My £1500 rig. Can you tell me what you think?

O

Ocottam98

New member
Hey guys,
I am extremely new to this build your own desktop system. So if you could take the time and help me pick out the faults in my build where I've either not put enough 'technology' in to it or even over powered it. I'm sorry but the prices will be in pounds. Also this is very long so if you don't have a lot of time I would stop now. Thanks.

Here is my build selected from cyberpowerpc...

My case is an Infinity Heaven which is around 55cm or higher.
CoolerMaster HAF-X Full Tower Gaming Case W/ Side-panel Window 1x230mm Red LED Fan, 1x200mm Fans, 2xFront USB 3.0 Port (£65)

My CPU is a quad intel core.
Intel® Core™ i7-3820 Quad Core 3.60 GHz 10MB Intel Smart Cache LGA2011***Overclockable XXX***

What I was wondering was that do I really need this or can I go for a cheaper option, I have a flexible budget so that doesn't matter. Here are the other option.

Asus P9X79 Pro Intel X79 Chipset, 3-Way SLI / Crossfire supported, 4 Channel DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ 8 RAM slots, UEFI Bios, BT GO, SSD Caching, 71 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB30, SATA-III RAID, 4 Gen3 PCIe x16 & 2 PCIe x1 ***Overclockable XXX***

Which one do I pick? There is a difference of £27 between the two the first one is the more expensive board.

The next question is probably one of the most frequently asked questions, liquid cooling or air cooling? For the liquid cooling could someone tell me if this is a loop that requires no maintenance or if so how difficult it is to do so.
Cyberpower Advanced WaterCooling Large Kit (Including 360m Radiator, 750res Pump/Reservoir, Rosa CPU Block, High CFM Fans, Tubing, and Coolant) ***Overclockable XXX***

Or should I get the Corsair 100i watercooling kit?
Also in my build I'm very conscious of my rig overheating so does it need maximum fans aswell in the rig or is the liquid cooling suffice?

Next is the Hard drive and the Data hard drive, whats the difference and are these good enough or not?

1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive (Single Hard Drive)
1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive (Single Hard Drive)
Is this enough space :lol: because I have no idea.

Next for the RAM, how many Gbs is considered a decent amount. In my rig I have selected these...
16GB (4x4GB) PC16000 DDR3/1866mhz Quad Channel Memory (Kingston HyperX Predator w/Heat Spreader)
Is this too much? Do I need to downgrade to 8gb or is this good enough?

It says my rig will require around 500 watts so do I give it some leeway if so how much? Right now I have selected this...
750 Watts Power Supplies Corsair 750 Watts CX750 Gaming Power Supply

Next I have the video card, people are saying to me to go Raedon or Nvidia. Right now I've gone with Nvidia but again I have no idea XD.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card

Does this do the job or do I need to go higher or lower?

Am I missing anything out, please tell me, I really need a lot of help.
I'm going to get two monitors as well if that changes anything :P

Thanks a lot in advance.
Ollie :D
 
What are you planning to do with this PC? Video editing? Gaming? Other stuff? That would help determining where your money would best be spent regarding CPU and GPU. If you are using software that takes advantage of CUDA and lots of cores then NVIDIA and that CPU would be better.

Generally though I'd recommend saving your money on that CPU+MB setup and getting an i7-3770K with a Z77 MB since the processors may be about the same price but there is little performance difference and the Z77 boards are cheaper than the X79 ones.

To not have an SSD on a £1500 budget is bordering criminal around these points and for usual use I doubt you would go much about 1TB so use a 1TB drive for storage and get an SSD (128GB or 256GB) for your OS and programs.

Case is a personal preference so only you can really decide that one. I don't like the CM HAF series of cases but a lot of others do. Only suggestion may be that, if you go for the H100i you don't really need a full tower case. Talking of cooling if you went with a full water cooling loop I'd look at a different kit such as the XSPC Rx360 D5 kit.

You would get more than enough headroom with a 750W PSU. Would probably be fine with a 650W unit but I'm not great with PSUs.

Finally onto the GPU- if you are wanting an NVIDIA card I'd suggest avoiding the GTX 680 and instead get the GTX 670, not a massive difference between them regarding performance but about £100 in price. The EVGA FTW GTX670 is quite popular and uses the reference GTX 680 design too.
 
Thank you for such a quick reply!
With the Desktop I'm hoping to get some gaming in, and I really want this to last so it doesn't just go out of date in like 2 months D:
So I should go for a cheaper intel core and a cheaper motherboard correct?
I'll take your advice on getting an SSD which is chemical I think, correct me if I'm wrong. For the SSD, is there a company which you would recommend? Also what about my RAM selection is that up to scratch? And overclocking, is it worth it or should I give it a pass? How many fps does your machine get up to and the price?
Are you saying go for liquid over fan or vice-verse

Thanks again

Ollie
 
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I will make some recommendations but its personal and other and yourself may disagree:

1) Get a different case something that can support watercooling in the future biggest mistake i made with my first rig was cheaping out on the case.

2) Go z77 and 3570k or 3770k up to you but a 3570k is plenty i would imagine for 4-5years of gaming without bottlenecking future GPUs especially if you overclocked it down the road.

3) SSD, SSD, SSD! lol trust me get a SSD even if not a top of the range one for the OS

4) look at some other GPU options maybe (i personally think nvidia is overpriced) maybe look at a 7970 or even 7950, look at benchmarks

5) think about watercooling of the bat if you could save £400 on your build from a z77, 7970, no h100i you could get a decent kit and never worry about it

6) look at a modular PSU makes life easier trust me, i worked with a corsair GS800 recently it can become messy in a small case

Thanks my all my opinions if you think im talking shit just ignore me =D
 
For SSDs Corsair Neutron and Samsung 840s are the go-to option for a lot of people here ( I personally have my eyes on the 840 pro 256GB model).

If gaming is your thing the combination of i5 3750k and an msi z77 board would more than suffice (Haswell just round the corner as well, can you wait the 2-3 months?) I'd ignore the socket 2011 CPUs in this instance.

Your RAM is fine though by the sounds of it you could quite easily get away with 8GB.

Again on the gaming side of things an AMD 7970 would be worth a look at instead of the NVIDIA one.

With some of these savings go out and find a 650W or (at most) a 750W fully modular PSU like the AX 760 from Corsair or the Seasonic X650. They are better quality PSUs and fully modular so should be easier to keep tidy and cable up.

Other members here will be better for keeping you right with full watercooling, it isn't something I've done so far.
 
That is the Infinity Heaven case, I'm not sure if it does support water cooling, I'll have to do more research. But NO keep coming with the advice its helping a lot I am completely new to this. Could you post some GOOD Full loop models of liquid cooling that require little or no maintenance. So what I need to add is an SSD, liquid cooling and down grade the PSU, oh almost forgot and have a look at the MB and the GPU. So your saying have a look at AMD instead of Nvidia

Thanks
Ollie
 
Hey man, nice to see you.

First thing I'll say is, most PC building companies overcharge the crap out of you, seriously. Especially Cyberpower. If I was to go onto Cyberpower's site and build an average every day users PC and a gaming PC, I could build both myself for half price cheaper. Literally. So if I were you, it would be a lot easier and cheaper to buy the components yourself and pay a buddy/companion with considerable PC building knowledge, or contact a local PC shop.

Secondly what is the intended use for this PC? On a whole, yeah that's a pretty beast system. But depending on what it'll be used for, there's a lot of things you could up/down. Thirdly, with such a large build, don't buy anything AMD. I know a few people have said Nvidia "over charge" which well no, they don't. AMD's GPU's offer better performance for price up until a point, but that point is very low. And of course Nvidia GPU's will be a little expensive, they lead the market. And it is my opinion that on such large builds one must have an SSD. Intel/Samsung/Corsair are all decent SSD brands. Don't go for a lower named brand as you could have problems later on. To answer your question though, nobody can really answer it. It all depends on how much storage you desire/need. Generally, 2TB's is okay for most I guess. I have 2TB's of Seagate Barracuda storage and a 240GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD and I'm not even 1/3 of the way to maxing them, and I download a shit' ton.

If I were you I'd either go with an Intel i5-3570k or an Intel i7-3770k CPU and company with an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 or MSI Z77 Motherboard. 8GB's of RAM is usually fine for most, however editors/video makers require more in which case 16GB's is usually decent. For RAM, Corsair Vengeance/Kingston HyperX is decent.

As for cooling, air cooling is generally fine. Personally I have a custom water loop and won't switch until manufacturers find out how to stabilize LN2 loops. And, I have to change my liquid coolant every 6 months. Liquid cooling is more desirable if one is seeking a quiet rig and want's stable temperatures if heavy overclocking. But, if you will be overclocking at all the stock Intel heatsink won't do you any good. So, you could pick up an H80i / H100i and company with a couple 120/140mm Noctua fans.

For a rig this large, a 650W+ PSU will be required. Just make sure it's a good quality PSU, Seasonic/Corsair are very good. A GTX 670 is practically a 680, so save yourself the money and don't buy a GTX 680. As for cases, personally I'd rather a Corsair R series case.
 
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Easier said then done I guees :P
But how easy is it to build your own pc?
This is extremely helpful guys as I said before keep it coming :D
Now you're saying to order parts seperatly and put it together, could you recommend me some sites. How is my case is it up to scratch and is anything else, I will soon re-post the changes I will make to my rig and go through the process of 'is this good enough' :lol: But I will do that in a bit.

Thanks for the help guys I'll be back soon!

Ollie
 
Ehm.. Haha, for me? Piece of pee. But for someone new? It depends.. Can't really answer that. If you were to spend a week watching several building videos and try to get a grasp of what to do then it would be much better off as you'd save yourself so much money. There are plenty of PC building videos on YouTube, one I'd recommend is by the US PC Tech store Newegg. And don't hold me to it but I think TTL might even have made one.

Yeah sure, well being a member here I generally have to say Aria PC (This Forum has a partnership with Aria PC and users here receive free shipping costs) And another site is eBuyer. But personally all I use is the website Scan. They have good RMA policies, website is easily displayed, and they have a crap ton of parts, and have never let me down.

Edit: Apart from the fact that it's pre-built, everything is okay I guess. I'd urge you to go with the changes I suggested, as you'd save yourself a bit of money whist still having a beast PC.
 
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Yeah, it really isn't hard to build your own these days. Everything comes with full instructions, just follow these, don't rush and you'll end up with a much better PC for less money.
 
You could also use dabs, ebuyer, amazon, etc.

Or just use this site and it will find the cheapest across the major sites:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

Of course you might prefer to buy everything from one place, but sometimes the price differences can be quite big, or maybe they just don't have the component you really want.
 
Thanks guys you have been a massive help and again I'll post my changes and my fill rig when ready, and we'll do this process again to eliminate any problems. I do like the idea of building it my self, but right now I'm not experienced at all and I don't want to mess up my first rig. So even if it does cost more I'll still rather want someone else to build it for me :P
I'm not too confident about liquid cooling, so is there a massive difference if I get air cooled because my case can hold 4 fans.

Thanks Ollie.
 
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mlinet.jpg


This might help you with a rough starting point. included the Switch 810 in-case you want to go for a full loop but this is the general idea of pricing (I feel like I've missed a component or two though but assuming you currently have an optical drive, keyboard, mouse and screen)

EDIT: Fixed the picture I hope
 
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Spiderz said:
mlinet.jpg


This might help you with a rough starting point. included the Switch 810 in-case you want to go for a full loop but this is the general idea of pricing (I feel like I've missed a component or two though but assuming you currently have an optical drive, keyboard, mouse and screen)

EDIT: Fixed the picture I hope
Click to expand...

Yeah Spiderz gave you a pretty decent build and you could minus the h100i and look at going watercooling if you feel up to just watch some youtube videos on building pcs and watercooling loops
 
Ocottam98 said:
Is overclocking worth it? Or is it only really needed for specific things?
Click to expand...

Overclocking is like squeezing extra performance from you car so instead of driving 150mph max it could go 175mph but that only makes a difference if you go over 150mph in the first place other wise its just extra potential you wont need...

What overclocking does do though is in the future when something like your CPU is holding you back in 2years you can overclock it then and gain the performance boost when you need it
 
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