My thoughts:

1. It's my understanding that 6-core+ processors are almost a waste considering current software can only utilize 4 cores without some really weird, inefficient workarounds. Two will be left parked almost at all times. I think the only thing I know of currently that utilizes more than 4 cores is BF4, and they had to go about doing that in a very, very hacky way. Again, I may be 100% wrong here. This thread on Reddit has some nice information, though it may be a bit dated.

Despite popular belief, a more powerful CPU will help you with load times immensely. If I were to upgrade to a Skylake CPU as I intend to, I'm fairly certain my load times would get cut in half, if not less, than what my i7-950 is capable of.

However, I don't think you'd save much money, considering the Skylake CPU I was looking at (the locked version, mind you) is about the same money. Since you're planning on using a water cooling system, however, you might take a look at the unlocked version of that processor, which comes with a base clock speed of 4GHz. (Note that it does not include a heatsink/fan, so you would have to prepare accordingly here.)

2. You plan on using not one, but two GTX1080s. Just one of those is more powerful than two GTX980s in SLI, so yeah, kind of overkill there.

3. Everything else seems to check out, performance-wise. The only other thing I suggest making sure of is that PSU (Power Supply). Make sure you're getting one that can handle that processor plus those two 1080s. IIRC, that processor uses a bit more power than the Skylake one I mentioned above, by like 75-80w.


So, yes, I'd say that build would do exactly what you want it to. Plenty of processing power, more than enough video power, more than enough memory to handle it all, while being able to keep the system cool on top of it all. The only trouble I could see you running in to is if you tried doing this with some ridiculous resolution. It may be able to handle 4k @ 60+FPS, but maybe not in every situation, I'm not certain there. I know it would definitely handle 1080p with zero issues, though, haha.

Xogath wrote: »

My thoughts:

1. It's my understanding that 6-core+ processors are almost a waste considering current software can only utilize 4 cores without some really weird, inefficient workarounds. Two will be left parked almost at all times. I think the only thing I know of currently that utilizes more than 4 cores is BF4, and they had to go about doing that in a very, very hacky way. Again, I may be 100% wrong here. This thread on Reddit has some nice information, though it may be a bit dated.

Despite popular belief, a more powerful CPU will help you with load times immensely. If I were to upgrade to a Skylake CPU as I intend to, I'm fairly certain my load times would get cut in half, if not less, than what my i7-950 is capable of.

However, I don't think you'd save much money, considering the Skylake CPU I was looking at (the locked version, mind you) is about the same money. Since you're planning on using a water cooling system, however, you might take a look at the unlocked version of that processor, which comes with a base clock speed of 4GHz. (Note that it does not include a heatsink/fan, so you would have to prepare accordingly here.)

2. You plan on using not one, but two GTX1080s. Just one of those is more powerful than two GTX980s in SLI, so yeah, kind of overkill there.

3. Everything else seems to check out, performance-wise. The only other thing I suggest making sure of is that PSU (Power Supply). Make sure you're getting one that can handle that processor plus those two 1080s. IIRC, that processor uses a bit more power than the Skylake one I mentioned above, by like 75-80w.


So, yes, I'd say that build would do exactly what you want it to. Plenty of processing power, more than enough video power, more than enough memory to handle it all, while being able to keep the system cool on top of it all. The only trouble I could see you running in to is if you tried doing this with some ridiculous resolution. It may be able to handle 4k @ 60+FPS, but maybe not in every situation, I'm not certain there. I know it would definitely handle 1080p with zero issues, though, haha.

I ended up cutting my price a little. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ Would this be able to stream ESO on max graphics without issues? And do I need the 980ti 2 Way SLI or just one?