Help me decide between these two builds?Post Date: 2015-08-14 |
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iBizzBee 
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Joined: 14 Aug 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 10 |
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 Topic: Help me decide between these two builds?Posted: 14 Aug 2015 at 10:14am |
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Hey all,
Really glad I found this site. I've been looking to upgrade from my PS4 to a legit gaming PC for a while now and while I've considered building my own I'm willing to pay a little extra for the peace of mind of having experts put the build together, offer support and back it up with a warranty - so here I am. I'm trying to decide between these two builds right now, I'll be using a 1440p G-Sync monitor 144hz, will a single 980ti be enough to max out most games for at least the next year? I have a few questions I'm hoping you guys can answer and then of course any build improvements/suggestions would be appreciated. 1 ) I'm assuming the Apollo has more room for future upgrades than the Bolt 3, anyone have experience with having DS upgrade their systems for the future? This is why I chose the 1000w PSU in the Apollo - would greater cooling options be needed if I ever decided to get a second 980ti? 2 ) The Bolt 3 has GPU cooling, - how important is this? Is it going to be significantly more quiet or perform better? Likewise, the Apollo has the 980ti Asus Strix version available whereas the Bolt 3 is just the standard 980ti. What's the difference in performance going to be like? With liquid cooling could it pretty much be OCed to perform like the Asus strix? As someone with no experience in OCing, is it risky and I should just have DS do it or give it a shot? 3) Build quality, it seems like the Bolt 3 has better build quality? Opinions? Code: 1261215
Code: 1261235
Thanks guys! Edited by iBizzBee - 14 Aug 2015 at 10:31am |
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DS Veteran 
Joined: 28 Oct 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1674 |
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Posted: 14 Aug 2015 at 11:33am |
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I think you need to ask yourself whether you value small size or expansion possibilities.
The GPU water cooling is nice. Water has a much higher thermal capacity than air, so it can 'absorb' (if you will) a greater amount of heat, faster (i.e. more efficient thermal convection). A thin 240mm radiator will max out at around 600W of heat dissipation, so you should have some headroom there. The STRIX will have better power delivery circuitry and may overclock a little better than a reference card. As for build quality, the case for the Bolt 3 is built in aluminum (with glass or plastic window) by Lian-Li and the Apollo is plastic and steel by Corsair. Edited by - 14 Aug 2015 at 11:34am |
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db188
DS Veteran
Joined: 29 Jul 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2115 |
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Posted: 14 Aug 2015 at 3:22pm |
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1 ) I'm assuming the Apollo has more room for future upgrades than the
Bolt 3, anyone have experience with having DS upgrade their systems for
the future? This is why I chose the 1000w PSU in the Apollo - would
greater cooling options be needed if I ever decided to get a second
980ti?
no personal experience with DS yet, but anytime you add components (especially hot graphics cards under load that dump that heat back into the case) to an existing system you should expect to rethink system cooling. reference Nvidia cards use a blower cooling solution that pushes hot air out the back of the card and to the rear (or top depending on mobo orientation) of the I/O bracket (expelling that hot air outside of the case). custom vendor versions (like the Strix) of Nvidia cards typically employ their own cooling solutions with fans that push the heat from the cards back into the case and over other components (like your cpu and ram). with a card like the Asus Strix you will probably need to invest in more/better case fans; or at the least, consider removing unused hard drive bays (if that is an option with your particular case), and possibly change the orientation of fans to better migrate heat (according to the case design's air flow) out of the case.
the Strix cards in sli will pull around 650w under load, so your 1000w psu is fine. 2 ) The Bolt 3 has GPU cooling, - how important is this? Is it going to be significantly more quiet or perform better? Likewise, the Apollo has the 980ti Asus Strix version available whereas the Bolt 3 is just the standard 980ti. What's the difference in performance going to be like? With liquid cooling could it pretty much be OCed to perform like the Asus strix? As someone with no experience in OCing, is it risky and I should just have DS do it or give it a shot? both reference and custom designed GTX 980ti should have the ability to oc (ymmv). due to the silicon lottery, no two cards will ever oc the same. custom cards usually come with better/hardier components installed on them to better handle oc'ing, some vendors even claim to select higher binned chips which can increase the chance of a more stable/higher performing gpu. typically, when you only tweak the clocks (core frequency and memory frequency) you do not need to be overly concerned with damaging your card (assuming you have adequate air cooling) as they are made to oc. it is not recommended to adjust the voltage unless you have extreme cooling solutions. so, as a general rule i do not advise voltage tweaking on reference cards. 3) Build quality, it seems like the Bolt 3 has better build quality? Opinions? i would feel comfortable assuming the same. the Apollo case isn't really a high end one and it incorporates a lot of plastic into its design. Edited by db188 - 14 Aug 2015 at 3:46pm |
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iBizzBee
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Joined: 14 Aug 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 10 |
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Posted: 21 Aug 2015 at 10:37am |
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So FWIW I went with the Apollo and its just hit Stage 5 stress testing, so hoping to have it shipped soon. Cheers.
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zpconn
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Joined: 02 Jul 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 29 |
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Posted: 21 Aug 2015 at 10:57am |
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It looks like you already made your decision but I don't think you can really go wrong either way. I sort of faced a similar decision when I purchased my recent Digital Storm computer, i.e., Bolt 3 with full liquid cooling vs. an Apollo/Velox with more expansion options. I ended up going with the Bolt 3 because SLI will never be necessary for 1440p gaming and I don't have plans on jumping up to 4K probably until my next build in 3 years or so, at which point I'm sure SLI won't be necessary any longer for 4K anyway.
I went with the Bolt 3 mainly because I loved the aesthetics of the case and DS offered much more affordable liquid cooling options with it. |
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iBizzBee
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Joined: 14 Aug 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 10 |
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Posted: 21 Aug 2015 at 5:56pm |
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Oh, I definitely get where you're coming from. The Bolt has a sweet case, as someone who was mostly a Mac person before I decided to start gaming, - aluminum is sweet. I'm just not so sure 980ti will be enough for 1440p or 4k in the long run considering some demanding games already run at 40-50fps at Ultra settings 1440p, so I don't want to rule out a possible future upgrade to sli.
With that being said, I'm with you on a single card probably being great for 4k in the future, - let's hope Pascal delivers and the single-card, form-factor aluminum build of my dreams will come true in the next 2-3 years. :P Enjoy your system! |
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