Needing Advice On My PC Update

[playk328]

I am looking for advice on which direction I should go for my next PC build, my last update was over 5 years ago and its well past outdated and I am looking to get this redone.

I have never built a pc before but I am wanting to try my hand in building my first one so I can dictate what goes in it and be assured that I am getting the very best bang for my budget..

Here is a bit of info about what I currently have and what I am looking at upgrading to.

Current PC.

Motherboard = Asus p8z86-v pro
CPU = Intel Core i5 2500 @ 3.30 Ghz
GPU= Nvidia GTX 560ti
Ram= Corsair Vengence DDR3
HD = 1gb old hd
Tower = Corsair Carbide 500r

Now I am looking to completely redo this from the ground up as this one is completely out of date and will be going to my little kids as their first pc.

The budget I am looking at is around $5,500 for the system and around $2,000 for the monitor "if I could save some money for sure that would be nice but this is what I have allocated for this build."

I have been looking into different directions as some people say I should go with the z97 series mother boards and grab the devils canyon CPU while other reviews are saying that the x99 series is the way to go.

I also hear that there is a new processor coming out really soon "Skylake" and also new z170 chipset motherboards..

Before reading about this new processor and motherboards that are getting ready to be released here is what I have been looking at.

CPU = Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W

Motherboard = Asus x99 Rampage V Extreme

GPU = MSI GTX 980TI GAMING 6G GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ATX Video Card  x 2 of these to run in SLI

Watercooling = Corsair Hydro Series H110i GT High Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler. 280mm

Hard Drive = WD BLACK SERIES WD1003FZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

SSD = SAMSUNG 850 EVO MZ-75E500B/AM 2.5" 500GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Power Supply = EVGA 220-P2-1000-XR 80 PLUS Platinum 1000 W 10 yr Warranty ECO Mode Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support

Tower = Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Series PH-ES614L_BK Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Memory = G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 (PC4-21300) Desktop Memory

Tower = Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Series PH-ES614L_BK Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Which leads me to my next set of questions..

Would this be solid specs for gaming, editing, working with photoshop ect?

Also with the new technology being released would it be worth it to scratch this idea and wait for the new series of Skylake and z170 boards to come out?

If this was your budget and build and it was for hardcore gaming mostly, which direction would you go and why?

Also with monitors I am looking at the 40in 4k monitor, I am debating on rather not going with just 1 40 inch 4k and saving some money or going with 3 x 1440p  32in monitors.. which way would you go?

Sorry for this newb thread as I know I am very new to pc building "I usually just go to the pc store and tell them to build me the current system, but this time I want to do it myself if I can"

Thanks again and any advice is much appreciated!

[playk328]

Here is another motherboard for the x99 series that I was looking at as well, I was not sure which I should steer towards if I chose the x99 series..

MSI X99S Gaming 9 ACK LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

[Geek-9pm]

Sorry for this newb thread as I know I am very new to pc building "I usually just go to the pc store and tell them to build me the current system, but this time I want to do it myself if I can"

A budget of $5,000?
You have never done this before?
Will the vendor provide any kind of warranty?
Any DIY project requires on to accept the consequences of an error.
You are taking a big risk, IMHO. 

Over the years I have built and repaired a number of PCs. Even if I had now some of my one time youth, I would be reluctant to build it myself. PCs are now a mass produced product. It is hard to out don the commercial firms.
DIY PC had its day.
Here is a link that explains what I mean.
Assembled or DIY desktops.

[playk328]

My actual total budget is 7k but I am putting a bit towards the monitor or monitors which ever route I go with that.

Yes I have never put a PC together but I have watched several how to videos and it doesn't look too complicating..

I will have a static free work station and I am capable of following directions.

If I mess it up then that is my problem and I would replace whatever parts I messed up but based on what I am seeing on how to build one its just like legos, I am not doing any elaborate water cooling system as the all on one water cooler looks fairly simple to install.

All the how to build pc videos and manuals I have watched and read do not intimidate me into thinking that I can't do this, it doesn't look too hard to make sure you have no static built up and place parts together, if by some off chance I do mess something up I will replace it.

I could easily just walk back into the pc store and tell them to build me a pc but I figured this time I would try my hand in building one myself, maybe with the saved money of having someone else put it together I can add some more components to the build itself.

[playk328]

After reading this article I am still set on building my own, I know the risks of ruining parts "I will replace them if that happens" but if I never try I will never know if I can do it or not.

I am confident that I can follow instructions on how to build one of these and its not like Ive never built things before "ive just been lazy before and had others build a pc for me". This time I want to enjoy building my pc from the ground up as not only a good challenge but a good reward of knowing I put this together myself.

My main questions are which are the components worth going for.. the Z97 series, X99 series or waiting for the z170 series.

[BC_Programmer]

That is a collosal budget!

As for waiting or not- the way I see it, you can always wait for the next amazing thing, since there is almost always something just around the corner, so realistically it will be completely up to you.

That is, arguably, a bit of a non-answer. If you get the latest and greatest now, you'll be able to get it sooner, and if you go with a well-known manufacturer for the components that have had  some market exposure you can be reasonably certain that you won't be dealing with any early-bird problems.

Of course, conversely, if you decide to wait, you'll have to wait for Skylake to be available, but you may also have to deal with early-adopter issues if they arise.

One of the bigger issues that results from there always being something amazing around the corner is that you cannot truly make a future-proof system, and with high-end components you have the problem that they deprecate incredibly quickly, given your budget though I don't think that is as much of a concern.

Would this be solid specs for gaming, editing, working with photoshop ect?

I don't see how it wouldn't. I guess the only factor would be your desire for 4K, but allegedly two 980TIs work to get 60fps in most games, and since you can't really get a better graphics card without jumping to the Workstation cards, I don't think you can do a whole lot better.

[playk328]

Perfect, I will start to grab the components now then, I was thinking that it might be good to grab well known parts now that are top of the line and already known to have issues resolved vs waiting on a new system that is still untested, by the time I get to my next build a few years from now their will be new technology to upgrade to anyways.

So this leaves me with the main question.

With current systems that are out now which would be the best direction to steer towards, this will mostly be for an extreme gaming pc, I do a bit of editing and I work in photoshop "mostly to paint car schemes" but I want to make sure that I do this right the first time around.

I know that this may be a bit of an overkill build and a nice budget to work with but I have saved specifically just for this build for a while now and I am looking forward to being able to finally build my own.. I almost did this on the last build but I decided I just didn't have the time to do it, but now I have plenty of time to research about this and build it so I really want to see what I can create.

So for the most extreme build I can build "not talking elaborate water cooling systems as I am not fully confident in building one of those yet" but which series would you choose if you were to build an extreme system.

Would it be the x99 series or the z97 series, also which motherboard would you grab for each series?

Here are the current ones I am looking at for each series.

X99 Series

MSI X99S Gaming 9 ACK LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

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

EVGA X99 Classified (151-HE-E999-KR) LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

The Memory I am looking at for the X99 series is these 2

G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666

Here is the processor Im looking at for this series
Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W


Here is what I was looking at with the z97 series

ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA Z97 Classified (152-HR-E979-KR )LGA 1150 Intel Z97 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

Here is the Memory for the z97

CORSAIR Vengeance Pro Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2666

G.SKILL TridentX Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2666

Here is the processor Im looking at for this series
Intel Core i7-4790K Devil’s Canyon Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150

I thought about getting 2 of the Titan X but after seeing review about the 980 ti it shows that the 980 ti is pretty on point with that card to begin with so I couldn't find reason to justify that extra expense.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing suggestions

[playk328]

Also as far as the chassis itself I have been looking at 4 different ones

Corsair 900D

NZXT Phantom 820 Series

Phantek Enthoo Primo

Phantek Enthoo Luxe

I like the size of the Corsair 900D and the fact that the reviews state it has really good cable management and I also like the size of the Enthoo Primo but the lighting on both of these I am not to fond of, as for the lighting on the Phantom I really do like it but it also only has half a window and I hear the build quality on that one isn't worth the price, I really love the lighting on the Enthoo Luxe and I would buy the led strips along with this but will it be big enough to allow decent cable management..

Regardless of which chassis I do get I will be redoing all the fans in them with matching LED ones and will also be replacing the fans on the all in one radiator with matching static pressure led fans as well.

Any suggestions on these would also be appreciated

[playk328]

Also going with this type of system would it make more since to get the  Samsung SM951 SSD MZHPV512HDGL-00000 512GB M.2 PCI-E 3.0X4 80mm OEM M.2 Drive, the SAMSUNG 850 EVO  ssd card or the Intel 750 Series SSDPEDMW400G4R5 HHHL (CEM2.0) 400GB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 MLC Internal Solid State Drive ?

Sorry for these newb questions but I am trying to make sure I choose the best components instead of regretting things later.

Thanks again in advance

[Geek-9pm]

Glad you know the risks of a DIY project.
As for name brands, the big companies have the resources and people to find the best components, if the want to.Here is a recdent list of branded desktops that are good game machines. See if you list of components is equal or better.

The 10 Best Gaming Desktops
No, I am not saying you should buy one.
Just use the list for a view of what others think is great stuff for gaming.

Digital Storm Coridium     $7779.00
The Digital Storm Coridium harnesses two of AMD's fastest graphics cards for record-setting gaming performance. But reaching new heights with this premium desktop requires paying top dollar.
...
Falcon Northwest Mach V (GTX 980)  $8,039
The Falcon Northwest Mach V (GTX 980) brings cutting-edge technology, solid build quality, and top-notch performance to the desktop gaming grid, thanks to the latest high-end components. Watch out competitors, the bar has been raised...

Hope you find what you want. 

[playk328]

Thank you, I will compare these systems to see what they offer and what is the more common pieces they are using..

It does suck that I will risk damaging things with this build but I am going to take several precautionary actions to help insure I dont mess things up. I will have a full static free work environment with the static free wrist band and the mat along with building this pc on hardwood floor instead of carpet. I will also be watching several DIY videos through out the whole process to make sure I am doing things correctly..

I will post pics here as well when I start the build and maybe you all can give advice on how things are going.

[patio]

Huge budget...after approx 4 grand it's a waste for what you get...

[playk328]

Yeah the wife gave me the frown when I told her that Im spending this much on the upgrade, but its my hobby funds and instead of wasting it in a casino or a bar I chose to do this upgrade instead

I dont just want to toss money into a system to waste it, but I do want to be able to do 4k gaming with good frame rates and the best performance I can get.

[Geek-9pm]

For what it's worth, a quote from a gamer:

The futur.e... After spending the past two weeks checking out games on Samsung's U28D590D 4K monitor, I'm still going to call 4K gaming the near future rather than the present. Yes, you can play games at 3840x2160 pixels right now. Yes, 4K monitors are becoming more affordable. But are they worth it? After spending a couple weeks using one, I can comfortably say: no, not yet. Even for a high-end graphics card (or two), 4K is too demanding ... If you're willing to play at 30 frames per second, though, 4K is a different story.

Or to put it another way, you are like a man who wants a care that gets 50 mpg and can carry 8 people and hit a top speed of 140 miles per hour.