Hi Folks,
I'm looking to buy a new desktop in time for LAN and would appreciate any advice.
I've not really kept up to speed for a few years on such things.
1) Must be pre-built and if you could suggest a few good sites to look through that would be appreciated. Too lazy to build it this time and I'm too messy at that type of thing.
2) Are there any technology must do's so the PC isn't going to end up not supporting an important feature too soon? I think my last one DDR3 support came out within year which was good for everyone who had a mobo that was DDR3.
3) Looking mid-spec to low-high end, so up to £1200 at the very top end.
4) Any must have components? eg is nVidia way better than ATI right now, is ssd the way to go?
5) Case recommendations?
6) Any good quality manufacturers that are must check-out sites?
Suggestions (so far):
1) Windows installed on SSD drive and your data on other drives
2) 2 x WD Caviar Black 7200 RPM 1GB drives (already got them)
3) Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 DDR3 XMS3 8GB Desktop Memory - £49.99
4) Intel i7 2 2600K -£236.63
5) Corsair Hydro Seriesâ,,¢ H60 - £56.43
6) Corsair 850W PSU (already got that)
7) MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC - Graphics adapter - GF GTX 560 Ti - £202.98
8) Case - Antec Performance One P193 V3 - £138.05
9) SSD - Corsair CSSD-F120GB3-BK Force Series 3 120GB Solid State Drive - £146.98
10) Motherboard - Asus P8P67 DELUXE, P67 chipset ATX, B3 Rev. - £159.99
Total: £992.71
thanks,
albert
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One thing you must do is have your windows installed on SSD drive and your data on other drives. It is so quick :)
The prebuilt water-cooling blocks are worth a look such as the h60 (http://www.corsair.com/cooling/hydro-series/hydro-series-h60-cpu-cooler.html)
Get an i7 2600k and overclock to 4.5 Ghz to make it future proof for the next 5 years. This will be within your buget of £1200 if you dont go crazy with the GFX card and other components. Also its the best processor available right now (it even trumps the server processors).
If you go the sandy bridge route get this RAM (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-290-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517). Its cheap, overclocks nicely, is bulletproof in terms of being tried and tested and is way more compatible with MOBOS than other RAM.
As Toby says SSD is a must for your OS and a couple of games. Make sure you also get a 1TB or 2TB 7200 RPM disk though for those games that are older (and don't require the speed) or the games that you don't play as often. This means you can get away with a smaller SSD and you will save a packet.
In terms of GFX, ATI give you more bang for your buck but have issues with compatibility still on some games. If you go for a card such as a 560 make sure that you get a pre-voltage modded one to get an extra 20% out of the blocks.
I have a cyberpower one, apart form a couple of niggles at the start (which was covered by the warrenty ) as was cool
cyberpower uk (http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/)
Thanks guys,
How do I know if I'm buying a pre-voltage modded GFX card? Is there a part number that I have to look out for?
Seems to me that I may be better building a system as I already have a decent 850W Modular Corsair PSU, 2 x 1GB WD Carviar Black drives, Newish DVD Writer. and a rather hot but working modded 4780X2 ATI card that can be my first replacement part.
So really just a mobo, CPU/ Cooling System, RAM and SSD are required and a new case.
Any recoommendations for the SSD in terms of size and make/ model?
I just looked at their web site, almost unlimited customisaiton options, some really nice stuff there, the cases look like they fell off the hyperspace system of the Millenium Falcon!
I can give you an example pre-voltage modded card by sending you here (http://uk.msi.com/product/vga/N560GTX-Ti-Twin-Frozr-II-OC.html) Unfortunately its normally in the Specifications.
It can make a very big difference. I am getting an extra 25% out of that card listed over stock as I have pumped the voltage with the clock speed.
hey drunken my 460 is the same also with 3 voltage points 460gtx (http://uk.msi.com/product/vga/N460GTX-Hawk.html#?div=Overview)
good thing about cyberrpower... you can just about have anything you want
Because of the voltage mod you can get a stable system at -
core : 1020
shader : 2040
memory : 2500
This is comparable to 570 performance but for the money of a 560 =).
Tbh ive had no issues with my last few ATI gpu's, ive had 4870x2, 5890, 6990... always done the job perfectly :)
But yeah the 560/570 is also great bang for the buck
I had to make the call on graphics recently. It was about £10 cheaper for Ati for nearly identical performance (infact the ATi was a couple of fps fast in most cases) but I sided for the nvidia because the performance if I opted for SLi further down the line was significantly faster than two of the ati card in crossfire. Typically I prefer ATi but as I've gone X850XT, 8800GT, 4870, 570 (switching between them each time) I'm pretty neutral and go based on price:performance ratio.
If prices are similar to 6 months ago then Ati are the best value immediately, and nvidia are worth the little bit if you want to keep the door open for upgrading...or maybe 3D, they seem to have the market covered with that.
Thanks folks.
Any recommendations for a case and a motherboard for this setup? Any to avoid and anyone tried, tested and been impressed?
Also any views onthe ssd I selected on post 1?
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I got the 570 and it been rock solid and Arma 2 OA looks great as does all the things I throw at it:)
Cases wise I am a big fan of these
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?Family=ODI=
Also the cosmos cases as well. Tut and DZ have them
As Toby has said ASUS and Coolermaster are the kings of the case world but it depends on your budget.
At the lower end of coolermaster the HAF-X range does the job well and is highly recommended by gamers. If you want to push the boat out further a Cosmos is a beautiful case, its on rails so it doesn't get scratched as easily when you put it in the car etc. The only problem is that the case is getting on a bit and has no front USB3 ports etc as they haven't updated the design in a couple of years.
Fractal also do some really nice cases which look more simple and subtle in design with excellent cooling so that may be worth a look too.
DZ
Are these cases equiped with some sort of modular drive bays? Must admit, the Cosmos 360° looks great.
Any recommendations on the mobo?
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I like asus mate they been very rock solid but the web site for support could be better.
Always check out vids of the cases mate you get a better idea of what it is likely to be like
the Asus p8p67 is rock solid motherboards, and performs superb, i know quite a few who has this mobo, and all give it excellent remarks
I have a p8p67 pro and its is awful if you leave it stock.
My mate also has the B3 fixed version and still has issues.
To fix it you need to change almost all of the CPU and RAM settings or it freezes for no good reason. If you are not comfortable with setting RAM timings and voltages manually do not get this board. Also you need to disable some of the c-states for the processor as ASUS has screwed up the drivers and it locks up the computer after being left idle.
Read the problems that people are having here (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1036828923) for starters and search the net for "P8P67 Hangs" or "P8P67 freezes idle". Support were useless and didn't know what they were talking about when I rang up, people on forums solved the issues for me as they fixed theirs then let everyone know what they did.
It also always double posts unless you tweak the BIOS.
I would only recomend this MOBO if you really know what you are doing and like spending days reading stuff on the net to prevent it from hanging when it goes into a low power state. On the upside I learnt a lot about this particular mobo and refreshed my Architecture knowledge and FSB timings etc =).
Its very fast though once you have got it working. I get 120 gigaflops with my i7 2600k running at 4.5Ghz.
DZ
are there any more stable mobos that can run as fast and overclock as well that you'd recommend?
Odd i havent had any issues with my p8p67 deluxe... Neither have other rigs ive set up
Well gigabyte Has made some good ones, tho they still struggle with their UEFI bios
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The P193 V3 looks like a superb case and the Asus mobo looks the business as well.
All comes to £992.71 before searching for the cheapest deal (i.e. all from Amazon).
I could add a second graphics card or get 2000 RAM instaled of 1600 and still keep to my budget.
What do you think? Worth the expense of these extras?
Also, is the SSD I randomly chose any good?
Wife is going to get a shock when this all arrives :norty: perhaps I should mention it to her!!
Ive got the P193 V3 and agree it's a superb case. The only downside is the weight, It's bloody heavy, dont tend to carry it much so don't really matter.
Quote from: lionheart;330350Ive got the P193 V3 and agree it's a superb case. The only downside is the weight, It's bloody heavy, dont tend to carry it much so don't really matter.
Did you add the two HDD front Fans that are optional in the specs?
Ive put one in, an Apache silent, the only reason I did that was I have a 10,000 rpm HDD in there and they can get a little toasty.
Thanks folks for your time and advice. I think I have the list pretty much settled although I was hearing an arguement from binbagchamp that the Core i5 2500K is as good a deal as I'll need for the time being. It's £100 cheaper than the i7 2600K but will it work with the P8 ASUS mobo?
Yes it will.
Get an i7 2600k though as you wont regret it!
I've had a dilema about the GFX card option.
I was thinking (I know, strange for me to do such a weird thing :) ) that I have a Radeon 4870x2 with the following ratings:
4870x2 - the card I have today 60K MT/s, 24KMP/s 230GB/s Bw
560 GTX Ti OC - the one that seems to be a great deal for £200 54K MT/s 26K MP/s 136GB/s Bw
6870 - the ATI model that is close to this spec 50K MT/s 28K MP/s 134GB/s Bw £150
So they are so close in terms of the Texture and Pixel rates it's unreal but the x2 has twice the memory bandwidth.
Of the X2 seriously consumes power, runs pretty hot etc. but in terms of performance, this is a card from 2008 and it still holds its own with the newest nVidia cards.
In fact the only nVidia card that gets above 60K MT/s is the 590! for £400+ and the rest.
Crossfire a pair of 4870x2's and I could heat my house but still the performance would be rather impressive.
So why would I go spend £200 on that card when the one I have is holding its own?
If you can wait until the new year, the new Nvidia & ATI cards should be making an appearance...
Corsair 600T case, anyone got, or has any opinion on it?
Reason is I'm seeing a slight problem with the Antec P193, no space on the top grating for the H60 cooler mounting.
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Quote from: albert;331189Corsair 600T case, anyone got, or has any opinion on it?
Reason is I'm seeing a slight problem with the Antec P193, no space on the top grating for the H60 cooler mounting.
I've got one and it's the best case I've ever owned. I think it's physically impossible to make the wiring untidy. I'd prefer if it had more hard drive slots, but I guess I 6 is enough for most people and I can always swap out 1TB drive for 2 or 3TB when I get short on space. I just feel it wouldn't kill them to have given a 3rd one of those brilliant HDD holders.
The case appears larger than it is due to its styling (don't get me wrong it's pretty huge) but that mean the cabling inside is a dream, with everything being grommeted and speed fit. There aren't even thumb screws to take the side off the case, just a built in mechanism.
Default configuration has enough fans, and damn big ones...but I think the built in controller can power even more...for those of you who simply can't move enough air. But it keeps my heavily OCd i7 cool without water without any additionals.
I highly recommend it. 4.9/5 Down side is only two sets of drive holders when a 3rd would easily fit because there are two configurations to allow for epically large graphics cards. As far as the top mounting goes, there is a push-clip top especially designed for the cooling system to go under. It would take all of 5 mins to put it in.
Finally ordered!
Went for the Corsair H80. For less than £20 more, better system, extra fan.
Went for the 2000MHz RAM as the board supports it and it will o/c.
OCZ 120GB Agility 3
Corsair 600T Ltd Edition girlie White case. Call me a pansy if you like!
2600K i7, Asus P8P67 Deluxe
No GFX card for now. That's Christmas :-)
£850 total approx. Wife still loves me.
Scan arrives tomorrow. Ordered the mobo off Amazon as £20 cheaper and H80 was in stock, 3 weeks wait on Scan.
Joy,
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Ok so I thought again and cancelled the motherboard.
Not that is doesn't look the business but is P67 not a bit old now? (Ok 6 months old) Z68 is coming out as a viable more up to date option.
What's your views on the newer chipset?
Went with a Asus P8Z68-V Pro from my local shoppe, Novatech.
This review decided it for me: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/42933-asus-p8z68-v-pro-z68-sandy-bridge-motherboard-review-20.html
That's the mobo PC Specialist just recommended for me :)
It smells nice, if that sort of thing matters to you :norty:
I thought about the deluxe version but £50 more for a front facing dual USB 3 bay and an extra heat sync didn't do it for me.
In fact I see the next 24 hours being a drool and smell fest. Then I shall endevour to build the thing.
The H80 cooler is quite splendid. I'm baffled about what all this technolgy does on these new motherboards. In my day it was a North and and South and a graphics card was extra!
Quote from: albert;331249Call me a pansy if you like!
Ok, you pansy.
Someone is going to have a fun weekend.
Job done, the Corsair H80 was simple as you get in installing. I went for a Push - Pull Fan config like Corsair recommend, and found that for sure Fan Filter is required otherwise you end up with a radiator full of dust. I'm looking at getting one of the magnetic ones and just dropping it over the grating.
The ASUS P8Z68-V Pro is really something else. It has Features galore but the main ones, the Intel Smart Response Technology where you can install a "cheap SSD" (do they exist?) and use it as a cache between your normal HDD's and the system, is pretty much redundant if you buy an SSD to install the OS on.
The On board Integrated GPU. I used this initially whilst I installed the OS and it actually holds its own with a dedicated GPU. It uses the CPU/ RAM to process graphics and can run really well. I never tried the Boost feature but out of the box with the latest drivers, using the Windows System rating thing I got 6.7 for graphics. My dadicated card only gets 7.1. I may try the LucidLogic Virtu thing where the motherboard switches between the On Board and Dedicated GPUs based on requirement.
After a run in of 24 hours and doing an Auto overclock from inside Windows the CPU is running at 4523MHz on a 103x44 setting. The idle temp of the CPU is 22°.
(I did make the schoolboy error of clocking the RAM to it's stock level manually without noting the effect on the CPU and not upping the voltages, that worked well for 2 seconds on Black Ops :blink:).
Happy days.