3 years saving for my dream system

Hiya can anyone let me know if this spec is the best I can get for gaming. I am trying to work out if the i7 processor is better or if 2 680's would be better than the 2 690's.

Thanks for looking.

Case

COOLERMASTER COSMOS 2 ULTRA TOWER
Processor (CPU)

Intel® Xeon® 8-Core E5-2687W (3.1 GHz, 8.00 GT/s, 20M L3 Cache)
Motherboard

ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)

16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card

4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 690 DUAL GPU - 3 x DVI-I, 1 x mDP
2nd Graphics Card

4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 690 DUAL GPU - 3 x DVI-I, 1 x mDP
Memory - 1st Hard Disk

240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk

2TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD20EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB (Special Offer)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive

12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£52)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive

10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
Power Supply

CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES™ GOLD AX1200-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR (£206)
Processor Cooling

INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Sound Card

Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional (£119)
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 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software

NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus

NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse

Razer® Black Widow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (£105)
Mouse

Razer® Mamba 2012 Elite Wireless Gaming Mouse (£109)
Warranty

3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery

You do not need a Xeon processor, that would be a massive overkill for gaming. I have read reviews on the GTX 690 SLI and the improvement is not very significant from a single GTX 690 to quad-sli , not that it is not a good card but I think there should be some drivers update to max the true potential of those cards.

A single dual-GPU card keeps most games playable, but once again the quad-GPU configuration delivers mixed results. SLI scaling performance varies from an abysmal 9.6 per cent in Batman: Arkham City, to a useful 46.4 per cent in DiRT Showdown.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/41581-nvidia-geforce-gtx-690-sli-surround/?page=3

My understanding is that the Xeon processors are pretty much identical to the i7 versions, but just have slightly more server related functionality (none of which will be used for gaming) and are the best of the processor batches (meaning they are potentially a little better for overclocking). And for this benefit you pay a huge amount more. Given that almost no games make use of anything beyond an i5 processor, it's just wasting money really.

It's pretty much the same story with the dual 590's. Hugely expensive for a tiny performance boost. Plus getting a hugely high fps score is irrelevant when even the best monitors will only display 120 fps (and most people are hard pressed to notice a difference past 60fps). If you are planning on using 3 or more screens then it might just about be a performance upgrade (although certainly not cost effective).

Now if I were a premiership footballer then I would have no hesitation on spending half a day's salary for a ridiculously specced PC. But if you've been saving for 3 years then you probably want at least a nod towards value for money..

I reckon you could shave a year off saving if you toned down you spec abit. 690's in SLI is unnecessary and I would actually recommend gtx 670's in SLI as they are £100 cheaper than 680's with minimal performance difference.

As others have mentioned xeon is over kill I would go with the i5. 16GB of RAM for gaming is not needed 8GB would do just fine. The ASUS PZ77-V is a good mobo, you could go for the sabertooth if you wanted. Are you overclocking? you have chosen an expensive cooler, I'd go for silent triple pipe. Could go down on the PSU also.

If it takes you 3 years to save up for it, there'll probably be new hardware and technology anyway!

I doubt you can get 690's anyway they are like hen's teeth.
the best system you could get that you can get that will be very future proof would be something like this :-


Case
COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Six Core i7-3930K (3.2GHz @ max 4.6GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
3rd Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
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)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES™ GOLD AX1200-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR (£206)
Processor Cooling
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Fan Controller
AeroCool Touch 2000 LCD Touch Screen 4 Fan Controller + 2 x Front USB
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion (£179)
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 w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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
Quantity
1

Price: £3,609.00 including VAT and delivery.

To heavily echo if not scream Rubensolo's point at the top of my lungs, the spec you posted is so overkill its laughable.

I would heavily recommend reconsidering your budget and ideas of a "dream gaming machine" and focus more on the ideal specification of a gaming desktop.

... in this case I would recommend the following:

CPU: i3 3570K / i7 3770K. Anything else is overkill and quite honestly a lower end i5 would be more than enough.
GPU: SLI 670's will provide 60+ FPS in every release on a single 1080p monitor. Anything above this is nothing short of retarded other than for a 3+ monitor setup.
RAM: 8GB. You don't need more. More will not improve your performance. You may as well roll a £50 spliff, it would be money better spent.
PSU: Given the incredibly low TDP requirements of the current generation of GPU's, even an 850W would be adequare for a tri SLI setup. If you want to allow for more headroom, consider 900W - 1000W 80+ efficiency.

As you have not selected peripherals or a monitor, I would recommend the following. Feel free to improve on aesthetic components or another optical drive to copy Blu-Rays (do you REALLY need this? I ask because i've wasted money on dual opticals for the last 6 years and never made use of them.), but any more money spent on processing power is simply money wasted:

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache

MotherboardASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX

Memory (RAM)8GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1866MHz X.M.P(2 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

2nd Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)

Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

PRICE: £1862.00 inc. VAT and Delivery

Click to expand...

Half the price of your original setup with identical functionality (minus the dual optical), idential performance on a single/dual monitor with vsync and no noticeable difference without vsync.

Best of luck withy our decision. If you have more money to dedicate to computer upgrades, I would recommend saving it for a sudden unforeseeable technological breakthrough. Ask 580 owners how thel feel about Kepler ;p

thanks alot for the feedback I have saved for 3 years so am ready to buy, and the lower spec same functionality is very good. As you may have surmised I am not very knowledgeable and it looks like you have saved me some serious cash and that was the object of my post. I hope the system you are edging me towards is future proof for at least the next 5 years. Thanks.

cossie257 said:

thanks alot for the feedback I have saved for 3 years so am ready to buy, and the lower spec same functionality is very good. As you may have surmised I am not very knowledgeable and it looks like you have saved me some serious cash and that was the object of my post. I hope the system you are edging me towards is future proof for at least the next 5 years. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Dangro's spec is a very well balanced spec, you have the choice to overclock (try to choose a titan or coolit cooler).

cossie257 said:

thanks alot for the feedback I have saved for 3 years so am ready to buy, and the lower spec same functionality is very good. As you may have surmised I am not very knowledgeable and it looks like you have saved me some serious cash and that was the object of my post. I hope the system you are edging me towards is future proof for at least the next 5 years. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Glad u posted on here first, a lot of very helpful people on the forums who can help save u some cash

Might have to take you up on that £50 spliff dangro, going to Amsterdam on Friday looool

Swanky777 said:

Glad u posted on here first, a lot of very helpful people on the forums who can help save u some cash

Might have to take you up on that £50 spliff dangro, going to Amsterdam on Friday looool

Click to expand...

I'll try with a fiver first, you may not like the taste of ink

cossie257 said:

thanks alot for the feedback I have saved for 3 years so am ready to buy, and the lower spec same functionality is very good. As you may have surmised I am not very knowledgeable and it looks like you have saved me some serious cash and that was the object of my post. I hope the system you are edging me towards is future proof for at least the next 5 years. Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you want a sensible gaming rig then go with the i5 and 670 combo.
If you were looking at a Xeon and Sli 690 viable alternative then that's what I provided.

People who benchmark New GPU'S use the i7 3930 because It's the best chip for testing.
I agree its overkill but its the best.
You won't be able to get 690s but 3 680s will be just as fast using current driver's.
Who knows what game's are around the corner and if developers will take advantage of more cores

Last years Samaritan demo required 3 gtx580s to run and with the next unreal 4 engine around the corner we will have to wait and see what system requirements are going to be necessary to run on high settings.

There are rumours they may use 12 cores but we don't know yet.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xyeeyZE41O4

In my opinion, the best form of future proofing is money in the bank.
i5 + 2x670 is easily the best, and instead of going for that Xeon, you'l have a large ammount of money in the bank for haswell. As seems with computers, the middle range processor seems to be about equal with a few years back of high end.
The q6600 was pretty much top of the range when I got it, but now even a duel core sandy bridge i3 can have equal or better performance.

I agree It's the most sensible option and in 2-3 year's time use the money you have saved and get a new rig.

I found an interesting video :-

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IrOYkXrxzjY

Pretty whatever else said, the Xeon processor definitely overkill, GPU's I sure at somepoint you get to use the power of 690's if thats what you wanted.

Well, if you are going to do it big time, you may as well do it properly!!! I would suggest the below spec, agreed it is overkill but it is better overkill than the one in the op! There are a couple of things to take note of though! I included three screens, if you already have this, then remove them! If you are spending this much on a pc, you definately need three screens! Also, note that I have stuck with the stock cooler. Yes, this is very intentional! I have done this because the intel liquid cooler is absolute rubbish, it really is! I would suggest getting a Noctua dh-14 or a phanteks ph-tc14pe. So, order your spec, then give pcs a call and they will source one of these parts and install it for you! I think that is everything, I can explain my choice of parts if you would like! Here you are:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-3930K (3.2GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P9X79 PRO: INTEL® SOCKET LG2011
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD20EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB (Special Offer)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£158)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA2011 STANDARD 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 w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
2nd Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
3rd Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (£105)
Mouse
Razer® Mamba 2012 Elite Wireless Gaming Mouse (£109)
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
Quantity
1

Price: £3,356.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-2011-extreme/TWrcdOO4ZQ/

If SLI is an option (for surround) wouldn't the best alternative be to SLI the GTX 680 4gb? The GTX 690 would consume less power and probably less noisy but it is 2 underclock GTX 680s. I'd only consider a GTX 690 if I am planning to quad-sli (if only....)

I have always being curious of 4gb vs 2gb GPUs in surround, I found some benchmarks indicating that the GTX 680 4GB would bring better performance (slightly) than the GTX 680 2gb at high resolutions (5760x1080) and thus 1 GTX 690.

rubensolo said:

If SLI is an option (for surround) wouldn't the best alternative be to SLI the GTX 680 4gb? The GTX 690 would consume less power and probably less noisy but it is 2 underclock GTX 680s. I'd only consider a GTX 690 if I am planning to quad-sli (if only....)

I have always being curious of 4gb vs 2gb GPUs in surround, I found some benchmarks indicating that the GTX 680 4GB would bring better performance (slightly) than the GTX 680 2gb at high resolutions (5760x1080) and thus 1 GTX 690.

View attachment 1646

Click to expand...

Interesting, and yes, I agree that a 680 sli would probably be the best option, I must admit, I didn't realise the price gap between the two. The 690 is £150 more than 680 sli. So, yes, it probably would be worth getting a 680 sli, I'll edit my previous spec! As for 4GB vs 2GB. 4GB of total VRam in an sli must be enough! 8GB is crazy amounts, I honestly do doubt that it is necessary!

Music Guy123 said:

Interesting, and yes, I agree that a 680 sli would probably be the best option, I must admit, I didn't realise the price gap between the two. The 690 is £150 more than 680 sli. So, yes, it probably would be worth getting a 680 sli, I'll edit my previous spec! As for 4GB vs 2GB. 4GB of total VRam in an sli must be enough! 8GB is crazy amounts, I honestly do doubt that it is necessary!

Click to expand...

But they don't accumulate, it is just 4gb. The GTX 690 should be advertised as 2gb not 4gb. Looking at the benchmarks for other resolutions the difference between 2gb vs 4gb at lower resolutions 1980x1020 is insignificant, keep in mind that the GTX 680 4gb palit jetstream was not released pre-overclock as the 2gb version.

Sorry! You are completely correct! This is what being away from tech for over 3.5 months does to you! Each gpu though is going to power at the most, 2 screens, each with a res of 1920 x 1080. I really do doubt that 2 screens at that res will struggle with 2GB! Also, it is £50 more per gpu (£100 more for an sli). Do you really think it is necessary? I may be wrong here, but doesn't each vram deal with only the screens that are connected to it?

Music Guy123 said:

Sorry! You are completely correct! This is what being away from tech for over 3.5 months does to you! Each gpu though is going to power at the most, 2 screens, each with a res of 1920 x 1080. I really do doubt that 2 screens at that res will struggle with 2GB! Also, it is £50 more per gpu (£100 more for an sli). Do you really think it is necessary? I may be wrong here, but doesn't each vram deal with only the screens that are connected to it?

Click to expand...

My understanding is that at higher resolutiosn more vram is used (probably most games won't) but as you can see in Battlefield 3 it is used. If I were to start again I'd probably go with 2 x EVGA GTX 680 4gb classified overclocked , I'd like to see some benchmarks on those cards in 2D and 3D surround but I am expecting a bigger difference than the benchmarks in my previous post.