Last minute decisions

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 14:58

Ok i know ive asked loads of questions but i change my mind every 15 seconds. Payday is tomorrow so i sort of need to finalise my decision.

At the moment im inbetween whether to buy an already built and overclocked system from here (I've never overclocked before so would make things easier) or putting one together myself.

The already built system would be:

Battlefield War Commander Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.60GHz DDR3 BF3 Limited Edition System [BF3-PC]

With the OCZ Vertex 2 50GB SSD, MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 2048MB Graphics Card and a possible upgrade to THIS case if they allow it.

That would come to around £930 ish

OR

My custom built system would be:

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 2048MB £239.99 OR Gainward GeForce GTX 560Ti "Phantom" 2048MB £229.99

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) £169.99

Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 £119.99

Cooler Master CM-690 II Nvidia Edition Advanced Dominator Case £89.99OR Corsair 600T White Edition £139.99

Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache £86.99 (Im only getting 500GB to get me by until the prices drop again)

OCZ Vertex 2 50GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £59.99 OR Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £83.99

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £43.99 OR Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit £79.99

Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler £39.99 OR Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler £46.99

OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99

OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99 OR Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W Power Supply £92.99

Which all comes to between:
£1,077.90
£898.25 ex VAT

and

£917.89
£764.91 ex VAT

So basically just wanted to know what would be better and if there were any other places i could save a few pounds or improve for cheap.

King Damager · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:11

£1100 and you're getting a 560... Hmm..

Brb with spec

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 580 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £359.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £119.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 850W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-850TXV2UK) £99.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £83.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £79.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £69.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
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 £16.99
Total : £1,085.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).

580 If you let some other benefits go.. You could probably even SLI with this in future to be honest.

570, SLI support, modular PSU, Nicer case/CPU cooler/Gen 3 Mobo.
YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £254.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
1 x Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £139.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX850M High Performance 850W Modular Power Supply (CP-9020004-UK) £113.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £83.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £79.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £46.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,128.60 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Up to you really

kd

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:35

Thanks for that, the main reason i was looking at the 560GTX ti is that people were saying i would need 2GB of VRAM or more in order to play all the games at the top level so the next one up 580 is around £400.

Also it is about £100 over budget so what are the 570's like?

If you think it is really worth it then i will go for the 580 and pay the extra £100 though

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:38

OOh didnt see the extra SLI support one but the same again, is the 1GB VRAM really going to be enough?

King Damager · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:49

To answer questions about VRAM, it all depends on what resolution you're planning on gaming at?

What's your current monitor resolution? Also are you planning to upgrade monitors later on?

Both should be able to cope with SLI btw

kd

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:50

im currently gaming on an awful resolution that a £50 card could run

BUT for christmas i will be getting this monitor : Dell 23"

dansew123 · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:53

The 570 will be fine for that res. Another option or are you set on NVIDIA?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £83.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) £79.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £904.82 (includes shipping : £19.10).

King Damager · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:54

Nice monitor choice

1920x1080 Res, so nothing massive.... 570'll be fine

kd

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:02

im not SET on nvidia but they are the ones ive based around when learning about graphics cards so just where ive looked more.

Couple of things,
Is that motherboard comfortable for X-fire in the future?
What are the differences between the ATI and Nvidia and how overclockable are they?
Does a case of that price really give flexibility for future upgrades because i was looking into a 600t assuming it would be better as its corsair and pretty damn big ha

dansew123 · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:20

The motherboard runs 2 cards at x8/x8. Great mobo for the price http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68xp-ud3-dz68db,2980-6.html

I was in the same position as you with the cards and went for the 570. very happy with my choice.

Gives you a rough idea of the cards performances at the res you'll be playing.

If you can spend more on a case it wouldn't be a bad idea to do so. It would help with cooling, cable management as well as looking nicer. The Shinobi is a good cheap case though.

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:28

Ok im not sure how you got the specs to look all pretty but this is what ive come up with

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 OC WINDFORCE 3X 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £257.99
(£214.99) £257.99
(£214.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX850M High Performance 850W Modular Power Supply (CP-9020004-UK) £113.99
(£94.99) £113.99
(£94.99)
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Cooler Master CM-690 II Nvidia Edition Advanced Dominator Case - Black/Green £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £86.99
(£72.49) £86.99
(£72.49)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £46.99
(£39.16) £46.99
(£39.16)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Sub Total : £850.75

Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £172.90
Total : £1,037.40

does that look all good and ready for ordering?

fowler002 · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:36

need os?

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:41

ive got one already thanks

dansew123 · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:45

Looks good. The Samsung F3 is the better HDD though

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:46

cool so ill change that and get spending

Miidget · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:47

oh yeh and is that 570 ok? its not the one you recommended but its only £4 more and its on weekly deals for like £20's off

dansew123 · 27 Oct 2011 at 17:57

I'd pick the one you have any day over the OCUK 570.

The SOC version is £14 more if you think it's worth it. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-085-GI&tool=3