Animal from Overclockers

jeff lebowski

Hi guys,

I have decided to update my PC> Rather than upgrade what I have now, I want to go for the new SandyBridge processors to ensure some level of an upgrade path in future.

To that end, what do you think of this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-174-OE&groupid=43&catid=1270&subcat=

Worth the money?

My main needs are: high-end graphics and video, games and programming/development work.

Spec:

System Specification
- Case: Antec 1200 Case with White LED case fans.
- Power Supply: Corsair AX 850 Gold Rated PSU
- CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz Sandybridge overclocked to 4.60GHz
- Motherboard: Gigabyte P67A-UD4 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION **
- Cooler: Corsair H70 CPU Cooler
- RAM: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB and Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 6GB/s SATA-II 32MB Cache
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Sound: Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
- Optical Drive: Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive - Black

PogMoThoin

Overclockers are registered for VAT here, they'll charge Irish VAT and adjust the price as soon as you input your address.
Not great value to be honest, have you priced hardwareversand.de to see how much the parts add up to there?

jeff lebowski

Had a look at them just now and attached the spec. Would that be comparable to the overclockers one?

I was looking at them as I wanted the overclocking etc. done but I am sure it is easy enough with a guide/tutorial?

PogMoThoin

Why not build it yourself? €12 just to activate windows, wtf? Overclocking is easy, it just means lots of reading and selecting the right parts

Overclockers one doesn't include Windows btw.

sink

It's near identical performance wise.

Software installation is pretty much a waste of money, installing Windows 7 takes about 40 mins and is very easy to do and they won't install the latest updates and drivers so you will have to that yourself anyway.

They also won't install a large CPU cooler as it can damage the board in transit, so you will have to do that yourself.

Why are you buying that sound card? It's not going to be any better than integrated audio. If you want better sound than integrated audio, the first step up the ladder is this

ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 - €54.17
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29792&agid=768

or this

Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer - €61.33
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=7998&agid=768

Anything less just isn't worth it.

jeff lebowski

Must have checked that activation box by accident.

I didn't notice they didn't have windows 7 with OC. I do need a copy of that as I am stuck with vista at the minute.

jeff lebowski

If they install windows I presume they will install all the drivers for the hardware too, is that right? I know it is easy to do but for convenience I might opt for them to do it.

Didn't realse that soundcard would have no benefit. Sound probably isn't that big a deal so might just drop it to system sound then.

You guys reckon this would definitely be better than the oC one? I saw the warning about the cooler. Is that easy to install? The most I have ever installed before is RAM.

sink

Make sure you buy the English version of windows and they won't install the latest drivers etc, they will likely install the ones that come on the disk. You are better off doing this yourself.

Installing a CPU cooler depends on the case. Cases which have large access holes behind the motherboard for installing backplates are the easiest. The Antec 1200 doesn't have such a feature and so you will need to remove the motherboard in order to install the backplate which makes the job a lot trickier.

jeff lebowski

They don't seem to accept paypal.... :-( I thought they did.

For certain reasons, I have to use paypal for buying this. Any alternatives to hardwareversand.de?

Skerries

afaik they do take paypal but charge you 3% of the build cost
this may bring up the price but it still may be a lot cheaper than other companies so add this into the cost when you are comparing prices
also i know it will be dearer but consider getting a bigger ssd as when i installed the OS and drivers and any other program that wouldn't install to the 2nd drive it was close to 30gb

jeff lebowski

I went through their checkout but just see the bank transfer stuff. Maybe they have temporarily removed it. Saw someone else have the same issue in another thread.

Could anyone recommend a fan that they can install and won't pose a problem for transit?

jeff lebowski

Apparently they do still accept paypal. I am waiting for a reply on how to pay them using it as the option isn't in their checkout.

Some craic translating my emails into german on google!

jeff lebowski

Also, if anyone could recommend a fan that they can install instead of the 1 I chose which is too large to be mounted for transit.

Thanks

sink

jeff lebowski wrote: »

Apparently they do still accept paypal. I am waiting for a reply on how to pay them using it as the option isn't in their checkout.

Some craic translating my emails into german on google!

They usually speak pretty good English.

jeff lebowski

Wasn't sure of that as I saw some threads on here with people on the phone having to get a German speaker etc.

If they tell me how to use paypal for the purchase, I will update here.

jeff lebowski

Reply from hardwareversand.de:

"vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail.

Leider bieten wird bei Bestellungen aus dem Ausland kein Paypal an.

Sie können nur per Vorkasse bestellen.

Bei Rückfragen stehen wir Ihnen gern zur Verfügung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Zejnep Sejfulovska"

In English: no paypal accepted outside of Germany

Trevor451

I paid for my build with paypal back in December

jeff lebowski

Did you buy it recently? They sent that email today but a previous guy said I could pay with paypal even though the chckout option wasn't there.