Ideas for high end gaming Rig

Soldato
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Hello everyone,

I know these are written allot and I often also comment but I feel that you always require clarification, discussion as everyone has different views.

So anyways on the thoughts above I am building a high end gaming rig primarily. The only other software I use is AutoDesk products; AutoCAD, Rev-It and similar. I also use Sketch-up which surprisingly seems to be one of the most hungry programs I run.

Games I play are mixed from Crysis to C&C so need this capable to run everything. I also watch blu-ray off the pc every now and then although I do have a proper Pioneer LX52 Blu-Ray player also. Just depends if the PC is on etc.

Anyways I have got a start on what I am doing with rig and have the below on order currently:

  • Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW)
  • XSPC RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel)
  • Hardware Labs Black ICE Radiator GT Stealth 240
  • Mayhems Pastel - Blueberry Blue Coolant 2L
  • Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste-5g
  • 8No. Bitspower Premium G1/4" Black Sparkle High Flow 1/2" Compression Fitting
  • XSPC HighFlex Hose 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 19/12.7mm, 2m, Clear
  • Arctic Silver ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover and Surface Purifier - 60ml Kit
  • OcUK Tech Lab H2O Custom HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5
  • Mayhems Dye, Deep Blue - 10ml
  • Akasa AK-TK-02 Cable Tidy Kit

These are pretty set on what I want to do for the loop. The only one item I keep thinking about is the radiator. I will at least for now remain using my XSPC dual bay res/pump.

The case I am currently running is the Antec 1200 and I really don't like it. It is the original version mind before the case had motherboard cutout and whatever updates it has had. Anyways I am wanting a cleaner looking build.

With all this in mind this is what I am currently looking at:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB 10000RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1000DHTZ) £205.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Seasonic 860w '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £169.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £107.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel kit (PV316G160C9K) £89.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £85.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
Total : £939.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Any thoughts. Budget I don't really have set. I will just save for as long as needed till I get what is best for my needs. I haven't gone for the i7 CPU as I have been told that it isn't worth it for gaming.

Also I was thinking again the 2011 series won't be needed till a new socket version comes out. I am someone to only upgrade 3-4 years from paying for a system so unlikely to upgrade to a IB 2011 when they are released next year.

I don't need more than 1TB of storage so is it worth running two 500GB in Raid 0 or one 1TB as above. I am not worried about backup as I have an external I back up once a week or so.

I know the dye and cable tidy kits and really needed per say but wouldn't mind making the pastel blue a little more royal blue.

Thanks for looking and any comments.

Kind Regards,

Adam

p.s I am more than happy to cut a window in the case but just like the finish of the case. The box and clean line edges.
 
Caporegime
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Seasonic 860w '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £85.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £74.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £59.99
Total : £788.93 (includes shipping : £12.50).









• The retail CPU has a longer warranty, and includes a stock intel heatsink
• The GBT board has a 3 year warranty that is also backed up by a UK RMA center.

Edit, as you can see, you can have a huge 2TB HDD all for less.
 
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Soldato
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I won't be needing the heatsink but fair enough on the warranty. That is probably worth the pennies it costs.

Thanks for the link on the motherboard. I saw allot of people recommend both but not sure what the real benefits of either are so your reasoning again makes sense.

I don't need the SSD anyways as I have already ordered the Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic.

The RAM seems like a good saving. I have not used any Corsair before apart from the Dominator series which is well regarded but nothing more from them. Have always used Patriot otherwise which is why I went for them as I don't like the idea of the lighting for the latest Dominators.

Is there a reason for the recommendation of the Seagate? Will I not see the difference from the speed of VelociRaptor drive? I certainly won't need more than 1TB. I haven't filled my 2No. 750GB in 4 years of use. I am currently using Samsung 750GB drives but they don't seem that great in performance so just thought I would change over. Main usage for the large storage is music and the AutoDesk models.

Not sure if another 256GB or even a 512GB 840 Pro would be worth it as my 2nd drive also. I have about 200GB of music and about 100GB of work at moment (plus some random bits and pieces) but I could clean allot of that out and probably fit it all on the 256GB if required.

Have never previously used a GFX card so more than welcome for thoughts on that. Have never even looked into it to be honest. Even the office doesn't use GFX cards for some reason. (Will have to ask the boss).

The 16GB of RAM is very helpfull when I have had to do rendering for large Revit models that often take a whole night to complete.

I am a Pioneer man when it comes to drivers. My last LG one was replaced 3 times before I had one that worked. My amp and blu-ray full system is Pioneer with Monitor Audio as well so this would match nicely. This really is a back-up/laziness drive for when I don't need to wait for the full system to warm-up.

Thanks for the contributions so far and hopefully what I have said/asked makes sense.

Kind Regards,

Adam
 
Last edited:
Associate
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rather than paying 200 quid for 1tb 10000rpm drive i would go for a 500 gb 7200 rpm 6gb/s hdd and a second samsung 256gb 840

just me though?

Would cost around the same
 
Soldato
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Oh and on the other note about the RAM. I was just choosing a series that had the best timings at 1600MHz. The GeIL Black Dragon timing is 11-11-11-28 compared to the Black Mamba which is 9-9-9-24.

Assumed that would make a noticeable difference for model rendering.

Kind Regards,

Adam
 
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• The Corsairs are a good price, two lots of those is the same price as one of the Geil Black Dragon kits, but just take up all dimm slots, but the RAM timings are lower.

• A Velociraptor is a fast HDD, but is it fast enough to justify the massive price difference? I don't think it is, HDD speeds haven't improved that much, the SSD will be the biggest difference to the PC coming from a HDD.
 
Soldato
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rather than paying 200 quid for 1tb 10000rpm drive i would go for a 500 gb 7200 rpm 6gb/s hdd and a second samsung 256gb 840

just me though?

Would cost around the same

Cheers dunn2010. This is why I made the post as I sort of realised that as I have worked through stuff so far with you all.

Don't always notice things like this the first time around.

Kind Regards,

Adam
 
Soldato
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• The Corsairs are a good price, two lots of those is the same price as one of the Geil Black Dragon kits, but just take up all dimm slots, but the RAM timings are lower.

• A Velociraptor is a fast HDD, but is it fast enough to justify the massive price difference? I don't think it is, HDD speeds haven't improved that much, the SSD will be the biggest difference to the PC coming from a HDD.

Yep that makes sense. Is there a real reason we see such varied prices for the same performance (at least on paper)?

The drive makes sense so will change that accordingly.
 
Caporegime
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Yep that makes sense. Is there a real reason we such varied prices for the same performance (at least on paper)?

Just the way things go, that 2TB drive was £66 yesterday and earlier for example (offer price)

I guess it all comes down to exchange rates, deals on volume (then passed onto the customer) etc.

Even the case was £65 a few days ago and earlier also.


-------------------

For what you were going to pay, you can have a i7 and a UP4 motherboard for similar £££,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x Seasonic 860w '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £85.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £74.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £59.99
Total : £928.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Last edited:
Soldato
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Yep that makes sense. Is there a real reason we see such varied prices for the same performance (at least on paper)?

Sorry my own comment above was in reference to the RAM. They appear on paper to have the same performance but are hugely different in price. Saying that having 2 sets of the Corsairs is £60 but they are very ugly looking memory. I know the vipers are around £20 more but they look better and would keep two slots open should I ever need another 16GB (probably won't).

On another note. I have always been advised that when/should I be overclocking that having two slots free seems to be better for the overclock. Any explanation, was this to do with older mobo's etc.
 
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Less RAM sticks = less strain on the integrated memory controller.

But I believe thats when people (OC record breakers/score setters) are trying to get the last bits out of the system.
 
Soldato
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Anyone got alternatives to the P280. As said like the case but not sure if anything else compares or would be worth a look also.

Less RAM sticks = less strain on the integrated memory controller.

So it would maybe be better for 2No. 8GB sticks? How about the below? I don't believe I need another 500GB drive at the moment if it is just for minor documents like word or something. I could probably get away with one my old Samsungs no?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x Seasonic 860w '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £85.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI316G160C9K) £79.99
Total : £993.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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Caporegime
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Last edited:
Associate
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you still have oem i5 on there, also cases tend to be a personal choice look and feel for what you want. go on ocuk site and take a look at some. if you find one you like and your unsure of compatibility etc with mboard etc post it up and we will let you know.
 
Soldato
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Never done it myself, I have seen scores posted by people with 128GB Samsung 830 SSD's in RAID0 - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...2&postcount=46 - impressive

Thanks for the link. Will check it out now and may well go for the 2No. 256GB in Raid 0 since the budget isn't an issue.

I know I skipped over the i7 but will I really see any difference? Or is it just so that hyper threading is there for later date?

you still have oem i5 on there, also cases tend to be a personal choice look and feel for what you want. go on ocuk site and take a look at some. if you find one you like and your unsure of compatibility etc with mboard etc post it up and we will let you know.

Oops. Forgot to update that :p. Will update shortly although comments now on the i7 would be interesting. I couldn't see any real advantages for £90.

Not ordering straight off the bat as need next months pay but yeah just making sure I am ready.
 
Soldato
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Hmm, well I play allot of Dawn of War II and the rest of the 40k series also but they are within margin of error for games it appears and all the others are so close it isn't noticeable at all.

The 3D modelling and similar bench tests though are noticeably higher mind and I know Revit supports hyper threading so maybe that is where I will see the gains mainly.
 
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