New Build - Any improvements? 2k+

dan_ep82

With luck I'll be building a new gaming/editing/all round computer midway through March. I've spec'd up the below (overclockers were the only ones to have everything thing I wanted in stock) but there's a few parts I'm unsure of. I'll of course use the cheapest site when ordering.

For me at least looks are just as important as performance

The ram is one I'm unsure of,while I love how it looks its only 8GB and I'd really prefer 16GB for the odd bit of video encoding I do. Is there another you would recommend from personal use that's 16GB around the same price and looks as good?

The headphones and the h100i aswell. I like the look and feel of the corsair headset with the over sized ear pieces (big ears lol) and I presume the h100i is fairly solid? More looking for known problems with them, recommendations work too

The Gigabyte HD 7970 GHz Edition Windforce doesn't seem to come with the necessary cable adapters to run eyefinity out of the box?


I know the Maximus V formula is E-ATX and slightly overkill but my current mobo is the Formula IV and I love the look ,build quality and the extra's. It does fit in a 600T aswell,although it half blocks the cable management but I can live with that.

I'll also be taking a 1TB HDD out of my current system to add to it.Using my old mouse and keyboard + my Win7 ultimate key

Item|Price
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card|£349.99
Asus Z77 Maximus V Formula Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard|£249.98
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail|£179.99
Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2)|£164.99
3 x Dell UltraSharp U2312HM 23" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey |£485.97
Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White|£145.99
Corsair Professional Series HX+ 850W '80+ Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020032-UK)|£139.99
Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM3 / FM1 / FM2)|£95.95
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD|£79.99
Corsair Vengeance 1500 Dolby 7.1 Professional USB Gaming Headset|£69.98
Corsair Dominator PLATINUM 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit with DHX Pro Connector (CMD8GX3M2A1600C9)|£69.95
Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B5ST SATA ReWriter - Black (OEM)|£21.98
Shipping|£32.90
Total|£2,094.24

If you got this far thanks for reading,I usually just spec it up and build it but for my own I get all anal about it lol

Serephucus

That's a lot of money to spend on looks. Why not something like ASRock's Extreme6? If you're going for a red/black theme fair enough, but unless you're going for 4.9GHz+ there's no reason other than aesthetics to consider the Formula.

The H100i is nice, but with that sort of money I'd at least look at Swiftech's H220. (Not out yet, but it will be by March) Or if you could squeeze a bit more into the budget, a custom loop for your CPU and GPU would be an option.

I considered Platinum RAM for my build, but it's just not worth it. The lights on the damn things can barely be seen, and it's a huge premium for something that I personally forget about after the first few days. I'm using low profile Vengeance RAM instead. 16GB for the same price.

I'd look at a 2/3TB WD Red drive as well, more reliable and better warranty than the Seagate, or WD's Green drives.

850W is overkill, unless you're thinking on adding a second GPU later on. If only one, 550W is plenty.

BloodBath

Total overkill and overpriced from overclockers. 2k sterling and only a mid range i5 processor? I'd expect a HT 6 core i7 for that kind of money.

The €90 ASrock pro 4 will have the exact same overclocking results that that board will have unless you are cooling with lh2. If you really wanted a higher spec board you could get the extreme 4 or 6 instead. It's still total overkill.

You could build an exact same performance machine for around €1000-1200 and use the money saved to buy a large 1440p screen.

dan_ep82

Serephucus wrote: »

That's a lot of money to spend on looks. Why not something like ASRock's Extreme6? If you're going for a red/black theme fair enough, but unless you're going for 4.9GHz+ there's no reason other than aesthetics to consider the Formula.

The H100i is nice, but with that sort of money I'd at least look at Swiftech's H220. (Not out yet, but it will be by March) Or if you could squeeze a bit more into the budget, a custom loop for your CPU and GPU would be an option.

I considered Platinum RAM for my build, but it's just not worth it. The lights on the damn things can barely be seen, and it's a huge premium for something that I personally forget about after the first few days. I'm using low profile Vengeance RAM instead. 16GB for the same price.

I'd look at a 2/3TB WD Red drive as well, more reliable and better warranty than the Seagate, or WD's Green drives.

850W is overkill, unless you're thinking on adding a second GPU later on. If only one, 550W is plenty.

I just prefer the ROG boards,I know there's cheaper boards with similar performance but for myself it's one premium I'd keep.

I had a quick look at the Swift but it doesn't do aswell as the H100,it is quieter though. It would have to be cheaper for me to consider it I think.

As for custom water build,now that to me is overkill lol

Yeah I'm thinking the same myself,in the end I think I'll end up going for some sort of good looking ram that doesn't cost as much. While I can afford it I just can't justify it.

I'll give them a better look over,I only read one review on the Red so far but from pricing there isn't too much of a difference,and the 3 year warranty would be a bonus.

Crossfire is definitely down the line when the 7970's become cheaper. I wouldn't limit myself now only to have to upgrade later.

BloodBath wrote: »

Total overkill and overpriced from overclockers. 2k sterling and only a mid range i5 processor? I'd expect a HT 6 core i7 for that kind of money.

The €90 ASrock pro 4 will have the exact same overclocking results that that board will have unless you are cooling with lh2. If you really wanted a higher spec board you could get the extreme 4 or 6 instead. It's still total overkill.

You could build an exact same performance machine for around €1000-1200 and use the money saved to buy a large 1440p screen.

If you read my first post I said I used OC'UK as they had everything in stock so I could get a general price of what the build would be.

I used the i5-3570K as encoding is a hobbie,the gaming is the main use of the comp. Its only 60 more for an i7 3770k,I may still go for it once I get the prices from other retailers.


As above I prefer the ROG boards for their quality,look and extra's.The on board sound in the Formula IV is really good and apparently the V is better and comes with built in Wifi and Bluetooth.
If you add the price of a similar sound card,wifi card and bluetooth to the asrock with the same features it evens up a bit.

I know everyone loves asrock on Boards,but honestly I dont like the look of them.

I could sacrifice the 3 screens for a catleap now aswell. I wanted the eyefinity set up,I've had single screens and Im looking to try eyefinity.

Serephucus

I don't know what review you look at, but Swiftech's H220 destroys the H100. The big advantage to it is that it uses standard fittings, so you can easily add other blocks to the loop. All you'd have to buy extra would be a GPU block and a bit of tubing, and you could cool your GPU as well.

dan_ep82

Serephucus wrote: »

I don't know what review you look at, but Swiftech's H220 destroys the H100. The big advantage to it is that it uses standard fittings, so you can easily add other blocks to the loop. All you'd have to buy extra would be a GPU block and a bit of tubing, and you could cool your GPU as well.

Not sure what review I read but it showed the H220 beating it at mid range but not high end. Looked again and found more reviews and it seems your right. I'll try to grab that other review for you.

got it- http://www.anandtech.com/show/6716/closing-the-loop-ii-new-liquid-coolers-from-corsair-and-swiftech/4

Serephucus

The H100 does have more powerful fans, so it might cope a bit better with a CPU. When you start adding things to it though, the H220 will pull ahead fast because of the much more powerful pump, and better tubing.

dan_ep82

Serephucus wrote: »

The H100 does have more powerful fans, so it might cope a bit better with a CPU. When you start adding things to it though, the H220 will pull ahead fast because of the much more powerful pump, and better tubing.

Either way I'm going to read into this a bit more,its seems the review I read is in debate. Cheers for the heads up on it anyhow:)

coolbreeze01

i seen this in my local pc world i think its the same one couple of pound cheaper too not going too make much difference on a build like this but every cent helps:D

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/CORSAIR-CA9011112WW-Vengeance-1500-USB-Gaming-Headset-Black-andamp-Silver/312569/361

Serephucus

That's actually a very good deal!

(Note that the 1500 is not a USB headset, it's standard 3.5 analogue)

dan_ep82

Must have a look so!

dan_ep82

Ordering this in the next two weeks or so and not sure whether to get some fans for the case as I'd like it quiet. Anyone have experience with the 600t oem fans shed some light on this?

Also,got the 1500 Vengance Headset (USB btw) and its awesome,so thanks for the heads up

Item|Price
Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€148.89
Intel Core i7-3770K Box, LGA1155|€290.49
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB SATA 6Gb/s|€192.76
ASUS Maximus V FORMULA, Sockel 1155, eATX, DDR3|€244.57
Seagate Barracuda 7200 2000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€77.90
Corsair Professional Series HX850 80PLUS Gold 850W|€141.22
ASUS PB278Q|€494.98
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 WindForce 3X, 3GB GDDR5, PCI-Express|€340.60
16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz 16GB PC3-12800U CL9|€112.75
Corsair Hydro Series H100i|€94.89
Samsung SH-224BB bare schwarz|€16.00
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€2174.04

Serephucus

If you're getting the Maximus V for quality... it's the same as every other board, and won't help your performance at all. Also, while the onboard sound might be better than other motherboards, it will not be anything close to a dedicated card.

Do yourself a favour and add these fans in for the H100. The default ones sort of suck. I'd still recommend going with the H220 with those fans instead, though for CPU only, I suppose it is a bit of a waste.

Speaking of: The 3770. It's 50% more, and will only give you, at most, around a 30% improvement in performance. That's in very select circumstances (2nd pass Handbrake encodings, if memory serves) which you're not likely to be doing a whole lot.

dan_ep82

Serephucus wrote: »

If you're getting the Maximus V for quality... it's the same as every other board, and won't help your performance at all. Also, while the onboard sound might be better than other motherboards, it will not be anything close to a dedicated card.

Do yourself a favour and add these fans in for the H100. The default ones sort of suck. I'd still recommend going with the H220 with those fans instead, though for CPU only, I suppose it is a bit of a waste.

Speaking of: The 3770. It's 50% more, and will only give you, at most, around a 30% improvement in performance. That's in very select circumstances (2nd pass Handbrake encodings, if memory serves) which you're not likely to be doing a whole lot.

I know theres good arguments against it but alot of it is down to the fact that I just really like the ROG boards. I'm toying with the idea of changing it but currently it's still something I really want in the build.

So two of those yes?
I can't seem to find somewhere that sells the h220? But yeah,I'll just be sticking to the CPU. If I was to go for a full water cooling set up it would be later down the line and a full custom set.

Its only 30% more expensive? (€209 vs €290)

I do use handbrake,cinema 4d etc so I think it will be worth it now that I can afford it and still come in under my original budget?

BloodBath

If you're planning on going dual gpu I'd go with a 670gtx.

SLI is more reliable and scales better than crossfire at least until amd sort out the drivers.

You could probably squeeze a 3930k 2011 system into that budget with some tweaking.

-Edit- They might have fixed this problem already. Looking at newer tests it's pretty close but crossifire is still suffering from worse frame latency issues. How noticeable this is outside of benchmark testing I don't know.

dan_ep82

BloodBath wrote: »

If you're planning on going dual gpu I'd go with a 670gtx.

SLI is more reliable and scales better than crossfire at least until amd sort out the drivers.

You could probably squeeze a 3930k 2011 system into that budget with some tweaking.

-Edit- They might have fixed this problem already. Looking at newer tests it's pretty close but crossifire is still suffering from worse frame latency issues. How noticeable this is outside of benchmark testing I don't know.

Well it will be a while before I go ahead with CF, plus the free games is a good incentive to go with amd. Could you link to the benchmarks?

I'd rather not pull back on the parts,the likes of the case and the mobo I'm particular to

BloodBath

Here.

There's anomalies there with the 7970 still. Like bf3 at 1080p. Crossfire doesn't seem to work but does at higher resolutions.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crossfire-sli-scaling-bottleneck,3471.html

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/60166-nvidia-gtx-titan-vs-sli-crossfire.html

The 680gtx and 7970 seem to be pretty much neck and neck in most benchmarks. Of course the 680 costs more but an overclocked 670 isn't far off a overclocked 680. The same as an overclocked 7950 isn't far off an overclocked 7970.

It's a tough call really but I'm leaning towards sli for dual gpu rigs for the lower power consumption and less frame latency issues.

dan_ep82

Just wondering how long after I order do I have to make the transfer?

Serephucus

24 hours, AFAIK.

dan_ep82

Hope its longer than that,was going through the process and went to far and ordered it,won't be transferring until Wedensday

FlyingIrishMan

Pretty sure it's two weeks before they'll cancel an order.
If you want to email them they'll cancel the order and you can order again on Wednesday.