Any problems/faults with this gaming rig?

Arcto

Hey, first time posting in this section. Long (oh so long) time gamer.

My current rig is 4 years old this month, so its that time again. New rig time

Could someone advise me on the specs im going to post below for a build im doing myself? Point out any conflicts or short comings etc?

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6870 £195

OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) £178

Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Black £130

Corsair CX 600W £60

Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £221

Asus P6X58D-E (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £155

Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit £105 (will upgrade to 12gb at a later date, board can take 24gb)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM 1yr Warranty (ST31500341AS) £52

22x DVD+RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter £19



I still need to look at cooling options (heat sink for CPU and some kind of hurricane to blow air all over the inner tower)

The prices listed are all from overclockers (I am going to shop around for prices when ive settled on components)

I wont be building until at least mid Jan, so im hoping prices might be down a bit.

All opinions welcome!

EDIT: On a side note its been like 4 years since ive done anything like this and I had to laugh at how cheap the DVD writers are now!)

BeciMester

You forgot the OS...?

Arcto

Sorry I tried twice to post last night but I kept timing out.

OS will be Win 7 64x, either home premium or ultimate. I have a Home disc, just dont know if its worth buying the ultimate.

Skerries

as far as CPU cooling goes for the i7 i'm still debating between these 2
Corsair H70
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articlesearch.jsp
and
Noctua NH-D14
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articlesearch.jsp

they seem to be the coolers du jouer for good results, so whether you want air or water cooling is up to you

game4it70

I would maybe get a different psu.
Say modular for a start to make cable management easier and a little higher wattage just to give you headroom in case of adding more hardware.
Would also be no harm if you intend to overclock the cpu.(its like a mortal sin not to with i7's :P )

Another vote here for the Noctua NH-D14 cooler if overclocking and you dont get ram with huge heatsinks that may get in the way.

Unless you need the added features of ultimate i stick with premium to save a few quid.

marco_polo

For gaming I would nearly just go i5 with 4GB ram, completely up to yourself of course if you are in the upper enthusiast levels want to push the boat out a bit:p, even opting for i7 I doubt you would need to go up to 12Gb RAM at any point. No real benefit to Ultimate over Home premium either IMO.

Would get a modular PSU as well, the newer CX corsair units are average, and a little over rated in terms of wattage (The CX600W has a 40a 12V rail which is 1 amp less than the older VX550W). It would be ok for you setup as posted, but firstly it is not modular and if you plan on heavily overclocking an i7 and dropping in a second card a some point it would be borderline at best. XFX used have a modular 650W XXX Edition unit (Seasonic OEMed like the older Corsairs) but it seems to be quite hard to find a retailer that stocks it anymore.

dnme

OP
I have that motherboard - it is awesome, great choice. I went with a Noctua NH-D14. If you decide on this, get your dimensions first to make sure it'll fit.
It fits fine in my HAF 932 but it is a big mother. Apparently it is now considered by many to be the best dry heatsink there is.

Arcto

Hey guys. Yeah i think ill go for one of those xfx modular PSU's all right. They seem a lot better and not too much more $$$.

Im not sure where I would check to see if that cooler would fit in the case i picked. Apparently its quiet a roomy case....but again im not sure how to check how high the mother board + cooler would be. How do i check this?

dnme

Arcto,

IIRC, Noctua have a table on their website listing approved cases, mobo's etc (it's not exhaustive but if your case is on the list, it's good to go.)

The P6X58D-E is on it and works. You might have to remove the heat sink from the first ram module (which is absolutely fine).

Also Noctua give you exact dimensions on their website, then you just go to the case mfr's website and get the dimensions of that. Add a bit for motherboard and you should now be able to make a very good estimate.

Arcto

DNME thats great. Im at work now so will check it out tonight.

Also I was looking at a different card which seems to benchmark better on some games compared to the xfx one I have above.

Its the XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express.

Ill quiet help vamp-iring after this as Ive gotten ALOT of free info here. thanks!

dnme

I have the Sapphire HD5870 Vapour X. Bought it secondhand from adverts.ie. It's blistering - I love it.

I run games at full res (1920x1080) on highest graphical spec (except medium water and medium blur) and get FPS ranging from 30 to 200 depending on the game and scenario.

Any HD5870 is a great card, especially if you can get a goos secondhand one as it makes for great value atm.

Arcto

A friend of mine advised me to stay away from the saphire range....for the price difference (about £30) is there any point in getting the 5870? Ive heard the performance isnt worth the extra few bob.