New PC ordered!

[Kai121]

Unfortunately my Viper III has met a rather untimely end which I would rather not go into right now (I'm Still grieving lol). However bad news for me, this is good news for PCS as I have gone and purchased a ready built Computer, Specs:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (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
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
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 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
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
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£119)
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)
Quantity
1

I have to admit I am REALLY excited about the GeForce 670, heard amazing things so far! Plus its allot harder to throw a tower PC across a room. Anyway Pics and a review when it arrives (Hopefully Tuesday if I'm lucky, unless they dispatch tomorrow which would mean Monday).

(P.S. I will probably install an SSD myself next month once the pay is in!)

 

[Narcotics]

Looks like an awesome rig good luck and I'm looking forward to the pictures and review you could maybe change the cpu to a non k one or upgrade the cooler if your overclocking you could upgrade the hdd to a caviar black it's alot faster.

 

[Kai121]

Looks like an awesome rig good luck and I'm looking forward to the pictures and review you could maybe change the cpu to a non k one or upgrade the cooler if your overclocking you could upgrade the hdd to a caviar black it's a lot faster.

As I said I went with a PC specialist ready built desktop (http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers-for-next-day-delivery/77/) for speed and convenience, at the moment I'm using an old Pre-Core I Quad processor, 4GB of 800Mhz Ram and an aging 550TI that when you game tends to crash , I want my fix of sleeping dogs and rapidly!

I will be installing an SSD for windows next month, but when it comes to running games I haven't really noticed much of a difference between a HD with a 32MB Cache and a 64MB cache which is the only real difference (Brand name excluded)

The CPU obviously I dont have a choice about but I am happy with the one in this machine and if I do decide to overclock I can probably get the better cooler from PCS

 

[Narcotics]

Sorry I don't know how I missed that it's an absolute beast of a machine

 

[Kai121]

Sorry it took so long, had a busy week and with it lot's of paperwork (Damn shoplifters!), anyway here are the images!

Externals:
Tower front shot:


My gaming station:


My 40" tv and side of computer (Yes their also hooked up!):


Internals:
Straight on:


From the left:


Any other images you would like to see just ask and I'll try and get them for you.

In regards to the SSD, I am currently torn between:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-revodrive-pci-express-ssd.html (Need to check if my mobo has boot over PCI-E ability)
Looking at a 120GB version of this maybe!

Or

http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/hyperx#sh100s3
Yet again a 120GB

Thoughts?

 

[Marks]

Internals:
Straight on:
View attachment 1968

From the left:
View attachment 1969

Any other images you would like to see just ask and I'll try and get them for you.

In regards to the SSD, I am currently torn between:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-revodrive-pci-express-ssd.html (Need to check if my mobo has boot over PCI-E ability)
Looking at a 120GB version of this maybe!

Or

http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/hyperx#sh100s3
Yet again a 120GB

Thoughts?

Its quite a while since i have built a desktop pc, its nice to see they have started to allow power cables underneath the motherboard to keep airflow much smoother.

The original revodrive seems to have a similar speed as the top sata 3 drives and the revodrive x2 is a lot more expensive per gig than e.g. samsung 830, vortex 4, hyper x etc ssd's.

I'm not sure what you are doing with your pc, but if you are playing games you would probably get more benefit from another graphics card in SLI and a normal sata3 ssd than paying the extra on a revodrive x2 if your psu can cope with another graphics card.

 

[Kai121]

Its quite a while since i have built a desktop pc, its nice to see they have started to allow power cables underneath the motherboard to keep airflow much smoother.

The original revodrive seems to have a similar speed as the top sata 3 drives and the revodrive x2 is a lot more expensive per gig than e.g. samsung 830, vortex 4, hyper x etc ssd's.

I'm not sure what you are doing with your pc, but if you are playing games you would probably get more benefit from another graphics card in SLI and a normal sata3 ssd than paying the extra on a revodrive x2 if your psu can cope with another graphics card.

At the moment my graphics card is handling everything I throw at it on highest settings with temps not straying above 75c (Probably will be lower when I install the 2 new 200mm fans at the top and side) so another graphics card isn't required (Although I may consider it at a later date, would require a new mobo), and I have worked out that I can get a revodrive for £30 more than a Hyper X, plus the read write speeds are faster, hence the extra price. At the moment I am looking at SSD options for decreased boot and (some) program load times, what I am looking for is if anyone has had experience with a PCI-E SSD and whether they would recommend it, and a debate of the pro's an cons for each from people who know a little more than me on the subject

 

[Narcotics]

looks awesome +rep for the pics

 

[Marks]

At the moment my graphics card is handling everything I throw at it on highest settings with temps not straying above 75c (Probably will be lower when I install the 2 new 200mm fans at the top and side) so another graphics card isn't required (Although I may consider it at a later date, would require a new mobo), and I have worked out that I can get a revodrive for £30 more than a Hyper X, plus the read write speeds are faster, hence the extra price. At the moment I am looking at SSD options for decreased boot and (some) program load times, what I am looking for is if anyone has had experience with a PCI-E SSD and whether they would recommend it, and a debate of the pro's an cons for each from people who know a little more than me on the subject

I'd double check the specs of whatever you want to buy carefully with the retailer to make sure you know what speed version you are buying. A lot of the values on ebuyer and ccl for example quote different values from the quick description at the top of the page and the main description.

At the huge price they are charging, the difference between 1000MB/s and 1900MB/s is big and i'd want to know the difference if i was spending £600+ on 240GB.

However the disadvantage of this type of drive is that it is less flexible. You are stuck using it in a PC with a big enough case. Do you really need that kind of speed?
It is a good way to add more fast storage if you don't have the SATA3 port for another hard drive in your computer though.

The advantage to getting a 2.5" ssd is although it may be slightly slower you can always put it in a laptop or external case in the future so its much more adaptable. You could use it in a USB 3 external drive without worrying about it being damaged through shock if dropped etc.

Its down to you which you would find more useful though.

The problem with all the really fast drives is that they can only be copied to as quick as the source is, so when you put something on from a dvd or usb stick etc it is still a really slow process.

Good luck finding the best suited to what your after.

 

[Kai121]

Just an update, after checking things out thoroughly I have placed an order for some upgrades to arrive tomorrow:

1 x OCZ SSD Upgrade Kit - Inc Adapter Bracket, Software, Cables and Enclosure (So I can put it in a 3.5" bay, got an idea for the 2.5"'s )
1 x OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III - Read 525MB/s Write 500MB/s 85,000 IOPS (I know OCZ sometimes has a bad rep, but I was on a bit of a budget and at £89 it was a steal)
2 x Coolermaster MegaFlow 200mm Transprent Red LED Silent Fan (2 nice large fans, one for the side one for the top )