New machine- first time builder, what do people think?

M

macky253

Active member
Thought i would see what people thought of my new machine. I have never bought a computer before for myself and i have always have had hand me downs, so after some rather lucrative summer work i have decided that i will no longer sit and wait for the cogs to turn in my ancient machine, and would spend a bit of my hard earned money on a good system capable of doing most things reasonably quickly.

I do of course have a budget and so have tried to get the most bang for buck with my system, however as stated i am not massively experienced in this field and so thought i would turn to you wise people to see if you think this spec is good for what i want?

The system is currently in the pre-production stage and so if i want to i can still change some of my spec for free per any suggestion.
Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved from ANTEC 900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM)
6GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (3 x 2GB KIT) from 6GB KINGSTON HYPER-X T1 TRI-DDR3 2000MHz, X.M.P (3 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5850 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 70MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm) from 1TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£59)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 750W PSU (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£88)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£62)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI EXPRESS CARD (£19)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
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 9 to 12 working days
Quantity


Price: £1,386.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
S

SteveB

Gold Level Poster
Hi Macky

From what I was told and what I have read many times on here you don't need 1600MHz or 2000MHz ram unless you are overclocking, I'm sure the PCS guy's will confirm this.
 
M

macky253

Active member
SteveB, yeh i was told this however i thought i would add a little bit of scope for overclocking incase i do ever decide i want to. Figured the price difference wasnt actually that much between the two so thought why not
 
H

h3ro

Bronze Level Poster
if you're not experienced in this field then i would strongly advise you not to overclock as you'll probably do more harm than good.
 
M

macky253

Active member
h3ro, thats a fair comment however should i decide to overclock i would not perform it myself and would leave it to someone who knows exactly what they are doing. I currently work for a software firm and as such have the access to professionals should i need it.
 
Sleinous

Sleinous

Author Level
Fair point, just a couple of suggestions. Maybe downgrade the cooling solutioon from liquid to the Fenrir CPU Cooler as that still breezes though even the toughest of overclocks. Maybe also take the 1TB WD10EARS 64mb cached HDD (exactly same as the WD1002FAEX 64mb cached drive) except its a green one insead so slightly more power efficient and its a SATA 3gb/s drive, but, having said this, the 6gb/s slots on your mobo wont really benedfit the 6gb/s hdd you chose (it does have an absolutely MINUTE advantage but only in certain rare read/write operations). So, id suggest taking the WD10EARS, and LEAVING the second SATA 6G slot for a 2nd future SSD drive (6gb/s DOES benefit solid state due to way faster read/write on the actual hardware) The WD10EARS doesnt compromise in cache either, still 64mb, and thats vital.

Next up, with the money saved you could possibly upgrade the GPU to a 5870? Or, maybe, a TX 850 PSU because you will need atleast that if you intend to add a second ATI GPU in crossfire at a later date on this 3way cross/sli capable mobo.

If this messages all well and g0od, if not, im gonna be peeved, this hotel internet today is remarkably cra*ola.
 
M

macky253

Active member
With your suggested changes i was able to save £100 so have upgraded the PSU, didnt save enough to get the 5870. Not sure if the 5870 is worth the money, certainly not to me. Everything i have read about the 5850 says it is the best value/performance card there is and should be able to handle most of what i could throw at it. Also it would mean that if i was to crossfire i could get another more affordable 5850 in the future as opposed to a rather expensive 5870.

Here is how my new build works out:


Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM)
6GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (3 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5850 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
3rd Graphics Card
NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 70MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
RAID
NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£59)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 850W PSU (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£100)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EXTREME DIRECT TOUCH COPPER CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI EXPRESS 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
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD
TV Card
NONE
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
NONE
2nd Monitor
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
GeForce 3D Vision
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
NONE
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Webcam
NONE
Headsets (VOIP)
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Printer
NONE
External Hard Drive
NONE
Home Installation
NONE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Data Recovery
NONE
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
There's an easy way to post your spec to our forums - just click on the "Post to Forums" button after you've configured your PC and clicked "Proceed", or at the bottom of your Quote viewing page.
 
M

macky253

Active member
Scrap what i just said. just tried to change my order but i cant change the hard drive as it has already been changed once :( this is the problem with waiting so long! constantly want to change things on my order
 
M

macky253

Active member
Unfortunately my machine has now been built and so to change anything i would incur an extra charge. I say unfortunately of course this is not what i mean lol!! cant wait!! but from a changing things round perspective i have left it too late :(
 
M

macky253

Active member
ps, thanks for all the input guys, these forums and the people on here are a great help! two thumbs up! never had such a pleasant purchasing experience.
 
M

macky253

Active member
getting somewhat concerned that my pc is now in its 3rd working day in the "in building" stage of production, yet as far as i understand it my pc has been built with no problems. Is this normal or is this due to the backlog of builds PCS is experiencing? Just really want my computer :( Iknow im being impatient and I know that the computer can take up to 30 days to get to me and i am now only on my 11th working day of production, just thought that once the pc had been built the process would speed up
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
You probably want to check your order, it may have notes attached to it, maybe waiting for components, if not then its just they're really busy at the moment. There's not really any reason to be concerned.

I would say be patient, but I know what I was like when waiting for mine (I think all my friends and workmates were ignoring me by the end).
 
M

macky253

Active member
I have checked and the only notes i can find are the ammendments that i made to my order, of which all say completed. It also states that my order has been built by andrew vincent, which i assume means it has been finished and is now sat idle waiting for testing. I suppose it is just the backlog PCS are experiencing. Unfortunately i spoke to someone, forget who now, on the online support and they supposed that providing my machine did not encounter any issues it would probably be sent out for dispatch by tomorrow (12th working day). guess i should have known this was optimistic but the anticipation and excitement got the better of me and i believed it! now im sad and i guess i just wanted somewhere to moan lol

If the PCS guys are reading this, i am not under the impression my machine has been forgot about or anything, and i do fully understand the problem regarding the influx in demand. Just wanted to share my sorrow at not beeing able to unpack my machine within the next few days :(
 
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