Which machine

[garamo]

I was going to order this machine for gaming/music production:-

Case COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card 1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6870 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4
Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 640GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD6402AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
(7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 640GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD6402AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
(7200rpm)
RAID RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
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 (£72)
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
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year
Labour)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Miscellaneous FREE Total War Shogun™ 2 with any AMD® Radeon™ Graphics card!
But I'm now wondering if this would be a better choice:-

Case PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard ASUS® P8P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB
KIT)
Graphics Card 1GB AMD RADEON™ HD6870 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4
Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 640GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD6402AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
(7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 640GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD6402AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
(7200rpm)
RAID RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
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 (£72)
Processor Cooling COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£49)
Thermal Paste STANDARD OVERCLOCK THERMAL PASTE
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
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year
Labour)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Miscellaneous FREE Total War Shogun™ 2 with any AMD® Radeon™ Graphics card!

Which machine should I go for and will the overclocked one still be as stable?

 

[Phoenix]

#2 is the better one, all overclocked machines are throughly tested to ensure stability so you shouldn't have any problems with it. It would be worth getting the Arctic MX-3 thermal paste though.

 

[garamo]

OK great, thank you. My only concern is the liquid cooling system. Do I need to replace the liquid every so often or anything like that? Is the machine covered by your normal warranty as well?

 

[Phoenix]

The COOLIT Eco water coolers are all self contained units so there's no maintenance necessary And yes the the machine will be covered by the standard warranty but it would be a good idea to upgrade to the silver warranty since it's only £5.00 more and means that you won't have to pay for any transportation costs should anything go wrong in the first year.

 

[garamo]

Perfect. Thank you for the replies!