My Dream Machine

xy16644

xy16644

xy16644

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Joined
10 May 2009
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221
Hello!

I have been waiting ages to be able to (finally) build my dream machine. I will be using the machine for internet, email, games, HD video/BluRay and Office type work...so pretty much everything. I've been saving up for this machine for ages now so I have a nice budget to play with :D

Since I am a bit out of date with whats what in the hardware area, I was hoping someone could comment (or advise) on my choice of hardware. My main concern is that it all works/fits together!

Here is the list of hardware I have chosen so far:

Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl Mid-Tower USB 3.0 Case

CPU: Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155

Mobo: Gigabyte G1 Sniper 2 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Elite 16GB (4 x 4GB)

Video: Asus ATI Radeon HD 6970 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express

SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive

HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM

PSU: Corsair Professional Series HX1050 Professional Series 1050W Modular Power Supply

Monitor: Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor

Optical: None (I already have an LG Bluray drive)

I am still unsure of whether to go for a top notch Nvidia graphics card rather than the Radeon HD6970? At a later stage I would like to add a second video card and possibly another monitor.

Am I on the right track? Appreciate any feedback! ;)

PS: I am a performance junkie!
 
You dont need a 2700k, or even a 2600k, a 2500k will do and save lots of money
equally, I doubt you need a G1 mobo, as above the asrock extreme4 gen 3 is cracking and likely has all the features youll need
RAM 8 gig will prob suffice
SSD the OCZ uses sandforce controller which has had issues, again as above Id go for the M4
HDD Hitachi arent my personal fave, Seagate, Samsung and WD have better track records
PSU the AX series are completely modular
GFX a 570 would be NVs equivalent of the 6970
 
first questio i have is will you be doing anything that will benefit from hyperthreading a lot? (stuff like CAD/CAM work, video editing/encoding, really big photoshop stuff, etc)
if your just goingto be doing the stuff in your sig i would recommend getting the i5 2500k, because the i7 2600k and i7 2700k will make no difference to what you do, as nothing of what you have listed makes use the only difference between the i5 2500k and i7 2600k, hyperthreading.

regarding the i7 2600k vs i7 2700k i'm not sure if intel cherry pick the best processors to become i7 2700k's or if the only difference between them is bumping the multiplier up by 1 in the settings

the case could be a problem too. there have been a lot of complaints about fractal design's build quality, or lack of it

the motherboard is very expensive. this is because it has a gigabyte killer 2100 network card, and an expensive sound card whos name i cant remember built into it. theres nothing wrong with having an expensive sound card in your PC, but onboard sound is very good these days. however, the network card is pretty much pointless. it makes very little difference for the £80 or so your spending on it

the RAM has very tall heatsinks, this could interfere with custom coolers you decide to use (which i cant see in your list)

graphics: if you prefer ATI to Nvidia i would go for the slightly cheaper HIS 6970 IceQ Turbo, because it comes with a much better cooler, so will be quieter and will overclock further. personally i'd prefer an Nvidia 570 or 580 but theres nothing wrong with ATI
feel free to have a play withthe anandtech benchmark thing to look at the different graphics card comparisons :)
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/305?vs=292

HDD: the hitachi deskstar's nickname is the hitachi deathstar, need i say more.
if your going for 1TB or lower, go for the cheapest one that isnt some eco green rubbish (because they're slower). if its over 1TB then green is fine because the non green drives are very expensive (even more so since the floods in Bangkok). dont get anything by hitachi

SSD: despite the advertised speeds the crucial M4 is the fastest in the real world, as tested by the OcUK mods a while ago :)

PSU: its a great PSU, but massive overkill. i'd recommend the 900W LEPA gold rated modular PSU which is cheaper, more energy efficient and made by enermax (which is just as good as corsair)

after all that you'll be glad to hear that i approve of the monitor and blu ray drive
 
Thank you to everyone for their input. Apologies for the delay in replying.

I have revised my hardware list and taken into account some of the suggestions from this post:

Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl Mid-Tower USB 3.0 Case

CPU: Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155

Mobo: Gigabyte G1 Sniper 2 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

RAM: G.Skill RipJawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz

Video: Gainward GeForce GTX 570 Phantom 1280MB GDDR5 -Express

SSD: Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/

HDD: Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache

PSU: Corsair Professional Series AX850 High Performance 850W

Monitor: Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey [U3011]

Am I on the right track?

Some questions that come to mind:

Will the PSU fit in the case I have chosen?

Is the PSU powerful enought to power the components I have chosen and to be able to add a second video card?

Have I chosen RAM that will work with the chosen mobo?

If I want to have 3 monitors do I need to have two video cards?

I see that the the Intel socket 2011 CPUs have been released now but the price is just WAY too expensive. The mobos aren't too badly priced but I can't bring myself to spend £500 on a CPU. Is there any point in waiting the price of these CPUs to drop in price before building this system? From what I have read the Z68 chipset with the i7-2700k CPU is a good combination!
 
Will you be using anything that uses hyper threading and more than 8GB RAM or are you just getting them because you can?

And for 2560*1600 i'd be wary of just 1280MB vRAM, you should change to a 6970 is you want to buy now.

AMD 7000 series is supposedly released in January, so if you can wait then get one of them instead.
 
ng93 said:
Will you be using anything that uses hyper threading and more than 8GB RAM or are you just getting them because you can?

And for 2560*1600 i'd be wary of just 1280MB vRAM, you should change to a 6970 is you want to buy now.

AMD 7000 series is supposedly released in January, so if you can wait then get one of them instead.
Click to expand...

Well RAM is cheap :) I do want to use VMWare or VirtualBox to setup test environments at home to study new technologies. On my current laptop with 4GB of RAM its a waste of time.

I was just looking at the Sapphire 6970 video card which looks really good and it supports EyeFinity so I can have 3 monitors on one card. I don't mind waiting until Jan for the 7000 series card. I've waited so long already to get to this stage haha.
 
I'm still unsure of the case I have chosen. I have read lots of reviews and it gets good ratings but I'm still doubting my choice...
 
i would seriously suggest changing the motherboard for the reasons i said before. your spending £150+ on stuff that makes almost no difference at all if you get the gigabyte G1. the only difference between it and the asrock Z68 extreme 4 gen3 are the onboard network and sound cards

for the current generation of graphics cards you can run 3 monitors from any single ATI card (you will need an active displayport adapter unless it says otherwise) or any two nvidia cards

i would also recommend this 16GB RAM kit: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-112-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

i would also probably choose a different PSU, but i cant recommend a specific one util you choose a graphics card

if you want a good case i would recommend any of the silverstone raven 2, raven 3 or fortress 2 if you are going to be air cooling, the corsair 650D if you are going to be watercooling in the future, or the corsair 800D if you are going to be watercooling from the start. when i say watercooling i mean a custom loop for the graphics cards and processor, not just one of those premade kits like the corsair H80

if your buying before next wednesday then i would also recommend this HDD: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-097-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1955

also, as someone else has said, dont forget the CPU cooler. if your going for a dream machine i would recommend the thermalright silver arrow
 
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