Case SILVERSTONE RAVEN RV03 - GAMING ENTHUSIAST TOWER CASE
Change to: COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7-2600 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) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 600GB VELOCIRAPTOR WD6000HLHX, SATA 6-Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (10,000rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD20EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
4th Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE 20GB INTEL® SSD 311 SERIES - CACHE DRIVE FOR SYSTEM / 1st HDD
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£45)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£162)
Processor Cooling TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Change to: Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)
Network Facilities ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
Change to: ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
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 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables 2 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£9)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers LOGITECH S120 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£9)
Webcam NONE
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Home Installation NONE
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Miscellaneous FREE Batman Arkham City with any Nvidia® GeForce GTX560 or above!
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £2,002.50
Price £2,403.00
Order Quantity 1
Bulk Discount £0.00
Total Order price (Ex VAT) £2,002.50
Total Order Price £2,403.00
P/O Number - Edit P/O Number
Payment Method Debit Card
Delivery Details
Wattage
Maximum Required Power 933W
Production Dates
Processed Date 12-09-2011
Pre-Production Date 13-09-2011
Build Date 26-09-2011
Test Date 27-09-2011
QC Date 28-09-2011
Awaiting Dispatch Date 29-09-2011
Dispatch Date 29-09-2011
Who Worked on This Order?
Built By Andrew Vincent
Tested By Garnet Heller
QC'd By Adnaan Marban
Packed By Anthony Cunliffe
That was the order. It felt like an eternity waiting for it to arrive but in my opinion it was worth the wait. The first couple of days after the initial order I made a few amendments, and the staff at PCS were first class in dealing with my requests and with the information they gave. I must also thank everyone who gave advice in the forums. The forums are invaluable for people who are not too great with the make up of computers like myself.
So after the wait it was finally delivered on my first day back at work after 2 weeks off, typical. I have to admit I was worried about the Yodel delivery after reading some horror stories on here, but in fairness I couldn't be happier with them. There was no damage to the box and the delivery guy even carried it into the front room for my wife when he saw she would struggle to lift it (whilst carrying our 3 month old baby).
The PC was well packaged and protected and the instructions of removing the foam that was protecting inside of the PC was easy to follow.
Teething problems.
When I first set my system up it was connected to 3 27" monitors. I had a problem that the text and picture quality on two of the monitors was awful. I searched the internet for answers, tried drivers etc etc and nothing would fix it. In the end I was surprised to find that this was down to the cables that I had ordered from PCS. When I connected up with the stock cables that came with the monitors everything was fine. This was surprising as I thought the gold plated cables from PCS would be better.
My next problem was the wireless card. It wasn't registering. After a little look inside I could see that it had worked loose in transit and needed re-seating properly. It was a little fiddly between those 2 big graphics cards but I managed OK.
I also wanted to connect up the side fan which had obviously been disconnected to allow me to remove the foam protection. I have enclosed a picture of where I re-connected it (PIC 15) and would be happy if someone could advise if I have done it correctly in the right place.
I still do have 1 problem unsolved but in all honesty i'm not totally sure whether or not is is down to the PC. I have a paid subscription for Bit Defender Total Security but it wont install on the system. I've searched the forums and cant find anyone else with the same problem so I have filed a ticket with bit defender support. Every time I run the installation I get an error saying 'This application cannot run on your machine'. So for now I have MSE and malwarebytes anti malware installed, but I would like to go back to BDTS.
Running BF3 demo is a great experience after updating to their latest beta drivers. Looks fantastic. Card temps have not been above 75 as yet, and I have been getting 60fps ish on ultra settings. I am also really pleased with the noise levels, surprisingly quiet to what I had expected.
this was benchmark results
3DMark ScoreP10581
Graphics Score12007
Physics Score8144
Combined Score7342
GraphicsTest152.11 FPS
GraphicsTest255.14 FPS
GraphicsTest377.9 FPS
GraphicsTest437.8 FPS
PhysicsTest25.86 FPS
CombinedTest34.15 FPS
One question I do have is what would happen the SSD cache if I ever decided to format my hard drive and re-install windows? Would it automatically start again or would I have to set it up?
All in all a very happy customer even though I still have a few things to iron out with it. So a big thank you to PCS and to everyone who advised me in the forums.
Oh and lastly, the 3 27" monitors was too much. I couldn't keep an eye on all 3 when playing BF3 and ended up thinking it was overkill and wasted. So went down to 2 and the father in law bought the 3rd to dual screen his mac.
http://imageshack.us/g/266/pc201109300009.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/pc201110030019.jpg/
sorry didn't know a better way to upload photos. If anyone wants any screen shots from playing BF3 let me know.
Change to: COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7-2600 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) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 600GB VELOCIRAPTOR WD6000HLHX, SATA 6-Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (10,000rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD20EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
4th Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE 20GB INTEL® SSD 311 SERIES - CACHE DRIVE FOR SYSTEM / 1st HDD
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£45)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£162)
Processor Cooling TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Change to: Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)
Network Facilities ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
Change to: ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
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 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables 2 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (£9)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers LOGITECH S120 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£9)
Webcam NONE
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Home Installation NONE
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Miscellaneous FREE Batman Arkham City with any Nvidia® GeForce GTX560 or above!
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £2,002.50
Price £2,403.00
Order Quantity 1
Bulk Discount £0.00
Total Order price (Ex VAT) £2,002.50
Total Order Price £2,403.00
P/O Number - Edit P/O Number
Payment Method Debit Card
Delivery Details
Wattage
Maximum Required Power 933W
Production Dates
Processed Date 12-09-2011
Pre-Production Date 13-09-2011
Build Date 26-09-2011
Test Date 27-09-2011
QC Date 28-09-2011
Awaiting Dispatch Date 29-09-2011
Dispatch Date 29-09-2011
Who Worked on This Order?
Built By Andrew Vincent
Tested By Garnet Heller
QC'd By Adnaan Marban
Packed By Anthony Cunliffe
That was the order. It felt like an eternity waiting for it to arrive but in my opinion it was worth the wait. The first couple of days after the initial order I made a few amendments, and the staff at PCS were first class in dealing with my requests and with the information they gave. I must also thank everyone who gave advice in the forums. The forums are invaluable for people who are not too great with the make up of computers like myself.
So after the wait it was finally delivered on my first day back at work after 2 weeks off, typical. I have to admit I was worried about the Yodel delivery after reading some horror stories on here, but in fairness I couldn't be happier with them. There was no damage to the box and the delivery guy even carried it into the front room for my wife when he saw she would struggle to lift it (whilst carrying our 3 month old baby).
The PC was well packaged and protected and the instructions of removing the foam that was protecting inside of the PC was easy to follow.
Teething problems.
When I first set my system up it was connected to 3 27" monitors. I had a problem that the text and picture quality on two of the monitors was awful. I searched the internet for answers, tried drivers etc etc and nothing would fix it. In the end I was surprised to find that this was down to the cables that I had ordered from PCS. When I connected up with the stock cables that came with the monitors everything was fine. This was surprising as I thought the gold plated cables from PCS would be better.
My next problem was the wireless card. It wasn't registering. After a little look inside I could see that it had worked loose in transit and needed re-seating properly. It was a little fiddly between those 2 big graphics cards but I managed OK.
I also wanted to connect up the side fan which had obviously been disconnected to allow me to remove the foam protection. I have enclosed a picture of where I re-connected it (PIC 15) and would be happy if someone could advise if I have done it correctly in the right place.
I still do have 1 problem unsolved but in all honesty i'm not totally sure whether or not is is down to the PC. I have a paid subscription for Bit Defender Total Security but it wont install on the system. I've searched the forums and cant find anyone else with the same problem so I have filed a ticket with bit defender support. Every time I run the installation I get an error saying 'This application cannot run on your machine'. So for now I have MSE and malwarebytes anti malware installed, but I would like to go back to BDTS.
Running BF3 demo is a great experience after updating to their latest beta drivers. Looks fantastic. Card temps have not been above 75 as yet, and I have been getting 60fps ish on ultra settings. I am also really pleased with the noise levels, surprisingly quiet to what I had expected.
this was benchmark results
3DMark ScoreP10581
Graphics Score12007
Physics Score8144
Combined Score7342
GraphicsTest152.11 FPS
GraphicsTest255.14 FPS
GraphicsTest377.9 FPS
GraphicsTest437.8 FPS
PhysicsTest25.86 FPS
CombinedTest34.15 FPS
One question I do have is what would happen the SSD cache if I ever decided to format my hard drive and re-install windows? Would it automatically start again or would I have to set it up?
All in all a very happy customer even though I still have a few things to iron out with it. So a big thank you to PCS and to everyone who advised me in the forums.
Oh and lastly, the 3 27" monitors was too much. I couldn't keep an eye on all 3 when playing BF3 and ended up thinking it was overkill and wasted. So went down to 2 and the father in law bought the 3rd to dual screen his mac.
http://imageshack.us/g/266/pc201109300009.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/pc201110030019.jpg/
sorry didn't know a better way to upload photos. If anyone wants any screen shots from playing BF3 let me know.
