New Ivy Bridge Build

[Jasp]

So my laptop is now getting a bit old and I've finally got a bit of spare penny's so decided on a new Diablo 3 build

What I've got in mind:

CPU: 3570k or 3770k (Primarily gaming and video encoding is the 3770k worth the extra? thinking not at the moment)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V DELUXE (Need a wireless card anyway so not badly priced once you take a N card off the price, do love the look of the sabertooth tho lol)
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz 8gb (Is faster ram worth the extra or 16gb?)
Case: Coolermaster Haf X V2 (Really like the look of this but don't know if to go for something smaller like a 550 Silenco)
GPU: 680 GTX or 7970 (Will be starting with one monitor at the moment but may add more)
PSU: Corsair HX/AX 850 (Prefably want a fully modular PSU not sure if this is overkill but may wish to add a second card down the line)
Monitor: 24" Dell U2412M IPS (Love the idea its a 16:10 monitor, not sure how practical it is for gaming with the 8ms response time?)
HD: 2TB One
SSD: Crucial M4 128gb (Seem to have tumbled in price recently, looking for reliability over speed, not sure if these are still the top dogs for that)

A review and comments would be much appreciated, budgeting around £1500 with a 680 its over that mark, things I need some clarification with are the GPU/Motherboard/SSD/Monitor more then anything.

Thanks in advance.

[Terbinator]

If you're not overclocking i'd give the Xeon 1230(V2) a look as it has Hyper-Threading for the same price as an i5 2500/3570K - the caveat being it can't be overclocked, but you're getting 2700/3770K(V2) performance for i5 price.

The monitor will be fine, for gaming - too much emphasis is put on response time, if you think that's to blame for your performance you have issues.

the M4 is a solid drive, i have one myself and can't fault it.

RAM speed doesn't have much effect, nor does 16GB for the most part, but if you're into video encoding/editing then the 16GB would be welcome over faster 8GB i would have thought.

[Rookie1986]

So my laptop is now getting a bit old and I've finally got a bit of spare penny's so decided on a new Diablo 3 build

What I've got in mind:

CPU: 3570k or 3770k (Primarily gaming and video encoding is the 3770k worth the extra? thinking not at the moment)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V DELUXE (Need a wireless card anyway so not badly priced once you take a N card off the price, do love the look of the sabertooth tho lol)
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz 8gb (Is faster ram worth the extra or 16gb?)
Case: Coolermaster Haf X V2 (Really like the look of this but don't know if to go for something smaller like a 550 Silenco)
GPU: 680 GTX or 7970 (Will be starting with one monitor at the moment but may add more)
PSU: Corsair HX/AX 850 (Prefably want a fully modular PSU not sure if this is overkill but may wish to add a second card down the line)
Monitor: 24" Dell U2412M IPS (Love the idea its a 16:10 monitor, not sure how practical it is for gaming with the 8ms response time?)
HD: 2TB One
SSD: Crucial M4 128gb (Seem to have tumbled in price recently, looking for reliability over speed, not sure if these are still the top dogs for that)

A review and comments would be much appreciated, budgeting around £1500 with a 680 its over that mark, things I need some clarification with are the GPU/Motherboard/SSD/Monitor more then anything.

Thanks in advance.

I've just ordered a new gaming system myself yesterday which included some of the parts you are also considering.

CPU: I decided to go with the i5 3570k simply because I have no need for the hyper threading which the i7 3770k offers, the extra £££'s saved can be used elsewhere.

RAM: I took 8GB of RAM because most people advised me that not a lot uses 16GB and it really isn't expensive if you change your mind and want to add more at a later date (its also one of the easiest upgrades to make).

GPU: Either of them would be overkill for D3, I went with the 3GB XFX 7970 Black with Ghost and Hydrocell (not sure what the last two bits mean). You can get a GTX 680 for about the same sort of price so its totally personal preference. I've heard the 680 does run very hot in comparison to the 7970 so if your thinking of OC then the 7970 might offer you more here.

PSU: If your running one card then something between a 550w and 650w should be more then enough and it will save you a few more £££'s - If you are looking to add a second card then you could maybe get away with a 650w - 750w PSU, in most cases people buy a lot higher power then they would ever need.

Monitor: This is the exact same monitor that I have ordered and my brother plus several friends already run this exact one and have no complaints when playing things like BF3, LoL, SWTOR or CSS so I would say your safe in your choice and its a bloody beautiful monitor when u side by side it against an old TF panel!!

HDD: I went with the 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm as a media drive - from what I read they are a good drive.

SSD: I have a 64GB M4 as a boot drive in my old gaming rig and have just ordered myself a 256GB M4 to put my games on in my new build (I'm using the old 64GB M4 as a boot drive). This is possibly the biggest upgrade I made from my old WD 5900rpm drive, everything just opens as soon as I click it and my boot time is seconds, you won't be disappointed and the M4 seems to be hailed as one of the most reliable SSD's on the market so its a good choice imo.

Hope that helps somewhat.
Rookie

[Jasp]

Cheers for the info so far, still stuck on the gpu side of things, noticed ocuk have a 7970 asus direct cu ii in today for £360 and im very tempted a aftermarket 680 is roughly £480 is it worth the extra in terms of fps is the question. Thanks

[Terbinator]

Cheers for the info so far, still stuck on the gpu side of things, noticed ocuk have a 7970 asus direct cu ii in today for £360 and im very tempted a aftermarket 680 is roughly £480 is it worth the extra in terms of fps is the question. Thanks

Aria are doing the Palit Jet Stream for £460 - 4GB version for £499.

[Ov_]

750W psu will be enough if you plan to go with a second card, I'd save money and go with the HX over the AX.

I don't think the 680 is worth the extra money compared to the 7970 asus direct cu ii. Price has gone up to £400 which is a shame.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-r...u-ii-review/22

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-g...-top-review/24

[Jasp]

Cheers for all the help so far, hopefully getting their lol.

So currently decided to scale the build down slightly as not sure I can live with spending £1800 lol.

Currently:

Intel: 3570k + Asus P8Z77-V Pro : £311.99
SSD: Crucial M4 128gb : £86.39
HDD: 2TB Segate : £82.79
Ram: Corsair 8GB 1866mhz : £47.79
Case: Coolermaster Storm Enforcer : £59.99
PSU: Corsair 850HX : £119.99
GPU: MSI 6970 Twin Forzer : £203.99
Monitor: Dell U2312HM : £176.92
OS: Win 7 64bit OEM : £65.92

Roughly £1180 ish

Any thoughts please, hoping to buy it tonight, case and monitor, gpu especially. Might opt for the bigger 24" dell if its worth the extra or a 570 is the same price as the 6970 which would be better, wanted a Haf X case but a bit rich for my tastes lol other options appreciated.

[badass]

Cheers for all the help so far, hopefully getting their lol.

So currently decided to scale the build down slightly as not sure I can live with spending £1800 lol.

Currently:

Intel: 3570k + Asus P8Z77-V Pro : £311.99
SSD: Crucial M4 128gb : £86.39
HDD: 2TB Segate : £82.79
Ram: Corsair 8GB 1866mhz : £47.79
Case: Coolermaster Storm Enforcer : £59.99
PSU: Corsair 850HX : £119.99
GPU: MSI 6970 Twin Forzer : £203.99
Monitor: Dell U2312HM : £176.92
OS: Win 7 64bit OEM : £65.92

Roughly £1180 ish

Any thoughts please, hoping to buy it tonight, case and monitor, gpu especially. Might opt for the bigger 24" dell if its worth the extra or a 570 is the same price as the 6970 which would be better, wanted a Haf X case but a bit rich for my tastes lol other options appreciated.

Personally, I'd go for 1600 MHz or 1333MHz RAM as it's only on AMD Llano and possibly trinity systems you'll notice the difference.
Secondly, the 6970 is a bit old hat although it looks like OK VFM. Is it as fast or faster faster than the 7870/7850
3rdly, unless you are planning on crossfire or massive overclocks, the PSU is massive overkill. You can get a much cheaper one that will be much better suited to your build. If you're not overclocking a 650W (or maybe even a decent 550w one if you go for a 7850/7870 instead) is plenty.

[Rookie1986]

If your not looking to OC then you could also drop down to a cheaper Motherboard, maybe something like the Asus P8Z77-V if your set on having a wireless card (Wired is better for gaming, I'm sure u already know this).

Again, if your not planning on overclocking then you can save a few more £££s on your CPU choice.

In regards to the monitor you are taking a slight resolution drop on the 23" but they are still both very nice monitors (I prefer the 24").

I think for a £1200 build your at about as good as your going to get, sure you can play about with it here and there but unless your able to free up around another £100 in the build to get you a better GPU it possibly isn't worth it.

Rookie

[Jasp]

Cheers for the info, in the end thought sod it and spent a little bit more, changed the case for a HAF X and went with the 24" Dell monitor . Dropped the ram to 1600mhz LP stuff as suggested.

Left the GPU out at the moment as still not decided if to go all out and get a 7970 or 680, gonna keep my eyes open for a deal.

Hoping for it to last 3-5 years like my laptop has and is infact still going.

[Rookie1986]

Nice one, you won't regret it!! A build like this should give you 5 good years of solid gaming

[Jasp]

So 7970 Windforce 3X is on offer for £390 delivered or I can get a reference 680 for £430. Whats your feelings on your 7970 at the mo rookie?

[bluepumpkin]

Sounds like a good build, i have been playing with the over-clock on my i5 3570k and found that you can get such an easy(i.e. cool and only change multiplier) 4.2-4.4Ghz over-clock whilst actually reducing the default CPU voltage (even less than 1v gave me a stable 4GHz) that it would be criminal not to over-clock just a bit.

[Rookie1986]

So 7970 Windforce 3X is on offer for £390 delivered or I can get a reference 680 for £430. Whats your feelings on your 7970 at the mo rookie?

Well my 7970 only came this morning (Along with the rest of my stuff for my new build) but I'm busy with work until Friday so I won't have things built, setup and installed until Saturday afternoon at the earliest. IMO its worth waiting a week to see what the new 670//660ti nVidia cards are like, they might be a little bit more budget friendly and still offer awesome performance at the resolutions our monitors display at.

Rookie

[Jasp]

I'm very tempted to wait but the thought of playing Diablo 3 on a Intel HD 4000 is not very tempting lol.

[Rookie1986]

I'm very tempted to wait but the thought of playing Diablo 3 on a Intel HD 4000 is not very tempting lol.

Yeah I guess that could be.... Errm, well interesting lol! I should be lucky enough to have mine built and ready in time for my CE of D3 when it arrives next week.