New PC Build Suggestions

[CreamSauce]

Hello everyone,

Last night my 5 year old dell died on me.

I have a budget of £1250, the only thing that I think I would like to have in the pc is a SSD.

The main issue for me is stability I would like the pc to be as stable as possible, after hearing from some people on these forums with some problems which I think is mainly to do with the motherboard. I guess this would mean having a stable motherboard which you guys would know more about.

I would like to thank everyone in advance and hopefully be able to come to a decision and order the pc tonight

[PC4Free]

Hello everyone,

Last night my 5 year old dell died on me.

I have a budget of £1250, the only thing that I think I would like to have in the pc is a SSD.

The main issue for me is stability I would like the pc to be as stable as possible, after hearing from some people on these forums with some problems which I think is mainly to do with the motherboard. I guess this would mean having a stable motherboard which you guys would know more about.

I would like to thank everyone in advance and hopefully be able to come to a decision and order the pc tonight

Can I ask what the PC is needed for? I'm guessing gaming with that budget

Because this will obviously dictate the parts to recommend

[CreamSauce]

Can I ask what the PC is needed for? I'm guessing gaming with that budget

Because this will obviously dictate the parts to recommend

Thanks for the reply PC4Free,


Yes indeed gaming, I also do some programming in visual basic.

I done some more research as to what I know about new hardware and products as what I know is out of date would I be correct in saying that the P55 chipset is more suited to me over the X58's due to what I have been reading saying that the X58 chipset would be suited to more extreme high end pc's.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would probably do a cheaper build and then keep some money aside for upgrades especially for the graphics card.

[CreamSauce]

Case: Silverstone Fortress FT01B-W Tower Case Black
Motherboard P55: Asus P7P55D-E Intel P55 Express
CPU: Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core 2.8Ghz 8Mb Cache
CPU Coolers: Prolimatech Megahalems Super 6 Heatpipe Tower Cooler
Overclocking: Intel i5 760 professionally overclocked by our 3XS engineers to 3.8-4Ghz. (i7 860 870 clocked at 3.6Ghz).
Memory - Selecting 8Gb will limit the overclock!!: 4Gb (2x2Gb) Corsair Dominator PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 9 XMP
NVIDIA Graphics: 1Gb EVGA GTX 460 SC 763Mhz GPU 336 Cores 3800Mhz GDDR5
ATI Graphics: *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
Power Supply Unit: 550w Corsair VX Series PSU
System Drives 3GB s: *Drive Not Required - Using 6GB s or SSD See Below*
System Drives 6GB s: *Sata 6GB s Hard Drive Not Required*
Solid State Drives: 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300 6GB s Read 355MB s Write 70MB s
Storage Hard drives: *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
Optical Drive 1 - DVD Blu Ray: Pioneer DVR-S18LBK - DVDRW
Optical Drive 2 - DVD Blu Ray: *DVD Writer Not Required*
Sound Card: *Sound Card Not Required Use On Board Sound*
Gaming Network Card: *Use On Board Network Port*


This is what I have in mind at the moment.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you want a stable a PC as possible it is better to get one which has the CPU at stock speeds.

[CreamSauce]

If you want a stable a PC as possible it is better to get one which has the CPU at stock speeds.

I understand Cat,

One thing I have noticed with the spec I have posted is that the PSU is not modular would of liked a modular psu so the unused cables can be taken out as I really like cable management.

[george1979]

I recently built a PC with the i5 760, Asus mobo and GTX 460 for about £850, maybe less now (see my system specs, too tired to post it all :0 )
It has plenty of scope for overclocking/ upgrades later and does the job well. Also leaves you £400 spare for the SSD and some other upgrades (SLI anyone?). Of course, if you don't game much but use a lot of heavily multithreaded apps then the X58 or AMD hexacore option may be better.

Plenty of options with that budget.

Also Intel's new Sandy Bridge platform is coming soon but I gather you won't wanna wait if you're current system is goosed.

Just noticed as i wrote this you didn't say if you wanna build or buy pre-built so this may all be useless! Oh well.

edit: and loads of others replied in the time it took me to type this! Damn I type slow....

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For Visual Basic a Phenom II X6 1090T is also worth considering:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/am...-1090t-p2.html

OTH,a Core i5 760 is faster in games which use 4 cores or less.

[CreamSauce]

As I do game more defo the intel

[CreamSauce]

I recently built a PC with the i5 760, Asus mobo and GTX 460 for about £850, maybe less now (see my system specs, too tired to post it all :0 )
It has plenty of scope for overclocking/ upgrades later and does the job well. Also leaves you £400 spare for the SSD and some other upgrades (SLI anyone?). Of course, if you don't game much but use a lot of heavily multithreaded apps then the X58 or AMD hexacore option may be better.

Plenty of options with that budget.

Also Intel's new Sandy Bridge platform is coming soon but I gather you won't wanna wait if you're current system is goosed.

Just noticed as i wrote this you didn't say if you wanna build or buy pre-built so this may all be useless! Oh well.

edit: and loads of others replied in the time it took me to type this! Damn I type slow....

lol, I appreciate your input.

I wanted to go with pre-built from Scan 3XS

Your current system is something along the lines of what I want.

The only game I play is Counter-Strike: Source I am sure you are all aware this is not a graphic intensive game more cpu based I believe... never the less it is not a game comparable to crysis graphics for example.

I want something that is uber fast and will go another 5 years just like the good old dell!

[george1979]

I was gonna get a 3xs system as well but i've been reading their waiting times are about two weeks or more as they are really busy. This was my 1st build but I'd been wanting to do it for ages. Its much easier than you think and you don't get, or pay for, any software you don't want. It really doesn't take much time and they're are some great videos on youtube. Also Scansure covers you for any damage you might do during the build.

Anyway I'll stop trying to convert you now!

If you want the option to SLI/crossfire down the road make sure you select a board that supports it at x8/x8. I chose a 'lesser' Asus board than they recommend for their 3xs i5 system and saved £50. Oh and get the gtx460, its a peach.

Good Luck whatever you do.

[Pob255]

Looks like you've got for this base system http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=1015

Ok let's take this appart
Case: Silverstone Fortress FT01B-W Tower Case Black
Older but still such a nice looking case, if I could afford it I would get one.

Motherboard P55: Asus P7P55D-E Intel P55 Express
Again cannot really fault this

CPU: Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core 2.8Ghz 8Mb Cache
nice, no complaints, maybe look at the i7 870 depending on cost.
EDIT:looking at the costs I'd say stick with the i5 760

CPU Coolers: Prolimatech Megahalems Super 6 Heatpipe Tower Cooler
Wonder if Scan's 3XS add a fan to it or run it fanless? not sure I'd like it fanless.
For that cost a corsair h50 might be worth looking at.

Overclocking: Intel i5 760 professionally overclocked by our 3XS engineers to 3.8-4Ghz. (i7 860 870 clocked at 3.6Ghz).
Now this I'm really not sure about, the reason being that the Asus TurboV software and Auto tuning should be able to hit around 3.8ghz, it'll take about an hour but it does it all for you and does it well.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-p...-review-test/9
However I see it's 0 added cost, I wonder if the 3XS builders are just running the Asus Auto tune?

Memory: 4Gb (2x2Gb) Corsair Dominator PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 9 XMP
Again fine

NVIDIA Graphics: 1Gb EVGA GTX 460 SC 763Mhz GPU 336 Cores 3800Mhz GDDR5
If you want to go the nvidia route, this is probably the best all round card they do atm, oh and a very nice EVGA card which still carries their 10year warranty.

Power Supply Unit: 550w Corsair VX Series PSU
Good solid PSU for the reuirements, not over speced
If you want Modular ask about a Seasonic M12-II 520W Power Supply or even the Corsair HX520w or just ask and let them recomend.

System Drives 3GB s: *Drive Not Required - Using 6GB s or SSD See Below*
System Drives 6GB s: *Sata 6GB s Hard Drive Not Required*
Solid State Drives: 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300 6GB s Read 355MB/s Write 70MB/s
Storage Hard drives: *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
Mistake, an SSD is nice, but a 64gb on it's own without additional storgae and you'll fill it up very fast.
Add in a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache
You'll want to add in a hard drive as well, also that write speed seems rather slow for an SSD.
The 60GB Corsair Force, Sandforce SSD, Read 285MB/s, Write 275MB/s is a better option

Optical Drive 1 - DVD Blu Ray: Pioneer DVR-S18LBK - DVDRW
Personally I prefer the LG or samsung DVDrw drives I find them less noisey

If you do want options not on the list just ask for them, scan are good that way.

EDIT:Although I do agree with george1979 on Build it yourself.

[CreamSauce]

Looks like you've got for this base system http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=1015

Ok let's take this appart
Case: Silverstone Fortress FT01B-W Tower Case Black
Older but still such a nice looking case, if I could afford it I would get one.

Motherboard P55: Asus P7P55D-E Intel P55 Express
Again cannot really fault this

CPU: Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core 2.8Ghz 8Mb Cache
nice, no complaints, maybe look at the i7 870 depending on cost.
EDIT:looking at the costs I'd say stick with the i5 760

CPU Coolers: Prolimatech Megahalems Super 6 Heatpipe Tower Cooler
Wonder if Scan's 3XS add a fan to it or run it fanless? not sure I'd like it fanless.
For that cost a corsair h50 might be worth looking at.

Overclocking: Intel i5 760 professionally overclocked by our 3XS engineers to 3.8-4Ghz. (i7 860 870 clocked at 3.6Ghz).
Now this I'm really not sure about, the reason being that the Asus TurboV software and Auto tuning should be able to hit around 3.8ghz, it'll take about an hour but it does it all for you and does it well.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-p...-review-test/9
However I see it's 0 added cost, I wonder if the 3XS builders are just running the Asus Auto tune?

Memory: 4Gb (2x2Gb) Corsair Dominator PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 9 XMP
Again fine

NVIDIA Graphics: 1Gb EVGA GTX 460 SC 763Mhz GPU 336 Cores 3800Mhz GDDR5
If you want to go the nvidia route, this is probably the best all round card they do atm, oh and a very nice EVGA card which still carries their 10year warranty.

Power Supply Unit: 550w Corsair VX Series PSU
Good solid PSU for the reuirements, not over speced
If you want Modular ask about a Seasonic M12-II 520W Power Supply or even the Corsair HX520w or just ask and let them recomend.

System Drives 3GB s: *Drive Not Required - Using 6GB s or SSD See Below*
System Drives 6GB s: *Sata 6GB s Hard Drive Not Required*
Solid State Drives: 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300 6GB s Read 355MB/s Write 70MB/s
Storage Hard drives: *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
Mistake, an SSD is nice, but a 64gb on it's own without additional storgae and you'll fill it up very fast.
Add in a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache
You'll want to add in a hard drive as well, also that write speed seems rather slow for an SSD.
The 60GB Corsair Force, Sandforce SSD, Read 285MB/s, Write 275MB/s is a better option

Optical Drive 1 - DVD Blu Ray: Pioneer DVR-S18LBK - DVDRW
Personally I prefer the LG or samsung DVDrw drives I find them less noisey

If you do want options not on the list just ask for them, scan are good that way.

EDIT:Although I do agree with george1979 on Build it yourself.

Yes that is the base I got.

For the i7 870 it only costs £70 more, if the performance justifys the extra price I do not mind upgrading to that CPU.

Overclocking wise I am still debating it...

Very impressed with the 10 year warranty on the evga card, as on my current dell I believe it is the gpu that has gone!

Thanks for the suggestion with the modular powersupply, I was thinking of going 1 model up with the 650W model:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...-Certification

Regarding the 64GB SSD it is honestly more than enough for me, I have a laptop where I contain my several gigs of files and photos.

I was thinking of changing the stock case fans with Noctua fans or maybe a blue led fan or something which would look cool on the front of the case

I await your extremly useful suggestions and input!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Very impressed with the 10 year warranty on the evga card, as on my current dell I believe it is the gpu that has gone!

BFG also used to have long warranties on their graphics cards but when they left the market these were all null and void.

[Pob255]

I wouldn't replace the stock fans, the Fortress FT01 uses sliverston square frame 180mm fans on the top and front, and thoes are only made by silverstone, ok they are probably made by someone else for silverstone, however there's no other source for that size so silverstone probably has exclusive license on them.
You could replace them with the newer silverstone Air penetrator 180mm version, basically the same fan but with a custom grill built into the back of the fan that focuses the air cone, to reduce turblance and keep the air coming out in a tighter and more focused over a greater distance.

I'd still add in a hard drive for additional drive space as well as the SSD, which is why I sugested the 60gb SSD, it's only an additional £35 for a 1000gb of additional capacity
You could partition it and use it to store multiple images of the ssd drive for backup and recovery and still have plenty of storage space left.

Actually thinking about it for the size of the case and what you're putting in it the antec 300
would probably be a better case.

If you go for a perbuild from scan 3xs then you might as well have the overclock as it's free.
If you'er just using it as a base for component sugestions, then the Asus board is a nice one for it's decent auto overclocking for thoes who don't want to try manual overclocking.
Both MSi and Gigabyte have some auto overclocking however they've not proved to be quite as good as the Asus one.

EDIT:

BFG also used to have long warranties on their graphics cards but when they left the market these were all null and void.

Yes
xfx is still doing long warranties but only in the US

Also not all EVGA card carry the 10year warrany any long, so you have to becareful to pick the right one if you want it.
The SC cards are the ones that still carry the 10year waranty