New build spec check / advice

Associate
Joined
16 Nov 2007
Posts
811
Hi all

I'm hoping to come into some spare cash next payday and looking to replace my old Q6600 rig. The purpose of the new rig will mainly be for used for video editing, file conversions, re-muxing etc.. I also want to have scope for learning about overlocking and wish to have components that would allow me to undertake a good overclock myself.

I don't know enough about watercooling to do it myself so an air cooled setup is preferred. Also, I have a GPU and soundcard that will be coming over from my old rig.

I have specced up the following

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £259.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD30EZRX) HDD £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x GeIL EVO Veloce Hot-Rod Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEV316GB2133C11DC) £119.99
1 x Seasonic X-Series 650w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.98
1 x Cooler Master Silencio 650 Silent Tower Case - Black £101.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-05955) £100.00
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
Total : £1,224.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).





How does this look to you all? Any recommendations?

Could I attach 2x fans to that cooler in a push / pull configuration?

Will the RAM fit under the cooler? I can't seem to find 16GB of fast RAM in low profile form...

Thanks

Mike
 
The build look good but I have some suggestions. Change the RAM for the one below, it's just as fast and saves you some cash by using 2 sets.

If you are overclocking, that cooler will be ok, but depending on the airflow of the case & how hard you are overclocking, it would be worth looking at something a little better.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - Black (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £69.98
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
2 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £37.99 (£75.98)
Total : £217.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).



I would also recommend you look into the X79 build for your media production. The Ivybridge has no upgrade path from socket 1155, but the X79 has Sandy-e & Ivy-e coming on out Q3 of 2013.

Update - You could also change the motherboard to this one, saving you even more - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-390-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £259.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD30EZRX) HDD £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-05955) £100.00
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £99.98
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £59.99
Total : £1,236.40 (includes shipping : £13.75).



just your 2 builds, with best bits added, plus a different cooler and psu solution and changed case for liquid cooling solution, also noise dampened, changed ram for 2x8, just in case you want another 16gb later added, will OC well and board only supports 4x DDR3 1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules by default anyway

or different socket?

1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
1 x ASRock X79 Extreme4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD30EZRX) HDD £139.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-05955) £100.00
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £99.98
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (4x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K4/16X) £99.95
Total : £1,284.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).



or just jump straight to 32gb, bit slower ram mind you but still will OC, for not that much more.

1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
1 x ASRock X79 Extreme4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
1 x GeIL EVO Veloce Hot-Rod Red 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Quad Channel Kit (GEV332GB1866C10QC) £149.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD30EZRX) HDD £139.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-05955) £100.00
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £99.98
Total : £1,334.40 (includes shipping : £13.75).



as you can see i like to use 8gb stick if i can over 4gb ones, they sell on better for me, plus i would have liked to have used 4x8 in 2400 but cost was too high and board supports them, could do it if i removed liquid cooling and went for K2 etc, but then you need to watch height of ram with cooler etc, so as im never shore of height etc, i'll stick with liquid solution for now.
 
Last edited:
That's a good looking spec now.

Just don't like the styling of that RAM, though for the Quantity and Speed the price is very good.

On second thought, id swap that motherboard for the Gigabyte X79-UD3. UK RMA and probably a better made board.

Still in-keeping with the colour scheme aswell.
 
Hi all

Thank you very much for your input, you've given me plenty to think about. A few questions though if I may, and please forgive my ignorance. I've gone through much of my life buying pre-built rigs other than a server I recently put together myself.

1) I thought Ivybridge is the new / current gen of chips? I see people are suggesting Sandybridge 2011 socket for future upgrade possibilities though. Can someone please explain this as I thought Ivybridge was the replacement to Sandybridge.

2) With respect to the watercooling options listed, again I know very little here, do they have to be maintained in any way? Would I need to top them up with coolant every now and again, clean the hoses etc?
Am I right in thinking those products are regarded as "off the shelf" items as opposed to full on custom watercooling? Do they give a decent benefit over the air cooling options listed?

Thank you

Mike
 
Some good questions there.

1) Ivybridge is currently the lastest chip around on the 1155 socket. Though these set of chips are the last on the 1155 socket. They will be replaced by the 1150 socket and the haswell CPU's in june/july.

The 2011 socket is currently home to sandybridge-e. Ivybridge-e should be coming out soon. That should have 6 and 8 core cpu's, maybe quad cores too. Ivybridge-e will cost more but should be better than haswell.

2) These coolers are off the shelf, you just mount it like you would a normal cooler. No refilling or cleaning needed. The unit houses a pump,red and radiator. All you need for watercooling.

These cooling units are good but are nothing on real watercooling. Though the price reflects this.
 
I like that hono, would you add any gpu to the build, or would on-boards be okay?

He said he has a GPU and a soundcard for the rig. The X79 mobos don't have onboard video output.

I might be tempted to spend more on THIS mobo too. Was just to give him an idea of what's possibubble.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UP4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £209.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 256GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-256M5P) £179.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-05955) £100.00
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £95.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
2 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £59.99 (£119.98)
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
Total : £1,192.90 (includes shipping : FREE).



Gold rated Seasonic 550W should be ample unless he wants to dual card (it's not in stock but order can still be placed), the Bequiet L8 is pretty good though, I own the 630W version. Mobo can take upto 64GB of RAM (UD3 is 32GB max). I also stupidly overlooked the free P&P ;)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom