Gaming Machine

[stesco]

I am looking for a top of the range gaming machine. I have looked at the following, anyone have any comments/suggestions.

Any help most appreciated.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM SNIPER - NEXT GEN GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6GB/s, NVIDIA®SLI™, ATI®CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 590 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 500MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£45)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
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
Monitor
ASUS VG236HE 23" 120Hz 3D LCD, HDMI/DVI-D HD, 1920x1080 (£235)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision
NVIDIA GEFORCE 3D VISION WIRELESS STEREOSCOPIC KIT (£109)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® G510 GAMING KEYBOARD WITH GAMEPANEL™ LCD (£84)
Speakers
LOGITECH Z623 2.1 SPEAKERS - 200W RMS & THX®-Certified (£149)
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

 

[Rakk]

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)

Were you planning on overclocking, for gaming you generally don't need to at all.
If not then you could drop the processor down to the i7-2600 (the k variants are meant for overclockers), and just have the Samsung 1333MHz RAM, because you won't really notice the difference if not overclocking.

Also for gaming 8GB of RAM will be more than enough, there's no way you'd use 16GB.
Only people who really need more than 8GB are people using high-end rendering software

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£45)

Any reason for getting two blu-ray drives? You should only need one unless you're planning on writing an awful lot of blu-rays.

 

[stesco]

Thanks for your reply.

i have downgraded to 2600 and the MB to Asus P8Z68-V. Upgraded the Hard Drive to 2TB, the coller and added a WIFI card.

Kept the 16GB not a lot of difference in price between 8GB Samsung and the 16GB Kingston.

I like the flexibility of being able to burn blue ray disks hence the two drives.

So final spec which I ordered on Wednesday.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM SNIPER - NEXT GEN GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, NVIDIA®SLI™, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 590 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 500MB/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)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£45)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS N WiFi CARD & 54Mbps ADSL ROUTER (Special Offer) (£34)
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)
Monitor
ASUS VG236HE 23" 120Hz 3D LCD, HDMI/DVI-D HD, 1920x1080 (£235)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision
NVIDIA GEFORCE 3D VISION WIRELESS STEREOSCOPIC KIT (£109)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® G510 GAMING KEYBOARD WITH GAMEPANEL™ LCD (£84)
Speakers
LOGITECH Z623 2.1 SPEAKERS - 200W RMS & THX®-Certified (£149)
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 10 to 12 working days

 

[Petchi b]

Thats a killer spec mate! But 8GB of RAM would have been more than enough but if you really do want 16GB you should have gone with Samsung as you will not make use of the 1600MHz unless overclocking.

 

[Wozza63]

some people prefer kingston to other brands, especially RAM, where Kingston are the kings of it imo, but there is nowhere near any need for 16gb, most games will require at the most 4GB and 8GB is used for futureproofing, but it will be years before you need anywhere near that, and your other parts will be outdated by then

 

[stesco]

Thanks for your comments, will post pics when the beast arrives!!

 

[stesco]

I had an email from PC Specilaist explaining there was a delay in them receiving GTX 590 due to only a few number being shipped to UK every week, currently they do not have an ETA for stock arriving. I have decided to change to 3GB GTX 580 to progress my build. What differences can I expect from the 590 to the 580.

Thanks

 

[stesco]

Sorry another question, is there much difference between 1.5gb and 3gb 580's SLI. Thanks once again

 

[Teaz]

Nothing different, the 590 is just a dual gpu while a 580 is a pure single fermi. the 590 is just more powerful but not as stable as the 580 but stability for the 590 do get fixed from updates.

and no, nothing different from a 1.5gb 580 to a 3gb 580 in sli or non sli. the 3gb model just has a bigger gb for to manage multiple monitors and reso.

1.5gb is plenty even on a large screen or 2.

 

[Wozza63]

i actually think most companies downclock the 590 to cope with the heat produced

 

[stesco]

Thanks again I will go with 1.5gb sli.

 

[DanteWilhelm]

if you were printing A1 pages or doing H.264 1080p video editing or rendering on game engines with a lot of lighting and shadowing


then 16gb of RAM really will help!!!


id have 16gb just for the future tbh

 

[MeveM]

Pointless to "future proof" a gaming pc with 16gb ram, since you're not future profing it, by the time you need 16gb, everything, everything even down to the cables will need to be changed. So you might as well not, and get it on your next, or the PC after that one.

 

[Wozza63]

considering games rarely use a quarter of 16GB i doubt you will ever need 16GB on this rig, 8GB is a sensible adjustment as it allows for futureproofing and also lets you leave some programs open without effecting your gameplay