Please Check My Spec and Give Any Advice You Would Like, Thanks.

[Jacko99]

This is my first PC from PCS, I am a keen gamer, mostly playing CSS and other similar games. I know this spec will easily support CSS but if you have any opinions on how to improve or make this spec more efficient please let me know.

Cheers

Case
ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO V3 - UK, The Ultimate Gaming Case, Evolved
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3450 (3.1GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(2 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
SSD CACHE DRIVE
20GB INTEL® SSD 313 SERIES - SLC CACHE DRIVE FOR SYSTEM / 1st HDD
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£46)
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP (Award Winner) (£20)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS N PCI CARD & WIRELESS N ADSL2+ MODEM ROUTER (£48)
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 (£129)
2nd Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£129)
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
2 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£15)
Headsets (VOIP)
LOGITECH® GAMING HEADSET G35 - 7.1 SURROUND SOUND (£98)
External Hard Drive
WD 1TB My Book Essential USB 3.0 External HDD WDBACW0010HBK (£95)
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
Charity Calendar
PC Specialist naked Charity Calendar in aid of ForgetMeNotChild.co.uk (£4)
Quantity
1

Price: £1,484.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[keynes]

I'd go for a caviar black as my main drive and try to add peripherals in the future. Any savings could go in upgrading the GPU.

 

[Jacko99]

Thanks ruben,

I havent ordered this yet so I can still make changes.

What is the difference between the drive i have chosen and a caviar black drive? And what do you mean by add peripherals?

Also how would I go about upgrading my GPU, is this an addition to the graphic card?

Cheers

 

[Rakk]

I havent ordered this yet so I can still make changes.

You can make changes once ordered as well, though if you make a lot of changes it will make the whole process take a bit longer
It's free to make changes whilst in pre-production, there is an admin charge if its in the building stage or alter, cos things would have to be taken apart again.
But yes, it's good if you can get it right on the first attempt at ordering , but not a problem if you don't.

What is the difference between the drive i have chosen and a caviar black drive?

The Caviar Blacks are just a bit speedier for booting into Windows and loading up applications

Also how would I go about upgrading my GPU, is this an addition to the graphic card?

The GPU is the graphics card
Rubensolo just meant that maybe instead of getting the extra bits and pieces like gaming headphones, external drives etc, maybe use the money to get a better graphics card than you have already selected and get the extra bits and pieces later if you can.

 

[keynes]

The caviar black will be faster than the standard hdd you have chosen. By peripherals I meant the headset and the headset. By GPU I meant the graphics card, if you are on a tight budget I would delay the purchase of the headset and external HDD and look into a more powerful GPU . Do you have a budget?

 

[Jacko99]

Thanks for the feedback. My budget is between £1,000 and £1,500 depending on what peripherals I decide to get. I desperatley need new headphones though as my current headphones are held togeather by electric tape!

I have read the the GTX670 would be a good card to upgrade to, and I have modified to the caviar black 750gb drive as suggested.

Could I also ask for you opinions on network cards as I am afraid I will be gaming through a wireless connection, not ideal I know, but the only BT socket is downstairs and the misses would not got for a cable traipsing up the stairs.

Please see my updated spec below:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3450 (3.1GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(2 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
SSD CACHE DRIVE
20GB INTEL® SSD 313 SERIES - SLC CACHE DRIVE FOR SYSTEM / 1st HDD
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£46)
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP (Award Winner) (£20)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS N PCI CARD & WIRELESS N ADSL2+ MODEM ROUTER (£48)
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 (£129)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® G110 GAMING KEYBOARD WITH BACKLIGHTING (£69)
Headsets (VOIP)
LOGITECH® GAMING HEADSET G35 - 7.1 SURROUND SOUND (£98)
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
Charity Calendar
PC Specialist naked Charity Calendar in aid of ForgetMeNotChild.co.uk (£4)
Quantity
1

Price: £1,496.00 including VAT and delivery.


Cheers

 

[Jacko99]

Also what is your opinion on 1 SSD drive and a 2nd large drive (750gb black caviar) Vs 1 large drive (750gb black caviar) and a SSD cache drive.

What combiation would work best?

 

[keynes]

I'd go with the first one,
120GB SSD + 750GB caviar black

 

[Rakk]

I desperatley need new headphones though as my current headphones are held togeather by electric tape!

Hehe, probably a good idea to get new headphones then

Could I also ask for you opinions on network cards as I am afraid I will be gaming through a wireless connection, not ideal I know, but the only BT socket is downstairs and the misses would not got for a cable traipsing up the stairs.

Many people suggest using homeplugs instead of actual wireless, you plug an ethernet cable into a homeplug from your router and it into the wall near your router, and then where your PC is you plug in another homeplug into a plug socket and connect it to your PC, it acts as a wired connection but you only have wires from your plug sockets rather than round the entire house. Note: I've not tried them (my PC is only about a foot away from my router) but I've heard they work well.

 

[Jacko99]

Cheers Ruben.

Rakk - Sounds interesting, would other people in the house still be able to use wireless if I am using the homeplug system? Gaming is so much better on wired connection! =]

 

[Rakk]

Rakk - Sounds interesting, would other people in the house still be able to use wireless if I am using the homeplug system? Gaming is so much better on wired connection! =]

Presuming you have a wireless router yes.
And if you ever want to extend your homeplug system to inclued more things, you just need one extra homeplug per item you want to connect.
Basically homeplugs just use the wiring in your house to create a wired network

 

[Jacko99]

Im going ot by some netgear powerlines and test network capabilities using wall plugs. Looks quite interesting and has a lot of good reviews. Thanks for mentioning these.