Hi there! I've decided to build my own pc for the first time, and I'm looking to play all the latest games on it etc. I had a look at the May 2011 - gaming workhouse guide posted on your site (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/05/10/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-may-2011/4) Pretty much hoping to replicate those parts, however, that post is from over a month ago, and was wondering if there are any changes I should make to the build? Was also wondering if its worth not buying a cpu cooler and using the stock cooler (pretty new to this) as I know little, if anything about overclocking, so probably won't try to OC at all unless you guys think its easy enough for me to do safely? I'm also trying to work out which version of the P8P67 to get (deluxe or pro or what?) Thanks for your time, hope someone can help me!
You can update and drop some of those components in my opinion. I'd go for something like this... CPU: 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K MOTHERBOARD: MSI P67A-GD53 (B3) MEMORY: Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White 8GB Kit 1.35v (When released!) GPU: MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC PSU: Corsair AX 750W CPU COOLER: Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced CASE: Fractal Design Define R3 OPTICAL DRIVE: SATA DVD-RW STORAGE (HDD): 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 STORAGE (SSD): OCZ Agility 3 60GB EXHAUST FAN: 120mm Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850 RPM Maintaining the same budget I dropped the sound card and bumped the PSU in case of future GPU upgrades a Corsair AX 750W holds you in good stead. Also the Scythe really helps exhausting hot air from the Fractal case especially with a GPU lacking external exhaust coupled with the CPU heat. Further decent options include a Be Quiet! USC Silentwings 120mm fan in the bottom of the chassis (case needs to rest on a hard surface for this to be useful however!) and a couple of Silverstone SST-AP121 Air Penetrator 1500rpm 120mm fans up front. The Dark Rock Advanced is an excellent air cooler that you can install and forget unlike the Frio which requires manual adjustment of the fan speed. Installed a Dark Rock Advanced recently on an i5 2500K overclocked to 4.5GHz using OCZ Freeze TIM (Thermal Interface Material) and under extreme stress the CPU hits a range of between 57 - 62 degrees but rarely goes over 60 for any meaningful duration of time. Also the problem with RAM and the Dark Rock is overstated, as long as you use low profile Memory you'll not have a problem using any of the RAM slots. Only other change is the SSD to the brand new OCZ Agility 3 60GB.
What Blogins said. you contradict yourself though, vengeance RAM isn't exactly low profile, while you say the cooler will be alright with low profile ram
No, Corsair are releasing Vengeance RAM called LP (Low Profile) which is what I listed. Should be hitting retail very soon! The very nice looking Arctic White 8GB Kit works at 1.35v as well... http://www.corsair.com/memory/intel...hannel-ddr3-memory-kit-cml8gx3m2a1600c9w.html
as I was writing I was thinking about doing some research into what this new white vengeance ram was, sry for posting before doing so.
No problem! Quite keen to see what price the Arctic White eventually hits retail at. Could be an instant sell if they're under £75. The Corsair Memory Vengeance Jet Black LP 8GB kit is under £72 pre-order on SCAN.
There are these if you don't want to wait for the Corsair kit: http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...2x4GB)+DDR3+1600MHz+9-9-9-24+?productId=43961
I actually had problems with the usual suggestion of Corsair XMS3 with the MSI board - it just wouldn't boot with more than one stick in. Swapped them for the Mushkin set and booted first time no problem. They fit under the Dark Rock Advanced and are 1.35v so I'm actually happier.
That area of my chassis is the warmest so I'm quite keen to drop a few volts on the RAM to help it out. Be a decent enough bump from 4GB to 8GB as well!
