Processor And Video Card Recommendations

[Kelly_K]

Well I am not sure if this is helpful, but I ordered a system a week ago from a company call Xidax.  I went with them because of  the lifetime warranty.   They also said that I could make changes to the system in the future that would not void the warranty.  I am sure I could have shaved more off the price with a lessor processor and older version of graphics card, or even a different manufacturer, 

 

My target price was 2k without monitors which I exceeded by a few hundred.    The following are the specs that I thought should work well with chief guess we'll see. 

 

 

CaseFocus

MotherboardMSI X99 SLI Plus Black Motherboard

ProcessorIntel Core i7-5820K Processor

Memory16GB - Xidax Extreme DDR4 2133MHZ Memory

Power SupplyCorsair RM850W Power Supply

Optical Drive14X BD-RW Combo

GraphicsNVIDIA Geforce GTX 970

GPU OCOverclocked Graphics Card - 1 Card

Sound CardsOnboard Audio

HDD/SSDXIDAX Performance 256GB SSD

2nd HDDWestern Digital Black 1TB - 7200RPM 3.5" HDD

SoundproofXidax Professional Quiet-Tech Sound Deadening

CPU PastePremium CPU Thermal Paste - Lower Temps 5-10° C

GPU PasteStandard Graphics Card Thermal Paste

CoolingCORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Water Cooler

OSWindows 8.1 64-bit

T-ShirtXidax Xtra-Large

KeyboardsLogitech MK120 - Wired Mouse & Keyboard

WirelessPCI-Express Wireless-N Adapter

[DRAWZILLA]

Of course Xeon is faster, but that breaks your budget all to H---.

[lbuttery]

I've learned to be leary of "lifetime warranties"

 

I bought my first VCR in 1980 for $1400

at a local vendor instead of at Sears

because they had a "lifetime warranty" and "lifetime" access to their video library

 

this was when blank VHS tapes cost $13 each

 

3 years later they were out of business

but it didn't matter as I had already moved from NY to DE due to a job change

 

Lew

[Kelly_K]

Lew,

 

I know what you mean; kind of like when I first bought Senco nail guns they all came with lifetime warranties, and repair.  That  changed after a couple of years.  Guess nail sales wasn't what they expected.

 

That kind of warrant by this maker is probably pretty safe for them to offer since they specialize in gaming machines, and most their customers likely move on to new equipment after a few years, as well as they say they rely on their vendors referb parts that they send in.  I'm just hoping to get 6 to 7 years this time around (been averaging around 5).  I had been buying dell but my last machine went through a couple of power supplies, so that kind of warranty would have looked good to me, especially, given the proprietary equipment dell sells.

 

I felt it was worth a try.

 

 

[Doug_Park]

5+ years on a system these days is a fairly reasonable expectation, but at the end of the cycle you will likely be wanting something faster. It all kind of depends on the complexity of the models you do and how patient you are.

 

If I were on a 5 year cycle I'd probably go for a $500 per year budget and buy a $2500 machine. Of course if you do the $500 per year and get 6 or 7 out of it then you are looking at having in excess of $3000 for your next system.

[jcaffee]

As of this morning, 20141205, all the upper end builders have raised their prices $400-$500 per system.  I did a <$2500 system config via Maingear... 

 

http://www.maingear.com/boutique/pc/viewconfig.asp?config=EJMFID

 

Similarly specced machines from Digital Storm, Alienware, Falcon, Origin, etc., are running $600+ beyond MG.  Keep an eye out for continuing sales through and immediately after New Years, or wait until the April-June discount cycle.

 

jon