Comments Please

[RichH]

Am looking at 2 builds, one for myself and the other for my son. Both of these combined come in bang on my total budget to which there is no flexibility.

I would welcome any comments and or suggestions on whether the builds are good or not and how to fix/improve them.

Cheers

Build 1 :

Case COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB
KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4
Capable
Memory - 1st 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
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£72)
Processor Cooling COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£49)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Build 2 :

Case COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard ASUS® P8P67 PRO (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s, CrossFireX™ & SLI
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB
KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4
Capable
2nd Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4
Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
(7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
(7200rpm)
RAID RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
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 850W TX SERIES (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£99)
Processor Cooling COOLIT ECO C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£99)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£147)

 

[pez]

Rich,

Can I ask what they will be used for, i.e. what games, etc. Also, how old is your son, you, just as an indicator?

 

[RichH]

Both rigs primarily for gaming, mmo's, strategy and shooters like crysis etc. Son is 14 years old.

 

[pez]

Both seem alright. There are many better people here who can advise you - but most are at i42 at the moment and not back until monday / tuesday.

I'm assuming the first build is for your son and the second for you, based on the configs. Only thing I would question is whether an overclocked machine for your son is a good idea, purely based on stability aspects

 

[Teaz]

I don't think an Overclocked system is necessary if you and your son are just going to be gaming. Also with some of the components as you could save yourself abit. what is the max budget you have so far?

 

[Fear]

Well the motherboards can both be dropped down to the 1 below as the pro only adds Sli and you are getting Radeon GPU's which is crossfire so this will take £21 of each PC, only 4GB ram is required for gaming most games i play the whole system only uses 2GB while playing so you can save some more there reducing the the ram, can i ask why you are using Raid 1 because if your mainly playing games this is a waste of a drive, and adding to what pez said above do you really want the overclocks as these will shorten the lives of the CPU's.

 

[Teaz]

Not really a waste as its treated as backup so it's not a really bad thing Raid 1 since he could be moving files onto it and used as storage even though it is counted as the primary drive as an OS, it's enough still to be used as some means of storage.

 

[Fear]

I only say it's a waste because having the 2nd drive not raided can be used for storage backup but won't be wasting space for installed games that only need to be on the main drive

 

[RichH]

Wow, thanks for the comments and suggestions guys !

Max budget for the 2 is £2,700.

I picked most of the components to try and future proof as much as possible, hence the choice of mobo's and high amount of RaM.

I see your point about raid on the 2 drives, but I also have a lot of photos and music on my system which I really don't want to lose, although I do have an external for backing up I'm pretty lazy about it. Also, I had a bad experience with a drive dying on me and don't want to re-live that sinking feeling again !

In respect of the overclocking, I will definitely reconsider that aspect as stability of the systems is pretty paramount to both of us, but would probably want to keep those processors in place just in case I want to do it in the future.

 

[Fear]

Not sure if you have overclocked before or not but if you do overclock yourself during the warranty period you will not be covered for the damage for any failed overclocks.

The raid 1 i can understand your point with that.

Can i just ask did you really want 2 GPU's on the 2nd spec it's always best to get the best single GPU you can and that at the moment is the GTX580 plus it's again more stable using a single card instead of Crossfire/Sli an dyou could always upgrade at a later date if or when they start to struggle.

 

[Teaz]

This is a Re-adjustments from both builds which is alot better for gaming along with general use as this should save you money.

Build 1:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable

Memory - 1st 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

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£72)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI 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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Total: 931

Build 2:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable

2nd Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable

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

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

RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)

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 850W TX SERIES (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£99)

Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£99)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£147)

Total: 1455

Total of both: 2386

Both these re-adjusments are still solid builds and will handle anything for both you and your son's needs since some of the options wasn't really needed when you game.

This is without the overclocked CPUs

 

[RichH]

Nice one...thanks !

Any point in keeping the COOLIT ECO C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£99) if I'm not overclocking ?

Hows this look taking on board what you suggest and what I would like to have :

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 PRO (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s, CrossFireX™ & SLI
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
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 850W TX SERIES (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£99)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£147)


Price: £1,539.00 including VAT and delivery.


Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st 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
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£72)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)


Price: £1,026.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Fear]

Not really only if you plan to overclock in the future but then you want the 2500k which is already unlocked

 

[Teaz]

Not really needed as the triple copper is more than enough but seeing how you are running crossfire and said you will be deciding to go for a 2500k in thought, i just left it there but if not, the tripple copper is well enough to handle and keep temps down.

 

[RichH]

Thanks, edited my post above to reflect what you've both said.

And no Teaz, just sticking with a single big monitor that I already have

 

[Fear]

Rich just to point out if you will want to add a second GTX580 at a later date on yours you will need a minimum 1000W PSU otherwise you can drop the 850W to 650W

 

[Teaz]

Looks good although i do wonder what you are going to do with all of that ram as 16gb is alot especially just for gaming. 8gb is alot on the wiser side and enough to run smoothly with ease with just 8gb.

Does your son really need windows Pro? its just the same as the Home but just extra features which won't really any benefit for gaming.

 

[RichH]

Well spotted, thanks, will save another £27 on the price, will have to see what i can add onto it now

As I said, my budget is £2,700 for the 2, just trying to get the biggest bang for my £'s as long as it doesn't go over, otherwise it might be the divorce courts for me !

Probably doesnt need pro, so I can tweak that, as for the RaM, I remember the days when 2Gb was considered plenty, just trying to anticipate the future a bit

 

[pez]

*laughing*

If I posted I was spending £1500 on a PC, I'd already be signing the house over

 

[Fear]

Have a look at these

Spec 1

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X SPECIAL EDITION GREY - DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!
Memory - 1st 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
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£72)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£49)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
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 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,188.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/

Spec 2

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 PRO (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s, CrossFireX™ & SLI
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
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 1000W PRO SERIES (HX1000) 80+ MODULAR PSU (£170)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£49)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
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 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,461.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/