Spec help - 2k

matt.hibb

matt.hibb

matt.hibb

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Joined
21 Jan 2008
Posts
27
I need help putting together a new machine, It's been a while.

As the title suggests, the budget is approx 2k.

I will be using it mostly for work, which is hugely resource hungry especially on memory, multi threaded apps too. I will do some gaming and video/photo editing too.

Not too bothered about storage, I will be putting a htpc/server together in the house once hd prices return to normal. So i am thinking of putting up with a single 128 ssd in the new box till then.

I will need 2 monitors included (22's), but no os or peripherals. I would also like it to be pretty quiet.

Thanks
 
Just because I want a similar system:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £499.99
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 570 Phantom 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £275.99
1 x Asus P9X79 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £219.98
2 x Dell UltraSharp U2212HM 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £194.99 (£389.98)
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £154.99
1 x G.Skill RipJawsZ 32GB (8x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL) £149.99
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX750 High Performance 750W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply (CMPSU-750AXUK) £149.99
1 x Silverstone Raven 2 RV02B Full Tower Case - Black £129.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) £84.98
1 x LG GH24NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £2,095.08 (includes shipping : £16.85).




12 threads and 32GB of RAM should handle your resource hungry apps.
Water cooling for the CPU, and a case with plenty of ventilation.
GTX570 just incase any of your work involves using CUDA, and its pretty good for gaming too.
M4 SSD is one of the best around: ocuk comparison
Dell Monitors are very good for visual effects and can swivle to either horizontal of vertical on the standard stand. (helpful for coding where you need more height)

Just to get the ball going :)
 
Last edited:
The CPU and motherboard combination is exactly what I was going to go for, glad somebody else agrees ;)

I'd be tempted to save a bit of cash on the monitors, maybe this at almost half price, unless there is a particularly strong reason against it:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-054-DE&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

I might also save the money and go for that Lepa PSU and the Noctua cooler. I wont be overclocking, certainly nothing more than a little tweek. I need the upmost reliability over speed if I'm sensible for a minute.

I'd think about using the spare towards a GTX 580 maybe, but not sure it's worth it? Since I am a software engineer and the app I work on is graphically intensive (even though I work on other parts of the system), so it would be good for it to work as best it could, gaming too ;)

Is that SSD really better than the OCZ Vertex 3 SSD's? Looking at the read and write speeds of the OCZ, it looks better?

Is the RAM good enough to match the CPU? I'm totally out of it on this at the moment with CAS timings and all that. Oh and one more thing, I've noticed a few posts recently that mention the cooler not fitting in with RAM, any idea if that would be a problem with the GSkill and Noctua comnbination? I'd never even worried about such a thing in the past, good job I checked in here 1st!

Thanks!!
 
I think I have settled on the following:

1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail£499.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 580 Matrix Platinum 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express£419.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive£319.99
1 x Asus P9X79 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard£219.98
1 x G.Skill RipJawsZ 32GB (8x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit£209.99
1 x Lepa G-Series 700W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply£109.99
2 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black£109.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4008HP01 Venom Voodoo CPU Cooler£42.98
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST - Retail£20.99
Total : £2,086.81 (includes shipping : £19.10).


There are a couple of things I just want to check 1st though.
- Is the RAM I`ve chosen good enough and suited to the CPU and motherboard? Will I get quad channel from it?
- I went for the Akasa cooler because water was OOT for me and the Noctua is out of stock. Will it fit with that RAM?
- The cooler has PWM fans (whatever that is), will the Asus motherboard be able to control that? I don't want it whirring away out of control and creating noise
- Is that SSD really better than the OCZ Vertex 3 SSD's? Looking at the read and write speeds of the OCZ, it looks better?

Also, can anyone recommend a case that will fit all that in comfortably (the CPU cooler is massive looking at its dimensions! Not to mention the graphics card). Ideally not a full tower unless you think I need to. I'd also like it to have a USB 3.0 slot or 2 on the front.

That's it unless anyone thinks I've missed something.

Thanks for the help!
 
its touch and go on the RAM. if it does fit it will be incredibly tight.

will you really benefit from the faster RAM, because you really dont get much of a boost from anything over 1600Mhz (certainly not worth the price difference anyway)

if you have plans to go SLI (two graphics cards) then you will want to change the 580 to a dual slot model.

personally i'd go for either this model if you think 1.5GB VRAM will be enough, or this model if you will need 3GB VRAM

the reason those monitors are so cheap is because the expensive ones are IPS panels, which have far better colour representation. if you do any work with pictures, videos, animation or 3D models then the IPS panels will be a massive help. if your only doing that kind of stuff casually then a standard monitor like the one you have chosen will be perfectly fine
 
- Is the RAM I`ve chosen good enough and suited to the CPU and motherboard? Will I get quad channel from it?
Will be fine, you can get up to 2400MHz but you will pay through the roof for it when the stuff you have chosen will be almost as good.

- I went for the Akasa cooler because water was OOT for me and the Noctua is out of stock. Will it fit with that RAM?
Actually water has proven to be the best way to cool the new SB-E chips. Intel themselves have made a closed loop water cooler as they know that their air cooler just won't do. If you mount the fan blowing up then you'll be fine, but having it hoirzontal it will over hang the RAM slots, which will be an issue. Another benefit of a water cooler.

- The cooler has PWM fans (whatever that is), will the Asus motherboard be able to control that? I don't want it whirring away out of control and creating noise.
PWM, Pulse Width Modulation, basically means it can control the speeds of the fan by altering the power it gives it. Yes the motherboard can, looks to have 2x CPU and 3 for the rest of the case.

- Is that SSD really better than the OCZ Vertex 3 SSD's? Looking at the read and write speeds of the OCZ, it looks better?
The Vertex does have better write speeds, the reason M4 are reviewed so highly is because the sandforce controllers in the OCZ and Corsair SSDs had some serious firmware issues which caused the drives to disappear from the bios, not awake from sleep, and generally die. But looking @ the OcUK benchmarks the Vertex doesn't seems to rach the high speeds in which it is capable.
 
All good points. I've swapped out the graphics card, I didnt even notice it was a 3 slotter. I've also gone back to the originally recommended RAM at 1600MHz.

You also sounded correct about the monitors, so I've upped them too.

I've also changed the cooler back to the Corsair Hydro, will that fit better with the RAM now? I've never used this type of cooler, does it need a special type of case to mount the fan on? Oh and will the motherboard be able to control this one too?

I liked the recommended case, but I'd prefer something in stock.

Spec is now:

1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail£499.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 580 OC Twin FrozR II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card£379.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive£319.99
1 x Asus P9X79 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard£219.98
2 x Dell UltraSharp U2212HM 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey£194.99
1 x G.Skill RipJawsZ 32GB (8x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit£161.99
1 x Lepa G-Series 700W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply£109.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler£84.98
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST - Retail£20.99
Total : £2,202.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).
 
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