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Hatton

Hatton

Hatton

Associate
Joined
2 Jun 2011
Posts
165
Location
Hertfordshire
Hey guys,

I need some of you to help me out, i'm planning on building a totally new PC and it has been 3 years since I last looked into whats hot and whats not!

What I want to use my new PC for:

- High end gaming (Crysis 2, Battlefield 3 and MW3)
- Adobe CS5 Master Suite (Video editing, Motion graphics, Photo retouching)

My Budget: £1,130

Components I already have:

- Radeon HD 6870 1GB
- LG W2363D 23" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LCD Monitor 1920x1080 Res
- Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series Sound Card
- Creative Fatal1ty Pro Series Gaming Headset
- Standard Microsoft Mouse
- Standard Logitech Keyboard
- Corsair Modular HX 850W

I originally posted a topic in the motherboard forum as I want to build a system from the motherboard up to ensure I have maximum support in three years time. I was redirected here, so i'm hoping you guys can help me out :)

I appreciate any help anyone can give me.

Thanks for your time,

Hatton
 
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This everything you need?

7a390b4a.png
 
I would have thought for high end gaming, a second 6870 would probably be advisable. On the review of the card on AnandTech, on BFBC2 the 6870 only achieves 55 fps at 1080p whereas in Crossfire it achieves 110. Assuming BF3 will be even more intensive for the GPU, I think using one would probably be a good idea meaning something more like this might be suitable.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £239.99
1 x Asus ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £118.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £101.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £59.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £6.98
Total : £1,046.57 (includes shipping : £14.75).


This is £100 under budget so if a larger SSD or the case from the above spec etc. appeal to your needs more then there is room for change
 
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slightly over budget, but a really impressive rig:


YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £239.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
1 x OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX120G) £124.99
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £118.99
1 x G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £69.59
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £59.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD753LJ) £26.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £1,139.18 (includes shipping : £14.75).

please check the ram will fit under the cooler. im pretty sure it will, but its best to check

PSU is capable of SLI if you feel the need to later on

*edit*
go for the 6870 crossfire option DJmartin posted
 
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Hatton said:
Hey guys,

I need some of you to help me out, i'm planning on building a totally new PC and it has been 3 years since I last looked into whats hot and whats not!

What I want to use my new PC for:

- High end gaming (Crysis 2, Battlefield 3 and MW3)
- Adobe CS5 Master Suite (Video editing, Motion graphics, Photo retouching)

My Budget: £1,130

Components I already have:

- Radeon HD 6870 1GB- LG W2363D 23" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LCD Monitor 1920x1080 Res
- Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series Sound Card
- Creative Fatal1ty Pro Series Gaming Headset
- Standard Microsoft Mouse
- Standard Logitech Keyboard

I originally posted a topic in the motherboard forum as I want to build a system from the motherboard up to ensure I have maximum support in three years time. I was redirected here, so i'm hoping you guys can help me out :)

I appreciate any help anyone can give me.

Thanks for your time,

Hatton
Click to expand...

why spec a 570 ?
 
stulid said:
Why you guys speccing overpriced rubbish like that Gigabyte board? it doesn't even have Lucid Virtu!!!

Either put this Z68 board in - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-051-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

Or save more money with a P67 chipset board - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-165-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1906
Click to expand...

Fair enough with the P67 board, however, I was fairly sure that the Asrock didn't support Crossfire. There is probably a cheaper board that does while being a Z68 however I couldn't see one. Or I am completely wrong? :p
 
:o

Ah well it didn't say on the Overclockers website that the Asrock supported CROSSFIRE so I just went with the Gigabyte option. However after looking at the Asrock website I see that you are quite correct.
Also I meant crossfire but my fingers typed SLI, rookies mistake ;)
 
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So In conclusion, Stulid is right and unless he sees any other problems with what I suggested this is the spec:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor £239.99
1 x Asus ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £118.99
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £101.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £79.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black £59.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £6.98
Total : £1,021.56 (includes shipping : £14.75).
 
Thats better, the PSU maybe a bit overkill and the 750w version at £97 will be ample bringing the entire total to £1K.
 
Pohly said:
is that psu even necessary as he say he already has a Corsair HX 850W
Click to expand...

This definitely wasn't included when I first made my spec, if you look at the quote from Mr Mays post it was added in the OPs edit at 14:47.

If you have a corsair 850W then obviously take off the PSU from the spec.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, really blown over at how quick and detailed your posts are.

I forgot to mention that I already own a PSU (Corsair Modular HX 850W).

CPU
All of you suggested the Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor as my CPU.

I was thinking of a six core CPU to support future applications. Also, does it matter if I don't have the new socket 1366? (I think it's called that).

Motherboard
Again, a lot of you suggested the Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard as my motherboard.

I think it only has 4 slots for RAM. I'd prefer a motherboard with 6 slots of RAM (I think then I can run "Tri-Channel"?) at 4GB each, so 24GB of total RAM. I wouldn't get this all straight away but it would be nice to have the space to upgrade in the future.

Also, what is the difference between the Z68 and X58 chipsets?

Is it possible to run four graphic cards in a "quad" crossfire on motherboards? Does that even exist?

I've just done some reading/browsing and found out about "Extended ATX", I think it is relatively new and is basically a larger motherboard. Is this how motherboards fit up to four GPU's in crossfire mode? If so, I think I would want that option, to have room to add more graphic cards later on.

I can't seem to find any "Extended ATX" motherboards on Overclockers though... maybe I got the name wrong.

SSD
Is a Solid State Hard Drive essential for me? I don't really know what it brings to the table other than it has no "moving parts", costs a hell of a lot more and gives you less space compared to standard Hard drives. Is there something i'm missing out on here?

I've also been doing some reading up on RAID and what its uses are. I'm up for having multiple Hard Drives, as I know FRAPS functions better when on a seperate drive. Are RAIDs easy to set up? Is it just a case of putting in multiple Hard Drives and saying "Hey, look at my RAID"?

Case
Two of you posted mid-tower cases, I would prefer a full tower case despite the large price jump. I would be willing to pay a bit more for a case that lays everything out neatly, is spacious and can easily adjust hard drive bays etc.

I took a look at the Corsair Obsidian 700D Full Tower that andy_mk3 suggested and I like it, I found good reviews on it and it looks really promising.

CPU Cooler
I'm generally new to CPU Coolers, i've never used or fitted one before, i've just gone with what came pre-built. I want to know how "water cooling" works. Is there water inside the case somewhere? It sounds quite dodgey to have water with electrics.

Thanks again guys for all the replies, I appreciate you spending time to pick out specific products for me and I hope you can bare my "newby" questions!

Cheers,

Hatton

EDIT: Oh and I will definitely have to get another Radeon HD 6870 for Crossfire in the future, thanks for spotting that! :)
 
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Hatton said:
CPU
All of you suggested the Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor as my CPU.

I was thinking of a six core CPU to support future applications. Also, does it matter if I don't have the new socket 1366? (I think it's called that).
Click to expand...

The i7-2600k is better than the hex-cores offered by AMD as each core is faster. A comparison can be found here if you want to see solid evidence. Also the 1155 is in fact the newest socket.

Hatton said:
Motherboard
Again, a lot of you suggested the Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard as my motherboard.

I think it only has 4 slots for RAM. I'd prefer a motherboard with 6 slots of RAM (I think then I can run "Tri-Channel"?) at 4GB each, so 24GB of total RAM. I wouldn't get this all straight away but it would be nice to have the space to upgrade in the future.
Click to expand...

Firstly I would suggest that you actually go for the motherboard that Stulid linked and I then added to the spec. He was correct in saying it was a lot better while still being cheaper. SandyBridge processors also use dual channel RAM therefore having four RAM slots is the standard.

Hatton said:
Is it possible to run four graphic cards in a "quad" crossfire on motherboards? Does that even exist?
Click to expand...
While it is technically possible it would create a lot of heat. Also for games scaling beyond having 2 is really not worth it.

Hatton said:
SSD
Is a Solid State Hard Drive essential for me? I don't really know what it brings to the table other than it has no "moving parts", costs a hell of a lot more and gives you less space compared to standard Hard drives. Is there something i'm missing out on here?

I've also been doing some reading up on RAID and what its uses are. I'm up for having multiple Hard Drives, as I know FRAPS functions better when on a seperate drive. Are RAIDs easy to set up? Is it just a case of putting in multiple Hard Drives and saying "Hey, look at my RAID"?
Click to expand...
SSD drives are so much more expensive as they are so much faster. For your budget, an SSD drive would normally be included as it speeds up the system tons. The idea is to put your OS and possibly some games/apps on it and it will load them a lot quicker.

RAID is the option used more for faster loading/safer file storage. RAID 0 uses two drives and reads and writes from them much quicker however if one drive fails you lose all of your data. You also have the storage of both of the drives put together. RAID 1 however only has the storage space of one of the drives, it makes reading faster but writing slower. However if one drive fails you lose no data.

Hatton said:
Case
Two of you posted mid-tower cases, I would prefer a full tower case despite the large price jump. I would be willing to pay a bit more for a case that lays everything out neatly, is spacious and can easily adjust hard drive bays etc.

I took a look at the Corsair Obsidian 700D Full Tower that andy_mk3 suggested and I like it, I found good reviews on it and it looks really promising.
Click to expand...
Case is mainly personal preference, get whatever you want, especially if the look of it has some value to you.
Quick Edit: Didn't want to make the wrong impression, there is a difference between a good quality case and a bad one however if you do like that case and the reviews look good there is no reason not to go for it.

Hatton said:
CPU Cooler
I'm generally new to CPU Coolers, i've never used or fitted one before, i've just gone with what came pre-built. I want to know how "water cooling" works. Is there water inside the case somewhere? It sounds quite dodgey to have water with electrics.
Click to expand...
Watercooling works by having a pump which connects to all of the components via tubes, therefore cooling them all via water instead of air. It is more difficult to set up than fans, more expensive and requires maintenance. However, if you want to put the time and effort into learning how to do it, it keeps components cooler and is quieter.
 
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