Future-proof Gaming PC Spec - Advice/Input Gratefully Received

[Blueprudence]

Now that Z77, IvyBridge and the GTX 670 are all released, I'm ready to order my new PC and think the below should suit:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£46)
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
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

This machine needs to be future proofed for at least 5 years for me - my last PC was bought in 2005 and has just gone kaput but worked well for me up to this point. I'm a gamer, mostly RPGs like Dragon's Origin, Skyrim, etc as well as Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft. While I run one of these games I will also have a browser open (I use dual screen) with 20-30 tabs, my email application, a 10 worksheet tab Excel spreadsheet, RealPlayer and maybe even Word too. Will this will be ok with the 16Gb of RAM I've opted for? I don't play FPS games normally but I do want ultra settings on the modern games I play with good FPS rates.

The bits I'm unsure about are the SSD drive - all I know about these is that Windows and applications are loaded onto the SSD drive in order to make programmes start up faster. I'm not technically savvy enough to want to figure out how to install one of these and have to format and re-install Windows later on so I need to order this now if I'm to have one.

Should I go for a 750W PSU in case I want to put another hard drive in or charge my Kindle from the PC, etc?

Will the case keep cat fur out? This seems a daft question but I live with 3 house cats and the tower case is likely to be kept at floor level as the computer will live in the lounge? This enables me to game will sitting beside hubby on the settee while he's watching the google box. Previously when I've taken the case off PCs it's looked like a small cat has exploded in the innards of the machine - I'm aware that the case has lots of holes in it and don't want too much cat fur to be vacuumed inwards.

Also, will the dearer/faster RAM I've specced be worth the extra money or is the standard Samsung memory of no noticeable difference?

Are there any areas where I've spent unnecessary money? I did originally want a £750 machine which then crept up to £1000 and is now £1250 LOL? I can live with £1250 but if any can be saved then I can buy a nice new monitor all the sooner. ;P

Thank you in advance for any responses.

 

[Narcotics]

Looks good i think the 1st Hard Disk is what pcspecialist will install windows on so make that the ssd & why a k series cpu if you overclock then upgrade to a Spire TherMax Eclipse II CPU cooler. I think 8gb of ram would do all that but you should look a bit more in to that or wait for some other forum member to correct me if i'm wrong. To future-proof it you would most definitely need a tx850 psu.

 

[marvir]

To be honest it looks real good. Most people would say the 16GB is overkill unless you do any image/video editing or design work, so you could drop it down to 8GB but it's not expensive really so that's up to you. 8GB should be more than fine for at least a couple of years or so. As for the speed of the ram, I don't think there's a noticeable difference unless you plan on overclocking.

For gaming you could also probably drop the CPU down

The SSD should be the first HDD you select as that's where PCS would install your OS.

Regarding the PSU, I think it should be okay, you only really have to upgrade to a higher PSU if you plan on adding another GTX 670 down the line in SLI form.

I've seen some video reviews of the CM690 and far as I remember they had dust filters wherever there were vents for fans, so most likely you'll just have to clean them out more often, although there seem to be a lot of sort of mesh parts. Besides that I don't really know how much dust gets through as I haven't owned a desktop in over 5 years I do like the look of the Corsair 400R though, less mesh-y, good reviews from what I've seen.

Also, unless you plan on using the Bullguard and the Office trial, I would remove them as it's just clutter to uninstall later on.

It's a good looking spec though,and should serve you well for a long time.

 

[Blueprudence]

Thank you Narcotics, those changes make sense to me and I know that the Ivybridge runs hotter than Sandybridge so the better cooler seems reasonable. I've gone for the "k" chip so that I have the possibility to overclock in the future if I wish to. Never done it before but it seems a good chip and the ability to do it if I chose seems worthwhile. Have increased the cooler and the PSU - it's £1300 now. {eek} Still a bit more spent now should mean I have to fork out for a new one sometime before 2020 and who knows what will be around then.

New build below:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
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)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£46)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
SPIRE THERMAX ECLIPSE II UNIVERSAL DT EXTREME CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Thanks in advance for other input.

Jules

 

[Blueprudence]

Ah thank you Marvir - I was posting before I noticed your post. I should have said that I do occasionally do stuff on Adobe Dreamweaver/Illustrator/Fireworks - again this will munch up the 16Gb of RAM I suppose. Good idea about removing the trial software - I have a full version of Office and use AVG so don't need those.

Have switched over the drives.

Am still umming and ahhhhing about the PSU - I'll never use SLI, firstly coz this mobo doesn't support it and secondly coz I'm more likely just to buy a new graphics card if and when I need one. Wonder if I should go with the happy medium of the Corsair 750W PSU?

Thank you again.

 

[marvir]

Yeah 16GB should be plenty, and for future-proofing and the price, might as well if you got the money.

Hmm well, PSU's I'm not very knowledgeable about.. I guess getting a 750W would be pretty good, but the annoying thing about the PSUs are they aren't all that far from each other, price-wise. For £13 more you could get the 850W over the 750W and it'd be case closed. I think for me I'm the same as you, I'd 99% rather buy a new graphics card down the line over SLI-ing, so I would stick with my 650W. I'd like to hear other people's comments though, as like I mentioned, I don't really know much else about PSU requirements.

Agree with Narcotics as well, if you're not overclocking you don't need the "K" version of the CPU.. Although unlike the Sandy Bridge's the K versions in Ivy Bridge seem to be clocked slightly higher as stock it seems. I don't know about that one.

But yeah overall, really good build, more or less the build I would've gone with, sadly I move around too much. A laptop will do for now.

 

[Narcotics]

Thank you Narcotics, those changes make sense to me and I know that the Ivybridge runs hotter than Sandybridge so the better cooler seems reasonable. I've gone for the "k" chip so that I have the possibility to overclock in the future if I wish to. Never done it before but it seems a good chip and the ability to do it if I chose seems worthwhile. Have increased the cooler and the PSU - it's £1300 now. {eek} Still a bit more spent now should mean I have to fork out for a new one sometime before 2020 and who knows what will be around then.

New build below:

Looks sick

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
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)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£46)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
SPIRE THERMAX ECLIPSE II UNIVERSAL DT EXTREME CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Thanks in advance for other input.

Jules

Upload some pictures when you get your new rig good luck and hope you don't have to wait long

 

[lady0sheep]

I did originally want a £750 machine which then crept up to £1000 and is now £1250 LOL? I can live with £1250 but if any can be saved then I can buy a nice new monitor all the sooner. ;P.

Lol, I know this all too well! Managed to get mine down to £1150 by not including a SSD as I decided I should just be patient with booting and loading stuff, but I'd be going for pretty much the same as yours if I could. Nice rig

 

[Blueprudence]

Yay - I'm super excited - I placed my order on Friday morning first thing. It seems like years ago already as I'm so keyed up for it to arrive. Am trying to tell myself to be prepared to wait for a month but I so want it here yesterday! Well this is what a finally went for:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
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)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
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
SPIRE THERMAX ECLIPSE II UNIVERSAL DT EXTREME CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2773HDS 27" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D HD1920x1080 (£239)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK250 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£21)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

I even managed to tell hubby how much it cost without him flipping out (over double my original estimate) I thought "sod it" and ordered the 27" monitor too rather than wait - will be a nice birthday pressie to myself.

Thank you all again for your help and piccies will follow when it's unpacked and set up.

Jules