Any suggestions?

S

Scottd

Member
Hi, i am a relative noobie when i comes to computers and am looking for a desktop that will be able to handle a little gaming aswell as being fairly fast. I was looking at the following set-up and was unsure about a few things... 1. how much difference the ssd will make to the start up times and the running/opening of applications. 2. whether to chose the radeon 6970 or the gtx 570. i am looking to keep things below £1300. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core(3.50GHz @ max 5.00GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: 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 AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
SSD CACHE DRIVE
20GB INTEL® SSD 311 SERIES - CACHE DRIVE FOR SYSTEM / 1st HDD
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,263.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Ok, firstly, I wouldn't go with an overclocked system. There is no real need and it does just make the system unstable I doubt you will use it. I have put a spec for you, here it is:


Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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 ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)
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
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,216.00 including VAT and delivery.

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

I have dropped the SSD in favour of a better gpu. This spec will be much more powerful for gaming due to the better gpu. You can always add another SSD at a later date but you will have to upgrade the psu for that.
 
S

Scottd

Member
thanks for the speedy reply. will the different mobo make a difference to future upgrading? i have come up with an alternative spec which although more expensive includes a better ssd which i can put the os on, will this make a great deal of difference to performance? I am not the biggest gamer, however i do enjoy a few games and would like the capability to game at high frame rates. I seen a post earlier which compared the amd and nvidia gpu's and on that site the 6970 was slightly above the 570 and relatively comparable with the 580 is this right? Anyway heres another spec:
Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: 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 AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 130MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s HDD, 32MB Cache (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£42)
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 (£86)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
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
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
Guaranteed Christmas Delivery Fast-Track (£99)
Quantity
1

Price: £1,410.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Firstly, I'd suggest upgrading to a SATA 3 SSD like a Kingston. The 570 and 6970 are not comparable to the 580, the 580 smashes them hands down. You could save some money by dropping the blu-ray drive if you don't really need it. Also, to save money, drop the Christmas delivery, £100 could be much better spent with a little more patience. Drop the bullguard unless you are going to carry on using it. Drop the cpu cooler one notch, the titan isn't necessary. Finally, your psu, do you really need such a big psu unless you are planning upgrading stuff in which case you may want to get at least an 850w or probably a 1050w.
 
S

Scottd

Member
Hi, ok think ill just go for the 6970 as the 580 is a bit much, dropped the bluray as i have one on my laptop anyway. Got rid of bullgaurd, dropped the psu to 650w and lowered the cpu cooler and heres the final spec:
Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: 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 AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s HDD, 32MB 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 ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)
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
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,276.00 including VAT and delivery.
does this look ok or can any improvements be made?
thanks again for the speedy replys.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
If you can afford the improvements, get a bigger psu, probably around 1050w so that you can get another gpu later. Also, you may want to get a 2TB caviar black, they are £10 cheaper than the 1TB caviar black and are very fast drives! Other than that, looks like a solid spec!
 
S

Scottd

Member
Hi, just about to purchase this, any final thoughts? thanks again for the rapid responses and the great advice.
Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: 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 AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£159)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NORTON ANTI-VIRUS 2011 - 1 Year Licence for 1 PC (£14)
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,544.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
Are you going to be overclocking the thing because if not, drop the CPU one to the non k version as that Is just for overclocking. Otherwise, that looks like a solid spec.
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
looks good dude, but drop the fan controller, your case is already fitted with max fans as standard.

also drop k version like music guy said

:)
 
S

Scottd

Member
Think im gonna get the inwin dragon rider case now, is it still not worth getting the fan controller? ive also added an asus sound card for £20 and if i get the titan cooler with this new case would i lose a fan like on the maelstorm? because if not i might get it incase i do overclock. thanks
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Scottd said:
Think im gonna get the inwin dragon rider case now, is it still not worth getting the fan controller?
Click to expand...
I would for that case, got plenty of fan slots :)


Scottd said:
ive also added an asus sound card for £20
Click to expand...
That the asus sound card? just to let ya know that card is really good for analogue headsets, so if ya aint got a decent speaker setup i'd get a mid range gaming headset to take advantage of the sound card.


Scottd said:
and if i get the titan cooler with this new case would i lose a fan like on the maelstorm? because if not i might get it incase i do overclock. thanks
Click to expand...
I honestly do not know, erm you could call pcs and ask or try and find online the max cpu cooler height for the case. Ill have a look. :)

edit -

found a review for ya :)

The maximum allowable height for a CPU cooler with the side panel fan installed seems to be 150mm
Source
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/?q=in-win-dragon-rider-review

So the cooler may not fit, best to call pcs to check.
 
Last edited:
S

Scottd

Member
Thanks, had a last minute thought, is it worth the solid state drive or would it be a good idea to get a 3gb 580 instead. if the solid state will speed up the pc a fair amount then i will get it but if the difference isnt that great ill get the 580. thanks
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
go for the 3gb if. you play on massive screens or if you ever wanna go nvidia surround with 3 screens -need two 3gb 580's for that though.

if just one screen go for the 1.5gb version.
 
S

Scottd

Member
Decided against the 580 as its a bit much, im not that serious a gamer so i figured the ssd would be more usefull. i am now stuck between the 570 and 6970 gpu's, i have read mixed reviews with some saying the 6970 is better for higher resolutions and others saying the 570 is better. i may end up buying another gpu to run either sli or crossfire, in this case ive read that the 6970 runs hot and loud due to its size. also if the 570 is in you guys (experts) opininons better will i be able to drop the psu to run sli 570's? thanks again finally gonna order after this after many changed minds.
 
MadMan

MadMan

Super Star
Id opt for this. You can sli the gtx 570 later on, it has an ssd and caviar black and for gaming the i5 and i7 are very similar.

Case
InWIN BLACK DRAGON RIDER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: 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
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, 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
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP *Award Winner* £20
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,303.00 including VAT and delivery.

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

Scottd

Member
Finally ordered, went for the following set-up:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: 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 AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£42)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£159)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP *Award Winner* £20
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
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
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NORTON ANTI-VIRUS 2011 - 1 Year Licence for 1 PC (£14)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,669.00 including VAT and delivery.
Thanks for the advice guys it was really usefull, went for the 6970 as its supposed to be better on larger monitors and i have a 37" lg tv, and a 28" hanns G that i often use. will more than likely crossfire the 6970 in the future. Also had to change the case from the inwin dragon rider (white) as it said the mobo was too big. and with the black one which is the same dimensions it said the fan controller wouldnt fit, so i just went for the haf 932 which looks good and has a good selection of ports.
 
S

Scottd

Member
Will get a review and pics up as soon as it arrives :) I'll probably end up getting a second 6970 for my birthday in February. I'll more than likely pick up another monitor, as my 28 will be a bit big for using at a desk, but I'll wait and see if there is any good 24" monitors in the sales. Also new get a keyboard and mouse ( have an apple keyboard right now but I'm thinking it will be useless for gaming). Does anyone know any good mouse and keyboard deals on amazon( I have a £30 voucher)? Thanks again for all the advice guys
 
S

Scottd

Member
Will pick one of those monitors up soon when the computer arrives. think im gonna go for either the cyborg rat 7 or 9 mouse, can get the 7 for £40 with the vouchers and the 9 for £50 but dont know whether the wireless is a good move or not. will get a keyboard soon aswell, just gonna stick with the mac one i have for the time being though. Thanks Tom
 
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