Question: PC Build - Help - Advice

E

elliottlock

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
Messages
120
Hi,

As you have guessed I'm looking to build a new PC. But would like some help/advice on the parts I have chosen so far. To help give you an understanding of what I'm trying to achieve let me give you the following info:

What am I using my rig for?
Gaming

Budget (including tax and shipping)?
£2000

Where do I live?
Surrey, England

What parts do I need?
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Graphics Card
Hard Drive
PSU
Case
CPU Cooler
Optical Drive

Am I overclocking?
No

Reused parts?
Monitor

Monitor size?
24", Native Resolution 1920x1200

When do I plan on buying / building my pc?
Within the next month

Required features?
I'd like to be USB 3.0 ready and have the ability for SLI/Crossfire

OS?
I already have a Windows 7 (64bit) licence. Which I will be migrating to this new PC

So with all that in mind here's my current list of the part:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 (1333MHz) Tri-Channel (CMX6GX3M3A1333C9)
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G)
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): (2x = 2TB) Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EALS)
PSU: Corsair HX 750W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750HXUK)
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM)

That brings my current total to £1,811.67 (parts bought from http://www.overclockers.co.uk)

So my question is. Are there any parts you would change and if so why?

Many Thanks,

EL
 
Last edited:
I would switch to a XFX branded HD 5870 for the lifetime warranty that XFX offers.

Besides that, looks solid to me.
 
Some changes after more thinking:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard - £158.99
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM - £229.99
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C9) - £141.98
Graphics Card: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £319.99
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) - £279.99
Mounting Kit: Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit [AK-MX010] - £5.99
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) - (x2 in RAID 1 = 1TB Mirrored) - £159.98
PSU: Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) - £154.99
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black - £158.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) - £66.99
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) - £49.98
Total (inc. tax and shipping) : £1,745.20

This still allows me to crossfire in the future to. What do you reckon?
 
elliottlock said:
Some changes after more thinking:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard - £158.99
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM - £229.99
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C9) - £141.98
Graphics Card: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £319.99
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) - £279.99
Mounting Kit: Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit [AK-MX010] - £5.99
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) - (x2 in RAID 1 = 1TB Mirrored) - £159.98
PSU: Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) - £154.99
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black - £158.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) - £66.99
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) - £49.98
Total (inc. tax and shipping) : £1,745.20

This still allows me to crossfire in the future to. What do you reckon?
Click to expand...

Looks good to me. Personally I would choose a different case but that is a totally personal choice. All the other items look good.
 
elliottlock said:
Some changes after more thinking:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard - £158.99
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM - £229.99
RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C9) - £141.98
Graphics Card: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £319.99
Hard Drive (Boot): OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) - £279.99
Mounting Kit: Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit [AK-MX010] - £5.99
Hard Drive (Storage RAID): Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) - (x2 in RAID 1 = 1TB Mirrored) - £159.98
PSU: Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850HXUK) - £154.99
Case: Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black - £158.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (Socket LGA775/1156/1366/AM2/AM3) - £66.99
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) - £49.98
Total (inc. tax and shipping) : £1,745.20

This still allows me to crossfire in the future to. What do you reckon?
Click to expand...

What Danny stated about the XFX card is applicable only in North America. Based on your use of UK Pounds you are located in the UK. In this case, the XFX has the same two-year warranty as most other brands of graphics cards. Remember, the EU effectively outlaws "lifetime" warranties by requiring the warranties to be a finite period (a minimum of two years, but must be of a specific term).
 
E4g1e said:
What Danny stated about the XFX card is applicable only in North America. Based on your use of UK Pounds you are located in the UK. In this case, the XFX has the same two-year warranty as most other brands of graphics cards. Remember, the EU effectively outlaws "lifetime" warranties by requiring the warranties to be a finite period (a minimum of two years, but must be of a specific term).
Click to expand...

I did not know that, thanks for sharing!
 
E4g1e said:
....Remember, the EU effectively outlaws "lifetime" warranties by requiring the warranties to be a finite period (a minimum of two years, but must be of a specific term).
Click to expand...


Sorry to be a dumbass, but what does that mean?
 
slaya said:
Sorry to be a dumbass, but what does that mean?
Click to expand...

XFX Offers a lifetime warranty with their cards, but I believe it's only in North America. Thus when he says that the EU bans the lifetime warranty it essentially is saying that the warranty has to be a set amount of time and not an abstract time such as a "lifetime" (which of course is a variable time). Finite might not have been the best choice of words because it makes you think that some warranties are infinite, but its just that the "lifetime" is not a set number, and they require a set number. Hope that clears it up.
 
Shadowssong said:
XFX Offers a lifetime warranty with their cards, but I believe it's only in North America. Thus when he says that the EU bans the lifetime warranty it essentially is saying that the warranty has to be a set amount of time and not an abstract time such as a "lifetime" (which of course is a variable time). Finite might not have been the best choice of words because it makes you think that some warranties are infinite, but its just that the "lifetime" is not a set number, and they require a set number. Hope that clears it up.
Click to expand...

In the USA, "lifetime" is a set length: 7 years. Anyone who deviates from this number usually states the different time length in their advertising. So the EU requires an explicit time length for the warranty... interesting!

Basically, manufacturers have warranties for their products. In North America, many manufacturers have this warranty extend to the "lifetime" of the product: as long as the product works, the company will guarantee the product will not fail due to a manufacturing defect. If this happens, they'll replace it with a working one. The EU decided to make this more clear: since "lifetime" varies from product to product, the company much explicitly state a length to the warranty. This warranty must be at least 2 years long. XFX decided, then, to make the warranty for products released in the EU have the minimum required length.

I hope that clears things up for you, slaya.

OP I hope the computer you're buying serves you well! I do have a few questions though: What is a mounting kit, what purpose does it serve, and why do you want/need it? Also, why did you decided to mirror RAID those drives?

I hope you post pics of this then when you have it... looks like a beast of a computer.
 
Senryo, the mounting kit allows you to install two 2.5" SSD/Hard Drives into a standard 3.5” drive bay of a PC case.

I'm using RAID 1 mirror as these drives are for storage of data. Mirroring the drive ensures the data is backed up if one of the drives fails.
 
RAID is not a backup solution. If you delete a file on one drive, it will be deleted on the mirror. Likewise, if you get a virus/malware, it will be on both drives. A backup should be restore-able. RAID1 simply minimizes downtime, but it is not an effective backup solution. ;)
 
Fair point. TBH I probably won't do that anyway and Instead get 2 500GB drives in RAID 0 for better performance. It's so unlikely they will fail.
 
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