Please help me understand the spec I wish to purchase

[BestUsername]

So the spec is as follows:

Case InWIN BLACK DRAGON RIDER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-3570k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
OC Settings Show/Hide
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7970 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
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 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
RAID NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
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 SPIRE GEMINI REV.3-THERMAX HDT TWIN FAN CPU COOLER (£39)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Fan Controller NONE
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 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 NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Cable Tidy NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Home Installation NONE
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days


I have tried researching some of the above but sometimes it's best to get some proper feedback - too often websites tell you about the detailed machinations while feeling the layman such as myself out of the picture.

So:
1) Raid - if anyone could point me to a good explanation that would be much appreciated; don't really know what it does
2)The Network facilities thing in bold - I want to have Wifi and ethernet capability. Is that enough? Even if it is should I get something else?

Thanks in advance. And if anyone sees something wrong with what I've got, let me know.

 

[Fear]

1) Raid most common used options are,

Raid 0 which is either 2 HDD's or 2 SSD's of the same size and speed linked together to be registered as a single drive so the data is split between them and the idea behind it is to speed up HDD/SSD access times but this is really not needed with the high speed of the drives available now and you also have the risk that if 1 drive fails you loose the data on both drives.

Raid 1 which is either 2 HDD's or 2 SSD's of the same size and speed linked together to form a mirror backup so you will have access to 1 drive and everything on that is automatically mirrored on the second drive only worthwhile if you have lot's of data stored that you want or need backed up straight away incase the first drive fails, so unless you need the whole contents of a drive backed up this is a waste of a drive best thing to do is have a spare drive internal or external and back your most important files to there just incase the worst happens.

SSD Cache is a small SSD that work alongside a normal HDD and helps speed up the access time of your most used applications.


2) Your motherboard will have an ethernet port for you to connect straight up to your modem/router with an ethernet cable (wired) so if you want the option for wireless with your desktop you will need to add a wifi card to your build but i would reccomend getting a set of homeplugs instead as they give you the stability of a wired connection but use the existing electrical wiring in your home (only needed if you are not close enough to the router/modem).

What is your budget and what are your intended uses for the system then we can come up with some suggested specs for you.

 

[BestUsername]

Hey thanks for the reply.

I guess I'll avoid the ssd cache and Raid, then.

My budget is around 1.6ish k

I do a lot of heavy gaming and video editing, hence the powerful cpu, ssd and gpu requirements.

I wanted to add something to the wireless thing. Do I need to do anything to the router in order for the homeplugs to work? I assume so. I go to Uni soon so I am not sure I will be allowed to tamper with the router, not matter how safe I say it is. I have a dongle, though, can I use that without a wifi card or do I need a wifi card and the dongle?

Thanks again

 

[BestUsername]

Oh yeah and about the overclocking:

The old cpu I had would die under all the load in video editing, so I guess I need a more powerful one.

Is this OC thing reliable? I read elsewhere about people OC'ing their to around 4.3-4.5 with few people able to muster anything higher. Should I be concerned? Ideally I'd have the PC last at least 3 years.

For the record, I have never overclocked before, and if PCspecialist gave me the option, given what I have read, I don't know if I'd like 4.6 but perhaps a more reliable 4.3 What do you think?

 

[Wolvo7]

You don't need to do anything with the router to use homeplugs, you basically connect one homeplug next to the router and link them both using an ethernet cable. You then connect another homeplug in a socket next to your PC and link an ethernet cable from the homeplug to the PC. The data flows through your house's electrical wiring, think of it as a very long wired connection without having to run an ethernet cable halfway through the house.

However if you're going to uni I'd get a wireless card most unis only provide wireless and the router would be inaccessible most of the time. Plus I bet your homeplug would mysteriously disappear after a short while if the router is not in your room

You don't need a wifi card for the dongle, you just plug it in a USB port.

 

[BestUsername]

Alright thanks.

One last question (for some reason this post I did last night hasn;'t shown up here):

About the overclocking: I need to use the PC for heavy gaming and video editing. However I was reading about clock speed and how most people haven't managed above 4.5 whereas this says maxed at 4.6. Now I don't know if that means it comes with 4.6 but do you guys know if the PC will run reliably? I have more than the stock cooling, but being a noob, I'm not gonna pretend that I really know that much...

PS: I think it's a good idea if everyone puts that rep thing in their signature, like wolvo. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have repped both of you 'cos I didn't even know the option was there.

 

[keynes]

The clock speed should fluctuate reaching a maximum of 4.6 ghz. An overclocked cpu is more likely to experience more problems than a stock clock cpu. A pre-overclocked system from PCS has been thoroughly tested to reduce the possibility of any instability issues.

 

[steaky360]

The clock speed should fluctuate reaching a maximum of 4.6 ghz. An overclocked cpu is more likely to experience more problems than a stock clock cpu. A pre-overclocked system from PCS has been thoroughly tested to reduce the possibility of any instability issues.

In addition to what Ruben has said, a pre-overclocked system from PCS is covered by their technical support and warranty. If you do have any problems you will be able to get in touch with them for advice on how to solve them. If you overclock yourself, you may void your warranty.