Third Time Lucky.... New PC Thread... Now Ordered!!

Russ77

Russ77

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Russ
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I'd been procrastinating a lot over this, then my new PC budget got swallowed by a house move/new boiler, then with the imminent release of "Haswell" chips I deferred again :lol:

No messing around now.... I'm going to be ordering one of the two systems below, predominantly for photo editing via Lightroom/Elements.

1.
Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H77-M: M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 X 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 210 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD30EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£79)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Cost £953
Click to expand...

Or

2.
Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-PRO: USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, XFIRE, SLi, WiFi
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 X 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 210 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD30EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£79)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE GRID 2 GAME with 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4670K & i7-4770K!
Cost £1003
Click to expand...

I'm thinking for the sake of £50 I'd be better off going for the 4th Gen processor unless anyone can give me any reasons why not?

Cheers

Russ
 
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Yup. No brainer - gen 4 is 5-10% quicker at the same clock, downclocks lower so it will be cheaper whilst idling plus you get a K processor and Z board so you will be able to overclock it a bit too for a little bit extra.
 
arad85 said:
Yup. No brainer - gen 4 is 5-10% quicker at the same clock, downclocks lower so it will be cheaper whilst idling plus you get a K processor and Z board so you will be able to overclock it a bit too for a little bit extra.
Click to expand...

Cheers for that..... just found another snag though :lol:

We'd agreed on a hideaway computer unit for my new gear but the tower compartment is 48cm deep.... the case specs says it's 50.5cm deep!!!

PC Specialist's own branded case is 42cm but it's nowhere near as nice :(
 
If it will stick out from cupboard by 1.5cm then it is like nothing...problem would be if it would be too tall or wide...
 
Why the crappy NVIdia 210? That will barely perform as well as the integrated graphics on your CPU. In fact, the HD4000 inbuilt GPU will outperform it in most 2D tasks.

Is there a reason for this. If not, it's just £30 wasted.
 
Looking at the specs - Pookeyhead is right - the internal Intel graphics will probably be better than the Nvidia. Unless you are going to overclock then the on chip graphics just adds more heat into the system. Also, I'm not sure what the cooler is - but if you want to overclock at all, you might want something a bit better.

Also, whatever you do make sure the hideaway has space for the warm air to get out.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Why the crappy NVIdia 210? That will barely perform as well as the integrated graphics on your CPU. In fact, the HD4000 inbuilt GPU will outperform it in most 2D tasks.

Is there a reason for this. If not, it's just £30 wasted.
Click to expand...

TBH I know very very little about graphics cards and was working on the principle that and card would be better than integrated......

Would the NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 610 be better?
 
Russ77 said:
TBH I know very very little about graphics cards and was working on the principle that and card would be better than integrated......

Would the NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 610 be better?
Click to expand...
A little, but still not as good as internal judging by: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php The internal graphics (HD4600) on Haswell is about equivalent to an Nvidia 630. If you're not going to overclock, you can probably make do with the internal graphics. The mobo looks to have plenty of video connectors. Don't forget that if you do go integrated, it will use some of the internal memory to provide the framebuffers.
 
arad85 said:
A little, but still not as good as internal judging by: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php The internal graphics (HD4600) on Haswell is about equivalent to an Nvidia 630. If you're not going to overclock, you can probably make do with the internal graphics. The mobo looks to have plenty of video connectors. Don't forget that if you do go integrated, it will use some of the internal memory to provide the framebuffers.
Click to expand...

At present I don't really think I have any need to overclock and seeing at the 8gb RAM in my laptop doesn't often get stretched too much I think going the onboard graphics route will suffice.

Then at a later date I can add a video card if I need it and/or I want to overclock.

The way my laptop's behaving at the moment I think anything's going to be an improvement :lol: but I think I've spec'd the machine so future upgrades should be relatively straight forward.
 
Got a spec on the cooler? It's a little generic the way it is described. Where are you getting it from?
 
arad85 said:
Got a spec on the cooler? It's a little generic the way it is described. Where are you getting it from?
Click to expand...

Certainly.... I'll be ordering from PC Specialist, the cooler is made by Titan:

Superior in its performance, this cooler possesses a copper base, aluminum fins, and three heatpipes which accelerate heat conductivity and effectively transmit heat to the fins. A 9 cm super quiet fan will halp draw heat away from your PC. Besides, tool-free clip design enables an easy installation. Best of all, It provides a comprehensive thermal solution for Intel and AMD systems
Click to expand...

The next option on the list is a Corsair H40 CPU Cooler.
 
Yup.. That should be fine :)
 
Also... Haswell was released yesterday. Have you checked prices on the i7 4770? It seems a significant step up from Ivy Bridge (3770).
 
Pookeyhead said:
Also... Haswell was released yesterday. Have you checked prices on the i7 4770? It seems a significant step up from Ivy Bridge (3770).
Click to expand...

Yeah, adds about another £100 to the cost and I'm only just about justifying it as it stands :lol:
 
All ordered :D

Paid extra for a pre-noon Saturday delivery as I'd have had to work from home to wait for the delivery........ it would kill me having it sat there waiting to go and I wouldn't be able to play because I was working :lol:

The desk's being delivered on Friday, just need to get on Amazon and buy the monitor (23" Dell Ultrasharp) now......
 
Monitor wise, if you haven't already, i got a Dell U2412m a few months ago on sale, and its KILLER! See them for sale around all the time, if you fancy the extra inch :)
 
SimonUK said:
Monitor wise, if you haven't already, i got a Dell U2412m a few months ago on sale, and its KILLER! See them for sale around all the time, if you fancy the extra inch :)
Click to expand...

I was originally going to get a 24" but some of the guys at work got the 23 inchers and they look perfectly big enough for me :lol:
 
Russ77 said:
I was originally going to get a 24" but some of the guys at work got the 23 inchers and they look perfectly big enough for me :lol:
Click to expand...

The inch difference isn't that much :)
 
SimonUK said:
The inch difference isn't that much :)
Click to expand...

That's what I always remind the missus ;) :lol:

After submitting the order on Monday evening, apparently it was built yesterday and is awaiting configuration/testing :)
 
For those that maybe bothered/interested my machine is now waiting to be configured so there's an outside chance it might be delivered on Saturday :D

The desk's been confirmed for delivery tomorrow, the monitor is currently being looked after by one of my neighbours..... getting a little excited now :lol:
 
Monitor's here



PC is now in Quality Control.... fingers crossed for Saturday
 
Well I have to say... PC Specialist have been fantastic!

After ordering at about 8pm on Monday night, my new PC arrived this morning :D

A very quick comparison with my laptop..... PC 1m25s to export 10 photos via Mogrify, Laptop 7m to export the same images so dead impressed with the speed of the thing!

Transferred my images and some of my data but one small fly in the ointment.... a portable HDD I was using quite happily on my laptop says it needs formatting when I try and use it on my PC :(

Other than that it's very quite and I'm sure I've got a few days of tinkering ahead ;)

Thanks to everyone who helped me choose the spec..... Internet pints all round :)
 
Glad it all seems to have worked out well... Unusual about the HDD needing formatting though...
 
Sussed that one..... Used a different usb3.0 lead and it's fine....... :-\
 
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