Spec me a workstation £1600

Evil-I

Evil-I

Evil-I

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Joined
20 Apr 2003
Posts
1,320
Location
Gloucestershire
Hi All,

Just about to purchase my new machine for work and could do with a little advice on what's good currently.

I've got a budget of about £1600 exc VAT (£1920inc) but that must include a pair of 24" 1920x1200 screens (don't have to be massively colour accurate uber screens, as I generally just mess around with video and anything that needs to be colour accurate would either be done by our graphics department or in our video edit suite).

Would need Nvidia based graphics because of Cuda and the Adobe Mercury playback engine.

I was thinking either i7 3770K or i7 3930/3970x (Hex cores seem very expensive still...)
16 or 32Gb RAM
256Gb fast SSD
Nvidia GTX 670?
I like big case with plenty or room for upgrade like the Shinobi XL or similar
Blu-Ray drive
Quiet (Possibly water cooled)


All suggestions much appreciated, as I don't really know the comparative performance figures, yes Hex core would be nice, but if the 3770 would overclock much more would there be much advantage?

Don't worry about data drives etc as I will probably be transplanting a hardware raid card and drives from another machine.

All thoughts much appreciated!

E-I
 
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
2 x Iiyama Prolite XB2485WSU-B1 24" IPS Widescreen Professional LED Monitor - Black £275.99 (£551.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x OCZ Vector 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive VTR1-25SAT3-256G £209.99
1 x ASRock X79 Extreme4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £167.99
1 x OcUK Tech Labs - BitFenix Shinobi XL Big-Tower Case - Black - Noise Dampened £145.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Quad Channel Kit (GEL316GB1866C10QC) £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £54.98
Total : £1,850.95 (includes shipping : £27.55).

1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
Total : £61.88 (includes shipping : £8.25).



socket 2011 build



1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
2 x Iiyama Prolite XB2485WSU-B1 24" IPS Widescreen Professional LED Monitor - Black £275.99 (£551.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £239.99
1 x OCZ Vector 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive VTR1-25SAT3-256G £209.99
1 x OcUK Tech Labs - BitFenix Shinobi XL Big-Tower Case - Black - Noise Dampened £145.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
2 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £71.99 (£143.98)
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £54.98
Total : £1,846.93 (includes shipping : £27.55).



Socket 1155 with 32gb ram + 1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
Total : £61.88 (includes shipping : £8.25).



added better coolers to both build, and yes hono is right, one didn't come with one, seen the retail bit but didn't read the no fan / heat sink etc, but still in budget :)

come on hono work your magic :)
 
Last edited:
The 3820 CPU does NOT come with a heatsink and fan!!

Rather than "fix" Zaks specs I'd rather you start a thread in the general hardware section and you will have more input from forum members in there, as that's where most of the "speccers" hang out ;)

EDIT - No need! God bless the mods ;)

As I have just done a X79 spec for someone I shall alter it slightly to cover what you requested..........

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £311.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 256GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-256M5P) £185.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black £149.99
2 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £129.95 (£259.90)
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £96.00
2 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV316G213C1K) £89.99 (£179.98)
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
Total : £1,768.50 (includes shipping : £14.75).



I'm sure you will see plenty of other suggestions now the thread has been moved :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks all!

Awesome help, sorry I'm only just replying, its been a busy day.

Just properly looking through the suggestions now.

Many thanks,

Mike
 
So, just to check a couple of things, both Hono and Zak have suggested i7 3820, is this the sweet spot for price/performance? Is there any advantage in the ivybridge 3770k? Which overclocks best? Please bear in mind, when I'm video encoding it will be maxing out all cores for sustained periods of time, so i need fast/ stable and to keep it all cool over extended periods without deafening me.

I like both iiyama and Dell monitors, I certainly have no issue with the Dells as we have a couple of those strapped to our Avid edit suite and they are lovely screens.

Hono, does the Corsair h100 fit straight into that Obsidian case? And how does the H100 compare to say the mount doom air cooler Zak specced?

I really appreciate all your help guys, if this was my home system i'd be much happier just taking a punt on it but what with the corporate bean counters keeping an eye on things, I've got to make sure its right first time.

Best,

Mike
 
I would have used the K2 myself in the spec but you requested watercooling. The H100 is a closed loop cooler but the K2 is going to be better value and perform just as well and be quiet as well as cheaper.....so win win.

My spec was just to give you an idea, it can be tweaked as I said before.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
2 x Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £227.99 (£455.98)
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 256GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-256M5P) £185.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black £119.99
2 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV316G213C1K) £89.99 (£179.98)
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
Total : £1,809.92 (includes shipping : £27.55).



The 3820 is a great CPU and can be overclocked nicely as can the RAM I have used. The 1155 socket is now a deadend, by going 2011 you have the option to upgrading to Hexcores much later on. Ideally you want quad channel RAM on the 2011 socket.

This case has sound proofing. The 660Ti is a cutdown 670, as CUDA cores are linked to core speed overclocking the 660Ti will improve the performance. Changed the screens as well if you wanted the higher resolution.

Hope this helps fella, from one Mike to another ;)
 
Thanks Guys,

Didn't realise 1155 was coming end of life, you've got to love how often intel change their socket/ cpu packaging don't you....

I'm taking all advice on board and will tweak my final list and let you know what I end up with.

Thanks all!

Mike
 
Ok guys,

Here's the current short list. Just managed to sneak the Hex core CPU in.


Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £455.99
(£379.99)
Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £227.99
(£189.99) £455.98
(£379.98)
Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
(£174.99)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 WindForce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
(£159.99)
Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.99
(£149.99)
BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Windowed Case - Black £129.98
(£108.32)
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £83.99
(£69.99) £167.98
(£139.98)
Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £79.99
(£66.66)
Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
(£43.32)
Sub Total : £1,603.22
Shipping : £27.55
VAT : £326.15
Total : £1,956.92
 
You really want the Ti to be fair fella, if you dont want to compromise on the case, use the Plextor Extreme SSD instead. The 660 and 660Ti are very different cards, as I said the Ti is a cut down 670.
 
Revised and somehow cheaper!

Looks like the Dell monitors are on special this week, so thats even better.....


Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £455.99
(£379.99) £455.99
(£379.99)
MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £199.99
(£166.66) £399.98
(£333.32)
Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £189.98
(£158.32) £189.98
(£158.32)
Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Windowed Case - Black £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £85.99
(£71.66) £85.99
(£71.66)
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £65.99
(£54.99) £131.98
(£109.98)
Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
(£43.32) £51.98
(£43.32)
Sub Total : £1,534.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £27.55
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £312.49
Total : £1,874.93

Thanks guys, think we've got it cracked, just need to chat to our account manager at OC.

really appreciate the advice!

Mike
 
The weekly offers have changed that's why bud.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £455.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
2 x Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £199.99 (£399.98)
1 x Gigabyte X79-UP4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £193.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £189.98
1 x BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £119.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-S07XLT 12x BluRay / 16x DVD±RW 50GB Drive - Black (Retail) £79.99
2 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML16GX3M2A1600C10) £59.99 (£119.98)
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
Total : £1,860.94 (includes shipping : £27.55).



Slightly cheaper still, this mobo can take a max of 64GB of RAM, the UD3 is 32GB Max
 
Last edited:
Some more minor amends.

Swapped out windowed Shinobi XL to noise dampened non-windowed
Changed RAM to a 32Gb Quad channel kit that's on this week only.
Added in basic LSI RAID card, will use existing drives

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £455.99
(£379.99) £455.99
(£379.99)
MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Black Knight OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £215.99
(£179.99) £215.99
(£179.99)
Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £199.99
(£166.66) £399.98
(£333.32)
Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £189.98
(£158.32) £189.98
(£158.32)
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i KIT Controller Card - (Retail) £189.95
(£158.29) £189.95
(£158.29)
Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
OcUK Tech Labs - BitFenix Shinobi XL Big-Tower Case - Black - Noise Dampened £145.99
(£121.66) £145.99
(£121.66)
Avexir MPower Series 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (AVD3U16001008G-4CM) £143.99
(£119.99) £143.99
(£119.99)
Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £85.99
(£71.66) £85.99
(£71.66)
Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
(£43.32) £51.98
(£43.32)
Sub Total : £1,716.53
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £27.55
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £348.82
Total : £2,092.90
 
Nice spec above.

You could make a few changes,


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £455.99
2 x Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £199.99 (£399.98)
1 x Gigabyte X79-UP4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £193.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £189.98
1 x LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i KIT Controller Card - (Retail) £189.95
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 WindForce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x Avexir MPower Series 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Quad Channel Kit (AVD3U16001008G-4CM) £143.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 550D Quiet Midi Tower Case - Black £119.99
1 x LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - Black (Retail) £79.98
1 x Thermalright Archon SB-E X2 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £60.00
Total : £2,046.90 (includes shipping : £27.55).




Or even remove the LSI SAS card and the X79-UP4 and replace both with the X79S-UP5 which has a silly amount of SAS/SATA ports.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-413-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2174
 
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