Hi Guys, I have spent the last 2 months reading about components and I have my final spec which I will be looking to order next month with my bonus So... Budget: £1500 Main uses of intended build: Gaming, media PC, probably some AutoCAD / rendering Parts required: Everything inside the tower, no monitor yet. Previous build information (list details of parts): Sony 40 inch LED TV Monitor resolution: 1080 Storage requirements: 1Tb / 128Gb SSD will you be overclocking: yes at some point in the future Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): none that I am aware of! Extra information about desired system: I need this to run very quietly as it will be located in the lounge and I don't want to piss my girlfriend off with too much noise which might explain the slightly over the top case and CPU cooler. Spec is: CPU: Intel i7 2600K £225 CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 £59.52 Mobo: Asus Sabertooth P67 B3 £149.60 Memory: 2 x 4Gb Corsair Vengance £76.94 GPU: EVGA GTX 570 £258.68 Case: Either a Corsair 650D £129.18 or the Silverstone FT02-WRI £191.61 HD1: Crucial 128Gb M4 £172.94 HD2: Samsung 1tb 7200rpm £40.43 PSU: Corsair AX 750W £128.10 Total £1240.39 with the 650D case...... I am very tempted to buy a soundcard, I am about to buy a set of Sennheiser HD 380 Pro's and I think these are good enough to warrant a soundcard but I have no idea which one to get... Any recommendations? I will be gaming a lot with a desktop mic and I would use the headphones at work and out and about. Thanks guys, not sure if I have missed anything! Turns out I did! Missed the PSU, thanks for picking up on it! Long
Everything looks great as far as I can see. You've definitely put a lot of research into it!You've listed two great cases and both would suit you well. I have however heard that the FT02-WRI is one of the best air cooled cases available if you can afford it. Not sure how quiet the fans are though, I daresay someone else will have some input on this. Good luck with your build!
Thanks man, The FT02-WRI does seem to have the edge with air cooling and I think I can stretch to it.... oh and it looks awesome! My only questions is with the mobo outputs being under the top of the case. Does anybody know how much space there is from the output to the top of the case? Do you need 90 degree HDMI etc??
Hi Mate look at the Xoner DX2 etc, the Asus Xoner sound card range is extremely good and they range from about £20 - £120. So My bet would be to look through the range and see which ones suits your bill. As for your SSD, I just bought it and its arriving today so Ill let you know how I get on but it seems to be the best all rounder ssd out. Others like the vertex 3 from ocz have better mas read and especially write speeds but these are under ideal situations. It seems you cant really go wrong with any ssd as they are all fast Also your cpu, save money and get the 2500k. It will overclock easily so no need for the 2600k really. Use that money saved to buy the soundcard? Also do you need a power supply?
Ha good spot! Updated the op to include for the Corsair AX750. I know what you mean about the CPU but I can afford it and the hyperthreading might come in handy for AutoCAD / rendering?
You can do it by a bootbale usb drive, but in the end I just endded up connnecting an drive from an old pc lying around
I agree with neonplanet, get the Core i5 2500K, and I would possibly change the mobo for an MSI P67A-GD53 and save a bit more...
The Sabertooth does strike me as an awkward motherboard to work with given that plastic shroud. I can imagine it being hell trying to remove the GPU with those little retention clips at the end of the PCi-Express slot. Also just a note on the D2X, it lacks a front panel header which you might want to take in to consideration.
On the range of Asus Xonar cards: I'd advise a DX, if only because it's PCI-E 1X, and can be stuck in the 1X socket most motherboards have above the 16X, and it'll happily output clear sound. I never, ever want to go back to On-board sound. (Then agian, I do use the DX, £55 of card, with my HD 485's, and those set me about another £53.)
Eyes of the beholder and does it really do better at gaming? Any sources appreciated for some light reading!
Yes, but don't forget, a 1x will fit into any PCI-E slot available, he doesn't have to use a 1x, he can use a 16x, but the card can only run at 1x bandwidth.
True, but I'd rather my Soundcard sat out of the airflow path of things, having a hunk of PCB limiting airflow intfront of a GPU doesn't seem like the best of ideas to me, and the fact that it demands Mini-molex input (Floppy connector) Is a pain. Does come with a Molex - Minimolex adapter, however. Otherwise it's the best soundcard i've used.
Really? The Asus Sabertooth, among all the motherboard out there, the Asus Sabertooth was chosen? An overpriced motherboard for a plastic system cover which reviewers has showed causes more problem than helps, plus has a noisy fan that needs to be added. Sorry dude, but not this board. My recommendations is to get a Gigabyte board. Superior warranty service, better board quality, on the site forums and monitoring and trying to fix large problem, fast tech support ticket system, solid high quality capacitors, well grounded, and ferrite core choke, which provides you with longer board life, and no whine or high-pitch sound from the board. Oh and has dual BIOS's, so if a BIOS update fails, it will restore it using the second BIOS chip, which is a read-only chip. This last feature saved me a lot of money for repair + shipping + time, TWICE. Awesome! Oh and a full detailed manual in English ASUS RMA service repair time is 1 month at best, and you are nicely greeted with people on the phone who don't want to work. Beside that, everything looks perfect. I don't know your current monitor, you may want to save money for it. Descent monitors are not cheap. We are looking at 350-500 pounds for a 23/24inch (the gap isn't that large in North of America, if you wonder), depending on your needs. We will meet again on that last part when the time comes. But a quick look on this forum, will explain why, I have talk extensively on this.
I have to admit, the difference between the Asus bord and the Gigabyte boards is quite an eye opener. The Gigabyte board I have in my PC is like a piece of slate, very rigid and quite thick. The Asus Asus P8P67 Pro R3 P67 mobo I bought for my step son seems very flimsy by comparison - although it works fine and not really anything wrong with it....
Hmm. Nothing wrong with my P8P67 or my Striker II Formula ROG. Or my daughter's M4A78LT-M LE. Or my other daughter's M2V-MX... Viewsonic VP2365wb @ £202.78 from Scan...
