Cosmos II: Which of These Gaming PCs Would You Choose?

Virgil · 17 Oct 2013 at 22:13

Hi Everyone,

I'm in the market for a new PC. I would like to build it myself but I have a disability that unfortunately means I do not have the manual skills needed to put together a computer.

I was ready to order from another website when I stumbled across OverClockerUK's "Ultima 460i Scimitar".

The only thing is the customization is not as good with the OCUK machine but I don't know if having a water cooled system makes up for that.

Could you please give me your opinion on both specs?

Computer I

Case - Cooler Master: Cosmos II

Motherboard - Asus Rampage IV Extreme: Intel X79 Socket 2011 R.O.G.

CPU - Overclocked Intel® Six Core i7-4930K (3.4GHz @ max 4.4GHz)

RAM - 32GB Kingston Hyperx Beast Quad-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P.

Graphics Card - 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan x 3

SSDs - 240GB Kingston Hyperx 3K SSD x 2 (Raid 0)

PSU - Corsair 1200W Pro Series Platinum AX1200i

PSU Cooler - Corsair H100i Hydro Series

Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster ZxR 5.1 PCI-E

Optical Drive - 15x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW x 2

OS - None

Warranty - 3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour

Cost = £4,838.00

Computer II (Ultima 460i Scimitar)

Case - Cooler Master: Cosmos II

CPU - Intel Core i7 4770K 3.50GHz @ 4.50GHz Quad Core Haswell

Motherboard - Gigabyte Z87X-OC (Socket 1150) ATX

RAM - 16GB Team Group Vulcan Orange 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 2TB

SSD - Samsung 840 Series 120GB

Graphics Card - Watercooled Radeon HD 7990 6GB GDDR5

Sound Card - Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)

Optical Drive - OcUK 24x DVD+/-RW SATA Drive

OS - None

Warranty - Full 24 Month collect and return

Watercooling Specification:

- Radiators: x1 XSPC EX120 120mm, x1 XSPC EX360 120mm, x1 Hardware Labs Black Ice SR-1 240 120mm

- CPU Block: XSPC Raystorm CPU Waterblock (Intel)
- GFX Block: EK Water Blocks EK-FC7990 SE - Acetal
- Pump: XSPC D5 Vario Pump
- Reservoir: EK RES X3 250 Reservoir
- Fittings: XSPC Black Chrome Rotary & Compression fittings
- Fluid: Mayhems Ultra Pure H20 Fluid w/ Mayhems Orange Dye
- Fans: x6 Noiseblock Black Silent Pro PLPS 120mm Fans

Cost = £2764.00

I'm aware that both specs are good and I know it's not a completely fair comparison due to differences in hardware and price.

I like the first computer more in terms of hardware as it's simply more customized to want I want. However due to my disability I never thought I'd be able to have a water cooled system not being able to put a computer together myself.

So is the second computer worth it for the water cooling alone? I imagine it would be harder to upgrade in future due to the custom water cooling components.

I'm not sure how OCUK work if they'd be willing to customize it more if I sent them an email, I very much doubt they would though.

Please let me know your thoughts on which build you would go for. Also feel free to critique either spec.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Virgil

Rannoch · 17 Oct 2013 at 22:24

GTX Titan x 3 ?

That's some horsepower

Virgil · 17 Oct 2013 at 22:30

meade16 said:
GTX Titan x 3 ?

That's some horsepower

Do you think it's too much?

The cards would be covered under warranty so I thought get the best ones I could afford and if they fail at least I'm covered and getting my money's worth from the policy.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

V

Rannoch · 17 Oct 2013 at 22:38

Have you decided on a monitor?

Virgil · 17 Oct 2013 at 22:46

I was thinking of getting three Dell UltraSharps the 27" models. However they have so so reviews on Amazon so I don't know...

Rannoch · 17 Oct 2013 at 23:24

I would give OC a call, that's going to be some machine whatever you choose.

OracIe · 17 Oct 2013 at 23:49

Both cracking systems.
Will you only be using them to play games? If so what kind of games?

The first system would be somewhat wasted to be honest, at the moment at least.

If it were my money, I'd go for the second option but with a bigger capacity SSD.

Virgil · 18 Oct 2013 at 00:08

meade16 said:
I would give OC a call, that's going to be some machine whatever you choose.

Thanks once again for your input. I will consider phoning although I'd be somewhat embarrassed. I hate using the telephone.

OracIe said:
Both cracking systems.
Will you only be using them to play games? If so what kind of games?

The first system would be somewhat wasted to be honest, at the moment at least.

If it were my money, I'd go for the second option but with a bigger capacity SSD.

Hi OracIe thank you for taking the time to comment. I will play most games if given a chance although I'm a fan of the Total War series and games of that ilk. My current computer struggles with Rome II so that's one reason I'm looking to upgrade.

I am not really a fan of FPSs however I recently picked up Battlefield 3 for £3 and I enjoyed it so I will likely buy BF 4 at some point if the story continues on from the last game.

I agree that the first system is perhaps overpowered for current gen games. However with the new consoles coming out soon if they have better games then perhaps PC games will get upgrade to? I'm not that knowledgeable about these things but that was my thinking anyway.

As for larger HDD/SSDs I would like to upgrade them but as far as I can see it's not an option when selecting Ultima 460i Scimitar.

Thanks again to you both for your time.

V

Edit:

I would likely use the new system for some light video/photo editing I should have mentioned it before my apologises.

Aero · 18 Oct 2013 at 06:03

As Meade says I'd give oc a call as that's a decent amount of money you're looking at spending and I'd imagine that they could build you what you want if you asked rather than selling for pre spec'd options. They may not buy it's worth a call.

snips86x · 18 Oct 2013 at 06:28

Have you looked at these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/LP/infinity_series.php
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2724

Virgil · 18 Oct 2013 at 06:45

Thank you both for your comments. I sent them a pre-sales enquiry this morning so I'll have to wait and see what can be done.

To Snips86x I had not seen them I thought it strange they only offered the one water cooled system but it appears I was wrong. I would prefer the Cosmos II case as I really like it and it has space for all my drives. However I like the 8Pack HyperCube so it's something to consider.

Thanks again.

V

snips86x · 18 Oct 2013 at 08:27

Virgil said:
Thank you both for your comments. I sent them a pre-sales enquiry this morning so I'll have to wait and see what can be done.

To Snips86x I had not seen them I thought it strange they only offered the one water cooled system but it appears I was wrong. I would prefer the Cosmos II case as I really like it and it has space for all my drives. However I like the 8Pack HyperCube so it's something to consider.

Thanks again.

V

Here are some internal shots of the Corsair Carbide 540, it has a bay behind the motherboard tray to hold 4 drives, you can also get 2 on the base of the main compartment.

Glanza · 18 Oct 2013 at 09:02

I'd give OC a call and speak to a rep there, they'll be able to help you get a quote / spec together for what you need even if it isn't listed on their site.

Virgil · 18 Oct 2013 at 16:48

Thanks all I may give them a call on Monday if I can work up the nerve to do so then I'll update the thread.

Jasseh · 19 Oct 2013 at 00:10

snips86x said:
Here are some internal shots of the Corsair Carbide 540, it has a bay behind the motherboard tray to hold 4 drives, you can also get 2 on the base of the main compartment.

Just a note:
The bay behind the motherboard is for 4 2.5" drives, the 2 in the main compartment can fit either 2.5" or 3.5" drives.

Virgil · 20 Oct 2013 at 12:29

Jasseh said:
Just a note:
The bay behind the motherboard is for 4 2.5" drives, the 2 in the main compartment can fit either 2.5" or 3.5" drives.

Thanks Jasseh I thought the bay would fit 3.5 drives it's good to know it doesn't.

scotsdragon · 20 Oct 2013 at 16:39

Virgil said:
Thanks once again for your input. I will consider phoning although I'd be somewhat embarrassed. I hate using the telephone.

Hi OracIe thank you for taking the time to comment. I will play most games if given a chance although I'm a fan of the Total War series and games of that ilk. My current computer struggles with Rome II so that's one reason I'm looking to upgrade.

I am not really a fan of FPSs however I recently picked up Battlefield 3 for £3 and I enjoyed it so I will likely buy BF 4 at some point if the story continues on from the last game.

I agree that the first system is perhaps overpowered for current gen games. However with the new consoles coming out soon if they have better games then perhaps PC games will get upgrade to? I'm not that knowledgeable about these things but that was my thinking anyway.

As for larger HDD/SSDs I would like to upgrade them but as far as I can see it's not an option when selecting Ultima 460i Scimitar.

Thanks again to you both for your time.

V

Edit:

I would likely use the new system for some light video/photo editing I should have mentioned it before my apologises.

Open up a ticket on the customer service forums

no need to phone if you don't want to also OC now do a complete build system inspired by 8packs ones you could look at these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2474&subid=2677