Crossing The Bridge From Sandy To Ivy

[dersta]

Here is what I think will be my final configuration for my new desktop, after waiting until Ivybridge was available here at PCS:-

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£87)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO II FAT BOY PUSH/PULL CONFIG LIQUID CPU COOLER (£79)
Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£32)
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
TV Card
PCTV SYSTEMS DUAL TUNER TV CARD & WINDOWS MEDIA CENTRE REMOTE
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Arctosa Essential Gaming Keyboard (£45)
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,130.00 including VAT and delivery.

It's main use will be for converting/encoding video and audio, maintaining my website, playing some games at full spec, streaming audio over the internet and watching TV. I also hope to use it to improve my Adobe Photoshop skills as well.

Can anyone see any conflicts with this configuration at all?

Can someone from PCS confirm that there will be no cables/leads protruding from the back of the case to enable the front USB 3.0 connectors as well please, I would hate to spoil the look of this beauty with USB leads cable tied outside of the case.

Could someone also confirm that the Ivybridge porcessors are already at PCS ready for adding to any immediate PC builds that are ordered on Monday 30th April and an approximate build and delivery date.

Please add your comments below!

Dersta

 

[Mark0]

Wow that's a beast !!!!

My pc is in pre production but ive e mailed them with an amended quote, I really hope it wont be a problem but I really fancy an ivy bridge

 

[dersta]

I have tweaked it again with a few changes but Im not sure if it's better or worse....

ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO: PCI-E 3.0 READY,WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk 240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£87)
COOLIT ECO II FAT BOY PUSH/PULL CONFIG LIQUID CPU COOLER (£79)
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)
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
PCTV SYSTEMS DVB-T DUAL TUNER DIGITAL FREEVIEW TV CARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse Razer® Lycosa Backlit Wired Gaming Keyboard (£69)
Mouse Razer® Deathadder Re-Spawn 3500DPI Infrared Gaming Mouse (£49)
Warranty 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Delivery PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £1,831.67
Price £2,198.00
Order Quantity 1
Bulk Discount £0.00
Total Order price (Ex VAT) £1,831.67
Total Order Price £2,198.00

Sometimes I wonder if there is too much choice and options to configure a pc lol

Dersta

 

[Wolvo7]

That looks awesome! :walkman:

- Your mobo has 2 USB 3.0 ports at midboard so your front USB 3.0 should be connected to one of them.
- You could maybe up the PSU to a 850W minimum if you plan to SLI your GTX 680 in the future and if you don't plan to overclock you could go for the i7-3770 same thing but the K version has an unlocked multiplier for easier overclocking.

Dunno about availability, wait for someone else to reply

 

[Mark0]

That looks awesome! :walkman:

- Your mobo has 2 USB 3.0 ports at midboard so your front USB 3.0 should be connected to one of them.
- You could maybe up the PSU to a 850W minimum if you plan to SLI your GTX 680 in the future and if you don't plan to overclock you could go for the i7-3770 same thing but the K version has an unlocked multiplier for easier overclocking.

Dunno about availability, wait for someone else to reply

This is where I am , do I really need the K version ? , ive been reading all sorts of stories about these Ivy Bridges getting very hot when overclocked plus I can save about £30-40 by going with a stock version which then enables me to buy some more ram


I agree dersta its very hard to know what combination to go with

 

[Finn]

Could someone also confirm that the Ivybridge porcessors are already at PCS ready for adding to any immediate PC builds that are ordered on Monday 30th April and an approximate build and delivery date.

I dont know if its the same with the desktop procs but I was told about the laptop ones that they were on order and were expected in on tuesday.

But of course unless you fast track they should be in by the time your pc hits building anyway so I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[Buzz]

Frm everything I have read, Overclocking the Ivy even past 4.5Ghz seriously ramps the heat up. If you are not overclocking which personally I wouldnt with the Ivy just as yet then the K is not needed.

The ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO: PCI-E 3.0 has a USB 3.0 header on the MB and the case has a front Usb 3.0 port so no cables should be sticking out the back of the comp.

16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT) Is OTT.

the max the P8Z77 can take without overclocking is 1600 MHz

I would up the CPU personally.

 

[Wozza63]

Frm everything I have read, Overclocking the Ivy even past 4.5Ghz seriously ramps the heat up. If you are not overclocking which personally I wouldnt with the Ivy just as yet then the K is not needed.

The ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO: PCI-E 3.0 has a USB 3.0 header on the MB and the case has a front Usb 3.0 port so no cables should be sticking out the back of the comp.

16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT) Is OTT.

the max the P8Z77 can take without overclocking is 1600 MHz

I would up the CPU personally.

whether or not the motherboard has the USB3.0 header isn't the only problem, if the case doesnt have the appropriate header at the front, then they will wire it from the back (i had to have it on mine, and I knew before buying my case it had this problem, luckily i dont have any USB3.0 devices yet)

 

[Buzz]

whether or not the motherboard has the USB3.0 header isn't the only problem, if the case doesnt have the appropriate header at the front, then they will wire it from the back (i had to have it on mine, and I knew before buying my case it had this problem, luckily i dont have any USB3.0 devices yet)

Even though your case has front USB 3.0? why cant you just hook it up directly without going out the back?

Is your front USB 3 on the case a usb?

 

[Wozza63]

its the internal port behind that front USB3, its not the internal USB3 cable, its just a regular female USB3

 

[Buzz]

accessory

Would this not work though???

I dont see why it needs to be routed around the outside of the case. There are so many cables and converters etc etc. Surely there is a tidier solution.

 

[Wozza63]

it probably would be fine but the cable doesnt bother me tbh

 

[dersta]

Frm everything I have read, Overclocking the Ivy even past 4.5Ghz seriously ramps the heat up. If you are not overclocking which personally I wouldnt with the Ivy just as yet then the K is not needed.

The ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO: PCI-E 3.0 has a USB 3.0 header on the MB and the case has a front Usb 3.0 port so no cables should be sticking out the back of the comp.

16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT) Is OTT.

the max the P8Z77 can take without overclocking is 1600 MHz

I would up the CPU personally.

So are you saying that the ram I've selected will be no use unless I have the Ivybridge processor overclocked to 4.6ghz?

Or should I change the ram to 1600mhz ram and not overclock the cpu?

This is so so technical to sort out so thanks for your comments!

I want this new pc to be very fast but I do not want to be repairing it all of the time, it needs to be reliable and fast!

Cheers!

 

[Finn]

it probably would be fine but the cable doesnt bother me tbh

It would seriously annoy the hell out of me, my OCD couldn't put up with it. Personally speaking if I ordered a brand new PC and it turned up like that I'd be gutted.

 

[Wozza63]

it doesnt bother me, its not as if you look at the back is it (and it doesnt make a difference cables wise as its behind the mobo tray)

cables wise, my PC is very tidy

 

[dersta]

I am with Finn on this, it would seriously bother me as well

 

[Wozza63]

what is there to be bothered about? You lose one USB3.0 port when you have about 15 USB2 ports and 2 USB3 ports, im not sure with every device i own i could use that many

 

[Finn]

You don't really "get" OCD, do you? Lol

It looks ugly, and for a brand new PC it would annoy the hell out of me, bit like buying a car and one of the panels is the wrong color. Doesn't affect the functionality at all, and you wouldn't even see it when sat in the car but I doubt most people would put up with it. Also tbh I care more about my PC than my car...

 

[Buzz]

It would seriously annoy the hell out of me, my OCD couldn't put up with it. Personally speaking if I ordered a brand new PC and it turned up like that I'd be gutted.

Yep fully agree. But there are definitively ways to avoid it.

So are you saying that the ram I've selected will be no use unless I have the Ivybridge processor overclocked to 4.6ghz?

Or should I change the ram to 1600mhz ram and not overclock the cpu?

This is so so technical to sort out so thanks for your comments!

No, what im saying is regardless of CPU, if you do NOT overclock the max your ram will be read at will be 1600MHZ.

Change your RAM to 16Gig (8 would be fine but if you are doing serious audio / video and can afford it then grab the 16Gig but go with 1333Mhz. You realistically wont notice any difference.

Up your PSU

And change the CPU from a K to a non K unless you are gonna overclock.

Without overclocking, the i7 2600 would be pretty similar to the 2700k

You chose the 3770K which is 3.5Ghz 8MB cache, but again no overclocking will have this run at the same frequency pretty much as the other 3.5Ghz.

Personally I dont see you noticing any difference unless you either overclock or do some really serious 3D graphics or a lot of rendering.

 

[tom_gr7]

To OP, is ya spec for gaming? if so I'd get a more up to date soundcard. Such as the recon 3d version, the x-fi is ok, but has been discontinued and was designed for vista/xp, also has pretty poor driver support from creative, infact non at all now.