Spec Me - VFX PC

Cheers!

I had just spotted Ivybridge actually. I presume Ivybridge comes with the stock CPU cooler as it's the retail version? Would I be right? Any good reviews on Ivybridge yet? From the tiny bit I read on BBC, it seems just as good as it's predecessor, but better??

I actually don't like the case myself either. I was showing it to my girlfriend yesterday and when I saw it again, it didn't seem like the one I had picked!! Any other recommendations on a higher-end (around £100 or so) case. I'm struggling to pick one out. Looking for great airflow, great cable management along with some nice features (like easily removable dust filters and possibly a side-window). Basically something like the Corsair Obsidian 650D without the noise and fan controlling issues.
 
So, it seems IvyBridge is the way to go if you don't want to overclock, otherwise Sandybridge?

I'm gathering I wouldn't see much difference between the two, but might as well go for Ivy as it's almost the same price
 
verbal_ie said:
So, it seems IvyBridge is the way to go if you don't want to overclock, otherwise Sandybridge?

I'm gathering I wouldn't see much difference between the two, but might as well go for Ivy as it's almost the same price
Click to expand...

Yes get the Ivybridge, it has a better IGP (HD4000) so quicksync and the onboard GFX solution are faster.
 
You can afford a socket2011 setup also,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £219.95
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti "448 Edition" WindForce 3x OC 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x Intel 520 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £139.99
1 x Akasa Venom Toxic Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-04649) £108.00
1 x Hitachi Deskstar 5K3000 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache 5900RPM - OEM £89.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX) £89.99
1 x Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £74.98
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £21.98
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £1,223.82 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Last edited:
So the advantage of getting a Socket 2011 over the IvyBridge. Having a mobo that can take 8 dimms of RAM, support 2 graphics cards in a SLI and the possibility of upgrading to the i7 3930K with 6 cores?

But with IvyBridge here now, will the i7 3930K be obsolete by the time I can afford it? Or will there be an IB Socket 2011 6 core available?

I think I might be asking you to predict the future? :p
 
There is a Ivybridge-E for the socket2011 coming.

That Gigabyte board has four DIMM slots too, not eight.
 
I see... Does anyone ever get more than 32gb RAM? Would it make a difference really?

What kind of performance improvement would I see using the i7-3930K (or IvyBridge equivalent) in the future over the i7-3770K?

Also, am I right in thinking the i7-3820 is pretty similar, yet a bit better than the i7-3770K?
 
The advantage of the SB-E chip is the higher memory bandwidth, more PCI-E lanes for multi-GFX setups.
 
Hmmm, as you may have guessed I'm not a great one for decision-making. I'm pretty ready to buy now, but I'm stuck between two final decisions and they're pretty big 'uns!

Dedicated large SSD vs. 64gb SSD using Intel SRT. More than cost issues really. As far as I can tell SRT can make life a lot easier (no moving files and folders and redirecting etc) and no worrying about space issues with a large SSD.

LGA 1155 vs. LGA 2011. This comes down to cost more than anything. Realistically it'll be a good few years down the line before I'd upgrade to the 6 core.

I got stuck in that sentence and couldn't figure out what I was trying to say... :confused:
 
Sorry about the mental breakdown there!!

Of course, the i7-3820 is a better performing processor than the IvyBridge i7-3770K right? 3.60ghz 10mb L3 cache.

So I'd be getting a better processor to start off with, leaving me with the option to upgrade to the 6 core IvyBridge that will eventually come out down the line.

I'm trying to rationalise decisions here, sorry! Am I right in what I'm thinking so far?

I'm a little anxious that it doesn't include a stock cooler and that I have to apply the thermal paste and all that. I don't want to mess up my new computer before I even get it in the case...
 
The above is right, the IB-E chips will drop into the board with a BIOS update.

To mount the cooler, dab a pea sized blob in the middle of the CPU, spread this about to the edges of the heatspreader using a plastic card or similar, then just mount the cooler.
 
I'm a little worried that it's such a cheap CPU cooler? Should I spend a bit more and get something like liquid cooling like this?

Also, stulid, you've added a 120gb SSD. Does the Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard support Intel SRT? Also, do you know is there any benefit to partitioning the SSD and running a 64gb section with Intel SRT and booting the OS from the remainder? Actually, is that even possible or did I read somewhere that I need to install the OS on the HDD?
 
I may have gone a little overboard here...

Let me know any changes I could/should make. Cheers!


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus P9X79 PRO Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £229.98
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £215.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti "448 Edition" WindForce 3x OC 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £109.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £99.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B) £89.99
1 x Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £74.98
1 x Intel Liquid Cooling Solution CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155/1156//1366/2011) £72.98
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £61.99
1 x Akasa USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Memory Card Reader (Internal header) (AK-ICR-14) £20.99
1 x LG GH22NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £1,192.31 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
Ok, sorry about that. Have everything now. Replaced the liquid cooling with a fan cpu cooler. Is there anything else I can change to lower the cost a bit? At the moment, it's working out at almost €1,600 and I'd like to get it down to about €1,400.

Will I have issues with the CPU cooler and RAM fitting together?

Cheers!!


YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus P9X79 PRO Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £231.90
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £217.79
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti "448 Edition" WindForce 3x OC 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £181.49
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-04649) £115.94
1 x CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Gaming Case - Black £110.91
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £100.78
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B) £90.74
1 x Lepa B-Series 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - with FREE LEPA Hard Drive Enclosure £75.60
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £62.51
1 x Akasa AK-CC4008HP01 Venom Voodoo CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3 £45.36
1 x Akasa USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Memory Card Reader (Internal header) (AK-ICR-14) £21.16
1 x LG GH22NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.14
Total : £1,287.54 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
I reckon this will be my final component list for my build. Changed the graphics card to suit the requirements of After Effects CS6, chose a different quiet case, a better air CPU cooler that's apparently near-silent yet very effective, changed the RAM so that it'd fit under the heatsink and chose a diff SSD.

Will I be able to use only 2 slots of RAM on the motherboard, not 4? I'm gonna buy more RAM later on and add them. Will I have issues adding the RAM to the mobo after the heatsink is installed down the line do you think?

Let me know if there's any other issues or if you know any other ways I can get the price down a hundred quid or so!!

Thanks!


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 570 Goes Like Hell 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with StreetFighter 4 PC Game £219.95
1 x Asus P9X79 PRO Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £203.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-04649) £114.98
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £109.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £99.98
1 x Kingston Blu 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G) £99.95
1 x Akasa Venom 750w Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply £79.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14-2011 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler with PWM Fans (Socket LGA2011) £72.98
1 x Corsair Force GT 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CSSD-F60GBGT-BK) £69.98
1 x Akasa USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Memory Card Reader (Internal header) (AK-ICR-14) £20.99
1 x LG GH22NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £1,356.76 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Sorry guys, just a quick question. I'm having a great deal of trouble trying to find the correct RAM for the Asus P9X79 Pro mobo. Someone told me that the memory controller with the 3820 is very finicky and that I'd need to make sure I get RAM that is at 1.35v??? :confused:

I was hoping to get the Corsair Vengence 16gb (2x8gb) and just use the two sticks for the time-being and later get the same again to bring me up to 32gb. Gonna go with the Corsair H100 with Noctua NF-P12 fans to keep it quiet, so I won't need low-profile RAM sticks any more.

I'd really appreciate help on this. I really don't want to find that the RAM won't work on the motherboard!!

Cheers
 
Ok, so what about this spec? Any problems/issues I need to know about? The two Noctua fans are to replace the notoriously loud h100 stock fans


YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Dominator 32GB (4x8GB) PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMP32GX3M4X1600C10) £269.99
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 570 Goes Like Hell 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with StreetFighter 4 PC Game £219.95
1 x Asus P9X79 PRO Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £203.98
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX750 High Performance 750W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply (CMPSU-750AXUK) £129.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-04649) £114.98
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £109.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £99.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) (CWCH100) £84.98
1 x Corsair Force GT 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CSSD-F60GBGT-BK) £69.98
1 x Akasa USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Memory Card Reader (Internal header) (AK-ICR-14) £20.99
1 x LG GH22NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
2 x Noctua NF-P12 Vortex-Control 120mm Quiet Case Fan - 3 Pin £17.99 (£35.98)
Total : £1,626.26 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom