New PC.

Budget:
5K or less

Expectations:
Play most if not all games at max settings at 1920x1080.

Usage:
I currently play ArcheAge, Elder Scrolls Online and Skyrim. I often participate in MMO BETAs. I hope to play any Elder Scroll or Fallout sequels when they come out.

Special Needs:
Quiet operation with little light pollution. It will be set up in the bedroom and sometimes I like to leave it on when in bed. I have handicapped hands and I'm slow with the mouse and keyboard and often press the wrong thing because of it but I don't see anything here to help with that. If anyone has any suggestions, do tell.

Saved Ticket #: 1059128

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Corsair Obsidian 550D
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 5820K 3.3GHz (Six-Core) (Unlocked CPU)
Motherboard: ASUS X99-DELUXE (Intel X99 Chipset)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX (High-Performance)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair CX750M
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader (Burn + Play Blu-Ray & DVDs) (12x BD-R)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (500GB Samsung 840 EVO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition) <br><strong></strong>
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB (Includes PhysX) <br><strong></strong>
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 120mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (High-Performance Edition)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Fans: Upgrade All Fans to Corsair Airflow Performance Edition (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 1 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds Only)
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Boost Graphics Card(s): - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: FREE: McAfee AntiVirus Plus (1 Year Service Activation Card) (Not Pre-installed) ($35 Value)
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
Portable Gaming: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)

Questions/Concerns:
1. I notice there are only two USB ports on the front of the case. That will cause me to make a few changes or buy longer USB cables. Do bluetooth headphones/mice/keyboards work well for gaming? I would be nice to get rid of a few cables.
2. Are the Western Digital Enterprise drives only for RAID? Is there any reason to get one over the Black?
3. In the past, I have mostly bought AMD CPUs and ATI/AMD GPUs. They seem to have been left behind by Intel/NVidia or am I mistaken? Opinions welcome.
4. Is there anyting I'm missing that might make my gaming experience more enjoyable? I could buy more/bigger SSDs but somehow I don't think that would help.

Thank You,
Smarmy

Not so sure about SLI. I tried that a couple of PCs ago and had some issues with certain games and drivers. I suppose I'd prefer a strong single GPU.

1.. I don't use a lot of wireless devices but others have no problem. They seem to be just fine.

2.. can't help there.

3.. AMD cpu have lagged Intel from all I've seen. Their gpu's have kept up recently, and in some cases are better bang for the buck. They seem to run a little warmer and noisier on some comparisons but still good cards. The R9 270/280/290 are very good. The recent Nvidia 970/980 are roughly the same performance as R9 280/290 but the 970/980 throw less heat, use a lot less wattage and are quieter. My picks.

The rest of your build looks great.   The 550d case is a nice looking and very quiet setup.   For that case I'd stick with single card since it is a closed up case. Sli will work especially with the new cards, so really up to you. I like the best single card, if it meets your needs.

Good luck.

Originally posted by bprat22 1.. I don't use a lot of wireless devices but others have no problem. They seem to be just fine. 2.. can't help there. 3.. AMD cpu have lagged Intel from all I've seen. Their gpu's have kept up recently, and in some cases are better bang for the buck. They seem to run a little warmer and noisier on some comparisons but still good cards. The R9 270/280/290 are very good. The recent Nvidia 970/980 are roughly the same performance as R9 280/290 but the 970/980 throw less heat, use a lot less wattage and are quieter. My picks. The rest of your build looks great.   The 550d case is a nice looking and very quiet setup.   For that case I'd stick with single card since it is a closed up case. Sli will work especially with the new cards, so really up to you. I like the best single card, if it meets your needs. Good luck.

Thank You bprat22. I think I will get one graphics card and add another if needed later on. I expect it wouldn't be needed to begin with.

--Smarmy

Thank you danjw1.

I will certainly upgrade the CPU and look into the extra USB ports.

--Smarmy

I am not sure why you went with 2 512GB SSDs. There is a 1TB version of the 850 Pro out there, but since DS doesn't carry those, I would expect them to add a special order fee. The way you have this system setup the drives would all appear as separate devices in the OS, so you will be managing 3 different storage devices manually. It might be better to set the SSDs into a RAID0 array to pool them. The one problem with that is that if one fails, you lose everything. RAID1 is also an option or mirroring which would write the data to both drives, thus halving the available space, but if one fails you don't lose any data. The chipset allows for RAID levels 0, 1, 10 (requires at least 4 drives) and 5 (requires at least 3 drives) for up to 6 drives. Here is more on RAID: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Other then that, looks like a very nice build.

Edited by danjw1 - 13 Oct 2014 at 10:39am

Thank you danjw1 and danjw1.

I think I will replace the system drive with the 256GB version and the other SSD with the 840 EVO 1GB and keep the hard drive.

--Smarmy