PC build advice - GTX 970 SLI vs GTX 980 for the long run?

[Weelob]

Hey guys,

I recently purchased the retina iMac saying I probably didn't need to game that heavy games and the M295X in the iMac should be fine for the games I do play today. However I have then thought that spending ~£2360 on a machine where I personally see a short lifespan in, is kind of a waste of money even though the machine is super nice and fits my needs today.

What I need is something I will be still happy to own in a year or two, therefore I have chosen to cancel the iMac purchase and build my own PC instead.

Budget wise it doesn't matter if it's SLI 970 or stand alone 980. I'm personally leaning towords buying one 980 now and a new 980 when / if it's needed for SLI config.

This is the setup I'm thinking about buying at the moment:
Intel Core i7-4790K
MSI Z97 GAMING 5
HyperX Fury DDR3 1600MHz 16GB Black 2x8GB
MSI GeForce GTX 980 "Twin Frozr V"
Samsung 840 250GB
WD Red 3TB
Corsair RM750
Corsair Carbide Air 540

Any suggestions on better parts and such would be much appreciated.

[B!ll]

I dont know if you are only for Intel anyway i tryed to create build with Amd on same price as for Intel built.
There is some bonuses in perfomance.

Here is my suggestion:

Procesor AMD FX-8350
(water cooling for processor) NZXT Kraken X60
ASUS CROSSHAIR V FORMULA-Z
Kingston 16GB KIT DDR3 1866MHz CL9 HyperX Savage Series
2x ASUS R9270X-DC2T-2GD5
Samsung 840 250GB
Western Digital Black 4000GB 64MB cache with Advanced Format
Corsair RM850
Corsair Carbide Air 540 (this is rly nice case)

[Weelob]

Thanks for taking your time Bill, appreciate it!

This is the changes I've made:
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI Z97 GAMING 5
GFX: MSI GeForce GTX 980 "Twin Frozr V"
SSD: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 500GB
PSU: Corsair AX 860i
Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540
Case fans: Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140mm (x5 to replace all and put in maximum fans in the case for cooling and OC)
Fan controller: NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Control 5,25" Bay

[[TC] Stephen]

I would always go for single gpu options unless it doesn't provide adequate fps. Multi gpu can be a menace on some games and fine on others. I remember when I had gtx 470 in sli, had to keep turning sli off for just 1 game which got annoying. See how you go with a 980 to start with and if it struggles later on then get another 980, that's what I would do.

And I wouldn't use red drives for storage if you need speed. They are good at running for long periods, but the speeds I get from my nas are at best, 60mb/s. I have a wd black 2tb in my pc and I can get up to 110mb/s, which is great for load times.

[B!ll]

This morning i got one crazy idea but quite expensive.

Think about this build. For future (properly speaking "in long future") you will not have problems with upgrading.

New thinks:
CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60
Motherboard: GIGABYTE X99-Gaming 7 WIFI
GFX: 2x MSI GeForce GTX 980 "Twin Frozr V" (or 2x GAINWARD GTX980 4GB DDR5)
RAM: Crucial 32GB KIT DDR4 2133MHz CL16 Dual Ranked

What your choice:
SSD: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 500GB
PSU: Corsair AX 860i
Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540
Case fans: Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140mm (x5 to replace all and put in maximum fans in the case for cooling and OC)
Fan controller: NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Control 5,25" Bay

I think it is money well spent.

benchmark (Click to View)

Czech language sorry.
It is overclocked Cpu to 4.5GHz (tottaly stable) and interesting part is on 5:40

[Malibu]

As stated above you shouldn't instantly go for SLI. SLI can be a good upgrade on dated PC's, but with new PC's you're better off just buying a better GPU with the possibility of a later upgrade. SLI doesn't work as great as people tend to think.

I also hear ''A PC I can use for a long time'' a lot. It's just not possible to do this without spending too much money. Best thing to do is buy a high-end PC but NOT overkill (like SLI 970/980), and save the money for upgrades when newer generation components come out.

Also see you guys select the i7, but if you use it purely for gaming, or for other programs that don't use hyperthreading, you should probably get the i5 instead.

[Weelob]

A bit too expensive and I can live with DDR3 for a few years. I can always upgrade CPU and ram if it becomes really necessary.

[ratzaphh]

If youre gonna buy an expensive build pc like this and want it to last, why not go straight to DDR4, dont see the logic.

[SLiiDE]

(2014-10-31 09:45)ratzaphh Wrote:  If youre gonna buy an expensive build pc like this and want it to last, why not go straight to DDR4, dont see the logic.

Same reason why I wouldn't go 4k. Its still relatively new technology, and its going through its teething period.

[[TC] Crille]

I woudlnt start off with an SLI. Buy 1 extra card later if needed since it would be alot cheaper by then.

Also, try look for "future" safe motherboards. I don't know how it is at the moment on the market but when I bought my motherboard I was able to get one that would support next gen Intel processors and the upcoming new standard PCI Express 3.0 graphiccards. This might not be avalible today but try and check if any of the newer motherboards has those features.

[GT4tube]

My best option: (I will buy in 2015 January/February): Total about 1230€

-Asus Z97-A
-Intel Core i7 4790K (5.0ghz OC)
-Corsair H60
-HyperX DDR3 2x 8GB 1600MHz CL10 FURY
-GeForce GTX 970 Asus 4GB STRIX
-Toshiba SSHD 2.5 1TB
-Corsair CMPSU-650TXEU 650W
-Corsair Carbide Serie SPEC-01

*(I have SSD)
This great power enough! Future buy SLI GTX970.

[Weelob]

Went with this build if anyone didn't know from my spam in Something New You Got thread lol
Intel Core i7-5820K @ 4.5GHz
Asus X99-S Socket 2011 V3
Gainward GeForce® GTX 980 4GB Phantom
Crucial DDR4 2133MHz 16GB (4x4GB)
Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB
BIWIN A816 120GB (x2)
WD Red 3TB
Corsair AX 860i
Noctua NH-D15 CPU
Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140mm (x5)
Corsair Carbide Air 540 White