Need help with my very first build please

[todd89]

I have never built a pc before, and after some heavy research, I have found PC Specialist to have good reviews. I'm quite sceptical when it comes to purchasing things online, so I am hoping that I will be impressed with a purchase from you guys.

Anyway... I want to run games on the highest setting possible within my budget of no more than £1200 (I want to try and spend less if possible though). I will be playing on a HDTV in 1080p. I have done some research on this forum so I think I can nearly nail it right, hopefully!

However, my biggest difficulty is deciding between going for a single gpu (just keep upgrading to a better one in the future) or going sli - (a single one now and having a psu slightly more powerful to cater for another card at a later stage). I am really not sure here because I have heard that there can be issues with going with two cards?

As a result, I have put two specs up - single 580 set or a potential sli set up with the 570

SINGLE GPU SPEC

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE - is this a good case?

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics - i heard that the i5 fine for gaming and i dont need the i7 as its more for hyperthreading and i dont the k version cos i wont see much improvement when overclocking and i dont want to reduce the lifespan for more oomph

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX i think this is fine for if i single gpu set up

Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready - i know this a good card but is worth 100 more over the 570?

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW) - i defo want my os and games to load faster but is this enough

2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm) this is max i need

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

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) - if i go single gpu set up, is it wise going slightly more to cater for another single gpu that might require more power in the future?

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19) - i seen on here many times that this is fine as i would only for the fenrir if i overclocked

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

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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)

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)

DO i need the hard drive recovery? and will i be able to reset to factory setting using the windows os cd i get with it?


SLI SETUP

Everything same as above but the mobo to the one that supports sli (v one i think), the gpu to the 570, and the psu to the 850 to cater for another 570 for sli.

HOPE SOMEONE CAN SOLVE THIS ISSUE FOR ME!

 

[vanthus]

Going for the best single GPU you can afford is the wisest choice in my opinion.
You could always upgrade it in a couple of years if necessary & the 750w PSU should allow for that.
Dont see what ram you have selected,but 4GB should suffice for now & would be easy to upgrade as well when need be.
You can do a clean install with the OS disc which is the same as factory settings,instructions are given in the welcome booklet.
Better still,after you have all the programs you want installed you can make a system image backup with windows7 own program in backup and restore.

 

[todd89]

Going for the best single GPU you can afford is the wisest choice in my opinion.
You could always upgrade it in a couple of years if necessary & the 750w PSU should allow for that.
Dont see what ram you have selected,but 4GB should suffice for now & would be easy to upgrade as well when need be.
You can do a clean install with the OS disc which is the same as factory settings,instructions are given in the welcome booklet.
Better still,after you have all the programs you want installed you can make a system image backup with windows7 own program in backup and restore.

Yeah mate, well its either 570 or 580...not sure

i chose 8gb samsung but your saying 4gb will be fine? when would i actually need to upgrade to 8 for example?

 

[mantadog]

A single 580 is more than enough for current games, even a single 570 is enough to max out most games easily. Multiple GPU's can sometimes cause problems in some games but when a single 580 is plenty why risk it?

I would stick with the single 580, and if you find the 580 getting a bit tired in a couple of years just pop in a newer card in its place.

Hard drive recover is for if you whole hard drive fails but you want to recover data, photos or whatever. You physically send the drive away and they send you out a new drive with whatever data they can recover. You can avoid that hastle in the event of a failure by doing regular backups ot another HDD, DVD or even online these days.

I would go for 8Gb now for the sake of £20 and having it already their, games might start looking for a bit extra RAM fairly soon. Really nobody knows for sure though.

 

[todd89]

A single 580 is more than enough for current games, even a single 570 is enough to max out most games easily. Multiple GPU's can sometimes cause problems in some games but when a single 580 is plenty why risk it?

I would stick with the single 580, and if you find the 580 getting a bit tired in a couple of years just pop in a newer card in its place.

Hard drive recover is for if you whole hard drive fails but you want to recover data, photos or whatever. You physically send the drive away and they send you out a new drive with whatever data they can recover. You can avoid that hastle in the event of a failure by doing regular backups ot another HDD, DVD or even online these days.

I would go for 8Gb now for the sake of £20 and having it already their, games might start looking for a bit extra RAM fairly soon. Really nobody knows for sure though.

Thanks mate, so its now between the 570 and 580. is 144 worth jumping to a 580 rather than the 570 as this is what it costs on here? hmm

 

[vanthus]

Well I have 4GB of ram & have no problems running any games.
I can also watch tv or a you tube video,browse the net & play chess all at the same time,
but getting 8GB seems to be the in thing at the moment,sooo,your choice

 

[todd89]

Well I have 4GB of ram & have no problems running any games.
I can also watch tv or a you tube video,browse the net & play chess all at the same time,
but getting 8GB seems to be the in thing at the moment,sooo,your choice

Yeah, I am probably best just future proofing myself and saving myself the hassle of putting it in cos i ant a clue lol

 

[todd89]

So like I said above, am I going to see a graphical difference between the 570 and 580? Is the extra £144 justified?

 

[vanthus]

The 580 will play games on the highest settings,personally I dont see much difference playing games on medium or high settings,
but then again I'm not a connoisseur in that field.

 

[mantadog]

So like I said above, am I going to see a graphical difference between the 570 and 580? Is the extra £144 justified?

Is the £144 justified, not really, you have to pay for the best tech thats all it is. A 570 is much better value, keep the £144 in a jar and put it towards your next GPU upgrade.

Most games will still max out on a 570, even when not 100% maxed you will still have most of the settings maxed so i doubt the experiance would be that much less.

 

[todd89]

Is the £144 justified, not really, you have to pay for the best tech thats all it is. A 570 is much better value, keep the £144 in a jar and put it towards your next GPU upgrade.

Most games will still max out on a 570, even when not 100% maxed you will still have most of the settings maxed so i doubt the experiance would be that much less.

Cheers, I think the most influential aspect for me is that will the 570 look better than my ps3 and 360? And will using a 360 controller be ok to use...

 

[todd89]

Cheers, I think the most influential aspect for me is that will the 570 look better than my ps3 and 360? And will using a 360 controller be ok to use...

Anyone?

 

[mantadog]

In short yes it will. Graphics cards of today own PS3's and xbox's.

After a quick google Nvidia say a 580 is 9 time more powerful than a ps3.

 

[todd89]

In short yes it will. Graphics cards of today own PS3's and xbox's.

After a quick google Nvidia say a 580 is 9 time more powerful than a ps3.

Wow, that's quite a shock. Well, this is the final build...is there any last tweaks? E.g is the case ok? Is the sound card I have chosen worth the £20? And is the hx750 ok rather than the tx750 or am I wasting money? Thanks


Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB 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 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£116)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ASUS XONAR DG 5.1 SURROUND SOUND PCI CARD (£20 SPECIAL)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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
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
Quantity
1

Price: £1,133.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[todd89]

In short yes it will. Graphics cards of today own PS3's and xbox's.

After a quick google Nvidia say a 580 is 9 time more powerful than a ps3.

Wow...that's mad. So the final build is below...is there any last tweaks? E.g is the case ok? Is the sound with the £20? And lastly, is the hx750 worth the £20 or so than the tx750? Thanks



Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB 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 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£116)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ASUS XONAR DG 5.1 SURROUND SOUND PCI CARD (£20 SPECIAL)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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
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
Quantity
1

Price: £1,133.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[todd89]

Sorry for double post! I thought the previous one had failed to send!

 

[todd89]

Just this last question please and I'll be done