How is this setup.

IanWilcox

IanWilcox

IanWilcox

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11 Apr 2012
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19
Hi Guys...

Havent built a PC in 7-8 years and recently had a macbook air 2011 i5 which i have now got rid of to fund this project.

Below are my ordered parts... is this a good setup , A friend helped me a little all the parts are now ordered.

Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail

Asrock X79 Extreme 4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard

G.Skill RipJawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (F3-14900CL9Q-16GBZL)

PNY GTX 680

Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with USB3.0 - Black

Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) (CWCH80)

OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G)

OcUK Battle 750W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply

Samsung SH-S222BB/RSMS 22x DVDąRW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege) - Retail
 
Hi there,

May I ask what you will be using this PC for?

It may be too late, but there are several things I would suggest changing with that spec (if it hasn't been dispatched yet you should be able to amend the order or cancel it and start a new one):

- The PSU is a low quality one and I wouldn't trust it with the high-power CPU and graphics card. Instead I would go with something like this at the minimum.
- Do you need the features offered by the LGA2011 X79 platform (like 40 PCIE lanes and quad channel memory)? If not then going for a LGA1155 motherboard (like this one) and an i7 2000 series CPU would offer basically the same performance for a lower cost (and would support upcoming Ivy Bridge CPUs).
- Do you need the hyperthreading of the i7? If not, then a much cheaper i5 quad core like the i5 2500K would be a just as fast and much cheaper.
- I would go with this RAM (go for two kits if you need 16GB) instead of the more expensive G.Skill kit.
- I would go with this SSD over the agility 3 as it is known to be more reliable.
- I would change the H80 liquid cooler to a decent air cooler like this. Such a change will save you money while offering the same cooling performance and less noise.

Also, will you be needing stuff like an OS, and a HDD storage drive?
 
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Glad i asked now!

The PC will mainly be for gaming (battlefield 3) and photoshop and dreamweaver for website design

and of course the usual web surfing and video watching

Anyone recommend a better setup let me know, i wonder if overclockers would accept a return on me being a moron and not asking first terms ?:D
 
To add to the above regarding the SSD, if you can afford to change to the 128gb Crucial M4 then I would recommend it, it is surprising how fast you can fill up a drive of that size.
 
IanWilcox said:
Glad i asked now!

The PC will mainly be for gaming (battlefield 3) and photoshop and dreamweaver for website design

and of course the usual web surfing and video watching

Anyone recommend a better setup let me know, i wonder if overclockers would accept a return on me being a moron and not asking first terms ?:D
Click to expand...

LGA2011 seems a little overkill then. If you can wait, the new Ivy Bridge CPUs from Intel are just around the corner.

EDIT: Could go for this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2680-KR) £429.95
1 x Intel Core i5-2550K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £169.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £146.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £119.99
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £96.98
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £92.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) (CWCH80) £79.99
1 x Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (0F10383) £74.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £1,278.35 (includes shipping : £13.75).

If you hold off, you can swap the 2550K for the IB equivalent, which should be similarly priced.
 
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For BF3 (and other games) you won't benefit from an i7 CPU (as hyperthreading isn't utilised) however, for applications like dreamweaver and photoshop an i7 does help with performance.

Therefore, if you need to buy right now I would go for this CPU and this motherboard.

However, if you want the ability to add even more RAM in the future then going for the i7 3820 and a X79 board (one with eight memory slots like this one) then the extra price can be justified (that MSI board also comes with a good quality free CPU cooler - so some of the extra price is offset).

However, please bear in mind that the next generation Intel CPUs (called Ivy Bridge) will be out at the end of this month, so if you want to spend a lot of money on an i7 quad core system then you would do well to wait couple of weeks.

Here is a preview of Ivy Bridge performance which compares the i7 3770K the new top-end mainstream CPU (likely to be price around £270) with other modern CPUs like the i7 2600K and i7 3820 in a range of tasks at stock clockspeeds.
 
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Just checked and its due to be delivered at 3ish today...

Wondering where i stand sending it back and if overclockers will sort out the collection etc (dont mind paying after all its my fault)
 
You could refuse delivery and then it would be sent back to OCUK.

Though I would call up OCUK first just to check and inform them of your intentions.

If you do accept the delivery then you usually have to arrange the return and pay for it.
 
Seeing it was a short timeframe i have reorginised the delivery on the DPD website for friday just to buy more time... hopefully OCUK can recall this once i am able to speak to them.
 
If you aren't comfortable overclocking the CPU yourself, then yes - the overclocked bundles are very nice.

However, if you are willing to give overclocking a go (it is rather easy with these current CPUs with unlocked multipliers) then you can pick all the components yourself and save a bit of money too.
 
Thanks all.

Overclockers are recalling the order and issuing a refund once the parts are back in.

I will look at all your suggestions now and order a more suited pc to my needs
 
IanWilcox said:
Thanks all.

Overclockers are recalling the order and issuing a refund once the parts are back in.

I will look at all your suggestions now and order a more suited pc to my needs
Click to expand...

Well done bud.

How about something along the lines of the following.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2680-KR) £429.95
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with USB3.0 - Black £99.98
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £96.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £58.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99 (£59.98)
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,200.32 (includes shipping : £13.75).



  • New Z77 motherboard, so will be fully compatible with Ivy Bridge. Gigabyte so excellent UK based warranty should you need it.
  • Motherboard support SLI/Xfire, so you could get another GTX680 later down the line.
  • The i5-2550K (spec'd above) doesn't have the integrated GPU which is always nice to have as backup (plus it's acutally more expensive).
  • Kept the same case - this is all down to personal preference.
  • Quality branded power supply, with enough headroom to overclock and add in another GTX680.
 
+1 to Shadow boxers spec - really nice parts for a good price.

If you want a bit more performance in dreamweaver and photoshop then you may want to either opt for an i7 2600K/2700K or wait for the new ivy Bridge CPUs on the 29th April. However, the i5 2500K is still a great chip and still offers excellent performance in these applications - so if you don't want to spend any more or wait any longer then it is a very good cpu choice.

BTW, nice one getting the order recalled without needing to send it back yourself.
 
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