c.£1,200 PC for gaming and photo editing

J

jamsin

Member
Hi Guys,

Having had a look around here, and listening to comments that have come back, I've amended my ideas slightly to include overclocking and uping the graphics, increasing the budget from £1,000 to £1,200. (I would have replied to my previous post, but couldn't find it!)

Please see what you think.

Additionally, I did have some other questions....
1) Why is the new i5-3750k cheaper than the older i5-2500k? Should I be choosing that instead?
2) This computer is going to sit in my living room, given I'm overclocking it, is it going to make a noise, or will it be OK? That's the reason I've opted for a more expensive liquid cooler and silent case - thoughts welcome on this one!
3) Is it worth buying the additional sound card, or is it not really going to make any noticeable difference?
4) Should I be installing ALL programs and games on the SS drive, or just the O/S?
5) I would like the option in the future to add a second graphics cards - hence the MB and 750W powersupply - is this sufficient or overkill?
6) Are there any specific issues with installing windows 7 on a SS drive, and do PC Specialist tweak windows in any way for performance when installing - i.e. should I really be letting them install as they could make everything run a little faster / optimally?

Notes:
- I do already have a copy of windows 7, so hoping that I don't need this in order to purchase the overclocked CPU.

Any thoughts / comments / criticisms / suggestions very welcome - and indeed, wanted!!!

Thanks guys!
James.


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R3 - BLACK PEARL CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-3570k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti - 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
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
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
COOLIT ECO II FAT BOY PUSH/PULL CONFIG LIQUID CPU COOLER (£59)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£28) *SPECIAL*
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,187.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-1155-overclocked/FF3wYNnE7M/
 
Yamikotai

Yamikotai

Expert
jamsin said:
Additionally, I did have some other questions....
1) Why is the new i5-3750k cheaper than the older i5-2500k? Should I be choosing that instead?
2) This computer is going to sit in my living room, given I'm overclocking it, is it going to make a noise, or will it be OK? That's the reason I've opted for a more expensive liquid cooler and silent case - thoughts welcome on this one!
3) Is it worth buying the additional sound card, or is it not really going to make any noticeable difference?
4) Should I be installing ALL programs and games on the SS drive, or just the O/S?
5) I would like the option in the future to add a second graphics cards - hence the MB and 750W powersupply - is this sufficient or overkill?
6) Are there any specific issues with installing windows 7 on a SS drive, and do PC Specialist tweak windows in any way for performance when installing - i.e. should I really be letting them install as they could make everything run a little faster / optimally?
Click to expand...
1) They're fairly equivalent in price anyway; perhaps PCS happened to get the current batch of i5-3570K slightly cheaper. Either way I'd go for that one unless you're an overclocking enthusiast, in which case you'd want to go for the 2500K.
2) Depending on how far you want to OC (overclock), it could make no difference in sound or a slight difference. Sound is unlikely to be an issue.
3) Unless you're doing professional audio, stick to the integrated sound.
4) You want to install stuff you want to load instantly/very quickly on the SSD. That would be the OS, all your programs, and most games. Depending on the size of your SSD, you might want to install all of your games to the SSD, or a mixture between SSD and HDD (hard disk drive), or all on the HDD. Personally, I have a 60GB SSD and that's plenty for Windows 7, all my programs, and a few games. I install most of my games on my hard drive, but if it's a game with particularly long loading times I'm put it on the SSD. If you use Steam, you can install it on a hard drive and move games between the SSD and HDD with a program called Steam Mover.
5) It's sufficient.
6) Windows 7 fully supports SSDs with the latest updates, or if you install it using a Service Pack 1 disc. I dunno if PCS do particular tweaks - there aren't many that need to be done nowadays since Windows 7 and 8 have full support for them.
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
2) I have the same cpu cooler and unless I push the fans at 50% or more I can't really notice any noise, the most noisy part of your set up is likely to be the gpu.
 
J

jamsin

Member
Thanks rubensolo. Question on the cooler (as I'm new to O/Cing and liquid coolers) - do they need any additional maintenance over a normal CPU fan setup - i.e. am I going to need to 'service' this O/C'd machine in any way?

Thanks!
James.
 
Yamikotai

Yamikotai

Expert
jamsin said:
Thanks rubensolo. Question on the cooler (as I'm new to O/Cing and liquid coolers) - do they need any additional maintenance over a normal CPU fan setup - i.e. am I going to need to 'service' this O/C'd machine in any way?

Thanks!
James.
Click to expand...
Not really. Just clear the dust out a couple times a year.
 
Yamikotai

Yamikotai

Expert
jamsin said:
Another question for you all then - the 660ti or the Radeon 7950? Same price (ish) but looking around, the Radeon seems to perform better (example: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html).

Can anyone point out the difference / highlight which would be best for gaming / photo editing?

Thank you!
James.
Click to expand...
I really wouldn't trust that chart. It puts the GTX670 above the GTX680, which is patently wrong, and then the GTX690 much below that, which especially makes no sense.
Personally I'd go for the GTX660 Ti.
 
J

jamsin

Member
Thanks guys....

I saw this on that site you recommended rubensolo, while I'm not suggesting tweaking with the voltage on the GPU, they do suggest a lesser increase in performance with tweaks to the settings....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-overclock-guide/1

What do you think of the middle ground - in that form, appears to beat the 660Ti pretty much across the board.

I also see you suggest opting for the other LX version of the motherboard - are there not other benefits to the non-LX version than just the SLI?

Thanks again!
James.
 
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