The Megabyte - The Enthusiast Build

The Megabyte Megatron - The Enthusiast Guru3D Build

This system consists of the best of the best components put together. In other words, if Megatron reincarnates as a computer system, this is what he would use to create his own body... there are no price tags and limitations for this build. So yeah, let's call this build Megatron :)

CPU - Intel Core i7-6950X

This is an deca-core CPU with hyper threading so when you open up the Task Manager, you will be grinning from ear to ear to see 20 CPUs in the system ready to obliterate anything you throw at it (Review)! Of course, if you don't overclock this beast, you shall be arrested by the OC community for "ignorance" :P

Intel Core i7-6950X - Intels flagship 10-core processor - what else ?

CPU Cooler - EK-XLC Predator 360

To squeeze out all the CPU cycles you possibly can, you would have to tweak the voltages. This means that the heat being generated by the CPU will need to be dissipated rapidly in an efficient manner. You can achieve this by using EK Predator 360 (Review) which comes in two versions, the 240 mm and the 360 mm one. The dual/triple 120 mm fans and a 240/360 mm radiator, can be installed in a few minutes. After that, you will tweak the CPU frequencies to your heart's content while keeping temps under control at very low noise levels.

The EK Predator 360 -  an incredible product with the option to add in a GPU liquid cooled (Review).

GPU - GeForce GTX 1080 SLI | Nvidia Titan X (Pascal) SLI

If a single GTX 1080 (Review) doesn't impress you, try two GTX 1080 (Review) or the mighty Titan X (Review). If you would like to set up your personal best record, remember that you can always overclock GTX 1080 (Guide) and Titan X (Guide) to get those precious points! Those scoffing at air cooling can always consider a hybrid cooled GTX 1080 (Review) while those that wants a more hands-on approach can set-up their own custom liquid cooling system for their GTX 1080 (Review) but that requires time and patience.

On the AMD side of things, two Fury X cards could be an option for sure. But you cannot (even to date) rule out the dual-GPU Radeon R9 295x2.

Remember, dual-GPU solutions always run into an issue here and there at one point. Hence we recommend single GPU setups, Titan X (Pascal) simply is the fastest card your money can get you (and it certainly does take a large sum of that). 

GeForce GTX 1080 (or Ti) SLI (review).

 

We are not going to be brand specific here, but top dog cards come from MSI, Gigabyte, GALAX, Palit and ASUS in various styles, coolers and price ranges.
 

Thinking outside the box, did you even consider the dual-GPU Radeon R9 295x2 (Review)? It comes with its own liquid cooling AIO kit and is the equivalent of two 390X card in Crossfire yet with 4GB per GPU.

Motherboard - ASUS X99 ROG Rampage 10 Edition | MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon

With a motherboard built for overclockers by overclockers, you get everything that you ever wanted in an awesome package. If you want to know more just read our articles on ASUS (Review) and MSI (Review). Of course, there are heaps of other motherboards so feel free to choose something you like (Details).

MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon (review)

System Memory (RAM) - DDR4 64 GB (8x 8 GB) @ 3,200 MHz

This is a complete overkill for RAM but Megatron needs all of that space to plot the next evil plan. However, Megatron's minions can opt for 32 GB or less, depending on how much "thinking" they are doing ;)

Storage - M.2 2 TB SSD | PCIe Based SSD

Both, the OCZ RevoDrive 350 (Review) and the GSKILL Phoneix Blade PCIe 480 GBs SSD (Review) has a 2 GB/s read and write performance, which ensures that no matter the file size, it will be loaded and ready to use before you can blink! Megatron's minions (depending on motherboard support) can settle for Samsung 950 Pro (Review) which uses the M.2 interface to deliever superfast performance at a resonable price. Megatron will get the latest 960 PRO 2 TB M.2 SSD once he has robbed the bank! Also keep the NVMe Toshiba OCZ RD400 PCIe NVME SSD and Plextor M8Pe 512GB M2 NVMe SSD in mind at 2500 MB/sec!

Toshiba OCZ RD400 PCIe NVME SSD (Review)

PSU - Corsair AX1500i

Megatron needs to be drunk on power so the best one out there is the Corsair AX1500i (Review) which provides 1,500 Watts with insane efficiency. it is probably the best PSU Guru3D.com has ever tested!

Summation

Due to the shear diversity in the PC components market, there isn't a one-size-fits-all system. This is something that we consider a strong point for the PC market as it drives competition which benefits end users like us. Thus, by using this guide's recommendations as your starting point, go forth and tweak it to fit your needs to get a system that is unique to you. If you want, you can share your build with us in our forums.

Please note that if you're hanging onto your system for the last couple of years and are itching for an upgrade (CPU/GPU), it would be in your best interest to wait for ~6 months. The reason being: Intel plans to release Kaby Lake, AMD plans to launch Vega (GPU) and Zen (CPU) architectures. All of those are exciting developments so 2017 is going to be great for the PC enthusiasts! You can look forward to more news/reviews here as and when these events happen :)

Hope you enjoyed reading this guide as much as we have while writing it :)