Your input needed please!

[zMj]

Hi all,

I was hoping you could help me clear up a few things about the potential PC (specs below) that I'm thinking of buying.

I have done some background research on the finer points of components vs components but I still have a few general questions, my purpose for buying this PC is purely gaming (on one monitor) and futureproofing. However the questions are as follows:



1) What are the potential risks of overclocking the CPU? More so, is it a good idea? Do the risks outweigh the gains?

2) With regards to futureproofing, is 32GB RAM (not currently selected) overkill?

3) Have I chosen the best graphics card for my requirements?

a) This is a very minor sub-question, which I have researched but I'm looking for a more straightforward answer (ie. not calculations or benchmarks) but would I see much of an improvement in graphics with a 4GB 680/690?

Thanks in advance!




Case
CORSAIR GRAPHITE SERIES™ 600T WHITE MID-TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Six Core i7-3930K (3.2GHz @ max 4.6GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, 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 H100i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£89)
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£9)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Zx 5.1 PCI-E Soundcard (£95)

 

[Rakk]

1) What are the potential risks of overclocking the CPU? More so, is it a good idea? Do the risks outweigh the gains?

It can shorten the life of the CPU, and for most gaming you will not really see much benefit at all and on that point, I'd go for something like an i5-3570 or i7-3770 for gaming instead - cheaper and will do the job perfectly well for a number of years.

2) With regards to futureproofing, is 32GB RAM (not currently selected) overkill?

Yes, 32GB would be overkill, to be honest 16GB is overkill as well if you're just going to be gaming

a) This is a very minor sub-question, which I have researched but I'm looking for a more straightforward answer (ie. not calculations or benchmarks) but would I see much of an improvement in graphics with a 4GB 680/690?

The difference between the 2GB and 4GB versions of the 680 would not be noticed on a single screen, on multiple monitors the 4GB version would be better

 

[steaky360]

+ 1 to what Rakk has said!

 

[keynes]

For your budget, and if it solely for gaming, you are better off with an i5 + 2 x gtx 670. It will be significantly better gaming wise compare to the spec you posted and cheaper. A single gtx 670/680 should max most games anyway in 1 screen. I think the CPU, 32 memory ram and the motherboard are overkill for your intended use.

 

[Grimezy]

Ditto what everybody has said. There's 'futureproofing' and then there's unnecessary 'overkill'. We all experienced it when we bought our rigs. "They say 16gb ram is overkill for gaming but it's only £30 more than 8gb and it'll sound way cooler so I might as well". That's all well and good but if you're never going to use that extra 8gb then there is no point at all. In a years time they may have released a new kind of ram (I know the PS4 is utilising GDDR5 or something) which might be miles faster than the ram you've bought. So all of a sudden your awesome overkilled 16gb ram is slower than somebody else's pc with 8gb super duper ram that is just right for gaming. I have no scientific proof behind this claim by the way..

Same with the processor though, everybody assumes an i7 is a must have for a gaming rig, if you look at benchmarks then you will notice there is very little difference between an i5-3570 and an i7. If you plan on doing heavy editing/3D modelling then sure, go for an i7 but otherwise it's going to be £100ish wasted as well.

As for the GPU, a 680 only just outperforms a 670 by 2-3fps in most games on a single monitor. The 670 is about £80 cheaper, you do the math.

I'll try and come up with something in the configurator which may look inferior but should perform almost identically.

 

[Grimezy]

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE (I picked the case purely out of personal experience although any of the cases around the £80 mark should be sufficient. This one will not require any additional case fans, etc to start with)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache (Non-overclockable version as you will notice little difference in gaming)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX (Has SLI capabilities (ability to add a second GTX670 in future if you wish to do so) and also has a lot of useful features onboard)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT) (8gb is plenty for now and to upgrade it really is just the case of popping new sticks in. Hardly backbreaking!)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready (Much cheaper than a 680 and is only 2-3fps behind a 680 in 90% of games. Will max 90% of games on a single monitor. In my personal experience I've maxed everything apart from things like Crysis 3 which are still playable on max but only achieve around 25fps. Easily achieve 60+ when I turn some of the shadow details down, etc which are barely noticeable)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/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 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£89)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19) (No need for a liquid cooler if you don't plan to overclock. This one is more than enough to keep processor cool)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) (Onboard sound is absolutely fine unless you plan to do music sensitive work? Or unless you have some pretty expensive speakers? I use onboard with my speakers and then my headset actually has a built in USB soundcard that is based around gaming sounds)
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 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,188.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/4oUoXSGpB2/


There's my advice then, you didn't list the price of your build so I can't comment on how much money I may have saved you but this build should easily perform similarly. If you are desperate to spend more cash then click the link above this line and have a play around with my build. My only suggestion would be a second gtx670 if you're desperate.

 

[zMj]

Thanks for your replies. This has all been very informative and incredibly helpful not to mention saved me some money. Thanks for clarifying the differences between futureproofing and overkill as well, its so refreshing to get some straight forward answers.

Grimezy especially - thanks so much for taking some time to create a build, and your bold comments. I'll definetly be going with something similar if not the same (as an aside I may do some music work so I will possibly go with the Zx 5.1)

I may order this a little bit later on today. Seriously though I really do appreciate the help.