Go for an open air card, unless the case is very small. mATX is large enough. EVGA's blower isn't very good and reference cooled cards are super expensive for some reason. I'd recommend the MSI Gaming G4, ASUS Strix, or EVGA SC. The Gigabyte G1 is also great but might not fit in a mATX case. MSI's cooler is thinner and has no backplate so the top card should run cooler on an SLI setup. Yes. Very.
Without any AA but otherwise maxed you will see between 45-60fps in popular games. The newest AC, FC4, and other games like that were not tested though. They might drop into the 30s maxed at 4k. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_980_SLI/1.html If you really need 4k maxed I would wait for this summer. Big maxwell and the AMD r9 300 series are coming out. R9 300 will even have HBM, and that might really help 4k minimum fps.
Ok I secected the Msi 980. Here is the link to the build I got so far. The reason I got 32gb of ram is cause my brother uses software that uses a CRAP load of memory http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Z82bD3
That's a single 980, definitely not enough for 4K. Also, what does your brother use? 32GB is WAY overkill, I never managed to top 8Gb with Gmod, Photoshop, 3ds Max, Visual Studio and 20+ Firefox tabs open at once plus Steam, Skype, antivirus and other services running in background.
My brother will buy the second 980 once he builds the computer. And he uses notation software that uses a crap load of ram
How much RAM does he usually use with the software? Because 32GB is beyond excessive for almost every PC.
What is this software exactly. I mean the actual product not just of being notation software. 8gb is way overkill.I am honestly doubtful it uses that. Even so, the logical choice is still 16gb not 32gb if that software is using 8gb.
You could go m.2 or pci-e, but you don't need too. It's up to you and your budget. Don't get rid of anything just to have the m.2 ssd though.
I might get some but I don't know about compatability for my moherboard. I want the Samsung SM951 but I don't know if it will boot with my motherboard
m.2 has both SATA and PCIe signalling in that connector. The cheaper m.2 hosts (motherboard) only bother linking the SATA connections, the cheaper m.2 SSD's also only understand SATA. Only the more expensive motherboards and SSDs actually have PCIe capability. Chances are you're going to be using SATA m.2 devices. In which case the only benefit of the m.2 over a 2.5" device is that its mounted on the motherboard. The SATA m.2 devices ultimately aren't even any better than mSATA SSD's (although mSATA isnt always available on PC motherboards, usually only on small form factor or laptop boards), if anything, they cost more and are physically larger. Unless you are willing to spend out and 100% confirm that it is a PCIe capable m.2 motherboard and that you are buying a PCIe m.2 SSD, I wouldn't bother with m.2 and would just get a 2.5". Full pcie slot SSDs are also uber expensive. You just plain dont need one.
Ok I did changes to the current build and please tell me some things I would need to change or leave alone http://pcpartpicker.com/p/p42WCJ
I changed out the RAM to a single 2x8GB set because compatibility, the HDD I just dumped both because the 5400rpm and got a 2TB 7200rpm, I changed out the cooler to the new h100i GTX. Also, if you aren't going to RAID them I would just get a 512GB SSD. Better value. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gcmNjX
Good edits, but you should change the cards to MSI, ASUS or EVGA ACX 2.0. You'd save over $100. I'd go with MSI just to match the board's look
