For Mostly Gaming

[foreversmiling]

Hi all, I'm seriously considering ordering a new pc, as my current one ( which I also ordered from PCS ) will be used by my son.

I will use my new pc build for mostly gaming and a mixture of internet use and office apps, but I also want something that will last a while before the build becomes obsolete.

I've come up with this build and I wondered what you guys thought of it.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
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
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SATURDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 12 NOON) (£19)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Any thoughts appreciated...

 

[vanthus]

Looks good,consider upgrading warranty.

 

[AndyL]

If your not going to be overclocking then you can adjust some of the components without affecting performance and save some money, such as:
1. Just get the standard i5-2500 CPU, i.e. not the 'k' version.
2. Get 1333MHz RAM.
3. Get the tripple copper cooler instead of the Titan fenrir.

and as Vanthus said I would get the Silver warantee for a £5.

 

[tom_gr7]

really good spec, like vanthus said get the extra warranty for a fiver!

 

[foreversmiling]

Will do warranty upgrade thankyou, I will not overclock at first but I would like the option for the future, especially considering Ivy Bridge will soon be released.

 

[Atuleon]

I agree 100% with AndyL's advice, you should take this if possible.

The bottleneck of your PC is going to be the graphics card, so any savings you make, put towards a better graphics card, (a 560ti would be a nice upgrade).

If you still want an immediate upgrade in gaming performance of the machine you order at the cost of future-proofing your mobo, you could downgrade your motherboard (loosing the PCI-E 3.00) and spend the difference on a better graphics card. If you think you will find that by the time you come to want to upgrade your graphics card that you will also want to upgrade other components such as the processor, and may end up getting a completely new machine, then I personally think that maybe you should get the slightly worse motherboard now, which wont detract from your current performance, and get a slightly better graphics card. If you were getting a better processor such as in i7-2600 and a better GPU, I would say the £50.00 difference to future proof your machine by getting the mobo you haven chosen with the PCI-E3.00 would definitly be worth it. It is your decision to make, (something to consider, but not necassairly the correct choice depending on what you want from you machine and how long you expect it's life to be before upgrading/replacing).

Eitherway, I would definitly go with AndyL's changes which is the usual stuff everyone always tells people with new quotes, and if you do happen to save some cash (or find some in some old trousers) that can be spent on a better graphics, the machine would be much better for it, (as I say, the graphics card is going to be your bottleneck).

Let us know what you decide, and all the best
Stuart (Atuleon)

 

[foreversmiling]

Thank you guys for your input, much appreciated, especially Atuleon for your contribution. Atuleon you say the bottleneck of my config would be the graphics card and that i should consider upgrading to something better ( old trousers aside ) I was wondering what could be better than the just released geforce gtx 680? Is it because its too powerful for the components I chose?

 

[Rakk]

That graphics card (GTX680) will not be a bottleneck for quite some time, it should tear through everything you throw at it
It's got a bit less VRAM than some of the other cards, but that really only makes a difference if you're planning on playing across multiple screens.

 

[AndyL]

The GTX680 ia definitely a great card to choose, you certainly wont be complaining about gaming performance with that choice!

 

[vanthus]

I agree with Rakk,that GPU will be no "bottleneck"
Nvidia claims the GTX 680 is the "Fastest, most efficient GPU ever built"
changing to the 560Ti would be quite a downgrade, not an upgrade.
the build you posted foreversmiling is excellent.
Personally I wouldn't change anything, apart from warranty,

 

[foreversmiling]

Thank you all for your words of encouragement with my PC build, will be ordering soon. I would like to ask one other thing however I'm not sure this is the correct thread to be asking it, how easy is it to clean a reference design graphics card?

 

[Atuleon]

Hi, my most sincere appologies, as I thought I read 560 in your build, so I was suggesting to upgrade to the 560ti! The 680 is indeed the best graphics card you can choose at the moment, and will be strong for a long time to come yet!

 

[foreversmiling]

Well thank you guys for all your input, I have since ordered my PC (with extra warranty) from PCS and I'm hoping they dont have any issues in aquiring a certain component (graphics card)

Cheerz ^^

Foreversmiling

 

[Atuleon]

^^ That's great. Please let us know how you get once it has been delivered. ^^

All the best,
Atuleon (Stuart)