New Build Check

[Predator]

Hey guys, been a while since building my pc!

Looking to build a new system....does anyone have any views on these components and could possibly suggest better for less?

I chose most of the products based on brands I trust and have experience with

I want it to be as future proof as possible, and have the ability to be casually upgraded if something big comes out without having to replace the majority of the components!

Also, an important note, I will be collecting the bits overtime, so if anything is coming out in the next 6 months that would be worth waiting for, let me know and I can aim to build around that ready for its release!

Anyway, here is my build, its all from Scan. (Also please note, as I will be starting after Xmas and buyng it piece by piece, today only item prices don't really make a diffference)

CPU: AMD FX 8150 Black Edition, Orochi Core
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Formula/Thunderbolt
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Racing Red x 2 (16GB)
Main HDD: 120GB OCZ Vertex 2 3.5" SSD
Slave HDD: 3TB Western Digital WD30EZRX Caviar Green
GPU: 2GB MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
PSU: 1200W PSU, Antec Quattro
Drive: LG BE12LU30, 12x Blu-Ray Writer External,
Cooling: Larkcooler BA2-244 (water kit)
and Zalman ZM-MFC3 Multi Fan Controller

And the case: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-...ing-case-with-

Cheers guys, let me know your thoughts

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is the main purpose of the build?? For gaming a Core i5 2500K generally is a better choice in most games. Intel Ivy Bridge is out in the next six months and possibly AMD Piledriver soon after.

Regarding the FX8150,the FX8120 is a better choice and overclocks nearly as much AFAIK. AMD is also releasing the FX8170 too which is supposed to be on a new stepping - it looks like this should be out in January or February. It might be worth also looking at the Asus Sabertooth or Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 too.

The HD7970 is meant to be released next week too. The PSU is OTT and a decent 650W to 850W PSU should suffice - an FX8150 overclocked is no worse than a Core i7 920 overclocked.

This PSU should do the job IMHO:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-...re-eps-12v-qui

IMHO,it should be more than enough for an overclocked FX8120 and a pair of HD6970 cards.

I would also get a Crucial M4 128GB SSD instead of the Vertex 2.

You can get a Samsung F4 2TB for £75 from Novatech:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...b/hd204ui.html

They seem to be the cheapest retailer for a 2TB hard drive ATM and you can get cashback from TopCashBack from them.

[Predator]

Cheers for the fast reply!

I'll check out the details you mentioned.

I have heard of sabertooth and that it was good, to be honest, the reason I went for the Crosshair formula V is because I had the predecessor board and loved it. Performed well and never let me down once.

With the PSU, I want it to be able to run watercooling and everything, I'll be getting two GPU's at some point too, will 850w still be plenty? I remember in an older build with a spec not nearly as high, 550w struggled to keep it stable! (But the PSU was )

I'd prefer to go AMD so piledriver is definitely an option to wait for. Would I be able to create a build with a cheaper cpu and motherboard and swap it out when piledriver comes in but keep everything else?

With GPU's I don't know much about, so i'll check some reviews on what you mentioned!

Cheers!

P.s it will be used for games, and home entertainment, I will have a HDMI lead going to the tv to watch blu-rays, I have a blu-ray player but would like to combine everything in one.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Cheers for the fast reply!

I'll check out the details you mentioned.

I have heard of sabertooth and that it was good, to be honest, the reason I went for the Crosshair formula V is because I had the predecessor board and loved it. Performed well and never let me down once.

With the PSU, I want it to be able to run watercooling and everything, I'll be getting two GPU's at some point too, will 850w still be plenty? I remember in an older build with a spec not nearly as high, 550w struggled to keep it stable! (But the PSU was )

I'd prefer to go AMD so piledriver is definitely an option to wait for. Would I be able to create a build with a cheaper cpu and motherboard and swap it out when piledriver comes in but keep everything else?

With GPU's I don't know much about, so i'll check some reviews on what you mentioned!

Cheers!

P.s it will be used for games, and home entertainment, I will have a HDMI lead going to the tv to watch blu-rays, I have a blu-ray player but would like to combine everything in one.

What is you current setup??

[Predator]

It was this:
Asus Crosshair Formula 3 (with sound card)
Amd Pheonem X6
4GB Corsair XMS Ram
1TB Samsung F3
1 Back up western digital drive 300 GB
LG DVD/CD R-RW Drive with lightscribe
Antec Tru-Power 650w semi-modular PSU
Asus 6850 Direct CU

That was the psu I upgraded to as the 550w kept failing. But its all gone now!

[Pob255]

It was this:
Asus Crosshair Formula 3 (with sound card)
Amd Pheonem X6
4GB Corsair XMS Ram
1TB Samsung F3
1 Back up western digital drive 300 GB
LG DVD/CD R-RW Drive with lightscribe
Antec Tru-Power 650w semi-modular PSU
Asus 6850 Direct CU

That was the psu I upgraded to as the 550w kept failing. But its all gone now!

All gone?

550w struggled to keep it stable! (But the PSU was )

The thing about PSU's is not how big the numbers are but how good the quality is.
A GOOD 550w psu would be able to power what you're proposing, a bad 550w can probably only manage 300w of actual power.
Overclocking just increases the issues as stability and ripple become bigger factors than running at stock settings.

AMD have said that the new pile driver cpu will be socket AM3+ and the new 7xxx series gpu will be out shortly, it's going to be a paper release next week, ie NDA's will be listed and review units sent out but the cards will not go on general release until after xmass (1st or 2nd week of jan)
So we'll need to wait a week before we have a solid idea as to how good they are.

BullDozer has been rather disappointing performance wise, you'd of been better off sticking with your phenomII until PileDriver (which seems to be the same base design just with bits tweaked to fix the weaknesses of BD)

[Predator]

It was a Jeantech PSU so probably that!

Everything is gone except the small HDD and the optical drive.

So would you suggest buying everything to aim to fit onto a Piledriver board? Will there be new CPU's coming out with it?

If so, I may grab a case and PSU and the cooling kit, some HDD's etc and leave the main components untill end of Jan/Feb.

What do you think to the water cooler? I have read good reviews about the case so think I am pretty set on that.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Is the Phenom II X6 fully kaput??

[Predator]

Its sold.

[Predator]

What would you guys say is better out of these two systems for what i want to do?

[kalniel]

For games, the latter.

[Predator]

Even if it meant getting a 560/570 over a 6970?