New PC! How Do These Specs Look

[marbri]

New PC! How Do These Specs Look for gaming and Blu Ray Ripping?

Hi Folks!

On the brink of ordering the PC below:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-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 AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£43)
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
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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



Gonna be using it for games and video transcoding (mainly Blu Ray rips to Hdd).

It will be linked up to a 51 inch 3d Plasma tv, so be looking to play games at 1080p res in 3d when possible.

Will think about adding another HD 6970 card in about 18 months or so, just to keep it up to date.

What do you all think?


Was thinking of swapping the amd HD 6970 for a Nvidia GTX 570, but decided to go with the former as they seem pretty evenly matched, or going the crossfile route and choosing two cheaper Gfx cards, such as 2 AMD 6870's. Will this give me better gaming performance than 1 HD6970?



I believe video transcoding will be super quick on this machine, but is the gaming side the best I can do for the cash.




Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[TheKeir]

The 6970 is better than the GTX 570, though not by a lot. One of the nice things about going with AMD GPUs is that you don't have to have exactly the same card to crossfire it, providing the cards are in the same band. I'm not sure about whether 2 6870s would be better than 1 6970, I imagine they are fairly even, maybe the 2 6870s would be a tad better, but not sure. Take a look at this though:



What exactly is your budget?

As for the spec itself, I've got a couple things to point out:

- If you're going to get 2 6970s you will need a better PSU than your current, you would need the 1050W PSU.
- Do you need the K version of that processor? (I.e. do you want to be able to overclock the CPU, if not then don't get a K)
- your HDD setup looks good but maybe for the storage hard drive, the 500gb one, would be better to get the Seagate Barracuda 500gb so that files and games load quicker.
- If you're connecting to your router wirelessly you will need a PCI card or homeplugs (go for the latter) but if you are connecting wired then ignore this point

Hope this helps!!

 

[mantadog]

It looks like you plan to overlcock? If so then the cooling and RAM are good choices. If you don't plan to overclock then drop to the standard i7 2600, the standard 1333MHz ram and the tripple copper heatpipe cooler. Also if you do plan to overclock, PCS will do it for you if you select the overclock configurator on their site.

Do you have enough HDD space? It seems 500GB will fill up very quickly with a few BluRay films on it?

The single 6970 is the way to go if you prefer an AMD setup. A 570 will serve you just as well really but i wouldnt get a crossfire setup now. This is because you will be maxing out your power right from the start, a single card still leaves you plenty of room to upgrade a 2nd 6970 later should you have the need for a bit more power.

 

[marbri]

Thank you both for your info.

I do plan to over clock so I will be sticking with the K processor. Didn't realise I could get PCS to the overlocking for me, so Thanks Manadog for that.

TheKeir, I do plan on getting another 6970 at some point in the future as this would seem a cheaper upgrade option and less of a waste than ditching the old GFX card and buying a single high end solution. So I will look into buying a better psu from the get go.

I will have a Ethernet connection so wireless is not necessary.

My budget is around £1250. Which is the price of the PC. Don't really want to go much over that.

Is this a decent PC for gaming and Video transcoding for that price?

Thanks again

 

[TheKeir]

With the 6970, which is the one I would advise you to get, it will perform incredibly in gaming and video transcoding, and with another 6970 further down the line it will become even better. Just remember to get the 1050W PSU.

I'm not sure if you can get it to under £1250, though you can get it a bit above, due to the PSU and the motherboard (you need an SLI mobo to be able to use 2 graphics cards). Is the hard drive setup a 80gb SSD + 500gb storage HDD?

This is the spec I'm looking at, if your budget can't stretch here then you can drop the CPU down a bit or forget about the 2nd GPU, or forget about the SSD.

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s HDD, 32MB Cache (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£159)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
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 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: £1,336.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/

If you drop the CPU down to an i5-2500k (quad core 3.3ghz, overclockable) on this spec then it comes out bang on £1250.

Alternatively, you can go down an AMD path which would look something like this:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER QUAD CORE FX-4100 (3.60GHz/6MB CACHE/AM3)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A99X EVO:USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX™/SLI™
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s HDD, 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 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£159)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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 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: £1,131.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/

 

[marbri]

Forgot to mention, due to my budget upgrading to a larger better HDD is not really do-able as it will mean downgrading other options, beside most of my files will be stored on an external drive.

Does anybody know about the 3d side of things? As I've said I have a 3d plasma which will be connected via HDMI to the PC. Is AMD the best choice for this, interms of ease of use and flexibility, or is Nvidia the better option?

mantadog, could you tell me where is the overlocking configuration? can't find it on the main configuration page, unless I'm missing something.

 

[TheKeir]

Here's the link to the overclocking configurator. It's on the left of the home page saying "build your overclocked system" in caps. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/overclocked/

The 6970 is capable of running in 3D, it just doesn't say so on the PCS configurator, confusingly :S . You could go for an nVidia GPU but in terms of 3D there wouldn't be a difference. So I would stick to the 6970 if I were you.

 

[Garfield The 2nd]

check the home page, its under "build an overclocked system" halfway down the left side of the page

 

[marbri]

With the 6970, which is the one I would advise you to get, it will perform incredibly in gaming and video transcoding, and with another 6970 further down the line it will become even better. Just remember to get the 1050W PSU.

I'm not sure if you can get it to under £1250, though you can get it a bit above, due to the PSU and the motherboard (you need an SLI mobo to be able to use 2 graphics cards). Is the hard drive setup a 80gb SSD + 500gb storage HDD?

This is the spec I'm looking at, if your budget can't stretch here then you can drop the CPU down a bit or forget about the 2nd GPU, or forget about the SSD.

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s HDD, 32MB Cache (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£159)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
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 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: £1,336.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/

If you drop the CPU down to an i5-2500k (quad core 3.3ghz, overclockable) on this spec then it comes out bang on £1250.

Alternatively, you can go down an AMD path which would look something like this:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER QUAD CORE FX-4100 (3.60GHz/6MB CACHE/AM3)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A99X EVO:USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX™/SLI™
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 90MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s HDD, 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 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£159)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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 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: £1,131.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/

Thanks for that.


Well the spec I quoted comes to £1,259. Obviousy if i upgrade the psu as suggested, the price will increase a little.

I've gone for the crossfire only motherboard as appose to your choice of the crossfire/SLI compatible boards, as it was £40 cheaper and seems the best way to go, as after buying the machine, I don't intend to ever get two Nvidia cards, when I can just add I more AMD card and get crossfire.

Apart SLI/Crossfire, is there any other differences between our choice of motherboards? Don't mind buying a better motherboard if it increases performance across the board. Just have to try and shave money of some where else.

 

[Music Guy123]

I would recommend this if you can afford it:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.80GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£43)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£159)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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: £1,352.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-1155-overclocked/

 

[tom_gr7]

I'd go for music guys spec too,

i guess you planning on having two 6970's? due to the 1000w corsair. If so get a bigger case than the haf 912.

 

[mantadog]

If you are looking to shave off some cash to get the spec Music Guy posted down to £1250 you can drop the HDD back to the barracuda and even drop the ram to 8GB, if you plan to upgrade anyway it's nothing to slot in another couple of sticks later on if needed. Other than that you would have a cracking system if you went with the spec posted my Music Guy.

The 6970 will do 3D, as you have the TV already then its just a case of hooking it up and using the required settings in game.

 

[marbri]

Cheers guys.

Will take all your views in to account.

Looking at music guy's spec. Will try to shave a few quid off though, as I still want to keep in the £1250 ball park.

Will post my final config when ready.

 

[TheKeir]

If you want to reduce Music Guy's spec's cost, you could try going for 8gb samsung RAM not 16gb kingston for a start.