Help me spec a new 2k gaming machine

Ill happily do you a red spec, though im not a fan of the cosmos SE atall..

Have you read any reviews?

I think you can get better for you're money..

Im not going to spec something i don't think is right for you.
 
One step ahead of you danny.

Pre-watercooled CPU (as such)

YOUR BASKET
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £379.99 (£759.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £163.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £143.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £129.95
1 x OcUK Tech Labs Fathom All in One Custom Cooler 240mm £112.97
1 x XSPC EX240 120mm Radiator - Black £37.99
1 x Mayhems Ultra Pure H20 Watercooling Fluid 1L £4.99
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £94.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £63.95
2 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £19.99 (£39.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99
4 x BitFenix 6+2-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved red/black £5.99 (£23.96)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Red £5.99
Total : £1,925.77 (includes shipping : £20.10).




Custom WC setup. :)

YOUR BASKET
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £379.99 (£759.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £163.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £143.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £129.95
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-D5 Vario X-RES 140 (incl. pump) £107.99
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £94.99
1 x Koolance HX-360XC 30 FPI Copper Radiator - 360mm £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £69.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £63.95
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy - Acetal £49.99
1 x Monsoon 16/10mm (ID 3/8 OD 5/8) Free Center Compression Fitting Six Pack - Black Chrome £27.95
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £23.99
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSBS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - Black £21.98
2 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £19.99 (£39.98)
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Single Pack (CO-9050007-WW) £13.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 16/10 - Red £5.99 (£11.98)
4 x BitFenix 6+2-Pin PCIe Extension 45cm - sleeved red/black £5.99 (£23.96)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Red £5.99
Total : £2,102.68 (includes shipping : £20.10).



Only CPU cooled.

Enough power to cooler GPU too.. (more expense)

Rad in the roof or at the front.

Much better than the eisberg.

Though in OC's cooler the eisberg has appearently been 'tweaked' to be better.. (not sure how, Rjk [birthday boy] mentioned it a while back i think).
 
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Just trying to ascertain why? I know it's a case you either love the look of or hate it but just curious as to whether there are some other reasons :)

Well the ultra case I have a big problem with. It sells itself as a watercooling king but it can't accept think radiators, line any other £200+ case. The case I spec ed also can too, as with the 540 air.

Considering its a £300 case, the features are poor and as I've said the look of it is ghastly in my eyes. Cases have moved on a lot since that was designed and you can get smaller cheaper and prettier cases which offer the same features.

The cheaper cosmos is just that explain but smaller and with less features again.
 
Was just asking as personally I am not fan of the case but think the actual build quality (not features) is one of the best on the market. My friend has the cosmos ultra and in my personal opinion is superior quality to my 900D but I prefer the features and looks of my case. Was just curious that all thanks :)
 
One step ahead of you danny.

I should have known...

:p

Gorgeous specs, both of them. Bit of white lighting maybe?

I wonder what colour the leds on the NZXT logo on the power supply casing are, on the black version. I've seen they are blue on the white version. Unless the PSU in the video I watched had a blue led fan and it was shining through... and the logo has no leds as such. Didn't look like that though, it looked like leds on the logo.
 
Just trying to ascertain why? I know it's a case you either love the look of or hate it but just curious as to whether there are some other reasons :)

OK to start,

  • styling is abit iffy
  • not much in the way of watercooling support
  • its a hot box
  • not the best finish for a £90+ case
  • that hdd and optical cage support
  • them optical bay cover's I mean really?
  • I think I shall stop now

OK moving on my turn :)

YOUR BASKET
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £379.99 (£759.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £163.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £149.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £105.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £99.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMY8GX3M2B2133C9) £89.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Pro Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMY8GX3M2B2133C9R) £89.99
1 x Creative Sound Blaster Z High Performance Gaming Sound Card - Retail (70SB150000001) £79.99
2 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £79.99 (£159.98)
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £63.95
1 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise - Dual Pack (CO-9050006-WW) £25.99
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSBS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - Black £21.98
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Dual Pack (CO-9050002-WW) £19.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Premium Modding LED Strip - Connect White 30cm £16.79
1 x Corsair AF140 Quiet Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050009-WW) £14.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050001-WW) £13.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Red £8.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.98 (£13.96)
2 x BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.49 (£12.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin EPS extension 45cm - Red £5.99
2 x BitFenix Alchemy SATA 6GB/s braided cable 30cm - Red £5.99 (£11.98)
2 x BitFenix Alchemy Molex to 3pin x3 Fan adaptor 7V 20cm - Red £4.99 (£9.98)
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Internal Audio Extension Adaptor 30cm - Red £4.49
4 x BitFenix Alchemy 2pin I/O extension 30cm - Red £3.95 (£15.80)
Total : £2,223.07 (includes shipping : £17.85).

 
I like what you've done ethel, looks stunning. The contrsting RAM modules and the sound card are stunning additions.

Though in term of performance i don't think its worth nearly £300 more than this:

Cheers bud :) I do as I'm the king of bling ;):D but no in real terms it will not offer much more then just raw sexy appeal and to serve as nerd porn, but then again I do have RAID 0 SSD's, another 8 GB of RAM a bigger PSU and a sexy sound card does that count .....
 
Cheers bud :) I do as I'm the king of bling ;):D but no in real terms it will not offer much more then just raw sexy appeal and to serve as nerd porn, but then again I do have RAID 0 SSD's, another 8 GB of RAM a bigger PSU and a sexy sound card does that count .....

Very true, the RAID0 SSD's are a lovely touch..
 
Hmmm, very negative response to the Cosmos SE case. Shame that as I read several reviews from launch and they were positive and watched a load of YouTube vids and I really did like it, but I'm someone who'll listen to feedback, especially when it's from multiple posters.

Some really great builds there, thanks for continuing to offer me builds after I change my mind over and over.

That H440 is really nice, wonder when the stock is due from pre order. Unfortunately I don't want the 540, the shape won't fit my desk.

Disappointingly several of the items are out of stock too.

On the memory front, can someone explain the difference in MHz speed to the 'C' rating eg C9 The memory quoted in these builds have ranged from C9-C11 and 2133 to 2666. What is more important to look for over the other?

The GPUs are still causing me trouble, the non ref 290X is coming in at just £80 on my original £800 allocated to GPUs to run them on xfire.

Perhaps I'll go order a PS4 and be done with it - I'm terrible at making any sort of decision :P
 
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Though we say these things we've (im pretty sure i speak for all of us who have commented so far) never own one of those cases, so the reality may be different. Though i never would want to own it. :)

Between £60-£130 there is a lot of cases which are more feature packed and look nicer than that does, i just feel it'd be a waste if we didn't atleast inform you about them.

The H440, i don't know the release date yet. normally its about 3-4 weeks after unvieling.

Another option if you like that styling is the NZXT Switch 810. The same price as the cosmos SE, about the same size and well loved. :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x NZXT Switch 810 Ultra Tower Case - Gun Metal £149.99
Total : £159.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



I think it'll be worth wiating for the H440 though.

Memory. Mhz is the RAM speed, the C ratings are the timings. I can't remember exactly how timing work but C9 is better than C11, i know that. :).. Those these do vary with speed.

Personally i don't think you'll notice the difference between the 2133 (c9) and 2600 (c11). It's just whatever is cheaper. :)

Lets solve you're dilema. Go for the 290 (non-X) windforce.

The difference between the 290 and 290X is minimal. :)
 
Im a switch 810 owner and if you can deal with its looks which arent that bad its cooling capacity especially with water cooling is excellent. Loads of space for cards etc and good room behind the MB tray to hide all the cables.

I would advise not going with stock cooled 290 models let alone in Xfire as they are not quiet under load as mine prove every day i fail to put it under water. :(
 
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Hi all,

I am now ready to go ahead and place my order but before I do I just have one final question around the fans and the cables.

My basket is made up so far of several different suggestions from throughout this thread, thank you to everyone again.

Several of the items have increased in cost or were in weekly offers so I just need to consider how much I spend on what I consider as non essential extras.

First off the fans, taking Ether's last red build above (post 152) I see included 2 x 2 SP120 and AF140 and 1 x AF140 and AF120 at a cost of £75. Are these all optional upgrades that will run quieter and improve cooling by replacing stock fans that will come with the 540 or are any of them actually required extras? Or strongly recommended additions.

My next question is similar but on the cable front. There are a load of them and I know these are to improve looks and run some fans at lower voltages but I assume if I ordered none of the cables I would still have all the cables I need to setup the PC? The cables including the LED strip come to just over £100 so I'm going to proper blow the budget unless I drop them from the order.

The fans and cables currently add £175 to the build and my basket shown below is already £100 over budget. I have the option of ditching the storage HDD/ External DVD drive/Sound Card to offset the cable and fan costs but that is a call I'll make based on whether any of the cables or fans are actually required versus nice to have.

My basket is currently:

YOUR BASKET
2 x Gainward GeForce GTX 780 Phantom GLH 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £399.95 (£799.90)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £163.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £129.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £99.95
2 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99 (£173.98)
1 x Creative Sound Blaster Z High Performance Gaming Sound Card - Retail (70SB150000001) £79.99
2 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21300C11 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2666HC11CDC01) £69.95 (£139.90)
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £65.99
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSBS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - Black £21.98
Total : £2,115.60 (includes shipping : FREE).



I want to order this for Saturday delivery so I would really appreciate some quick answers so I can get everything firmed up and purchased.

Thanks for all the continuing advice.
 
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