Rediscovered the bug...advice please

pieman

pieman

pieman

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10 Nov 2002
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It all began with my dad offering to buy me a case for Christmas...

After too many years away from the scene and with perhaps a little time to get back into it, I'd appreciate any feedback on the following from those more learned than I on this board.

It will be used primarily for gaming as well as acting as a media server also to stream movies to my tv etc.

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £319.99

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99

Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC256B/WW) £142.99

Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99

XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £94.99

Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98

Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99

TeamGroup Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316GM1600HC11DC01) £55.99

Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98

Total £1097.41
 
If the system is being used primarily for gaming 8gb of ram is plenty, 850w is overkill for a single graphics card, otherwise pretty much spot on :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £319.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020038-UK) £76.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) £58.99
1 x BeQuiet Shadow Rock Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £32.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £26.99
Total : £1,065.41 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
As for cases, I've had a P280 (which I use), a Corsair 500R. Both good cases, I felt the Corsair was better value (more for your bucks).

In that range, I'd go for the Fractal R4. And since dad is paying, an extra tenner wont hurt :)

You also have a 2700K for £200. Worth considering. 16GB is kinda overkill :)

Oh well...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £249.95
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £199.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Seasonic G series 650w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £99.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R4 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £99.98
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel kit (PV316G160C9K) £59.99
1 x Thermalright HR-02 Macho CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA1366) £33.59
Total : £1,087.96 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
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As above I would go for 8GB of RAM as for gaming 16GB is overkill. However I would advise that you get Low profile RAM as the taller stuff can conflict with the heatsink.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-290-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

While the 850 PSU is overkill for a single GPU it will make for an easy upgrade to X-fire later one. If you do decided to stick with the single card though I would advise that you get a modular PSU as it will make cable management a lot easier.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-030-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2383
 
650w psu is fine, but id get a 850 in case you ever crossfire. who knows what you may do in the future, may save you spending twice. If you can afford it obviously.
 
squarehead94 said:
650w psu is fine, but id get a 850 in case you ever crossfire. who knows what you may do in the future, may save you spending twice. If you can afford it obviously.
Click to expand...

Why? The 650W Seasonic offers 54 amps on the 12V rail and comes with 4 PCI-E connectors.
 
Ok, again fantastic guidance so thanks very much.

I doubt I'll ever crossfire in the future, so does this seem to be a half decent setup?

Although I note that the case is currently out of stock.

1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £249.95
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £209.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Seasonic G series 650w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £99.98
1 x Fractal Design Define R4 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £99.98
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Thermalright HR-02 Macho CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA1366) £33.59
Total : £1,197.10
 
I would really recommend you go for a 2TB seagate barracuda if you're prepared to pay £68 for a 1TB samsung.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £74.99
Total : £74.99 (includes shipping : FREE).



YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
Total : £67.99 (includes shipping : FREE).



Not too long ago the Seagate Barracuda was on sale making it cheaper than the Samsung. Still, even at its regular price its still something worth going for. You're paying £7 for an extra 1TB (0.007p/GB!).
 
valkynaz said:
I would really recommend you go for a 2TB seagate barracuda if you're prepared to pay £68 for a 1TB samsung.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £74.99
Total : £74.99 (includes shipping : FREE).



YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
Total : £67.99 (includes shipping : FREE).



Not too long ago the Seagate Barracuda was on sale making it cheaper than the Samsung. Still, even at its regular price its still something worth going for. You're paying £7 for an extra 1TB (0.007p/GB!).
Click to expand...

Depends what you prefer?

I've got the Samsung Spinpoint f3 which spins at 5400rpm and in conjunction with my 60gb SSD, I get jitter issues.

If it's 7200, I think you'll be fine.

I've never had Seagate, so I cannot comment unfortunately.

Also, do you need a 1tb drive?
 
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