System Configurator Questions

Jock · 22 Jul 2012 at 11:00

Hi there,

I'm looking to buy one maybe two new systems for my business but wondered if I could get some advice before I do because I dont want to spend so much money to find out i made the wrong decision.

CPU: What exactly is thje diffference between ivybridge and sandybridge. The computer is going to be used for the likes of 3dmax and photoshop and not understanding the difference i'm not sure which is most appropriate.

Mobo: From what I can see they are all x79 and ddr3, so what exactly is the differences between them? Will they all pretty much do the same job?

RAM: I'm debating between 16gb and 32gb and for the latter, it says the mobo has to have enough slots. Would i be correct in thinking that if its not greyed out, then the mobo must support it?

HDD: I've never really heard of RAID before but had a quick explanation from a pal but am i right in saying if you want it whereby it makes a clone of your hdd on a seperate one, in case one fails, that would be RAID1? Also in the configurator, when i select raid, the choices of the hdd's all go grayed out, dont you still have to choose which ones you want?

Lastly, if you are looking to buy several of the same machine is there discounts or anything available?

Thanks for your time.

Edit: Sorry, one more question. When i bought the computer im using now from you guys it was some time ago and I wasnt allowed to get more RAM put in so was stuck on 6gig which was something along the lines of they couldnt overclock it. If I get 16 or 32gb will it still be overclocked if i choose it and can it still be overclocked a decent amount. Im just thinking if the most you could get is 10% theres no point paying for the full overclock.

mickyflinn · 22 Jul 2012 at 12:48

Ivybridge is the latest line of cpu from intel and is approximately 10% faster than the sandybridge equivalent. The downside to ivybridge is that it does not overclock as well as sandybridge.

Which system are you looking at ?

Jock · 22 Jul 2012 at 12:50

I was going to configure it from scratch and looking at the options either starting with Intel x79 sandybridge or the Intel Z77 Ivybridge.

mickyflinn · 22 Jul 2012 at 13:01

The x79 systems are enthusiast system - high end if you want best of the best that is the one to choose , but it comes with a premium price .

For most people a z77 base system will meet there needs and for you i would get z77 and a 3770k Ivybridge cpu. This has hyperthreading witch will help in mulithreaded apps

Jock · 22 Jul 2012 at 13:08

Because i'll be using these every day for rendering I'm quite happy to pay a bit more, but only if its worth it, I dont want to throw money at something for the sake of it, but if it'll improve performance then i'm quite happy to part with more.

Might need to go look for some benchmarks for the specific programmes.

mickyflinn · 22 Jul 2012 at 16:23

Intel Sandy Bridge Extreme Core I7-3930K vs Core i7-3820 vs AMD FX-8150 vs Core i7-2700K vs Core i7-990X Review

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...150-vs-990x-vs-2700k-review-introduction.html

Jock · 23 Jul 2012 at 08:38

Cheers Micky.

Is this the right place to be asking these questions or should i be in general hardware or should i just be phoning ocuk?

NathWraith · 23 Jul 2012 at 11:39

Hi Jock, asking questions in here is just fine.

The difference in motherboards whilst essentially all the same (same chipset that is) they will have different amounts of connectors and slots. So pick a board which suits your needs.

The configurator is not intelligent enough to grey out sections when you make a choice so certain decisions have to be made intelligently as it is not "fool proof".

TBH 16GB will be more than enough memory for your needs as 32GB is quite overkill. Also with 16GB of RAM we can offer a higher CPU overclock than with 32GB.

With our RAID setup you have two options:

RAID 0: This pairs two drives together and save half the data on each, so that when the drives operate, the data is effectively written and loaded twice as fast. However if one drive dies, you loose all the data. Great for speed, bad for redundancy.

RAID 1: Both drives are paired and mirrored. Anything saved to the first drive is auot copied to the second drive. If one drive dies, simply connect another and the RAID will rebuild itself. No slower than using an individual drive but you won't gain any speed benefits like RAID0, however this is great for redundancy and reliability.

We can also do discounts on multiple systems too.

Jock · 23 Jul 2012 at 12:17

Cheers Nathwraith,

So for the motherboards like you say, just need to check slots etc so thats no problem.

Although it hopefully wont happen because i'll be looking into it, but if you were to make a mistake on the configurator and just for arguments sake chose 32gb ram and it couldnt fit in, I take it it would get picked up and resolved whether thats to cut it to 16gb or the likes?

I think as you say 16gb will suffice as i've managed on 6 up till now though it has caused a few problems for some of the bigger animation jobs, but 16gb is a fair hike.

From your description Raid1 is obviously what I need I think, but the one thing i dont get is in the configurator, when you choose raid the hard drive 2 gets greyed out, but shouldnt I have to choose which drive i want to use. I've maybe got it wrong but what i envisaged was an SSd for C: purely for my core programs and windows, then something like a 2tb hdd for d: which would then be in a raid1 setup with a second drive of the same, which would have all job files etc which is the one i'd want backed up and saved should the worst happen.

In terms of where I go from here, i had sent in a webnote earlier when wondering the best way to contact and they mentioned the business to business number, although being self employed not sure if that applies or not but should i be going through them?

Cheers

NathWraith · 23 Jul 2012 at 16:49

Hi Jock,

If you manage to select incompatible memory don't worry this will get picked up on our system and rectified for you, so no worries there.

Regarding the HDD's, even if they grey out you can still select them.

If you are a registered business you can deal via our B2B team, if not, you can go through our normal sales team

Jock · 23 Jul 2012 at 21:35

Thanks for your help guys.

Just need to look into the motherboards and should place the oprder in the next couple of days. Good times.

NathWraith · 24 Jul 2012 at 10:10

Jock said:
Thanks for your help guys.

Just need to look into the motherboards and should place the oprder in the next couple of days. Good times.

No problem

If you need any more help just post up here.

Jock · 26 Jul 2012 at 12:54

As crazy as it sounds I seem to be struggling to get an order sorted and give you guys the money. Went down the phone call route as I had a couple of questions and then followed it up by email as instructed, but still waiting to hear back so I can place an order which I was hoping to do yesterday.

NathWraith · 26 Jul 2012 at 14:36

Hi jock,

Apologies in advance. I have assigned 5UB to come and sort you out, in a good way of course!

fiveub · 26 Jul 2012 at 14:40

If you can make a thread here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=117

Just let me know what you are after and I will sort it all out for you.

Jock · 26 Jul 2012 at 15:16

Cheers guys.

NathWraith · 27 Jul 2012 at 10:46

Jock said:
Cheers guys.

No problem