Possible New Build

Dan4pope

Hey Guys,

Thinking of putting a gaming pc together, have a rough idea of a build already just would like ye're input on anything I should change or get before I do anything about it, no fixed budget as such, would just love a good gaming rig for a cheap enough price, but around 800-900 should be fine

Here is what i have so far:

MOBO:http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=45457&agid=1605&lb

SSD:http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?agid=1145&aid=36378&lid=2

RAM: http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=40701&agid=1193&lb

GFX Card: http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=37488&agid=707&lb

CPU: http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41224&agid=1617&lb

PSU: http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=9431&agid=1629&lb

Case: http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38374&agid=632&lb

already have HDDs so no need to get them and I will add in any DVD drive at the end,

Total comes to 942.96 euros

Telchak

Definitely an awful motherboard choice Go for an atx size one here, as the one you picked is a tiny one intended for media center pc's and such. Also, maybe a more efficient PSU (:

deconduo

This motherboard:
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43133&agid=1601

This RAM:
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44319&agid=1192

This PSU:
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=24479&agid=1629

Case is a bit expensive, but if you like it then its fine. GPU is decent, but runs quite hot and is fairly power hungry. For the same price you could get a 6970:
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=41641&agid=1165

merc.ie

Some alternative recommendations:

Palit Geforce GTX 570 - Same performance as a 480, but cheaper, quieter, cooler and less power hungry.

XFX PRO750W Core Edition - Better quality and higher capacity PSU for near the same price.

Crucial M4 64GB SSD - cheaper and slightly faster then the C300, not much of a difference in either though.

MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) - Better motherboard for a few more euros. Will let you overclock that 2500k. But then I'd recommend an after market CPU cooler - this Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B, CPU-Kühler gets some recommendations around here.

Fluffy88

I'm just wondering why you would recommend the G.Skill Ripjaws over the Corsair Vengeance as on paper the Corsairs are the better chips. Is it just the price difference for relatively no increase in performance or is there something else?

I'm not doubting ye'r advice, it's just I am considering a new build and I was thinking of using the Corsair because it's faster and has XMP and I like to know why things are better rather than being told it's better.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any reply. Oh and sorry for thread-jacking. :P

deconduo

Fluffy88 wrote: »

Is it just the price difference for relatively no increase in performance or is there something else?

Pretty much this. They are €10 more for basically NO difference. On top of that the heatspreaders are huge causing headaches for certain motherboard/heatsink combinations.

Fluffy88

Would the PC3-12800 chips offer a little more to those that wish to overclock because they have the higher frequencies?

deconduo

With the i5-2500k you are overclocking mainly using the multiplier rather than the baseclock so it doesn't make a difference.

Fluffy88

That's very true :P
Thanks, I will eventually get the hang of these things. That would mean though, you should go with tight timings as that should give a little boost, probably not noticeable I know, but in a high end system it's always nice to have.

Then this would be good RAM for this system no?
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44320&agid=1192

Dan4pope

Thanks for all the input guys, gonna review funds and get back with a finished spec

Dan4pope

Ok so here is what I've come up with from ye're input



I don't have any case put in yet because I wanted to know would it be big enough to fit 2 6970s if I ever decided to CF in the future?? Also, are all of the parts chosen compatible with each other and all that??

I didn't put in any OS either because I'm a student I was going to get it from www.software4students.ie , they are all "upgrade edition" though, so would I need another win7 OS installed previously on my pc before I could install that??

All help is appreciated guys, cheers

slave1

Dan4pope wrote: »

Ok so here is what I've come up with from ye're input
I didn't put in any OS either because I'm a student I was going to get it from www.software4students.ie , they are all "upgrade edition" though, so would I need another win7 OS installed previously on my pc before I could install that??

You don't need any OS on the system already, just install and when it asks for the W7 key don't input anything, it will default as a trial version, then once loaded activate with your student W7 key and you'll have a fully operational death star W7 install

Dan4pope

Perfect man, thanks, so would anyone have any recommendations regarding cases?? I know it's nearly down to preference at this stage but just in case I decide to slap another 6970 in there in the future I'd like to have space for it :P

M00lers

Fractal Design R3 is a real bargain, nice quiet, cool case. Corsair 600T is a nice case too IMO but more expensive.

deconduo

The Fractal R3 is great but 2 6970s might be pushing it a bit temperature wise.

The NZXT Phantom is a decent choice, as is the 600T linked above. Other cases to think about would be either the CoolerMaster HAF X or the Silverstone Raven:

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28596&agid=631
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28596&agid=631

There's probably one or two other good cases in that pricerange as well.

Dan4pope

Ok guys it appears Im after placing my order lol, luckily it had all the components I wanted, just want advice from ye really, its a large amount of money, just dont wanna feck things up, I didnt see the button for the extra 20 quid you have to pay for it to come built, should I ring them and get them to do it for the extra 20 or should I just try build it myself?? :P

Dan4pope

Ok guys, I bought my computer and it arrived this week, had to wait until yesterday to get the aftermarket CPU cooler and SSD though, I paid the extra 20 quid for it arrive built but theres something wrong with it and tbh I dont have a clue what...

Heres the basics of it: Its not detecting my monitor, mouse or keybaord (so im getting no splash screen or anything) , I'v tried taking out and putting back in the RAM and the Gfx card but still no change, on the motherboard (Asrock P67 Extreme4) theres a debugger display on it which displays the number 62, which according to the manual comes under the DXE phase title, which says "Installation of the southbridge runtime services", all of that makes no sense to me so I was hoping I could get some input from ye on past experiences of any problems similar or even identical to this

ps. some of the plugs came unplugged which was slightly odd, like none of the fan cables came plugged in, I had to do it myself, im just wondering would hardwareversand have even checked was everything working before they sent it??

Asmodean

I've heard before that they ship with some of the cables out to protect it during transport I think. I know of people that have had trouble booting up their systems before because the Hard drive was unplugged. I presume you probably checked all the cables though already

Dan4pope

Yes the hard drive is plugged in :P Im really stumped with this, any idea if the HWVS tech support is any good?

Asmodean

I have no idea. I mentioned the hard drive because a friend of mine got his machine shipped from hwvs too and they left the sata cables unplugged. I wont pretend that i know enough about pcs to suggest a solution. Im sure some of the guys on here could be able to come up with some ideas to help. Sorry!

Dan4pope

AH nah man, thanks for trying anyway

Monotype

Has everything got power?
Two cables for the motherboard? GPU?

Is it actually starting up - fans going etc?

Dan4pope

Yes to all of the above

Monotype

I'm guessing the CPU is in properly then.
It sounds like a graphics problem. Can you get a hold of another monitor and graphics card? Which card did you go for in the end?

Dan4pope

I'll go try with my old gfx card there now, got the saphire 6970 in the end, cant wait for this thing to actually start working :P

Dan4pope

It was that bastard Gfx card! :P right, thanks for that, now time to contact the germans for a replacement! will keep ye updated!

Mr Blobby

Dan4pope wrote: »

It was that bastard Gfx card! :P right, thanks for that, now time to contact the germans for a replacement! will keep ye updated![/Qu. So then it wasn't because they built it wrong ...... Thank god I'll be ordering mine soon and I was bricking it thinking they messed yours up (:

Dan4pope

Its not that they built it wrong but they either never tested it over there or it was damaged in travel, theyre the only 2 reasons i can think of

aN.Droid

Dan4pope wrote: »

Its not that they built it wrong but they either never tested it over there or it was damaged in travel, theyre the only 2 reasons i can think of

Good to know you found the fault. When I was dealing with an rma with them it was a bit difficult because of the language barrier but in the end they fixed it.

Tea_Bag

when RMAing to HWVS did ye have to pay postage and is it refunded back to you?