Yet another 'nother build

delly

I have mostly taken my list from other posts, so all should fit ok with the below. Hard drive and Windows are not needed:
Case HV203R06DE 3R Systems Design Gehäuse R450 Schwarz 23,25
CPU HV20I5K5DE Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 185,73
GPU Article No. HV1027SGDE Sapphire HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 122,89
RAM HV20G328DE 8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9 38,89
PSU HVR550SADE Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W 55,55
Main board HV1130RZDE ASRock Z68 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX 90,77
CPU cooler HV30AC07DE ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 13 (Sockel 775/1155/1156/1366/754/939/AM2/AM2 +/AM3/AM3+/FM1) 17,57
Paste HV20WL01DE Arctic Silver Céramique Wärmeleitpaste 2,79
Total charge is €537. Add delivery and Paypal charge and we're talking €580 or so.

Without really going past the €600 mark I would like to know if there is a better combination of GPU or processor. The main usage is gaming, so if there was a better option within the same price range then I could go with that, while still sticking with the i5.

Another question would be if there is a quieter option on the cooler and PSU for the same money. If the PC can run that little bit quieter, then it would be a bonus.

And a last question would relate to the main board, is there anything special about it, or could I go a few euro cheaper?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Genghiz Cohen

Do you need a CD/DVD drive?

Looks good otherwise.
The card could be improved, BUT the AMD 7000 series is out in the new year, I'd wait until those get benchmarked before spending money (<€150) on a card. Maybe stick with the 6850 for now and put a few quid away for the new year.

If you are going overclocking, and by the looks of things you are, spending a few extra quid on a Mobo is probably a good thing.

Maybe help this gent out if you can.

delly

Thanks for the reply. No DVD required, my old unit will be donating it.

I am unlikely to be in a position to get another card next year, or anything for another 5 years I think . Something about paying a mortgage and bills etc. in other words Mrs.Delly has given approval . I'm not sure how much real world value I'll get for it but I think i'll throw the extra €20 in and get the HD6870 over the HD6850.

I've posted over on Tea Bag's thread, so i'll give him a shout when ordering.

partyatmygaff

Seems awfully similar to the rig I planned earlier this week on this forum


I was going to get that exact same case but changed it to a Thermaltake Commander MS-I at the end. It's only about €17 extra but appears to be a much better case with a few perks like USB3 ports.

Unregistered.

Can't comment on the case, but do you know what it's like for cooling, cable mangement etc? €20 could be a sound investment there.

deconduo

Yeah get a better case, something like the Bitfenix Merc or the Xigmatek Asgard.

You could drop the motherboard down to the P67 Pro3 to save a few euro if you don't need the Z68 features; write caching and quicksync.

Write caching allows you to combine an SSD with a hard drive to improve the hard drive's speed. It works best with a small SSD <40GB

Quicksync uses the onboard graphics to improve the speed of certain video encoding tasks.

Tea_Bag

Got your post thanks.

Looks pretty good. Not much you can change on that budget. It'd be great if you could scrape an extra €100 and get a €207 HD6950, seeing as youre not upgrading for a few years.
Or could you not go bank transfer and save your 3%? That alone could get you the 6870 and the upgraded case.

What games do you play? And what kind of OC do you want?

delly

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Seems awfully similar to the rig I planned earlier this week on this forum

Busted!

deconduo wrote: »

Yeah get a better case, something like the Bitfenix Merc or the Xigmatek Asgard.

You could drop the motherboard down to the P67 Pro3 to save a few euro if you don't need the Z68 features; write caching and quicksync.

Write caching allows you to combine an SSD with a hard drive to improve the hard drive's speed. It works best with a small SSD <40GB

Quicksync uses the onboard graphics to improve the speed of certain video encoding tasks.

I have changed the board to this as suggested, so a few quid back there.
this is then cancelled out by getting a different case, the Asgard II in this case.

Tea_Bag wrote: »

Got your post thanks.

Looks pretty good. Not much you can change on that budget. It'd be great if you could scrape an extra €100 and get a €207 HD6950, seeing as youre not upgrading for a few years.
Or could you not go bank transfer and save your 3%? That alone could get you the 6870 and the upgraded case.

What games do you play? And what kind of OC do you want?

The only reason I selected Paypal is I didn't want anything going out of stock while the payment cleared, but If I did go this route it would save me a few quid.

The €207 HD6950, I'm assuming that with it being the cheapest means little once its the 6950 chip then it will still perform well? I am just wondering how much better than the HD6870 it is, as as things stand I could go with it for €650 all in. Decisions, decisions!

In terms of gaming my time was spent on FPS's back in the day. I had upgraded my old P4 with a 8800GT and managed to play BF2, COD MW1 and Company of Heroes as my stable diet. With the new PC, anything is open really, but it was the BF3 ad which pushed me to it. Damn you JayZ and the BF3 marketing team!

partyatmygaff

Even a 6850 could get you 40FPS maxxed out in BF3 at 1680x1050. If you'll be going any higher than that resolution-wise then the 6950 would make sense. Otherwise, i'd advise against it.

delly

Theres no way I would be going higher than that, but my theory would be based on not being able to upgrade too soon.

Funnily enough I was looking on http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ and the 6850 scores better than the 6870.

Tea_Bag

delly wrote: »

Theres no way I would be going higher than that, but my theory would be based on not being able to upgrade too soon.

Funnily enough I was looking on http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ and the 6850 scores better than the 6870.

anandtech is the site to use for benchmarks.

6950 vs. 6870

as was mentioned, a 6950 is probably way more than you need today, but who knows in 4 years time. it was just a thought to consider when its not all that much more.

delly

Ah, that bench marking makes it a lot clearer. Based on that I reckon I will go with the 6870. All in it is €584.

Thanks all.

deconduo

delly wrote: »

I have changed the board to this as suggested, so a few quid back there.
this is then cancelled out by getting a different case, the Asgard II in this case.

I'd actually go with the normal version rather than the SE:
www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=43133&agid=1601&apop=1

The SE sacrifices extra PCI slots and a bit of overclocking ability for the ability to crossfire. Probably not worth it in your case.

delly

deconduo wrote: »

I'd actually go with the normal version rather than the SE:
www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=43133&agid=1601&apop=1

The SE sacrifices extra PCI slots and a bit of overclocking ability for the ability to crossfire. Probably not worth it in your case.

Done and done. Its these little tit bits that can make all the difference later on down the line. Cheers.

Unregistered.

delly wrote: »

Done and done. Its these little tit bits that can make all the difference later on down the line. Cheers.

Make sure you visit skinflint.co.uk/eu (aka geizhals.at) and go on to HWVS for your products through there. They give you discounts on some items if you visit HWVS via their website.
For example, the i5-2500k is a fiver cheaper

delly

Unregistered. wrote: »

Make sure you visit skinflint.co.uk/eu (aka geizhals.at) and go on to HWVS for your products through there. They give you discounts on some items if you visit HWVS via their website.
For example, the i5-2500k is a fiver cheaper

Every cent counts, cheers.

delly

Article No. HV20I5K5DE
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
ready for dispatch

180,33 €

Article No. HV20G328DE
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9
ready for dispatch

38,89 €

Article No. HVR550SADE
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W
ready for dispatch

55,97 €

Article No. HV30AC07DE
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 13 (Sockel 775/1155/1156/1366/754/939/AM2/AM2 +/AM3/AM3+/FM1)
ready for dispatch

17,57 €

Article No. HV203N07DE
Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower - black/black, ohne Netzteil
ready for dispatch

32,53 €

Article No. HV1027SMDE
Sapphire HD6870 1G GDDR5 PCI-E DL-DVI-I+SL-DVI-D / HDMI / DP
ready for dispatch

140,90 €

Article No. HV20WL13DE
Arctic Cooling Wärmeleitpaste MX-2 Tube 4g
ready for dispatch

2,95 €

Article No. HV1130RGDE
ASRock P67 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX
ready for dispatch

79,59 €

Total =548,73 €

All done for 550 plus delivery

Just had a look back on my old PC which I posted about back in 2005:

Dell 8400
Processor: Pentium 4 3.60 Ghz
Memory: 2048 MB DDR2
Harddrive: 250GB SATA & 250GB EIDE Harddrive (500 Total)
Graphics: Nvidia 6800GTO
Sound: Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1
Drive: 16x DVD+/-RW & DVD rom
Monitor: 17" Ultrasharp Flat Panel
Speakers: Dell 2.1 with subwoofer
2 Year NBD warrenty

Cost: €1,300

Its served its time well, with only the GPU having to be updated.

MakeNine

If I were you, I'd invest in a better cooler for that CPU especially if you want to OC it. You could still get a decent model and still be well within your 600e budget

delly

Just a quick update folks. I got my stuff today and spent most of this evening putting it together. The only bad thing was not being able to fit the motherboard plate around the back connections as to do so left the board sitting too high for the screws to reach. No biggie tho', and i'll modify the plate to fit later. The good news is however that the first boot went perfect and without a hitch. CPU is reading around the 40 mark so alls good. Windows loading as I type.

Thanks again for all the tips.

partyatmygaff

You may be in for a hell of a lot of BSODs... It took me at least an hour of trial and error messing around with voltages to try and get it running stable. I've also just discovered (Thanks to Memtest) that one of the sticks in the G.Skill kit is defective and I have to RMA it.

On a brighter note, I have it running stable now on a single stick of RAM and it runs BF3 butter smooth with everything maxed out

If you do end up running in to issues, let me know.

delly

Just a quick follow up folks. System is running sweet as a nut, without a single OS problem running 7 pro. BF3 is just amazing, the sound of a near miss RPG or a bullet zinging past is so atmospheric.

partyatmygaff

delly wrote: »

Just a quick follow up folks. System is running sweet as a nut, without a single OS problem running 7 pro. BF3 is just amazing, the sound of a near miss RPG or a bullet zinging past is so atmospheric.

5.1 Surround + War Tapes = Gorgeous sound

How's the 6870 faring in BF3? My OCed 6850 is averaging 40FPS (With the odd dip to 35FPS) at 1680x1050 with everything maxed out.

delly

Now 5.1 would be the business! I'm not sure of the FPS tbh, haven't done any tests but its smooth playwise enough for me not to have to.

partyatmygaff

delly wrote: »

Now 5.1 would be the business! I'm not sure of the FPS tbh, haven't done any tests but its smooth playwise enough for me not to have to.

It was smooth for me out of the box as well but I just wanted to see how much of a difference OCing made to my FPS

The CPU and GPU overclock together earned me (At an estimate) about 2-3FPS.