Spec Check Please?

Dodger

Dodger

Dodger

Associate
Joined
17 Apr 2007
Posts
423
Location
London
PC Purpose: Gaming PC with overclock potential (~£1000-£1500)

Have been researching and back with this build/questions - please advise:


CASE: Fractal Design Define R4 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl [FD-CA-DEF-R4-BL] £99.98 inc VAT

PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £167.99

MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard with FREE BOOGIE BUG XXL GAMING MOUSE MAT £129.98

GRAPHICS CARD: HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with FREE Sleeping Dogs, Nexuiz, Dirt Showdown & CODMW2 PC Games £251.99

MEMORY: Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95

INTERNAL HARD DRIVE: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD30EZRX) [WD30EZRX] £124.99 inc VAT

SOLID STATE DRIVE: Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC256B/WW) **BTS £20 CASHBACK** £149.99

PSU: ??? (Which one, what brand - recommendations please?)

CPU Cooler: ??? (Which one, what brand, water cool? - recommendations please?)

MOUSE: Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £25.99

KEYBOARD: Logitech G110 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard (920-002241) £39.98



Some sound questions below:


SOUND CARD: ???

VIA VT2021 codec High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel w/ Support for S/PDIF Out - Motherboard has onboard sound - I listen to music via my current 2.1 desktop speakers so

do I really need a sound card or is the onboard sound good enough - recommendations please? (~£50?)


HEADSET: ???

I already have a Sennheiser HDR 160 (Wireless) to watch films however, they are not good enough for gaming as I need more bass - recommendations please? (~£50?)


DESKTOP SPEAKERS: ???

Logitech Z906 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System - 500W RMS (980-000469) £319.99 - Are these overkill?

Would I be better off with a high quality 2.1 setup instead?

Do people have a Standalone Amp + Speakers which are then connected to the PC? Is that a good idea? Does this idea work in reality?
 
Get retail cpu for 3 year warranty...

Corsair Professional Series HX+ 650W '80+ Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020030-UK) [CP-9020030-UK]
£99.98 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-095-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084


Seasonic X-Series 660w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply [SS-660KM-F3]
£114.98 inc VAT

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-027-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2383



Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA775/AM2/AM2+/AM3) [NH-U12P SE2]
£57.98 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-010-NC&tool=3
 
Thanks Lemin.

I always have trouble working out what brand is 'good' for a PSU.

A friend of mine has the Noctua and it's a beast - do you think this CPU Cooler would fit in a R4?

Also, I have been using an Antec Freezer Pro 7 in the past which does a good job for around £15. Is the Noctua worth the premium at ~£57?
 
Go for Corsair/Seasonic on the Psu. Noctua/phanteks for the CPU cooler. If you like the r4 check out the arc midi for a cheaper alternative. I'd consider the new MSI Mpower board over the ud3h as its even easier to overclock, check the thread in news and latest deals sub forum.
 
scwba06 said:
Go for Corsair/Seasonic on the Psu. Noctua/phanteks for the CPU cooler. If you like the r4 check out the arc midi for a cheaper alternative. I'd consider the new MSI Mpower board over the ud3h as its even easier to overclock, check the thread in news and latest deals sub forum.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.

I'm very happy with the R4, been researching between R4/Corsair 550/BitFenix and chose the R4.

I'll check out the MPower - Thanks :D
 
Noctua in a R4...

15s9fz5.jpg


As your other parts were fairly high spec i didnt think a cheap cooler was apt. ;)
 
Lemin said:
Noctua in a R4...

As your other parts were fairly high spec i didnt think a cheap cooler was apt. ;)
Click to expand...

The money is there to be spent, just like to justify it so I don't feel bad afterwards :rolleyes:

Have noticed in that picture that if I ever wanted to take out the RAM and put it back in, I would have to take out the CPU Cooler first or is there enough room?
 
Lemin said:
Yeh you'd have to remove a fan.

This is also a good option...


Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) [0-761345-77085-9]
£55.98 inc VAT

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-005-AN&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2262
Click to expand...

I like this one - good price too.

I'd much prefer this watercooler than having a really large CPU Cooler where I had to reseat it every time I had to take the RAM out :(
 
lol i think you can get at it by just removing the fan, and not sure why you worry about easy access to the ram^^
 
I've just had it in the past where I have had issues with the RAM/troubleshooting components etc which effectively mean, removing the RAM - no other reason :-).
 
Mei said:
you dont need a big expensive cooler for ivy anyway it wont make much difference to ur overclock i doubt,

i bet you get the same overclock using this cooler
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-004-ZW&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=

and it wont leak all down ur psu^^

spend it on a gfx card or something
Click to expand...

That was my thinking behind the cost of the CPU Cooler, yes i'm going to overclock, but not at the extreme levels others get their rigs to. Hence my preference to go for a cheaper cooler.

Do people here think this is a good approach? :)
 
IMO if your main interest is in actually using the computer (rather than gazing lovingly at the components through a window) there’s no point spending much over £30 on the CPU cooler.

Without benchmarks you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between a PC running at 4.3GHz and one running at 4.6GHz. Paying an extra £30+ to get there makes little sense (unless you just like to see how far things can be pushed, which is fair enough).
 
either way its not a big difference,
unless you want silent, then yeh go huge

200mhz mabe
if u get a good chip or not matter more
and u wont know that until u get it

its not a bulldozer it will b fast^^
 
It's all down to personal preference. I prefer to optimize a rig to get te best possible cooling set up especially under air, if that means a gigantic super dooper air moving CPU cooler then so be it. The cooler the case the longer your components can operate happily in my view. Not too sure about the zaward cooler they do make good fans but it looks a bit cheap and plasticy I'd personally worry about keeping my chip cool especially with how hot ivy can run. Again noctua/phanteks would be my personal preference with antec a cheaper alternative. Like I said its all down to personal preference but I can't really see why someone would want to spend so much on a rig just to have it run at 70c probably with some ridiculously loud fan noise as their inadequate cooling system fails to keep their high end components cool
 
Thanks for the responses.

I will be aiming for a good overclock but definitely not too bothered if I don't get the last .ghz out of my system.

Good airflow is a must though, so I agree with scwba06 about keeping everything cool etc.

I also do want a silent setup so I don't have a problem going big :D
 
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