new computer:

[harfle]

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH X79: SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
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
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
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: £1,579.00 including VAT and delivery.


seems pretty good, certainly an upgrade for me, i'm wondering i've seen a few peoples specs, and they have the 1600Mhz for the 16gb ram, instead of the 2133 Mhz, the difference is ~40 pounds but seems a big upgrade in speed. or is that just me?

as for only 1 HDD, I don't know whether I should get a SSD or not, i've never had one, and I figure the turn-on process for the computer takes 2 minutes on HDD, and thats like 1/60th of the time I spend after I turn my pc on, so doesn't seem like a big diff.

i'm also planning on upgrading 1 more 670 GPU in the future or 3-way if games become more demanding!! incase you were wondering about the 850 watt.


Cheers, Harry.

 

[Jackogeddes]

from what i've heard 1600+ is rather unstable, and you wont notice a big difference unless your overclocking

also in terms of SSD, if your a gamer (especially with games such as WoW) it becomes a huge bonus in loading times. it will make your overall Windows experience a bit sharper and niftier aswell as booting fast and loading your most used games unsubstantialy faster.

you could rearange the spec a bit - for example, an SSD could be regarded much more essential than a fan operator

 

[keynes]

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH X79: SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
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
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
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: £1,579.00 including VAT and delivery.


seems pretty good, certainly an upgrade for me, i'm wondering i've seen a few peoples specs, and they have the 1600Mhz for the 16gb ram, instead of the 2133 Mhz, the difference is ~40 pounds but seems a big upgrade in speed. or is that just me?

as for only 1 HDD, I don't know whether I should get a SSD or not, i've never had one, and I figure the turn-on process for the computer takes 2 minutes on HDD, and thats like 1/60th of the time I spend after I turn my pc on, so doesn't seem like a big diff.

i'm also planning on upgrading 1 more 670 GPU in the future or 3-way if games become more demanding!! incase you were wondering about the 850 watt.


Cheers, Harry.

I'd not recommend tri-sli (high temperatures, especially the middle card), is this spec for gaming?

 

[harfle]

yeah, it was intended for gaming, but I'm trying obv. to keep the price as low as I can

thanks, harry.

 

[Jackogeddes]

read my edited post about SSD, if its gaming your after it certainly could be deemed worth it in exchange for a lesser cooler and fan button thingymagig

 

[harfle]

yeah Jack, I was considering this, (but have you seen it, it looks fantastic!, i'll probably play more with that than the games installed!)


for the SSD, do you install games on it too, and see a noticeable difference for loading or something??

Harry.

 

[Jackogeddes]

heres a basic video showing the difference, theres plenty more in depth ones [video=youtube;Ju4LAKqHc00]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju4LAKqHc00[/video]

 

[keynes]

I believe the motherboard you have selected would not support tri-sli if that is what you intended. I'd personally go for a different set up (gaming) and chose an ivy-bridge CPU. Regarding SSD (from Scan):

How will an SSD improve my gaming?

In terms of multiplayer games e.g. Starcraft 2, League of Legends and shooters like Battlefield 3 will load any files stored on your computer slightly faster like maps for example and so much quicker than a standard HDD, the rest after that is up to your internet connection.

Single player games get a clear bonus when using an SSD with fast access to the information needed to render what you want to see. So for example your playing The Witcher 2 which has high graphical demand, now you may be asking what has an SSD got to do with graphics? Well if the information that the graphics need, in order to know what to process is received faster then you get a better and smoother experience the rest of course is taken care of by your graphics card.

 

[harfle]

your right, ruben, the current MB I selected only allows 2x graphics, the rampage can however, so I'd need to get that instead.

however im confused about the CPU you suggested, i'm not familar with the new generation for cpu's, and I only have 4 options of cpu's on my page (when I click intel gaming pc)

can you please help me with that,

thanks, Harry.

 

[keynes]

your right, ruben, the current MB I selected only allows 2x graphics, the rampage can however, so I'd need to get that instead.

however im confused about the CPU you suggested, i'm not familar with the new generation for cpu's, and I only have 4 options of cpu's on my page (when I click intel gaming pc)

can you please help me with that,

thanks, Harry.

The rampage iv extreme is not needed (and expensive) for your intended use. The GTX 670 should max many games in 1 screen, and if you ever struggle I'd go with a 2nd GTX 670 or just get a more powerful GPU but I would not recommend tri-sli.

 

[Jackogeddes]

your right, ruben, the current MB I selected only allows 2x graphics, the rampage can however, so I'd need to get that instead.

however im confused about the CPU you suggested, i'm not familar with the new generation for cpu's, and I only have 4 options of cpu's on my page (when I click intel gaming pc)

can you please help me with that,

thanks, Harry.

try clicking a lower budget pc (1000ish) and you'll get the option for the third generation ivy bridges. (i5-3550, i7-3770k etc)

 

[keynes]

I'd go with that instead, I have included the SSD and the motherboard/psu would allow you to add a 2nd GTX 670 later on if needed.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX

Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)

2nd 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 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)

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

Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans

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

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)

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: £1,533.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/4x68nPqFSI/

 

[keynes]

try clicking a lower budget pc (1000ish) and you'll get the option for the third generation ivy bridges. (i5-3550, i7-3770k etc)

Top spec:
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/desktop-pcs/intel-ivy-bridge/

 

[harfle]

ahh thank you Jack, and the 3rd gen, perform better than the 2nd Gen I guess is the improvement?

 

[harfle]

Thank you very much Ruben, that helps me alot, cheers. and thank you too jack, the video proved for sure that SSD is worth it!!

 

[Jackogeddes]

ahh thank you Jack, and the 3rd gen, perform better than the 2nd Gen I guess is the improvement?

yep, for gaming atleast your going to want to stick to 3rd generation, its fast and does anything you'd possibly want so i going any higher would just be a waste of money. also unless your using the likes of photo shop, video rendering and the likes extensively, the i5-3570k which is £100 cheaper than the i7-3770k is essentially identical.

 

[keynes]

Thank you very much Ruben, that helps me alot, cheers. and thank you too jack, the video proved for sure that SSD is worth it!!

If you want to find out more about the right CPU for gaming you could read this article:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,review-32466-4.html

The best gaming CPU for £170 is the i5-2500k (according to the article), however in the gaming CPU hierarchy chart the i7-3770 is higher than the i5-3570k or i5-2500k.

 

[harfle]

just read the article, ruben, thank you both very much for your help, i'll keep you updated!

harry.

 

[vanthus]

This build would save you about £140 with no performance loss as far as gaming goes.
Also it will allow you the option of adding another GTX 670 in future.
Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3470 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd 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
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
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
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
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
£1392 inc VAT and Delivery.

 

[Jackogeddes]

If you want to find out more about the right CPU for gaming you could read this article:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,review-32466-4.html

The best gaming CPU for £170 is the i5-2500k (according to the article), however in the gaming CPU hierarchy chart the i7-3770 is higher than the i5-3570k or i5-2500k.

is there really notable difference in gaming between the i5-3570k and the i7-3770? i've heard its basically minuscule at best and is worth saving £100 on?