Question: PC Build - Help - Advice

elliottlock

elliottlock

elliottlock

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Joined
8 Jul 2007
Posts
26
Hi,

As you have guessed I'm looking to build a new PC. But would like some help/advice on the parts I have chosen so far. To help give you an understanding of what I'm trying to achieve let me give you the following info:

What am I using my rig for?
Gaming

Budget (including tax and shipping)?
£2000

Where do I live?
Surrey, England

What parts do I need?
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Graphics Card
Hard Drive
PSU
Case
CPU Cooler
Optical Drive

Am I overclocking?
No

Reused parts?
Monitor

Monitor size?
24", Native Resolution 1920x1200

When do I plan on buying / building my pc?
Within the next month

Required features?
I'd like to be USB 3.0 ready and have the ability for SLI/Crossfire

OS?
I already have a Windows 7 (64bit) licence. Which I will be migrating to this new PC

So with all that in mind here's my current list of the part:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 (1333MHz) Tri-Channel (CMX6GX3M3A1333C9)
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G)
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): (2x = 2TB) Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EALS)
PSU: Corsair HX 750W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750HXUK)
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM)

That brings my current total to £1929.68 (parts bought from http://www.overclockers.co.uk)

So my question is. Are there any parts you would change and if so why?

Many Thanks,

EL
 
Good point I don't know why I put that motherboard in there :/

Anyway, I've changed that to the UD3R now so the spec reads as follows:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 (1333MHz) Tri-Channel (CMX6GX3M3A1333C9)
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G)
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): (2x = 2TB) Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EALS)
PSU: Corsair HX 750W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750HXUK)
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM)

With a grand total price of £1,811.67

Reference your SSD/Graphics card suggestion cmndr_andi. I was looking to crossfire later on when the 5870 required a boost so I thought I'd invest in a more powerful SSD for now. Also I was thinking it might be a good idea in the future to buy an additional OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB (when it's cheaper) which I could then RAID with my original.
 
Interesting Redmint. It's faster but cheaper. WTF? LOL

Thats confused me :/

But I've added it to the spec now so thanks very much, here is the update:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (CMX6GX3M3A1600C9)
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G)
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): (2x = 2TB) Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EALS)
PSU: Corsair HX 750W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750HXUK)
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM)

With a grand total price of £1,798.67
 
Argh cmndr_andi your asking a lot of me there. Asus for motherboards I wouldn't hesitate but for graphics cards i've always trusted Sapphire for ATI. I'll bear it in mind for now. But great bit of info. I would have never spotted that. Cheers.
 
Humm that will take me over the £2000 mark. Is it really that worth it? Why do you think the 5970 is that much greater than the 5870?

I can kind of see the pay off but I just wanted to get more info for your reason for doing this?

What do other people think to?

Cheers.
 
I think I'd call my self a hardcore gamer. I am a designer for Sega after all :P

I need to be pretty future proof but gaming isn't really all I do I guess.

What kind of tasks will SSD help improve. For example is it more suited to a person that video edits etc?
 
Okay, I've changed my build again after talking to the head of IT at my work place. Here is what I've changed and why.

PSU - Required more power especially if I'm considering using crossfire in the future. 750W to 1000W.
RAM - The version of XMS I had is not very good and the IT manager of my company says they have found the version I had have died multiple times. Additionally he said 12GB config for i7's.
Graphics Card - Changing to XFX brand. Sapphire use cheaper quality parts. Means downgrading from 2048MB to 1024MB, Saves me some money to.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard - £158.99
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + Napoleon Total War - £236.99
RAM: Corsair XMS3 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 (1333MHz) Tri-Channel (HX3X12G1333C9) - £305.99
Graphics Card: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £319.99
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) - £279.99
Mounting Kit: Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit [AK-MX010] - £5.99
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) - (x2 in RAID = 2TB) - £159.98
PSU: Corsair HX 1000W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-1000HXUK) - £194.99
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black - £158.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) - £66.99
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) - £49.98
Total (inc. tax and shipping) : £1,956.21

pcbuild.jpg


So what's peoples thoughts on that?

Cheers,

EL
 
Guess what. I've change it again :P

I think 12GB and 1000W was over kill to be honest so I'm going with the following now.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard - £158.99
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM - £229.99
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C9) - £141.98
Graphics Card: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £319.99
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) - £279.99
Mounting Kit: Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit [AK-MX010] - £5.99
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) - (x2 in RAID 1 = 1TB Mirrored) - £159.98
PSU: Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) - £154.99
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black - £158.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) - £66.99
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) - £49.98
Total (inc. tax and shipping) : £1,745.20

This still allows me to crossfire in the future to.

Now what do you think, I think I'm close :D
 
Sapphire build materials/quality is not as high as XFX's which is why I opted for that card.

Also that RAM is not in corsairs list as begin compatible with that motherboard.
 
Ordered!

Product Name Price Qty Line Total
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £272.33 1 £272.33
OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) £246.80 1 £246.80
Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM £195.74 1 £195.74
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £187.22 1 £187.22
Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black £135.31 1 £135.31
Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) £131.91 1 £131.91
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C9) £120.83 1 £120.83
Logitech Z523 2.1 Speaker System (980-000320) £58.68 1 £58.68
Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) £57.01 1 £57.01
Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) £42.54 1 £42.54
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS) £41.69 2 £83.38
Akasa Elite Card Reader (AK-CR-02BK) £14.46 1 £14.46
Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit £5.10 1 £5.10
DPD Next Day Parcel: £22.20
VAT: £275.36
Order Total: £1848.87

I'll post up pictures of the build once it's complete. Thanks for everyones help.
 
Hi,

I've just got my new PC today which consists of a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 and OCZ Vertex 2.

This issue is the SSD Vertex 2 is not being detected in the Gigabyte EX58-UD5 bios. I can't see it and so I can't install Windows 7 on my new drive.

What do I need to do in order to get the drive working.

Are there specific settings in the bios I need to set or drivers I need to load during the Windows 7 installation.

I plugged it into my old PC and it was detected right away so the drive is fine :/

Please help, Cheers.

EL
 
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