Yet again your recommendations are required please...

Vidar

Vidar

Vidar

Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2008
Posts
6,702
Location
Liverpool
Hi everyone,

I'm really sorry for the multiple threads regarding my up comming build but I have to get this right y'know and I can't afford to wait for Ivy bridge/ Kepler.

I have a total budget of £2,600.00 and need a system, preferably a IPS panel monitor, peripherals and an operating system that will be used for assignments, photo editing, some video editing, web design, programming and eventually CAD...

Other than that I'll use it for some light gaming, FPS and RTS.

Ideally I'm wanting to go socket 2011 as I believe it's compatable with Ivy bridge which I plan on upgrading to towards the end of the year and selling the sandy bridge on etc..

So what do you good people recommend?
 
My attempt.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £899.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM £461.99
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MAFIA 2 PC Game £239.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £174.98
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £117.98
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £106.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £94.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £92.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Noctua NH-D14-2011 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler with PWM Fans (Socket LGA2011) £72.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX) £66.95
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse and FREE Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £38.99
1 x Creative T3130 2.1 Speaker System (51MF0395AA003) £34.99
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £29.99
Total : £2,606.82 (includes shipping : £27.55).






Specced a Nvidia card as you get CUDA support for applications that will speed up rendering/editing times compared to just using the CPU, obviously theres a new range called "Kepler" coming out sometime but no one knows when.



Also of note is that Win7 Home premium 64bit can only address a maximum of 16GB, Professional and Ultimate can support upto 192GB, so if you were wanting more RAM, then you need a more expensive OS too.

The Gigbayte motherboard also has just four RAM slots, so adding extra sticks of RAM cant be done, instead some RAM manufacturers do 4X8GB=32GB kits
 
Last edited:
I would drop the monitor to the 27" DELL saving yourself a few hundred pounds and improve the spec in other areas such as: case, SSD size maybe get better peripherals. Wherever you think you would prefer tw money to go tbh.

I just don't think the extra 3" and slightly higher res is worth the price difference between the DELLs.
 
You won't get much better than Stulids spec. Only way to improve it is as [WU-TANG]GZA said, and decrease the size of the monitor. Going from a Dell 30inch to a Dell 27inch would save you £340, which could then be invested in anything you feel needs improving.

Personally I think if you're spending that much money on a system, you want it to look aesthetically pleasing. So go to the case section and choose anything from the range. They all fit into your budget.

I recommend: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-036-CS&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=
 
I agree with Osprey that at £2.6k it should be able to look good as well as perform excellently. Case is personal choice of course, the 650D looks great imo but as well as looking nice. Imo it has to be full tower at this budget.

I'm not sure exactly how the CUDA functionality works whether it can work in conjunction with an AMD card or not. If it can't I would go for something like a 560Ti 2GB for now and get a Kepler GPU when they are released for around £400 (after selling the 560Ti).

If a low end GPU can give it's benefits of CUDA along with a powerful AMD card then I would go for something like this:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £559.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM £461.99
1 x Powercolor HD 7970 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £419.99
1 x Asrock X79 Extreme 4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.98
1 x Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred (V3 with USB3.0) Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £144.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £136.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £106.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £99.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance K60 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard £93.98
1 x Logitech Z506 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers - 75W RMS (980-000432) £74.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14-2011 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler with PWM Fans (Socket LGA2011) £72.98
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x Razer DeathAdder Respawn 3500dpi Xtreme Precision Gaming Mouse and FREE Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £52.00
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £47.99 (£95.98)
1 x ZOTAC GeForce GTX 520 Synergy Edition 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £35.99
Total : £2,629.85 (includes shipping : £27.55).



If CUDA doesn't work that way:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £559.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM £461.99
1 x ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Asrock X79 Extreme 4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.98
1 x Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred (V3 with USB3.0) Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £144.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £136.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £106.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £99.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance K60 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard £93.98
1 x Logitech Z506 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers - 75W RMS (980-000432) £74.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14-2011 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler with PWM Fans (Socket LGA2011) £72.98
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x Razer DeathAdder Respawn 3500dpi Xtreme Precision Gaming Mouse and FREE Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £52.00
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £47.99 (£95.98)
Total : £2,373.86 (includes shipping : £27.55).

 
[WU-TANG]GZA;21360083 said:
I agree with Osprey that at £2.6k it should be able to look good as well as perform excellently. Case is personal choice of course, the 650D looks great imo but as well as looking nice. Imo it has to be full tower at this budget.

I'm not sure exactly how the CUDA functionality works whether it can work in conjunction with an AMD card or not. If it can't I would go for something like a 560Ti 2GB for now and get a Kepler GPU when they are released for around £400 (after selling the 560Ti).

If a low end GPU can give it's benefits of CUDA along with a powerful AMD card then I would go for something like this:


YOUR BASKET
1 x dell ultrasharp u2711 27" widescreen lcd monitor - midnight grey £559.99
1 x intel core i7-3930k 3.20ghz (sandybridge-e) socket lga2011 processor - oem £461.99
1 x powercolor hd 7970 3072mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card £419.99
1 x asrock x79 extreme 4 intel x79 (socket 2011) ddr3 motherboard £179.98
1 x antec 1200 twelve hundred (v3 with usb3.0) ultimate gaming case - black £144.98
1 x crucial realssd m4 128gb 2.5" sata 6gb/s solid state hard drive (ct128m4ssd2) £136.99
1 x xfx 850w xxx edition modular '80 plus silver' power supply £106.98
1 x western digital caviar green 2tb sata 6gb/s 64mb cache - oem (wd20earx) £99.98
1 x corsair vengeance k60 mechanical gaming keyboard £93.98
1 x logitech z506 5.1 surround sound speakers - 75w rms (980-000432) £74.99
1 x noctua nh-d14-2011 dual radiator cpu cooler with pwm fans (socket lga2011) £72.98
1 x samsung sh-b123l/rsbp 12x bluray rom / dvdrw dl & ram lightscribe sata-ii optical drive - black (retail) £59.99
1 x razer deathadder respawn 3500dpi xtreme precision gaming mouse and free boogie bug aimb.pad xl gaming mouse surface £52.00
2 x kingston hyperx genesis grey 8gb (2x4gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c9 1600mhz dual channel kit (khx1600c9d3x2k2/8gx) £47.99 (£95.98)
1 x zotac geforce gtx 520 synergy edition 1024mb gddr3 pci-express graphics card £35.99
total : £2,629.85 (includes shipping : £27.55).



if cuda doesn't work that way:

your basket
1 x dell ultrasharp u2711 27" widescreen lcd monitor - midnight grey £559.99
1 x intel core i7-3930k 3.20ghz (sandybridge-e) socket lga2011 processor - oem £461.99
1 x zotac geforce gtx 560ti 2048mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card £199.99
1 x asrock x79 extreme 4 intel x79 (socket 2011) ddr3 motherboard £179.98
1 x antec 1200 twelve hundred (v3 with usb3.0) ultimate gaming case - black £144.98
1 x crucial realssd m4 128gb 2.5" sata 6gb/s solid state hard drive (ct128m4ssd2) £136.99
1 x xfx 850w xxx edition modular '80 plus silver' power supply £106.98
1 x western digital caviar green 2tb sata 6gb/s 64mb cache - oem (wd20earx) £99.98
1 x corsair vengeance k60 mechanical gaming keyboard £93.98
1 x logitech z506 5.1 surround sound speakers - 75w rms (980-000432) £74.99
1 x noctua nh-d14-2011 dual radiator cpu cooler with pwm fans (socket lga2011) £72.98
1 x samsung sh-b123l/rsbp 12x bluray rom / dvdrw dl & ram lightscribe sata-ii optical drive - black (retail) £59.99
1 x razer deathadder respawn 3500dpi xtreme precision gaming mouse and free boogie bug aimb.pad xl gaming mouse surface £52.00
2 x kingston hyperx genesis grey 8gb (2x4gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c9 1600mhz dual channel kit (khx1600c9d3x2k2/8gx) £47.99 (£95.98)
total : £2,373.86 (includes shipping : £27.55).

Click to expand...

cuda is on nvidia only, and if its only light gaming a 570 will offer more cuda power and good enough gaming power for a better price than the 7970?
bit more info on cuda:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_app_tesla.html

Personally I don't like that case, but thats for the OP to decide.

Also, this kit is on offer for 16GB of RAM, cheaper than those two kits:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-112-KS
 
beejjacobs said:
CUDA is on Nvidia only, and if its only light gaming a 570 will offer more CUDA power and good enough gaming power for a better price than the 7970?

Personally I don't like that case, but thats for the OP to decide really.

Also, this kit is on offer for 16GB of RAM, cheaper than those two kits:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-112-KS
Click to expand...

I know CUDA is on Nvidia only which is why I included an Nvidia 520. What I'm not sure about is whether the CUDA benefit can be utilised by a low end card like that and all other graphical grunt come from the 7970.

Didn't bother saving a few quid on the RAM it's all cheap these days thankfully.

I felt the 1.3GB might hit a wall at 1440p so I went for the 560Ti as an interim until Kepler comes.

Yeah case is personal.
 
Well CUDA surely is best with a better GPU, I'm not sure a 520 would offer any benefit over just using the CPU? Not something I know enough about to say.

That doesn't really make sense to spend more than is necessary?
 
Me neither, if it is the same as the CPU then I think the OP should just go for a make shift 560Ti 2gb or the 570 1.3gb. Some will say VRAM brick wall others will say more grunt. I'm undecided as I've got 2GB :D
 
Hi again guys,

I've taken all your recommendations onboard and feel that I would be more than happy with the following, as long as there are no identifiable issues that more experienced eyes may spot.

I don't really see the justification for a massive price drop for a little extra screen space so have opted for the 27" Dell Ultra Screen. Also at the moment I am not sure how much storage space I'm going to need, I've not come close to filling a 250Gb hard drive in the past with all my work etc so am leaning more towards the larger SSD for now, adding storage in the future if or when I need it.

Only other thing is instead of wireless I'm going to go for powerline networking, as I keep getting signal drop outs when I'm upstairs where my new rig is going to be situated.

Anyway...


  1. Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
  2. Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM
  3. Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2)
  4. OcUK GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MAFIA 2 PC Game
  5. Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard
  6. G.Skill RipJawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH)
  7. Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black
  8. XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply
  9. Steelseries 7G Gaming Mechanical Keyboard (64018)
  10. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050)
  11. Intel Liquid Cooling Solution CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155/1156//1366/2011)
  12. LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (OEM)
  13. Steelseries Sensei Pro Laser Gaming Mouse (62150)
  14. TP-Link AV200 200Mbps Mini Powerline Starter Kit (TL-PA211KIT)
  15. Creative T3130 2.1 Speaker System (51MF0395AA003)


All comes in at Total : £2,627.82 without the discount for free shipping.




So what do you guys think?
 
NW_SKINHEAD said:
Hi again guys,

I've taken all your recommendations onboard and feel that I would be more than happy with the following, as long as there are no identifiable issues that more experienced eyes may spot.

I don't really see the justification for a massive price drop for a little extra screen space so have opted for the 27" Dell Ultra Screen. Also at the moment I am not sure how much storage space I'm going to need, I've not come close to filling a 250Gb hard drive in the past with all my work etc so am leaning more towards the larger SSD for now, adding storage in the future if or when I need it.

Only other thing is instead of wireless I'm going to go for powerline networking, as I keep getting signal drop outs when I'm upstairs where my new rig is going to be situated.

Anyway...


  1. Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
  2. Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM
  3. Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2)
  4. OcUK GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MAFIA 2 PC Game
  5. Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard
  6. G.Skill RipJawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH)
  7. Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black
  8. XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply
  9. Steelseries 7G Gaming Mechanical Keyboard (64018)
  10. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050)
  11. Intel Liquid Cooling Solution CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155/1156//1366/2011)
  12. LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (OEM)
  13. Steelseries Sensei Pro Laser Gaming Mouse (62150)
  14. TP-Link AV200 200Mbps Mini Powerline Starter Kit (TL-PA211KIT)
  15. Creative T3130 2.1 Speaker System (51MF0395AA003)


All comes in at Total : £2,627.82 without the discount for free shipping.




So what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

You want a Retail Blu-Ray drive so it has a copy of like PowerDVD to playback the disks:)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-138-SA&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=314

Also look at the Corsair H80 cooler which has a thicker radiator than that Intel item.

Apart from that, looking good:)


Edit..and how could I forget this mouse+mouse mat - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-060-OP&groupid=702&catid=23&subcat=1257
 
Last edited:
Is the Corsair H80 compatable with the 2011 socket? I don't recall it listing it in the item description....

Point taken over the drive, I'll change it up asap...
 
Last edited:
NW_SKINHEAD said:
Hi again guys,

I've taken all your recommendations onboard and feel that I would be more than happy with the following, as long as there are no identifiable issues that more experienced eyes may spot.

I don't really see the justification for a massive price drop for a little extra screen space so have opted for the 27" Dell Ultra Screen. Also at the moment I am not sure how much storage space I'm going to need, I've not come close to filling a 250Gb hard drive in the past with all my work etc so am leaning more towards the larger SSD for now, adding storage in the future if or when I need it.

Only other thing is instead of wireless I'm going to go for powerline networking, as I keep getting signal drop outs when I'm upstairs where my new rig is going to be situated.

Anyway...


  1. Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
  2. Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - OEM
  3. Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2)
  4. OcUK GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE MAFIA 2 PC Game
  5. Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard
  6. G.Skill RipJawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH)
  7. Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black
  8. XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply
  9. Steelseries 7G Gaming Mechanical Keyboard (64018)
  10. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050)
  11. Intel Liquid Cooling Solution CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155/1156//1366/2011)
  12. LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (OEM)
  13. Steelseries Sensei Pro Laser Gaming Mouse (62150)
  14. TP-Link AV200 200Mbps Mini Powerline Starter Kit (TL-PA211KIT)
  15. Creative T3130 2.1 Speaker System (51MF0395AA003)


All comes in at Total : £2,627.82 without the discount for free shipping.




So what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I really like this spec, especially the Steelseries 7G (I have one) and the Sensei (I wish I had one!)

My only gripe is the cooler, there are better coolers for 75quid.

Other than that nice build. :cool:
 
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