Yeah, everything seems to be falling into place... the only thing I'm still weary on is the SSD, but even if I go with the hdd and decide on a ssd later, it's just plug-and-play... easy upgrade. Newegg doesn't have the 980, they're out of stock... now I gotta find somewhere to buy the damn thing.

Also, "The G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory operating voltage of 1.65V exceeds the Intel Haswell Refresh CPU recommended maximum of 1.5V+5% (1.575V). This memory module may run at a reduced clock rate to meet the 1.5V voltage recommendation, or may require running at a voltage greater than the Intel recommended maximum."

What does this mean in english?

The newest Intel cores just recommend that you have RAM that doesn't exceed 1.5V. Its mainly for heat reasons. However, it will operate perfectly fine. You don't really have anything to worry about.

/e

Also, you can get a different branded GTX 980. The EVGA GTX 980 here:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp42983kr

Is a good card. The MSI just performs better in benchmarks. I've had no problems with EVGA cards in the past. The choice is yours. If you don't want to wait for the MSI, get the EVGA card. There really isn't any way to tell how long it will be before it comes back in stock. NCIX US has the EVGA in stock.

This post was edited by DeXaFiLaH on Oct 17 2014 07:25am

after ten plus years, game developers are unlikely to start using it ever,

it would be only marketed at intel users only

sounds logical

Don't bother with a 10k RPM HDD, the performance difference is negligible while the price difference is significant. And as I said before, an SSD will outlast any HDD. Forget what you've heard before, it's just wrong. Get an SSD and an HDD and I absolutely promise you that your HDD will fail long before your SSD does. $120-130 towards a 840 EVO will last you 10 years no problem, your HDD will start slowing from degrade within 5 years.

If you wait to get the SSD, when you do get it you're going to want to do a full wipe of your HDD and start over. The SSD should contain your OS, your system files, your programs, and your most commonly played games. The HDD will contain the large, less commonly played games and your media files (music, movies, videos, etc) since those are both space killers and won't benefit from SSD speed. And the technology isn't increasing so fast that it's worth the wait. Prices have recently dropped but that's mostly due to the mass production of SSDs because of the popularization of Ultrabooks and the ease of the MLC architecture. Samsung is currently playing around with TLC architecture from what I've heard, however they'll be less reliable than MLCs (more similiar to the reliability of an HDD) at the start for the benefit of a lower cost. But this isn't something you should expect within the next year, so there's no reason to wait.


Preorder the 980 if you aren't in a rush. Get a different brand if you are in a rush. You can get a reference if that's all that's available, however they generally don't OC as well (which I know is something you don't care about now, but in X years when your cards begin to struggle, OC'ing can get you another year of good use out of them).





As DeXa mentioned, this is nothing more than Intel's way of cleaning their hands of any sort of RAM OC. There's really no harm in running your RAM at 1.65V for the 2400MHz cas10 if desired, but it'll also run just fine at 1.5V 1600MHz cas8-9... you probably wouldn't even notice much of a difference between the two outside of benchmarks. I generally recommend getting the highest your mobo can handle up to point in which there isn't a price difference of more than $2-3, just so you have the option to run 1.65V down the road if desired. Even if you always run it 1.5V 1600MHz, you won't have lost anything outside of the $0-3 price difference, and they'll probably have a better resell value anyways.



e/ Just to reiterate/solidify my point about SSD vs HDD, here's a bar graph of the IOPS speeds of some of the best HDDs available(Velociraptor being 10k RPM):


While Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD has:


Although mine consistantly scores higher write than that.

This post was edited by SanityWasHacked on Oct 17 2014 11:52am

Hmm... So can the MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 mobo handle the g. skill ddr-2400? Like, will everything fit the board? Or are there any kind of complications with the two?

I wish I knew when they'd get the msi 980 in stock, I want to build this thing asap... but I don't want to buy all the parts, then have to wait weeks for the video card. That way if something was DOA, I wouldn't get rammed up the ass by their return policy.

This post was edited by Alt+F4 on Oct 17 2014 06:46pm

Lol, you don't need to wait for gpu to check if everything is working and not DOA. Intel chips have built in gpu. Once Ur gpu arrives install it onto mobo, dl driver gg.

Ya, it can handle anything


Keep in mind that the MHz rating of RAM is what it's rated up to. DDR3-2400MHz is rated for clock speeds up to 2400/2. It can be run at lower clock speeds and it can be run at higher clock speeds, but it's recommended to keep it at or under 2400/2 clock. There's absolutely nothing wrong with running it 1600MHz 1.5V if you aren't ready to OC it, and there will be no compatibility issues what-so-ever in doing so.




This. Nothing wrong with running your build on integrated gfx while waiting for your pre-order to ship. Just don't expect to handle any serious gaming in the mean time.

This post was edited by SanityWasHacked on Oct 18 2014 09:38am

So, a few things.

1. You guys are slowly converting me to this goddamn SSD... I've heard so many horror stories, but it looks like samsung released a huge update to fix the slowing speeds. Still can't see anything about them fixing corrupt space, but maybe that's just shit I heard about from a couple years ago and I'm just behind the times. Now I'm only curious if 250gb is big enough... If I were to put all my games I play regularly on it, that'd be a ton of shit.

2. I swapped the case to the Corsair 750D just on the basis of reviews, people were saying the NZXT Phantom 630 had shitty front clips that would break, but it seems like both have their faults. People were complaining about air-cooling with the plastic side panel on both, but that won't be a huge issue because of the watercooling. I'm still not certain which is better... but I think I'm getting caught up on something totally un-important.

3. I swapped to win7 just because it's slightly cheaper, and I'd only buy the 8.1 and download the classic view to make it look like 7. Doesn't 8.1 still have the basis of being a touchscreen OS that kinda fucks up on PC's? o.o

4. You're both fuckin' awesome for all the help.

SSD: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/R8MdJx

HDD: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ggJHnQ

Glad we could convert another non-believer! On my word, if you don't absolutely love the SSD, I'll buy it from you.

As for size, many games don't benefit too much from SSD load speeds. Most namely, the ones that do benefit the most are ones with heavy fly-by texture/3d-rendering. So 250GB is very manageable if you put though into how you'll organize your programs. However, if you have room in your budget and don't want to waste time thinking about which game to put where, making sure updates go in the right drive, etc, feel free to grab the 500GB Samsung EVO. It's slightly faster, it'll last you longer because of the controller, and it's usually a better price/gb. I generally recommend the 250GB only b/c it's the safe middle ground in terms of size management and specs: 120GB requires too much management, has high price/gb, and is slower while 500GB is more pricey and I personally don't need that much space (but I mostly play indie's and old games ).




The reviews are nitpicking, they're both great cases. The 750D quality is probably slightly higher quality (less plastic parts), but it really just comes down to style preference. I personally think the 750D and H440 are both really sexy looking and am not much of a fan of the X00R's style (even though it's extremely well built). Pick whatever you want to look at on a daily basis.




Please don't, you'll regret it. New operating systems do so much more than just change the layout. Windows 8.1 has many performance advantages over Windows 7, for example it halved the boot/shut down time. Not only that but Windows 8.1 has a free upgrade to Windows 10 when it's released, and Windows 7 is much closer to being unsupported and thus unsafe to use (not updating = hacker/virus invitation). Pay the extra 10, 20, 50, w/e dollars and get the better OS.






That SSD build looks amazing, I'm quite jealous.

This post was edited by SanityWasHacked on Oct 19 2014 08:50am

Now that I'm understanding what I'm looking at with all these specs and benchmarks, I can see where this becomes an endless money pit.

"Oh, well, it's only 100 bucks for an extra 250gb on my SSD... seems worth it."

"Hmm... then maybe I should upgrade to the i7 for better pre-planning, safer OC if I do SLI the two cards... only 100 more bucks... seems worth it."

"Well, if that's the case, why don't we go for a better cpu cooler... it's only 40 bucks more... seems worth it."

"But if I do that, I might as well get a better mobo, since I'll SLI the two cards and OC them in the future... only 50 more bucks... seems worth it."

"Ahhh... if I do that, I should just go for a tier1 1000w power supply... only 90 more bucks... seems worth it."

Yeeeeeeahhhh... lmao. I was seriously debating going to 2k cap for the 500gb ssd and i7, but if I do that, I'll talk myself into 2,500 just as easily. I ain't goin' down that road.