Good evening all.
It's that time again. As a quick bit of background, my traditional method of computer buying has always been to buy a near top spec machine (without going into the crazy expensive realms of prestige models) every 3-4 years and know that over that time it will be able to handle pretty much anything that developers throw at it with little or no need to upgrade.
My current build, used for gaming, video recording and editing is an Overclockers Ultima Kraken, bought in 2011 if memory serves, comprising of:
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 Motherboard
i7-2700 4x3.5GHz OC'd to 4.8GHz. (19.2)
NVIDIA GTX580 3GB (the original spec was the 1.5GB version but OC were kind enough to install the 3GB version which is probably why it's held up so well so thank you guys for that)
Single watercooling loop including both CPU and GPU
OCZ 850W modular PSU
16GB (4x4GB) Kingston HyperX RAM DDR3 1600MHz
128GB SSD (originally fitted with a 64GB but lost the original to a power failure) houses the OS and core software (antivirus, media players, browsers, etc.) [42GB free]
500GB Hybrid HD (I believe 8GB SSD) houses Steam and other game files, video recording and editing software and anything else that is high volume regular access [45GB free but both Rome 2 and Shogun 2 are currently uninstalled]
2x 1TB in RAID 1 for general storage, music, movies, work, photos all goes in here [100GB free]
1 TB standalone added as the array was filling up and I needed more space for recording, now used as primary recording drive. [250GB free]
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit plus Office H&S 2007
Cooler Master HAF X
This one is still capable of running everything I use it for including most recently Fallout 4 (albeit that on medium settings) but it is now starting to show its age and I'm looking to replace it, I did consider upgrading but the time, cost and limitations involved make me think it would be easier to just get a new one, transfer my data then use this thing as either a test bed and/or NAS
For the new one I took the recently announced 8Pack Haswell-E bundle as my start point, and built up from there to get me to a possible system:
The Bundle:
- Intel Core i7 5820K: 6x3.3 OC to 4.125 (24.75)
- Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P Motherboard:
- TeamGroup Vulcan 16GB DDR4 3000MHz:
- Samsung SM951 512GB NVMe M.2 PCI-e:
- Asetek 240mm 570LXL: - OcUK & SilverStone - 120mm FQ121WC:
- Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste
To which I'm thinking of adding:
-2TB/8GB hybrid drive for programs - Games especially are getting bigger all the time (e.g. 25.2GB for Fallout 4) but a full SSD seems excessive especially given that the cheapest 1TB SSD is currently 5 times the price of a 2GB SSHD
-2x 2-4TB HDD in RAID 1 for storage - ditto data is getting bigger, Parkinson's law and all that good stuff
- Graphics wise I'm down to the choice of the EVGA Hybrid 980Ti or Titan X if I pull the trigger now, or waiting for Pascal options, a pair of 980's in SLI is another option but I'm not sure a second Hybrid card will fit in most cases because of the second fan. of course waiting may also improve other options as well.
- PSU - OC recommend SuperFlower so I've plumped for the Leadex Gold 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black as a starter for 10, with the caveat that I'd need something beefier if I went the SLI route.
- A Blu-Ray drive.
- A fan controller of some description (preferably automatic as I've never used one before so no idea what I'm doing with them)
- A case big enough to fit all of the above and Windows 10 as the OS, probably keep office 2007 as I've no interest in 365 at this time.
A quick throw together of this build on Partpicker suggest I'm looking in the region of £2,000, which is acceptable.
Questions for the panel:
At this time I'm just after the tower, peripherals will be reused from the old rig but is there anything obvious (or not so obvious) that I've missed in this build?
Are there any changes you would recommend?
Would I be best going for this as a Birthday/Christmas (both in December) present for myself, waiting for the January sale, or waiting further into next year for Pascal to release and see what options are available at a similar price point at that time?
Last but by no means least, home build or would Overclockers be willing to put this thing together properly?
Thank you all for your time and any assistance.
It's that time again. As a quick bit of background, my traditional method of computer buying has always been to buy a near top spec machine (without going into the crazy expensive realms of prestige models) every 3-4 years and know that over that time it will be able to handle pretty much anything that developers throw at it with little or no need to upgrade.
My current build, used for gaming, video recording and editing is an Overclockers Ultima Kraken, bought in 2011 if memory serves, comprising of:
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 Motherboard
i7-2700 4x3.5GHz OC'd to 4.8GHz. (19.2)
NVIDIA GTX580 3GB (the original spec was the 1.5GB version but OC were kind enough to install the 3GB version which is probably why it's held up so well so thank you guys for that)
Single watercooling loop including both CPU and GPU
OCZ 850W modular PSU
16GB (4x4GB) Kingston HyperX RAM DDR3 1600MHz
128GB SSD (originally fitted with a 64GB but lost the original to a power failure) houses the OS and core software (antivirus, media players, browsers, etc.) [42GB free]
500GB Hybrid HD (I believe 8GB SSD) houses Steam and other game files, video recording and editing software and anything else that is high volume regular access [45GB free but both Rome 2 and Shogun 2 are currently uninstalled]
2x 1TB in RAID 1 for general storage, music, movies, work, photos all goes in here [100GB free]
1 TB standalone added as the array was filling up and I needed more space for recording, now used as primary recording drive. [250GB free]
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit plus Office H&S 2007
Cooler Master HAF X
This one is still capable of running everything I use it for including most recently Fallout 4 (albeit that on medium settings) but it is now starting to show its age and I'm looking to replace it, I did consider upgrading but the time, cost and limitations involved make me think it would be easier to just get a new one, transfer my data then use this thing as either a test bed and/or NAS
For the new one I took the recently announced 8Pack Haswell-E bundle as my start point, and built up from there to get me to a possible system:
The Bundle:
- Intel Core i7 5820K: 6x3.3 OC to 4.125 (24.75)
- Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P Motherboard:
- TeamGroup Vulcan 16GB DDR4 3000MHz:
- Samsung SM951 512GB NVMe M.2 PCI-e:
- Asetek 240mm 570LXL: - OcUK & SilverStone - 120mm FQ121WC:
- Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste
To which I'm thinking of adding:
-2TB/8GB hybrid drive for programs - Games especially are getting bigger all the time (e.g. 25.2GB for Fallout 4) but a full SSD seems excessive especially given that the cheapest 1TB SSD is currently 5 times the price of a 2GB SSHD
-2x 2-4TB HDD in RAID 1 for storage - ditto data is getting bigger, Parkinson's law and all that good stuff
- Graphics wise I'm down to the choice of the EVGA Hybrid 980Ti or Titan X if I pull the trigger now, or waiting for Pascal options, a pair of 980's in SLI is another option but I'm not sure a second Hybrid card will fit in most cases because of the second fan. of course waiting may also improve other options as well.
- PSU - OC recommend SuperFlower so I've plumped for the Leadex Gold 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black as a starter for 10, with the caveat that I'd need something beefier if I went the SLI route.
- A Blu-Ray drive.
- A fan controller of some description (preferably automatic as I've never used one before so no idea what I'm doing with them)
- A case big enough to fit all of the above and Windows 10 as the OS, probably keep office 2007 as I've no interest in 365 at this time.
A quick throw together of this build on Partpicker suggest I'm looking in the region of £2,000, which is acceptable.
Questions for the panel:
At this time I'm just after the tower, peripherals will be reused from the old rig but is there anything obvious (or not so obvious) that I've missed in this build?
Are there any changes you would recommend?
Would I be best going for this as a Birthday/Christmas (both in December) present for myself, waiting for the January sale, or waiting further into next year for Pascal to release and see what options are available at a similar price point at that time?
Last but by no means least, home build or would Overclockers be willing to put this thing together properly?
Thank you all for your time and any assistance.
