High-End 4K Gaming Computers

The 4K resolution revolution has begun. And, even though it’s still in its infancy and the price tag that comes with 4K gaming is insane, there are still those pioneers out there who want to be the first on board the next best thing.

Yes, you will need a crazy setup to run today’s top games on a 4K monitor….

For about $2,500 you can expect to get your toes wet in 4K gaming… barely. If you’re looking to play the more demanding games on a high-res 4K monitor, you’ll need at least three of the top video cards on the market. And, those video cards alone can run you over $2,000.

Not to mention, 4K monitors themselves aren’t exactly cheap.

However, the price of hardware necessary to obtaining the 4K gaming experience has come down considerably in the past year. So, if you’re looking to be one of the first to hop aboard the 4K revolution, now is a good time to do so.

In this article I’ll go over five different 4K gaming computer builds at five different budgets to help you achieve the 4K gaming experience.

$2,500 Entry-Level 4K Gaming PC

Yes, that’s right $2,500… for an entry-levelmachine. While this part-list will easily max out any game on 1920×1080 or 2560×1440 resolution, it will struggle with the top games on a 4K monitor.

However, if you want to play some non-demanding games, or you don’t mind playing on lower settings until you can afford one or two more video cards, then this build will get your feet in the door.

And, with a motherboard capable of holding up to four video cards in SLI or CrossFire configuration along with a huge high-quality power supply, upgrading this rig will be as simple as getting and adding an additional video card.

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K (View)
• CPU Fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (View)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87 OC Force (View)
• Video Card: ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• RAM: Kingston HyperX 8GB (View)
• HDD: Western Digital 1TB (View)
• Case: NZXT Source 220 (View)
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300W (View)
• Optical Drive: Samsung 24X SATA (View)
• Monitor: Samsung 28″ 4K (View)
• Operating System: Windows 8.1 (View)

 Grand Total: $2,450-$2,550(Prices fluctuate on a daily basis, click here for current pricing)

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$3,500 Dual-SLI 4K Gaming PC

For $3,500 you can get a dual SLI 780 Ti setup that will give you a decent performance boost over running just a single 780 Ti. However, you still will struggle to run games like Metro: Last Light and Battlefield 4 on max settings.

That’s okay, though, because this system should handle less demanding games just fine. And, you can easily add a third (and fourth) 780 Ti as well, as the chosen power supply and motherboard will support quad SLI configuration.

This build also comes with an SSD, a full tower case, and a better CPU cooler.

Ultimately, this build is a solid starting point for a 4K gaming computer and it’s just a third 780 Ti away from handling the more demanding games on max settings.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K (View)
• CPU Fan: Noctua NH-D14 (View)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87 OC Force (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB 2400MHZ (View)
• SSD: Crucial M500 240GB (View)
• HDD: Western Digital 1TB (View)
• Case: NZXT Source 530 (View)
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300W (View)
• Optical Drive: Samsung 24X SATA (View)
• Monitor: Samsung 28″ 4K (View)
• Operating System: Windows 8.1 (View)

 Grand Total: $3,450-$3,550(Prices fluctuate on a daily basis, click here for current pricing)

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$4,500 Tri-SLI 4K Gaming PC

Things get a little more complicated when you move to a tri- and quad-SLI. With three video cards all cramped together, you need to look outside of traditional air cooling and start looking into a custom liquid cooling setup.

The bad news is that setting up triple SLI–and the liquid cooling that’s needed for it–can be tricky if you haven’t done it before, but the good news is that three 780 Tis is going to allow you to run most of the top games on max settings on a 4K monitor.

Ultimately, this is a very high-end build and not only is it going to take a big budget to put together, but it’s also going to be more difficult to setup. So, make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K (View)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87 OC Force (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB 2400MHZ (View)
• SSD: Crucial M500 240GB (View)
• HDD: Western Digital 1TB (View)
• Case: NZXT Source 530 (View)
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300W (View)
• Optical Drive: Samsung 24X SATA (View)
• Monitor: Samsung 28″ 4K (View)
• Operating System: Windows 8.1 (View)
• Cooling: This setup will require a high-end custom cooling loop. I recommend looking at what Swiftech, XSPC, and EKWB.com for water cooling solutions. The total budget accommodates a liquid cooling setup, but the link to the build do not include water cooling hardware you will need.

 Grand Total: $4,450-$4,550(Prices fluctuate on a daily basis, click here for current pricing)

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$5,500 Quad-SLI 4K Gaming PC

Welcome to a land only few will ever tread: Quad SLI 780 Tis. Just like running triple SLI, running quad SLI is difficult to setup as well. You will definitely need to look into getting a custom liquid cooling setup for this build. I’ve made some suggestions of places to look in the part list below.

It should be noted that the difference in performance between 3-way and 4-way SLI is not very significant. So, if you’re looking to minimize costs, then you might just want to stick with a 3-way SLI setup.

Another alternative to this build would be to run dual R9 295X2s, which is a single video card with dual GPUs. Going this route would end up costing about the same because you wouldn’t have to spend money on a custom liquid cooling setup, as they come with liquid cooling built in. In fact, this might be a better route if you’re not experienced setting up custom liquid cooling configurations.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K (View)
• Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition X79 (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• Video Card (SLI): ASUS GTX 780 Ti (View)
• RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB 2400MHZ (View)
• SSD: Crucial M500 240GB (View)
• HDD: Western Digital 1TB (View)
• Case: Cooler Master HAF X (View)
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300W (View)
• Optical Drive: Samsung 24X SATA (View)
• Monitor: Samsung 28″ 4K (View)
• Operating System: Windows 8.1 (View)
• Cooling: This setup will require a high-end custom cooling loop. I recommend looking at what Swiftech, XSPC, and EKWB.com for water cooling solutions. The total budget accommodates a liquid cooling setup, but the link to the build do not include water cooling hardware you will need.

 Grand Total: $5,450-$5,550(Prices fluctuate on a daily basis, click here for current pricing)

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