First desktop since a Pentium IV

[marvir]

Hey guys,

I've had my Vortex for almost 2 and a half years, and it's been pretty good, although lately it's been prone to BSODs and God help me I hate the keyboard. I couldn't go with a desktop before because of my living conditions (constant moving) so I decided to get a gaming laptop so I could upgrade it if I wanted in the future. Sadly, it just doesn't seem cost-effective to do so. I'm in a more stable place now so I'm thinking of finally getting a desktop. Any help would be appreciated.

I'll be using it mainly for gaming, and I also use Photoshop, Nuke and Maya. I think I'd like to keep my budget to £1500 or so, as my current quote is at. I still have to buy a keyboard and a monitor, but I have something temporary so I can sort that out on a later date. I'm in no rush at the moment, but here's the spec I have:

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 300R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD3003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler (£29)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM (£28)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,530.00 including VAT and delivery.

Do you guys think the Gold warranty is worth it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[keynes]

I would try to get a slightly bigger case for better cooling and downgrade to the triple copper heatpipe cpu cooler since you are not overclocking your cpu. I would also suggest dropping the soundxard and try onboard audio first. You could probably fit a gtx 980 if you get a 250 gb ssd and silver warranty. You can upgrade to gold later on, at least 3 months before silver expires.

 

[marvir]

Hmm I could spend a bit more to get the CM690, that's a slightly bigger case right? Will do about the cpu cooler, although sadly the SSD is non-negotiable. My laptop at the moment has a 240GB SSD but with the amount of programs and files I need on my SSD I definitely need at least that much. I would've gone for the 1TB if I had the money. It's amazing how much cheaper SSDs have gotten, or at least the Samsung ones. Is there a reason they're significantly cheaper than the other brands? I have heard pretty good things about the Samsungs though. Thanks for the tip about the warranty.

I've seen some comparisons between the 980 and the 970, and, at least to me, the 970 seems to offer better value for the price in terms of performance, although I'm just looking at benchmarks. Is there a massive difference between the 970 and 980, and is it worth the £230 increase? That said I really can't take the budget up to £1700 as I can't downgrade on my SSD.

 

[keynes]

I would try to get the best gpu within my budget, if the SSD is non negotiable then the gtx 970 seems like the best choice for you. The coolermaster 690 is a great case and regarding gold warranty I think it is worth it since parts are only covered by 1 year with silver and 2 years parts covered with gold. But as I said before you don't need to get gold straight away, you got 9 months to get it

 

[Edd1e]

I would not go for the Samsung evo as it is known to have issues which I believe Samsung have fixed on the pro model but not sure about others so I would check that first. Also depending on your use if it is for heavy Nuke and Maya you might be better served long term with an x99 system which you could get I to for your budget with a decent upgrade path. If it is I only casual and gaming is your focus then I would stick where you are and push for a GTX 980.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I would not go for the Samsung evo as it is known to have issues which I believe Samsung have fixed on the pro model but not sure about others so I would check that first..

They released a firmware fix for the evo's and evo pro's. It's just the original non evo 840's that haven't been addressed and so far Samsung refuse to acknowledge it's an issue on them. I wouldn't let it put you off, the evo range are awesome drives.

 

[Edd1e]

Good to know, thanks.

 

[SpyderTracks]

No worries.

 

[marvir]

Yeah my Maya and Nuke use is just a casual thing, but considering they ran okay with my current laptop a desktop would feel like quite the improvement. I will have to have a think about the 980 as it is a pretty hefty extra £230 or so, but I always do know that if there's anything I should spend the money on, it's the GPU for longevity. Who knows by the time I can actually order the spec it might drop a bit in price. I might just uproot this SSD for the moment or something. I wanted to do the finance thing actually like I did with this laptop and pay it with early repayment, but unforseen circumstances resulted in me still paying monthly for my system 2 and a half years later, with quite a lot more monthly payments in store.

Also good to know about the Samsungs, thanks for that.

And thanks for all the replies, hopefully I can post sometime soon saying I've ordered it.



Edit: Actually, do you guys think it would be better overall to drop down to an i5 4690 to get the cost down a bit to get the 980 over the 970? Is that a fair trade, or am I just better off with the i7 and the 970?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Edit: Actually, do you guys think it would be better overall to drop down to an i5 4690 to get the cost down a bit to get the 980 over the 970? Is that a fair trade, or am I just better off with the i7 and the 970?

Personally, I'd stick with the i7 as it has 8 threads over the 4 on the i5. For gaming it won't make much difference, but for photoshop and maya, it would be appreciated. Another option would be to settle for 8gb ram for now, and then slam in another 8gb stick down the road? I think that would make the least impact on overall performance for a short period. If you can stretch for the 980, it's worth it i'd say... looking at around 10-15 fps improvement on games like Crysis 3, Metro: Last Light etc... pretty impressive and that's on the reference design

source: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/nvidia_geforce_gtx_970_and_980_reference_review,15.html

 

[marvir]

Okay so I'm back into looking into getting this desktop soon-ish (probably around January), and as much as I'm liking the look of the CM 690, I was wondering if anyone here had experience with quiet cases. I tend to be awake late nights and the fan sounds are not always appreciated by everyone in the room :sweatdrop: There's only like 2 options that PCS offer I think and they both seem like smaller sized cases.

Can anyone share experience/ recommend any quiet cases? Or even better, share experience with the CM 690 or other popular cases.. How loud are they during heavy-ish use? Also, I would prefer a case on the lighter side if possible, as I still wind up moving once in awhile.

 

[keynes]

For gaming rig I wouldn't choose a quiet case since it offers limited cooling compare to a regular case. What is going to be noisy is not the case but the gpu and cpu cooler (depending on what you are choosing)

 

[marvir]

For gaming rig I wouldn't choose a quiet case since it offers limited cooling compare to a regular case. What is going to be noisy is not the case but the gpu and cpu cooler (depending on what you are choosing)

Yeah I figured as much. Yeah I get that, it's more, maybe if certain cases are less "noise-cancelling" than the others, but I guess that's down to construction. I guess I'll just choose a case I want then. Looking at the CM690 III, NZXT H440, or the Corsair Carbide 500R.

My build at the moment has the GTX 970 and i7 4790 with the triple copper heatpipe. Is it quiet enough or would the Coolermaster be more so?

 

[marvir]

Case Wars

Well I think I may be pulling the trigger on my first desktop in about 8-9 years. Been going with laptops for portability purposes, but it's just not cost effective for "serious" (GPU, CPU) upgrades. I've posted this spec before, and in the end I still decided to hold off getting the 980, even though the PC will be used mostly for gaming, with some Maya, Photoshop and Nuke on the side. I personally don't think I can afford the 15-20% or so increase in performance for an extra £230, as I can't sacrifice a smaller SSD, and I want to keep the i7 processor. I'll also still need to buy a keyboard and monitor separately so I'll probably upgrade to the next generation top spec GPU instead, so my current max budget for this build is about £1500. For now, value for money, I think the 970 is the best card for me. Here's the full build:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 III ADVANCED CASE
Free Item
CM Storm Pitch Gaming Headset
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD3003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM (£28)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,469.00 including VAT and delivery.

My only issue now is the case: I like quite a few cases, and, being the shallow guy that I am, I'm very indecisive as I sadly care very much about the outward appearance. I don't want a case that's too large or too heavy if at all possible, so a mid-tower would be ideal, but I'd take a full one if you guys think a mid with my set up would need more airflow. I'm currently looking at the CM 690 III, the Corsair Carbide 500R, and the Obsidian 650D (the latter two of which I'd have to provide myself). I also quite like the Carbide Air 540, but the shape might make it a bit difficult to place in my not so spacious room. At the moment I'm leaning more toward the 500R, I've always liked the case and was quite sad to see that it was no longer offered since the last time I've looked at a PC configuration. Anyway, anyone have any experiences with these cases? Or suggestions of which of these would be best? Or similar cases I haven't mentioned/ don't know about that are similar?

Also, any other comments about my build are appreciated. Thanks for all the help so far guys, and thanks in advance for this.

 

[marvir]

Finally pulled the trigger

Hey guys,

After much deliberation I finally decided to get my system. Was debating getting it in January but, well, I'm sure everyone knows that if you're gonna get something at some point we'll just get it now. Ordered by finance which got approved immediately, now all I have to do is sign the papers and send it in. I do have a nasty habit of ordering on a Friday though, so I just gave myself my first wait as I can't get to the post office today and will have to wait til Monday. Gah!

This'll be my second purchase from PCS (got my laptop from them about 2 and a half years ago), and this'll be my first desktop since I had a Pentium IV 7600GT back in 2005 or something. Can't wait! Just received my copy of Dragon Age Inquisition today as well so I'll compare the performance on this lappy with my new friend when it arrives.

Here's the build I went for in the end:

Case
Send In Your Own Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD3003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP (Award Winner) (£25)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,327.00 including VAT and delivery.

I'll be sending in a Corsair Carbide 500R as my case. I tried fiddling with the build a few times to try and get a GTX 980, but I couldn't settle for less than a 500GB SSD, and from the research I've done, the 15-20 or so % increase in performance is just not something I can justify (read: afford) for £230 more. I'll probably just hold out for the next generation of GPU's before I upgrade to the top of the line version. That said, I'm sure the 970 will do me good for quite awhile.

Let the waiting game begin. Again.