final spec check. ordering soon :D

[Slurpak]

my budget has been shooting up and down for a while now whilst i have been waiting to order my new computer, and i think im ready to order it very soon now, as im getting very impatient lol.

my budget now stands at £1,100 and this is what im planning on spending my hard earned cash on:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM)
6GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (3 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 + MAFIA II
Free Item
FREE MAFIA II Game (RRP: £34.99) with a qualifying GTX 4xx Series GPU!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
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 & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1366 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED (i already own a copy of windows ultimate x64)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE (i use open office)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2271HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£139)
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8) (im assuming i won't get an HDMI cable with the monitor)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Wireless Desktop® MK250 Keyboard and Mouse Combo (£19)
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 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,141.00 including VAT and delivery.

this computer will be used for plenty of things, but mainly gaming.
im set on going for the intel and nvidia combo.
im not planning on adding another GPU.
i want this to play pretty much any game i throw at it on full specs, for at least a couple of years.
this is at the top end of my budget, but im sure i could stretch a little further if needs be.

i have a few questions...
1. Are there any changes i should make to this before i order it? as i said i can stretch the budget a little further, but obviously would prefer to save money rather than spending more.
2. any comments on the mouse and keyboard? i picked it because it was the cheap option, but am i getting what im paying for, or will these do fine? if i can cut some money off the budget, then is it worth getting the G15 keyboard, and G500 mouse?

thanks in advance for the help

Slurpak.

 

[Slurpak]

This is an alternative spec that i came up with. slightly cheaper spec, sacrificed some processing power, and some ram for the G15 keyboard and G500 mouse.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost
Motherboard
ASUS® P7P55D-E: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 + MAFIA II
Free Item
FREE MAFIA II Game (RRP: £34.99) with a qualifying GTX 4xx Series GPU!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
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 & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2271HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£139)
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard with Gamepanel LCD Display (£69)
Mouse
Logitech® G500 Laser Gaming Mouse (£39)***SPECIAL***
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 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,079.00 including VAT and delivery.


how much difference can i expect in terms of performance with this system compared to the previously specced one?
in my opinion i would think that the larger processing power and ram would be better to go for, then maybe get the better keyboard and mouse when i get more money at a later date, but this forum is for getting other peoples opinions, so what do you think?

 

[Phoenix]

You won't lose performance in games with the i5-760 and the gaming keyboards are (as their names suggest) much better for gaming.

 

[Slurpak]

thanks for the quick reply. i am tempted by the gaming keyboard and the gaming mouse. its just difficult to decide because i know the extra ram and processing power will come in useful (epecially with the future proofing).

will both of these setups be able to play whatever game i throw at them on full settings?
also should i go with an HDMI cable, or a DVI cable? i have heard that alot of people say they don't see any difference, and in fact HDMI is limited to the resolution whilst DVI isn't, but surely an HDMI cable would be better? (if DVI would be better to go with, is it worth saving some money and going with the 22" widescreen TFT monitor)
and can someone confirm whether i will get an HDMI or DVI cable with the monitor?

sorry about all the questions. im not planning on getting another computer for quite some time after this, so i want to get it right this time.

cheers,
Slurpak

 

[Tysuro]

Intel are gonig to be releasing some new Processors pretty soon and also you can get extra ram in next comnig months they will drop in price dramatically.

 

[Slurpak]

have you any idea of how soon 'pretty soon' is? i have been waiting for the money to get this computer for months now, and have finally got it together. i don't think i can wait much longer, im craving some hardcore gaming lol.
there's always new stuff just about to come out. if i keep waiting for the next new thing to come out i will be waiting forever.

 

[Phoenix]

Just order now before the VAT increase, yes both CPU's will let you max out any game you want. I'd stick with the Iiyama monitor because it has it's own dvi cable (it's the same quality as hdmi) and looks nicer.

 

[JSG10]

A DVI cable comes with the monitor and its a fantastic monitor I've got one myself with my new rig and I love it. A DVI cable is fine, don't worry about HDMI cable, especially as you can get them elsewhere such as play.com for as little as £2-3 and they do the job just as well. I'm sticking with the supplied DVI cable though

 

[Slurpak]

Iiyama monitor and DVI cable it is then. any changes you would make to the specs? im thinking of going with the spec with the G500 and G15 now, unless anyone makes a good point about why to stick with the larger amount of ram and processing power.

 

[Sleinous]

have you any idea of how soon 'pretty soon' is? i have been waiting for the money to get this computer for months now, and have finally got it together. i don't think i can wait much longer, im craving some hardcore gaming lol.
there's always new stuff just about to come out. if i keep waiting for the next new thing to come out i will be waiting forever.

8GB modules release with sandybridge, intel gen 3 ssd's release in Feb 2011, sandybridge releases Q1 2011

 

[Slurpak]

thanks slienous. so is this the spec i should go for then?

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost
Motherboard
ASUS® P7P55D-E: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 + MAFIA II
Free Item
FREE MAFIA II Game (RRP: £34.99) with a qualifying GTX 4xx Series GPU!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
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 & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2271HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£139)
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard with Gamepanel LCD Display (£69)
Mouse
Logitech® G500 Laser Gaming Mouse (£39)***SPECIAL***
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 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,079.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Slurpak]

i was thinking of splashing out a bit more money and replacing the Iiyama 22" monitor with the 'GeForce 3D Vision Kit & ViewSonic FuHzion 22" VX2268wm 120Hz LCD bundle.' is the 3D vision kit any good? how many games can you actually play in 3D?
also how is the ViewSonic monitor i would get with this bundle? better than the Iiyama?

EDIT: i just saw that the viewsonic monitor has 1680x1050 resolution compared to the Iiyama monitor's 1920x1080, so if my main use of the computer is gaming would it be better for me to go with the Iiyama? or are those resolutions so simiar i won't really know the difference when gaming?

 

[JSG10]

Pretty much the same rig as mine but I went AMD instead of Intel

The 3D kit is rather expensive and I think its more a tech for some later games but from what I've seen and heard it is very impressive! I'm not sure how many games out at the moment can make full use of this tech. I'd love to see Mafia 2 with this

There's not a huge amount of difference with those resolutions the Iiyama is more widescreen than the viewsonic and the ViewSonic has a higher refresh rate which will help prevent any flickering but that being said, refresh rates aren't quite as important with LCD monitors due to the way they work.

Unless you've actually got the extra cash lying around and don't mind spending out then I'd stick with the iiyama as it is a great monitor and I'm very happy with mine. I feel the 3D Tech may, at present, be slightly gimicky but I can't really form a solid opinion because I've not had the chance to try it out for myself!

 

[Slurpak]

thanks for the reply JSG. i was looking at some reviews to see if it was worth getting and i came across a table that showed the frame rate without 3d and with 3d on left for dead. without 3d on he was getting 101.7fps and with it turn on he was getting 41fps. and that was on left for dead which is a fairly old game now. im wanting to max out new games, so im thinking if the 3d impacts the frame rate so much then i probably wouldn't use it for much gaming, mostly films. so at the moment im thinking its not worth the extra money.

has anyone who has used the nvidia 3d vision got any advice? is it worth the extra money if i am mainly going to be playing newer games on max settings?

cheers,
Slurpak

 

[JSG10]

You'll max it out with that rig Slurpak
Maybe consider upgrading the mobo to include SLI for future? Then you can stick in a 2nd 470 when you feel you need it, or want it You'd need to up the PSU if you do this though.

 

[Slurpak]

thats a good idea. if i stick with the Iiyama monitor and replace the motherboard with the ASUS® P7P55D-E PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT, and the PSU with the corsair 750W then i could add a second 470 later on. this would make my spec as it stands look like this:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost
Motherboard
ASUS® P7P55D-E PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 + MAFIA II
Free Item
FREE MAFIA II Game (RRP: £34.99) with a qualifying GTX 4xx Series GPU!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 750W PSU (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£88)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2271HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£139)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard with Gamepanel LCD Display (£69)
Mouse
Logitech® G500 Laser Gaming Mouse (£39)***SPECIAL***
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 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,121.00 including VAT and delivery.

would a 750W be enough or should i go with the 850W just to be on the safe side?

cheers,
Slurpak

 

[JSG10]

I'd definitely go with 850w just to be safe. Some people are even specing a 1000W for future SLI GTX470s

I'm half wishing I'd thought more and upgraded the mobo and PSU myself but c'est la vie and all that French nonsense!

 

[Slurpak]

the 1000W is a little expensive, so ive added the 850W instead, and this brings the total to £1172.
thats JSG. +rep for all the help.

 

[JSG10]

Yeah thats the only trouble. I kept adding bits and increasing CPU and GPU and thought... oh dear, really must stop now, its topped a grand lol Never mind hehe
No problem matey

Oh and if you've not got decent surge protection I'd strongly advise grabbing one of the belkin ones PCS are offering. Won't find them cheaper elsewhere, I've looked XD and they have good insurance with them

 

[Slurpak]

haha, i know exactly what you mean. ive been adding and taking away bits trying to make the perfect pc for a very long time now, and now im getting impatient and just want to order it. hopefully order it soon. gonna go with the 5 day delivery aswell. i cannot wait