Musing about my 4K gaming rig build

[qubit]

My current specs:

CPU: Intel i7-2700K
Mobo: Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
RAM: 16GB Corsair 1600MHz
Graphics card: MSI GTX 780 Ti Gaming
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (on its way from Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VG278HE (144Hz, 3D Vision 2, 1080p, 27")
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
Sound card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-E
PSU: Corsair HX 850 v1
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit


Forthcoming specs:

CPU: high end Intel Broadwell or similar, maybe 8 cores + HT
Mobo: Likely Gigabyte
CPU cooler: no change, assuming socket compatibility
RAM: DDR4 (32GB because I can)
Graphics card: NVIDIA Maxwell GPU (full version) possibly in SLI
Monitor: 27" 4K, strobing backlight, 120Hz+
Case: might stay with the current one, or get something new if I fancy it. I still really like my HAF 922
Sound card: no change. X-Fi still sounds awesome
PSU: replaced with something new as it's around 5 years old now. Want something like a Corsair AX1500i or similar, for the enthusiast level features and zero fan mode. Yes, it's overkill, but I'm ok with that
OS: Windows 10 (looks like it will be a worthy successor to Windows 7)


My CPU is now 3 years old, but still rips through any game I throw at it, partnered with that 780 Ti. This means that I can usually run the latest games at 120FPS vsync locked with little or no frame drops on a strobing backlight monitor and get the smoothest, motion blur-free, most awesome experience possible - in 1080p.

Having seen how stunning a 4K picture looks in the shops and the psuedo 4K on my monitor using NVIDIA's new DSR feature, of course I want a PC that can do all this at 4K (2160p) but at the moment the hardware doesn't exist, especially the monitor, so I have to wait. One could perhaps get a solid 120FPS with three or four 980s, but that would be a very expensive and inelegant solution, especially with imperfect SLI scaling and generally more trouble than a single GPU, such as microstuttering.

I'm waiting for 4K monitors that can do 120Hz or more and have a strobing backlight, along with the next gen graphics card to run it at this rate and to a lesser extent a faster CPU. I reckon the full NVIDIA Maxwell GPU will be able to do this when it's eventually released and I'll consider running it in SLI if it's not quite enough to do a steady 120FPS in most games.

G-Sync / FreeSync sound good, but I've never seen them in action to say whether I'd spend money on them. I think I'd prefer to maintain a high and consistent framerate instead.

I reckon I should be able to build such a PC in 12-24 months, after the prices have settled down a bit.

What are your 4K plans?

 

[Toothless]

Win the lottery first.

 

[Tonduluboy]

i have an extra $3000 at the moment n not even thinking goin for 4k gaming... Maybe when a single GPU can play at 60fps at 4k then i may upgrade...

 

[RejZoR]

No, 24 inch 1080p feels plentiful. For the performance sake, it will also work great in the long run as I'll yet again be able to run latest games maxed out at 1080p on a single GPU. Which means cheaper upgrades and zero problems with all games. Currently all games work great at 1080p using only overclocked HD7950. Considering I'm using FSAA everywhere, i hardly see any need for 4K or in fact larger screen.

 

[EarthDog]

We have a thread already on the poll subject...

Then your post... Let's talk when you are ready. We are talking all hypotheticals here from the monitor, to the gpu, to broadwell.

 

[qubit]

We have a thread already on the poll subject...

Then your post... Let's talk when you are ready. We are talking all hypotheticals here from the monitor, to the gpu, to broadwell.

I'm not aware of any other thread on this, but it's irrelevant anyway, as this is a thread about what I want to do, not general 4K upgrading.

My title starts with "musing", meaning I've been thinking about it. There's quite a lot of information about what I'm thinking and expect from my upgrade that I wanted to share and it doesn't require having to list specific parts which don't exist yet.

And to all of you cheeky lot pointing out just how expensive it will be, you're not wrong there. The credit card will likely burst into flames again!

 

[Blue-Knight]

Are you thinking of building a 4K rig in the next 12-24 months?

I voted "No".

Win the lottery first.

You do not need to win the lottery.

Just save some money along the years.

 

[Toothless]

You do not need to win the lottery.

Just save some money along the years.

Money? Ha! Something I'll never have.

 

[Blue-Knight]

Money? Ha! Something I'll never have.

I guess you are in the same boat as me then (or not). But I do not have a good $ job.

My income is just $70 /month on average...

 

[Aquinus]

No, because even if I were to have the money to invest in it, HDMI and DP are still too immature with the higher resolution. Forget the fact that not much hardware can even support it to begin with. I almost said maybe then remembered that I got my 3 monitors less than a year ago for under 400 USD. I'm in no rush. If I go 4k, it will be on the TV and it won't be for another couple years unless the plasma fails and only then I would consider it. It's still too expensive (for everything, GPUs and the display) for me to seriously consider it. On top of that, there is practically no 4k content either. All in all, early adopters tend to get the short end of the stick so I stay away from it unless the price is right.

Money? Ha! Something I'll never have.

My income is just $70 /month on average...

Oh, children.

 

[Blue-Knight]

Oh, children.

The "child" is paying bills and food with that.

 

[Toothless]

I'm jobless. Though I have plenty of applications out there.

 

[GeForce Junky]

No, but I would love a 34" 21:9 3440x1440 IPS 80Hz G-SYNC monitor, that would be heaven. Currently running 3x27" 1080p IPS screens in surround and I don't think I can go back to just one 16:9 monitor, so much of your vision disappears. Will be getting a 4K projector for the home theatre once prices have dropped and 4K blu ray is a thing, so won't be for a few years. Currently waiting for the next Nvidia GPUs to upgrade from 680sli as I sometimes run out of VRAM and gpu power.

 

[Aquinus]

The "child" is paying bills and food with that.

That's not living, that's being homeless or living in someone's basement. There is absolutely no way 60 USD alone could pay for food and bills. I'm calling shenanigans. Someone who has an income of 60 USD a month is either homeless, living in someone else's basement, or returned home to the parental's house, but no one living on their own can live off 60 USD without some other form of assistance. You clearly have electricity and internet, so it makes me wonder how you can afford that too.

 

[qubit]

No, but I would love a 34" 21:9 3440x1440 IPS 80Hz G-SYNC monitor, that would be heaven. Currently running 3x27" 1080p IPS screens in surround and I don't think I can go back to just one 16:9 monitor, so much of your vision disappears. Will be getting a 4K projector for the home theatre once prices have dropped and 4K blu ray is a thing, so won't be for a few years. Currently waiting for the next Nvidia GPUs to upgrade from 680sli as I sometimes run out of VRAM and gpu power.

Yeah, I'd like to have one of those 21:9 monitors just for the novelty of it.

Personally, I don't like to have more than one monitor in my system though as I find it distracting. I've actually got two, but only use the second one when I really need it. I use this handy utility for switching between them and set up keyboard shortcuts to do this really quickly and conveniently. It's optionally on Steam, but doesn't require the Steam client to be running to use it.

www.displayfusion.com