2k Build, list included, advice please!

[spikedog]

Hi all,

Thanks to the great advice I received here last time I posted up a potential build I have now narrowed down to what I think looks to be the best of the advice I got combined with my own ideas. The only things I am set on is that the build must have 2 screens, a powerful GPU and ample storage.

I would however very much like to hear any further input people have on this build before I put in the order tomorrow:

Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "GOOD Edition" 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£389.99

Iiyama ProLite E2607WS 26" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
£249.98 x2 £499.96

Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION **
£149.99

Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1)
£179.99

Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
£169.99

Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 1200W Power Supply
£143.99

Coolermaster HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942)
£132.98

Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard (920-000978)
£130.99

G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL )
£85.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599)
£79.99

Saitek Cyborg R.A.T. 7 5600 DPI Gaming Mouse
£76.99

Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003)
£60.98 x2 £121.96

Corsair Hydro H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM3)
£57.98

Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BluRay ROM DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATAII Optical Drive - OEM Black
£47.99

IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g)
£14.99

Total : £2,316.85

If I am honest it is a little more than I wanted to spend by a couple of hundred but I was not really sure where to cut things without losing performance.

EDIT: Should have mentioned that this system will be used mostly for gaming and video watching/streaming.

 

[Surveyor]

You'll want to change that processor to the 2500K.

The plain 2500 can't be overclocked.

That will cost a few more quid but save a few quid by buying MX3/4 instead of IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound.

Do you really need two 26" monitors? Not much use for gaming as the bezles will be right in front of your face.

1200W power supply is overkill unless you plan on adding another 580 in the future and even then it's a bit much.

You could buy a GTX 480 for just over £200:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18253177

A bit slower than the 580 but saves you almost 200 notes.

There we are, one less monitor and 480 instead of a 580, saves you over £400. Get a more reasonable power supply and you've saved £450.

You could buy a very reasonable mouse and keyboard for £100. Do that as well and you've saved £550.

Also 4GB of RAM is regarded as sufficient for gaming so you could get the saving up to around £600.

I'm assuming you really need a 128GB SSD and 4TB's worth of HDD's otherwise you could save more money there.

 

[Reaper 392]

ive put most of surveyors changes into one package, and made a couple of changes of my own.

- the power supply is overkill for this rig, but it allows you to add a second graphics card if you feel you need to later.
- ive changed the graphics card to an MSI radeon 6950. the reason is its far less power hungry than the 480, so you can get away with a cheaper power supply. also, its still good enough to run most gaves at very high settings.
- ive changed the SSD to the soon to be released OCZ vertex 3. it has WAY faster read and write speeds than the one you chose
- i put a blu ray writer in there, just because i could really. it might come in handy, but feel free to remove it if you want.
- changed the case to the HAF912. seriously, theres nothing wrong with the case. everything will fit, it has good airflow and good cable management. feel free to change it if you dont like the look of it though

so heres what i came up with:
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Iiyama ProLite E2710HDS 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £249.98
(£208.32) £249.98
(£208.32)
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (VTX3-25SAT3-120G) £219.98
(£183.32) £219.98
(£183.32)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE Shogun 2 Game £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard (920-000978) £130.99
(£109.16) £130.99
(£109.16)
Pioneer BDR-205 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Antec TruePower New Modular 750W Power Supply - With FREE 3D Mark 2011 Advance £87.98
(£73.32) £87.98
(£73.32)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Saitek Cyborg R.A.T. 7 5600 DPI Gaming Mouse £76.99
(£64.16) £76.99
(£64.16)
Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £60.98
(£50.82) £121.96
(£101.64)
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
Corsair Hydro H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) £57.98
(£48.32) £57.98
(£48.32)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Ultra Low Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1600C9ELV4GK) £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound (4g) £7.14
(£5.95) £7.14
(£5.95)
Sub Total : £1,473.29
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £20.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £298.68
Total : £1,792.07

 

[spikedog]

Thanks for the advice Surveyor,

Here are the changes I have made based on your advice:

Changed the CPU to the K, that was a mistake on my part when adding it to the cart, thanks for pointing it out.

Changed the Graphics Card for the 480 you linked to, I checked out some information online and you are right, it is like 10-15% slower but almost 50% cheaper, seems like the better buy.

Changed the power supply for this one, should be enough to run the system as is with an additional 480 in the future, using a PSU calc I saw online:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-193-CM

The RAM is not much of a big outlay so I think I will keep the 8GB as it saves me re-buying another matched pair if I want to upgrade in the future. The monitors I am still in two minds about, my old system I ran with 2x 22" and loved it but you are right, when it comes to gaming I tend to just use one and the other one lays dormant. I will think about that. The HDDs I do need/like, the 2x2TB drives are to go in Raid 1 for backing up my many, many photos and the SSD is so I have a quick system drive.

All in total with the changes I have taken so far from you I have the price down to a much more reasonable £1,896.86 and that is with the 2 monitors and crazy mouse/keyboard setup.

Thanks for the help, and I would still be interested in seeing what anyone else has to say. Never can have too many opinions when spending this much dough!