Final Spec Check

jcb33

jcb33

jcb33

Soldato
Joined
11 Apr 2003
Posts
4,157
Location
Notts
Hey all,

Made a thread a while ago with the intention of upgrading my almost 6 year old PC and with much help from Stulid came up with a nice spec, however something came up which meant I had to put off ordering it.

Now today my PC died, which is forcing me to buy a new pc, and also alter the spec as I was intending to use bits from the old PC, PSU, Case and DVD drives, but I will now need to replace the whole thing.

So just wanting to check what people think of the following spec, is there anything that needs changing, any compatibility issues with items, or anywhere I can save money?

Intel Core i5 2500K Retail
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 Motherboard
2x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz (16GB Total)
1GB XFX Black 6870 Graphics Card
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 Hard Drive
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' PSU
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler
IC Diamond 7-Carat Thermal Compound
Corsair Obsidian 650D Black Case
2x Samsung WriteMaster DVD-RW

Coming in at about £850

I also want to check if there is a better PSU and CPU Cooler for the price range.

Thanks in advance!
Jcb33.
 
any reason for the 2 dvd drives?
you can drop the TIM as the cooler will come with TIM pre-applied or in a little tube

if your looking at this 6870
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-190-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866
then swap it for a 2GB 6950.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Modular PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-LA&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057

unfortunately the F3 has disappeared from OCUK, so you will have to go for the Seagate Barracuda 7200.12
 
are you sure you can't use anything from the old pc? whats the spec on it?

case/psu/cooler:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-043-OP&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395 650w psu tho

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-042-OP&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat= if you can stretch to it, different case but 850w psu and better cooler(than the h60).

no point in spending just under £200 on a 6870 when you can get a 6950 for £8 more http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

do you need 2x dvdrw? thought about a ssd?

edit: damn johny got in as I was typing :(
 
you can get a Corsair bundle, with a 650D, 650W PSU, and a H60.

With that GPU. you can get away with a 550W Antec TP-550, or a TP-650 for 6870 XFire. However, a 6870, while capable, is not what I'd call top of the range. For that budget, I'd be aiming at a 6950.

As for the cooler, the Corsair performs, what I don't like about it is its three-pin fan connector. Meaning the cooler will run at constant voltage, although it comes with a low-high speed fan adapter.

The Gelid Tranquillo is also good for £21 (iirc). And it's PWM controlled (speed of fan varies with CPU load). I would also not bother with the paste. It's good if you plan to dabble with enthusiastic overclocks, and then again you will be better off with a SilverArrow. For 30% overclock (4.4GHz), where the sweet spot seems to be in terms of heat, stability and CPU voltages, normal paste and cooler will do fine.

The rest looks good to be honest. The Corsair TX750V2 is a very good PSU, but not modular (no big deal imo). It will do XFire 6970, 6950, or SLI 560ti.
 
Jony27 said:
any reason for the 2 dvd drives?
Click to expand...

To be fair.... I suppose not, I just have 2 drives now, but hardly even use one of them....

fowler002 said:
are you sure you can't use anything from the old pc? whats the spec on it?

case/psu/cooler:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-043-OP&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395 650w psu tho

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-042-OP&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat= if you can stretch to it, different case but 850w psu and better cooler(than the h60).

no point in spending just under £200 on a 6870 when you can get a 6950 for £8 more http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752
Click to expand...

Sadly yes, the case is great, and I could save money by reusing it, but it is very small by todays standards, so I would have to go for an Artic Cooler 13 at most and I would not be able to fit a bigger graphics card into it in the future, plus it would run quite hot due to the size.

Is that Cooler in the bundle better than the A50? Also will I notice a difference dropping down from 750W to 650W? As the bundle only works out a couple of pounds cheaper than what I have posted.

Graphics card wise I am looking at around £150, I do not really want to push it up to £200, looking at benchmarks the 6850 only gets about 5FPS more on average than the 6870.

I also have thought about getting and SSD, but it will push the budget over a bit to much at the moment.

Also as for the paste, I am looking to overclock to around 4.5Ghz if I can.

Jcb33.
 
Ok try again with the final spec, see what you guys think now :)

Corsair PC Starter Bundle 3000c - 650D Case / TX 650W V2 PSU / H60 CPU Cooler (Cooler Half Price) - £225.97
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail - £167.99
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 - £154.98
OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 - £124.98
2x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) (16GB Total) - £47.99 (£95.98 Total)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - £47.99
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWrite - £16.99

Total: £834.88

Hows that spec?

I will be wanting to overclock to about 4.5Ghz with the CPU, and play upcoming games like Skyrim, BF3 and The Old Republic if I can. Plus current games such as The Witcher 2, Starcraft 2 etc that I have so far missed out on.

Thanks again,
Jcb33.
 
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you can fit the 6950 in your price range(well not if you go for 16gb of ram, do you need that much?) :)

the h60 gives a bit better cooling than the a50 I believe(will have to check) but have read its a bit louder due to the pump.

the 650w should be able to handle 6870/6950(depending which card you choose) xfire should you choose to down that route in the future, the 750w will give you a bit more head room for future upgrade tho.

had a bit of calculation, seems the bundle with the h80 and 850w psu(but different case) doesn't come in budget if you get a 6950.

if you decide to stick to the 'seperates' instead of the bundle might be worth having a look at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395 similar performance to the a50 but £1 cheaper.
 
fowler002 said:
you can fit the 6950 in your price range(well not if you go for 16gb of ram, do you need that much?) :)

the h60 gives a bit better cooling than the a50 I believe(will have to check) but have read its a bit louder due to the pump.

the 650w should be able to handle 6870/6950(depending which card you choose) xfire should you choose to down that route in the future, the 750w will give you a bit more head room for future upgrade tho.

had a bit of calculation, seems the bundle with the h80 and 850w psu(but different case) doesn't come in budget if you get a 6950.

if you decide to stick to the 'seperates' instead of the bundle might be worth having a look at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395 similar performance to the a50 but £1 cheaper.
Click to expand...

I am going to stick with the 650D just because I do not like the look of the other case (I would sooner stick with my current case but as said it will be to warm/small)

Though I am willing to change around the PSU and Cooler if worthwhile.

As for the graphics card, is the 6950 really worth the extra £75 over the 6870 though?

Jcb33.
 
jcb33 said:
I am going to stick with the 650D just because I do not like the look of the other case (I would sooner stick with my current case but as said it will be to warm/small)

Though I am willing to change around the PSU and Cooler if worthwhile.

As for the graphics card, is the 6950 really worth the extra £75 over the 6870 though?

Jcb33.
Click to expand...

will last you longer, plus pop a 2nd in a little down the line(should be cheaper when the new card come out) and you'll be set for a few years. tho with the new gen of cards due out end of the year/start of next maybe better to go 6870 and upgrade to one of the newer ones, decisions desicions I personally gave in and got 2x this :)

with your last spec you have a bit left to £850, might be worth looking at this more power(850w vs 750w of the corsair you chose), modular(better cable management) and gold rated so apperently save electricty compared to the bronze corsair. give you more head room for future upgrade tho the 750w should be sufficiant in most cases.

if you're not planning on going over 4.5ghz then the a50/gelid tranquillo will be sufficiant for your needs, h60/80 if you're planning 4.8ghz+
 
fowler002 said:
will last you longer, plus pop a 2nd in a little down the line(should be cheaper when the new card come out) and you'll be set for a few years. tho with the new gen of cards due out end of the year/start of next maybe better to go 6870 and upgrade to one of the newer ones, decisions desicions I personally gave in and got 2x this :)

with your last spec you have a bit left to £850, might be worth looking at this more power(850w vs 750w of the corsair you chose), modular(better cable management) and gold rated so apperently save electricty compared to the bronze corsair. give you more head room for future upgrade tho the 750w should be sufficiant in most cases.

if you're not planning on going over 4.5ghz then the a50/gelid tranquillo will be sufficiant for your needs, h60/80 if you're planning 4.8ghz+
Click to expand...

I think I will go for the 6870 for now, and then when I need to (Can afford to) upgrade the graphics card in the future. As long as the rest of the system is up to scratch, as this will have to last me a few years/untill its dead like my current PC has.

Also if I go for the bundle (which I am leaning towards) it only has the 650W PSU, will that still be ok?
 
mickyflinn said:
Yes it will and may also handle crosssfire.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...6870/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6870-overview.aspx#3
Click to expand...

Good times them, just need to wait untill tomorrow and I shall be ordering the parts!

Very excited, though a little scared as its so long since I built a PC (Not that I imagine its any harder than it was back then) It is however quite a bit of money to be paying out, but should be worth it if I get as much use from it as I have my old PC.

Thanks for all the help guys, this should be good fun to build :D It is just a shame I can't afford a Solid State Drive.

Also one last question, is it worth the extra £3ish for the Cosair Vengence Blue RAM over the RAM I have picked?

Jcb33.
 
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Yes, but given the budget, I would go for the best GPU and save the £120+ for other things.

tempting... :)


YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £167.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £154.98
1 x Lancool Dragon-Lord PC-K62 Mid Tower Case with Window - Black £82.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXV2UK) £79.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £47.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £853.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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