NEW Gaming PC build Sept 2011 - HELP!

[LynxGB]

Hi to all @OCUK Forums, after a mission to get register with what can only be described as the worst bot authentication system I have ever seen. Anyways. So BF3 is coming and I want in so a new build is in hand. I have £2.5k for everything maybe a tad more. Here is what I am thinking right now and would like all or any help idea's on if they are good, bad ugly or you know something better. My last system build was 2006 era and contained quad 7950gx2 and a Intel X6800 extreme with a poultry 4gb ram.

Intel 2500k
Corsair AX850 PSU
EK H30 HF 240 Water kit or Noctua NH-d14
Corsair 600t white case
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3
MSI Z68A-GD80 / ASUS PZ68 V-PRO / ASUS MAXIMUS EXTREMEM IV Z
2 X ASUS MATRIX GTX 580 OR 2 X MSI GTX580 TWIN FROZR II
LOGITECH G510 KB AND LOGITECH G9X MOUSE
GENERIC BLU RAY PLAYER
WIN 7 64BIT

Sorry if I got any names a tad wrong doing it all from memory. So thats the general spec what do you guys recon and what are your views on it? All help greatly recieved.

A big concern is MOBO and those beastly matrix's in SLi

 

[LynxGB]

Also monitor wise I am looking at either a Samsung 27" or Asus 27" the LED versions.

 

[LynxGB]

No all new build, old PC is to be pentioned off to a part of the family. In a "hurry up" from the gf I failed to omit the HDD/SSD. Looking at the OCZ 60GB Sandforce SataIII and a WD 1 TB Caviar Black. Not sure if to use the SSD for OS and program files or use the new SRT on the Z68.

Yeah I am swaying towards the MSI's and air cooling. I am also worried about reports of the MSI cards getting uber hot due to the openess of the cooler.

Board looks nice. Yeah Im always the kind of guy that thinks, hmmm, do I wait or do I go for it now!

**EDIT**

When is the suspected release for new GPU's? Are they set to far outset the 580?


Also another thing I do like the Noctua but what about the corsair H100, I know its not a proper closed 'water cooling' loop, but I do like its tidy aesthetics and hope to keep my build clean and simple. Any thoughts?

 

[LynxGB]

Yeah pretty damn lucky I gotta tax refund and some other bits all come in at once.

 

[LynxGB]

Cheers, just want to make sure I spend it wisely. Done plenty of research as I've been out of touch since 2006 and my BF2 days but after countless hours of watching BF3 trailers, even Crysis 2 and a few other games and feeling very dissatisfied with the TEAM elemant of Xbox/PS3 it is time to make a come back.

If anyone has a better way to spend £2.5K on a build I'd gladly heed your advice.

 

[LynxGB]

considered the dell u2711?

I must say I have, but I am also a tart when it comes to looks I know the panel is phenomenal and high res but it looks cheap. So hmmmmm


SO VEIN!

 

[LynxGB]

so you've got £2500 to spend on an air cooled gaming PC that will demolish everything + big sexy monitor + an OS.

i'll recommend you a kind of base build, but ive got a few questions that could alter it slightly.

first, the base build (not including a monitor because i know nothing about them):

YOUR BASKET
2 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £257.99 (£515.98)
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £167.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £154.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £134.99
1 x Silverstone Raven 2 RV02B Full Tower Case - Black £129.98
1 x OCZ Z-Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £94.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £47.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £54.98
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £52.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £47.99
Total : £1,491.48 (includes shipping : £16.85).

that will destroy every game out there. i didnt go for two 580's because the 580 is too expensive for the performance gain it gives: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/306?vs=305
(a maximum of a 20% performance increase for a 40%+ price increase)

now for the questions that could change it a bit:
are you interested in watercooling atall? (proper watercooling, not the all in one units like the corsair H60)
will you be doing anything other than gaming and general use (recording your gaming, video editing, CAD/CAM, large photoshop stuff, etc)
do you want/need any peripherals?
do you prefer the look of the corsair case you chose over the raven?
(the raven is better at cooling than the corsair, but if your spending this much on a computer the most important thing is that you think it looks amazing)

Must say thats a nice spec and leaves me plenty of spare dosh to tweak. Would GTX 570 sli run BF3 on full with no lag?

I am very tempted this time around to go watercooled (Real watercooling ) to overclock the nutz off certain parts.

I will also be doing, photoshop, general website admin/editing, video editing but not on a mamoth scale.

 

[LynxGB]

I would say 2x this hmm seems to gone up even more, eas £240 last I looked.

anyway these can be unlocked to 6970(not guranteed) and when oced give 580 level performance, 6950 xfire scales better than 570 sli from what I've read.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/29/sapphire_toxic_hd6950_video_card_review

could look at the extreme7 gen3 but depends if you'll find the extra features useful for the extra cost, does give you x16/x16 for the xfire/sli but not big enough gains to warrant the extra £75 on its own, 3rd pci-e x16 slot so you can add a 3rd card and get x16/x8/x8 xfire/sli if you wish(the extreme4 gen3 apperently allow 3 cards but no idea what if its x8/x8/x8 pr x8/x8/4 or what, plus the card will overhang the mb).

other then that can't really argue with reaper, the case is a personal taste thing.

When I was looking at the GPU I did intially think bang for buck two 6950's with a small chance of the bios flash to 6970, even without the 6950 Xfire look nice and for the money. Jeez so many decisions.

I think the key for me for the GPU is will BF3 be maxed out and smooth playable. If they answer yes id settle for two of anything.

Bad part is DICE won't budge on system specs but I'll blame EA cos DICE just do as told me thinks, lol.

 

[LynxGB]

Will 6950 cf max out BF3 smoothly?

 

[LynxGB]

Sweet, see now I can't see DICE develope a game that 6950 or 6970 wouldnt max out. I mean how many people will have 6970 CF, not many even if it is the cheaper option? LOL apologies for offending your beautiful monitor I think I ment more it looks like a normal panel that comes bundled with a DELL PC nothing special (until of course you see the picture)

I would prefer to go AMD and get pair 6950's to save ££££ but I am willing to spend ££££ on GTX 580 sli to be certain. Just don't want to be mugged off lol