New Build Opinion

[Violator]

I'm currently in the process of planning out my new build and would like any opinions

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web, Gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
£1000 inc VAT(tax)/shipping

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
UK

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The
word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU
MB
Mem
PSU
SSD
CPU Cooler
Case

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
WD Caviar Black 1.5TB
AMD 6950 2GB (unlocked shaders)

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1200 24"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Over the next month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

CrossFire/SLI, SATA 6Gb

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Win 7 64bit

Currently I have in mind

I5 SB 2500K
ASUS P8Z68 GEN3
CORSAIR 16GB Vengance 1.5v
CORSAIR AX750
CRUCIAL 256GB M4
CORSAIR H80 (may replace stock fans with GT AP15s)
CORSAIR Obsidian 650D

I want a good, solid build to last a while. I am not bothered at all by IvyBridge. I may consider CrossFire/SLI in the future hence my PSU choice.

The SSD is for OS and Games. The WD will be used for storage.

cheers!

 

[Deleted member 88227]

That list looks good to me, as long as the prices aren't too high on them. Except that SSD, what's the price of it compared to the Crucial M4 128GB SSD? Also that 850W PSU is a little overkill, even if you plan to CFX 6950s. You could save a little money going with their 750W version.

I've also never been a big fan of those water coolers when air coolers that are half, sometimes more than half the price of the water coolers give similar overclocking results. Especially with SB, it doesn't take much to get one in the 4.5Ghz range. I've seen cheap $30 air coolers get them to 4.5Ghz+ easily. Just food for thought.

 

[Violator]

That list looks good to me, as long as the prices aren't too high on them. Except that SSD, what's the price of it compared to the Crucial M4 128GB SSD? Also that 850W PSU is a little overkill, even if you plan to CFX 6950s. You could save a little money going with their 750W version.

I've also never been a big fan of those water coolers when air coolers that are half, sometimes more than half the price of the water coolers give similar overclocking results. Especially with SB, it doesn't take much to get one in the 4.5Ghz range. I've seen cheap $30 air coolers get them to 4.5Ghz+ easily. Just food for thought.

Thanks for the feedback Skillz , to answer your questions

The SSD is £250, as I'm putting both OS and games on there I wanted some breathing space. Going with the 750W would save about £15, but I'm also thinking ahead to the next gen cards and if I crossfire/SLI those for example.

I'm considering water-cooling for two reasons, 1) the obvious cooling advantage and 2) the noise, or rather, lack of it. I've used air-coolers for years and I'm at the stage now where I'd like a quieter build

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Thanks for the feedback Skillz , to answer your questions

The SSD is £250, as I'm putting both OS and games on there I wanted some breathing space. Going with the 750W would save about £15, but I'm also thinking ahead to the next gen cards and if I crossfire/SLI those for example.

I'm considering water-cooling for two reasons, 1) the obvious cooling advantage and 2) the noise, or rather, lack of it. I've used air-coolers for years and I'm at the stage now where I'd like a quieter build

Well I wanted to compare the two SSDs, so which one is £250 and how much is the other one?

GPUs aren't using more power, in fact the trend is to get them to use less power but provide more performance. Therefore, you should still be fine with a 750W PSU. Again nothing wrong with going with an 850W unit, but if the money could be spent else where I'd take that path.

The noisy part of the computer will be the GPUs fans. It will drown out a descent air cooler easily. So if you were looking to really get a quiet system, then you need to consider doing something about the GPUs since the watercooling kit isn't going to be that much quieter than an air cooler. Especially since both use 120mm fans.

 

[Violator]

Well I wanted to compare the two SSDs, so which one is £250 and how much is the other one?

GPUs aren't using more power, in fact the trend is to get them to use less power but provide more performance. Therefore, you should still be fine with a 750W PSU. Again nothing wrong with going with an 850W unit, but if the money could be spent else where I'd take that path.

The noisy part of the computer will be the GPUs fans. It will drown out a descent air cooler easily. So if you were looking to really get a quiet system, then you need to consider doing something about the GPUs since the watercooling kit isn't going to be that much quieter than an air cooler. Especially since both use 120mm fans.

OK the Crucial M4 128GB is £126. I know the trend is less power with the GPUs but I don't want to be having the PSU running at 80-90% if possible, PSUs are most efficient at 50-70% as I recall.

Agreed with the GPU fans, however at the moment the noisiest fan in my current build is the CPU fan (Tuniq Tower), I have custom profiles on the 6950 which means the fan rarely ramps up too high

 

[Dangman]

If you're trying to stick with a Corsair theme, that setup looks nice. If you're willing to ditch the Corsair theme, I'd recommend the higher quality Crucial M4 128Gb or 256GB SSD instead.

However, can you honestly not wait till late April/Early May for Intel's new Ivy Bridge CPUs to come out? That's barely 2-3 weeks after your planned build.

I'm considering water-cooling for two reasons, 1) the obvious cooling advantage and 2) the noise, or rather, lack of it. I've used air-coolers for years and I'm at the stage now where I'd like a quieter build

Two problems with your reasons:
1) The Corsair H80 does indeed cool better than some air-cooling HSF out there. However, there are quite a few air-cooling HSF out there that actually out-peforms the H80 at around the same price

2) The H80 comes with a relatively noisy pump. So it actually won't be quiet.

If you're looking for a 'WOW" factor to add to your PC, the H80 is a fine choice. However if you actually want quiet and good cooling for the money, you should look at the Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow, Prolimatech Genesis, or Prolimatech Megahalems HSF. All of those above air-cooling HSF will provide lower temps as well as lower noise than the H80 while being around the same price.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

OK the Crucial M4 128GB is £126. I know the trend is less power with the GPUs but I don't want to be having the PSU running at 80-90% if possible, PSUs are most efficient at 50-70% as I recall.

Agreed with the GPU fans, however at the moment the noisiest fan in my current build is the CPU fan (Tuniq Tower), I have custom profiles on the 6950 which means the fan rarely ramps up too high

So the Crucial M4 256GB should be around £240 (Not sure why I asked for the 128GB when I meant the 256GB version, my fault). If that's the case (or even if the M4 was a little more) I'd still go with the Crucial M4 256GB over that GTForce since the M4 performs a little better.

Fair enough on the PSU.

 

[Violator]

If you're trying to stick with a Corsair theme, that setup looks nice. If you're willing to ditch the Corsair theme, I'd recommend the higher quality Crucial M4 128Gb or 256GB SSD instead.

However, can you honestly not wait till late April/Early May for Intel's new Ivy Bridge CPUs to come out? That's barely 2-3 weeks after your planned build.

Two problems with your reasons:
1) The Corsair H80 does indeed cool better than some air-cooling HSF out there. However, there are quite a few air-cooling HSF out there that actually out-peforms the H80 at around the same price

2) The H80 comes with a relatively noisy pump. So it actually won't be quiet.

If you're looking for a 'WOW" factor to add to your PC, the H80 is a fine choice. However if you actually want quiet and good cooling for the money, you should look at the Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow, Prolimatech Genesis, or Prolimatech Megahalems HSF. All of those above air-cooling HSF will provide lower temps as well as lower noise than the H80 while being around the same price.

Thanks for the feedback Danny, couple of questions though

In what way is the Crucial M4 better than the Corsair GTForce? The reviews I've seen (even with FW009), don't point to a 'better' drive, and it's actually around the same price.

IvyBridge doesn't interest me at all to be honest, and I'd rather go with the proven SB platform for this build, plus I'd expect IB prices to be fairly high given it's a brand-new release.

Good info about the H80. I've no real experience of using water-cooling, only what I've read. One thing I did want to get away from as well though, is having a massive heavy hog of an air-cooler hanging off my MB (currently got the Tuniq Tower 120 and it's a small beast in itself)

 

[Dangman]

In what way is the Crucial M4 better than the Corsair GTForce? The reviews I've seen (even with FW009), don't point to a 'better' drive, and it's actually around the same price.

The Corsair SSD is uses a Sandforce controller which has had a history of random BSODs. And the Crucial has slightly better random read/write speeds IIRC. That's a very important SSD spec, the random read/write as that's what provides the SSDs their actual "speed" improvement.

IvyBridge doesn't interest me at all to be honest, and I'd rather go with the proven SB platform for this build, plus I'd expect IB prices to be fairly high given it's a brand-new release.

The price thing is a somewhat valid concern as the CPU prices will be around the price of current SB CPUs but the mobo prices might be a tad high.

Good info about the H80. I've no real experience of using water-cooling, only what I've read. One thing I did want to get away from as well though, is having a massive heavy hog of an air-cooler hanging off my MB (currently got the Tuniq Tower 120 and it's a small beast in itself)

Heh, I think some of the HSF I recommended might be larger than the Tuniq Tower 120.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

As Danny noted, the Crucial M4 series has a much better reliable track record around here than most other SSDs.

 

[Violator]

As Danny noted, the Crucial M4 series has a much better reliable track record around here than most other SSDs.

Noted, thanks Gents, I shall look into this option

 

[Violator]

Have amended the original build list according to recommendations. I hope the 750 is enough.

I'm still sticking with the H80 though, unless someone catagorically tells me it's the wrong move

 

[Dangman]

Looks good.

 

[DejaWiz]

Have you considered the Cooler Master Hyper212+ or Hyper212+ EVO coolers? Dead silent.

I just installed one for a friend's build and I was shocked at how silent it really is. Does an amazing job cooling his i5-2500K.

Stock clocks:
Idle - 36-39C per core
Load - 46-58C per core

This is in a Thermaltake Armor A60 case running only the included fans attached to an Asus P8Z68V LE motherboard with all fan modes in UEFI set to silent mode.

 

[Violator]

Have you considered the Cooler Master Hyper212+ or Hyper212+ EVO coolers? Dead silent.

I just installed one for a friend's build and I was shocked at how silent it really is. Does an amazing job cooling his i5-2500K.

Stock clocks:
Idle - 36-39C per core
Load - 46-58C per core

This is in a Thermaltake Armor A60 case running only the included fans attached to an Asus P8Z68V LE motherboard with all fan modes in UEFI set to silent mode.

I haven't, but I will check those out.

I'm now having 2nd thoughts regarding the case. Reviews are good but I see reports of noise and fan controllers dying. Would a 600T be a better option? or look at something else entirely? Silverstone maybe?

 

[Dangman]

I'm now having 2nd thoughts regarding the case. Reviews are good but I see reports of noise and fan controllers dying. Would a 600T be a better option?

Going with the 600T probably won't decrease your chances of those reported issues.No matter what case you get, there's gonna be a few bad reports about it.

or look at something else entirely? Silverstone maybe?

Silverstone cases:
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$166 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case

 

[Violator]

Going with the 600T probably won't decrease your chances of those reported issues.No matter what case you get, there's gonna be a few bad reports about it.

Silverstone cases:
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$166 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case

Good info as always, cheers Danny

 

[Violator]

Well so far I have

Corsair Obsidian 650d case
Corsair H80 Cooler
Corsair Vengeance 16GB
Corsair AX750
Crucial M4 256GB

Asus P8Z68 Pro Gen 3 and SB 2500K arriving Monday. Looking forward to the new build, been nearly 4 years since my last and also my first to have Win7 64 onboard, can finally say cheerio to Vista, it's been a good ride I have to say.

Also determined to make this a 'clean' build, with the Obsidian making it easy for cable-routing (from initial looks anyway).

 

[Dangman]

Good luck with the build!

 

[Violator]

Good luck with the build!

Cheers Danny will try and get a pic or two up if I make a decent job of it

 

[Violator]

UPDATE : Build completed last night and currently rocking the 2500k @ 4.5Ghz 1.3v. Temps around 55 under load. Fairly quiet too