New Build: Intel Mid-High

stedders

stedders

stedders

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28 Mar 2005
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62
Guys (and Girls),

I am in the process of putting together a new build, this is almost a complete re-build, my old case is falling apart, my monitor is not really doing it anymore and am taking the opportunity to upgrade my Intel platform (currently running E8500) as well.

This will be mainly for gaming and encoding, but want it to last the next couple of years.

My shopping basket currently contains...
1 x HP ZR24w 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
1 x Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 470 OC 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with MAFIA 2
1 x Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit - OEM (GLC-00736)
1 x OCZ Gold Low Voltage 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 2000MHz Triple Channel (OCZ3G2000LV6GK)
2 x Intel X25-V Value 40GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (SSDSA2MP040G2R5) with FREE EZ Upgrade Kit & FREE Game - Retail
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 High Performance Quiet CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3)

I have left out the PSU and Case as am unsure what the power usage would be for the build and the relative benefits of cases has never been my strong point.

  1. Is the above overkill for what I want or about right?
  2. Should I go for the corsair 1200w PSU or can I stick with a 1000w/950w PSU, bear in mind that I will be SLI'ing the 470 sometime in the next 6 months?.
  3. I like the look of the Fractal design R3 Midi Tower, don't want anything to big and in your face, would this be too small - in addition to the 2xSSD's I have 4xHDD's that need a home?
  4. I am open to any potential upgrades anyone can identify, if it would offer a good performance boost for an extra £50 then please mention it.

Thanks in advance for any advice, is greatly appreciated!

Stedders
 
1.2Kw is defiantly overkill, go with the HX850 or AX850 or if you fancy it go for the HX1000

I have the Silver Arrow R2 which is a lovely case, one downside is that i get a hernia every time i take it somewhere.

Maybe go for the 60GB Crucial or OCZ ? as you will notice 40GB gone to quick

Dont worry about a kit for mounting the SSD as the R3 have very nice hdd slots with in built holes and rubber sound cancelling

The monitor youi suggested has a low contrast ratio which will mean the variation in colours wont look very good go for this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-048-DE&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

if you can spare the extra you will notice its a very good monitor

You could aslo drop your ram down to 1600mhz and hardly notice the difference http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-008-PA

Good Ram Good Price :)

hope i can help

edit : any reason going for ultimate if not get 7 home and spend the extra on the things i suggested ?
 
Hi Stedders,

You should be able to get away with only a 700-750w PSU with this kit. If you don't plan to OC, even this would be overkill.

Also, as infernox mentioned, 40gb is definitely not enough if you plan to use it as a primary windows/games disk. My friend uses an 80gb, and says he's really struggling for space... I'm even finding a 120gb RAID SSD a bit of a tight squeeze (if you like playing a few games at a time.)

Your choice of monitor is also not great, you could get exactly the same specs for 150-200 quid cheaper.. And for the price of this screen you could get yourself a spanking quality LED screen.

If I were you, I'd drop your CPU to a 930, choose some slower memory, keep your PSU under 800w (but higher than 650-700 to be safe,) spend the extra cash on a larger SSD, OC your CPU, and decide on what you want out of your graphics, a HQ panel, or slightly higher performance graphics (at the cost of noise and power draw.)

For example, this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-062-IY&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=
Would do as well as the screen you've chosen, at a cheaper price.

However, this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-088-LG&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=
Would be much higher quality for contrast and colour reproduction, at a cheaper price than the one you've selected.
 
Last edited:
drop ultimate to premium as mentioned above,
change ram to 1600 as mentioned above(again)
and for the psu i would get the XFX 850w just to be on the safe side if your planning to sli the gtx 470 and overclock
cooler- i would get the megahelms rev.b and stick an akasa viper on push/pull or just get the noctua nh-d14(ram have to be short without tall heatsinks)
case- i would probably get the coolermaster 690 ii advanced/lite.
ssd-how about a big foot 120gb? :D
monitor- ive read quite a lot of excellent reviews about the dell ultrasharp range, iirc this is because it uses an IPS panel.
 
Actually, disregard my LCD comments... Your choice is an IPS screen, however you might be better with a Dell equiv (As per Jony.)

Depends on your budget and needs.
 
Will downgrade to Win 7 Premium, had a double check of the spec sheet.

Thanks for the PSU, Case and Cooler recommendations.

You're right - I will cut the CPU down to the 930 and go with slightly slower RAM, those Vipers look perfect, over clocking will result in better bang for my buck.

Agreed, the monitor does suck in respect of contrast, I initially was going for the Dell Ultrasharp infernox pointed out but was recommended this as it was slightly cheaper…obviously not going to listen to them again.

I do want 1200 vertical res but agree that the monitor is not what I want due to its other failings...so do I go for the same size (24"), smaller res but better monitor, do I go with the same size, same res but more expensive or do I up the size (26") with the same res?

Any thoughts on the Iiyama ProLite B2712HDS?

We use the UltraSharps at work and they are pretty darn good.

SSD - was simply keeping the cost down, if I can make savings elsewhere I will increase the capacity.

Thanks again, will post a re-configured spec when I get a chance.

Stedders
 
ok didnt really know your budget but judging from your original spec its around £1.5k?
so i put this basket together with a budget of £1.5k

31023544.png


left out hdd and dvd drive as im guessing you already own them.
oh and for the case you cant really go wrong with either this or the R3.
 
Thanks Jony.

RE: Budget, £1.5k mark is about right, a bit over is not a deal breaker.

I'll be RAID 1'ing the SSD's.

I was going to use them just for the OS, do games get that much of a performance increase when running from an SSD?

Apart from that, looks great, I think that's almost the build made.

Thanks again all, is always good to post builds here, you don't get too much flaming and always get a reasoned opinion as to the pro's and con's of any changes.

Stedders
 
You really wont be disappointed with that monitor it really is an amazing panel.
.

Have fun and post pictures while building :0 so we can haz picgasms. :P
 
Have tweaked slightly, a couple of items are this week only (upgraded to the 950), changed to Patriot Viper RAM, I need at least Windows 7 Pro as I need Remote Desktop access and stuck with the two Intel 40GB SSD's as they are going to be system disks in RAID 1 only - if need be I can get some more SSD's if they really impress me.

UpgradeComplete.png


(Sorry for the image, seems a bit fuzzy to me).

Anything off/missing, if not it will be ordered tomorrow.

Cheers
Stedders
 
If you don't mind SLI at x8/x8 instead x16/x16 or don't need triple SLI, think you would consider i5 760 build instead to save some money, so you will be able to add an extra GTX470 to SLI sooner?

i5 760 £140 vs i7 950 £235 (£95 difference)
Dual-channel 1600MHz 2x2GB memory £60 vs Tripler-channel 1600MHz 3x2GB memory £100 (£40 difference)
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD5 £145 vs Asus P6X58D-E £155 (£10)

Total difference in cost= £145

Not trying to push this onto you or anything, but it's something worth thinking about.
 
yeah agree with i5 vs i7 for gaming but the OP stated that this rig will be used mainly for gaming AND encoding so i think i7 would be a better option
 
Jony27 said:
yeah agree with i5 vs i7 for gaming but the OP stated that this rig will be used mainly for gaming AND encoding so i think i7 would be a better option
Click to expand...
You are right. I missed the encoding part. But it still worth considering though depending on if the OP want to be able to get an extra GTX470 sooner at the cost of take a bit longer on encoding...he didn't exactly mention his frequency on the ratio of gaming vs encoding :D
 
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