Back to the Drawing Board

josh, my sincere advice is to hold off on the monitor until the 120Hz 4K monitors are available-first models coming early 2017 last i heard.  with all of that hardware you're planning on putting in your rig there really in no reason to go with anything below 4K, and you don't want to do that a 60hz (which is what is available currently). 

a single 1080 can handle 1440p just fine. 

also, make sure you tell DS exactly which fittings/blocks/gpu terminal you want them to use in your loop.  i know they're using EK models, but you can get them in different finishes and materials.  go to ekwb web site to see full range of options. 

as for your builds, you changed each one in many areas, so i'm wondering what exactly your needs are.  you don't need 32GB of ram for gaming currently.  a 6-core processor is also unnecessary, especially paired with Nvidia cards that don't take advantage of DX12 at all.  6-core procs do scale somewhat depending on the game (in a very small sample size so far mind you), and AMD graphics make up a lot of ground lost to Nvidia in a DX11 environment, with overall performance relatively equal in DX12.  the vast majority of games are still DX11 based, so a fast overclockable quad core is perfectly fine. 

it's your money, but if all you're using this pc for is gaming and web surfing i'd suggest some areas where you can save money and stretch your budget towards an optimal gaming machine. 

from my research on the Titan X (Pascal) when it first came out: 

1) really expensive, not a bang for buck (price>performance) purchase; however if you've got the scratch to consider buying an Aventum then you're not a person looking for bargains.

2) it's an extremely powerful beast, which in Nvidia's great wisdom, held back by an inadequate cooler and bios (read: power delivery). 

now, the thermal throttling is easily overcome with a full cover water block/liquid cooling, which just happens to be available now.

the power delivery issue is trickier.  what's really needed is a custom bios (or better yet, one from Nvidia that doesn't cut your card's ballz off).  another approach, is a shunt mod.  however, i'm not sure even i'd be willing to do that to a card as expensive as this one.  maybe Meller would?  Yo Meller!!

all that being said, the Titan X (properly cooled) is the single most powerful graphics option available.  you should be able to wring some more performance out of it with the proper liquid cooling setup that should give you more than enough performance at single monitor 4k gaming.  if you want to jump up to 5K and beyond you'll need multiple cards. 

why single card?  because it's reliable performance w/o guess work or trade offs (like stuttering, poor SLI scaling, and lack of support).  i currently run dual 980ti's in my gaming rig and i've been (mostly) disappointed with the lack of multi gpu support and proper SLI scaling.  let me tell you, it sux seeing my second card sitting there at 18% utilization in some games.  and before you read somewhere that most games are providing good sli support/scaling it's been my experience that you'll see your second card not scaling up anywhere near what they promise in reviews, so ymmv. 

the other thing to consider is that even fast oc'd procs are bottle-necking high end multi gpu configs.  i have a Skylake [email protected] GHz (24/7 oc) and i see it bottle-necking my 980ti's sometimes.  not by a lot mind you, but it's there.  you need to go high rez for better scaling and to shift processing to the gpu(s).  i'm pretty sure Skylake still has the fastest per core performance.   

here's my 2xTtian X gaming config for you: 1509935

as you can see it comes in $800 less w/o sacrificing any gaming performance compared to yours.  reduce it to 1xTitan X and change the power supply to a 750W, adjust the LC to just 1 gpu and you can save even more if you just want to try single monitor 4k (might have to lower some game settings depending on game demands).  you should be able to oc that Titan enough under water to get good frame rates even with very high settings. 
 

Thanks again for your input. I definitely need a new monitor now because I'm using a 5 year old Dell Ultrasharp currently. My thought is to get a Predator X34 for now and upgrade next year when the 4K 144's come out. Ill be able to move the Predator at that time to a different computer.

I've reworked the build. I'm ready to go SLI with 2 Titan X cards. I chose the 6700 processor. I like the new Pro 960 M.2 SSD (512).

Final thoughts before i pull the trigger? Anything I should do regarding the choice of fans?

Thanks for your help.

1510090

Edited by josh134 - 26 Oct 2016 at 1:10pm

almost forgot, with a system as complex as yours, you might want to consider the extended warranty.  it's been my experience that after some initial potential issues the next most frequent break down will probably occur right after the 1 year mark and that's after the DS basic 1-year on parts replacement occurs.   i advise the 5-year labor/3-year parts for $299.  that price is fairly good among the major boutique system builders (--------, --------, etc.).    

EDIT: Removed Competitor Names - Alex

Edited by Alex - 26 Oct 2016 at 3:01pm

sorry Alex

yeah, i run Dominators in my rig as well and they look boss too!

i prefer doing my own oc'ing and testing.  i devote a weekend to it usually.  i seriously doubt DS does that.  however, if you aren't comfortable learning how to do it yourself might as well have them do it. 

couple of options:

1) you can have DS oc the cpu and/or gpu(s) and ship it with the oc
2) have them oc as above, save to profile in bios, have them reset the system to default settings and ship
3) have them ship the system with default settings (no oc)


if you choose number 2, they will have it configured should you want to at a later time enable the oc.  it will be saved in the bios and you can easily load it from there with a reboot and entry into the UEFI bios.  this options has the benefit of waiting to see if you even need to oc and still having it done by DS.

none of the Corsair fans on offer by DS have enough static pressure to be good as radiator fans.  and they're not the most quiet fans either.  like i said, there are far better options out there.

Congratulations. That is a very nice system.
Get DS to install a drain valve at the lowest point so in a year or two you can change the coolant easier than without one.
Enjoy.

Just noticed you do not state the warranty you ordered. As db188 suggested, the standard warranty only covers parts for 1 year, you should get a longer term. One year flies.


Edited by hoserator - 05 Nov 2016 at 3:30am