I waited for the 1080... Need Advice.

Budget:
$7,000

Expectations:
I would like the system to support two ROG SWIFT PG348Q monitors at Ultra settings for current generation games.

Usage:
4K gaming with Ultra settings and VR ready; gaming includes Overwatch, Doom, Witcher III, etc.

Special Needs:
None. I am also considering a Velox since noise is not an issue for me. Thoughts?

Saved Ticket #: 1421111

Specifications:
Chassis
Chassis Model: Aventum 3
Exterior Finish: Black Metallic Matte Finish

Core Components
Processor: Intel Core i7 5930K 3.5GHz (Six-Core) (Unlocked CPU)
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A USB 3.1 (Intel X99 Chipset) (Up to 4x PCI-E Devices)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz Corsair Dominator Platinum DHX (Extreme-Performance)
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair HX1000i (Digitally Controlled Power)

Storage / Connectivity
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 8x / CD-Writer 8x) (Internal)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD M.2 (512GB Samsung 950 PRO) (NVM Express) (Extreme Performance)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (4TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)

Graphics / Multimedia
Graphics Card(s): 2x SLI Dual (GeForce GTX 1080 8GB (NVIDIA Founders Edition) (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Z

Digital Storm Engineering
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: Digital Storm RGB LED Lighting System (Requires Thermal Management Control Board & Software)
Airflow Control: Digital Storm Thermal Management Control Board & Software

Digital Storm TwisterBoost Technology
Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU - Up to 4.8GHz (Depends on Cooling and Motherboard)

Software
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)

Accessories / Goodies

Customer Care
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 15-20 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)

if you're thinking of doing one huge image in a "surround" type of environment with those ultra wides you're going to need 3 of them.  two would put the bezels right in the middle.  if, like Meller said, you intend to extend the desktop and use one for gaming and the other for web surfing or whatever that's fine.  i haven't had personal experience with the new cards, but my 2xGTX 980ti's under water using a 4k gaming screen with gsync, with a 1080p monitor for web surfing, didn't fair so well in The Division.  now the 1080 is supposed to be about 25-30% more performance, so i don't know how well a single 1080 would do at 4k (ultra settings all the bling), i'm betting not so good in ALL games.  all i know is that i reduced settings to "High" in the Division just to get average frames at 50FPS with frame drops into the low 40's quite frequently.  obviously that particular game has optimization issues, because the gpus were only getting 75%/65% at most utilization.  but that's the thing, right?  you want to cover all of your bases.  you don't want to spring for the cost of your system, getting it tuned how you want, and then buy a game that you really want to play only to find out it runs like crap.

if you really want to do 4k well, and power through poor dev optimization of games, you need to go overboard on the hardware and not just get what theoretically is just enough.  we were speculating in another thread that waiting for the 1080ti or Titan version of these new cards is potentially going to be the first single card/gpu solution to do 4k well.  however, the 1080's are going to have to be sli'd to cover all of your bases, imo. 

i also didn't like 4k@60Hz.  i came from 1080p@120Hz, so while the 4k was glorious looking while standing still, in action it was extremely noticeable how slow it was.  it just wasn't the smooth game play i was used to with higher refresh rate monitors.  i will go on record stating that i had a better gaming experience on 1080p@120Hz than on 4k@60Hz.  4k@120Hz should be here already (another discussion some of us forum regulars were having) because display port 1.3 standard has been out so long that dp 1.4 just released in March.  the only problem is the monitor industry is lagging behind and 4k@120Hz won't be realized until next year at the earliest.  

anyway, just some thoughts (from one person's personal experience and preferences) to keep in mind.        

yeah no doubt 2x1080's at 4k, but even with mature drivers/custom cards for 30-40% performance improvement over 980ti i'd still hold out for the ti/Titan versions for a single card solution to 4k if it were my rig.  i'd like to power thru all games and not just most.  i haven't seen the testing you've obviously put the time in watching.  i was just shocked to see how bad the experience was for me in that particular game, and even if it were optimized, just how huge of a difference 60Hz vs 120Hz made (especially at that resolution and screen size 32").  perhaps the 30-40% is enough of a difference. 

let me ask you how well you think my 980ti's will do with a single PG34Q?  my ti's are oc'd 1430MHz core/8K memory.


Edited by db188 - 28 May 2016 at 6:06pm

Originally posted by db188 yeah no doubt 2x1080's at 4k, but even with mature drivers/custom cards for 30-40% performance improvement over 980ti i'd still hold out for the ti/Titan versions for a single card solution to 4k if it were my rig.  i'd like to power thru all games and not just most.  i haven't seen the testing you've obviously put the time in watching.  i was just shocked to see how bad the experience was for me in that particular game, and even if it were optimized, just how huge of a difference 60Hz vs 120Hz made (especially at that resolution and screen size 32").  perhaps the 30-40% is enough of a difference.  let me ask you how well you think my 980ti's will do with a single PG34Q?  my ti's are oc'd 1430MHz core/8K memory.

Depends on the games. Like if you were to play The Witcher 3 on Ultra with hair works... ~30 fps +/- 10fps. Turn off hair works, 50-60 fps. Shooters, 60+ fps. MMO's 60+ fps. I think you'll be rocking 60 fps on almost everything... you just might have to slightly tune the graphics alittle here and there. Turn AA off or turn it down. At that resolution you can probably get away with having it on. I know AA is kind of pointless at 4k. So you have that going to your advantage.

The GTX 980 TI came out 9 months after the 980. The Titan X came out 6 months after the 980.

So, perhaps we might see the 1080 titan for the holidays? If that...and maybe the 1080TI as a refresh Q1 2017, if history is any indication. That's if they make the titan/TI versions at all. Rumors show that theres prototype 1080TI versions being tested.

They're not going to release the 1080TI in 2-4 months...heck the 1080 might not even be widely available in 2 months.

The numbers on the skylake processors aren't very impressive in terms of actual progress. They're more power efficient and have better integrated graphics, but...meh. That said, if you're building a new computer, it's not exactly expensive to go to the new skylake chips. I don't know much about the next chip beyond skylake, but it's important to reiterate that Intel has publicly stepped away from the old "tick/tock" paradigm of upgrade-refinement-upgrade-refinement.

I think all the 2016/2017 major releases (skylake/pascal) have pretty much taken place, and now's a good time to get a new computer.

What's not widely appreciated yet is that most games today are still based on console ports and dx11. Dx12/vulkan represents the largest leap we might see in gaming in a decade, once games made with dx12/vulkan start coming out. You'll want to have a strong DX12 card in your hands, and sooner rather than later.

And of course, VR has arrived, if thats your thing. The 1080 is much, much better than the 900 series in this respect.