Possible Spec for New Gaming PC

freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
Hi all, I'm contemplating buying a new rig if my current one can't be repaired by PCS. I mostly play games like the Total War series, Skyrim, GTA series, Crysis series, but have recently begun to play online FPS like Planetside 2. I also use the PC for work purposes, with a little video editing and/or 3D modelling involved.

Below are 3 different specs, I'm interested in the what you think the merits are of each of them, and in particular the choice of CPU/MOBO and RAM.

I'm pretty set on the GPU, PSU, CPU cooler and the 3 year warranty. I currently have windows 7 on my current PC, but I am unsure if I will be able to use it on my new PC, hence windows 8 is included in the specs.

Thanks for your help and advice!
 
Last edited:
freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
Case
Send In Your Own Case
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Quad Core i7-3820 (3.6GHz @ max 4.4GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH X79: SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz 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 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
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£69)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!
Quantity
1

Price: £1,421.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-2011-overclocked/gyJHLBY6Gc/
 
freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
Case
Send In Your Own Case
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Quad Core i7-3820 (3.6GHz @ max 4.4GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P9X79 LE: INTEL® SOCKET LG2011
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 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
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£69)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!
Quantity
1

Price: £1,315.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-2011-overclocked/O3w29qBH6U/
 
freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
Case
Send In Your Own Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LK: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, 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 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
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£69)
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
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!
Quantity
1

Price: £1,174.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/ye5PbrGvvv/
 
freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
keynes said:
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-1155-overclocked/
Click to expand...

Thanks again Keynes. I had only been looking at the new 2011 socket OC PC's, hence I completely missed that! Below is a build using the i7-3770K. Is the fact that the i7-3770K has a greater OC clock speed the reason you say that it outperforms the i7-3820? What about the choice of MOBO, does the X79 MOBOs not outperform the Z77 MOBOs? Which MOBO in both of the chipsets gives you the best "bang for buck"?

Also, does anyone know if I can use my current OS (windows 7, supplied by PCS with my current rig) on my new build PC?

Case
Send In Your Own Case
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-3770k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LK: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz 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 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
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£69)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!
Quantity
1

Price: £1,288.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-1155-overclocked/jnuYhpYygg/
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
What about the choice of MOBO, does the X79 MOBOs not outperform the Z77 MOBOs?
Click to expand...
For your intended use any motherboard should provide the same performance.
Is the fact that the i7-3770K has a greater OC clock speed the reason you say that it outperforms the i7-3820?
Click to expand...
At stock clock speed the i7-3770 outperforms the i7-3820 for more cpu intensive applications
does anyone know if I can use my current OS (windows 7, supplied by PCS with my current rig) on my new build PC?
Click to expand...
I don't think you can since the one supplied by PCS is an OEM version.
 
freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
So it's been confirmed that the liquid CPU cooler which failed in my old system also managed to take the GPU, CPU and MOBO with it. This leaves the rest of the system to be incorporated into a new build in my HAF-X case, with the following components listed below. All told it''ll cost me around £925 I believe. I'd like advice/opinions on my choices and whether there are other components I should consider or anything else I may have missed.

Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-3770k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z77: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT) - [I think my old 6GB RAM is still viable, but wondered if it was worthwhile upgrading to 8GB?]
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) - [I currently have a WD Green, how much of a performance boost would having a WD black as boot drive and the green as storage give me, compared to sticking wiht just the green as a boot drive?]
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE - [Reusing existing PSU from current system]
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£69)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

I don't currently have a sound card, I'd like recommendations for one with primarily gaming purposes in mind, I use a Roccat Kave headset at the moment.
I would also like to get a set of speakers, likewise gaming mouse and keyboard, again your recommendations would be helpful.

Cheers!
 
bigben

bigben

Master Poster
freefaller said:
So it's been confirmed that the liquid CPU cooler which failed in my old system also managed to take the GPU, CPU and MOBO with it. This leaves the rest of the system to be incorporated into a new build in my HAF-X case, with the following components listed below. All told it''ll cost me around £925 I believe. I'd like advice/opinions on my choices and whether there are other components I should consider or anything else I may have missed.

Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-3770k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z77: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT) - [I think my old 6GB RAM is still viable, but wondered if it was worthwhile upgrading to 8GB?]
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) - [I currently have a WD Green, how much of a performance boost would having a WD black as boot drive and the green as storage give me, compared to sticking wiht just the green as a boot drive?]
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE - [Reusing existing PSU from current system]
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£69)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

I don't currently have a sound card, I'd like recommendations for one with primarily gaming purposes in mind, I use a Roccat Kave headset at the moment.
I would also like to get a set of speakers, likewise gaming mouse and keyboard, again your recommendations would be helpful.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Hi,

Why have you decided to go for overclocked CPU? For gaming it is not necessary.
I think (although I don't know for sure) that most people who video edit etc. tend to go for more RAM (16gb) but don't bother with the overclock.

The soundcard: I use the onboard sound on my mobo and for me it is absolutely fine. I would consider trying onboard first and if you aren't happy with sound quality it is an easy upgrade to do yourself.

If you are happy with your cav. green, have you considered SSD? They are a lot faster than normal hard drives. My desktop and laptop can both be up and running in about 10 seconds, whereas with my computer at work that has a normal hard drive in you have time to go put your boots on and then put the kettle on as well while you are waiting for it to start.

Speakers, mouse, keyboard depend on budget really. I use a rat 7 mouse and a ms sidewinder keyboard which between them cost me about £70 and I find them good - the mouse isn't any good for left handed people though.
 
freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks for the suggestions bigben. I've went for an OC'd CPU again as I use some CPU intensive applications relating to my work at times, plus the Total War series fairly runs the CPU through it's paces. I don't think I'll be doing too much video editing, although did start recording before my system failure. I did wonder with a new GPU whether I should spring for the extra RAM and upgrade to 8GB over my current 6GB, probably yes. As far as SSD's go, I've not had one before and think I'll stick with the mechanical drives for the time being. I heard that the caviar black was a better boot drive, just didn't know by how much. I've always used on board sound, however I just wondered if a soundcard improved things much in game e.g. FPS games like Planetside 2.

Anyone know exactly how much performance boost you get using a WD caviar black over WD caviar green as the boot drive?
Also, does anyone know if PCS are expecting GTX 7 series GPU's soon? I read 23rd May on another thread, and yes I could call them to confirm. I'm not sure if it would be worthwhile waiting until then before making a choice on which GPU to buy, or whether it's best to go ahead now with the 670.
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
freefaller said:
Anyone know exactly how much performance boost you get using a WD caviar black over WD caviar green as the boot drive?
Click to expand...
I've heard that it's quite a lot, the Caviar Greens are meant as storage devices so tend to power down when not in use, they also tend to spin slower to save energy, ie. as far as I'm aware they were never really meant to be boot drives and only meant to be used as storage.
Note, I have never used a Caviar Green so have no personal experience to draw from.

freefaller said:
Also, does anyone know if PCS are expecting GTX 7 series GPU's soon? I read 23rd May on another thread, and yes I could call them to confirm. I'm not sure if it would be worthwhile waiting until then before making a choice on which GPU to buy, or whether it's best to go ahead now with the 670.
Click to expand...
I've also heard the 23rd as the release date for the 780, about a week later for the 770 and not sure on the rest, though it could all stilll change dependent on NVidia's release, I guess PCS will have them pretty quickly after the release date but since I don't work for them, it's speculation on my part.
 
freefaller

freefaller

Bronze Level Poster
Hello all. Well I finally ordered my replacement components on the 10th June to create essentially a brand new system in combination with the remaining components of my old system listed in my signature as follows:

Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-4770k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ max 4.40GHz)
Motherboard ASUS® Z87-PRO: USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, XFIRE, SLi, WiFi
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 770 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
Processor Cooling Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler

I wondered if any of you had any thoughts or suggestions on the build. Cheers :)
 
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