1500 pound rig for gaming and 3d graphics

[Axcel]

Hello,
I'd like to discuss choosing parts for my new PC.
I don't have a fixed budget, but I'm aiming in sth around 1500 pound total (without screens).

What I have so far is:
Haf-X coolermaster case
OCZ Modstream 700W (I will change it LATER)
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB
Samsung F1 1TB internal and ADATA 1TB external (already 3-4yrs old)
ASUS Xonad DX 7.1
2x 1920x1200 24" screens

What I will be doing except websurfing is playing video games on ultra quality and making 3d graphics for video games, which I make professionally (but in a studio). 3ds max, photoshop, zbrush, substance painter, xnormal, cryengine. Not so much of baking or rendering so no point buying 6cores cpu.

What I'm am aiming for is:
Intel i6700k
ASUS MAXIMUS VIII VIII HERO
32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 (I'm struggling with availability, what kits I can get right now except corsair vengeance 2666 CL16?)
GeForce 970 Gigabyte G1 Gaming (I will change it on Pascals in SLi later)
Big issue for me: what realiable storage solution chose?
HGST 7k4000 Ultrastar 3TB (HUS724030ALA640) one or two in Raid1
Maybe better 2x HGST IDK Deskstar 4TB (H3IK40003272SE) in Raid1
or Maybe 3x Western Digital 3TB SATA Caviar Green (WD30EZRX) in Raid5?
What do you think about it and what cooler do you recommand for cpu?

Anyone knows when can we expect availability of ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme?
Or availability of Ripjaws V DDR4 2x16GB?

 

[SpencerUk]

If you're spending round £1500, I'd go with the X99 platform regardless whether you're going to be using the extra cores or not. It's useful to have them there.

What's you're current setup at present?

 

[NeverBackDown]

Some of the software you listed doesn't use GPUs and uses the CPU for rendering. So a 6 core CPU could be beneficial.

On the software side, since all of them either use OpenCL or don't use any GPU at all for rendering, you'd better off running an AMD card. The AMD 390 is faster in games than a 970 and cost the same. Also in OpenCL tasks, the 390 will outrun the 970 as well if you choose to render at all(since you said not so much). So really the best of both worlds is a 390. And since you plan on multi-gpu later, a 390 in Xfire is faster than a 970 in SLI mostly because it tends to scale better. Though not all the software you are going to be using uses multi-gpus so you won't benefit there.

If I were you, I would just buy 16GB kits separately so you get the full 32GB.

If you want fast boot times and/or fast software loading, I would get a Crucial MX200/Intel 730 for the best reliability if you need another SSD. HDDs the most popular one is WD as they have a low failure rate. Getting some WD Blacks in RAID would be a better choice as they better suited for RAID over the Greens. They tend to have better warranties on the Blacks too if that's important to you.

As for the CPU cooler, The HAF-X can support an AIO. I'd get the H100i GTX as the CPU will be running nearly 100% 24/7 when using all that software so keeping it cool as possible over the long run would be a good idea.

 

[Axcel]

Thanks for answers, warranty gives me nothing, when data is lost.

About WD red is for raid not black.
About highest reliability, hgst is over wd.

I won't be rendering much. For me priority is comfortable real-time work, and rendering/baking not so much. I prefer to have some operations to be made in 2s instead 1,5s than rendering in 30mins instead 40. Smooth computer behavior encourages me to work instead of making my eyebrows to be frown.

I dont have a good information about usage of GPU by applications and if they do i usually tend to switch it off. But from what I now, Photoshop is using GPU (im usually switching this off), xNormal is using CUDA and 3ds max is using gpu eiher for its nitro viewer (which i tend to switch off either), it uses CUDA.
So GPU will be for good framerate in games as well as good real-time rendering in game engines.
It's also essential for substance painter, especially a lot of VRAM, cuz all textures are stores uncompressed there.

Choosing between 6cores LGA2011 and 4cores LGA1151 is really difficult. But i think having more pci-e lines, support of M.2, usb 3.1, ddr4 is more beneficial than having 4channel ddr which givs nothing in practise, and having extra 2 cpu cores.
How high can I overclock 5820k? 6700k handles 4.6-4.8GHz.

I wish to buy 2x16GB DDR4, but it's almost impossible to get, maybe temporary i will buy 4x8GB 2400/2666MHz (didnt want to do this, but eh) and will replace them in a future for 4x16GB 3000MHz+ when it will be more popular and more advanced.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Thanks for answers, warranty gives me nothing, when data is lost.

About WD red is for raid not black.
About highest reliability, hgst is over wd.

Warranty matters, if a drive starts to fail, you get a replacement before it loses data. It doesn't just outright stop working unless you do something major. Or unless it arrives bricked.
Red is for RAID yes, however Blacks can still be used for RAID. Doesn't matter really. Any HDD can be put in a RAID.
Toshiba and HGST both make reliable drives. WD also does but do have a lower rating, simply because they are the biggest supplier which means more bad drives will be more common. All 3 are top brands. Personal preference and up to you on who you believe is the best one.

Why do you shut them off? You get things done faster for any process that uses Cuda or OpenCL. Even if they don't use it, doesn't slow you down. Then when it gives them a workload it just gets done faster. Doing everything faster is the point in all this hardware, especially in a work environment, may as well give it something to do!

The 2011-v3 socket CPUs can OC just as much as any Skylake CPU. You can't even get a 6700k right now, and if you manage to find one(due to extremely limited supply) you pay an enormous amount. May as well get the extra cores then. OC'ing comes down to silicon lottery, not every Skylake chip will hit 4.6-4.8.. one you get might stop at 4.1-4.3. And to be frank, to get the most out of Skylake, you need to Baseclock and use the Multipler. Same with 2011-v3. I'm only suggesting it because you require intense CPU power requirements and 2011-v3 is the most capable and the fact 6700k's are really hard to come by. Otherwise it wouldn't matter much. OC'ing either however means you will need some capable cooling. Might need a H100i GTX or something similar to keep it cool as possible since it will be under max load 24/7.

In regards to memory, only ones I know of currently making 16GB dimms is Corsair and their LPX line. Out of stock everywhere though.

About the GPU, will you be getting a 390 that I recommended earlier, or sticking with a 970? Overall a 390 is about 2-5% faster. Really the best part is 8GB of vram. All that at the same price, makes it the best price/performance card on the market at the mid-high end GPU segment.