Looking for final thoughts on 3 gaming system options

[cactusjack]

Dear all,

I started an earlier thread looking for advice on everything from specs to monitors to Graphics cards. Thanks to everyone who contributed across the three pages.

I am nearly ready to place an order. I have started this final thread now to compare 3 gaming PC options... I have come down to the following:



Option 1: Has a 2GB GTX 680


Base Specifications

Fractal Design Arc, Black, Mid Tower Performance Case
3XS Z77 Performance GTX - Custom Series
Scan System Configuration
Scan 3XS System - 2 Year Warranty - 1st Year Onsite, 2nd Year RTB (Mainland UK)
Scan System Configuration (Details confirmed at checkout stage)

Qty Selected Specifications

1 *No Custom Colour Required*
1 Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H, Gen 3, Intel Z77 Chipset
1 Intel Core i5 3570K, Ivy Bridge, 3.4GHz, Quad Core, 6MB Cache
1 No Overclock
1 Thermalright Macho Performance CPU Cooler
1 8Gb (2x4Gb) Corsair Vengeance LP, DDR3, 1600Mhz
1 2GB EVGA GTX 680, 1006MHz GPU, 1536 Cores, 6000MHz GDDR5
1 *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
1 650W Corsair Enthusiast, Modular, (Single Graphics Card)
1 128GB Crucial M4, Marvell SSD, Read 500MB/s, Write 175MB/s
1 2TB Seagate Barracuda, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache
1 *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
1 Pioneer DVR-S19LBK DVD Writer
1 *DVD Writer Not Required*
1 *Sound Card Not Required Use On Board Sound*
1 *Use On Board Network Port*
1 *Wireless Adaptor Not Required*
1 *Lighting Effects Not Required*
1 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - OEM
1 *No Software Required*
1 *No Backup Software Required*
1 *DVD / Blu Ray Decoding Software Not Required*
1 *No Software Required*
1 *No Software Required*
1 *Monitor Not Required*
1 *NVIDIA 3D Vision Not Required*
1 *Gaming Keyboard Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Mat Not Required*
1 *Gaming Headphones Not Required*
1 *Speakers Not Required*
1 2 Years Scan Extended System Warranty (£1001 - £2000)
1 3XS System Delivery & Setup - Same as above plus all protective packaging removed from within the system, keyboard, mouse and monitor connected and powered on to the desktop.

Total £1,453.02




Option 2: Goes for 4GB GTX670



Base Specifications
Fractal Design Arc, Black, Mid Tower Performance Case
3XS Z77 Performance GTX - Custom Series
Scan System Configuration
Scan 3XS System - 2 Year Warranty - 1st Year Onsite, 2nd Year RTB (Mainland UK)
Scan System Configuration (Details confirmed at checkout stage)

Qty Selected Specifications
1 *No Custom Colour Required*
1 Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H, Gen 3, Intel Z77 Chipset
1 Intel Core i5 3570K, Ivy Bridge, 3.4GHz, Quad Core, 6MB Cache
1 No Overclock
1 Thermalright Macho Performance CPU Cooler
1 8Gb (2x4Gb) Corsair Vengeance LP, DDR3, 1600Mhz
1 4GB EVGA GTX 670, 915MHz GPU, 1344 Cores, 9208MHz, GDDR5
1 *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
1 650W Corsair Enthusiast, Modular, (Single Graphics Card)
1 128GB Crucial M4, Marvell SSD, Read 500MB/s, Write 175MB/s
1 2TB Seagate Barracuda, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache
1 *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
1 Pioneer DVR-S19LBK DVD Writer
1 *DVD Writer Not Required*
1 *Sound Card Not Required Use On Board Sound*
1 *Use On Board Network Port*
1 *Wireless Adaptor Not Required*
1 *Lighting Effects Not Required*
1 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - OEM
1 *No Software Required*
1 *No Backup Software Required*
1 *DVD / Blu Ray Decoding Software Not Required*
1 *No Software Required*
1 *No Software Required*
1 *Monitor Not Required*
1 *NVIDIA 3D Vision Not Required*
1 *Gaming Keyboard Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Mat Not Required*
1 *Gaming Headphones Not Required*
1 *Speakers Not Required*
1 2 Years Scan Extended System Warranty (£1001 - £2000)
1 3XS System Delivery & Setup - Same as above plus all protective packaging removed from within the system, keyboard, mouse and monitor connected and powered on to the desktop.

Scan Finance Price
10 months no interest charges £57.49 Net Total £1,182.84
Classic Credit 24 Months £71.03 V.A.T £236.57
Classic Credit 36 Months £51.49 Total £1,419.41






Option 3: Goes for a 4GB GTX680, and cuts down slightly on the case and PSU to save some money.

Base Specifications

Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Mid Tower Case
3XS Z77 Performance GTX - Custom Series
Scan System Configuration
Scan 3XS System - 2 Year Warranty - 1st Year Onsite, 2nd Year RTB (Mainland UK)
Scan System Configuration (Details confirmed at checkout stage)

Qty Selected Specifications

1 *No Custom Colour Required*
1 Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H, Gen 3, Intel Z77 Chipset
1 Intel Core i5 3570K, Ivy Bridge, 3.4GHz, Quad Core, 6MB Cache
1 No Overclock
1 Thermalright Macho Performance CPU Cooler
1 8Gb (2x4Gb) Corsair Vengeance LP, DDR3, 1600Mhz
1 4GB Palit GTX 680 JS, 1006MHz GPU, 1536 Cores, 6008MHz GDDR5
1 *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
1 600W Corsair Gamer Series, (Single Graphics Card)
1 128GB Crucial M4, Marvell SSD, Read 500MB/s, Write 175MB/s
1 2TB Seagate Barracuda, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache
1 *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
1 Pioneer DVR-S19LBK DVD Writer
1 *DVD Writer Not Required*
1 *Sound Card Not Required Use On Board Sound*
1 *Use On Board Network Port*
1 *Wireless Adaptor Not Required*
1 *Lighting Effects Not Required*
1 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - OEM
1 *No Software Required*
1 *No Backup Software Required*
1 *DVD / Blu Ray Decoding Software Not Required*
1 *No Software Required*
1 *No Software Required*
1 *Monitor Not Required*
1 *NVIDIA 3D Vision Not Required*
1 *Gaming Keyboard Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Mat Not Required*
1 *Gaming Headphones Not Required*
1 *Speakers Not Required*
1 2 Years Scan Extended System Warranty (£1001 - £2000)
1 3XS System Delivery & Setup - Same as above plus all protective packaging removed from within the system, keyboard, mouse and monitor connected and powered on to the desktop.

Total £1,556.59




Those are the 3 options I am choosing from.

To last me 3 to 4 years, I am thinking 4GB graphics card could be the better option for future multi monitor setup or modding (especially with games like Skyrim).

Option 3 with the 4GB 680 is expensive...... but looks tempting given Palit's jetstream cooling system - a review notes:
"The JetStream cooling works out well, Palit used the three fan slash three slot design to make the card silent. As such in it's default state under game stress it can still reach 70 Degrees C -- but it remains 100% silent. We measured a 39 DBa noise level in the test room at 75 CM distance from the card. That is near silent."
(http://www.guru3d.com/article/palit-...ream-review/26)


Choices.......

Any final feedback on the above 3 specs is appreciated.

Thanks.

[drharvey12]

Hi Cactus.

I just yesterday put through an order for an upgrade to my system yesterday and would seriously recommend speaking to one of the guys there if you're unsure on the graphics card. I spoke to a guy called Jason who was awesome.

My own 2 cents though for a PC on your budget:

I think you said that you were going to be gaming on a single display at 1920x1080 but sorry if I have got that wrong. There are very few games out at the moment that require a card with 4GB of Vram. The main reason to have one would be on multiple monitor setups at very high resolutions or possibly if you plan on putting on every texture mod possible in Skyrim (which does look amazing with the STEP project you can find on SkyrimNexus btw)!

Otherwise 2 GB should be fine for you now. Having done a fair amount of research myself the general consensus seems to be that a nicely factory overclocked GTX 670 2GB version is the best value for money high end card (if that isn't an oxymoron in itself)!! Typically performance wise they tend to beat stock GTX 680's and are normally £50 or so less.

I'd probably look at a decent 2GB GTX 670 now and actually look to put in a good PSU for in a year or so's time when you might want to get another one to SLI them both. Probably the 850watt Corsair although it might be the 650 watt one is ok if you're not overclocking your CPU at all (more on that later though).

At the end of the day though you should feel good about what you're buying and it's you're money. If getting that 4GB 680 is what you want then go for it. I don't think you'll notice too much if any difference between a factory overclocked 670 at 1920x1080 and the more expensive card though.

Lastly I would still urge you to think about getting your CPU overclocked. There aren't too many games out there that I think will bottleneck a GTX 670 on your 3570K at the moment but some like Starcraft 2, X3: Terran Conflict & Civilisation 5 do tend to be rather CPU intensive. For these getting an overclock of the "optimised" 4.4ghz I think you will notice an improvement over stock settings.

When I was speaking with an engineer about mine they were happy to talk to me about what overclock they were able to achieve and I'm sure that it will come with 2 options in the BIOS. One setting will be overclocked and one can be at default. That way if you have any issues with the overclock (and I haven't in over 2 years on a very power hungry and hot 980X) you can just go back to the base clock.

Speaking for myself there's nothing like running 3dmark11 and seeing you in that top 10% bracket of people with similar specs to your's to bring a big smile to my face. Scan are experts at doing this and their warranty will cover you whether it's overclocked or not. It's basically a free upgrade on your CPU and with good cooling shouldn't significantly impact the lifetime of your chip.

You have a really good system whichever one you go for. Hope everything works out for you anyway and my main recommendation would still be to speak to Jason and get his advice.

Might see you on the SCAN owners club on Steam at some point

[Edit: Just noticed that an "approved" SLI board is an extra £22. I believe that both boards are SLI compatible though but I'd consider the more expensive board for future upgradeability - something I'd ask Jason or a salesperson about].

[Phage]

My 0.02 ?
Option 1.
A 4Gb card would be a waste at this point. I'd be looking at a 680 2Gb. There are some very nice coolers on these as well.

[cactusjack]

A final question:

When speccing various components for the PC, e.g. 128GB Crucial M4, Marvell SSD, ; GTX 2GB 680 or 670, etc..... the links go to the main scan website, where it indicates that a number of these components are not in stock - some are overdue, some are awaiting ETA, etc.

Could this severely delay the time needed for building the system?
or
Does Scan have it's own seperate stock for building 3XS systems, which is seperate from the main scan website?

I presume I likely to get the system much quicker if I choose instock items?

Thanks again.

[Phage]

From my understanding, there is no seperate stock, so you should expect lengthy delays if you select those items.

[drharvey12]

What Phage said.

My system is likely to be delayed slightly as they're still waiting on the graphics cards I want to get. In my case they were expecting them in a few days ago so hopefully they'll show up shortly.

The sales agent should be able to advise when the stock is due in but from my own experience these dates tend not to be set in stone. If you're talking about waiting weeks then it depends if you're happy to order a similar component to the one you wanted that is in stock.

I'm sure the sales guys will advise you on similar components and I'm sure some of the guys on here will give you some alternatives if you wanted them.