New dev/gaming machine, need a little help before clicking buy

rigz

rigz

rigz

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10 May 2012
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It's time to upgrade my aging (6 year old) PC that has served me well over the years. I've used overclockers for a long time now but this will be my biggest purchase so far! My requirements are: Decently fast and will last me another few years, as silent as possible, all within a budget of about 1600ish.

Anyway, here's what I've got so far, I've always built mine before so will be doing that again:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £419.99
1 x Super Nova X79 820i Intel Core i7 3820 3.60GHz @ 4.40GHz DDR3 Overclocked Bundle £245.99
- 1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
- 1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x Asus VE247H 24" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £161.99
1 x Fractal Design Define XL USB3.0 Full Tower Case - Black Pearl £114.98
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £93.98
1 x Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £93.95
1 x LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (OEM) £69.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) £52.99
Total : £1,655.47 (includes shipping : £22.20).



I'm not sure about the bundle, is it a good one and will the fan be quiet enough? Anything there worth spending a little more on? Oh and am I missing anything? been a while since I built a PC lol. (i have mouse/keyboard already)

Any insights much appreciated! :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £325.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £161.99
1 x IIyama Prolite E2475HDS 24" Widescreen LED Business Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £86.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £54.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £1,186.54 (includes shipping : £14.75).


  • In my honest opinion a better SSD.
  • Better value for money video card in the GTX670 compared to the GTX680.
  • Unless you use a lot of multi-threaded applications then the i5 will be plenty of power.
Stoner81.
 
Oh yeah, I meant ivy bridge, clicked the wrong bundle there, good job I posted first! :)

That looks good Stoner thanks! This will be a dev machine and I'll be doing a bit of rendering in Blender, will that cpu be fast enough still? It'll obviously be streets ahead of what I have already, but you've given me some more room to maneuver on cost, and as i'll be writing this off against tax... :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £325.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 PC Game £251.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £189.95
1 x IIyama Prolite E2475HDS 24" Widescreen LED Business Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £86.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £54.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £1,376.50 (includes shipping : £14.75).


  • Included the i7 CPU instead of the i5.
  • Larger SSD included (256GB instead of 128GB).
  • Everything else the same as before.
  • No OS included so add another £115 for Windows 7 Pro.
Stoner81.
 
Thanks again Stoner!

This is what I have now, I stuck an extra 16gb ram in there and decided to splash out on a 27" monitor. Is the case a quiet one? I chose the fractal design initially because I'd seen it used in other prebuilt silent systems and I also like the look too. It seems like the rest of the PC components should be pretty quiet?

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £325.99
1 x Samsung S27A550H 27" Widescreen Ultra Thin LED Monitor - Glossy Black £299.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 PC Game £251.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9) £91.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black £86.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £54.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £1,669.48 (includes shipping : £22.20).

 
Hmm I had thought about 2 monitors as well, which 2 would you go for? Thanks for the suggestion on cases, both those look good :)
 
You may want to get the Corsair Low Profile memory to ensure sufficient clearance for the Gelid CPU Cooler.

I would also up the spec on the PSU to something like

XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply

You do not need the full 850w at the moment, but because you will be using less than half what the PSU is capable of it will be very quiet, no fan noise.
 
rigz said:
Is the case a quiet one? I chose the fractal design initially because I'd seen it used in other prebuilt silent systems and I also like the look too.
Click to expand...

I got an R3 last week and have been very impressed with it. It's nice and quiet. Another reason I went for it is that it's very understated and clean in its design.

I have the two fans it comes with as front intakes, and bought two Fractal Silent Series for rear and back top vents (these ones run at a lower rpm than the supplied fans, particular the 140mm one). Adding those fans and opening up the top vent has made next to no difference to the noise levels (the vent covers have sound dampening material, so I was expecting an increase in noise when I removed it, but thankfully I can't notice any difference).
 
Thanks for everyones help so far it's been a great help, saving me a lot of head scratching, really appreciate it :)

Anyone think the nVdidia 670's that come overclocked are worth it for the extra 25 or so quid? Or are they just too noisey/not worth it for the extra performance?

anyway this is where i'm at now with the 2 monitor set up, so under 1600 with the vat back on those:


YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £325.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 PC Game £251.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £189.95
2 x Samsung S24A300BL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black **GET THE VAT BACK** £149.99 (£299.98)
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl £69.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £64.98
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £54.98
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £1,648.87 (includes shipping : £27.55).

 
Well, I've been using premium for my current PC since it came out and it's been enough so far, I can't see that I'd benefit much from Pro or Ultimate judging by the comparison charts that I've seen, unless I'm missing something?
 
Very nice.

If you are gonna overclock I think the Gelid will give you around 4.2GHz on that i7. But you don't really need to go high anyway. I would probably leave it to stock to start with.

Good luck and post pics :) Run some benches.
 
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