I posted here a few months back about needing a new pc after my laptop broke. Unfortunately at the time my funds fell through as I decided to spend my money elsewhere i.e. drinking and clubbing . However I’m now in a position to build a new one, and I need to do it over the next few days, and as you can guess I need your expertise. Main tasks would be CAD usage, and gaming. Currently have a 22” 1080p monitor, with max res of 1920 x 1080, and would prefer to play games on high settings. I won’t be salvaging anything from my previous pc as its too old and my budget is max £700 (I would spend more if you convince me its worth it though) I want to base the build around an i5 760, with the Gelid Tranquillo, and the obvious choice of the 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3. However as for everything else I am totally open to ideas. For the mobo I would like usb 3.0 (unless I’m just being picky here) and the potential of crossfire, as I would like to plump for the 6870, and maybe add on another in a few months. However seeing how much the 460’s have dropped in price would it be worth investing in a couple for sli? For memory is dual or tri channel better and what speeds should I be looking at? 1600mhz? As I will be overclocking. With the case again I’m open to ideas, would like one with a side window as I like to gaze in at the hardware from time to time. Psu will depend on the setups you guys suggest. Cheers for your help
The extra RAM and CPU power of an i7 will help with all that CAD you'll be doing Today Only Scan Intel Core i7 950 Combo * Xclio Color I, Black Mid Tower Case w/o PSU * 600W BeQuiet Straight Power E7, 80 PLUS Bronze, 120mm Fan, 20+4 Pin * Intel Core i7 950 Bloomfield 45nm, 3.06 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, 23x Ratio, 130W, Retail * Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Rev 2, Intel X58, S1366, SLi/Xfire PCI-E 2, DDR3 2200<, USB3 & SATA 6Gb/s * 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM * 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.65V * Pioneer DVR-S18LBK 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, RAM x12, SATA, Black, Retail Labelflash £563.99 Plus 1GB Asus GTX 460, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 675MHz, Shader Clock 1350MHz, 336 Cores, 2xDL DVI/mHDMI £146.86 Total: £710.85 To keep you roughly on budget, or 1GB XFX HD 6870, 4200MHz GDDR5, GPU 900MHz, 1120 Stream Processors, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDMI/ 2x Mini DP £195.85 Total: £759.84 With the 6870 you wanted. Gives you 16x16 xfire (a lot of the i5 xfire mobos won't let you use USB 3.0, SATA III and xfire at the same time) and a socket that is upgradable to 6 core, if the 6 core i7s ever drop to reasonable prices. Only downside to this I can see is the poor case (only 2 optional fan bays and 1 supplied fan) and no 3rd party CPU cooler, but I suppose you could keep it at stock and wait until you feel you need and have the monies to overclock.
^ This is a good suggestion. You could also ask Scan if they would change the case to something like an Antec 300 or a Xigmatech Utgard (also on Today Only special). I am sure they would help you out, even if you have to pay a few quid more. A Thermaltake Frio cooler is £36.65 but as said above, you don't need to get an aftermarket cooler until you start overclocking. However, for gaming you will probably not notice the difference between an i5 or an i7 with the same graphics card. You will be able to reduce the cost by going i5 but how heavy is your CAD usage?
CAD usage wont be that heavy, so I would settle for the i5. So you think the best option would be to contact scan in this case then? Or should I stay with the i5 build?
I think price up an i5 build first, Scan do the bundle deals nearly every day so don't panic about that particular one. I'm too knackered to price an i5 build for you now, I gotta sleep, I'll be back...
Priced up an i5 build with a xfire supporting mobo (UD4) and exactly the same parts as the i7 build (bar 4gb of RAM instead of 6) and it came in at ~£60 less. tbh, £60 for an extra two gig of RAM and an i7 over an i5 isn't bad. But then, £60 extra could also get you a tranquillo and a CM690 w/window. The downsides will be: In xfire an i5 will be marginally worse (1-4%) than the i7, due to 8x/8x vs 16x/16x; the i6 will be marginally worse at rendering CAD; slightly less upgradability and less motherboard features in general. On the plus side, if you get a tranquliio and case, your computer will look nicer and you can show it off to your friend and you can OC it straight away.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_480_PCI-Express_Scaling/1.html Here's the scaling of PCIe on a 480. Most P55 mobos, the cheaper ones, run the 2nd gpu at x4. Expensive, P55-UD4 and above, mobos run at 8x/8x. x58 chipsets can run two or even 3 gpus at 16x. I'd recommend going x58 (i7 9**) if you're going to consider xfire at all. 8x/8x xfire p55 motherboards cost the same as x58 motherboards, so you get better xfire and triple channel RAM at the expense of a more pricey processor. IMO you're better off just going for a more expensive single card and a cheaper P55 mobo if you're going P55.
So the question is do I need xfire? I could just invest in a 6870, and then upgrade that when needed, and have an i7 build for around £700.....
i5 non xfire build from Scan - Remember to check Today Only when you do place your order, as it can take a few % off of the total price. Add a Tranquillo if you plan on overclocking it. * 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V £61.04 * 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £41.78 * Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM £12.90 * Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3, Intel P55 Express, S1156, PCI-E 2.0, DDR3 2200, SATA 6Gb/s, RAID, USB 3.0, ATX £102.87 * Coolermaster CM 690 Pure Black Dominator Mid Tower Case with Side Window, w/o PSU £70.48 * 650W XFX XXX, Modular PSU, 85% eff', SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, 135mm Fan, Single Rail £70.46 * Intel i5 760, S1156, Lynnfield Quad Core, 2.8 GHz, 8MB Cache, Core Ratio 21x, 95W, Retail £144.70 * 1GB Sapphire HD 6870, 4200MHz GDDR5, GPU 900MHz, 1120 Stream Processors, DL DVI-I/ DVI-D/ HDMI/ mDP £198.20 Net Total £597.82 Carriage £0.00 VAT £104.61 Total £702.43
Looks good one more question though, is the sapphire the way to go for the 6870? or are they all just alike at this stage?
so it would be best going for the cheapest one? I found this http://www.dabs.com/products/best-value-vtx3d-ati-radeon-6870-hd-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-77BX.html never heard of vtx3d though.....
Not heard of them here either, they must be new. I couldn't see any warranty info on dabs for the card, might be worth checking that out. Most cards are 24 months and xfx do 60 months, so the price could be lower for that reason. I'd check that with dabs but if its the standard 24 I see know reason not to go with that card and save the £20.
cheers for your help guys Coolermaster CM 690 Pure Black Domi 1 £59.98 Intel i5 760, S1156, Lynnfield Quad 1 £259.99 1GB XFX HD 6870, 4200MHz GDDR5, GPU 1 £159.99 550W Antec TruePower New, Modular P 1 £61.89 Gelid Tranquillo,4 Heatpipe + PWM, 1 £20.77 Sony AD-7260S-0B 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD± 1 £11.90 ---------------------------------------------------------- Net Total £574.52 Carriage £0.00 VAT £100.54 Total £675.06 all ordered (the price of the cpu includes 4 gig of ram and asus P7P55D-E mobo)
