TechPowerUp 4K Gaming Build Guide

btarunr · Oct 9, 2015

With 4K Ultra HD displays fast becoming essential to high-end gaming PC builds, we take a crack at building a 4K gaming desktop ready for the DirectX 12 generation of games.

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badtaylorx · Oct 9, 2015

one little thing you forgot. Skylake does not come with a stock cooler....

erixx · Oct 9, 2015

Great article, like it a lot. And yes, if it is all about gaming, the z110 platform is the right choice. (I just swapped to a X99 from z97 knowing that, but - as expected - office work, data bases, large graphics and pdf editing and also overall feeling is faster now.
Not sure if true 16x full speed SLI would be stronger on X99 or not...

dwade · Oct 9, 2015

Meh. I wouldn't pair up a highend PC that's intended for 4k gaming with a crappy monitor. PC monitors are extremely overpriced for the crappy picture quality they offer. Get a huge 4k TV instead.

Rowsol · Oct 9, 2015

4k on a 28'' is dumb, and a waste of pixels. If it's not at least 40'' it's not worth it.

Xzibit · Oct 9, 2015

dwade said:
Meh. I wouldn't pair up a highend PC that's intended for 4k gaming with a crappy monitor. PC monitors are extremely overpriced for the crappy picture quality they offer. Get a huge 4k TV instead.

4k TVs are more of a joke. You need to spend 8k or more for a proper 4k TV (one that will actually handle the signal bandwidth and is capable of displaying it). I doubt someone spending 3k on a system will want to do that. They are more then likely going to buy a better monitor.

KarymidoN · Oct 9, 2015

badtaylorx said:
one little thing you forgot. Skylake does not come with a stock cooler....

I was going to say that.

commander calamitous · Oct 10, 2015

4k looks amazing on regular monitors through DSR. That would actually be interesting for me, and I prefer the direction of this article. Not looking for low pixel density

qubit · Oct 10, 2015

This is a good rig using current technology, but I'm not going to upgrade until hardware can do better. Hardware that isn't available yet.

I'm gonna wait for Pascal (or maybe even later) and also 4K monitors that offer the same 120Hz or 144Hz refresh rates as my current 1080p ones. G-Sync/FreeSync versions of these will be a bonus. Therefore, a suitably powerful single card to drive them at these framerates is a prerequisite, hence I'm not totally convinced that even Pascal will be enough until I see reviews of the finished product on TPU.

Anyone that's seen the difference between 60Hz and those higher refresh rates in an FPS game will tell you that the difference is dramatic. Even on the Windows desktop the improvement is noticeable. The motion is so much more fluid and lag very noticeably reduced to the point that it's a must-have feature.

I'd like to see faster CPUs, something which can blow away my aging 2700K to help hit those sky high framerates, not just incremental performance improvements like we've been seeing. Unfortunately we're not going to see this anytime soon.

qubit · Oct 10, 2015

@btarunr Just seen that this article has gone from the Latest Reviews strip on the home page and letting you know in case it's a glitch rather than intentional.

W1zzard · Oct 10, 2015

qubit said:
@btarunr Just seen that this article has gone from the Latest Reviews strip on the home page and letting you know in case it's a glitch rather than intentional.

glitch, fixed

btarunr · Oct 10, 2015

Rowsol said:
4k on a 28'' is dumb, and a waste of pixels. If it's not at least 40'' it's not worth it.

Yeah, get a 40-inch display, and suffer cervical osteoarthritis in one year.

deemon · Oct 10, 2015

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/DIY_Shopping_Lists/4K_Build_Guide/6.html

G.Skill Trident-Z DDR4-2800 MHz 16 GB Dual-Channel
(2x 4 GB, DDR3L-1600)

so is it 16GB or 2x4GB (=8GB)?
Also is this DDR4 or DDR3L as you have in ( ) ?

ViewSonic VG2860MHL-4K
(23-inch, IPS, 5 ms)

it's 28" monitor

deemon · Oct 10, 2015

btarunr said:
Yeah, get a 40-inch display, and suffer cervical osteoarthritis in one year.

How so? Noone asked you to attach your 40" monitor to ceiling. Use it on table please. On case of large monitors you don't use high stands and the monitor bezel can basically sit on the table itself.
Also have been using 3 monitors side-by-side (making it like 21"+27"+22" = 70" total (true, it's like (16+16+16):9 => 48:9, not 16:9, but still )) like 7 years now... no neckpain due to that so far.

W1zzard · Oct 10, 2015

deemon said:
so is it 16GB or 2x4GB (=8GB)?
Also is this DDR4 or DDR3L as you have in ( ) ?

fixed both

64K · Oct 10, 2015

Nice build. imo a 27" or 28" monitor is the perfect size for gaming. I've been using a 27" for years now. First at 1080p and now at 1440p. I can never go back to a smaller monitor now and I don't want a larger monitor.

fearun · Oct 10, 2015

That Viewsonic monitor is actually with a TN panel and not an AMVA according to the Viewsonic website.

trog100 · Oct 10, 2015

4k is the new market buzzword.. hardware creeps up in small incremental stages then along comes 4k..

i think i will stay in the past for a while yet.. my 1024 24 inch monitor set up run at high fps and ultra settings still looks pretty enough for me..

the suggested 4k build is about right though.. as for screen size.. that all comes down to the viewing distance.. my viewing distance is about two feet.. 24 inches is plenty big enough at two feet and for that i dont need 4k

a totally enclosed 3D gaming helmet is for tomorrows dedicated gamer i recon..

trog

btarunr · Oct 10, 2015

trog100 said:
4k is the new market buzzword.. hardware creeps up in small incremental stages then along comes 4k..

i think i will stay in the past for a while yet.. my 1024 24 inch monitor set up run at high fps and ultra settings still looks pretty enough for me..

the suggested 4k build is about right though.. as for screen size.. that all comes down to the viewing distance.. my viewing distance is about two feet.. 24 inches is plenty big enough at two feet and for that i dont need 4k

a totally enclosed 3D gaming helmet is for tomorrows dedicated gamer i recon..

trog

Trog? TROOOG! It's been a while

LiveOrDie · Oct 10, 2015

btarunr said:
The per-core performance of the i7-5930K is lower than the i7-6700K

2% faster isn't much. not even really worth talking about lol, You could pick up a older 3770K for this same 4K machine then price per performance is now redundant to for the 6700K as there is hardly any worth while boost if FPS.

GreiverBlade · Oct 10, 2015

badtaylorx said:
one little thing you forgot. Skylake does not come with a stock cooler....

KarymidoN said:
I was going to say that.

everybody who pay attention to what's written at a etailer description or who followed Skylake launch know that

PS: 6600K instead of 6700K is also valid? (since the HT is not really a huge bonus for the huge premium you pay :laugh:

)
not that i am interested in a useless resolution (maybe with the upcoming cards from both brands ) for the moment 1600p/1440p and even 1080p are way enough (ok ... i DSR 1323p and sometime 4K )

The Quim Reaper · Oct 10, 2015

The CPU choice doesn't make sense.

X99 5820 or 5960 with 6 cores is a far more future proof choice than a 6700K.

The (very) slight reduction in IPC over Skylake i7 will be more than compensated for by having 50% more cores with DX12 titles.

_Flare · Oct 10, 2015

Live OR Die said:
2% faster isn't much. not even really worth talking about lol, You could pick up a older 3770K for this same 4K machine then price per performance is now redundant to for the 6700K as there is hardly any worth while boost if FPS.

THAT is what we call a GPU-LIMIT

GreiverBlade · Oct 10, 2015

The Quim Reaper said:
The CPU choice doesn't make sense.

X99 5820 or 5960 with 6 cores is a far more future proof choice than a 6700K.

The (very) slight reduction in IPC over Skylake i7 will be more than compensated for by having 50% more cores with DX12 titles.

nah even a 6600K would be enough to a Haswell-E is overkill even for 4k, and we don't really know now what advantage will give DX12 on a hex over a quad ... 1%...2%....10%? no need to pay a huge premium for a X99 setup (wait for the X179 then xD )

conclusion: the (extremely) slight augmentation in FPS from a X99 platform versus a Z170 in opposition to the cost is hardly worth it, even later i suspect

L.ccd · Oct 10, 2015

I am a bit surprised to see the Logitech G710 being recommended, given the fat that its keycap's stems have a tendency to break. For a barely superior price tag, a Filco or a Ducky (depending on whether you want fancy backlight or not) would be a far more reliable choice. The Cooler Master Trigger Z, which sells for a bit less, would be a great choice too (with macro keys and palm rest, unlike Filco and Ducky keyboards).

I would have expected the 850 EVO to be your pick, but maybe the MX200 is cheaper ? I admit I have not compared SSD prices for a few weeks.

Also I have mixed feelings about a Thermaltake product being recommended, but why not. Perhaps this case is not a ripped-off design — I did not check that either.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	As Himself
Processor	2700X
Motherboard	Asrock 370X ThaiChi
Cooling	Custom Liquid
Memory	4133MHz Team
Video Card(s)	Radeon VII
Storage	Samsung 512 SSD's
Display(s)	Asus "24 144Hz
Case	Tt P5
Audio Device(s)	Asus Essence One Muses/Sparkos
Power Supply	EVGA 1200
Mouse	RAT ProX
Keyboard	Drop CTRL
Software	W10 steam futuremark

System Name	Off-Brand PC System
Processor	2990WX
Motherboard	X399
Cooling	Wraithripper
Video Card(s)	Vega 64
Benchmark Scores	Less than Intel and Nvidia

Processor	12100
Video Card(s)	1650 Super
Case	Coolermaster Ammo 533
Mouse	G403
Keyboard	Sidewinder x4

System Name	KarymidoN TitaN
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
Motherboard	ASUS TUF X570
Cooling	Custom Watercooling Loop
Memory	2x Kingston FURY RGB 16gb @ 3200mhz 18-20-20-39
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 1070 GAMING X 8GB
Storage	Kingston NV2 1TB\| 4TB HDD
Display(s)	4X 1080P LG Monitors
Case	Aigo Darkflash DLX 4000 MESH
Power Supply	Corsair TX 600
Mouse	Logitech G300S

TechPowerUp 4K Gaming Build Guide

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

badtaylorx

erixx

dwade

Rowsol

Xzibit

KarymidoN

commander calamitous

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit

W1zzard

Administrator

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

deemon

deemon

W1zzard

Administrator

64K

fearun

New Member

trog100

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

LiveOrDie

GreiverBlade

The Quim Reaper

_Flare

GreiverBlade

L.ccd

System Name	Quantumville™
Processor	Intel Core i7-2700K @ 4GHz
Motherboard	Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Cooling	Noctua NH-D14
Memory	16GB (2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Black DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz)
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio
Storage	Samsung 850 Pro 256GB \| WD Black 4TB \| WD Blue 6TB
Display(s)	ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR (4K, 144Hz, G-SYNC compatible) \| Asus MG28UQ (4K, 60Hz, FreeSync compatible)
Case	Cooler Master HAF 922
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty PCIe
Power Supply	Corsair AX1600i
Mouse	Microsoft Intellimouse Pro - Black Shadow
Keyboard	Yes
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	Zen
Processor	Ryzen 5950X
Motherboard	MSI
Cooling	Noctua
Memory	G.Skill 32G
Video Card(s)	RX 7900 XTX
Storage	never enough
Display(s)	not OLED :-(
Keyboard	Wooting One
Software	Linux

Processor	i7 7700k
Motherboard	MSI Z270 SLI Plus
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	Temporary MSI RTX 4070 Super
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB and WD Black 4TB
Display(s)	Temporary Viewsonic 4K 60 Hz
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 850 W Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G105
Software	Windows 10

System Name	money pit..
Processor	Intel 9900K 4.8 at 1.152 core voltage minus 0.120 offset
Motherboard	Asus rog Strix Z370-F Gaming
Cooling	Dark Rock TF air cooler.. Stock vga air coolers with case side fans to help cooling..
Memory	32 gb corsair vengeance 3200
Video Card(s)	Palit Gaming Pro OC 2080TI
Storage	150 nvme boot drive partition.. 1T Sandisk sata.. 1T Transend sata.. 1T 970 evo nvme m 2..
Display(s)	27" Asus PG279Q ROG Swift 165Hrz Nvidia G-Sync, IPS.. 2560x1440..
Case	Gigabyte mid-tower.. cheap and nothing special..
Audio Device(s)	onboard sounds with stereo amp..
Power Supply	EVGA 850 watt..
Mouse	Logitech G700s
Keyboard	Logitech K270
Software	Win 10 pro..
Benchmark Scores	Firestike 29500.. timepsy 14000..

Processor	Intel Core i9 10980XE @ 4.7Ghz 1.2v
Motherboard	ASUS Rampage VI Extreme Omega
Cooling	EK-Velocity D-RGB, EK-CoolStream PE 360, XSPC TX240 Ultrathin, EK X-RES 140 Revo D5 RGB PWM
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB F4-3000C14D 64GB
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC WC
Storage	M.2 990 Pro 1TB / 10TB WD RED Helium / 3x 860 2TB Evos
Display(s)	Samsung Odyssey G7 28"
Case	Corsair Obsidian 500D SE Modded
Power Supply	Cooler Master V Series 1300W
Software	Windows 11

System Name	main/SFFHTPCARGH!(tm)/Xiaomi Mi TV Stick/Samsung Galaxy S23/Ally
Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D/i7-3770/S905X/Snapdragon 8 Gen 2/Ryzen Z1 Extreme
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk/HP SFF Q77 Express/uh?/uh?/Asus
Cooling	Enermax ETS-T50 Axe aRGB /basic HP HSF /errr.../oh! liqui..wait, no:sizable vapor chamber/a nice one
Memory	64gb DDR4 3600/8gb DDR3 1600/2gbLPDDR3/8gbLPDDR5x/16gb(10 sys)LPDDR5 6400
Video Card(s)	Hellhound Spectral White RX 7900 XTX 24gb/GT 730/Mali 450MP5/Adreno 740/Radeon 780M 6gb LPDDR5
Storage	250gb870EVO/500gb860EVO/2tbSandisk/NVMe2tb+1tb/4tbextreme V2/1TB Arion/500gb/8gb/256gb/4tb SN850X
Display(s)	X58222 32" 2880x1620/32"FHDTV/273E3LHSB 27" 1920x1080/6.67"/AMOLED 2X panel FHD+120hz/7" FHD 120hz
Case	Cougar Panzer Max/Elite 8300 SFF/None/Gorilla Glass Victus 2/front-stock back-JSAUX RGB transparent
Audio Device(s)	Logi Z333/SB Audigy RX/HDMI/HDMI/Dolby Atmos/KZ x HBB PR2/Moondrop Chu II + TRN BT20S
Power Supply	Chieftec Proton BDF-1000C /HP 240w/12v 1.5A/USAMS GAN PD 33w/USAMS GAN 100w
Mouse	Speedlink Sovos Vertical-Asus ROG Spatha-Logi Ergo M575/Xiaomi XMRM-006/touch/touch
Keyboard	Endorfy Thock 75%/Lofree Edge/none/touch/virtual
VR HMD	Medion Erazer
Software	Win10 64/Win8.1 64/Android TV 8.1/Android 14/Win11 64
Benchmark Scores	bench...mark? i do leave mark on bench sometime, to remember which one is the most comfortable. :o

Processor	Ryzen 5600X
Motherboard	MSI A520
Cooling	Thermalright ARO-M14 orange
Memory	2x 8GB 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 3050 (ROG Strix Bios)
Storage	SATA SSD
Display(s)	UltraHD TV
Case	Sharkoon AM5 Window red
Audio Device(s)	Headset
Power Supply	beQuiet 400W
Mouse	Mountain Makalu 67
Keyboard	MS Sidewinder X4
Software	Windows, Vivaldi, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Games, etc.