Help me choose a new system

derv

derv

derv

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It has been a while since my last browse of these forums...

Welcome, derv.
You last visited: 26th Jan 2005 at 22:34

:D

Anyway, on to the reason for my visit. I'm currently running an old Dell Dimension I bought around 4 years ago (Intel duel core 2.6ghz, 4x1gb ddr2 ram, geforce 8600gt). It has served me well but is struggling to run the newer games. Fallout: NV and Portal 2 have been fine, but a recent try at Borderlands made me realise it's time for an upgrade. I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means but would like to play Deus Ex 2, Skyrim, Rage, Witcher 2 etc on a system that will do them justice.

I used to build my PCs 8+ years ago but am very much out of touch. I'm leaning towards a pre-build from OCUK so I don't have to worry about compatability problems or spending hours reading up on how to configure everything.

If I purchased a fairly high spec system is it likely to play new release games for 3-5 years? I don't mind paying out for a decent system if it means I can just pickup a game without having to worry about reading the recommended specs.

The system I'm looking at is the Ultima Mosasaur pre-build with Radeon 6950 2GB crossfire and 16GB RAM which is coming out at around £1350.

I'd love to get some advice on how well this system would perform, how many years it is likely to last before being too outdated for games, and more importantly if there is a better setup out there for my needs. Is the Crossfire too overkill for now and something I should consider later down the line? Is 16gb RAM going to be wasted and 8GB more suitable? Do I need a higher end processor? I'm really out of touch with PC technology and have no idea what performs well for the price.

£1400 is the most I want to spend. I'm happy to use my existing monitor (Dell E228WFP) so the money can purely go on the base unit.

Any advice or suggestions will be most welcome!
 
Hi,
Another Prebuilt option would be the "Titan Supersaurus", with GTX580 & Windows 7 HP:
Total: £1,234.98 (inc Shipping)

System Specification
- Case: Coolermaster CM 690 II Dominator Advanced - Black
- Power Supply: OCZ ZS 650w PSU
- CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz Overclocked to 4.50GHz Sandybridge CPU
- Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION **
- Cooler: Corsair H60 CPU Cooler
- RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: Samsung 1TB F3 + Crucial M4 64GB Sata 6GB/s Solid State Drive
- Graphics Card: Choice of the latest DX11 Graphics Cards
- Sound: Asus Xonar DG PCI Sound Card
- Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW SATA Drive

Reasons for this over the "Mosasaur".

Crucial 64GB SSD is a lot more reliable than the OCZ drive.
GTX580 is far superior to the 6950 2GB and will last longer.
For gaming the i5-2500K performs very similar to the i7-2600K as many games don't utilise hyperthreading.

If your not a big fan of closed loop water cooling for the CPU i'm sure OcUK would swap it out for a similar priced air cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler
 
Yeah if your dead set on a pre built system, the one Robbie suggests would suit you better, how long it will last with gaming is the 'piece of string' question, that system will last you a good few years but as with all computing tech is dependant on the advances of future generations
 
You could build yourself a beast of a machine for that kind of money....


Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
(£224.99) £539.98
(£449.98)
Corsair PC Starter Bundle 2000c - 600TM Case / TX 850W V2 PSU / H80 CPU Cooler (Cooler Half Price) £256.98
(£214.15) £256.98
(£214.15)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £154.98
(£129.15) £154.98
(£129.15)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Sub Total : £1,094.07
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £221.76
Total : £1,330.58

You could with the spec above, go for one of the more 3GB 580's rather than the SLI 570's, and whilst you wouldn't get quite the performance at the moment, it would mean in future you could drop another one in for SLI if you felt performance dropping....

If you're set on pre-built then go for the suggestion above

kd
 
Thanks for your help. I am set on pre-built for the least amount of hassle, and the setup posted by Robbie looks good. How is the "Supersaurus" in terms of upgrading in the future? Could I simply drop in another GTX580 a few years down the line (I assume any brand of GTX580 with the same memory would SLI?)

If I wanted to drop in some more RAM, a faster CPU or a couple of extra HDDs in the future is this possible with the setup I would have? Can the motherboard/PSU/case etc handle this?

I'm not adverse to watercooling. I assume it would require some form of maintenance, checking for leaks and replacing the coolant every so often? I'm guessing watercooled would also give me a much quieter system?

Sorry for all the newbie questions - feeling a bit overwhelmed with so many things to consider!
 
If you want upgradability (don't think thats a word :p) then it probably would be better to build yourself however:

As far as adding RAM to the system that would be easy. But another graphics card would mean a more powerful PSU is needed.

You could ask them to add these to the "Supersaurus" build:

PSU: OCZ ZX Series 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
This PSU will ensure that you can stick another GTX580 in when you feel the need. (* when you add another card they will only run at the speed of the slowest card)

Motherboard: Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3
This Motherboard can take the generation of Intel's CPU's "IvyBridge" and allow the board to run its PCI-E lanes (where the graphics cards sit) faster.
 
I shall be the proud owner of the Supersaurus with GTX580 on Tuesday, thanks for your help.
 
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