Graphics cards and SSD drives.

R

raydee

Active member
Will someone please explain the difference between the two different graphics cards offered by PCS ?

NVIDEA GEFORCE GTX, 2 DVI, HDMI, DP, 3D vision ready.
And the AMD RADEON HD, DVI, HDMI DX eyefinity 4 Capable.

I am not interested in gaming.
I want it for high speed home and office use and video and picture editing.
And I need to choose the best card for my new PCS computer.

Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------

I want to use an SSD for my primary hard drive.
Will someone please explain the difference between the various SSD drives on offer from PCS.

What is the difference between the
INTEL 330 Series and the 520 series.
And the KINGSTON HYPERX 3K.

Which will be better for my needs?
I am not interested in gaming.
I want it for high speed home and office use.

Thanks
 
Ash

Ash

Well-known member
I answered your first question in your other thread.

Any SSD will do for your needs to be honest.
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
If the software you use for video editing supports Cuda then you would be better selecting an Nvidia card.
 
Teaz

Teaz

Godlike
There is nothing different between the two, they do the pretty much same job of providing graphics enhancements/performance to the display. The only main difference between amd and nvidia is that amd has Eye Infinity which allows 3+ multiple monitors to be set up into 1 single graphics card; number of monitors depends on the amd card. For nvidia, they have the CUDA architect which provides extra processing power for quite a lot of softwares that support it, like Adobe media softwares.

As said by vanthus, you're better off with the nvidia option for your video and picture editing. The more cuda cores in the card, the more processing power. you can see how much cuda each nvidia card has here. This does not replace the cpu or does all the work. It is mainly the cpu so you should look at a more powerful cpu like an i7.

Again, nothing different about them apart from branding, they do all the same thing. depending on which ssd model, they provide different speed performances and read/write lifecycles and gigabyte size. the higher the read/write, the better it is and also the greater in pricing. You can check the speeds here
 
R

raydee

Active member
Thanks everyone for all the help given.
I have worked out a build based upon the information received.
How does this look to you ?.
Your further advice will be most welcome. Thanks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Case

COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-3930K (3.2GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® SABERTOOTH X79: SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card NONE
3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd 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 (£86)
Processor Cooling SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Fan Controller NONE
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 2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI-EX CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software Microsoft® Office Home & Business 2010 (1 License Product Key Card) (£159)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
2nd Monitor IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse LOGITECH® MK250 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£21)
Speakers LOGITECH Z323 2.1 SPEAKERS - 30W RMS with 360 Degree Sound (£44)
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Warranty 3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Price £2,654.00
 
Teaz

Teaz

Godlike
Looks good. The high speed ram isn't really needed so dropping it down to 1333mhz is fine. Anything higher is usually for overclocking use. I would also recommend a Mod psu. Shaves off a lot of wiring and frees up clutter which provides smoother freedom of airflow for better cooling. Apart from that, specs are good as said.
 
R

raydee

Active member
Teaz said:
Looks good. The high speed ram isn't really needed so dropping it down to 1333mhz is fine. Anything higher is usually for overclocking use. I would also recommend a Mod psu. Shaves off a lot of wiring and frees up clutter which provides smoother freedom of airflow for better cooling. Apart from that, specs are good as said.
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for your feedback.
Teaz, I have changed the ram to the 16GB Samsung Quad 1333mhz as you suggest.

Do you mean to use the Corsair HX750-80 Silver Modular PSU ?.
If so, how does this changed spec look to you now ?.

Many thanks

Case COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-3930K (3.2GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® SABERTOOTH X79: SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM) 16GB SAMSUNG QUAD-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card NONE
3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk NONE
4th Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd 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 PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£114)
Processor Cooling SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Fan Controller NONE
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 2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI-EX CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Floppy Disk Drive NONE
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software Microsoft® Office Home & Business 2010 (1 License Product Key Card) (£159)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
2nd Monitor IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse LOGITECH® MK250 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£21)
Mouse NONE
Speakers LOGITECH Z323 2.1 SPEAKERS - 30W RMS with 360 Degree Sound (£44)
Webcam NONE
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Cable Tidy NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price (excluding VAT) £2,172.50
Price £2,607.00
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
raydee said:
Thanks everyone for your feedback.

Do you mean to use the Corsair HX750-80 Silver Modular PSU ?.
Click to expand...
Yes, the one you selected. As Teaz suggested the modular PSU would allow for better cable management and airflow.
Nice spec.
 
Teaz

Teaz

Godlike
Yes, the HX750 modular power supply. Specs are certainly charming, I'd just hit the order button.

Let me show you the difference if you haven't seen yet between a modular psu and a standard non mod psu:

Left, is the mod psu. Right is the standard non mod psu.
800px-Modular_vs_non-modular_PSU.JPG


Clean isn't it!? Don't you agree? :)
 
R

raydee

Active member
Thanks for the information. The likes of me have no way of knowing the alternatives without your help.

Just before I hit the order button..
I want the USB 3 option plus the standard USB ports.
I also thought that I would also like to have the wireless pci card to enable me to be able to use wireless as well as a hard wired printer connection. When I tried to add it to the spec I received this message..

“ We've checked your specification for compatibility. Please see our suggestions below:
1.The graphics card you have selected is a performance graphics card, and it occupies 2 slots on your motherboard. Unfortunately this means that you have one less PCI-E slot available, giving you a total of 1 PCI-E slots.
You have currently selected 2 PCI-E devices:
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI-EX CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Please reduce the selection to 1 PCI-E devices, or alternatively select a lower performance graphics card that occupies
only one slot “.

I would rather not change the graphics card. Is there any other way around this problem. Or should I leave as is.

Plus.. Ignoring the cost, would it improve things if I upgraded to a 480 GB SSD ?.
Would the slight decrease in read/write speed make that much of a difference ?.
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
raydee said:
Thanks for the information. The likes of me have no way of knowing the alternatives without your help.

Just before I hit the order button..
I want the USB 3 option plus the standard USB ports.
I also thought that I would also like to have the wireless pci card to enable me to be able to use wireless as well as a hard wired printer connection. When I tried to add it to the spec I received this message..

“ We've checked your specification for compatibility. Please see our suggestions below:
1.The graphics card you have selected is a performance graphics card, and it occupies 2 slots on your motherboard. Unfortunately this means that you have one less PCI-E slot available, giving you a total of 1 PCI-E slots.
You have currently selected 2 PCI-E devices:
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI-EX CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Please reduce the selection to 1 PCI-E devices, or alternatively select a lower performance graphics card that occupies
only one slot “.

I would rather not change the graphics card. Is there any other way around this problem. Or should I leave as is.

Plus.. Ignoring the cost, would it improve things if I upgraded to a 480 GB SSD ?.
Would the slight decrease in read/write speed make that much of a difference ?.
Click to expand...

Regarding the wireless pci: What do you mean by hard wired printer connection? The printer usb cable would go directly to the pc regardless of the wireless card, you can opt for homeplugs which would be more reliable than wireless connection.
Regarding the 480 GB SSD: slight decrease in read/write compare to what? 480 GB SSD seems pretty big for me and it would be very expensive, I'd stick with the 240GB SSD and if more space is needed go for another caviar black.
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
raydee said:
Just before I hit the order button..
I want the USB 3 option plus the standard USB ports.
I also thought that I would also like to have the wireless pci card to enable me to be able to use wireless as well as a hard wired printer connection. When I tried to add it to the spec I received this message..

“ We've checked your specification for compatibility. Please see our suggestions below:
1.The graphics card you have selected is a performance graphics card, and it occupies 2 slots on your motherboard. Unfortunately this means that you have one less PCI-E slot available, giving you a total of 1 PCI-E slots.
You have currently selected 2 PCI-E devices:
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI-EX CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Please reduce the selection to 1 PCI-E devices, or alternatively select a lower performance graphics card that occupies
only one slot “.
Click to expand...
Try selecting the PCI wireless card instead of the PCI-E.
I think you should have four USB 3 ports at the back with that motherboard anyway.
 
Last edited:
Teaz

Teaz

Godlike
The sabertooth motherboard you chose already has 4 usb3 ports. You can go for the internal pci usb 3 card to add an extra 2 usb3 ports but I don't think personally that isn't worth doing unless you really require plugging/wiring from the back. My personal recommendation would be upgrading to the Corsair Carbide 400R case because it offers 2 extra usb3 ports right at the front of the case which is also the same price as the cm690. The current selected cm690 case you selected only offers 2 usb2 ports at the front. If you ditched the internal pci usb3 card, you will be able to accommodate the wireless card.

Doing that should resolve your problem :) I also assume your printer is wifi/wirelss ready also?

As for the 480gb, it is rather expensive in my personal view. Unless you have A LOT of programs or addons or the such you wish to add on the main drive, I would just stick with the 240gb ssd while having the second drive for all your storage. I would also recommend another hdd if more space is required. The speed difference is hardly unnoticeable to the eye unless you do benchmarking/test to it if you're referring to the 240gb selected. the ssd isn't recommend for storage.
 
Last edited:
R

raydee

Active member
Many thanks for all of the help from all of you.

Teaz, I have changed the case to the Corsair Carbide 400R as you have suggested.
The only problem that it has caused is that the PCS feedback says that I have to remove the internal memory card reader as there is no room in the case for this item.
Bit of a nuisance but I suppose that I can live with it by using a usb card reader.

I think that I am now ready to go ahead with my order.

Many thanks to all.
 
Teaz

Teaz

Godlike
If you require the memory card reader for convenience use then you can still get the card reader, you just need to obtain a 5.25 to 3.5 drive bay adapter then you just slot the card reader in. Reason the 400r case doesn't let you is because corsair doesn't plan or provide any of those face plates like some other case manufacturers which is a shame since they produce really good cases.

This is what the stand alone 5.25 to 3.5 drive bay adapter looks like which slots in just like a normal dvd drive or the similar into the drive bay:
mf515_s.jpg



With the card reader slotted in like a floppy disk drive which just slots into the drive bay like normal:
images_user_src_NL-CR03.jpg


You can do it yourself which is fairly straight forward an simple or you can obtain one an send it to pcs if you notify them about it and they'll install it for you :)
 
Last edited:
R

raydee

Active member
Teaz..
Thanks once again you have been most helpful.
Can you advise me where I should look to buy the card reader and the frame.
 
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