Please review PC for Gaming, Blu-ray and Work! £2.5k Budget

[TravelSite]

Hi,

I've not had a desktop for many years, and never decided on its components before - so any advice would be very welcome! (I've added some comments at the bottom on what its going to be used for)

Budget is approx. £2.5k

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.80GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® MAXIMUS IV EXTREME-Z: INTEL Z68 ROG MOTHERBOARD
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE Batman Arkham City with any Nvidia® GeForce GTX560 or above!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
240GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
RAID
RAID 0 (STRIPED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
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 (£146)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
ASUS VG236HE 23" 120Hz 3D LCD, HDMI/DVI-D HD, 1920x1080 (£235)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision
NVIDIA GEFORCE 3D VISION WIRELESS STEREOSCOPIC KIT (£109)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK250 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£19)
Speakers
LOGITECH S120 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£9)
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
Quantity
1

Price: £2,530.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-1155-overclocked/

My thinking behind this set up is:

1. For work I do lots of database work, hence need a really fast processor (applications aren't multi-threaded) and really fast ssd.

2. I love watching movies and want to watch 3d blu-rays on it

3. Would like to play some FPS on it (in 3d) though I also have a PS3.

How does my spec look for these?

In terms of RAM I've opted for 16GB as my databases will use this up, as oppossed to the faster 8GB memory. In real terms, if I went for the faster 8GB RAM would I notice a significant difference? For info my database scripts run for several hours even on fast machines.

I also noticed that the motherboard says up to 32GB RAM - does that mean that I could eventually replace the RAM with more?

Also - is this motherboard overkill for my setup?

Is this graphics card good enough for watching 3D blu-rays and playing games in 3D at 1920 by 1080? Should I opt for a different one?

I've opted for the cheapest (for overclocking) processor cooling. Is this going to be okay for my set up?

I'll probably look towards adding twin 1TB hard drives and possibly two more monitors in the near future - does this set up cover for this (in terms of power supply, cooling, etc)?

Thanks

 

[ace1]

i would get a bigger Power Supply and get a 570 580 or a 590 for having that much cash in a pc

 

[ace1]

oh and not sure but you picked 2 SSDs? one ssd and a black 1tb-2tb be better and a lot cheaper

 

[Petchi b]

I've made a more all rounded spec for you here. I dont think you really need to overclock and add more risk and strain on the system as you will be using it intensively and it should be more than powerful enough for your work and gaming. Not really sure of you having two SSD drives so I choose a large Caviar Black as extra storage. I've given you a much better graphics card and power supply and also better speakers and a gaming keyboard and mouse.

Case
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)
16GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE Batman Arkham City with any Nvidia® GeForce GTX560 or above!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£19)
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 (£146)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
ASUS VG236HE 23" 120Hz 3D LCD, HDMI/DVI-D HD, 1920x1080 (£235)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision
NVIDIA GEFORCE 3D VISION WIRELESS STEREOSCOPIC KIT (£109)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® G110 GAMING KEYBOARD WITH BACKLIGHTING (£58)
Mouse
LOGITECH® MX™518 OPTICAL GAMING MOUSE (£29)
Speakers
LOGITECH Z323 2.1 SPEAKERS - 30W RMS with 360 Degree Sound (£44)
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
Quantity
1

Price: £2,457.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[TravelSite]

Thanks for the feedback.

Unfortunately I need to keep with the twin SSDs (in RAID 0 setup) for the database stuff I do, which I realise does mean less to play about with for the graphics card.

Changing the "ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO" motherboard is a good suggestion thanks and does free up cash. Would I notice any real difference between this one and the more expensive "extreme" motherboard (either when playing games or doing work)?

I do intent to get a 1tb-2tb harddrive thanks - but that's something I can save up for (along with keyword & speakers) and add in later (assuming I can figure out how to install things).

 

[Petchi b]

Regarding the motherboard you will notice no difference at all. The motherboard you originally choose is for major overclocking so you would just be wasting your money buying that.

 

[TravelSite]

Excellent thanks - I have no plans immediate plans to destroy my PC by attempting to overclock it (having no idea what I'm doing) so that's useful to know!