Bit of advice please

[MrWalshy]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new PC and tried to pick a spec for what I would like..
I've got a budget of around £1,500 but want to know that I'm getting the best for my money. Could spend a little more (£100) if there was a real advantage.
I'll be using it for editing 1080p home videos, some video encoding (mainly 1080p mkv's to MP4) and also playing some games. I'd like to play the games at top spec if possible, not a serious online gamer though but want the quality for single player.
Questions I have about my proposed spec are.
Will I get anything from having the 2560 x 1440 monitor or should I swap for a 1080p one?
Could I realistically play games (Crysis 3 etc) at this resolution with the settings turned up?
Should I get a cheaper 1080p monitor and consider 120Hz?
Is i7 overkill for what I need?
If I could save money in these areas should I spend it on Crossfire HD9790/9750's

Also, I'll be connecting my work laptop to the monitor too so want a 27" display to give me ease of working with multiple documents.

Here's the spec...

Intel® CoreTMi7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
ASUS® P8Z77-M: MICRO-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
3GB AMD RADEONTM HD7970 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
12x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIESTM TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
ASUS 27" PB278Q 2560x1440 W/S Monitor - DVI, VGA, DP, HDMI (£479)

Many thanks in advance.

 

[KrossBowKitty]

Hey there!

My first query would be that what is the Radeon 9790? Do you mean 7970?

Secondly, if you're going to be doing intense video editing, I'd advise 16GB of RAM, or perhaps if you're dealing with large files or complex programs, 32GB. As for the CrossfireX, ie two 7970's, there's only a real need for two super high end GPU's, if you're dealing with multiple Hi-Res monitors. As for the screen resolutions, 1080p is very good quality, and I would say to go for a 120Hz at 1080p, as a pose to a 60Hz 4K screen. However it depends on your preference. As for the i7 3770k, is fine if you're dealing with video and photo edits, so no, its not OP if you're using it for the right reasons . In my opinion, I would exchange the cooler for a higher end one, if you downgrade that insane disk drive. I'd get a 4x Blu-Ray (which should more than suffice ) and a 24x DVD Drive, for re-writes and high speed disk reading.




Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (This is a good case, however the case is upto your taste )

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z77: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR (This'll monitor your parts to make sure nothing's running hot. It's also good quality and very tough, to ensure your parts are safe.)

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT) (This is high speed, high capacity RAM to ensure your editing programs run smoothly.)

Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7950 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable (The 7950 is much cheaper than the 7970, and is very capable of running games such as Crysis 3 on ultra settings.)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm) (Down to your preference. Just used it as an example.)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM (£27)

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)

Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£59)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

I hope this helps bro

 

[MrWalshy]

Thanks for your advice on this. I never even thought about choosing another board so think I'll go with that!
I've changed the RAM to 16GB of the higher speed one you suggested if as I want I don't want the editing to take ages!. Gone for the 1080p 120Hz screen option too. I can always upgrade to 32GB later if I feel the need.
I'm gonna stick with the Bluray RW as I'm wanting to then put my home videos on Blu-ray. Plus I'm recording my sisters wedding in summer and want to put that on one too for them.
Is the better cooler going to make a lot of difference? I've got some wriggle room so if this is worth it then I'll add it in.

I want that Fractal Design R4 case they have in the clearance section but can't place my order until they reply to me!
Added the Silver warranty too - naturally

 

[keynes]

Is the better cooler going to make a lot of difference? I've got some wriggle room so if this is worth it then I'll add it in.

If you plan to overclock your cpu yes, you selected the i7-3770k which is unlock for overclocking.

 

[KrossBowKitty]

For an i7 I advise an after-market heat-sink or hydro cooler. The stock one is fine but may not give you a quiet machine, nor will it give great temps. I'd recommend the triple heat-sink or the h60, h80i if you're planning to do extreme overclocks.

But if you are worried about the budget, you can't go wrong with a £19 triple pipe heat-sink

 

[MrWalshy]

Thanks guys. Appreciate your help. Think I'm ready to place my order now.
One last thing, do the quieter cases tend to be worse at cooling? The Fractal Design R4 seems pretty padded out and I don't want to compromise my components.
I'm not planning on overclocking anything.

 

[keynes]

There is usually a trade off between cooling and noise with quiet cases. If you have a single gpu and mostly do editing I wouldn't worry about heat issues. Even for a gaming rig it should be fine but if I am overclocking the CPU and have a crossfire/sli set up I would consider a different case.