Powerful Gaming PC w/SSD & Option to Upgrade

[ianmer]

Hi everyone!

Hoping for a bit of constructive criticism here. Last time I did anything more complicated than install a new HD was building a Pentium so I could play Doom... so I'm currently in the process of learning how to do all this again!

I've chosen a spec I think will be able to play Skyrim / Battlefield 3 on max settings (also with a few mods for Skyrim like Sharpshooters ENB, in case there are any modders reading!). My current machine ain't too bad (AMD Athlon Dual Core 6400) and wondering whether it would be of any benefit to pop the old ATI Radeon HD 2900 over into the new one? Also planning on putting the old 1TB HD in, but that I think I will be OK with!

Lazy copy and paste:
Case
ANTEC QUIET COMPUTING™ PERFORMANCE P280 CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
32GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(8 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 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)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Fan Controller
AeroCool Touch 2000 LCD Touch Screen 4 Fan Controller + 2 x Front USB
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional (£78)*SPECIAL*
Network Facilities
KILLER 2100 GAMING NETWORK PCI-E CARD - FOR ONLINE GAMING (£55)
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
Price: £1,961.00 including VAT and delivery.

A couple of my choices may seem strange or of a conflicting nature so I should mention that I'm trying to get a slightly cooler running and therefore quieter system than my old one. And the fan controller simply because it looks so damn cool and I'm easily impressed by flashing lights etc.

Rambling now but if anyone knows the answer to this it would be great - is there any point in waiting and asking the lovely people here at PCS to upgrade my old system when that service is available? Or what about lowering the RAM on my new build and whacking some in from here? Wouldn't mind salvaging what I can from the old one, just found it on here and it's actually 5 (!) years old already:

Processor (CPU) AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 6400+ (3.2GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
Motherboard ASUS® M2N: DUAL DDR II, S-ATA, x16 VGA, 3 PCI
Memory (RAM) 4096 MB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (4x1GB)
Graphics Card 1024MB RADEON HD 2900XT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
Power Supply 700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£79) (Has burnt out and been replaced)
Processor Cooling ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II PURE COPPER ULTRA COOLER (£36)
Price £1,153.62 (bargain!)

If anyone actually bothers to read all this waffle, thanks!!!
Ian

[keynes]

Unless you are an extreme overclocker the asus rampage extreme would be a bit of an overkill, you could easily run the games you mentioned with an i5 , the i7 3770 should also be a cheaper alternative, the difference in performance between the gtx 670 and 680 is very small and around £100 cheaper I'd go with the gtx 670.

[Rakk]

Memory (RAM)
32GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(8 x 4GB KIT)

32GB is a massively excessive if just gaming, in fact in general 16GB is overkill for gaming, if you're going to be doing high-RAM usage stuff like rendering or high-end video editing then 16GB+ can be a good choice, but if not then it really would be a waste.

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

I presume you're going to be using your hard drive from your old machine since 120GB isn't really very much space

Network Facilities
KILLER 2100 GAMING NETWORK PCI-E CARD - FOR ONLINE GAMING (£55)

Not sure I'd bother with this, not sure it's really worth it - have a read of this thread: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/201...network-card/5 before deciding whether to get it or not.

Rambling now but if anyone knows the answer to this it would be great - is there any point in waiting and asking the lovely people here at PCS to upgrade my old system when that service is available? Or what about lowering the RAM on my new build and whacking some in from here? Wouldn't mind salvaging what I can from the old one, just found it on here and it's actually 5 (!) years old already:

Looking at your old system, it'd be a lot of work upgrading to something even vaguely like the spec you selected above and would probably mean upgrading virtually every part, so you might as well go with a new machine
Your old RAM is DDR2, the new is DDR3 and you can't mix them.
There would be no point putting in the HD2900XT if you're getting a 670/680, it would add nothing except power usage to your gaming

[Tiberias]

To echo the above comments that PC is way more than you need if it's just for gaming. i5 is plenty for gaming as is 8gb RAM and the 670 is much better value for money than the 680.

No one seems to be buying 680s anymore. You get better value to buy one 670 now and then add another later in SLI if needed to almost match the performance of one 690!

You definitely don't need the killer network card - read the article rakk posted. The benefits are barely anything and only worth it if you like to play while downloading content, and even then isn't really worth the money.

I'm about to buy my new computer as well which I decided on today with the help of rubensolo - I've put in a large enough PSU and a compatible motherboard so I can upgrade to 2x 670 in SLI in the future if needed. I'm getting it for high-end gaming and general use.

Anyway here is the spec to give you some ideas.

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® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/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
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)

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

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

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: £1,294.00 including VAT and delivery.

[ianmer]

Unless you are an extreme overclocker the asus rampage extreme would be a bit of an overkill, you could easily run the games you mentioned with an i5 , the i7 3770 should also be a cheaper alternative, the difference in performance between the gtx 670 and 680 is very small and around £100 cheaper I'd go with the gtx 670.

Thanks for the reply Rubensolo!
The sole reason I went for the ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME was the extra PCI-e slot - as I thought that the KILLER 2100 GAMING NETWORK PCI-E CARD may be worthwhile.. however, Rakk's comment needs to be taken into account there.
I will switch out the i7-3820 for the 3770 and the GTX 680 for the 670!

Thanks for the help!

[ianmer]

32GB is a massively excessive if just gaming, in fact in general 16GB is overkill for gaming, if you're going to be doing high-RAM usage stuff like rendering or high-end video editing then 16GB+ can be a good choice, but if not then it really would be a waste.

16GB RAM it is then! And I should have realised the DDR2 / DDR3 issue, thanks!

I presume you're going to be using your hard drive from your old machine since 120GB isn't really very much space

Yeah, got my 1TB WD HD to drop in. although upon checking it I may have to get another bigger one as only got 17.5GB left free!

Not sure I'd bother with this, not sure it's really worth it - have a read of this thread: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/201...network-card/5 before deciding whether to get it or not.

That made for fantastic reading, thanks! What do you think if I was to swap it out for the WIRELESS 802.11N 300bps PCI CARD? From the thread there it sounds like until I'm on fibre optic it's not worth going for anything fancier?

Looking at your old system, it'd be a lot of work upgrading to something even vaguely like the spec you selected above and would probably mean upgrading virtually every part, so you might as well go with a new machine
Your old RAM is DDR2, the new is DDR3 and you can't mix them.
There would be no point putting in the HD2900XT if you're getting a 670/680, it would add nothing except power usage to your gaming

Depressing but if I'm honest I knew this was the truth!

All this information is invaluable and I can't thank you enough for the assist!

[Rakk]

Yeah, got my 1TB WD HD to drop in. although upon checking it I may have to get another bigger one as only got 17.5GB left free!

Haha!
Yes, you may want to consider getting more HD space, games are just getting bigger, and with a spangly new system like that, there'll be plenty new ones you want to try.

That made for fantastic reading, thanks! What do you think if I was to swap it out for the WIRELESS 802.11N 300bps PCI CARD? From the thread there it sounds like until I'm on fibre optic it's not worth going for anything fancier?

Well that depends on if you need wireless or not, the killer network card didn't do wireless anyway.
If you do need wireless you may want to consider homeplugs instead (they just work by using the wiring in your house rather than having network cables trailing everywhere), yes it is slightly more expensive to set it up (cos you need 2 to start a network) but it tends to be a lot more reliable than wireless in general - what with it being wired in essence.

[ianmer]

Anyway here is the spec to give you some ideas.

I may just buy this exact spec haha!

[ianmer]

Well that depends on if you need wireless or not, the killer network card didn't do wireless anyway.
If you do need wireless you may want to consider homeplugs instead (they just work by using the wiring in your house rather than having network cables trailing everywhere), yes it is slightly more expensive to set it up (cos you need 2 to start a network) but it tends to be a lot more reliable than wireless in general - what with it being wired in essence.

I had a pair of these years ago, free from BT from what I remember, not sure if you can still do that, but they were awful and broke after not too long and I haven't looked into other options since. But I think I will as I have always had trouble getting a strong signal, with two different cards . Which has actually always bothered me as my PS3 is next to my PC and has no issues...

[ianmer]

Okay, hope Tiberias isn't troubled by plagiarism... what do you guys think of the following:

Case
ANTEC QUIET COMPUTING™ PERFORMANCE P280 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
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD30EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO II C240 DUAL RAD LIQUID CPU COOLER (Special Offer) (£89)
Fan Controller
AeroCool Touch 2000 LCD Touch Screen 4 Fan Controller + 2 x Front USB
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional (£78)*SPECIAL*
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
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: £1,660.00 including VAT and delivery.

Oh and I will be getting one of those flipping hilarious naked calendars as well. Nearly cried laughing when I saw some of the pics. My missus didn't get it though lol!