Opinion on Spec

krustykobb · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:34

I am building my friend a PC and I was looking for an opinion on this spec I have done for him:

Intel Core i5 3570K
AsRock Z77 Extreme 4 Mobo
Zalman Z11 Plus Case
Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600Mhz
WD Caviar Green 1TB
LG DVD Burner
HIS 7950 IceQ Boost
Samsung 840 Pro SSD 128GB
XFX Pro 750W XXX
Corsair H80i Liquid CPU Cooler

The main purpose for this machine will be for gaming

Bacon? · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:37

Whats the budget for the machine?

Oh and will be be x-firing?

krustykobb · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:39

Budget is around £980 but don't need monitor, keyboard and mouse and only one 1080p monitor for one I believe

stulid · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:45

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-00-20G) £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 920 Series 4 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775 / LGA1155 / LGA1156 / LGA1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM2+ / AM3+) £84.98
1 x XFX Pro Series 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - Black £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £35.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £884.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).

A little something I just came up with.

If you did need an OS etc, then theres money left over for this.

Pohly · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:50

stulid why you got 2 cpu coolers

stulid · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:51

Pohly said:
stulid why you got 2 cpu coolers

Cheers fixed, going mad I am.

krustykobb · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:53

So what do you think to the spec I came up with?

stulid · 24 Jan 2013 at 18:57

krustykobb said:
So what do you think to the spec I came up with?

Apart from the motherboard it was ok.

Also check the length of the GFX card, the Z11 has a maximum 290mm support.

krustykobb · 24 Jan 2013 at 19:01

What is wrong with the motherboard? and I will check the length

stulid · 24 Jan 2013 at 19:08

Asrock boards have a worse warranty (2years total, one year back to retailer, the other needs to be sent abroad), I've had a Z68 Asrock board blow up, currently they seem to have a large number of FM2 boards blowing up,

http://www.overclock.net/t/1301979/...herboard-discussion-gallery/220#post_18799453
http://www.overclock.net/t/1301979/...herboard-discussion-gallery/200#post_18778199

Theres a number of people in that thread with similar issues, they generally seem to be cheaply made boards.

Gigabyte/MSI have 3 year warranties, OcUK will handle the MSI boards for the full term, Gigabyte have a UK based RMA center (Milton Keynes) if there should be an issue.

krustykobb · 24 Jan 2013 at 19:12

Ok so what board would you recommend? For about the same price and not much more

stulid · 24 Jan 2013 at 19:15

This one is - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-391-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

Reviews.

Kitguru.
Hexus.
eteknix.
Madshrimps.
Windwithme.
tbreak.

Kitguru even gave it the budget board for 2012 award - http://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/zardon/kitguru-annual-awards-2012/5/

It's good for a single GFX card.

============

If you wanted SLI/Crossfire - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-390-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

lee32uk · 24 Jan 2013 at 19:21

If you plan on going crossfire in the future then this one is a good board:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
Total : £122.89 (includes shipping : £8.25).

If you are only planning on running a single card then get the one stulid suggested.

krustykobb · 24 Jan 2013 at 19:43

I have been looking at some reviews of the asrock and it seems ok - could it have just been a bad batch?

stulid · 24 Jan 2013 at 19:44

krustykobb said:
I have been looking at some reviews of the asrock and it seems ok - could it have just been a bad batch?

Why risk it, why not get a board that has the better warranty etc from the get go.

The Board that Lee32uk linked is even more aimed at overclocking than the second one I linked too.

The Z77-UD3H has niceties such as,

Power button on the PCB
ClearCMOS+reset buttons
DualBIOS physical switch
Voltage read points for a multi-meter
It also does away with the two Marvell SATA ports for extra eSATA ports on the back panel.