First Home Build

ingramt

ingramt

ingramt

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Joined
19 Mar 2012
Posts
39
Hello, I am planning on buying my first 'proper' computer (mostly for gaming) and would much appreciate your experience.

I estimate the cost to be under £1300 and will be assembling it myself...

Specs:-
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos II
Mobo: Asus P9X79 PRO
CPU: Intel Core i7-3820
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS12X Ultimate
GPU: Sapphire HD 7850 OC
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 4x4GB
SSD: Samsung 830 64GB
PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro M 850W

Some concerns I have is clearance of the heatsink and RAM but looking at some diagrams on the internet I think it should be fine. Another is that I'm going a bit OTT with the PSU but I'm thinking I might be able to squeeze the 850W if I decide to CF. Apart from that I am pretty happy and am guessing all the components will play together nicely? I know the case is expensive but I really like it and I think it will last me a good 3+.

Also when building yourself what do I need to take into account, I am thinking of getting an antistatic wristband/mat, I noticed scan offer insurance for £40 against damaging whilst assembling, do you think either of these are worth it? Just saw http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18046396 which I will have a more detailed read through later.

In the not too distant future my plans will be more HDD/SSD and at somepoint a new GFX card either another 7850 if kepler pwns then maybe that instead. If the latter will by 7850 be redundant, I was thinking if I had another monitor or two I could dual screen off an nvidia card and use the 7850 for a third screen 'independant' screen, would that work?

Constructive criticism welcome and thanks in advance.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 OC 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-02-40G) £379.99
1 x Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Case - Black £309.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £175.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £122.98
1 x XFX Pro 850W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £85.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £69.98
2 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19 (£62.38)
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £21.98
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,355.47 (includes shipping : £16.85).

 
YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £335.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £175.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £99.95
1 x Intel 520 Series 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £94.99
1 x Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK) £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/AM2/AM3) (CWCH60) £52.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £52.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,119.85 (includes shipping : £12.50).




or if you wanna drop that very very oversided and over priced case :) ... the PSU will be flat out tho mind under load.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I'm kinda 'buying into' the X79 platform and see it as being more of an investment where I can upgrade to IBe next year...

One of the main things I'm still scratching my head over is the GFX card, I can't really justify £400+ on the 680/7970 and am looking at the £200-£300 price so what I'm thinking (depending on what gets released in the next couple of weeks) is get a 570 for around £230 which should suffice until I get a new monitor as mine is 19x12 max. Then I'm hoping I can use it as a dedicated physx (I guess it'll be powerful enough?) if I get a 6X0. Either this or just get the 7870 and CF it later if needed. Which do you think will in the long run be better?

Have been looking today for any news on the 670/660 release dates but couldn't find anything does anyone have any clue as to whether these will be avialable this side of May?

And yes I have considered getting a cheaper case like a 650D which is still a possibility again this is dependant on the cost of GPUs when I'm about to buy.

Damn these decisions, I will never get anything carrying on like this lol :)
 
You mention you are using the PC mainly for gaming, then if you don't have the budget to go for a top-end graphics card like the GTX 680 then I strongly recommend you don't go for a X79 either. Since for gaming it will offer no perfomance advantages over a i5 2500K + Z68 but costs significantly more. While a high-end card like the GTX 680 does cost a lot, but it also offers clear performance benefits in games.

It is true that the X79 will be compatible with Ivy Bridge E - but the same can be said for a Z68 board and Ivy Bridge, it is just that Ivy bridge will come out later and cost more. If you don't intend to spend ~£450 on an Ivy bridge hex core then again there is little benefit going with LGA2011 over LGA1155 for your uses.
 
I very much see your point however whilst to start it will be primarily for gaming I would like to have the headroom for a variety of purposes from recording music to application design and development, statistical modelling etc. Some of these I won't be able to do right away because of lack of software and/or equipment but I'm thinking that X79 in the long run gives me greater flexibility.
 
YOUR BASKET

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £429.95

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £163.99

Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98

Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £126.98

XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £109.99

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10) £107.99

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £99.98

CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £99.98

Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA775/AM2/AM2) £72.98

Total : £1,356.84

This will give you very good gaming performance with the possibility of upgrading to 32gb RAM if you wanted a RAM drive or needed the 32GB for soemthnig in the future. If you're positive you'll need a better CPU for future use then go X79 but you'll take a hit when gaming.
 
I would rethink the case there are a lot cheaper decent cases around then you could put some of that towards a better graphics card. I know it is a very good case but think you would be better off spending a bit more on the grahics card.
 
Would agree that going X79 and such a high end case isn't worth it for gaming alone and you could spend more on the GPU/high res monitor/larger SSD. The i5-2500K/i7-2600K has plenty of overclocking headroom and you always have the option of popping in an Ivy Bridge CPU at a later date with a Gen3. motherboard. I would seriously research the applications that you believe will be more demanding as there is the scope to save a lot of money!
 
shadow_boxer said:
Would agree that going X79 and such a high end case isn't worth it for gaming alone and you could spend more on the GPU/high res monitor/larger SSD. The i5-2500K/i7-2600K has plenty of overclocking headroom and you always have the option of popping in an Ivy Bridge CPU at a later date with a Gen3. motherboard. I would seriously research the applications that you believe will be more demanding as there is the scope to save a lot of money!
Click to expand...

Thats basically what i Spec'd him above, I'm in total agreement that the x79 and the CM cosmos 2 is a complete waste of money at this time and the mobo I spec'd will also accept the Ivy Bridge CPU (when released) and saved him over £200 of his budget if he want's he could put that away and then use that and the sale of his 2500K to buy the Ivy Bridge.

Just some idea's for the OP.
 
Isn't that amount of RAM overkill?

theres
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95

which has faster timings. Although, yeah I can see you're going for future-proofing.
 
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