Spec check for new rig

Wizzfizz

Wizzfizz

Wizzfizz

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Hi all,

I'm going to be upgrading from an 8 year old AMD 3400+, 1gig RAM, 7600GT.
So I'm in the process of putting together a new system and would appreciate any feedback on things that I should swap out or add. My main use for the system will be gaming.


25rh4iu.jpg

1zwm97p.jpg



- I'm unsure about the GPU (Nvidia or AMD?) I'll be looking to game at 1920*1080 minimum.
- Again, I'm unsure about the PSU (would prefer a white label to the blue, to keep things matched).
- Not sure about the RAM (chosen for the colour)
- What is the best CPU thermal paste to use nowadays?


Cheers :)
 
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• The GTX670 is due today/shortly

edit - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_670/28.html

• A retail Blu-ray drive will include playback software.

• A Crucial M4 SSD is currently at a great price and its performance is great.

• Cheaper 1TB HDD - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-257-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1953


- What is the best CPU thermal paste to use nowadays?
Click to expand...

Use the silver paste pre-applied to the base of the Kuler920, its good stuff.


-----------------------------

Updated spec,


YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99
1 x Benq XL2420T 24" TRUE 120Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red £279.95
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £139.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £104.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £89.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £84.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £74.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £72.00
1 x LG CH10LS20 10x BluRay-ROM / 16x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £54.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £39.95
Total : £1,556.00 (includes shipping : £16.85).

 
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gigabyte board has a 3 year uk based warranty, the asrock has just 2 and one of those is to holland.

the gigabyte board is also a great performer.


the black corsair ram is cheaper and the same speed/timings
 
Just a bit of an update

sl3cdv.jpg



What do you think?

Few queries:-

1) What's the difference between the above RAM and the Arctic Vengeance (white), is it decent to overclock with?

2) Is the Antec Kuhler worth paying extra for, over a normal cooler? will I get better results? I'll be overclocking the CPU, this is why I chose this CPU cooler.

3) The M4 SSD is listed as only having 220MB/sec write speed, compared to other SSDs that have 550MB/sec.

4) Is that motherboard decent for overclocking with? I might want to add a second card further down the line.

Lastly, is there anything you'd change? my budget is £1300.
 
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I like it.

1) The colour, the White is rated at a lower voltage, the timings are the same.

2) High end air coolers will always be better than a closed loop water cooler, this is a good cooler - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=hs-020-al&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=

review - http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/alpenfoehn_k2_cpu_cooler_revisited,1.html

3) For gaming the read speeds are more important.

4) It is, or a bit more - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-389-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

It has some overclocking features (power/reset/clearCMOS switch, a BIOS switch)
 
Thanks for the quick response.

Are these high end air coolers quiet? They look huge :eek: What's the point of closed loop water coolers? Other than being quieter of course. I always thought that they'd perform better than any air cooler.

Cheers
 
The fans are PWM so the board can control them.

Why are the closed loop water coolers good?

•Can get away with tall RAM.
•Neater look inside the case with a block of metal in the way.
•Some cases cant fit the side panel on with some tall heatsinks, but if theres a 120mm rear fan, you can usually get a water cooler installed.
 
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