Building a new PC

[jmachin]

I need some opinions on the following build:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1990 £146 MOBO
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-037-CS £80 PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/264750-g-skill...2800cl9d-8gbxl £38 RAM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...-250-AS&tool=3 £246 GPU
http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-c...bx80623i52500k £165 CPU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...-008-FD&tool=3 £85 Case

Total £755

I'm considering upgrading the RAM to this: http://www.ebuyer.com/274061-g-skill...000cl11d-8gbxl RAM
for an extra £30. Not sure whether it's worth it or not.

I'm going to be using the PC for playing latest - release games for a few years, and when I save up a bit more money I will buy a sound card so I can use a midi - keyboard. I will also have dual screen setup.

I've been recommend to use scan.co.uk for the parts, but I don't know how reliable they are - and I don't like the look of their website if that's anything to go by. Does anyone here have experience with them?

This is my first time building so I need as much advice as I can get ^^. Like I don't even know how to tell if all these parts will fit together or not.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Puppies04]

The parts are fine, don't expect the GPU to still be running games at high for "a few years" though. what resolution are you playing at if it isn't above 1920 x 1080 I would suggest a 560TI and upgrade again in 12 months but that is down to personal choice.

I have used scan to build 6 rigs in the last 5 months and their service is impeccable, their "scansure" insurance adds a few pounds if you take it but they guarantee no quibble on replacement parts if anything is broken during installation or faulty. I'm actually going back up to their store in bolton in 2 weeks to buy another set of components

I wouldn't bother upgrading the ram, you will never notice the difference between the 2 kits. Scan don't actually stock the ripjaws from what I can see but they have a full selection of corsair dimms which I can recommend.

 

[Puppies04]

Just noticed you are talking about a dual screen setup, if you plan to game over both monitors at the same time forget the 560ti it lacks the required vram. Depending on the resolution of the screens that gtx570 might run out of vram also.

P.s I really don't get what you don't like about scans website, personally I love it but each to their own I suppose

 

[jmachin]

The parts are fine, don't expect the GPU to still be running games at high for "a few years" though. what resolution are you playing at if it isn't above 1920 x 1080 I would suggest a 560TI and upgrade again in 12 months but that is down to personal choice.

I have used scan to build 6 rigs in the last 5 months and their service is impeccable, their "scansure" insurance adds a few pounds if you take it but they guarantee no quibble on replacement parts if anything is broken during installation or faulty. I'm actually going back up to their store in bolton in 2 weeks to buy another set of components

I wouldn't bother upgrading the ram, you will never notice the difference between the 2 kits. Scan don't actually stock the ripjaws from what I can see but they have a full selection of corsair dimms which I can recommend.

Yeah I'm psure I will be playing at 1920 x 1080. It's fine if I have to play games on medium settings in 2 years time, it's just that I don't want to have to upgrade in so soon as 12 months. It looks like I'll just save myself the £30 with the RAM then, if the difference is negligible. I like the sound of scansure. I might actually go to their store rather than ordering it online though. Thanks for the reply!

 

[jmachin]

Just noticed you are talking about a dual screen setup, if you plan to game over both monitors at the same time forget the 560ti it lacks the required vram. Depending on the resolution of the screens that gtx570 might run out of vram also.

P.s I really don't get what you don't like about scans website, personally I love it but each to their own I suppose

Haha I don't know what I don't like about it really ;> , it just looks a bit rushed I guess.

I think I'll have both of the screens at 1920 x 1080, and I'm really hoping the 570 can handle it! Would it be possible to take my Nvidia 9500GT from my old PC and put it in the new build, so that it can handle the second monitor? Then I can game using the first monitor and just have web/streams/music on the second.

 

[lehtv]

+1 to scan.co.uk and the cheaper RAM. From scan, this is a good choice. The motherboard is too expensive - get Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 for only £102. Has SLI/Crossfire and USB3.0 to case front panel. Does the Asrock board have anything the Gigabyte doesn't, that you actually need? I would change the GPU to 6950 2GB £215. And the PSU to XFX 650W £67, it is equal to Corsair TX650 V2 in performance but comes with 4 PCIe connectors so it is actually capable of 6950 2GB crossfire. Also, a gaming setup will benefit from good air flow; to achieve that on R3 you'd have to pay for additional fans. I'd recommend the Fractal Arc Midi, only £72 on scan. It comes with three 140mm stock fans (yes, the rear fan is 140mm!).

Compared to your original choices, these would save you about £100 so you could afford Crucial M4 64GB SSD, it'd be the cherry on the cake. It'd also be my preference to get a cheap sound card like Asus Xonar DG £19, especially if gaming on headphones. Sound is often an aspect that people tend to ignore.

If you OC you'll want to add an aftermarket cooler.

Running two screens will force the GPU to 3D clocks on idle, and increase heat/noise/power. To my knowledge you can use the integrated graphics of Sandy Bridge to drive the secondary monitor that you don't game on.

 

[Puppies04]

Haha I don't know what I don't like about it really ;> , it just looks a bit rushed I guess.

I think I'll have both of the screens at 1920 x 1080, and I'm really hoping the 570 can handle it! Would it be possible to take my Nvidia 9500GT from my old PC and put it in the new build, so that it can handle the second monitor? Then I can game using the first monitor and just have web/streams/music on the second.

A 570 will blitz 1080p gaming on 1 monitor and browsing etc on the second, don't worry about it.

 

[Puppies04]

I might actually go to their store rather than ordering it online though. Thanks for the reply!

If you can go on a weekday/evening rather than on a saturday then do it. It will be a lot less busy. A little piece of advice aswell either get the "LN" item numbers of the items you want ready on a piece of paper or preorder them for store pickup it will save you a lot of time at the checkout. Also check out the daily deals you might be able to save yourself a few £

 

[jmachin]

+1 to scan.co.uk and the cheaper RAM. From scan, this is a good choice. The motherboard is too expensive - get Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 for only £102. Has SLI/Crossfire and USB3.0 to case front panel. Does the Asrock board have anything the Gigabyte doesn't, that you actually need? I would change the GPU to 6950 2GB £215. And the PSU to XFX 650W £67, it is equal to Corsair TX650 V2 in performance but comes with 4 PCIe connectors so it is actually capable of 6950 2GB crossfire. Also, a gaming setup will benefit from good air flow; to achieve that on R3 you'd have to pay for additional fans. I'd recommend the Fractal Arc Midi, only £72 on scan. It comes with three 140mm stock fans (yes, the rear fan is 140mm!).

Compared to your original choices, these would save you about £100 so you could afford Crucial M4 64GB SSD, it'd be the cherry on the cake. It'd also be my preference to get a cheap sound card like Asus Xonar DG £19, especially if gaming on headphones. Sound is often an aspect that people tend to ignore.

If you OC you'll want to add an aftermarket cooler.

Running two screens will force the GPU to 3D clocks on idle, and increase heat/noise/power. To my knowledge you can use the integrated graphics of Sandy Bridge to drive the secondary monitor that you don't game on.

I have no idea about the motherboard! Will the motherboard you linked do shit at the same speed as the more expensive one? As long as there are enough slots to plug in all my hardware + 2 USB 3 ports, I'm fine. I just don't want to get a mother board that I will have to replace as soon as I upgrade.

From the benchmarks it looks like the GX570 outperforms the 6950, and I've been told it has "more stable drivers." I have no idea what this means but I've had more people recommend the Nvidia one over the AMD one. Would you say, given that I can't afford 2 graphics cards, that a single 6950 is better than a GX570?

One thing I'm not sure about with cases; how much does airflow matter? Does it affect performance? I'm guessing that having better airflow = less temperatures = more overclocking potential. But will the fractal R3 case actually stop me from overclocking due to heat problems? Only I liked the fact that the case muffles the sound of the PC which can get quite annoying.

I do plan to get a SSD eventually, but I'd rather buy it when the prices go down a bit;>. It's good to hear that you can get the integrated graphics card to power a monitor though, that will be really helpful.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[jmachin]

If you can go on a weekday/evening rather than on a saturday then do it. It will be a lot less busy. A little piece of advice aswell either get the "LN" item numbers of the items you want ready on a piece of paper or preorder them for store pickup it will save you a lot of time at the checkout. Also check out the daily deals you might be able to save yourself a few £

Yeah I think I'll be able to. Will there be someone at the store who I can ask a few questions though?

 

[fastamdman]

While you are at it, grab a good cpu cooler. The hyper 212+ is a great deal currently and will keep that 2500k nice and cool . Oh and +1 for the ud3 mobo.

 

[jmachin]

While you are at it, grab a good cpu cooler. The hyper 212+ is a great deal currently and will keep that 2500k nice and cool . Oh and +1 for the ud3 mobo.

Yeah I'll probably pick one of those up as well. About the mobo, what's the reason you'd take the ud3 over the more expensive one. Won't the more expensive one be better for potential future upgrades + possibly be of higher quality?

Obviously you have a good reason for preferring the ud3, I just want to know what it is! :>

 

[fastamdman]

I am currently using the ud3, and I can vouch for it as can A LOT of other people. Your board you are contemplating is a higher end "midrange" board as is my board. If you want a high end range board grab a ud4 as it is better than both of the boards we are talking about now.

Money does not dictate how good something is. Performance wise the ud3 will do everything your board will do and just as well. The ud4 will do it even better, aka overclocking wise.

The thing about sandy bridge is that they are pretty much 99% cpu limited so the motherboard isn't as big of a factor as it used to be. These chips all have multiplier walls and thats what dictates how good it is. If the chip does 4.5 at 1.35vcore in one board, there is a VERY good chance it will do it in 100 others .

If you aren't benching or going for overclocking records, get a more reasonably priced board like a ud3. If you want something epic, go ud4.

 

[jmachin]

I am currently using the ud3, and I can vouch for it as can A LOT of other people. Your board you are contemplating is a higher end "midrange" board as is my board. If you want a high end range board grab a ud4 as it is better than both of the boards we are talking about now.

Money does not dictate how good something is. Performance wise the ud3 will do everything your board will do and just as well. The ud4 will do it even better, aka overclocking wise.

The thing about sandy bridge is that they are pretty much 99% cpu limited so the motherboard isn't as big of a factor as it used to be. These chips all have multiplier walls and thats what dictates how good it is. If the chip does 4.5 at 1.35vcore in one board, there is a VERY good chance it will do it in 100 others .

If you aren't benching or going for overclocking records, get a more reasonably priced board like a ud3. If you want something epic, go ud4.

Ah ok, so is there any good reason why they priced the other board at £40 higher? I don't get what I'll be loosing out on by getting the ud3 now ;>

 

[fastamdman]

You aren't losing ANYTHING grabbing a ud3. However the ud4 is a better "overclocking" board then the ud3 and the asrock you posted. If you are trying to squeeze every last little bit out of your system via overclocking, grab a super high end board. Otherwise grab a midrange ud3 and be happy .

Dunno about the store but newegg has some great deals on combo items. Check this out.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.764352

Edit2: Heres a good deal on ram/psu too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.761045

 

[lehtv]

Yes, the UD3 will do everything you need from a mobo. UD4 doesn't make sense unless you just want the highest possible OC (not for 99% of people). Besides, with a Hyper 212+, it's not the motherboard that limits overclocking potential.

From the benchmarks it looks like the GX570 outperforms the 6950, and I've been told it has "more stable drivers." I have no idea what this means but I've had more people recommend the Nvidia one over the AMD one. Would you say, given that I can't afford 2 graphics cards, that a single 6950 is better than a GX570?

GTX570 does outperform 6950 which is not surprising as it costs more. But a 6950 2GB will play any game fine. It is the more cost-effective option. As mentioned, you have the possibility to crossfire it later on the XFX 650W power supply. For 570 SLI, you'd need at least 750W, and it wouldn't make much sense anyway because you'd easily run out of VRAM in games that can actually take advantage of all that horsepower.

One thing I'm not sure about with cases; how much does airflow matter? Does it affect performance? I'm guessing that having better airflow = less temperatures = more overclocking potential. But will the fractal R3 case actually stop me from overclocking due to heat problems? Only I liked the fact that the case muffles the sound of the PC which can get quite annoying.

It can matter a lot. Overclockability is just one aspect of case airflow; other aspects are stability and noise. In a PC where the graphics card dumps a lot of heat into the case, you want to make sure that cooling is good enough to eliminate the possibility of "heat pockets" that may cause instability. As for noise - the hotter your components i.e. CPU and GPU are on idle and load, the more noise their coolers will make. Therefore, to eliminate noise caused by overclocked or power hungry components, you want good case cooling. A system like yours with the three 140mm fans of the Arc Midi would probably result in overall less noise than with the two 120mm fans of the R3. Since 140mm are larger than 120mm, they will also push more air at the same noise level.

I do plan to get a SSD eventually, but I'd rather buy it when the prices go down a bit;>.

Can't argue with that, in many ways it's still a technology in development

Dunno about the store but newegg has some great deals on combo items. Check this out.

He's buying from the UK

 

[fastamdman]

Personally I would go with a used gtx 580 from the classifieds over anything else There is one for 375 there iirc and I got a buddy selling one for 350 =D. I don't really care for xfx power supplies but thats just me. I only stick with antec/corsair for my builds but as i said, thats just me =D.

As far as SSD pricing, they are VERY reasonable right now. The crucial m4's are great drives for the price.

 

[lehtv]

I don't really care for xfx power supplies but thats just me.

They are actually Seasonic power supplies with an XFX logo. Just like Corsair TX 650 V2 is a Seasonic with a Corsair logo. (In fact, XFX 650 and TX650 V2 are internally pretty much identical).

 

[fastamdman]

But but but I don't like the name xfx lol. I am just a corsair/antec psu fan boy though. Oh and I like there company, they have always been good to me

 

[jmachin]

Ok I'm happy with going for a ud3 now, thanks for the explanations. I think I'll save an SSD till later tbh ;>.

Thanks for all the help and recommendations though!

 

[lehtv]

fastamdman, then it might be better to keep such biases to yourself, otherwise some less knowledgeable people might get the impression that there's something wrong with XFX power supplies.

 

[mfenn]

fastamdman, then it might be better to keep such biases to yourself, otherwise some less knowledgeable people might get the impression that there's something wrong with XFX power supplies.

And more knowledgeable will think that there is something wrong with the person who has the bias! :awe:

 

[fastamdman]

Heh, generally I point out to people that I am biased or I let them know that its MY opinion on the hardware/software they should run, I don't go 100% in depth and give my own personal experiences with each company every single time I offer up advice on parts for people to buy.

Overall corsair/antec has always done me well and I will always sway prospective buyers to there market over anyone else when it comes to power supplies .

Either way I was just trying to help <3 I will stop offering up my 2 cents and just post links next time to what would be better IMO.

 

[nsavop]

For 570 SLI, you'd need at least 750W, and it wouldn't make much sense anyway because you'd easily run out of VRAM in games that can actually take advantage of all that horsepower.

Lehtv, I agree going with 2gb vram is safer for the sake of future proofing, but i have two 570 in sli and have yet to see a vram bottleneck and that includes battlefield 3.

 

[mfenn]

Lehtv, I agree going with 2gb vram is safer for the sake of future proofing, but i have two 570 in sli and have yet to see a vram bottleneck and that includes battlefield 3.

What resolution and AA level?