Some advice needed on these specs please

U

uly21

Member
My 6 year old HP Pavilion laptop crashed and burned recently, and I took it as a sign to finally get the decent gaming PC I've been wanting for ages. I will be playing games like GW2 and Dishonered, to which I'm very much looking forward. I would like to go at least a few years before games are too good for components like the GPU and I need to upgrade.

If anyone could cast their eyes over my potential spec below and offer some opinions I would be very grateful. I'm a little worried the motherboard won't be good enough, as it's the LX rather than the straight V or the Pro, but I don't know enough about them to make a real decision so I thought I would leave it to you guys.

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE 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 SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, VGA - 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
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

The site suggested that I only needed a 450W power supply, because it estimated that I'd be using only 436W, but as I didn't want to run that close to the wire in case I need to add anything further down the line, I upgraded to 600W. I don't think I'm too worried about overclocking, but as with the motherboard I don't really know enough about it to comment. Was the 600W a good idea?
The price is currently at £871, and if I can keep it below £900 that would be preferable.

Thanks again for any helpful comments or ideas.
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
If you are not planning in overclocking you can go with the i5-3570 (without the k) and I would consider getting a better case.

I'm a little worried the motherboard won't be good enough, as it's the LX rather than the straight V or the Pro, but I don't know enough about them to make a real decision so I thought I would leave it to you guys.
Click to expand...
The main difference between the LX and V is the ability to SLI (add a 2nd nvidia graphics card), the pro would be more suitable if you decide to overclock your CPU.
For around £900 I would go with the spec below. It has a difference case (better cooling/cable management), a better hard drive (caviar black as opposed to the standard HDD you selected) and a stronger graphics card (HD 7870 > GTX 560 ti). The motherboard and power supply will also allow you to crossfire (add a 2nd HD 7870) in the future to improve performance. If you want to keep it below £900 you could choose the HD 7850 instead.


Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING 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 SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Free Item
FREE DIRT SHOWDOWN GAME with any AMD 7000 Series GPU!
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
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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: £903.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/TaJUR73Jfr/
 
Last edited:
U

uly21

Member
Those look like some really good alterations, particularly the graphics card. I obviously should have looked more closely at the reviews I've checked - while the HD 7870 generally was rated a little lower than the 560 Ti, it's clearly more powerful. However on Techradar they say "The HD 7870 is not a massively exciting card if you're not prepared to thrash it with the overclocking stick", something I'm not too likely to do as I know little to nothing about overclocking. I assume this is in comparison to others in its price range, as it is obviously more powerful than the 560 Ti without OCing. What's your opinion on that?
 
U

uly21

Member
I'll go with that then, thanks so much for all your advice. I've learned a lot the past week or so trying to decide on a set up, asking around, looking at reviews. I'm obviously still a little at sea though, so thank you for helping me.
 
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