New Desktop PC

[albert]

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
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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[BrotherTobious]

One thing you must do is have your windows installed on SSD drive and your data on other drives.  It is so quick

[DrunkenZombiee]

The prebuilt water-cooling blocks are worth a look such as the h60

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. 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.

[sulky_uk]

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

[albert]

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?

[albert]

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!

[DrunkenZombiee]

I can give you an example pre-voltage modded card by sending you here 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.

[sulky_uk]

hey drunken my 460 is the same also with 3 voltage points 460gtx

good thing about cyberrpower... you can just about have anything you want

[DrunkenZombiee]

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 =).

[kregoron]

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

[T-Bag]

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.

[albert]

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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[BrotherTobious]

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

[DrunkenZombiee]

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

[albert]

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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