned the EllerLux (Or Hardline) is you can run a soft tubing build, or the hardline which is acrylic. The hardline tubing looks so much cleaner, where as the soft tubing is cheaper. Both offer same cooling results.

I want to stress the consideration of liquid cooling because you're dead set on AMD cards. The 290X's run hot. Now AMD swears up and down they were built and meant to run really hot. But... well I'll just say it. AMD is stupid for doing it. It's a failed marketing set up on their part. Saying they want it to run hot, it's the design when really it's just a 7970 binned and overclocked higher, hence the higher temps. *claps AMD... * (Not animosity... I just call it how it is. Hopefully their 300 series is better). Either way, yea that's why a more exotic cooling is worth consideration.

@Meller
as for the GPU,
for some reason the price for 295X2, 2x R9 290X, and 2x GTX 980's, is about the same the different is within $70. (their price is around 1400-1500.)
at this point 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Black 6GB might be better choice for me as it about 200 cheaper...-*-
for the cooling, depend on the price I get for GPU I might consider going H20: HydroLux Level 1 on CPU.

@danjw1
Thank for the recommendation ;) I still not sure which GPU I'm getting yet (Price-wise ...T_T). if I end up with 295x2 then Noctua seem to be better option.

@bprat22
you do have a point. I haven't though of it that way lol.

how is GTX TITAN Black 6GB performance btw.

from the look of it, I'm might give Nvidia another try ;).
is it worth it to go for 2X SLI GTX 980? (the price is the same as 295X2)
or is 2X SLI 970 is good enough for now? (about 500 cheaper )

Best regard,
Rem

Edited by Rem - 04 Nov 2014 at 11:32am

I plan on upgrading to 2 X 1080 Monitor. prolly not going 4K, too expensive there ;S.
at this point I'm looking at ASUS VG248QE or PG278Q.


Edited by Rem - 04 Nov 2014 at 1:33pm

Just update PC spec in opening post.
I change my GPU to 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB (Includes PhysX)

still a bit unsure on CPU cooling, at this point I will
prolly stick with Corsair H110 280mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler

Edited by Rem - 04 Nov 2014 at 2:36pm

is win 8 stable?
i usually dont touch newer version of OS until 3-4 years after it release.

8.1 is quite good actually. It's a good upgrade.

I feel like I've been preaching about the GTX 980's this whole time, especially in SLI and I was denied. One other person says it and it's all of a sudden a "Oh, yea SLI GTX 980's... why didn't someone mention that before?"

Also, 2x GTX 980's or 2x R9 290X's won't be $70 cheaper than an 295X2 if the 295X2 is $1500. 2x GTX 980's would be about $1200 depending on the make and model you get (That's judging off of the 980 SuperClock ACX 2.0's from EVGA) and the R9 290X's are even cheaper than that. But... ew AMD.

o.O I'm so confused here.

Also, an 850watt is plenty for a GTX 980. Benchmarks have shown 4x GTX 980's pulling less than 500 watts... so two will be completely fine.

Not sure about the pricing. That is strangely expensive. Since you aren't water cooling your GPU's. You could always just buy one through DS, then buy the second yourself. That'll shave $700 off the total build cost... then drop the $500-$550 yourself for a matching GPU and save money that way.

@ Newegg a GTX 980 SuperClock ACX 2.0 is roughly $570... same on amazon. So Save $710 on total build, drop $570 yourself on a second card. Bam.

Normally I can defend DS pricing, but... i'm at a lost right now. Not too sure what exactly is going on. Either the 295X2 is much cheaper than I thought on their site (I went off the original $1500 price tag you said). Obviously 2x $570 is < $1500 by more than $70. *shrugs*

Yea, give them a call and see what you can work out.

I think AMD dropped the price on the 295x2 to around $1000 so the GTX 980 sli would likely be the same or more expensive depending on when DS bought theirs.

You actually want full load to be up in the 70-80% range. This allows for an aged PSU to still handle loads, but it brings the efficiency at idle up. The PSU efficiency below 10-20% is horrendous and you do not want your computer to idle (where it spends a lot of time) below it. So, you do not want to over-spec your PSU either.

Originally posted by  You actually want full load to be up in the 70-80% range. This allows for an aged PSU to still handle loads, but it brings the efficiency at idle up. The PSU efficiency below 10-20% is horrendous and you do not want your computer to idle (where it spends a lot of time) below it. So, you do not want to over-spec your PSU either.

You are correct about over specing. The numbers do not include memory, motherboard and drives. But, this should give some room for overclocking with both CPUs and GPUs at higher voltages. So, I think that 850W is just about the right spec for overclocked dual 980 rig with a i7-4790k processor. It wouldn't hurt for Rem to discuss this with DS.

Edited by danjw1 - 06 Nov 2014 at 8:09am

Originally posted by Rem I plan on Overclocking my CPU to 4.4, but I don't really have any plan to overclock my GPU.

I would discuss power requirements with DS. EVGA suggests at least a 500W power supply in a system with a single GeForce GTX 980 Superclocked ACX 2.0.

Thank for the Help guy.
so I end up with 2x GTX 980 sli, current using 2 1080P monitor.
I plan on buy either 4K or another monitor some time soon when they got a good price on it.
here is my spec (place it,a few days back.)

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Digital Storm Apollo
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0 GHz (Codename Devils Canyon) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK2 (Intel Z97 Chipset) (Military-Grade TUF Components)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1866MHz Corsair Dominator Platinum DHX (Extreme-Performance)
Power Supply: 850W EVGA SuperNOVA
Optical Drive: ASUS Blu-Ray Player/DVD Writer (Play Blu-Ray and Burn DVDs) (Model: BC-12B1ST)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (128GB Samsung 850 PRO)
Storage Set 2: - Intel SSD 150g. form my old PC
Graphics Card(s): 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB (Includes PhysX)
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Corsair H110 280mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (Extreme-Performance Edition)
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-Bit Edition)
Display: Asus 24 inch VG248QE Series (144Hz Refresh Rate) (Black) (1ms Response Time) (LED Backlight) 
Display2: my old monitor (Samsung SyncMaster PX2370) will be swap out for new monitor once i got new one.

 

Edited by Rem - 05 Dec 2014 at 7:14pm