New Computer Advice

[AskingAlex]

Okay, so I'm going to be building a new computer soon (ish), and I could do with some opinions about the components.

My budget is going to be around 1500 British Pounds, although I could stretch it a tiny bit more if I really needed to.

The computer will be used for Uni, and for gaming. So some CAD work (none too extensive), some rendering of the CAD animations (not enough to warrant the extra money for an i7), gaming (such as a heavily modded New Vegas with NMC texture pack), the Crysis series, Metro (possibly), Minecraft, Diablo, Skyrim, Garry's Mod, Left for Dead, and probably a couple of RTS games (undecided on which ones).

I know that some people may be shocked at the case that I've chosen, considering that I'll be adding 2 Noctua fans to the front, so it'll look pretty awful when it's not running because of the evident brownness that'll be showing through the front grill. But I don't care about looks, so I don't really care about that :)

Here are all of my chosen parts. Any comments, suggestions or recommendations to alternative parts would be greatly appreciated :)

Case: Antec 302. Cost: £52.99 Website link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-174-AN

CPU: i5 3570K. Cost: £172.35 Website link: http://www.ebuyer.com/349029-intel-c...bx80637i53570k

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V Pro Cost: £159.98 Website link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=2261

CPU Heatsink: BeQuiet Dark Rock 2 Cost: £45.95 Website link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HS-004-BQ

GPU: EVGA 660TI FTW Sig 2 Cost: £245 (ish) Website link: http://eu.evga.com/products/moreInfo...0Family&uc=EUR

RAM: Samsung Green 8GB (Dubbed the 'Magic Ram') Cost: £53.99 Website link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-017-SA

Ram Heatsink (*4) (I know they're not needed, but it's for peace of mind I guess) Cost: £3.80 each Website link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...330&subcat=787

SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB Cost: £209.99 Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=2101&subcat=

HDD: WD Black 1TB Cost: £101.99 (Keeps changing a lot by the day, but it stays around £100 ish) Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-336-WD

Optical Drive: Samsung (whatever, I really don't care) Cost: £20.99 Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=10&subcat=951

Wireless Receiver (I know the ASUS Motherboard comes with one, but I'd prefer a stronger one): TP Link TL Cost: £29.99 Website Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/291714-tp-link...ter-tl-wdn4800

PSU: Seasonic G Series 550w Cost: £76.99 Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-018-SS

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium Cost: £70.56 Website Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/259863-microso...ia-1-gfc-02050

Keyboard: Roccat Arvo Cost: £44.99 Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=KB-005-RC

Mouse: Corsair M60 Cost: £49.99 Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...23&subcat=1257

120mm Fans (*3): Noctua NF P12 PWM Cost: £19.99 each Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=FG-003-NC

140mm Top Fan: Noctua NF A14 FLX Cost: £18.98 Website Link: http://quietpc.co.uk/nf-a14-flx

Sound Dampening (*5): Foam Square Cost: £1.99 each Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...28&subcat=1431

Sound Dampening (*3): 5.25" Drive cover Cost: £1.99 each Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...28&subcat=1431

Mini-Toolkit: HIS 7 in 1 (Hey, I like gadgets, okay? :P) Cost: £4.99 Website link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=1915&subcat=

Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX-4 Cost: £5.42 Website Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/319887-arctic-...aco-mx40001-bl

USB Stick: Corsair Voyager Mini 16GB Cost: £15.04 Website Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/177211-corsair...mfusbmini-16gb

Cable Management Kit: Akasa Kit Cost: £4.99 Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CM-029-AK

USB Extender (*2): Xenta Black USB Extender Cost: £1.99 each Website Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/130588-xenta-b...metre-plex-076

GPU Extended Warranty: 10 Year Extended Warranty Cost: Around £30 Website Link: http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/extended.asp

Surge Protector: Belkin Surge Protector Cost: £7.98 Website Link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=UP-055-BE

DVI to HDMI Cable: Xenta DVI to HDMI Cable Cost: £2.99 Website Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/130512-plexus-...ck-1m-plex-033

Audio Cable: StarTech Audio Cable Cost: £2.50 Website Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/267562-startec...black-mu6mmsra

That's *every* component that I'll be buying. I know that some aren't entirely relevant, and I know some things may seem a little strange (such as the sound dampening - but this will be placed in strategic places just as a little sound dampening (mainly for the GPU fans), seeing as the case itself hasn't got silence in mind). All the fans will be running at around 900 rpm, and will be run off of the motherboard headers.

So yeah, any comments or advice about any of the components (or the build as a whole) would be greatly appreciated :)

[greenroost1445]

you really don't need to have heat spreaders. also are you overclocking? you could probably save a couple bucks and get the non-k version

[AskingAlex]

I know that I don't *need* them, it's kind of just for peace of mind. And because I'll be overclocking the ram a bit, so I just want to be extra sure (I would've just gone with a standard heatspreader for them, but I was worried about compatibility with the heatsink, so I'm just wanting to stay on the safe side of things).

And for now, I won't be overclocking. In a few months time or so I will be though, probably up to 4.4, maybe 4.6 if I've got a good enough chip that can stay cool enough at that speed.

[MTROB]

For 3 pounds get the heat spreaders, but as greenroost said you really don't need them. Otherwise the build looks really good. You may not want to get a DVI to a HDMI as it hurts the video quality a little bit, so I suggest unless you really have to, just get an HDMI-HDMI or DVI-DVI.

[AskingAlex]

I thought DVI to HDMI was a perfect conversion, seeing as they use the same signal? :o

Either way, I'll be using a TV for my monitor *le cries*, and the best way to use that TV as a monitor is by using DVI to HDMI, then using an audio cable. Otherwise I would have just gone for a straight HDMI cable, but I've seen some people having issues using a straight HDMI to HDMI cable with that TV, (can't really see why, but I'd rather be safe that sorry, eh?)

[Kruziik_Kel]

dont get a 660ti 7950 performs better than most GTX670's for the same price as the 660ti. get an ASRock extreme 4 motherboard instead you wont use the features of the Asus also the Caviar Blacks arnt worth it get a Caviar Blue or Seagate Baracuda and cheaper RAM the samsung is great for overclocking but wont net you any performance (and neither will overclocking it)

[AskingAlex]

Okay, so I wrote out a long reply, then something went wrong and the page refreshed, and I lost it all -.-

So, to briefly sum up what I had put:

I wanted the 660ti over the 7950 for the extended warranty, because then when the GPU dies, it can be replaced hassle free, and without having to buy a new one. But, what is the average lifespan of a GPU of this performance level if it's made by a good manufacturer (Asus, Msi, Evga etc)? I mean, I know the GPU will be rather outdated by that point, but this computer will be in use until it dies, even if it's just for playing games such as Fallout or Skyrim - in which case the 660ti (or whatever EVGA would give me as a replacement in a few years time) would still be more than enough.

Asrock extreme 4 vs Asus Pro. The Asrock seems to have a lot of (very) good review, but I'd prefer to go for the Asus, just for peace of mind (I know Asus had a very good reputation for making top quality motherboards, and I trust them a little more than Asrock for a motherboard that is going to last 5+ years)

Caviar Black vs Blue. Going for the Caviar Blue now, because it's around £30 less. Okay, it hasn't got a 5 year warranty, but the SSD is going to get used the most, so it won't be used *massively* anyway.

Samsung ram. Going for some Patriot Viper sticks instead. Around £40 for 8 GB of 1600 MHz Cas 9 ram. Good price, no stupidly large heatspreaders, and they offer, what, 95.599% of the performance of the Samsung sticks in most situations?

Thanks for all the comments and advice :) I may not be ordering the computer for a while (maybe a month or two), but I just wanted to get everything sorted out sooner rather than later :)

[Guest]

You also won't need the wireless card as the board has onboard 2.4ghz unless you need 5ghz.

Other than that, if you wanted to save a bit of money you could go for a slightly cheaper board but otherwise looks good :)

[christoi]

It's worth keeping in mind what you would benefit from performance-wise in comparison to what you won't really see much difference from getting. IMO picking the components for a system is one of the hardest parts of putting together a system, because it's easy to overspend on certain components and end up paying too much - especially since the price difference may only be £5-10 per component, but if you add them up it can end up as a significant amount.

A GTX660 Ti is a good card, but it may struggle with newer titles, for example. While you don't necessarily need to up it to something better, that would most likely show a much large performance increase in comparison to some of the other components you have selected. This is especially since you are planning on modding, graphical mods can push the system given they are usually poorly optimized.

The Asus board is decent, but is it really worth the £160 price tag? This is a large problem I see with these kinds of motherboards, but often it comes with a lot of features that aren't going to be actually utilized, the 16 phase power delivery for example is completely overkill for a air-cooled setup, since you won't be increasing the volts too much (yes, phase count isn't equal to the amount of power it can deliver, but more phases are typically recommended reliability-wise when overclocking). You can get an MSI GD55 for £100, even an Asus LE and regular Z77-V can be found for £120 and £125 respectively. See here for a specification comparison.

Even £70 for a 1TB HDD is oddly expensive, since you can get a Barracuda for £50 and a Blue for £56. There's actually very little difference in terms of HDD warranty between products, the only reason why the blacks cost more is because of the warranty. Absolutely no idea why that SSD costs £200 though, since I can find an 840 Pro for £150 and a regular 840 for £125.

As for the extended graphics card warranty, there's no need to have such long warranties for a computer system, even after 5 years that card would most likely be outdated. Especially since I presume that won't cover overclocking, so at stock clocks that GPU should be fine in terms of longevity.

Another thing, I honestly would not bother with all the noise-dampening and quiet fans, to be honest. Things like HDD's are quiet enough anyways, unless the mounting system is poor I doubt there would be a large difference in noise - which probably isn't worth the £16 you are spending in total for all of them. This is especially as with an optical drive, dampening it isn't really going to make much difference as it's always very loud when in use. Noctua fans are good, but again, spending a total of £80 isn't really worth it.

By the way, what are you using the VRAM heatsinks for? It's designed for those using universal GPU blocks when watercooling to cover the VRAM modules, but it's going to be inaccessible with the graphics card cooler anyways. I honestly see no reason to get it, as there's nowhere to amount it anyways.

Lastly, I have no idea why that flash drive is so expensive. For around that price you can get a Sandisk Curzer Extreme which peaks at 190MB/s read, or a 32GB drive.

[ToughJerky]

It's worth keeping in mind what you would benefit from performance-wise in comparison to what you won't really see much difference from getting. IMO picking the components for a system is one of the hardest parts of putting together a system, because it's easy to overspend on certain components and end up paying too much - especially since the price difference may only be £5-10 per component, but if you add them up it can end up as a significant amount.

A GTX660 Ti is a good card, but it may struggle with newer titles, for example. While you don't necessarily need to up it to something better, that would most likely show a much large performance increase in comparison to some of the other components you have selected. This is especially since you are planning on modding, graphical mods can push the system given they are usually poorly optimized.

The Asus board is decent, but is it really worth the £160 price tag? This is a large problem I see with these kinds of motherboards, but often it comes with a lot of features that aren't going to be actually utilized, the 16 phase power delivery for example is completely overkill for a air-cooled setup, since you won't be increasing the volts too much (yes, phase count isn't equal to the amount of power it can deliver, but more phases are typically recommended reliability-wise when overclocking). You can get an MSI GD55 for £100, even an Asus LE and regular Z77-V can be found for £120 and £125 respectively. See here for a specification comparison.

Even £70 for a 1TB HDD is oddly expensive, since you can get a Barracuda for £50 and a Blue for £56. There's actually very little difference in terms of HDD warranty between products, the only reason why the blacks cost more is because of the warranty. Absolutely no idea why that SSD costs £200 though, since I can find an 840 Pro for £150 and a regular 840 for £125.

As for the extended graphics card warranty, there's no need to have such long warranties for a computer system, even after 5 years that card would most likely be outdated. Especially since I presume that won't cover overclocking, so at stock clocks that GPU should be fine in terms of longevity.

Another thing, I honestly would not bother with all the noise-dampening and quiet fans, to be honest. Things like HDD's are quiet enough anyways, unless the mounting system is poor I doubt there would be a large difference in noise - which probably isn't worth the £16 you are spending in total for all of them. This is especially as with an optical drive, dampening it isn't really going to make much difference as it's always very loud when in use. Noctua fans are good, but again, spending a total of £80 isn't really worth it.

By the way, what are you using the VRAM heatsinks for? It's designed for those using universal GPU blocks when watercooling to cover the VRAM modules, but it's going to be inaccessible with the graphics card cooler anyways. I honestly see no reason to get it, as there's nowhere to amount it anyways.

Lastly, I have no idea why that flash drive is so expensive. For around that price you can get a Sandisk Curzer Extreme which peaks at 190MB/s read, or a 32GB drive.

^This. I also thought that you could save a few pounds on the motherboard and HDD, and perhaps get a 670. Since you're getting a wireless card, as far as I can tell, you're getting little benefit of the PRO version of the P8z77.

[AskingAlex]

With EVGA's warranty, it does cover overclocking, just not overvolting. I know that in 5 years... heck, probably even in 3 years time it'll be very outdated. But I'm not too bothered about maxing every game; just so long as it'll run at medium to high (ish) settings or so then I'd be happy.

This all being said, the 7950 is looking more and more appealing, especially if I could be guaranteed that it'd last 5 or so years (I know nothing is guaranteed, but almost guaranteed, at least). I've seen an ASUS 7950 DirectCU II Top V2 for £290, which is roughly the price that the 660 Ti and the extended warranty would have been. Would this be a better option, especially considering it's a triple slot card which would mean better cooling, and overclocking potential?

I was kind of hoping to stay away from MSI motherboards because of their lack of voltage offset for CPU overclocking. I won't be overcloking my CPU a great deal, but I'd still want the voltage offset option that the ASUS motherboards have so I can make sure that I can get a good and stable overclock, without having to use a fixed voltage. The P8Z77-V does actually look like a good alternative motherboard though, so that'll probably be the one that I go for, thanks :D

And with the HDD and SSD, I'll search for deals when I'm buying them. I know they're a little overpriced from where I was sourcing the pricing for, But I would rather have factored in a higher, pre-sale price, so I know that if I got them cheaper, I'd definitely be able to stay within my budget, even with postage costs.

What alternative fans would you suggest to the Noctuas? I was thinking about the corsair AF 120 Quiet Editions, seeing as 2 of them are roughly the price of one Noctua fan, but I've seen them tested by "Cooling Technique" on Youtube, and the Noctuas seemed to be a considerable amount quieter at the same airflow. Then again, seeing as I'd have 2 intake fans, and 2 exhaust fans, would the extra 10 or so CF/M of air (at 800 RMP) per fan actually make any real difference to component temperatures?

But I don't see how the flash drive is expensive? It's around £1 for 1GB of storage, and it's very compact, which is great for transport. I really couldn't see anything wrong with it?

[christoi]

This all being said' date=' the 7950 is looking more and more appealing, especially if I could be guaranteed that it'd last 5 or so years (I know nothing is guaranteed, but almost guaranteed, at least). I've seen an ASUS 7950 DirectCU II Top V2 for £290, which is roughly the price that the 660 Ti and the extended warranty would have been. Would this be a better option, especially considering it's a triple slot card which would mean better cooling, and overclocking potential?[/quote']

Either should be fine really, though the 7950 does offer a bit more performance and definitely more overclocking headroom. Generally speaking I wouldn't recommend the TOP cards because it's merely a slightly higher binned chip, but if the price difference isn't too large it should be fine. Also I don't think this is an issue with Asus cards, but be wary when looking at other units though, some 7950's are completely voltage locked.

And with the HDD and SSD' date=' I'll search for deals when I'm buying them. I know they're a little overpriced from where I was sourcing the pricing for, But I would rather have factored in a higher, pre-sale price, so I know that if I got them cheaper, I'd definitely be able to stay within my budget, even with postage costs. [/quote']

I see, I had thought this was more of a final build check type thing. Might be better in that case to look up the postage costs though, rather than overshooting component prices. :P

What alternative fans would you suggest to the Noctuas? I was thinking about the corsair AF 120 Quiet Editions' date=' seeing as 2 of them are roughly the price of one Noctua fan, but I've seen them tested by "Cooling Technique" on Youtube, and the Noctuas seemed to be a considerable amount quieter at the same airflow. Then again, seeing as I'd have 2 intake fans, and 2 exhaust fans, would the extra 10 or so CF/M of air (at 800 RMP) per fan actually make any real difference to component temperatures? [/quote']

I was thinking more of just going with a lower performance set of fans, because the temperature difference isn't that large with higher quality fans. There's naturally nothing wrong with the fans themselves, but I just don't think it'll be worth spending so much on them.

But I don't see how the flash drive is expensive? It's around £1 for 1GB of storage' date=' and it's very compact, which is great for transport. I really couldn't see anything wrong with it?[/quote']

Price is relative really, whether something is expensive or not usually depends on other similar products. As I posted, for the same price you could get a better performing or higher capacity drive, or alternately you could get a similar drive for half the price. It's not a huge issue given it's a difference of a couple of pounds, but I thought it'll be worth mentioning.