Gaming/Video Editing PC

[TudorVII]

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER EIGHT CORE FX-8120 (3.10GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A99X EVO:USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX™/SLI™
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT) - Being supplied by me, after winning a set on a PCS Twitter contest
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, 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 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE AMD CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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 - Forgot to scrub this off
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£139)
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


Price: £1,152.00 including VAT and delivery.

Hopefully going to be ordering this tomorrow, going to be doing a fair amount of HD video and photoshop editing, as well as some gaming like BF3, Dawn of War 2 and maybe SWToR later down the line. By budget is around £1100, I've already gone over it but this isn't an accurate price because of the RAM, closest to a true price would be £1,117 by selecting the 2Gb RAM.

If anyone can propose any changes, give some feedback or a better spec all together for about the same price I'd appreciate it. I really don't want to go any more over my budget than I already have.

Thanks

 

[MadMan]

Whilst your spec is perfect, I've posted an i7 build thats only 20 quid more. This link compares it with the FX-8150 which is the 3.6ghz one as I couldn't find your chosen one. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=434

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER 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
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, 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 (£69)
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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£139)
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

Price: £1,172.00 including VAT and delivery.

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

 

[TudorVII]

I appreciate the effort, but that's £20 more than a price I was never going to be paying for anyway because I'll be providing the RAM (which added almost £40 to the current price). With RAM out of the picture, I'll be spending much closer to my original £1100, your quote is a bit further off than £20 more I'm afraid.
Also, you've downgraded the PSU, but I'll be needing the 850W for when I eventually add a second 6950.

 

[TheKeir]

You should think about an i5 processor which would be a lot cheaper, and is still optimal for gaming.

 

[MadMan]

no worries, your spec looks perfect then. the components you've chosen should be great together and nothing needs changing really. You should order it soon

 

[TudorVII]

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB 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
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, 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 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
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
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£139)
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

Price: £1,134.00 including VAT and delivery.

Thanks TheKeir, for some reason I never thought to look at any of the Intel CPUs, but after taking away the cost of the RAM this would come under my budget. I know this would be good for gaming, but how about HD video editing?

 

[MadMan]

The i5 is very good but the reason I never bothered trying a spec for you is because you want to crossfire the 6950 at a later date. The p8z68 lx motherboard supports crossfire but only at x16 and x4 which is not ideal as the ASUS® M5A99X EVO supports dual x8 so both gpus will run at x8. Have at look http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_LX/#specifications and http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A99X_EVO/#specifications. The next motherboard up the p8z68 is like £60 quid more as well nut its your choice, I just thought id let you know first.

 

[TudorVII]

The p8z68 lx motherboard supports crossfire but only at x16 and x4 which is not ideal as the ASUS® M5A99X EVO supports dual x8 so both gpus will run at x8.

That's gone a little over my head. I'm guessing that means on the p8z68 one GPU will be performing much higher than the other, while on the M5A99X both cards will be performing at about the same level?

 

[MadMan]

yh thats right. The LX version is the entry level and whilst it supports crossfire, the gain in performance would be less then you would get with a motherboard running at dual x8's or higher etc.

 

[TudorVII]

Well, just ordered this beauty, went for a Seagate HDD instead though because of wanting to Crossfire later, the WD Caviar Black would have meant upgrading to the 1050W PSU.

Now to send off the RAM, and play the waiting game...

 

[Frenchy]

While I agree that the 16x 4x is going to be slower than 8x 8x, the difference as far as I know would be pretty minimal. Either way though, looks like a solid build.

 

[TudorVII]

While I agree that the 16x 4x is going to be slower than 8x 8x, the difference as far as I know would be pretty minimal. Either way though, looks like a solid build.

I hope so, it's going to have to last a few years, and I've only got the confidence to replace easier items.

It's in the second working day today, but doesn't look like they'll be receiving the RAM I sent until at least tomorrow. The wait was going to be bad enough already, but knowing that part of the wait is being caused by me is like... like... being an adventurer, and then taking an arrow to the knee!

Sorry, only just started playing Skyrim

EDIT: Well, no need to worry about the RAM anymore, this was just added to my order:

RAM has arrived and is with Jack, please get this when speccing.

 

[TudorVII]

Okay, something's been playing on my mind loads since ordering.
Did I make the right decision to get the Bulldozer CPU? Should I call up and swap for the slightly cheaper alternative in the Intel i5? I still need to be able to edit HD video, so will the i5 be enough?
And lastly, what's cheese made from?

Any help appreciated