New gaming rig

[IrishTech]

Hey guys

I am a person who games a lot weekends could be 6 hours straight if given the chance. I am a person who doesn't mind if i can run the graphics at the highest but i would like at least a smooth medium. My budget is around 1200. I know nothing about cases and haven't been keeping up with the latest graphics card so feel free to scrap my spec below and recommend a different one. The reason I went with 16gb is because right now certain PC games are asking for 8gb for recommended and I like to play on the safe side on performance and give it a bit more room


Case
CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - BLUE LED
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z87M-D3H: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ R9 280X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

 

[keynes]

For your budget I got with the vanquish 230x in the review section for £999. Offers an overclocked CPU, SSD and 16gb ram at a discounted price. As far as I know no game requires 8gb ram as essential to be run and I doubt that will change soon.

 

[mantadog]

I have been advising on builds for 3 years now and in that whole time you have only really needed 4GB RAM to game with, and only recently 8 is suggested as a bit of a buffer. No game currently needs 8GB and the jump from 8 to 16 is a huge increase in capacity. I t will be a very long time before games need 8, let alone 16. By the time they absolutely need 8GB i think your GPU will be crying enough at the 4k resolutions etc..

the rest looks alright, i would use the money saved on the 16GB RAM to upgrade to the caviar black drive, faster in every department. Makes a snappy feeling system

 

[IrishTech]

Hey Keynes I just looked at the review item you mention it is a very nice spec. However I am a bit worried about the hard drive used in it. It is just the standard HDD not the caviar black drive. So i went and took both your advice and built a new spec below.


Case
PCS DEFENSOR 7203B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H81M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ R9 280X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£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)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: ££932.00 including VAT and delivery.



Now the thing is if I take the system above I lose out on a better cooling system twice the ram and a better OC CPU.
However if i take the one above i get a better HDD and save roughly £70 but lose out on a CPU over clocked, twice the ram and a better cooling system.

Now I am no expert in HDD but would i notice a difference from the standard HDD to a the caviar black drive. Also for an extra £70 it seems to get a lot more power from the review build. So not sure which one to get



here is the specs for the Review one


Case
CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - BLUE LED
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-4670k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.20GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ R9 280X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Seidon 120M High Performance CPU Cooler (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

 

[keynes]

Not sure how noticeable it is but I would stick to the review spec and add a faster hdd later on.

 

[mantadog]

Because the review spec has a SSD it wont matter quite so much that the main HDD is slower. I'm sure if you lined up 2 identical builds with a caviar black and a standard HDD you could tell the difference but for every day use probably not. Mainly because the OS is being taken care of by the SSD leaving the HDD to worry about storing pictures etc. So I don't see it as a problem at all.

As Keynes said you can always upgrade later if it is causing any problems, though it should be fine if its just a storage drive.

 

[IrishTech]

One last question before I bite the bullet

CoolerMaster Seidon 120M High Performance CPU Cooler (£39) that is a liquid cooling system I believe. What would happen if say that had a leak would PCS cover that or not due to it being water damaged. The reason I ask is because i have a bit of bad luck with hardware the last computer i got from here had to be sent back 3 times due to a faulty GPU (Not blaming anyone just showing my luck).

 

[vanthus]

Going by previous posts I think you need to claim through the CPU makers or wait till PCS claim from them ,but I'm not certain,probably best contact PCS to find out for sure.

 

[IrishTech]

Case
CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - BLUE LED
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-4670k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.20GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ R9 280X - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Seidon 120M High Performance CPU Cooler (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND (£12)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

this is the system I plan to order. the only three concern I have as followed are as followed

1) I will never hit the OC(overclocked) speed (this might be a stupid question as I never OC before) will it run at stock level till it needs the extra juice or will it always run at OC level

2) I feel like it a waste to get a OC system purely for gaming as it will never be used but if i try and build something to that level minus half the ram drop the cooler a level drop the OC cpu for stock and I still end up roughly 50 quid more on the price tag

the second I will just have to get used to at the end of the day it was a review at discount prices. Heck I can't even select the cooler they have if i try and build a OC system on this site

which brings me to the third concern

3) the cooler for the review doesn't seem to be selectable for a build your own OC system. it is only there for stock CPU which makes me worried that the cooler they have is not designed for OC systems

 

[mantadog]

1. modern CPUs only ever run at maximum speed if needed. My i5 runs about 1.5Ghz most of the time, I don't believe this will change with an overclock. It will still run in a power saving mode until required to go to maximum speed.

2/ Re the other points, if I were you I would forget about an overclocked system at all. You are correct in the assumption that an overclock is pointless for gaming, unless its the GPU but that's a different kettle of fish all together. The cooler is alright for an OC'd system but I would prefer the h60 at least. Buying a review spec gives better prices but you just don't get the system you want at the end of the day. For the sake of £50 I would probably get the system YOU want, otherwise its always going to nag at you.

 

[Lex1970]

You can unpark the cores but I don't think this makes a lot of difference.