Decided to buy now rather than wait till Ivy Bridge...

--- Z --- · 4 Dec 2011 at 08:05

Hi all

I have been in a quandary over if i should wait till Ivy Bridge or get a system now.

I currently have a Q6600 system that is really dated now and starting to show faults, and im going to take the plunge.

THis is what i have so far:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £279.98
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £251.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Power Edition "448 Edition" OC Twin FrozR III 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £227.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V PRO GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £155.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £139.99
1 x Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) £139.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) £84.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £54.98
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95 (£79.90)
1 x IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g) £12.98
2 x Sharkoon Silent Eagle SE Modular 120mm Fan £10.99 (£21.98)
Total : £1,724.86 (includes shipping : £20.10).

Can anyone see any glaringly obvious mistakes here? its either this system or the XAMS Tundra system with a larger PSU and SSD.

Wjat do you all think?

VaderDSL · 4 Dec 2011 at 08:19

looks like an awesome spec to me, can't see anything that needs changing tbh.

Tibbz2 · 4 Dec 2011 at 08:45

Very nice indeed...

andy_mk3 · 4 Dec 2011 at 09:10

Is it going to be used for gaming? If so the only thing I'd change is the gpu to something with 2GB vram. Everything else looks great though

Pohly · 4 Dec 2011 at 09:48

Yeh like the above said if its for gaming 2gb VRAM and 16gb of ram is overkill (if it's a gaming setup)

Hyburnate · 4 Dec 2011 at 09:53

No OEM Blu Ray

2GB vRAM GPU. Apart from that your a lucky guy whos Crimbo has come early.

ben90 · 4 Dec 2011 at 10:52

If it's mainly for gaming then possibly stick with a 2500k, 8GB RAM.

If you're patient you could stick with an average GPU and wait for the new AMDs to arrive around late Jan, although no one really knows prices or exact dates. Or you could use the money saved above on a better card now.

Davefran · 4 Dec 2011 at 11:18

Swap these out for starters, and if it's for gaming and not doing much encoding or photoshopping etc, swap the i7 for i5 2500K and up the 560 to GTX570/580.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £119.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £74.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
Total : £266.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).

--- Z --- · 4 Dec 2011 at 22:59

Ok, so had a look at what people suggested here and made a few alterations.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £279.98
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £251.99
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £195.95
1 x Asus P8Z68-V PRO GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.98
1 x Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) £139.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £139.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £74.99
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95 (£79.90)
1 x IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g) £12.98
2 x Sharkoon Silent Eagle SE Modular 120mm Fan £10.99 (£21.98)
Total : £1,645.40 (includes shipping : £14.75).

So far this seems great, has it all that i need, Will be used for Photoshopping and gaming.

Doomedspeed · 4 Dec 2011 at 23:05

That looks great, i cannot think of anything you could do to better that.

--- Z --- · 4 Dec 2011 at 23:14

Next question, Do you think OCUK would built it for me? Its not that i cant, it just that i really dont want the hastle.

I was looking at a prebuilt system but there isnt one that has the options that i want.

Cupra · 4 Dec 2011 at 23:17

--- Z --- said:
Next question, Do you think OCUK would built it for me? Its not that i cant, it just that i really dont want the hastle.

I was looking at a prebuilt system but there isnt one that has the options that i want.

instead of asking what we think, why not give them a ring or send a webnote or post in customer service section of the forum to find out for a fact?

R.C.Anderson · 4 Dec 2011 at 23:21

--- Z --- said:
Next question, Do you think OCUK would built it for me? Its not that i cant, it just that i really dont want the hastle.

I was looking at a prebuilt system but there isnt one that has the options that i want.

Are there any that are close? pretty sure there's a reasonable amount of customisability with the pro-builds. Best thing to do, would be to give them a ring in the morning, or put a post in the CS section of the forums.

EDIT: cupra beat me to it, must have posted whilst I was reading through the thread...

fowler002 · 4 Dec 2011 at 23:53

if you can live with the colour http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-000-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

you don't need the thermal paste unless you plan on regular removing/re-attaching of the cooler as the cooler comes with some pre-applied.

I've seen a couple of threads last month were the op phoned up ocuk and got them to put the pc together, just had problem with the cooler but it was the gelid tranquilo but other then that think it was all the parts were as specified. so as said ring up ocuk cs tomorrow and ask them to quote you how much it'll cost for them to build it for you.

--- Z --- · 5 Dec 2011 at 00:01

Cheers all, will do. And thanks for the help here.

jpod · 5 Dec 2011 at 00:57

Budget around £1,700 for gaming and photoshop!
Either a single gtx 580 or go for SLI 570 which I have specked below
850W PSU for the SLI is ok but I have gone larger
i5 and i7 hardly makes a difference in photoshop or gaming
I have left out HDD's but add them when the £ returns to normal ****
In the mean time your SDD can hold the OS, aps, games and images. You could get a smaller one for £85?
Gave you 16GB for your images.
Do you need bluray? I left it off.
I kept a white case and threw a fan in with some paste to keep you happy

Interested to see what other folk think of the SLI rig

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £279.98
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 OC WINDFORCE 3X 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99 (£519.98)
1 x Corsair Professional Series HX1050 Professional Series 1050W Modular Power Supply (CMPSU-1050HXUK) £179.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Arctic White £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x BeQuiet Dark Rock Advanced CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366, AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / 754 / 939 / 940) £41.99
2 x Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B) £39.98 (£79.96)
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound (4g) £8.99
Total : £1,617.53 (includes shipping : £14.75).

fowler002 · 5 Dec 2011 at 01:24

jpod said:
Budget around £1,700 for gaming and photoshop!
Either a single gtx 580 or go for SLI 570 which I have specked below
850W PSU for the SLI is ok but I have gone larger
i5 and i7 hardly makes a difference in photoshop or gaming
I have left out HDD's but add them when the £ returns to normal ****
In the mean time your SDD can hold the OS, aps, games and images. You could get a smaller one for £85?
Gave you 16GB for your images.
Do you need bluray? I left it off.
I kept a white case and threw a fan in with some paste to keep you happy

Interested to see what other folk think of the SLI rig

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £279.98
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 OC WINDFORCE 3X 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99 (£519.98)
1 x Corsair Professional Series HX1050 Professional Series 1050W Modular Power Supply (CMPSU-1050HXUK) £179.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Arctic White £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x BeQuiet Dark Rock Advanced CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366, AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / 754 / 939 / 940) £41.99
2 x Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B) £39.98 (£79.96)
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound (4g) £8.99
Total : £1,617.53 (includes shipping : £14.75).

the fins on the ram WILL interfer with the cooler

psu is VERY OTT for 570 sli, 750w is enough. 850w is enough for 580sli, no need for 1kw unless planning on tri/quad sli, hugh raid arrays etc.

again no need to get sepearte thermal paste.

Reaper 392 · 5 Dec 2011 at 01:51

just did a couple of money savers on your build. managed to get a 2.5GB 570 in there

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD 2560MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £329.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £279.98
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £263.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
1 x Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £139.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £74.98
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £52.98
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95 (£79.90)
Total : £1,641.76 (includes shipping: FREE).

didnt include thermal paste because the stuff that comes with the silver arrow is very good. same deal with the two fans

i'm 99% sure the PSU will cope with two of the cards in SLI, but if someone could confirm that for me it would be great

@jpod, the i7 2700k makes a big difference in photoshop

*edit*
if you want a prebuild then this is probably your best option. you will have to ask in the customer service if they are happy to make these changes, but i'm 99% sure that they will be:

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Ultima Mosasaur" Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz @ 4.60GHz DDR3 Sandybridge System £999.98
1 x Overclock selected £20.00
1 x No Hard Drive Upgrade £0.00
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x No Crossfire Upgrade £0.00
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x System 12 Months Standard Warranty £0.00
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £279.98
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £195.95
1 x Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £139.99

that should come within budget. obviously the SSD, case and graphics card i have listed are the bits you should ask to be changed

jpod · 5 Dec 2011 at 12:48

Okay fowler, listening to what you said there:

Low profile ram
850w PSU, go with the Corsair?

For me personally I would add 4xHDD raid 10, overclock and all my USB's I would go higher personally, I couldn't see any in stock 900W so I chose 1000W.

Reaper, Anandtec figures didn't seem to make the i7 made much difference based on the figures I saw (enlighten me), but a system is a great idea if the OP does not want to build.

pod

Buchanan0204 · 5 Dec 2011 at 14:33

Ditch the HDD till next year. Your SSD should have plenty space on it for most things.

Unless of course you have a tonne of videos etc to store. If it's not really needed. Then I'd ditch it till the price drops next year.