new pc

[keynes]

Really happy with the pc, I am planning to do a review next week once I finish some work commitments. Many thanks to everyone that have helped me choose my specs!


Case COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE

Processor Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

2nd Graphics 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

RAID NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£44)
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

Change to: NONE

Power Supply CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES™ GOLD AX1200-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR(£209)

Processor Cooling COOLIT ECO II FAT BOY PUSH/PULL CONFIG LIQUID CPU COOLER (£79)

Fan Controller NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans

Sound Card Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP *Award Winner* £20
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)

Change to: 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 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Change to: NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE

Change to: 6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)

Cable Tidy NONE

Change to: 3 x JML 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management (£10)

Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)

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

Home Installation NONE
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Change to: PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)

Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Charity Calendar NONE

 

[keynes]

 

[keynes]

 

[Music Guy123]

Looks like a beast, enjoy it! + rep for the pics, looking forward to hearing the full review!

 

[keynes]

Looks like a beast, enjoy it! + rep for the pics, looking forward to hearing the full review!

It may have to wait. The USB ports at the front were not working (1 of them), after calling PCS and following instructions to unplugged the cable to the motherboard and put it back in it ended up worsening the situation, now no usb ports at the front are working. It will be collected tomorrow and it may take up to 2 weeks to get it back, it is frustrating and I feel unhappy of the situation however I do understand things like this happen from time to time and I appreciate the rapid response with issuing an RMA request.

 

[keynes]

More pictures

 

[Corfate]

Did you get the front USB ports working?

 

[keynes]

I told them the issue on Thursday afternoon and the pc was collected on Friday (very quick response). They got it so I am expecting it back probably by the end of the week or early next week. A bit disappointed but satisfied with the great customer care, especially from Mr Jack Turner.

 

[keynes]

I am afraid I am unable to do a review (at least a positive one) since I am experiencing a few issues with the computer. I managed to get 3 monitors for 2D or 3D surround but when running games such as Battlefield 2 or Battlefield 3 the system just crashes after 10 minutes or less, I assume it is to do with the drivers or software related issue but I was expecting the GPU 580 SLI being able to run those without any problems. I am afraid I don't have any other games that support surround so it is difficult for me to make a fair assessment. When running 3DMark 11 it just doesn't finish the bench marking, the computer will just freeze after a few minutes with the GPU fans slowing down and all screens in black (similar problem when running Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 3). When the computer actually allows me to go back to windows after Battlefield 2 or 3 crashes I notice the CPUID reading with 90"C as a maximum for one of the GTX 580. I am pretty lost on this and do not know what to do to make the surround work, I have emailed Jack and PCS and hopefully I can get a quick response/advice on whether the GPU is overheating or maybe it is just an issue with a driver.

 

[keynes]

Update, the computer is now crashing more often than before, even when playing games that are less demanding such as Resident Evil 5

 

[tom_gr7]

Have you checked that ya gpu drivers are up to date? and also may be worth installing the beta drivers too?

hmm, when the top gpu is at 90c what is the fan speed?

 

[keynes]

I tested it with the new drivers, I received an email from Nvidia suggesting a beta previous version 295.51 but I had the same issue in both occasions, as suggested by you I kept the fans at 100% but it appears to reset when it crashes. I am attempting to do a clean install (3rd one since getting the pc) but other than that not sure what else to do.

 

[keynes]

After doing a clean installed I decided to try 2D surround on Dead Island, just after 10 minutes (with GPU-Z running in the background) I decided to check the temperatures and it indicated that the maximum temperature of one GPU was 97"C with an average of 83"C while the other GPU maximum was only 57"C, should I be concerned? or this issue is supposed to take place with 2D surround set up and medium settings?
NVIDIA support emailed me and indicated the following:
The overheating of the graphics card could be a problem. As you mentioned that the 3Dmark 11 crashed the driver. We would recommend you to please run the test on each graphics card and check. We understand that this is time consuming process but the temperature seems to be high for the graphics card.

I am afraid I do not know how to run the 3Dmark 11 on each graphics card but I'll try to call PCS tomorrow. Any advice or feedback would be much appreciated.