Christmas present to myself - Build?

Narj

Narj

Narj

Soldato
Joined
19 Feb 2010
Posts
13,258
Location
London
Hi all,

I'm treating myself to a new rig for Xmas. I'm a bit nervous seeing as I'm not familiar with the current hardware (the last rig I built was my C2D E6300 which I'm still using). I might even get the new rig prebuilt for ultimate laziness considering my track record of bad luck with faulty hardware in the past and much frustration and hair-tearing but I'll see how I feel next payday.

I'm currently gaming at 1920x1200 on 24" but may want to upgrade the monitor later to a 27". No need for KB/Mouse/Monitor. OS I can probably get hold of (legit).

I'm too much of a pansy to try watercooling so the NZXT case might be overkill, and it's why I picked the Gelid. I have no clue if the motherboard/memory are suitable so you'll have to excuse any silly choices.

Prices are OcUK.

* = edited as per suggestions.

Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "Phantom" 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £289.99
*Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - White £114.98
*XFX 850W Black Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £122.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £79.98
Gelid GX7 High Performance Quiet PC Cooler (Socket Intel 775/1366/1155/6 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1) £39.98
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) **BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL DEAL** £34.99

Total: £1,512.00

I haven't selected any additional fans as that's something else I'm not sure on either. The idea is that this system absolutely must be as quiet as possible. I need to give my ears a break after my last 2 systems (Athlon Tbird rig which ran insanely hot without lots of noisy cooling and now this one with the noisy Freezer Pro 7 and 4890). I want this to last me at least 3 years and will be playing Skyrim, Deus Ex et al on it. This may be complete overkill for all I know...

Current stuff I have that may/may not be of any use:

Corsair HX520 PSU (probably too weak)
Sapphire HD4890 (sounds like it was made by Boeing over 33% fan so don't want to use that)
Asus Xonar D1 Sound Card (probably a bit long in the tooth)

Perhaps I can get some cash for a few of the old parts above that might help the budget.

I really wanted a 512GB Solid state drive but I think that might be pushing it a bit too much budget wise. :(

Cheers guys!
 
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when is next payday as the prices will have changed if you're not buying by Tuesday night. the seagate is today only offer, the black Friday offers end on Monday and the current this week only offers end next Wednesday(morning but not sure what time).

no point spending so much on a graphics card right now with the new cards due out in the coming months.
 
fowler002 said:
when is next payday as the prices will have changed if you're not buying by Tuesday night. the seagate is today only offer, the black Friday offers end on Monday and the current this week only offers end next Wednesday(morning but not sure what time).

no point spending so much on a graphics card right now with the new cards due out in the coming months.
Click to expand...

Around the 16th December. I'm not sure if I'm happy to wait because otherwise I'll wait 2 months, then there'll be something else on the horizon and I'll want to wait again.... rinse and repeat. :/
 
tbh I have a OCZ ZX psu and it is super super quiet. The reviews on them are also extremely good if you have a google about.

I've always had OCZ psu's and never had a major problem with them (bar one it was DOA - but I got it replaced easily enough)
 
I have an OCZ PSU too and so far so good.

Spec looks good. If you wanted to save cash money i'd recommend using your current HDD from your old rig and waiting for the prices to come down as the shortage eases in the new year.
 
PianoBasher said:
Around the 16th December. I'm not sure if I'm happy to wait because otherwise I'll wait 2 months, then there'll be something else on the horizon and I'll want to wait again.... rinse and repeat. :/
Click to expand...

there wouldn't be something new on the graphics card horizon(well as long as you don't count a more than likely slight refresh of the lineup etc) for 12months, ivybridge cpus(die shrink of sandybridge plus added pci-e 3.0 controller the main changes but sure to be other small changes/improvement) is due out in march/april but the i2500k is best 'bang for bucks' and not sure if ivybridge will have a similar 'part'(even then it'll be more expensive).

as it middle of december would be an idea to see what the new cards will bring as the ati cards are now being touted as released in december but more than likely will be january so not that much longer, not sure about nvidia but guess more info will be forthcoming very shortly.
 
Ditch the oem 2500k and get the retail version as that has a 3 year warrenty, and you can always get a pre built watercooled case or a self contained water cooler like the antec khuler.
 
mickyflinn said:
Ditch the oem 2500k and get the retail version as that has a 3 year warrenty, and you can always get a pre built watercooled case or a self contained water cooler like the antec khuler.
Click to expand...

Good point. I saw the OCUK prebuilt cases, although it seems the H2Flo pump can be noisy going by some posts on here. Antec Kuhler looks like a credible alternative but again, I don't know whether it'd be as quiet as the Gelid. :)

My current HDD is a Samsung Spinpoint F1 so I'm not sure if I really want to use that or not. It'd be a good stopgap though considering that it's primarily for storage - I'd stick the games I really care about on SSD.

Is the case complete overkill? Is there something else that would be just as functional and easy to work on while keeping noise right down?
 
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PianoBasher said:
Good point. I saw the OCUK prebuilt cases, although it seems the H2Flo pump can be noisy going by some posts on here. Antec Kuhler looks like a credible alternative but again, I don't know whether it'd be as quiet as the Gelid. :)

My current HDD is a Samsung Spinpoint F1 so I'm not sure if I really want to use that or not. It'd be a good stopgap though considering that it's primarily for storage - I'd stick the games I really care about on SSD.

Is the case complete overkill? Is there something else that would be just as functional and easy to work on while keeping noise right down?
Click to expand...

To be honest I find Antec cases aint too bad, just limit the amount of fans you use... or get ultra quiet fans :) Case is not to my taste but I dont have to look at it every day :)

Stelly
 
Right, payday is almost upon me :) I'm still looking at something like the spec below... As I game in 1920x1200, would I be better off just getting the Gainward Phantom 1536MB version? I'm thinking the 3Gig is overkill and wasting money? Do I even need a GTX580 or would a GTX570 do?

Also, I'm debating getting an Akasa Venom cooler instead of the Gelid and a different case. None of the cases really jump out at me and I've gone off the NZXT... so I'd really like some ideas on cases! Size doesn't matter - silence does. I might even stretch to the lazy man's option of one of the "silent" OcUK ones. Quiet is king here...

Is the mobo ok for RAM slot clearance with these air coolers? I've gone off the idea of sealed units with potentially noisy pumps.

I can re-use my current optical drive.

Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "Phantom" 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - White
XFX 850W Black Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS)
Gelid GX7 High Performance Quiet PC Cooler (Socket Intel 775/1366/1155/6 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1) £39.98
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)

I've managed to sell my synth for £325 and I'm hoping I can sell my HD4890 for a few quid after to help bring the cost down. :D
 
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Looks good to me fella.

Couple of points. The OEM i5K is cheaper, let the difference in price help pay for your aftermarket heatsink....yes i know the retail has a longer warranty but the chances of the CPU failing are very very slim. Your old CPU you are upgrading still works right ;)

HDD prices are high at the mo, incase you weren't aware. If you need that 1TB drive fair enough. Myself I'd wait to add one later when prices settle back down. Seeing as you have a SSD for the OS the extra drive might not be essential.

The Kingston RAM is low profile so you shouldnt have any clearance issues. It's the RAM with the aggressive heatspreaders you need to worry about.

Good luck with the build

*edit* That 580 is technically overkill. I would probably look at getting a 2gb 6950. If you want more power you could Xfire it later in the rigs life
 
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The following gets you a 512GB SSD:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 512GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT512M4SSD2) ** Special price ** £569.99
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6970 2048MB Twin Frozr III GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with Battlefield 3 & Deus Ex PC Games** £299.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £122.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690-II Advanced USB3.0 Windowed Gaming Tower Case - Black £109.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £109.99
1 x Gelid GX7 High Performance Quiet PC Cooler (Socket Intel 775/1366/1155/6 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1) £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
Total : £1,635.55 (includes shipping : £14.75).

 
512GB is just a wee bit overkill for an SSD. the PSU is also overkill for those cards. a 750W is more than enough for two 6970s

heres my suggestion. slightly over the original £1500 budget, so let me know if you want to save some money on it and i'll see what i can do

YOUR BASKET
2 x MSI GeForce GTX 580 OC Twin FrozR II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £379.99 (£759.98)
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £154.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £122.99
1 x Silverstone Raven 3 RV03B-W Full Tower Windowed Case - Black/Gold £109.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £69.98
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £54.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
Total : £1,652.54 (includes shipping : £14.75).

the obvious money saving places would be the SSD, case and cooler
 
fowler002 said:
new graphics cards are just around the corner.
Click to expand...

How far away is "around the corner" though, because I'm getting fed up of waiting and want to play skyrim! :p

Thanks to Reaper/Socrates! Those are great re-jigs that I'd not have thought of.

I take it the Twin Frozrs are about as quiet as the phantoms? I was keen to avoid an SLI setup as it's not something I'm experienced with - also I've had ATI cards for a long time now and would like to jump ship to Nvidia. Also, isn't two of them a bit overkill for 1920x1200?

256GB SSD is something I really want to do if I can, plenty of space for OS and games. I think I'll re-use my existing HDD for storage so HDD can come out of the equation.

Finally, what are all the negative rumblings about ASRock boards? It's put me off them, even though I have no experience with them..

Really appreciate the effort you guys put into helping those of us that are out of touch. :D Thanks! If I could get the system below £1500 that would be excellent.
 
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