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Theophany

Theophany

Theophany

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1 Sep 2010
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So I've got the building itch again, any suggestions for the following rig? Ideally, I'm budgeting for £2,500 which must include a 27-30" monitor, have a decent amount of overclocking head room (hence unlocked CPU and reference board GFX).

I'm a bit torn between the 7950 and the 580GTX and from what I've seen nVidia has a slight edge in performance, but I'm reluctant to buy a £350 2010 card that is going to be superseded around Q2.

All suggestions and reasons why are muy appreciado!

4vd1XbvD
 
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I'd go for a full size ATX motherboard so you can more easily CrossFire in the future if required.

Also there's no way to fit the sound card you've chosen on the motherboard you've chosen.

Personally I like the Asus sound cards these days.

If you're just gaming you could get the i5-2500K and save some cash.

The RAM seems overkill. 1600MHz is pretty much all you need for Sandy Bridge and you can get 16GB (which in itself is a bit of overkill for gaming) for ~£80
 
Yeah I saw the image but cannot any longer.

I was gonna ask what the rig is for as above the i5 2500K is the same for gaming as the 2600K.

Also the monitor, apparently it's a fair bit better than their first models but I just don't think I could spend that money on a company that been taken over more times that I can count (I was never good with numbers:D)

I get the 27" DELL instead.

I would deffo get the 7950 over the 580 for the extra VRAM or if you were getting the 580 3GB then I would get a 7970.
 
Theophany said:
So what do you get an i7 that you don't with an i5, aside from the better integrated graphics?
Click to expand...

A slightly higher clock speed but that's irrelevant when you start overclocking.

2MB of extra L3 cache and hyperthreading, both of which make very little difference to gaming.
 
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mickyflinn said:
Any reason for such a large ssd?
Click to expand...

I love speed :)

Surveyor said:
A slightly higher clock speed but that's irrelevant when you start overclocking.

2MB of extra L3 cache and hyperthreading, both of which make very little difference to gaming.
Click to expand...

What say you if I went socket 2011 instead, to have a tri-card and Ivybridge upgrade path he future?

mrrad1951 said:
I got the same board not gen 3 though, you need a PCIe sound card which goes on the lowest slot...you could get a cheaper case and psu and then a nice sound card , ive been waiting for these to come back in stock.. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-005-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat= I'm also getting good results with this cooler http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-005-AN&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
Click to expand...

I did look at a higher end sound card and I could afford it by ignoring my budget (not much of an issue if I'm honest), there were some nice looking Asus cards around the £80-90 mark. If I'm honest though, having had a Corsair case in the past there's no way I'd go with any other case now (aside from an Akasa Eclipse, ofc).
 
Theophany said:
What say you if I went socket 2011 instead, to have a tri-card and Ivybridge upgrade path he future?
Click to expand...

Ivy Bridge is S1155 the same as Sandy Bridge.

S2011 is Sandy Bridge-E and is a whole different ball game.

The cheapest processor currently available at OcUK is the hex core i7-3930K at ~£450 though a cheaper quad core is due.
 
Surveyor said:
Ivy Bridge is S1155 the same as Sandy Bridge.

S2011 is Sandy Bridge-E and is a whole different ball game.

The cheapest processor currently available at OcUK is the hex core i7-3930K at ~£450 though a cheaper quad core is due.
Click to expand...

If I gave you between £2500-2700 to spend on a rig, what would you build, inclusive of the monitor requirement.
 
Theophany said:
If I gave you between £2500-2700 to spend on a rig, what would you build, inclusive of the monitor requirement.
Click to expand...

I would get this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £559.99
2 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 7970 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £437.99 (£875.98)
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £284.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £157.99
1 x Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred (V3 with USB3.0) Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £134.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £96.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) £84.98
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
2 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99 (£71.98)
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.98
Total : £2,634.47 (includes shipping : £22.20).




EDIT: I lie, I would probably get a 120Hz monitor but you've expressed a strong interest in higher resolutions so I went for the DELL.

Great screen
Loads of storage
Huge SSD
Two of the fastest cards available.
Loads of RAM
Blu ray
All in a great big case
 
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I know you said that you like Corsair, but if you get either the Graphite Series or the Carbide Series with the mesh side panel and the huge intake fan, you have to remember that these cases do not have a side filter and you will be drawing in lots of dust.

A number of people have already been asking about Demciflex dust filters.
It is a pity that such great looking cases do not have a dust filter.

The downside to the Obsidian appears to be that air flow is not great.

If these little niggles don't bother you too much then, I really like the Corsair 500R, on the other hand the Coolermaster 690 II advanced is also a nice case.

You can save money on the setup below by:

1. Get an i5,most people will tell you that is all you need for gaming, but how long do you think it will take before games developers start using multiple cores to much greater advantage?

2. Get a less expensive monitor, however you are in the premium budget range and the Dell monitor is great.

3. Get a 7950 or less expensive 7970. You are using a 2560x1600 screen so a 3GB graphics card is the way to go, whatever you choose.

The cooler master cases are great for air cooling, support for up to 10 fans, and have dust filters on all meshed areas.

The 690 also has a hot swap sata bay on top of the case.

The XFX PSU is made by seasonic just like the top of the range Corsair AX range.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £899.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 512GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT512M4SSD2) £511.99
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 7970 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card £455.99
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £257.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced USB3.0 Windowed Gaming Tower Case - Black £104.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £96.98
1 x LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £79.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (PCI-Express) (30SB104200000) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
Total : £2,673.07 (includes shipping : £16.85).

 
i7 3930 (socket 2011), build example:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £559.99
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 7970 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card £455.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £455.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £284.99
1 x XFX 1000W Black Edition Pro '80+ Platinum' Certified Modular Power Supply £224.99
1 x Asrock X79 Extreme 4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £171.60
1 x Corsair Dominator 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMP16GX3M4X1600C7) £149.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced USB3.0 Windowed Gaming Tower Case - Black £104.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) £99.98
1 x LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £79.98
1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (PCI-Express) (30SB104200000) £35.99
Total : £2,644.69 (includes shipping : £16.85).

 
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