Spec me a new PC

[Doc Rob]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a new PC. Budget of £1500-ish. I will probably get OcUK to assemble it for me - I did the last one myself (with a little help) but TBH I'd rather spend slightly more and not have the hassle.

I'm intending to get a GeForce 970 GTX as the GPU and a good sized SSD as the primary HD. Anything else is negotiable.

I will need to buy a new monitor, so suggestions welcomed for that too, though it doesn't necessarily have to fit into the budget.

Current PC is a Bloomfield i7, 2.8 GHz standard and mildly OCd to 3.2.

 

[ShivP]

What GPU do you have right now? Could be just a case of slotting in a new GPU, ssd and the jobs a good 'un. The Bloomfield i7s are still OK with good GPUs, and add an ssd also and you could add a new lease of life. If you want to upgrade after, then you can always transfer the components over to a new build

What are your full current specs? Reusable sata HDD, case, PSU or some things like that?

 

[Doc Rob]

I was considering upgrades, but for various reasons I've decided to keep the current PC the way it is and buy a whole new one.

Current specs are as follows though (was slightly wrong on the clock speed)

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OC to 3.4GHz
Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GeIL 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case

 

[Danny75]

What will be the main use of the PC?

 

[Doc Rob]

Primarily it will be a gaming rig, though I will also be using it for work and for image manipulation (Photoshop).

 

[ShivP]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK - Devil's Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£20 Saving** £388.98
1 x Acer K272HUL 27" Widescreen LED Gaming Slim Bezel Flicker FREE Monitor - Black £319.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99
1 x Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter CT512MX100SSD1) £157.99
1 x Avexir Core White Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331108G-2CIW) - White Light £129.95
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Enthusiast Case with Window £89.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £89.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £61.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Premium Modding LED Strip - Connect White 60cm £25.99
1 x Silverstone Cable Extension Value Bundle - White £10.8
1 x Silverstone 6-pin 25cm PCIe extension - White £4.26
1 x Silverstone 8-pin PCIe 6+2 Pin 25cm PCIe Extension - White £3.29
1 x No Molex to SATA Adapter Required £0
1 x Silverstone 6-pin 25cm PCIe extension - White £4.26
1 x Silverstone 8-pin PCIe 6+2 Pin 25cm PCIe Extension - White £3.29
Total : £1,687.25 (includes shipping : £13.75).





Big enough PSU for SLI 970s

Nice 1440p monitor and almost £200 over budget so is that ok?
16GB RAM just because and it might help with the photo editing if you get big with the image sizes

Though if you wanted to spend £1500 purely on the PC;

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK - Devil's Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£20 Saving** £388.98
1 x Acer K272HUL 27" Widescreen LED Gaming Slim Bezel Flicker FREE Monitor - Black £319.99
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99 (£579.98)
1 x Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter CT512MX100SSD1) £157.99
1 x Avexir Core White Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331108G-2CIW) - White Light £129.95
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Enthusiast Case with Window £89.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £89.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £61.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Premium Modding LED Strip - Connect White 60cm £25.99
1 x Silverstone Cable Extension Value Bundle - White £10.8
1 x Silverstone 6-pin 25cm PCIe extension - White £4.26
1 x Silverstone 8-pin PCIe 6+2 Pin 25cm PCIe Extension - White £3.29
1 x No Molex to SATA Adapter Required £0
1 x Silverstone 6-pin 25cm PCIe extension - White £4.26
1 x Silverstone 8-pin PCIe 6+2 Pin 25cm PCIe Extension - White £3.29
Total : £1,978.44 (includes shipping : £14.75).




SLI 970's which will eat 1440p for breakfast, even though 1 card at 1440p puts up a good fight, two is just better

Can't forget the BK board deal - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18631511

 

[Doc Rob]

OK, having a bit of an issue here. I don't seem to be permitted to choose the Gigabyte GTX 970 in the System Configurator, though I can have an MSI or Galax version. It just doesn't appear in the list. Anyone know why on earth this is? The site has 10+ of the Gigabyte cards in stock.

Yes, I know that the simplest answer will be to build it myself, but I really don't have the time right now.

 

[Ur round next]

Cant you ring OcUK and see if they could give you that card instead?

 

[RJC]

Have a word with them or post a note in the customer section

 

[Doc Rob]

I may do. I have just done my sums and realised quite how much more expensive it will be to have it assembled for me. This is annoying - it's still probably worth it to me in terms of time (and stress, as I have only built one PC before and I don't want to knacker expensive kit) but the mark-up is enough to make me resent it.

 

[lee32uk]

I may do. I have just done my sums and realised quite how much more expensive it will be to have it assembled for me. This is annoying - it's still probably worth it to me in terms of time (and stress, as I have only built one PC before and I don't want to knacker expensive kit) but the mark-up is enough to make me resent it.

They usually charge around £60 for a standard build, so it isn't too bad.

 

[Doc Rob]

Really? Then I must be doing something wrong. The first part of Shivy's spec comes out at about £1300 for the PC (which I think was including VAT). I used the build configurator and tried to get as close to it as I could, and I came out with a price of £1650-1800 after VAT.

I'd be absolutely delighted with £60!

This may be my fault, of course. I'll try it again tomorrow. What doesn't help is that the OCUK site makes you pick a template first and then adjust, rather than simply asking what components you want.

 

[Doc Rob]

What GPU do you have right now? Could be just a case of slotting in a new GPU, ssd and the jobs a good 'un. The Bloomfield i7s are still OK with good GPUs, and add an ssd also and you could add a new lease of life. If you want to upgrade after, then you can always transfer the components over to a new build

What are your full current specs? Reusable sata HDD, case, PSU or some things like that?

Several different specs and numerous changes of mind later, I have ordered a 970 GTX. Will try it out in my current rig and see how it goes. Hopefully it will tide me over for a while, but if not then I'll order the other bits and get building!