Please critique my build

sparky05084

sparky05084

sparky05084

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Joined
4 Sep 2011
Posts
596
Evening all. Well, after much thought I have decided that my 6 year old rig no longer cuts it.

Time to get with it and make the jump to IvyBridge. My Budget is the 2 grand mark so there is room for improvements. I'm sure you will be able to help me in my decision.

Here is my idea:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus VG278H 27" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LED Monitor with NVIDIA 3D Vision 2.0 Glasses - Black £479.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £305.99
1 x Logitech Z906 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System - 500W RMS (980-000469) £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x Seasonic G series 650w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £99.98
1 x NZXT Phantom Enthusiast USB3.0 Full Tower Case - White £99.98
1 x LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £79.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC128B/WW) £76.99
1 x Creative Sound Blaster Z High Performance Gaming Sound Card - Retail (70SB150000001) £73.99
1 x NZXT Havik 140 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £54.98
Total : £1,854.91 (includes shipping : £27.55).



I haven't included RAM as I already have the Kingston Hyper X Genesis Grey 8GB kit. Also, I am intending to reuse my WD Caviar Green 1TB drive although I was advised to get a minimum 2TB drive and one that is faster.

I can't really think of anything else for now. So yeah please tell me what you think.

Thanks :)
 
looks good, what you mainly using it for?

i only ask as you spend a lot on addons like monitor and speakers etc, but mid to high end vga with a good sound card

not being nosey just seeing if anyone can do a better spec with a better choice of kit if main use is known and what else you could want it for etc
 
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im a gamer, given a choice i'd spend more on vga and less on sound and speakers unless its an entertainment pc as well, but then again im not much into sound when i game, well not as much as you maybe or it looks with your build anyway.

i'd stick in a 680 or another 670 and spend less on the sound card or speakers, but then again that's me, many here may be totally different, some cheaper sound cards sound great for anything with some good speakers, yours are very good, for me too much, i'd drop them down a bit or a slighty cheaper sound card and spend the rest of upgrading other bits.

but tha'ts why we are all different, next one may say something totally different for another reason
 
I heard the Logitech's are the BezzKneez. I do appreciate your points regarding the cost. I will have a look at some of the Asus soundcards. I did forget that Creative are known for unreliable drivers. My bad.
 
creative used to be the best, i had a live many years ago and a awe32 gold, but now just use onboard 7.1 and tbh have never looked back, good speakers yes, but i wouldn't pay that price unless they really looked and sounded good and came with something sexy, like a 99% refund once bought :)

sorry bit off topic there but agree with above, poor drivers, not what they used to be
 
Those speakers are quality.
Unless you've got a nice pair of headphones too, I'd not bother with the soundcard as you'll only be outputting via optical to the speakers anyway. You can do that from the mobo.

Changing to a 680 would get you +5% extra performance. Not worth it considering the price difference.

I'd also swap the cooler for this considering the black n white thing.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler - Black (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £69.98
Total : £78.68 (includes shipping : £7.25).



The psu is very nice, but I'd go for a 750-850w just in case you want to go xfire/sli at some point with more headroom.
Ooh, and a 256gb ssd.
 
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How does the monitor work? Does it need double the grunt (two imags) to run games in 3D? If it was me:

Ditch the 3D for a decent 1080p monitor
Ditch the surround sound speakers and put it towards a HiFi amp
Drop the PSU for a 500W - if you're SLIing, go up to 750W.
Get an ASUS sound card
Go for the Samsung 840 Pro
Go for the Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU
 
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Triggerthat, Are you saying drop the 3D because you think it's a gimmick?

I picked that monitor because IIRC (although my research might have me mistaken) it allows you to use dual link DVI to get 3D and can utilise 120Hz in 2D which has more fluidity than 60Hz.

Bear in mind I'm currently using an NEC 20" TFT monitor.

Am I missing something?
 
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