Spec Me: Just for fun

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5 Aug 2010
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Hello!

I've been um-ing and ah-ing over a system purchase for quite some time now and believe that I'll finally be buying one within the next few months.

I currently have my eye on this pre-built as you seem to get quite a lot for your money. (Note that it's also on special offer this week).

Titan 8900i Plasma MK II
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-246-OE

However, since becoming a member of the board I've become drawn to the idea of building a system of my own, despite having no experience.

This leaves me with a couple of options;

A) Buy a pre-built.
B) Buy the parts which are in a pre-built and build it myself.
C) Ask the kind members of the board to spec something for me to build.

Just as food for thought would anyone mind speccing a system which is performance-wise similar to the "Titan 8900i Plasma MK II" linked above as a reference point to see what else I can get for similar money?


My criteria are as follows:

Primarily for gaming; various genres bus FPS takes precedent.

£1000 (including tax) top level of budget. Less is better though!

Able to play latest games at a high level of quality and smoothness at a minimum resolution of 1080. No plans for multiple monitors.

Possibly some light Photoshop work (just for fun).

Be able to last me as long as possible, or provide a potential upgrade path.

Preferably a reasonable energy consumption.

I've no real preference for manufacturers.


I do not need;

Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor, OS, Speakers.


As I say, it's just for fun really as I'd like to get some context and suggestions from those of you who know your way around the products and the way to get the most for your money. I suppose I just want to get the ball rolling in my head and any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance - if would like any further information, please feel free to ask :)
 
Bacon?, many thanks for the response! If cost was no issue would you go with your specification of the pre-built? Is the a particular reason why?


A few days ago I made up the specification of the pre-built as close as I could and there wasn't too much a difference in the cost - with the pre-built it's overclocked, tested/stable and cable tidied. This things make me think I should just buy the pre-built as they are well worth the difference in price to me.
 
Idelman - cheers! I notice that each proposed specification has a different motherboard - is this down to the other components selected in each build and their compatibility?

(Thanks for the specs btw, I know it can take a while choosing everything).
 
I went for the MSI since its OC certified, has more features, can SLI and looks cooler! :D

I find there is a big difference between the prebuilt and the DIY ones but it depends on choice of components. For example they may be the same price but the component quality might be higher.
 
I went for the MSI since its OC certified, has more features, can SLI and looks cooler! :D

I find there is a big difference between the prebuilt and the DIY ones but it depends on choice of components. For example they may be the same price but the component quality might be higher.

Thanks for the insight - do you know how individual component warranties work if buying a pre-built?

The system which recently died on me was a 7/8 year off the shelf machine and as such I'm not the sort of person who would notice or be aware of the differences between brands or components.
 
I'm not sure how the warranties work with the off-the shelf machines after the warranties expire. I do know when doing it yourself warranties are usually at least 3 years, often the RAM is lifetime.

Also will you be overclocking?
 
I'm not sure how the warranties work with the off-the shelf machines after the warranties expire. I do know when doing it yourself warranties are usually at least 3 years, often the RAM is lifetime.

Also will you be overclocking?

I would like to try! However, I suppose it depends on the cost involved buying components which overclock and cool sufficiently when comparing to the gains the overclock actually provides.

As I mentioned I might not even notice a difference.
 
Overclocking will make the machine last longer (or least the CPU last longer) as it will make it more powerful. A simple £30 cooler can eatable a nice 4.5Ghz overclock.
 
Overclocking will make the machine last longer (or least the CPU last longer) as it will make it more powerful. A simple £30 cooler can eatable a nice 4.5Ghz overclock.

What are your thoughts on the Corsair H-range of water products? I assume that normal coolers can achieve the same results for cheaper?
 
The H range are fairly expensive for the performance. Air cooling is the best value for money and can even be best performance. The H100 performs similary but not always as good to a £60 air cooler despite the big price difference.

The only time I spec the H series is when:
A. OP wants it regardless
B. OP wants a cool looking system
C. When the case cant fit air cooling
 
The H range are fairly expensive for the performance. Air cooling is the best value for money and can even be best performance. The H100 performs similary but not always as good to a £60 air cooler despite the big price difference.

The only time I spec the H series is when:
A. OP wants it regardless
B. OP wants a cool looking system
C. When the case cant fit air cooling

Ta - neither of those really apply to me. I'm more of a function of form person.
 

I like this :D

Bacons spec not so much. Having an SLI mobo is all well and good but you want a 750W PSU minimum to run two 670s. You can get twice the size on the storage HDD for not much more and a faster optical drive as well.

Idleman used an entry level Z77 mobo which doesn't allow for dual GPUs but to be fair is that something you will actually miss? If you like the ideal of SLI then this maybe......

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (N670GTX PE 2GD5/OC) £311.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £129.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128N/EU) £85.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £68.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - Black £56.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £35.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,003.88 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
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Idelman - cheers! I notice that each proposed specification has a different motherboard - is this down to the other components selected in each build and their compatibility?

(Thanks for the specs btw, I know it can take a while choosing everything).

Actually based the spec on the Plasma, single Gpu set up. Although, if you were thinking of maybe going sli in the future, you could change the ssd for the 128gb. Then use the money and get a sli mobo(Z77X-D3H) and a 700w+ Psu.
The spec as mentioned has a 256gb versus 120gb ssd, 2tb versus 1tb hdd and an Antec 280 versus an Antec 300. Much more for your money with out losing performance.
And if you want to know how good the Antec 280 is, i will let you know tomorrow, when mine arrives. :D
 
Actually based the spec on the Plasma, single Gpu set up. Although, if you were thinking of maybe going sli in the future, you could change the ssd for the 128gb. Then use the money and get a sli mobo(Z77X-D3H) and a 700w+ Psu.
The spec as mentioned has a 256gb versus 120gb ssd, 2tb versus 1tb hdd and an Antec 280 versus an Antec 300. Much more for your money with out losing performance.
And if you want to know how good the Antec 280 is, i will let you know tomorrow, when mine arrives. :D

Already did it bud lol Although I used the better GB mobo........shame on you and Bacon forgetting the free P&P ;)
 
Haha, thanks for the offer! Feel free to keep suggestions coming - I've been talking myself out of a proper system for a number years now. My fear is that that I tell myself to wait for the socket revisions coming next year... this is what always happens :(
 
Haha, thanks for the offer! Feel free to keep suggestions coming - I've been talking myself out of a proper system for a number years now. My fear is that that I tell myself to wait for the socket revisions coming next year... this is what always happens :(

I always like to enjoy what i can have today, not what i could have next year.:)
 
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