Please help with my build

Hi Shash,

It is hard to configure a system with out know some of the things you might want like water cooling. I have put together a Good system to meet your requirements for high 4K gaming. This will give you a place to start. I got just a bit over your $5000 budget but we can change a few things to lower the price and still stay under $5000. I used the Hailstorm II case which is a great case for full water cooling. With this case and cooling you can move up to Stage 2 overclock if you wanted to. The Hailstorm II case is a big case.     

Frank

Digital Storm Desktop - Config: ID 1410783 $5,140.00   


System Configuration:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Hailstorm II Edition
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz (Codename Skylake) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING (Intel Z170 Chipset) (Up to 5x PCI-E Devices)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair HX1000i (Digitally Controlled Power)
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) (Internal)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD M.2 (512GB Samsung 950 PRO) (NVM Express) (Extreme Performance)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB (ASUS Strix Edition) (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: HydroLux PRO: Exotic Custom Cooling System (2x Graphics Cards + CPU)
HydroLux Tubing Style: Flexible Tubing (Requires HydroLux Liquid Cooling System)
HydroLux Fluid Color: Red Fluid (Requires HydroLux Liquid Cooling System)
Cable Management: Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Remote Controlled LED Lighting System (Multiple color options and lighting effects)
Airflow Control: Digital Storm Thermal Management Control Board & Software
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU - Up to 4.4GHz (Depends on Cooling and Motherboard)
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (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)
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)





Edited by FrankW - 06 May 2016 at 8:42am

Thank you for the posts. :-)

I have not placed the order yet :-)
Still thinking about builds.
Also I really want to see the new Nvidia card.

The GTX 1080 has finally been released so it’s time to make a purchase!!

I have a few questions.

Is it ok to have one storage set or would it be better to have one for the OS and another for games and storage? Would you recommend something altogether different?

What are your thoughts on the ASUS MAXIMUS VIII HERO motherboard?

Is the Velox case overkill? The white Apollo is also a pretty sharp case.

I may add a second GTX 1080 at some point. Is it difficult to add a line to the hydrolux Lite cooling system and GPU? Does Digital Storm sell the parts?

Will the single GTX 1080 card be able to bring the Asus 4K Ultra monitor to its full potential?

That’s pretty much all I can think to ask at this point.

My configuration number is 1420759.

Originally posted by Shash The GTX 1080 has finally been released so it’s time to make a purchase!! I have a few questions. Is it ok to have one storage set or would it be better to have one for the OS and another for games and storage? Would you recommend something altogether different? it's okay to have 1 large storage drive, but you're going to want to back up your work to either an external drive or cloud (or both).  the W10 OS requires 20GB of space.   i personally run with 2 storage drives in my system.  my primary is the fastest and holds the OS+games (older games infrequently played go on my secondary drive along with data).  What are your thoughts on the ASUS MAXIMUS VIII HERO motherboard?good board, but i've jumped off the Asus bandwagon for now.  i have a Gigabyte G1 Gaming GT Z170 in my rig.   Is the Velox case overkill? The white Apollo is also a pretty sharp case. no, it's a DS custom open air case.  if acoustics aren't that important to you, it performs thermally very well.  probably going to get better cooling from the Velox, imo.  I may add a second GTX 1080 at some point. Is it difficult to add a line to the hydrolux Lite cooling system and GPU? Does Digital Storm sell the parts?i'm not sure how DS hooks this up, but if it has quick disconnects i'm sure it's pretty easy.  best to chat with DS about this.  of course it's probably best to do it up front so they can test it all together and avoid shipping back and forth.  unless you want to tackle it yourself, which is fine, but they can't in-house troubleshoot it along with the rest of your system during initial build process. Will the single GTX 1080 card be able to bring the Asus 4K Ultra monitor to its full potential? i seriously doubt it.  in fact, i'm like 99.9% certain it can't.  first problem is that there are numerous games, some more taxing than others, some less optimized than others, etc.  second, a single 1080 is only like 15% better than a Titan X and a Titan X can't do 4k on ultra settings well at all.  i've got 2xsli 980ti's overclocked to 1430Hz core clock and 8GHz on the memory and i struggle at 4k in Tom Clancy's The Division.  even at High settings i'm only getting 50FPS average with many dips into minimum frames in the low 40's.  plus 4k@60Hz sucks ballz imo!  i'm returning my 4k monitor because the game play just isn't as smooth as i'm used to (had a 1080p 120Hz monitor previously).  from now on (at least until display port 1.3/1.4 monitors are released and can do 120Hz natively), all of my monitor recommendations are going to be for 2k (1440p) resolution at most.  in fact i just ordered an Asus Rog Swift PG34Q G-Sync (34" IPS Ultra Wide) curved, which runs natively at 60Hz, but has overdrive capability to 100Hz.  That’s pretty much all I can think to ask at this point. My configuration number is 1420759.

Edited by db188 - 28 May 2016 at 1:55am

Originally posted by Shash Which storage set would be the better option? i read good things about the Samsung PCIe NVMe drive.  it's one of the two fastest (the Intel 750 being the other) drives on the market currently.  i have the Intel 750 for my primary storage and a SATA SSD as backup/data storage in my rig.  i'd recommend one of these two drives to anyone with the budget who wants the best performance out of an SSD for a primary storage option.   you don't need a second drive inside the rig.  you can get a huge external storage device or use the cloud storage or both for that matter to backup your data.   it all comes down to personal preference.  An SSD PCI-E Card (400GB Intel 750 Series) for the OS system and a SSD PCI-E Card (800GB Intel 750 Series) for games and storage or an SSD M.2 (256GB Samsung 950 PRO) for the OS and a SSD M.2 (512GB Samsung 950 PRO) for games and storage? their both "pcie" drives.  one is in configuration of a pcie slot driven device and the other is in the configuration of using the m.2 port on the mobo.  it really comes down to the mobo (some support 1, 2 or 3 m.2 ports) and disable a certain number of pcie slots while doing so and vice versa.  you have to consider the configuration of the drives, the mobo, and any discrete video cards beyond the first you might be using.  there's only so much bandwidth to share.   I am not sure of the difference between the PCI-E and the M2. Also, if you feel there is a better option please post.not to confuse the situation further, but there are also m.2 SATA versions of these drives, which are much slower than pcie drives, so make sure you're getting the one you want.  the difference lies in the configuration/orientation on the mobo.  m.2 lies flat on the board while pcie slot driven storage devices stick out from the board.  the performance difference is really between PCIe and SATA, not PCIe and m.2 configs.  you still have to worry about how you combine your storage options for compatibility reasons.  just tell DS that you want 2 (or more) high speed PCIe storage devices, in addition to however many video cards you want, and they'll recommend a mobo and device configuration to you that will meet your needs.  I am dropping the 4K monitor as, at this time, it does not seem to be a viable option.  4k enthusiasts might disagree but i think most people will be happier at 2k for now.