Long term SLi/3D PC

[TobyI]

Hi, my first post here, decided to buy from PCspecialist after contemplating DinoPC and Computerplanet

So, here's the spec:
Case PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-960 (3.20GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Motherboard ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI

Memory (RAM) 6GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (3 x 2GB KIT)

Graphics Card 1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Free Item FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!

2nd Graphics Card 1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Free Item FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!

3rd Graphics Card NONE

Memory - 1st Hard Disk 450GB VELOCIRAPTOR WD4500HLHX, SATA 6-Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (10,000rpm)

2nd Hard Disk 450GB VELOCIRAPTOR WD4500HLHX, SATA 6-Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (10,000rpm)

RAID RAID 0 (STRIPED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£88)

2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE

Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply CORSAIR 850W TX SERIES (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£99)

Processor Cooling COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£49)

Sound Card Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium PCI Express (£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

Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Floppy Disk Drive NONE

Firewire & Video Editing NONE

TV Card NONE

Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£147)

Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Monitor ASUS VG236HE 23" 120Hz 3D-READY LCD, HDMI/DVI-D HD, 1920x1080 (£259)

2nd Monitor NONE

DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables 1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)

Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NVIDIA GEFORCE 3D VISION WIRELESS STEREOSCOPIC
KIT (£119)
Keyboard & Mouse Logitech® G110 Gaming Keyboard with Backlighting (£68)

Mouse Logitech® G9x Laser Gaming Mouse (£64)
Speakers PHILIPS SPA2602 5.1 Surround Speaker System (Special Offer) (£45)

Webcam Logitech® HD Webcam C910 - 1080p HD Video & 10 Megapixel Photos (£69)

Headsets (VOIP) NONE

Surge Protection 6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector + Auto Power Off Function (£19)

Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE

Home Installation NONE

Warranty 3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)

Data Recovery 2 x Hard Drive Data Recovery Service - Protect 2 Hard Drives Against Failure (£60)

Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£29)
Quantity 1

Should be just fine, right?

(also, so far PCS has been an excellent website, i have told many friends about it already!)

 

[bg92]

What is your budget and main uses of the pc?

 

[TobyI]

Budget is £2.5K, and primarily for CAD and heavy rendering, but i've also wanted to go into 3D gaming, so it seems like a wise buy

 

[Meds]

For CAD & rendering, Sli is a waste of time. You're better off getting a more powerful single GPU such as the GTX580. This will also cope with the latest 3D games with ease.

I have gone for the following spec;

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67 PRO (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s, CrossFireX™ & SLI
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI,mHDMI - DX® 11, 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE Need For Speed™ World Starter Pack with any Nvidia® GTS450 or above!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 510 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 450MB/sR | 210MB/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 (£88)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W TX SERIES (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£99)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£49)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium PCI Express (£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 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£147)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
ASUS VG236HE 23" 120Hz 3D-READY LCD, HDMI/DVI-D HD, 1920x1080 (£259)
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® G110 Gaming Keyboard with Backlighting (£68)
Mouse
Logitech® G9x Laser Gaming Mouse (£64)
Speakers
PHILIPS SPA2602 5.1 Surround Speaker System (Special Offer) (£45)
Webcam
Logitech® HD Webcam C910 - 1080p HD Video & 10 Megapixel Photos (£69)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector + Auto Power Off Function (£19)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Data Recovery
2 x Hard Drive Data Recovery Service - Protect 2 Hard Drives Against Failure (£60)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£29)
Quantity
1

Price: £2,484.00 including VAT and delivery.

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

- Better HDD configuation with the 120GB Intel SSD (OS & Programmes) & 1TB Caviar Black (storage)
- Better Graphics Card selection for CAD

There is still plenty of scope to save money though if you want;

- Do you really need Windows 7 Ultimate? Home Premium is half the price and is fine for around 90% of users.
- Are you going to overclock the CPU? If not, then you don't need the liquid cooler.
- The soundcard will only really benefit you if recording audio? Onboard audio is fine.

 

[LFFPicard]

As Meds has said.

Ultimate really only has the advantage of bitlocker and 35 different languages. Thats it really.
If you need rmeote desktop or anything get Professional otherwise premium is fine.

Also for CAD work I would be inclined to get as much RAM as budget can provide. As with photoshop design etc CAD loads everything into RAM when your working, so the more the better really. Especially if you want it to keep up the speed with future CAD program releases.

 

[TobyI]

I only chose ultimate for the XP Mode (I use alot of XP-Only programs, so it should prove handy)

But then again, Home Premium can still run Virtual Machines...

Anywho, your planned setup looks fantastic, but will a 2500 suffice and more ram? And also yes, i am overclocking

Also, i record audio for a band, so it should prove useful

 

[JSG10]

You'll be able to run a lot of programs in compatibilty mode anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

With overclocking, are you getting PCS to do it and therefore keeping your warranty or are you planning on attempting to overclock yourself and voiding it? :S Risky.

And yes a 2500 will suffice and more RAM will be more beneficial

 

[LFFPicard]

Also the Professional Windows 7 has the XP mode aswell, Ultimate as mentioned only has the extra benifit of bitlocker and 34 languages to choose fomr on the fly.