Gaming Desktop Build

[Grimmninja]

So what is have is this

Bundle:
• CPU professionally Overclocked up to 4.80GHz*
• Intel Core i7-2700K (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
• Integrated Intel HD3000 Graphics
• 8GB Mushkin Blackline #996995 (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
• Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
• be quiet! Dark Rock Advanced CPU Cooler
• Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Bundles/Intel+Overclocked+Bundles/Gladiator+Z68+Core+i7+2700K+4.80GHz+8GB+Overclocked+Bundle+?productId=47126
for £499.99

GPU:
This Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/ATI/ATI+7900+Series/Sapphire+Radeon+HD+7970+3072MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=47774

Or one of these?
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/ATI/ATI+6900+Series/

Case
CiT Saturn Midi Tower Gaming Case with 2 x Red LED Fans - Enthusiast Chassis - No PSU
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CiT-Saturn-Midi-Tower-Gaming/dp/B004UEUU8E/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326217378&sr=1-6

PSU
OCZ 600W ModXStream Pro Power Supply - UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-600W-ModXStream-Power-Supply/dp/B001GLFD54/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326210558&sr=1-3

Blu Ray Drive
Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x Blu-ray Player
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SH-B123L-BSBP-Blu-ray-Software/dp/B003XIM3QK/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326217348&sr=1-1

SSD
OCZ Agility 3 Series 120GB SATA III 2.5 inch Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-Agility-120GB-Solid-State/dp/B004Z0S6SO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1326217280&sr=8-5

HDD
Samsung F3 HD103SJ 1TB internal Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache 7200RPM – OEM
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-HD103SJ-internal-SATAII-7200RPM/dp/B002MQC0P8/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326217313&sr=1-1

My friend said i may need to change my supplied motherboard in the bundle to get full potential form my GPU is this correct, if so any recommendations?
and also have i missed anything?

Cheers

 

[g-unit1111]

My friend said i may need to change my supplied motherboard in the bundle to get full potential form my GPU is this correct, if so any recommendations?

Yes that's correct - the Gigabyte doesn't have PCI-e 3.0. I think Asus is the only one right now that does, maybe a couple of Intel and EVGA boards have them but I don't know off hand.

and also have i missed anything?

Not really - it looks pretty good as it is is but there's just a couple of minor changes I'd make:

SSD
OCZ Agility 3 Series 120GB SATA III 2.5 inch Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-Agilit [...] 280&sr=8-5

I wouldn't get the Agility 3 - there's tons of installation and BSOD errors associated with this drive. The Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 would be far better choices.

Case
CiT Saturn Midi Tower Gaming Case with 2 x Red LED Fans - Enthusiast Chassis - No PSU
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CiT-Saturn [...] 378&sr=1-6

That case didn't look like it got very high marks. This case would be a better choice for the money. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-Three-Hundred-Midi-Case/dp/B0017Q8IAA/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326220674&sr=1-6

 

[gooseta]

I think 600W is a bit to little, get a 750 or 850W PSU. A 7970 will beat a 6970 in every benchmark and it's worth it.

Btw, scan.co.uk has more variety than aria

 

[Grimmninja]

yeah i had a look at scan, they dont seem to have the bundles and also the 7970 is a lot more expensive at £515
and thanks for the heads up on the ssd
Would this be ok then?

Case
Cm Storm Mid Tower Scout Case
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Storm-Mid-Tower-Scout-Case/dp/B0027YSEBE/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221194&sr=1-3

PSU
OCZ ZX Series 850W - Power supply ( internal ) - ATX12V 2.2/ EPS12V - AC 115/230 V - 850 Watt - active PFC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-ZX-850W-supply-internal/dp/B004X65GNI/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221169&sr=1-1

Crucial CT128M4SSD2 128GB M4 SSD
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT128M4SSD2-128GB-M4-SSD/dp/B004W2JKZI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326221285&sr=8-2

I may wait for some more motherboards to come out with PCI-e 3.0 then
but just for my understanding what is the difference between this

AsRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 Motherboard, Socket 1155, PCI-Express 3.0, DDR3, USB 3.0, HDMI, 7.1 HD Audio, ASRock Instant Boot
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z68-Extreme7-Motherboard-PCI-Express-ASRock/dp/B005FGQLO8/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221442&sr=1-2

And

AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard, Socket 1155, PCI-Express 3.0, DDR3, USB 3.0, HDMI, 7.1 HD Audio, ASRock Instant Boot
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z68-Extreme3-Motherboard-PCI-Express-ASRock/dp/B005FGQLQQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221442&sr=1-1

 

[Proximon]

You don't need that much power for a single 7970. If you are planning to add a second, then the 750W will be about right.

Here is a reference:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-benchmark-tahiti-gcn,3104-17.html

Probably around 350W max on your system as configured, 500W max in crossfire. Add margin and ideal efficiency and really any quality 500W will serve.

 

[Grimmninja]

but would it do any harm to have a 500w?
or will it blow up or something?

 

[g-unit1111]

yeah i had a look at scan, they dont seem to have the bundles and also the 7970 is a lot more expensive at £515
and thanks for the heads up on the ssd
Would this be ok then?

Case
Cm Storm Mid Tower Scout Case
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Storm-Mid-Tower-Scout-Case/dp/B0027YSEBE/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221194&sr=1-3

PSU
OCZ ZX Series 850W - Power supply ( internal ) - ATX12V 2.2/ EPS12V - AC 115/230 V - 850 Watt - active PFC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-ZX-850W-supply-internal/dp/B004X65GNI/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221169&sr=1-1

Crucial CT128M4SSD2 128GB M4 SSD
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT128M4SSD2-128GB-M4-SSD/dp/B004W2JKZI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326221285&sr=8-2

I may wait for some more motherboards to come out with PCI-e 3.0 then
but just for my understanding what is the difference between this

AsRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 Motherboard, Socket 1155, PCI-Express 3.0, DDR3, USB 3.0, HDMI, 7.1 HD Audio, ASRock Instant Boot
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z68-Extreme7-Motherboard-PCI-Express-ASRock/dp/B005FGQLO8/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221442&sr=1-2

And

AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard, Socket 1155, PCI-Express 3.0, DDR3, USB 3.0, HDMI, 7.1 HD Audio, ASRock Instant Boot
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z68-Extreme3-Motherboard-PCI-Express-ASRock/dp/B005FGQLQQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221442&sr=1-1

Much better choices. The biggest difference between the Extreme 3 and Extreme 7 is that the Extreme 7 has 5 x PCI-e 2.1 x 16 slots, where the 3 only has 2 slots, but two of the slots can be enabled as PCI-e x 3.0 with an Ivy Bridge chip. The Extreme 7 also includes some extra bonuses like a front-mounting USB 3.0 bracket and rear bracket as well.

You don't need that much power for a single 7970. If you are planning to add a second, then the 750W will be about right.

Sapphire says minimum power requirements are 500W for the 7970 - it requires 2 6-pin PCI-e power cables and one 8-pin PCI-e power cable in order to function. Probably a 750 would be better just to be on the safe side and to allow for Crossfire and OC'ing capabilities.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=000101&pid=1443

but would it do any harm to have a 500w?
or will it blow up or something?

:lol:

Your system will only draw the power it needs when it needs it. It doesn't hurt to have more power but it can hurt to have less power. The only time something would "blow up" is if you're using a non-certified and rated PSU from a no-name manufacturer (and yes, that does happen - see this article - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/low-cost-psu-pc-power-supply,2862.html )

 

[Horney]

The 7970 beats a 6990 so yeah get it, I don't know about the pci-e 3 difference, I don't think it's too bad, I saw somewhere about 5% difference? On the case issue aria do a great case for £20 called the vengance just buy some more fans - I've got it and it beats most other cases. You don't really need the ssd but if you run two hdds in raid 0 thats should be all the speed you need but if you're thinking seek times 2 velociraptors would be great. To summarise, scrap the ssd, RAID 0 and a vengance case and you'll be fine

 

[Lokster1]

If your only going to be gaming on this I would switch to this bundle and save a bit of cash: http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Bundles/Intel+Overclocked+Bundles/Gladiator+Z68+Core+i5+2500K+4.60GHz+8GB+Overclocked+Bundle+?productId=47131

If you doing multi-threading then keep your i7

 

[Grimmninja]

wait im quite unfamiliar with RAID 0 what exactly does it do? and how do i obtain it? is it prebuilt or manually set?

 

[Horney]

Raid 0 is commonly called striping it doubles your bandwith by splitting your data in half and sharing it between the 2+ drives it is setup in the bios and it works really well and is ALOT cheaper than an ssd tbh it's less an alternative and more a stepping stone to an ssd though

 

[g-unit1111]

The 7970 beats a 6990 so yeah get it, I don't know about the pci-e 3 difference, I don't think it's too bad, I saw somewhere about 5% difference? On the case issue aria do a great case for £20 called the vengance just buy some more fans - I've got it and it beats most other cases. You don't really need the ssd but if you run two hdds in raid 0 thats should be all the speed you need but if you're thinking seek times 2 velociraptors would be great. To summarise, scrap the ssd, RAID 0 and a vengance case and you'll be fine

Velociraptors are terrible. Any mechanical HDs that offer anything above 7200RPM - you really won't see that difference. 7200 is pretty much the standard for mechanical HDs and that hasn't changed at all. Anything above - 10K RPM, 12K, 15K doesn't offer that dramatic of a performance increase. RAID 0 also has more room for errors and failure than a small SSD / large HD setup would. I would not recommend scrapping the SSD.

Raid 0 is commonly called striping it doubles your bandwith by splitting your data in half and sharing it between the 2+ drives it is setup in the bios and it works really well and is ALOT cheaper than an ssd tbh it's less an alternative and more a stepping stone to an ssd though

Like I said - RAID has a higher rate of failure than anything else you can setup. If something goes wrong you'll have to buy it twice, and it's certainly not cheaper right now with HD prices the way they are.

 

[Grimmninja]

right well its only ~£130 for the ssd and im only going to have a few high end games and my OS on it..

 

[g-unit1111]

right well its only ~£130 for the ssd and im only going to have a few high end games and my OS on it..

The reason I always have to recommend a secondary HD is that you have to keep in mind that a typical Windows install takes ~16GB, then add any programs you want to run. Typically on a 64GB SSD you'll use about 60 - 70% capacity. Any games you want to run will take anywhere from 4GB (Civ V) to 8GB (Skyrim) to 12GB (Portal 2) to 20GB (BF3).

 

[Horney]

raid isn't as likely to fail anymore yes it's risky but tbh a hdd could fail anyway so you should backup with or without raid
well the thailand floods have made the hdd prices shoot up but if raid fails it shouldn't affect the hdds just the raid controller. my last pc was running raid 0 for about 3 years and the only issue i had was when i knocked a resistor off while installing a new cpu cooler =-( as for the velociraptors it's the seek times but recently due to the floods ssds are cheaper XD

 

[Horney]

theres no need for more than 1 7200 drive anyway it's only for boot times.

 

[Horney]

sorry the case is called avenger not vengance
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/ARIANET+Avenger+Midi+Tower+Gaming+Chassis+?productId=47468