My first Personal Computer - Patience is a skill worth having!

[Bvenged]

So I've purchased my first own PC from PCS after recommending friends in the past to do so as well. This waiting is so hard, so to help pass the time I'd like to discuss what I've gone and bought! So far I'm on 12th working day, pre-production and it's killing me!

I'll add pictures of it once it's delivered:

Case
ZALMAN Z11 PLUS BLACK MID TOWER CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD - SAPPHIRE HD 7770 GHz EDITION

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER

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

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 (£79)

Mouse
ROCCAT™ Lua – Tri-Button Gaming Mouse (£25)

Headsets
LOGITECH® PC HEADSET 860 - STEREO WITH IN-LINE VOLUME CONTROL (£9)

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Price: £622.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/goskGmCT9b/​

I played it safe and pre-ordered the Zalman Z11 case with PCS for when it's in-stock. I knew it would add 2 weeks onto my order (which I placed on the 5th, processed on the 8th) since they wouldn't have it in stock until at least the 19th Jan, but that way I could have it covered under the PCS silver warranty the rest of the computer's under.

For discussion value:
Is it much of a benefit to upgrade from the P8Z77 V-LX to the P8Z77 V-LK mobo even if I don't ever plan on crossfire/SLI?
What would you choose for your components if you wanted a gaming computer with an Ivy Bridge CPU for ~£700?

EDIT: What's the ETA on standard delivery times to South Wales? I might put a hold on it so it's delivered on a weekday that I'm home. I'd prefer it not turning up when I'm out, you see. Is there are way to ensure it's delivered on certain days of the week?
Thanks.

 

[SlickShoes]

I thought I was bad on the 7th working day and still being in pre production, yes the waiting is a killer!

If you never plan to crossfire/SLI I don't think that motherboard upgrade is worth it, but it's up to you, it does have more USB3 slots for a start, just read the specs on the asus site http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z77V_LX/#specifications and decide if the extras are worth the money to you.

I chose the computer in my sig and it totalled £755 as I already have an HDD and OS.

 

[IanVanCheese]

Day 10, pre-production. i feel your pain. kicking myself for not getting it speed built.

Build looks good, though I'd want a bigger HDD personally.

 

[Bvenged]

Day 10, pre-production. i feel your pain. kicking myself for not getting it speed built.

Build looks good, though I'd want a bigger HDD personally.

Yeah, me too. I would've liked to put an SSD in it for the OS, but that's not an end-of-the-world thing and I've saved for long enough just to get to this stage. I considered a 1TB HDD but then I realised "I could always buy an external, or install a second 500GB myself if this first one gets full". It's not exactly a hard procedure and I've done it many times before.

I requested PCS partition the 500GB into 3 so the OS is kept septate from the programs, which in turn will be kept separate from the constantly changing files. I would've preferred a smaller OS partition size of 60GB but they seem pretty strict on 80GB min. partition size.

I was tempted at one point to upgrade to a faster build, until I realised "where exactly are they gonna' get the case from, Genius? Conjure it out of thin air?"

This anticipation is clouding my judgement!

 

[craigyb]

also thought it was bad to be on 7th working day pre production, they must have a lot of work on or are just lazy [rollinglaugh]

 

[Niem]

also thought it was bad to be on 7th working day pre production, they must have a lot of work on or are just lazy [rollinglaugh]

7 days Pre-production here too, can't wait to get my mits on my PC, hopefully will start being built this week

 

[Bvenged]

7 days Pre-production here too, can't wait to get my mits on my PC, hopefully will start being built this week

When I've designed friends' computers on this site and they've ordered, they usually had the computer within 7-10 days. Not working days, mind you, as in; around about a week after ordering, they had the delivery.

The weather could be playing a huge factor here. If some of their employees can't get to work or their stock supplier deliveries are held up because of the snow, I would assume it's has a knock-on effect on custom builds.

 

[Niem]

Well my last PC took 3 weeks and that felt like forever but I know it'll be worth the wait trying not to amend my order though already did once last week haha, added a SSD as my first drive.

 

[Bvenged]

Well my last PC took 3 weeks and that felt like forever but I know it'll be worth the wait trying not to amend my order though already did once last week haha, added a SSD as my first drive.

I can't afford to amend. I keep clicking on it though and having a look, but I close it quickly before I can do any damage!

 

[Niem]

I can't afford to amend. I keep clicking on it though and having a look, but I close it quickly before I can do any damage!

Haha same I can afford to upgrade to the i7-3770 but I keep having to tell myself no!

 

[Bvenged]

Haha same I can afford to upgrade to the i7-3770 but I keep having to tell myself no!

Yeah, Constantly looking at my order doesn't help! Well, I have the money to do it, but I don't really have the money to spare (if that makes sense). I was curious about upgrading the mobo to the P8Z77-LK as the added features are something I don't wanna' regret in the future, but I simply don't need it and I probably never will.

Should the time come where I do need it, I'll probably need to buy a new computer again anyway. I keep thinking about upgrading to the i7 or the overclocked i5, but I really don't <i>need</i> to!

If PCS were robots and could process, build, test and dispatch a computer in an hour, it wouldn't leave me with the time to keep second-guessing my own order

 

[Niem]

Yeah I know what you mean I should be happy with the i5 seeing as most games don't use hyper threading yet. I was originally going to go for the i7 due to my design work and checking my order status isn't helping!

 

[Bvenged]

Yeah I know what you mean I should be happy with the i5 seeing as most games don't use hyper threading yet. I was originally going to go for the i7 due to my design work and checking my order status isn't helping!

Yeah, i5 quad-cores are all you need right now and for the next year or so at least. It's the GPU that's worth upgrading if you want to squeeze more gaming performance out of your design at the higher end of things.

 

[Niem]

Agreed. Did originally choose the GTX 680 but the 670's performance is close to it and way cheaper.

 

[Bvenged]

Wooooo! Website says it's In Building, but email came through saying it's built and In Testing. Not sure what to believe but either way, progress has happened and that's good enough for me!

 

[SlickShoes]

Mine is still in building, I am hoping to have it by next weekend unless anything bad happens. So far this is my 3rd day in building, I guess it's in the queue to be tested!

I love being able to properly track the order but it is also destroying my mind haha

 

[Niem]

Mines in QC now, nice surprise when checking my phone on my break at work

 

[SlickShoes]

Mines in QC now, nice surprise when checking my phone on my break at work

You have jumped the Queue! I am Livid! hahaha

 

[Niem]

Sorry!!

 

[Bvenged]

Yeah, got the email for testing now too. Wow, after 15 working days in PrePro it flew through Building in little more than an hour. I expect it'll be in QC on Monday. Shame I won't get it in time for my 20th on Tuesday, though in some twisted way that's a good thing because it can't play distraction with the exam I got that day as well.

Except I'm pretty sure checking the site every hour counts as "playing distraction", but that's for a minute or two as opposed to consuming the whole hour