Suggestions would be great!

[Rich89]

Hi. My name's Richie and this is my second PC. My first one I bought at Big W I had for 7 years died in 2009 and I've been stealing my Mum's ever since. I'm surprised it lasted so bloody long. Anyway I have a budget of around £1500 I've been saving up for a while and would like bit of a beast to last me the next couple of years. Any suggestions that would better benefit me would be great. Suggestions to the case, which my main focus is best for ventilation, power supply and processor cooling that will best contribute to a quiet running computer would be greatly appreciated.

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - 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 SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (3 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DX® 11, 3D (Special Offer!)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB OCZ VERTEX 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD (upto 285MB/sR | 275MB/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 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£78)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E 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
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
24" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 23.6" Panel (£149)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet 350 USB Keyboard (£9)
Mouse
Black Logitech® Optical Wheel Mouse USB (£5)
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 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,425.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Tom DWC]

The spec you've put togeather is great but you might want to take a look at a Sandy Bridge system, built around Intel's latest microarchitecture - it comes out at a similar price:

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX570 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
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
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 TX SERIES (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£99)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
24" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 23.6" Panel (£149)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet 350 USB Keyboard (£9)
Mouse
Black Logitech® Optical Wheel Mouse USB (£5)
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 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,441.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/

 

[Meds]

Your original specification is good and there is nothing really I could suggest to improve without making major changes. To be honest with you, you can't go wrong with either specification (yours or Tom's), however I'd be tempted to follow Tom's recommendation due to the new CPU, more powerful GPU and better upgrade potential.

 

[Rich89]

Thanks for your replies guys. I'll flow with your recommendations although I would like to keep the onboard gigabit lan & wireless card as the home hub is situated in another room. Also, does this setup come with an onboard firewire port? Or will I need to select the 3 port card? Lastly, will I need to purchase a DVI cable or will that come with the monitor? Oh, I decided to chuck in the auto power off surge protector. Sounds pretty cool. Thanks again.

 

[PCS]

The ASUS® P6X58D-E, ASUS® P8P67 and ASUS® P8P67 PRO all have onboard firewire.

You will need to select a DVI cable with the 24 inch monitor.

 

[Meds]

Oh, I decided to chuck in the auto power off surge protector. Sounds pretty cool. Thanks again.

They are pretty good, I'll be buying a few of them when I move house to save on those leccy bills

 

[Tom DWC]

I would like to keep the wireless card as the home hub is situated in another room.

Oops sorry Rich forgot to include that in the Sandy Bridge build. I notice you selected the PCI-E card in your first build so regardless of which you decide to go for choose the PCI instead. It's best to use up the PCI first and keep the newer PCI-E ports free. Plus it saves you a couple of quid.

 

[Rich89]

Hi guys. I've now placed my order. Altogether it came to £1453. Final spec is just below. Initially I elected for the fast track delivery service but the CPU cooler I selected was not immediately available so instead I went for delivery by 10am Mon-Fri so that I could be here when it arrives before leaving for work. The wait is gonna be excruciating! Thanks again for all your help guys.

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX570 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DirectX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
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
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 TX SERIES (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£99)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£17)
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 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
24" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 23.6" Panel (£129)
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£5)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet 350 USB Keyboard (£9)
Mouse
Black Logitech® Optical Wheel Mouse USB (£5)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector + Auto Power Off Function (£19)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
DELIVERY BY 10 A.M WITHIN UK MAINLAND (MON - FRI) (£19)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,453.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Meds]

Looking good, the wait will be worth while don't worry.

 

[Phoenix]

I would have gone with the regular i5-2500 since you can't overclock with the triple heatpipe cooler but it looks good apart from that.

 

[russellg]

I would have gone with the regular i5-2500 since you can't overclock with the triple heatpipe cooler but it looks good apart from that.

You can OC with the stock cooler up to at least 4.2mHz (assuming a decent case), any better cooler should get beyond that.

 

[Phoenix]

If you meant 4.2Ghz then I highly doubt that.

 

[russellg]

oops...meant 4.2gHz

Anyway..look at either

"At Guru3d, they hit 4.6 GHz w/ no issues on a stock cooler.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus [...] -review/10"

or...

Quote from Anandtech review .."These chips overclock very well. Both my Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K hit ~4.4GHz, fully stable, using the stock low-profile cooler"

 

[Phoenix]

The link doesn't work I just get an error message:

Whoops sorry,
This article you requested is not yet on-line or you reached an invalid URL. Please click here to load the landing page and select the article you like to read. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

 

[Rich89]

Hi guys. Thanks for your suggestions but I don't intend to overclock my system.