Gaming PC help

[Wolvo7]

Hey guys,

This is my first time building a PC so if you could help me with that it would be great I'm particularly wary about the cooling and the PSU. The automated system says that I only need a 750W PSU but other sites say that I need more for the same build so I selected a 850W. Also please let me know if there is any chance of overheating or stability issues with my current specs.
My budget was £2000 but I got a bit carried away. Still should be fine.

Also I want this PC to last me at least 4 years without having to upgrade and still be able to play games with pretty good resolution, hence the high-end specs. Would you recommend OC or would that just reduce the CPU's lifespan without adding any noticeable benefits?

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Six Core i7-3930K (3.2GHz @ max 4.6GHz)
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
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 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
2TB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s HDD, 64MB Cache (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£59)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
4 PORT USB 2.0 EXTERNAL HUB + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£146)
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: £2,274.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[AndyL]

If you are only using this for gaming then there are many things I would change, I would get rid of the OC, reduce the ram to 8GB 1333MHz (or at least 16 GB), get rid of the water cooling and get some good air cooling, I would also get rid of the sound card as the on board sound is very good nowadays. This spec would perform better for cheaper:

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
2GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 x 2GB)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP (Special Offer)
Free Item
FREE Battlefield 3 with any Nvidia1.5GB GeForce GTX 580!
2nd Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP (Special Offer)
Free Item
FREE Battlefield 3 with any Nvidia1.5GB GeForce GTX 580!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£59)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & 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 - 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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,730.00 including VAT and delivery.

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

 

[Wolvo7]

You forgot to change the RAM on your build =) Thx for your suggestion, I wasn't sure about the OC but the funny thing is if I build a PC with exactly the same specs as the one I posted without OCing it's actually more expensive (2280£). Go figure.

- I don't really want to downgrade the CPU, RAM, GPU or motherboard as I'm likely to be using more demanding software in the future, not just for gaming, and I want this PC to stay top of the line for some time.
- I'll take into account your tip about the sound card, although my PC is also my media player, so if I plug in good surround speakers would I still get good sounds on movies and such with the stock sound card?
- If it's the same price to OC I might as well go for it, unless as I said if this drastically reduces the lifespan, would you say that's the case?
- If I stay on an OC'ed system, would it be better to keep the water cooling, or still downgrade to air? I'll change it to air anyways if I don't OC in the end.

I figure if I'm gonna fork around 2k for a PC, I might as well get the best hardware I can get for the price, a few hundred pounds won't matter that much. I'll just set my max at 2300£.

Thanks for the advice =)

 

[jonny123]

Ocing can damage pcs overtime and seeing as this pc is already good without the oc then there is no point.Normally people oc when a computer is dying and starting to lag on games etc.

 

[vanthus]

If you want the benefit of high end speakers definitely go for the sound card.
I have the Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium & it's excellent.

 

[Wolvo7]

Cool thx guys I'll keep the sound card then and won't OC.

Any other recommendations, in terms of choice and quality of the HDDs for example? I've already got 2 Lacie external 1TB HDDs, and was gonna go for the 1TB Caviar Black HDD but the 2TB Barracuda is only £2 more expensive. What's the difference between Caviar Black and Barracuda? They seem to have similar specs. Which one would you recommend?

Also does the GTX-580 support good 3D output in case I want to get a 3D screen in the future?

I'm not going to build it before December anyways but I'm already looking for the best deals. A few things might change in the meantime, such as Windows 8 coming out. If any of you are familiar with the pricing of CPUs, do you think that the i7-3960X will decrease in price before the end of the year?

Lastly would you recommend this case in terms of design, ease of access of the ports, difficulty in changing the components and especially cooling? Which case (s) have you tried and would recommend based on these points?

That would be the final build (for now):

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-3930K (3.2GHz) 12MB 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
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 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
2TB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s HDD, 64MB Cache (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£59)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options
4 PORT USB 2.0 EXTERNAL HUB + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£146)
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: £2,225.00 including VAT and delivery.

Cheers :sailor:

 

[vanthus]

Come December you may find some of the selected components wont be available anymore,
things move on pretty fast that way.

 

[Wolvo7]

True but I figure that the main components such as CPU, GPU etc will be safe since they're pretty high end so I don't expect them to change that much in less than a year. Of course new ones could come out. Then it's just a matter of adjusting the rest with what's available but my desired specs will be the same.