Ivy Bridge is here! New 3XS System Questions (Current 3XS Owner)

[Yasmir]

Hello there,

Ivy Bridge has now arrived and I have decided to go for a full system upgrade as I currently have the cash available.

My current system is the original spec Black Widow which is nearly 4 years old now the intention is to have that as a second computer for my wife while I get a nice new shiny one.

Budget is around £3,000

The rig is for gaming, with the usual bit of office, internet surfing and itunes on the side.

It needs to be capable of running 3 x 23" dell IPS panels which I already have and be capable of running either mutiple clients on each screen or one client across all three.

The aim is for it to last 3 to 4 years as my Black Widow has done with minimal if at all upgrades required.

The focus is on performance and stability as I game competitively online in FPS and MMO.

I haven't really kept up with technology so I have a few questions before I complete a 3XS system spec.

CPU - Ivy Bridge 3770K

Memory - Is there value going over 16Gb?

Graphics Card - I used to use ATI but have been with Nvidia since the 8800 series, which is currently the best for a dual card solution SLI/Crossfire for a multi screen gaming rig

HDD/SSD - I notice there are no options for an SSD as a system drive is there any reason for this? Ideally I was thinking 2 SSD's one for system drive one for games drive and then a large capacity HDD for music/pictures etc.

Water Cooling / Air Cooling is there much difference for the level I am looking at against the cost?

Case - What is currently the best case, look is much less important for me against functionality. Having a Black Widow atm I have the TJ07 case which is really nice does add quite a bit to the price and maybe compromise performance elsewhere?


Thanks for your help in advance.

[Yasmir]

Does the scan 3xs sales team no longer post here?

There are 2 threads that I can see asking questions about a system they are about to buy with no response.

When I bought my Blackwidow a few years back you got a response in 24 hours now it has been days. Not to mention the other threads here talking about no contact does not encourage me.

Has scans sales and after sales support significantly reduced in the last 3 years?

Makes me nervous about dropping £3k+ on a system when there is no contact even though my experience was good when I bought the Blackwidow and I have had almost no problems with the system.

Certainly the forums of other companies seem to be getting a quicker response.

While the questions above still stand for a scan sales representative are other peoples more recent experiences with scan sales and after sales support good or bad?

[Disturbedguy]

I have had nothing but good service since I started using SCAN.
From what I've seen over the years I would say a majority of the problems raised by people on these forums are resolved and customers are satisfied.

[Cutthroat44]

It might of taken a while to get my system done, but communication has been good, and I know its going to be a great system when I do get it.

As for the forums, Carl, Ben and Lee are usually on and pretty good at picking up queries. Though for a quicker response, sending an email to the 3xs team is the way to go.

[Carlh]

Yasmir,

Sorry for the delay

Glad to see your thinking of using SCAN for you new system.

For the usage you have outlined I would say 16GB should be more than enough.

As your using 3 screens for MMO's and FPS games then ideally a good choice would be one of the high end cards such as the GTX 680's as these give excellent multiscreen performance - depending on your budget the new GTX 690's might also be worth looking at.

Most people who are getting systems use the SSD for the operating system and games - then use a larger hard drive for storage, therefore we have he SSD options normally as the OS drive.

Water cooling does offer better cooling than air cooled, there is however an additional costs for all the hardware required for this. Air coolers have improved over the past few years and this is reflected with the choices online with our systems as we still over decent overclocks with air cooling solutions.

Cases are really down to personal preference however usually we recommend cases from the following manufacturers:

Corsair, Silverstone, Fractal Design, Coolermaster

We can however build in most cases therefore if there is one you like let us know and we shall see if we can build in for you.

If you have a specification in mind and you want me to look through it for you - please feel free to email me directly, my email address is carl@scan.co.uk

Regards,

[Yasmir]

Carl many thanks for your reply I have sent you an email with my selected configuration for your review.

Once finalised I will place the order ASAP.

[Yasmir]

Just as an update to this thread I would like to thank Carl for his great support both through email and on the phone and I have now placed an order with scan for my next system.

It is a 3XS Vengeance Z77 SLI system with the following configuration;

Silverstone TJ07B-W Case
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe Motherboard
Intel i7 3770K Processor
Corsair H100 Hydro CPU Cooler
4.4Ghz Overclock
16GB Corsair Vengeance Memory
2 x 4GB Gainward GTX680 Phantom's
1200W Corsair Power Supply
2 x 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD
2TB Western Digital HDD
LG Blu-ray Writer
Creative Recon3D Fatal1ty Pro
Windows 7 Ultimate


Thanks again for your help Carl and now really looking forward to some surround gaming on it.

[bulldog147]

Just as an update to this thread I would like to thank Carl for his great support both through email and on the phone and I have now placed an order with scan for my next system.

It is a 3XS Vengeance Z77 SLI system with the following configuration;

Silverstone TJ07B-W Case
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe Motherboard
Intel i7 3770K Processor
Corsair H100 Hydro CPU Cooler
4.4Ghz Overclock
16GB Corsair Vengeance Memory
2 x 4GB Gainward GTX680 Phantom's
1200W Corsair Power Supply
2 x 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD
2TB Western Digital HDD
LG Blu-ray Writer
Creative Recon3D Fatal1ty Pro
Windows 7 Ultimate


Thanks again for your help Carl and now really looking forward to some surround gaming on it.

I would go for sandybridge if I were you, go for i7 2700K (much cooling than ivybridge) and can overclocking higher!

[Yasmir]

For me I am not interested in getting the highest overclock possible the most important thing for me is stability. When in competitions you cannot afford for crashes or glitches to occur. I have had plenty of discussions with Carl and this was definitely the best way to go for me and my requirements.

The room the computer stays is in fully air conditioned as it is my office at home and so heat is less of a problem. It is also a hard floor and the computer will be raised above the floor reducing hair and dust coming in through the fans. Watercooling in the end was above my budget given the other components I required.

[bulldog147]

Fair enough Yasmir, very true about overclocking isn't gaurantee overclocking and can cause unstable and sometimes BSD. Good luck with your new ivybridge system.