Building a computer

[miXer]

I'll get straight to the point, I'm building a PC with the following specs:

Coolermaster Cosmos Pure Black V2 Aluminum E-ATX 5x5.25" 6x3.5" front I/O
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan Quiet CPU Cooler
Intel Core i7 950 Bloomfield 45nm, 3.06 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, 23x Ratio, 130W, Retail
Asus Rampage III Extreme ROG ,X58, S1366, DDR3 (2200 OC), SLi/Xfire, USB3, SATA 6Gbps, 8Ch Audio
12GB (3x4GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), CAS 9-9-9-24, Connector, DHX, XMP, DF, 1.65V
1280MB Asus GTX 570, 40nm, 3800MHz GDDR5, GPU 732MHz, Shader 1464MHz, 480 Cores, DL-DVI/mHDMI
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM
80GB Corsair Force Series, 2.5" SSD, SandForce controller , Read 285MB/s, Write 275MB/s
1000W Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold, Modular, 80 PLUS Gold, 90% Eff', SLI/CrossFire, , EPS 12V


Total: £1,562.45 (inc VAT)

Basically, I just want people's opinion whether this build is good? If not, could someone advise me on what components would be more beneficial and more efficient. I.E. will it need a water cooling system rather than air cooling?

Thanks Popo :]

[miXer]

Anyone? :{

[garin94]

You already know my opinion popo mate but yeah, sick specs .. VERY future proof - have fun running all the latest games on high quality

[miXer]

You already know my opinion popo mate but yeah, sick specs .. VERY future proof - have fun running all the latest games on high quality

thanks mate :]

[CrazyMonkey]

It's a nice spec, if your happy with the final price then i wouldnt change anything.

[Englander]

I wouldn't say you needed quite 1kW of power unless you plan on selling some back to the National Grid, and I personally would pick a slightly less "extreme" motherboard and an 7 930 and just OC it loads (although, looking, the 950 does have a higher multiplier and it's only a tenner more) but on the whole there there's little particularly wrong with it.

[miXer]

I wouldn't say you needed quite 1kW of power unless you plan on selling some back to the National Grid, and I personally would pick a slightly less "extreme" motherboard and an 7 930 and just OC it loads (although, looking, the 950 does have a higher multiplier and it's only a tenner more) but on the whole there there's little particularly wrong with it.

hahaha at "National Grid" ;D

Well I've decided to use a 850 PSU now and save like £30. For the mobo and cpu, I've decided to wait and see what the new SB has in store for us

[Englander]

hahaha at "National Grid" ;D

Well I've decided to use a 850 PSU now and save like £30. For the mobo and cpu, I've decided to wait and see what the new SB has in store for us

Good plan

[oolon]

That should work very nicely, a secondary HD with a primary SSD is a good choice, I would probably have put a 2TB (certainly and 1.5TB) as the price difference is not so great these days, and anything over 2Tb requires close attention to hardware/drivers, so its a bit of a waste to use a channel on a not maxed HD, as your probably end up replacing it.

Don't forget order now, to avoid the VAT increase, I know its not much but is an extra 30 quid.

[miXer]

That should work very nicely, a secondary HD with a primary SSD is a good choice, I would probably have put a 2TB (certainly and 1.5TB) as the price difference is not so great these days, and anything over 2Tb requires close attention to hardware/drivers, so its a bit of a waste to use a channel on a not maxed HD, as your probably end up replacing it.

Don't forget order now, to avoid the VAT increase, I know its not much but is an extra 30 quid.

Cheers bud, I was thinking to put a 1.5TB for my secondary HD.

I wanted to buy everything before the VAT increases but someone told me to wait for SD. If I wait for the SD that means I'll have to wait for a motherboard that will fit that socket -__-

[oolon]

There will always be a better computer around the corner. There is always a reason to wait. I have been very happy with my i7 Asus P6T6 based system. Did you mean sandybridge? That is more a mid range product, X58 is still kind of the memory bandwidth being triple rather than double channel. I have waited before for products to come on channel often its 3-4 months before they arrive in the UK. If you want a computer now, look around at what is best and available, then buy it rather than waiting for the expensive bleeding edge. (though this is fun to do one in a while, waiting 6 weeks for a chip from the states can suck).

[miXer]

There will always be a better computer around the corner. There is always a reason to wait. I have been very happy with my i7 Asus P6T6 based system. Did you mean sandybridge? That is more a mid range product, X58 is still kind of the memory bandwidth being triple rather than double channel. I have waited before for products to come on channel often its 3-4 months before they arrive in the UK. If you want a computer now, look around at what is best and available, then buy it rather than waiting for the expensive bleeding edge. (though this is fun to do one in a while, waiting 6 weeks for a chip from the states can suck).

Yea true, I was thinking why spend like £1,500 when you could put slightly more and get the latest components? Ops sorry I meant Sandy Bridge :$. What's better though, having triple memory bandwidth or double?

I wanted to buy all of these components before the VAT but now, I'm going to wait for a a few weeks

[oolon]

SB is based on a new socket (that is double channel). i7 (LGA1366) is better as it is triple (X58) will still be the king for a little while longer. SB is a good for a cheap i5 system to clock to heck (apparently), but still has rather limited PCIe channels (due to pin count). I would get an i7 now or spend less on a SB system in a bit (you might need to wait for the "new" premium to disappear). The i7 is a intels "server" socket and a replacement has not been announced for it yet.

[miXer]

SB is based on a new socket (that is double channel). i7 (LGA1366) is better as it is triple (X58) will still be the king for a little while longer. SB is a good for a cheap i5 system to clock to heck (apparently), but still has rather limited PCIe channels (due to pin count). I would get an i7 now or spend less on a SB system in a bit (you might need to wait for the "new" premium to disappear). The i7 is a intels "server" socket and a replacement has not been announced for it yet.

Oh I see. Well how long will the i7 be king for?

Right let me put this into perspective:
Your telling me that the SB will benefit users that are wanting to build an "i5" system for a cheaper price?
I saw a few people mentioning that the "new SB will out perform i7?"

[oolon]

SB processors are newer, have new instructions and have more "turbo boost". LGA1366 have 50% more memory bandwidth, and are better at parallel tasks. In SB cache is also shared with the onboard graphics. So straight line speed of the SB can be better in applications however the LGA1366 wins when it comes down to multiprocessing. Choice your poison!

I am saying the best "bump" in performance will be found by the people who are buying an i5 level computer (who will notice the difference) rather than after a top end machine (for whom it may or may not be better). i5 level people should be waiting for the SB chips, likewise anyone happy with just the onboard graphics. Your speck was for a i7 X58 machine, if your after that high end I don't think an SB based system will be any better for you (might however be cheaper) as its more midrange biased.

Intels i logic is kind of like this.
i3 2 cores + hyperthreading
i5 4 cores + no hyperthreading
i7 4 cores slightly faster + hyperthreading.

The best bump the core number increase between i3->i5, rather than the 10-20% clock speed increase of i5->i7

[miXer]

SB processors are newer, have new instructions and have more "turbo boost". LGA1366 have 50% more memory bandwidth, and are better at parallel tasks. In SB cache is also shared with the onboard graphics. So straight line speed of the SB can be better in applications however the LGA1366 wins when it comes down to multiprocessing. Choice your poison!

I am saying the best "bump" in performance will be found by the people who are buying an i5 level computer (who will notice the difference) rather than after a top end machine (for whom it may or may not be better). i5 level people should be waiting for the SB chips, likewise anyone happy with just the onboard graphics. Your speck was for a i7 X58 machine, if your after that high end I don't think an SB based system will be any better for you (might however be cheaper) as its more midrange biased.

Intels i logic is kind of like this.
i3 2 cores + hyperthreading
i5 4 cores + no hyperthreading
i7 4 cores slightly faster + hyperthreading.

The best bump the core number increase between i3->i5, rather than the 10-20% clock speed increase of i5->i7

Right, its all making sense now - thank you very much oolon! Sorry for been a pain in the back side like :{ haha

Well I guess I'll be going for the i7 950 and my Rampage III Extreme - after all I'll be using more applications i.e. master adobe collection and gaming now and than. Plus I'll be purchasing the nvidia GTX 570 or the 580, so I don't need onboard graphics