Hi, all
I am looking to build a new system. Mine is a wee bit on the old side, and not quite getting the job done.
I've done this several times before, but I'm a little time-constrained at present, and not as in-touch with hardware as I used to be, so I would like some assistance and/or advice on my planned build.
I would use my machine for the following:
FPS gaming - Rage; BF3; Skyrim; ME3; Bioshock Infinite; that sort of thing
MMOs - SWTOR; Guild Wars 2; D3 (really more dungeon crawler, but since it's purely online, unlike D2, the memory usage should be high)
Multimedia - various movies; blu-ray
Serious multi-tasking, even while gaming.
Budget = +/- £2000
What I intend to keep:
Monitor: 60" Plasma TV
HDD: 2x 250GB VelociRaptor Black (a few years old now, but still suitable for purpose; music storage, etc)
New kit:
Case: Silverstone Temjin TJ11
SSD (Boot+Game installs): 256GB Crucial m4
HDD (Bulk Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Mobo: AsRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3
Mem: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM [DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXLD]
CPU: Intel Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge 8M 3.5GHz
GFX: 560 Ti (which make?)
PSU: ?
Cooling(Water): ?
The bits I am unsure of are the Mobo, the CPU, the Memory, the Graphics card, the PSU and the Cooling.
With regards the cooling, I've never gone Water-cooling before, but my current machine heats my room up too much. In summer it's not a problem; the ambient temp is such
that my PC runs doesn't run so hot, but in Winter, with Central Heating, it becomes a real problem. I can't turn the heating down because my dad lives with me and has a
real problem with the cold, so I have to address the problem at a technology level in my rig.
Some of the reasons I chose the tech above:
1) The case is there for the space; I like space to work in, and I'm reasonably happy with my TJ09, bar the air-vent just behind the HDD cage. The TJ11 addresses that
particuluar issue.
2) I need a lot of memory since I'm building something to grow into, and the types of games I play, coupled with the way I use my PC as a workstation, makes me hungry
for memory. I would prefer double-modules of 8GB for the dual-channel support and so have 2 slots open for even more growth if I feel like it, but I've not been able
to find a set compatible with my choice of mobo. A friend recommended Corsair Vengeance, and while I've good experience of Corsair, they're significantly more expensive
than G.Skill and they're reasonably close othert in performance
3) I chose the CPU and mobo in conjunction with the memory, so my clockspeeds would all match up. I have no plan to overlcock the CPU yet; that's reserved for when I
need the extra juice in 2 or 3 years (assuming I don't go with Icy Bridge). I don't need to go with socket 2011; those processors are way beyond anything I can
effectively abuse. I may upgrade to icy bridge after it comes out, but really, that's a next year kind of thing. Maybe the i5s are better at this stage, but I couldn't
find boards and memory of sufficient size (16GB) that would be supported by the clockspeeds the i5-2500k runs at, wheeras I could with the i7, and it's not that much
more expensive.
4) I could push the top-end card, but given that I'm buying entirely new kit, and I don't want to blow my budget too far out of the water, I'm disinclined to spend
top-dollar right now. I think the 560Ti is sufficient for my needs at this time, given that it can run all the games I play most (right now) at max settings, and I
may upgrade to one of the 78nm cards when there are a few more options. There's also a cheap SLI option in a couple of months if I want to boost my specs that way.
What I need help with is what manufacturers are good to go with. I'm prety set on nVidia; they're always on top of their drivers, and my experiences of their cards
are very postiive, vs ATI.
5) On the PSU front, I'm undecided. I figure 1k is about right, given the rig, and the fact I tend to push my hardware when I use it, and it allows me to top my CPU
and GFX up later or add another GFX (or 2) for SLI within the next year.
Hopefully, some of you more knowledgable/experinces builders out there can point out flaws in my reasoning, and suggets ways of improving things or at least fill the
gaps I currently find myself with.
Thank you in advance for your time.
Regards
ctgblck
I am looking to build a new system. Mine is a wee bit on the old side, and not quite getting the job done.
I've done this several times before, but I'm a little time-constrained at present, and not as in-touch with hardware as I used to be, so I would like some assistance and/or advice on my planned build.
I would use my machine for the following:
FPS gaming - Rage; BF3; Skyrim; ME3; Bioshock Infinite; that sort of thing
MMOs - SWTOR; Guild Wars 2; D3 (really more dungeon crawler, but since it's purely online, unlike D2, the memory usage should be high)
Multimedia - various movies; blu-ray
Serious multi-tasking, even while gaming.
Budget = +/- £2000
What I intend to keep:
Monitor: 60" Plasma TV
HDD: 2x 250GB VelociRaptor Black (a few years old now, but still suitable for purpose; music storage, etc)
New kit:
Case: Silverstone Temjin TJ11
SSD (Boot+Game installs): 256GB Crucial m4
HDD (Bulk Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Mobo: AsRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3
Mem: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM [DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXLD]
CPU: Intel Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge 8M 3.5GHz
GFX: 560 Ti (which make?)
PSU: ?
Cooling(Water): ?
The bits I am unsure of are the Mobo, the CPU, the Memory, the Graphics card, the PSU and the Cooling.
With regards the cooling, I've never gone Water-cooling before, but my current machine heats my room up too much. In summer it's not a problem; the ambient temp is such
that my PC runs doesn't run so hot, but in Winter, with Central Heating, it becomes a real problem. I can't turn the heating down because my dad lives with me and has a
real problem with the cold, so I have to address the problem at a technology level in my rig.
Some of the reasons I chose the tech above:
1) The case is there for the space; I like space to work in, and I'm reasonably happy with my TJ09, bar the air-vent just behind the HDD cage. The TJ11 addresses that
particuluar issue.
2) I need a lot of memory since I'm building something to grow into, and the types of games I play, coupled with the way I use my PC as a workstation, makes me hungry
for memory. I would prefer double-modules of 8GB for the dual-channel support and so have 2 slots open for even more growth if I feel like it, but I've not been able
to find a set compatible with my choice of mobo. A friend recommended Corsair Vengeance, and while I've good experience of Corsair, they're significantly more expensive
than G.Skill and they're reasonably close othert in performance
3) I chose the CPU and mobo in conjunction with the memory, so my clockspeeds would all match up. I have no plan to overlcock the CPU yet; that's reserved for when I
need the extra juice in 2 or 3 years (assuming I don't go with Icy Bridge). I don't need to go with socket 2011; those processors are way beyond anything I can
effectively abuse. I may upgrade to icy bridge after it comes out, but really, that's a next year kind of thing. Maybe the i5s are better at this stage, but I couldn't
find boards and memory of sufficient size (16GB) that would be supported by the clockspeeds the i5-2500k runs at, wheeras I could with the i7, and it's not that much
more expensive.
4) I could push the top-end card, but given that I'm buying entirely new kit, and I don't want to blow my budget too far out of the water, I'm disinclined to spend
top-dollar right now. I think the 560Ti is sufficient for my needs at this time, given that it can run all the games I play most (right now) at max settings, and I
may upgrade to one of the 78nm cards when there are a few more options. There's also a cheap SLI option in a couple of months if I want to boost my specs that way.
What I need help with is what manufacturers are good to go with. I'm prety set on nVidia; they're always on top of their drivers, and my experiences of their cards
are very postiive, vs ATI.
5) On the PSU front, I'm undecided. I figure 1k is about right, given the rig, and the fact I tend to push my hardware when I use it, and it allows me to top my CPU
and GFX up later or add another GFX (or 2) for SLI within the next year.
Hopefully, some of you more knowledgable/experinces builders out there can point out flaws in my reasoning, and suggets ways of improving things or at least fill the
gaps I currently find myself with.
Thank you in advance for your time.
Regards
ctgblck
. That must be one big monitor.
Worth every penny. It's one of the Kuro Panasonic Plasma TVs; I bought it right after they discontinued the line, but before they were sold out. Fortunately no one wanted to pay for a 60", so I got a good deal on it. The 46" screens were going like crazy and for crazy prices.