Gaming Rig - Future SLI

[Tiberias]

Hi guys,

I'm currently saving up to get a new PC for gaming and general use in mid to late August and I want it to last me a good few years.

This is what I've come up with:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3550 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache

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

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

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

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

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

Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£114)

Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)

Sound Card
Asus Xonar DGX 5.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card (£25)

Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)

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

Printer
HP DESKJET 1050 ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER - J410A (£39)

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: £1,348.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes...pc/tLmDCg7JQ_/

I intend to get it fitted with another 670 before Christmas which is why I've put the larger PSU - can you advise me as to how this upgrade will work once I've bought the computer? What will be the cost of this service? I understand the extra graphics card is £305 but are there other costs involved? Will I have to send the computer back to PC Specialist to have them install the 2nd card with SLI?

Many thanks!

Daniel

[Rakk]

Looks like a nice spec, if not overclocking then the Triple Copper Heatpipe would be good enough, unless you're paranoid about cooling or just want the bigger cooler cos it looks cool

I intend to get it fitted with another 670 before Christmas which is why I've put the larger PSU - can you advise me as to how this upgrade will work once I've bought the computer? What will be the cost of this service? I understand the extra graphics card is £305 but are there other costs involved? Will I have to send the computer back to PC Specialist to have them install the 2nd card with SLI?

If you feel confident to install it yourself then you can just install it yourself, and if you need help, I'm sure you can get plenty of help from these forums or youtube So no, you do not need to send it back to PCS - your warranty is still valid if you open the case and add stuff (as long as you're being careful of course)

[Tiberias]

Thanks!

Yeah I'm going to go with the titan, as you said it looks cool.

I'm not that confident so I'd really like to have PC Specialist do it for me. The warranty is 1 year collect & return, 1 year parts so I will only be paying £305 for the new card when the time comes that I want to upgrade - am I correct in saying this?

[vanthus]

Very nice build.To add to what Rakk said,some people might advise you not to bother with the sound card as the onboard is pretty good,Personally though I have a sound card & find it much better.
Also might be worth considering home plugs as opposed to wireless card,having said that you might be perfectly fine with a wireless card depending on how good your connection is.

[keynes]

so I will only be paying £305 for the new card when the time comes that I want to upgrade - am I correct in saying this?

My understanding is that the warranty only covers faults with your PC not upgrades, I am assuming if you wish to upgrade your system ,apart from the cost of the GPU, you may need to pay extra for collection/delivery as well as labour cost.

[Ash]

To install a new GPU all you need to do is pop it in to the motherboard. You've got nothing to worry about.

[Tiberias]

Thanks guys for all your input.

Thanks also to rubensolo for explaining the home plugs to me!

I'll be buying my PC in a few weeks time...

Going to go ahead as follows and buy one 670 now and, should the need arise, upgrade to another when in due course.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3550 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache

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

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

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

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

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

Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£114)

Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)

Sound Card
Asus Xonar DGX 5.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card (£25)

Network Facilities
2 x HomePlug 200Mbps - Turn any Electrical Socket into a Network (£38)

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

Printer
HP DESKJET 1050 ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER - J410A (£39)

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: £1,370.00 including VAT and delivery.