Help me perfect my spec please :)

blazed

blazed

blazed

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9 Nov 2011
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So I'm thinking along the lines of:

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

Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller OR keep my old Cooler Master Elite 335 Case - Black (if it's compatible)

Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive OR Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive, by the way did SSD prices increase too like the HDDs?

Graphics: Thinking something like an GeForce GTX 560T Suggestions?, I would prefer if its a compliment of Intel + NVIDIA if it makes any difference.

Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) , might be worth getting more ram? suggestions?

PSU, Not sure what kind of powers I need, so again suggestions?

Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler, For possible OCing or just keeping the temp at reasonable levels.

Motherboard, thinking of one of the MSI Z68 with the cashback offer maybe, again suggestions?

So basically I am going to be doing 3Ds max, Photoshop, Gaming of the latest games, and video converting. I prefer best bang for buck rather than top technology. So I am looking around £600/700 mark give or take another £100 if you think the extra is worth it and vice versa. I cant imagine doing SLI/Crossfire and I usually upgrade my computer as whole every 3 years.
I appreciate all the help, thank you!
 
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if you want to go the nvidia route the the asus 560ti with the 2 games for £194 but that's if you want those games(bf3 and batman arkham city), can get £180 without the games

psu if you don't plan on sli then 550/650w (650w should be enough for sli anyway) antec, corsair, xfx are the ones to get

current case will be fine

ram corsair xm3 or vengence lp(low profile), Kingston hyperx genesis grey 1600mhz are the ones to get if going gelid tranquilo

mb go with the msi, or could go gigabyte z68ap-d3 as not planning on sli
 
if you like your elite 335 then you might as well keep it. its not great, but it will do for what your building
SSDs have not been affected by the floods, only mechanical drives have. speaking of which, do you have a SATA HDD, because an IDE one will not work on this motherboard (unless you get an IDE card for ~£10)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with BattleField 3 & Batman: Arkham City PC game** £193.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x MSI Z68A-G43-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £94.98
1 x Lepa W-Series 500W '80 Plus' Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £47.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £41.99
2 x G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £41.99 (£83.98)
Total : £642.91 (includes shipping : £10.00).

with the MSI motherboard deal that comes down to ~£625

since you use 3Ds MAX and do video converting an Nvidia card is the way forward because you can use its cuda cores to boost performance in those areas dramatically

also got you 16GB RAM because if your doing big photoshop stuff or big video edits then the ram gets eaten very quickly
 
Reaper 392 said:
if you like your elite 335 then you might as well keep it. its not great, but it will do for what your building
SSDs have not been affected by the floods, only mechanical drives have. speaking of which, do you have a SATA HDD, because an IDE one will not work on this motherboard (unless you get an IDE card for ~£10)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with BattleField 3 & Batman: Arkham City PC game** £193.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x MSI Z68A-G43-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £94.98
1 x Lepa W-Series 500W '80 Plus' Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £47.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £41.99
2 x G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £41.99 (£83.98)
Total : £642.91 (includes shipping : £10.00).

with the MSI motherboard deal that comes down to ~£625

since you use 3Ds MAX and do video converting an Nvidia card is the way forward because you can use its cuda cores to boost performance in those areas dramatically

also got you 16GB RAM because if your doing big photoshop stuff or big video edits then the ram gets eaten very quickly
Click to expand...

Thanks Reaper for the input, just a few questions:
Is the watercooling better than the gelid, never delt with water cooling before is it straight forward?

As for Lepa PSU is 500 watts going to be enough, and is Lepa a good brand?

Lastly do you think 4x4gb ram with fins will fit well with this combo?
 
blazed said:
Thanks Reaper for the input, just a few questions:
Is the watercooling better than the gelid, never delt with water cooling before is it straight forward?

As for Lepa PSU is 500 watts going to be enough, and is Lepa a good brand?

Lastly do you think 4x4gb ram with fins will fit well with this combo?
Click to expand...

the antec is definitely better than the gelid. since its a completely sealed system you could almost class it as an air cooler. i havent tried installing any of them myself, but i would suspect its slightly easier to install because you dont have a giant lump of metal to screw to the motherboard

the lepa PSU is great, lepa is enermax's home brand. however, if your worried about it then go for the OCZ ZS 550W or the antec modular 550W

the ram will fit just fine. because ive put a watercooler in there you can have ram fins as tall as you like without any problems (if i had chosen an air cooler then i would have used standard height ram)
 
I actually have a Coolermaster Real Power 520w Modular Power Supply already, I guess this will be fine with the above specs right?
 
as long as it has 2x 6pin pci-e power for the graphics card and a 24pin(20+4) & 8pin(4+4) for the motherboard you should be fine, how old is it? if you experience stability issues then buy a new psu, but as long as the current psu has the required connectors and th required power on the rails(will leave that to the psu experts) save the money and use it towards improving other parts of the spec or simply keep it in your pocket.

if you wanted could put the money saved towards upping the motherboard to the z68a-g55 g3(£125, £104 after cash back) or if you wanted to stretch the z68a-g65 g3(£150, £125 after cashback). or could get the better antec kuhler 920 £65(£23 more than the 620)
 
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its the cpu 8pin so you're fine on that front along with enough pci-e connectors for the 560ti(the 2x 6pin), but as I said will have to leave it to the experts for the power on the rails(the amps on the 12v rail/s).
 
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