Need help choosing a desktop!

[VSpongeV]

Hey!

My current desktop is nearing 5 years of age and is starting to have trouble running the newest game titles smoothly so I figured it's time for a new desktop.


What I'm looking for is a gaming desktop that will be able to play all the new game titles flawlessly - or at least very well and not get outdated for at least 4-5 years.


I know building PC's are cheaper than buying already made ones but I have no clue when it comes to computer hardware, I honestly know next to nothing. So I thought it would be safer to just buy an already made one, and here lies another problem.


I don't want to get ripped off by buying a computer that can't abuse all it's hardware due to other parts in the computer not having the power to process it all etc.


My price range is any where up to £1500. I may be willing to go a couple hundred higher if there is a really appealing PC that wont be outdated for at least 5 years.


I am asking for your help to advise me on some desktops that wont let me down!

Thank you,


VSpongeV.

------

On a side note I've been looking at the Dell 'Aurora'. The Aurora comes up between £900 and £1300 on various websites and am wondering if that's a good option?

[stroyal]

Welcome to TechIMO!

Building is cheaper than, a pre-build hasn't been true for years.
You will have more control, and have better parts, if you build yourself.
It won't be cheaper.

Future proof is a unobtainable goal, but if you buy, the most expensive video card, motherboard, and CPU, it will be minimized. ( Look up,Moore's Law).

What games are you talking about?
Are you going to reuse anything,ie monitor keyboard,ect.

I haven't bought a store bought desktop in 25 years, but would be comfortable with Dell, if I had to.
Dell also makes Alienware, which is a gaming line of computers.

We need links, so we can see what you are talking about.

Most people here build their own, so a direct review, will be difficult, but our gamers, are pretty good at judging systems.

[stroyal]

In general, an i5, is more than good enough for gaming, but CPU intensive SIMs, like Flight Sim X, can even choke an i7.

Need for Speed is a SIM, but not has hard to run as Flight Sim.
That's why specific programs you are going to run are important.

[VSpongeV]

Hi! Thank you for your replies so far stroyal.

As for the games i'll be playing they will be MMO's such as League of Legends, RPG's such as Star Wars, single player games such as Mass Effect and most games that are action oriented.

I wont be playing any SIM games though.

After reading some posts in different threads in this forum i've decided that I wouldn't mind building a computer but since I know nothing of the hardware that goes into them I wouldn't know what's good and what isn't.

[stroyal]

1500lbs $2435.

That is dream machine territory, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I know prices are a little higher in the UK, but still plenty for a high end gaming machine.

I haven't priced, a machine in a while, and the others are better at it.
They know UK sights, some are from the UK, and some are from the US.
The new Ivy Bridge is out, and I would think that should be the basis for a new build now.

I do have a Flight Simulator dream machine, listed with a Sandy bridge i7, but that should be tweaked, for gaming, and the newer releases.

I'd start with an i5, and a more expensive video card, than what I have on my list, but if there is enough left, I'd go for an i7.

No game at the present, that I know of, will best, an i5 quad.

I'll see what I can find, but hopefully, one of the gamers will jump in first.

My list has to be upgraded anyway.
Maybe someday I will even be able to afford a new computer.

[VSpongeV]

Lol - this has been 3 years of saving some money for a new computer so I'm hoping I can get a lot out of it!

Thanks again for helping me out.

[ShyguyXPC]

Can't post much (got your PM last night, but I got home from work late last night and too tired to really go into details on what you asked, as its a LOT of stuff to explain, and dumb down, most of what I know is what I have learned on my own for 14 years now, and even some from before that since I was in 3rd Grade back in the 80's. So its hard to really explain a lot of things.).

But I can say this, if your starting off new, with little knowledge of components and hardware, don't bother with trying to learn the past hardware, and just focus on whats new. there are some things that can be beneficial, learning the past, but for the most part, the more you learn of the past parts while trying to learn the new stuff, it will only lead to more confusion.

Thats why some of these "old farts" here... when they talk about their systems from the 80's and 60's/70's most of it is over my head, no idea what their talking about. I knew some stuff from the 80's and early 90's, but I started really paying attention around the Intel 386/486 & Pentium Era's, and didn't really dive head on into hardware until the Pentium II/III and AMD K6/2 & K6/3 and First Generation Athlon era.

and even then, my knowledge wasn't all that great, wasn't until the Athlon XP's and Pentium 4's before I really started to read up on things, as well as Graphics hardware, and other related parts. (all of which was around 10 years ago, though I had been using Custom build PC's with help from the shop, for a few years prior to that, since 1998). Hell, Power Supplies, I knew some brands were really good, since the beginning, but I actually learned a lot about them, since I joined here back in 2004, from JP Miller and a few others, and one or two who posted over at another site I'm on, that spawned off TIMO and members who were here.




Anyways, since the new Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5's & i7's are out now, Your in good hands. These replace the Sandy Bridge models, introduce PCI Express 3.0 (future proofing your system for a good 4 or 5 years), and they aren't that much more expensive than previous models, if at all.


Intel has the newer Z77 chipset motherboards that replace the Z68's (and are only incremental improvements, so not a big deal).

AMD has most of their new GPU's out now, so not an issue there.


But Nvidia has f*cked up... once again... they just introduced their new GTX 600 series last month, with the top end GTX 680. Just a few days ago, they announced the Dual GPU version of that card, the GTX 690...

the 680 already cost a good $500 or more. The 690 costs a massive $1000.

And yet no release of more affordable budget and mid range mainstream parts, which is their money making product lines.


so still waiting for them to get off their @sses and release those parts.

So until that happens there's NO sense in recommending Nvidia for Graphics parts right now, until they do release some competing products to AMD's hardware.


the GTX 500 parts are still quite acceptable and good performing, but if your wanting a newer system with ALL newer current hardware to last 5 years or so. Then getting the latest gen hardware is best, especially since the budget can allow it.

I'll try to post back later, I have to get some stuff taken care of, and meet up with some friends online for some gaming, since I had to work all weekend.


But with your PM you sent. No, Newegg does not ship to UK, never has, and will be a long time before they will.

Newegg is Only US, Canada and China currently.


for UK though, there are plenty of comparable retailers to newegg.

Listed below are some of the ones I know of and use when pricing parts for you UK members, and sometimes other EU members, if they don't mind shipping from UK.

PC Components, Desktop PCs, Laptops, LCD TVs & Computer Hardware

Computer hardware, components & gaming PC retailer Overclockers UK

Those 2 are my favorites for parts, and prices.

but here are 3 others I have used, the latter 2 I don't use that often, as I have a hard time navigating their sites (just don't like the way things are organized sometimes), and sometimes their parts selections are minimal compared to the others (Depends on the parts)

Cheap Laptops, Computers and Cheap LCD TVs | Ebuyer.com

Computer Hardware - Scan.co.uk

Aria PC - Computer Hardware, Components, Monitors.. at lowest prices

[stroyal]

This is my Sandy Bridge dream machine, but hasn't been updated in a while.
It is more directed at the beast of SIMS, Flight Simulator X, as it is CPU intensive, and need a pretty good video card, and fast storage.

For a gaming machine, I'd go with an i5, and a more expensive video card, in this price range.
Still want fast storage though
Minus a case, it is $1270.90
If you can afford one of the fastest video cards, then I would look at an i7, if there is any money left.

Motherboard
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Video Card
Newegg.com - XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Power Supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
CPU
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I72600
SSD for Intel smart response
Newegg.com - Intel 313 Series Hawley Creek SSDSA2VP020G301 2.5" 20GB SATA II SLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
RAM
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
Operating system hard drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Backup hard drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARX 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
DVD
Newegg.com - ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - CD / DVD Burners
Win7-64
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems


Intel Smart response makes a hard drive almost as fast as a strait SSD system, with a small SSD

If you have the money you can go with a large SSD, for a strait SSD system.

I always have a backup drive, but that is up to you, and your backup scheme.

I'll try to update this with an Ivy Bridge board, and CPU, and see what graphics card would better.

But I warn you, I'm slow, compared to the kids here.

[stroyal]

Darn, speak of the devil.


I know more than Shyguy dose about old stuff, but that only counts, when giving a history lesson

You are in good hands now.

Now I'll read his post, and get up to date.

[VSpongeV]

Awesome! I love how the community on this website gives such thorough explanations about what's best and then follows up with links to the hardware. I really am thankful for the replies!


@ShyguyXPC
- What I meant by getting a bit more information on the hardware was if you could recommend a piece of hardware then give a sentance or two just saying why i should go for that one, which you have already done by explaining about AMD over Nvidia.

Thank you for replying so fast to let me know that your willing to help!


@stroyal
- Thanks for posting that build for me to see. At $1270.90 its around £780, which i'm guessing using a UK supplier for the hardware will bring it up to around £900-£1000 which is a nice price and exactly what I was looking for.

I'll read some reviews on the products and hopefully get a better idea on what they achieve in terms of gaming. Thanks!

[ShyguyXPC]

meh, still would be nice for some of the others to post some stuff besides me all the time, though I have seen some of your recent posts when I'm "gone" and unable to reply, and so far so good, so I'd say they're in good hands with you as well.

I just know about Ivy Bridge being released as well as that god forsaken over built monstrosity (albeit great performing) and over priced ePeen of a Video card, that Nvidia released the other day, GTX 690, from Facebook updates and postings when I was checking that stuff the last couple days.

[stroyal]

Ivy Bridge uses less power, but apparently they don't over clock as well, because the smaller die size, has less surface area, to transfer heat, to the heat sink.

It used the new 22nm process.

Us old times know a little.

[ShyguyXPC]

This is my Sandy Bridge dream machine, but hasn't been updated in a while.
It is more directed at the beast of SIMS, Flight Simulator X, as it is CPU intensive, and need a pretty good video card, and fast storage.

For a gaming machine, I'd go with an i5, and a more expensive video card, in this price range.
Still want fast storage though
Minus a case, it is $1270.90
If you can afford one of the fastest video cards, then I would look at an i7, if there is any money left.

Motherboard
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Video Card
Newegg.com - XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Power Supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
CPU
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I72600
SSD for Intel smart response
Newegg.com - Intel 313 Series Hawley Creek SSDSA2VP020G301 2.5" 20GB SATA II SLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
RAM
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
Operating system hard drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Backup hard drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARX 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
DVD
Newegg.com - ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - CD / DVD Burners
Win7-64
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems


Intel Smart response makes a hard drive almost as fast as a strait SSD system, with a small SSD

If you have the money you can go with a large SSD, for a strait SSD system.

I always have a backup drive, but that is up to you, and your backup scheme.

I'll try to update this with an Ivy Bridge board, and CPU, and see what graphics card would better.

But I warn you, I'm slow, compared to the kids here.

For the budget, I'd stuff in a larger Intel 520 Series SSD, 120GB or so. Partition part of it for SRT up to I think it was 30 or 4GB, and then use the rest for the OS and some software, then put most games and other software on the WD Black Series or even Seagates newer drives (thinner/fewer platters with greater storage than before, making the drives thinner as well as a bit more power efficient), and almost as fast.

with the SSD's in, really shouldn't need a Black Series if its going to cost more, the standard 7200RPM drives out now should suffice as well.

WD's drives are still over priced due to last years price hikes, and Seagates/Samsungs are still better priced, to get more space for the dollar.


But when you piece together the Ivy Bridge listing add in a Z77 chipset board, just to round it out, they cost a tad more than the Z68's but brings the price up a little bit to see how much it would cost and close to budget to get that tiny bit of extra features and performance.


Also toss in a Geforce GTX 560 Ti, Radeon 7850 or better, as the 6870 and GTX 560 range cards will soon be outdated since they're barely mid range anymore these days.

for single Graphics card setup, the Corsair 500W will be enough, for Dual GPU's you'll want a 650-750W at least to have some power to spare.


I'll see what I can slap together later when I have a chance.

[stroyal]

meh, still would be nice for some of the others to post some stuff besides me all the time, though I have seen some of your recent posts when I'm "gone" and unable to reply, and so far so good, so I'd say they're in good hands with you as well.

I just know about Ivy Bridge being released as well as that god forsaken over built monstrosity (albeit great performing) and over priced ePeen of a Video card, that Nvidia released the other day, GTX 690, from Facebook updates and postings when I was checking that stuff the last couple days.

Well it is a lot easer, when I know you have my back
I just have trouble remembering all this stuff.

I wish there where more Tech Support people also, it's not like the old days.
It always works better with several posters.

I just have trouble remembering all this stuff, so I have to re look it up.
At least I know how to look it up, still.
When I started, there weren't more than 10 video cards, and 5 or 6 processors.
It was pretty easy to keep track of.

[ShyguyXPC]

Ivy Bridge uses less power, but apparently they don't over clock as well, because the smaller die size, has less surface area, to transfer heat, to the heat sink.

It used the new 22nm process.

Us old times know a little.

yeah, but if it doesn't OC as well, even then, it has features that you don't have on Sandy, like PCIe 3.0.


Or.... (I'll piece one together later as well) for the budget, Intels Top end Socket 2011 could be had... the Sandy Bridge E Series CPU's on that platform, though much more expensive, already supported PCI Express 3.0, and with those CPU's just like Socket 1366 which I still use, they still have superior PCI Express Bandwidth controllers. Reason why a lot of Socket 1156 and 1155 boards have an x16 x8 or x8 x8 SLI/Crossfire configuration is because of the controller, many Socket 1366 CPU's and boards can have a x16 x16 setup, due to the better controller chip on the CPU, allowing for even greater bandwidth for gaming and high end GPU's. reason why 1366 though outdated, was over built 3+ years ago, when I built mine, and some others put together one 6 months before mine.

It only supports PCIe 2.0, but assuming the cards don't over saturate the 2.0 bus, its not a problem, but for Dual card setups, and assuming the boards allow full x16 bandwidth per slot, they are still capable systems for multiple top end cards.

even if and when 3.0 cards come out (latest gen cards are), and near the bandwidth of 2.0 for usage, these x58 boards with full x16 per slot won't be choked as much if at all compared to say using them on a Intel Socket 1155 P67 board or Z68 with no PCIe 3.0 support (usually via bios update).

anyways, Sandy Bridge E's on Socket 2011 have had PCIe 3.0 for a while now, just the price of these systems are the real killers, since most CPU's are $300 or more.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, CPUs / Processors, Processors - Desktops, LGA 2011

Core i7 ”Sandy Bridge-E“ is PCI Express 3.0 | Hardware Secrets

[ShyguyXPC]

Well it is a lot easer, when I know you have my back
I just have trouble remembering all this stuff.

I wish there where more Tech Support people also, it's not like the old days.
It always works better with several posters.

I just have trouble remembering all this stuff, so I have to re look it up.
At least I know how to look it up, still.
When I started, there weren't more than 10 video cards, and 5 or 6 processors.
It was pretty easy to keep track of.

LOL, I remember that too, was only a few options, but plenty of Motherboards and other lower tier components to choose from.

There were only 2 or 3 chips from Nvidia, ATI, 3DFX, and Matrox mainly each.

CPU's, you had maybe a half dozen Intel's and AMD's each, and maybe the odd CPU from VIA or Cyrix.






Anyways, if their looking for a 5 year lifespan, honestly if they can afford it, Socket 2011 is what I would go for, since socket 1366 based systems are STILL going strong, 3+ years now, and then you take into account, Socket 1156 was the mainstream variant of 1366, and it barely last a year/year and half before it was replaced by Socket 1155...

who's to say in another year or two, intel doesn't release a new mainstream socket design.

Going with Socket 2011 might be a better option, since it is also Intels Server platform as well, and these platforms tend to last longer performance wise and life time wise than mainstream does.



In a year or so, if and when I upgrade my newer Socket 1366 system (2nd one), it'll be on Socket 2011 if its still around and feasible. as I'd really like to upgrade to a 6 or 8 core CPU, for some of my non gaming needs.

[VSpongeV]

I'd prefer it to be around the £1000 mark including everything needed. But I am willing to go up to £1500 if it means a much better system.

[VSpongeV]

I just tried to make a build using stroyal's posted build while changing some of it with what Shyguy recommended but it took me well over an hour just to find 2 pieces of hardware on the list (on UK supplier websites) before getting completely confused with what I should look for.

I really am hopeless at this!

[ShyguyXPC]

i was just piecing some parts together, but we have some bad storms coming through so maybe I might be on later to piece some stuff together.

[ShyguyXPC]

Ivy Bridge system (Intel Socket 1155)

CPU: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 3770 3.40GHz Socket LGA1155 - Retail. | BX80637I73770

Mobo: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) Motherboard | Z77 EXTREME6

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB) 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Two Module Kit | CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9

CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 Liquid High Performance CPU Cooler | CWCH60

Dual Fans for CPU Cooler, For proper Push Pull Setup: 2 of these Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1450 RPM - 3 Pin [D1225C12B4AP-14]

SSD: Intel 520 Series "Cherryville" 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail | SSDSC2CW120A3K5

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 64MB Cache Hard Drive SATA 6GB/s 8.5ms 7200rpm - OEM | ST1000DM003

BD/DVD: LiteOn IHOS104-06 4x Blu-Ray and DVD Reader - OEM with Software | IHOS104-06

PSU: XFX ProSeries 650W Core Edition Power Supply - 80 PLUS Bronze Certified | P1-650S-UKB9

GPU: XFX AMD Radeon HD 7950 Black Edition 3072MB GDDR5 | FX-795A-TNBC

Case: Coolermaster Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) | SGC-2000-KKN1-GP

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit DVD - OEM - Service Pack 1 | GFC-02050



Total from Novatech Including VAT (not including shipping): £1241.75


Total from OcUK, including VAT plus Shipping: Total : £31.90

Its over your 1000 GBP budget, but under the 1500 max Budget.

One of the Top end Ivy Bridge CPU's, Plenty of RAM for now, good OC potential with the RAM. Mobo should be feature rich, supports SLI and Crossfire, PCI Express 3.0, USB 3.0, and much more.

Should also have good decent OC options.

Intel SSD is one of the best on the market, 120GB should be enough to partition 20-40GB for Intel Smart Response, as well as use remainded for the OS, and frequent use Programs (though if you use STEAM I'd install that on the 2nd Hard drive).

Seagate HDD has plenty of space, and should be fast enough, while costing much less than WD's Black Series drives.

Blu ray Drive Reader/DVD Burner Combo drive with OEM Software to playback BR Movies and burn to DVD.

The GPU is one of the top end cards out right now, only bested by the Radeon HD 7970 and Geforce GTX 680/690 cards.

The PSU has enough power for the entire rig, as well as capable of Running TWO Radeon HD 7950's if you wanted to down the road.

the 7950 is overclocked to 900MHz on the core so its a bit closer to a 7970, minus the extra cores the 7970 has.

Its all top quality, top end hardware in this as well, Corsair, Intel, XFX, Asrock (owned by Asus, so its the same stuff), Coolermaster, Seagate, etc.

The Corsair H60 is a good cooler for stock CPU speeds and mild or moderate Overclocking.

The Cooler comes with a single Fan, but can be used with dual fans, which is why the 2 Scythe Gentle Typhoons are added, they are some of the best Liquid Cooling Radiator fans out there, and not too expensive like the Noctua's I have. I had to get Noctua, since Scythe was low on stock thanks to the Japan Earthquakes a year or so ago devastating one of their plants.

But the Corsair H60 only comes with enough screws for the one fan, you'd need to get some more screws for a 2nd fan to attach, From the info I found on the web the H60 uses this size Screws.

6-32-1 1/4"

You'd need 4 of them. Most Home repair type stores should have them, 1.25" length is all you should need.

Here's a pic I have of my newer system using the H60, I didn't have the second fan on it in the pic, but the red arrows show the general airflow for intake and exhaust from the rear where the air is taken in, through radiator and first fan, out 2nd fan, into case, and passed through to front panel with mesh grill, as well as through top exhaust fans.

Shows air from front intake at bottom (cold air), come in through bottom, to feed to Video card, which has its fan in the middle and spits air out back, or back into case and upwards to top (also plan to eventually have a 2nd GPU in there).

Bottom of pic shows were the PSU is, its like most cases these days, the PSU is upside down so that the PSU takes air in from under the case and directly out the back, there is also a fan grill behind it in the bottom middle of the case, but no fan in there, just free flow intake.

The 2 Blue circles are where the side 140mm fan grills are, the top one has no fan, so it can be used for exhaust of the Radiator or intake as needed (not enough room to mount a fan with the Radiator and dual fans so close and over the screw holes), the bottom placement has a fan on it, which is right over the primary video card, to aid in more cool air to it as well.



The case will also have good cable management with hidden cables and sleeved cables to lessen air flow impedance, to reduce turbulence and hopefully dust collection points.

As well as just over all better look.

Yeah, I've got the Corsair H60, as well as that Corsair Vengeance RAM I put in the list above, same stuff, but a 3 stick kit since Socket 1366 has Triple Channel RAM Support and 1156/1155 only have Dual Channel Support.

I'm also using a Western Digital 10K RPM Velociraptor Drive, 74GB since I couldn't afford a 60-120GB SSD, along with a 750GB Western Digital Black Series Drive, and a 1.5TB Western Digital Green Series. The Velociraptor I picked up on newegg last fall refurbished for cheap, and the other 2 drives I got last year before the Thailand Floods were an issue, so didn't pay as much for them.

Also only running a single LG SATA DVD Burner.

The Motherboard is an EVGA X58 SLI LE (2 way, 3 way and 4 Way SLI or Crossfire Capable), and the Video Card is an EVGA Geforce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Free Performance Boost, aka Factory Overclocked).

CPU is an Intel Core i7 940, 2.93GHz, and PSU is a Corsair 750W TX-750 (my current PSU, for my older i7 rig in my sig above).

Case is a Coolermaster 690 II Advanced. Fans on the H60 are Noctua NF-P12's.



Anyways, that Ivy Bridge System would be great, though certainly some fat could be trimmed out, namely the CPU Cooler and extra fans,

With out sacrificing too much in performance, you could swap out parts above for these parts instead.


Mobo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) Motherboard | Z77 EXTREME4

SSD (just install Windows on it and forget about SRT): Corsair Force GT 2.5" 60GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD - Retail | CSSD-F60GBGT-BK

RAM (Same RAM, just lower profile with out the large fins to not obstruct the CPU Cooler/Fans): Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHZ Dual Channel Kit | CML4GX3M2A1600C9

DVD: LG GH24NS70 DVD+/-RW SuperMulti 24x SATA Internal GH24NS70.AUAA | GH24NS70.AUAA

CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler | RR-212E-16PK-R1

Minus the 2 fans from OCuk, the total price now comes to £1081.62

Which includes VAT and not shipping costs.

Drops price a good chunk, while only going a tad over budget.

System is still fairly Overclockable, still capable of 2 Card SLI or Crossfire, and little to no performance difference, other than maybe lack of Intel SRT, which won't be a huge hit, other than frequent use programs. Booting the PC won't change speed, since in either case the OS is installed on the SSD no matter what.





Socket 2011 Sandy Bridge "E" series.

CPU (Core i7 6 Core): Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail | BX80619I73930K

Mobo: ASRock X79 Extreme4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) Motherboard | X79 EXTREME4

RAM: G.Skill RipjawsZ 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600Mhz Quad Channel Kit | F3-12800CL9Q-16GBZL

DVD: LG GH24NS70 DVD+/-RW SuperMulti 24x SATA Internal GH24NS70.AUAA | GH24NS70.AUAA

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit DVD - OEM - Service Pack 1 | GFC-02050

Case: Coolermaster Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) | SGC-2000-KKN1-GP

PSU: XFX ProSeries 650W Core Edition Power Supply - 80 PLUS Bronze Certified | P1-650S-UKB9

GPU: XFX AMD Radeon HD 7950 Black Edition 3072MB GDDR5 | FX-795A-TNBC

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 64MB Cache Hard Drive SATA 6GB/s 8.5ms 7200rpm - OEM | ST1000DM003



had to remove the SSD and some other parts to accomodate this build list.

Total above as is: £1291.23 Including VAT, not shipping.

This would certainly last 5 years, with a Hex Core. You could probably Overclock it as well, to a good 3.5 or 4GHz easily, making it that much better.

The RAM is way overkill, but It was the cheapest Quad Channel memory kit they had. Though you can just run Dual Channel if you want, won't be a huge performance hit, so you could get a Dual Channel 4GB or 8GB Kit like the 2nd Corsair Vengeance stuff I linked above and put in just fine as well.

max this mobo supports is 32GB RAM anyways, which is twice what Windows 7 Home Premium can see/use as well. so that 16GB Kit would be the max that version of windows could even use. Subtract the GPU memory and cache memories from various components from 16GB and thats what Windows would be able to use for RAM.



if you think a 6 core might be a bit over kill, popping in the Base Socket 2011 Quad core, which runs at 3.6GHz, would drop the price significantly.


Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail | BX80619I73820

£1075.24


Going with the Socket 2011 Quad, and that Corsair RAM Kit (4GB Low Profile stuff)

the total comes to: £1015.24

Add in the Corsair H80, Corsair H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler | CWCH80 which works for Socket 2011, you'd still be under 1100 GBP.



Or just run the stock Intel Cooler for now, until you decide if you want to Overclock or need to. Save some costs now, and maybe grab something later if needed.



If it were me, and I was planning for 3 to 5 years down the road, Socket 2011 is what I would go with, but thats just me, hit gold with socket 1366, at least until Intel changed platforms less than 3 years later... but socket 1366 Based systems can still run head to head with newer Socket 1155 Sandy Bridge platforms easily, as far as gaming goes, despite being 3 years older.