Build

[rockandrolldj]

First post on these here forums, so hi everyone.

I'm putting together a new build atm, predominantly for gaming, and I'd appreciate the opinions of the wise folk here. Here's the setup:






What do you guys think?

Thanks!
rockandrolldj

 

[Sampsy]

I'm no expert, but you certainly want the 2500k over the 2500, you probably don't need a sound card, you might be better unlocking a 6950 to a 6970 and saving some money (although I am not sure which can still be unlocked) and I am unsure of the quality of the MB and case, but I'm sure others will be better informed than I.

Edit: Also, what resolution will you be gaming at?

 

[stulid]

You dont need the sound card, the Intel HD audio is good.

The HDD is a 5400rpm drive, try a Samsung F3 1TB or Seagate Barracuda 7200.11/12

 

[DJ_Martin]

Don't go down the 6950 being unlocked route. A LOT of people have been disappointed, if you want a 6970 performance then get the 6970

 

[Stoner81]

For gaming 4GB is plenty of RAM at the moment though the XMS3 8GB kit is on offer at the moment but unless you really need it then I would go with 4GB (depending on your budget). Unless you have good surround sound speakers then the sound card is fairly pointless onboard would be fine.

This PSU is on offer at the moment too which be fine for your needs. I would get this HDD instead since it is faster and the same price bar a few pence.

Not a big fan of the case you selected but for £10 less you can have the this which will allow you add a SSD to the system at a later date for caching. You also chose the non K version of the CPU which would be pointless on the Asus board you picked so I would recommend this one instead.

I would also go with the GTX570 over ATI but I (personally) prefer nVidia cards, something along the lines of this.

Stoner81.

 

[Reaper 392]

unless i've missed something, your asking for a ~£1100 gaming rig with windows 7. this will be much better:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £156.98
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX120G) £134.99
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £118.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £59.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £50.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £34.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,101.78 (includes shipping : £13.75).


graphics card: pretty much the same performance, but its got a better cooler, and only takes up two slots on your motherboard, not three
processor: overclockable version of the one you chose, coupled with the best air cooler on the market today. 4.6-4.8Ghz should be easy
motherboard: Z68 chipset which has a whole heap of features P67 doesnt. also has crossfire at x8/x8 speed
solid state drive: not the fastest on the market, but not very far off the newer drives. big enough for OS, main programs/games and intel smartcaching
PSU: big enough for a second 570 if you want one. its also modular so you wont have a mass of unused cables flapping about in your case

you only need 4GB of RAM for a gaming machine these days

 

[rockandrolldj]

Thanks for the responses guys, really helpful.

Maybe I was being a little bit gratuitous with the 8gb of RAM, I'll take the advice I've been given and go with 4gb.

I'm out of the loop technology wise (having used a laptop for the past 2yrs), and want to ask a few more questions. What's the advantage of having a solid state drive; I assume it's faster, but are there any other upsides? Also, is it necessary to have a CPU cooler (as Reaper 392 suggested)? Is it mainly required for overclocking and the like?

I'm still not sure whether to go for the 6970 or the GTX570 - always been an ATi man in the past, but maybe someone can sway my loyalty?

Thanks again,
rockandrolldj

 

[DJ_Martin]

I'm out of the loop technology wise (having used a laptop for the past 2yrs), and want to ask a few more questions. What's the advantage of having a solid state drive; I assume it's faster, but are there any other upsides? Also, is it necessary to have a CPU cooler (as Reaper 392 suggested)? Is it mainly required for overclocking and the like?

Well the main advantage of an SSD is the speed of it, in theory it should also be less likely to break as it has no moving parts but I think that there is a history of them breaking, I'm pretty sure they are a lot more reliable nowadays though. It is necessary to have a CPU cooler regardless of what you are doing however the CPU already comes with a cooler. Reaper specced the OEM version which doesn't include a cooler so it is a little cheaper and then he chose a cooler which would have a much better performance than the stock one which normally comes with the CPU.
From the way you have asked I think you are moving towards not overclocking your CPU. I think that once you have had the system for a bit and if you look into it and see how easy it is to overclock a 2500k, you may wish you had got the better cooler in order to clock the CPU a lot higher. If you definitely don't want to overclock then there is no point in getting the 2500k version, the 2400 is identical however is cheaper but doesn't allow overclocking.

 

[rockandrolldj]

Well the main advantage of an SSD is the speed of it, in theory it should also be less likely to break as it has no moving parts but I think that there is a history of them breaking, I'm pretty sure they are a lot more reliable nowadays though. It is necessary to have a CPU cooler regardless of what you are doing however the CPU already comes with a cooler. Reaper specced the OEM version which doesn't include a cooler so it is a little cheaper and then he chose a cooler which would have a much better performance than the stock one which normally comes with the CPU.
From the way you have asked I think you are moving towards not overclocking your CPU. I think that once you have had the system for a bit and if you look into it and see how easy it is to overclock a 2500k, you may wish you had got the better cooler in order to clock the CPU a lot higher. If you definitely don't want to overclock then there is no point in getting the 2500k version, the 2400 is identical however is cheaper but doesn't allow overclocking.

I see. Well, I'm not opposed to overclocking, but having never done it before, I've always been slightly wary. Perhaps I'll give it a shot, I've always thought it would be a difficult business, but I was apparently wrong!

I might skimp on the solid state though. It's pretty pricey, and I'm not sure I'll really notice the benefits of it. Will it noticeably speed up my computer if I install the OS onto it?

 

[olivier renault]

Yes, but they are not essential components. For a gaming rig, you can save on the SSD and get a better graphics card. There is a bump though. 570 / 6970, then it gets a lot more expensive.

I wouldn't worry too much about overclocking. It's easy on Sandy, and to achieve a reliable and stress-free overclock, you only need to go to 4.2GHz (as opposed to 3.3GHz stock). That's easy, safe (no or little voltage bump), and can be done cheap (£20 cooler).

a review of the Survivor

It's a lan-gamer kind of case. Good case, but possibly OTT.

Another OTT case

A coolermaster 690 II will do a good job.

Added a 850W PSU for future SLI.

8GB OTT as well for a gaming rig.

64GB for OS or intel SRT (SSD caching technology with H67/Z68) support.

Anyhow... This is what I'd buy myself.

Decent cooler, but most importantly quiet.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £156.98
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi-Tower - Black (with Fan Controller Repair Kit) £134.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £91.99
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition Power Supply £84.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £69.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,092.77 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[panyan]

unless i've missed something, your asking for a ~£1100 gaming rig with windows 7. this will be much better:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £156.98
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX120G) £134.99
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £118.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £59.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £50.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £34.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,101.78 (includes shipping : £13.75).


graphics card: pretty much the same performance, but its got a better cooler, and only takes up two slots on your motherboard, not three
processor: overclockable version of the one you chose, coupled with the best air cooler on the market today. 4.6-4.8Ghz should be easy
motherboard: Z68 chipset which has a whole heap of features P67 doesnt. also has crossfire at x8/x8 speed
solid state drive: not the fastest on the market, but not very far off the newer drives. big enough for OS, main programs/games and intel smartcaching
PSU: big enough for a second 570 if you want one. its also modular so you wont have a mass of unused cables flapping about in your case

you only need 4GB of RAM for a gaming machine these days

i agree with everything apart from z68, the ssd isnt needed for caching and you have discrete graphics - i;d have stuck with a cheaper p67 board