Opinions on potential 3xs i7 build

[shteve]

Hi guys,

seriously thinking about getting the following built:

System Overview

Mobo: Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Silverstone Fortress FT01B-W Tower Case Black Aluminum with Window
CPU: Intel i7 920 2.66Ghz 4.8GT s QPI @ 3.8Ghz+ with 20% OC (D0 Step)
CPU Coolers: Corsair Cooling™ Hydro Series H50 High-performance CPU Cooler
Overclocking: 3XS System Core-Logic Overclocking*10 - 20%*
Memory: 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 8
NVIDIA Graphics - Multi GPU SLI Options Available: *No NVIDIA VGA Card Required* (ATI Required)
ATI Graphics - Multi GPU Crossfire Options Available: *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
Power Supply Unit: 1000W Corsair HX Series Modular (Dual GTX295 or 4870X2 Cards)
System Drives: 1000 GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 7200 rpm 32MB Cache
Storage Hard drives: *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
Solid State Drives: *Solid State Drive Not Required*
Floppy Drive Flash Card Readers & Writers: Akasa Multi Memory Card Reader & USB 2.0 Port
DVD Writer: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±R 16xDVD±DL DVD+RW x8 -RWx6 12xRAM SATA Black OEM
Sound Card: *Sound Card Not Required Use On Board Sound*
Case Cooling Fans: *After Market Fans Not Required - Use Fans Included with Case*
Lighting Effects: Sharkoon 4" Blue CCFL 2in1 Kit
Operating system: *Operating System Not required* (System Tested under Microsoft Vista)
Software - Application: Microsoft Office 2007 - 60 Day Trial
Software - DVD Blu Ray Decoding: CyberLink PowerDVD 8 Standard Movie Audio Player & Decoder


I've got a GTX280 in my current system that I'd be looking to put in this, and another one still sat in it's box for me to SLI (dislocated my knee a month ago and still can't bend my leg to work on the PC ). I've also got two other Sammy 1TB drives and a PCI X-Fi Fatality in this system that would be moving over. The OS would be win7 (currently running the RC and have pre-ordered Home Premium). The missus has given me the nod for approx £1200 it'll cost.

What do you reckon - will this fit in the case ok and would you change anything?

[en3sge]

The build looks solid.

The only thing I would change (or rather, add) is a SSD. I am now sold on them since reading various reviews and looking at some youtube vids. The response of a system with an SSD is so far greater than with a HDD its in another realm.

I have a thread going on this forum you might wanna take a look at called 'taking the plunge, about to buy a scan' where basically I started from scratch knowing not much but in the end I had all my specs pretty dead set. At the end of the thread I suddenly did a bit of a u-turn when I discovered the delights of the SSD and compromised my graphics cards to fit it into the budget. Its that good!

Aside from that, you are gonna have a very powerful and neat rig

[shteve]

Aye, looked at the SSDs (and had read your thread). Another £100 to add a 30GB drive, though I'd have preferred to go for the 80GB Intel at £200. Pushes it a tad over the wife approved level, and I don't think I've got much room to manoeuvre with the rest of the spec (already spent £180 on the second GTX280). Deffo something to look at once the prices start to come down.

FWIW I've been building/ upgrading my own machines since '95. Main reason I'm looking at having a machine built for me is the warranty and lack of hassle. My current machine's PSU (OCZ 800W) blew a couple of months ago and I swapped that for a PCP&C 750W. Having to take out my CPU cooler (Thermalright TRUE) so that I could access the PSU area was a royal PITA. Especially when I found I'd mounted the PSU upside-down and had to do the whole thing again - who'd have known that the writing on the side of the PSU should be upside-down. And now my Q6600 is reporting 2 cores with hyperthreading when overclocked, I think it's time to jump to a new rig where someone else has to do the hard work .

*Edit* Hmmm, just read the SSD roundup on driverheaven, the OCZ drives do sound very tempting.

[en3sge]

Yep, you just listed pretty much the exact reasons why Im opting for a pre-built machine rather than custom build my own.

I read somewhere (in this forum I think) scan only charge something like £50 for building a pc. All the rest goes on components. They dont rip you off - they just provide quality components and build quality. Plus if you read these forums, the after-sales care is phenomenal! No doubt if this thread keeps going, one of the scan guys will add something useful to it (they tend to do that, its nice to know they are watching)

With the SSD, the Intel seems to be the best bang per buck. The OCZ summit - I was quite interested in them until the chap on my thread showed me why the Intel is still the best. Cue a trip to youtube to watch them perform and all I can say is wow!

80Gb is plenty enough to put an OS on (and most apps you can think of - maybe not too many games though) and the speed...well forget those horrid delays in loading Itunes and photoshop - no such problem anymore! Plus even the dog-slow vista loads up in something like 25 seconds if you cut out all its fat. This was important for me as I am intending to have 3 BIOS overclock settings for my processor/RAM and I needed a very short 'switch time' if I chose, say, to go from stock to 3.8Ghz when I feel the need for a bit of Flight Simulator (cos of course this will require a computer restart).

Yep they are a bit pricey at the moment but if your budget can just manage it, it will be worth it

[shteve]

Aye, would like an opinion from the Scan guys, particularly on the lack of gfx card I'd want with this build. Is it something they'd do, with a dummy card ie not one I'd be buying used for stability testing? Also not sure if the 1000w PSU is overkill, but may end up with 5 HDs in this, plus the SLI 280's, so probably best to err on the side of caution.

And cheers for the input en3sge

[en3sge]

No problem

SCAN seem to be the most flexible builder I am aware of in that they will try and acccomodate any specification change you want. Certainly other people in this forum have written in asking that graphics cards are left out and scan have been very accomodating.

I think the best bet is to give them a call if they dont make an appearance on this thread too soon. Then you can discuss everything with one of their people. Thats what I will be doing. I still have lots of questions such as replacing the default 4890s with the xfx black editions and making sure there is enough sound proofing to deafen them as I hear they are akin to a plane taking offin your living room (and people thought the xbox 360 was loud!). Plus I want two of them...hmm water cooling me thinks!

But yeah, good luck with the build

[shteve]

Well, my quad core has now turned into a single core so it's accelerated my decision. Order placed today

[Mossy]

Glad to hear you have placed the order did you do this over the internet?

[en3sge]

...and did you settle on an SSD? List your specs and let me drool ha I havent ordered mine yet so still relying on my trusty core2duo/ati 4570 mobility package.

Im getting closer and closer to finalising my build but am stuck in that rut that many first time pc buyers are in - you think you nail the spec then some piece of information comes along to make you change it and then you think you have nailed it and...yep something else comes along.

The more I configire my perfect scan pc, the more the price rises. At some point Im just gonna have to take the dive. Whatever I get I know it will be an awesome machine!!!

[shteve]

Glad to hear you have placed the order did you do this over the internet?

Paul, I phoned up in the end and spoke to Jay. Invoice number ******.
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[shteve]

...and did you settle on an SSD? List your specs and let me drool ha I havent ordered mine yet so still relying on my trusty core2duo/ati 4570 mobility package.

Im getting closer and closer to finalising my build but am stuck in that rut that many first time pc buyers are in - you think you nail the spec then some piece of information comes along to make you change it and then you think you have nailed it and...yep something else comes along.

The more I configire my perfect scan pc, the more the price rises. At some point Im just gonna have to take the dive. Whatever I get I know it will be an awesome machine!!!

It's pretty much the spec at the top of the thread. For me to install into it once received: SLI GTX280, X-Fi F4tality PCI card, 2 1TB Spinpoints and (maybe) 2 500GB Hitachi T7250s from my existing PC. Dell 2407, Logitech G15v2 and Sidewinder X8 fills in the other gaps. Looking forward to seeing how it all performs.

I'll probably look to add an SSD in about 6 months or so. In the mean time, I'll just create a small partition on the new Sammy for the OS and use the rest of the drive for archiving.

[Jace007]

en3sge i'm in the same boat as you, I was so close to ordering it, even phoned Pual Moss at scan, but now I've heard that the new ATI card will be coming out soon, so i might just wait a little longer, still gives me time to tweak my spec. I think 1000W PSU are over kill i think you can still do SLI with 750 PSU and have 4 hdd. Depending on how well my system is, i might get more for another project.

[en3sge]

The new ATI cards are due to be released 10th September (with a proper retail release a couple of weeks later). At this point, at the end of August, I would suggest waiting. However, there are arguments for not waiting at all:

1) The new DX11 cards have not yet been benched on DX11 games. The first batch of cards could have trouble with DX11 as it is very new technology.
2) The new drivers for the DX11 cards will of course be first generation drivers for those cards. A card's performance can only be unlocked with better drivers. The current GTX285 etc have been through many driver iterations and the best is being only lately seen on them because of this. In a way, now is the best time to buy current gen cards because of this.

My own recommendation is this: wait until the first benches of the 5xxx series - see what the performance gap is to current gen. If it is small, buy current generation (with their matured drivers) but only once the DX11 card is released as the prices of the current gen cards will likely go down. Then you can upgrade late next year, see how Nvidia does - you may want to go with them.

After all, the GTX 285 is easily strong enough for all games at 1080p resolution and below (Crysis, cryostasis and Stalker clear skies are exempt).

[Jace007]

Great minds think alike, A GTX 285 is more than enough for today’s games at a decent level's. I will see how it goes with the new ATI card and what kind of performance it has, I’m more interested in a feature rich card than its GPU Speed. I have a good card that will keep me going for a few more month.

Hey Shteve whens your PC arriving?

[en3sge]

Great minds think alike, A GTX 285 is more than enough for today’s games at a decent level's. I will see how it goes with the new ATI card and what kind of performance it has, I’m more interested in a feature rich card than its GPU Speed. I have a good card that will keep me going for a few more month.

Hey Shteve whens your PC arriving?

Feature rich eh? Then the GTX 285 will be perfect for you! It has CUDA and Physix etc and is extremely powerful. Goodness knows how many benchmarks I have looked at for this card but all of them tell me one thing - its awesome. Especially if you overclock it (Im sure SCAN will have a go at this if you ask them ha)

Still, if you are on a budget have a look at the 4890. I know it doesnt have the CUDA etc but it is only a few frames slower than the GTX 285 - the latest drivers have really helped. And it is £100 cheaper. You could SLI them up for a killer system and only spend 50 or 60 pounds more than a single 285!

Anyway, I could go on all night, but certainly the early 5xxx benches will be interesting!

[shteve]

Great minds think alike, A GTX 285 is more than enough for today’s games at a decent level's. I will see how it goes with the new ATI card and what kind of performance it has, I’m more interested in a feature rich card than its GPU Speed. I have a good card that will keep me going for a few more month.

Hey Shteve whens your PC arriving?

They're a bit backed up at the mo. Current plan is to build on 16th September and for me to receive it on 22nd September.