New Gaming/VM PC - UK

[Djinni]

Hi all, I've been wandering these forums looking up overclocking/overvolting etc... and it dawned on me to actually post here and say Hi, Thank You!

Also please forgive me in advance for the wall of text

First off, by posting this here I am hoping to get a non-World of Warcraft view to gaming/general computer usage.

Plan/TimeFrame: Start of September I will be going back to Uni, and will need to sort myself out a new PC for use, I plan to build this in August to give me a chance to make sure that everything works properly before taking it to Uni (This and I decided it would make far more sense to build it at home rather than send 20 boxes to my Uni address and expect none of them to get damaged.)

The reason I am looking for opinions/advise now is because I have been advised that some of the items listed in the proposed spec will take up to 3 weeks to arrive and I intend to go down and collect everything from store in one go.

Budget: roughly £1200 ex VAT
Location: England/UK
Site of prefference: http://www.novatech.co.uk


Things I already have:
External USB Creative SoundBlaster Live 24-bit soundcard,
Microsoft Media Centre remote control,
Samsung 2233RZ 120hz 22" 3D screen + glasses, (I'm not opposed to selling this so I can get 2 screens the same.)
Samsung 226BW 60Hz 22" screen,
(Rather battered) Logitech USB Headset (Current comparable is: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...81-000262.html ) - This needs replacing but as I'm already over budget may have to wait a few months (That or annoy the girlfriend enough to get her to buy me a headset ).


What the machine will be doing:
I will need to be running up to 5 simultainious Virtual Machines (typically 2 or 3) running graphically based networking simulations, a little bit of graphical design in Adobe and playing WoW with FRAPS and pretty much everything maxxed out pretty much whenever I'm not at Uni, browsing the web, listening to music watching movies all that jazz.
Expected average usage while gaming:
- Web Browser / Ventrilo + Messenger programs on screen 1, game on screen 2 (center), Movie on screen 3
Expected work usage:
- VM Workstation x2 on Screen 1, Web browser on screen 2, VM Workstation on screen 3
^- Assuming Screen 1 = Left, Screen 2 = Centre, Screen 3 = Right.


Gaming includes:
World of Warcraft, StarCraft2, StarCraft:BroodWar, Crysis2, Crysis, Crysis: Warhead, StarWars:The Old Republic, StarWars:Knights of the Old Republic, BioShock, BioShock2, Halo, Halo2, Stargate:Resistance, WarCraft 3: The Frozen Throne.


I intend to expand my current 2 screen setup to a 3 screen one preferably in a way that would allow me the option to game across all 3 (not a requirement since it would only be for showing off, unless I find I really like it.) To this end I have opted to go for a single ATI card rather than a NVIDA card. (If you can do a dual or single NVIDIA card setup that would allow me to continue using my NVIDIA 3D bundle AND use 3 screens independently please advise)


What I'm looking for from you:
Information!:
Will there be any significant advancements that would change the specs of the machine I buy between now and september?
What suggestions for upgrades do you have, and can you build it cheaper.
Additional opinions on other hardware:
I need to try and reduce the build cost somehow, by substituting various components for cheaper ones with close to the same performance. (As you can see I'm over budget)



Screen:
LG E2350VR-SN 23" Full HD LED Monitor
LG-E2350VR
£112.49

Case:
Thermaltake Chaser MK-I Tower Case - Black (No PSU)
TT-CHASER1
£116.65

PSU:
Corsair HX 850W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply
CSR-HX850
£104.16

CPU:
Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Sandy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 - Retail.
IL-I72600K
£195.82

Motherboard:
Asus P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) Motherboard
ASU-Z68VP
£133.32

CPU Cooler:
Thermaltake Frio CPU Cooler
TT-FRIO
£33.18

RAM:
G.Skill Ripjaws-X 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
GSK-RJ8GC9
£55.83

Graphics:
XFX ATI Radeon 6970 2048MB GDDR5 PCIe
XFX-6970
£220.82

Storage: 4x - in RAID0
Samsung Spin Point F3 SATAII 1TB 32MB Cache Hard Drive <8.9ms 7200rpm - OEM
SAM-F31TB
£34.15 £102.45

Optical Drive:
LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD+/-RW SATA Black - OEM
LIT-IHAS12
£14.16

Keyboard:
Saitek Cyborg V7 Gaming Keyboard
SAI-V7CYBG
£47.47

Mouse:
Saitek Cyborg Rat7 Gaming Mouse
SAI-RAT7
£63.82

Mouse Mat:
Saitek Cyborg Glide 7 Gaming Surface
SAI-GLIDE7
£12.49

Case Fan(s):
Arctic Cooling F High Performance Case Fan - 120mm
ARC-F12
£3.33

2x Cooler Master Mega-Flow Blue LED Silent Fan - 200mm
CM-MF200B
£8.33

Active Display Port adapter:
Startech Mini DisplayPort to DVI-D (single link) Active Adapter
STA-MDPDVI
£20.83

Speakers:
Creative Inspire T3130 2.1 Speaker System
CRE-T3130
£31.64




Total Basket Ex VAT: £1288.43 ex vat
VAT @ 20%: £257.69
Total Basket Value: £1546.12 inc vat


Q. Why am I using Novatech?
A. Becuase they have all the bonuses of being an online store as well as having outlets and repair centres I can physically take things back to if they don't work properly.
A2. They offer free lifetime technical support.
A3. Dad has a business account with them so everything I do gets fast tracked! As well as me likely not having to pay the VAT up-front. Since I do do alot of work for him on my machines. (Main reason for me not going elsewhere)
A4. In the extreamly unlikely event that any components don't work properly, they actually have "stores" I can walk into and get same day replacements/repairs.

Q. Why RAID0
A. It gives me the space and speed I need/want without having to micro-manage my file system. All important data will be backed up to external hard-drives/remote servers.

P.S I also tend to play WoW in fullscreen windowed mode! So that I can continue to browse the web etc... while waiting for in-game events to occur.(loading screens, people being afk etc..)

 

[Theocnoob]

Good build. Raid 0 across four drives is very russian roulette. Even if you back it up... how long do you expect that array to last? I wouldn't do it. I'd instead buy a 3TB HDD, which gives you more usable space anyways, and a lame 20-40GB SSD to cache that drive on. It won't be as fast as a 4 way Raid but it'll be more reliable and give you more space for not much more $.

 

[Djinni]

Good build. Raid 0 across four drives is very russian roulette. Even if you back it up... how long do you expect that array to last? I wouldn't do it. I'd instead buy a 3TB HDD, which gives you more usable space anyways, and a lame 20-40GB SSD to cache that drive on. It won't be as fast as a 4 way Raid but it'll be more reliable and give you more space for not much more $.

Banking on the system lasting 3+ years. It's not a big deal to be honest if one drive fails, i'll just ditch the drive and rebuild with a 3 drive array etc...

I'm rather on the fence with SSD's ... i've yet to see any that are worth the money.

 

[Knufire]

They are very worth the money. Buy a used cheap one and use it as cache to speed up a HDD with Z68's IRST feature if you don't want to splurge on the latest generation.

If you want 3D AND multi-screen, the only way would be to go with SLIed NVIDIA cards. As of now, you can't afford that. Either get AMD now and give up 3D period, or get one 570 now and another when you can afford it, so you get both.

 

[Djinni]

They are very worth the money. Buy a used cheap one and use it as cache to speed up a HDD with Z68's IRST feature if you don't want to splurge on the latest generation.

If you want 3D AND multi-screen, the only way would be to go with SLIed NVIDIA cards. As of now, you can't afford that. Either get AMD now and give up 3D period, or get one 570 now and another when you can afford it, so you get both.

I gave up on the idea of the 3D NVIDIA surround when I noticed it'd cost me £250 x2 for the additional screens and another £270 x2 for the graphics cards. and opps there goes my entire budget

so it's relegated to 2D surround vision which to be honest is fine by me, I never actually used 3D for anything more than the first week I had it, then only after that to show off to friends.

As for the HDD + SSD it's an option i'd considered... although i've never even considered buying a second hand "used" one... (for any PC component) I like these things new.... so that when they do die, I know I can get a replacement on warranty.

(PS... seems the SSD's on ebay even worth considering are cheaper to buy new from Novatech than used on Ebay )

 

[Knufire]

With the SLIed, you can go surround 2D and single screen 3D. But yes, the graphic cards tend to eat your wallet for dinner. IMO I can't deal with 3D, gives me a headache, AMD is perfect for triple-screen.

I have an SSD, and I can tell you, the computer feels brand new every day. Windows responds instantly, and I only have Win7+Office on mine.

 

[Djinni]

With the SLIed, you can go surround 2D and single screen 3D. But yes, the graphic cards tend to eat your wallet for dinner. IMO I can't deal with 3D, gives me a headache, AMD is perfect for triple-screen.

I have an SSD, and I can tell you, the computer feels brand new every day. Windows responds instantly, and I only have Win7+Office on mine.

I suppose I could drop 2 harddrives and get an SSD instead.... but they're just so lacking in space...

it would likely be:

Corsair Nova Series 2 60GB SSD
CSR-V60GB2
£66.65

I also found this little gem:

Corsair Force Series 3 240GB SSD
CSR-F240B3
£149.99 exVAT
£179.99 inc vat

Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD
CSR-F120B3
£149.99 exVAT
£179.99 inc vat

 

[Theocnoob]

Corsair SSDs are not gems. There was a recall on the series 3 recently.

 

[Knufire]

I'd stick to Intel or OCZ drives. Don't know if Intel makes the 510 series in 60GB though.

 

[Djinni]

I'd stick to Intel or OCZ drives. Don't know if Intel makes the 510 series in 60GB though.

The Intel ones are all rather expensive... so which is why I went for a 4 drive RAID0.

And the only OCZ one I can really afford is:

OCZ Vertex Series 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive
£45

and with that only offering:
Read Speed Up to 210MB/sec
Write Speed Up to 75MB/sec

I'd rather stick with the RAID0 setup.

And the smallest 510 is 120gb.

But it also uses the Marvell controller which I've heard is not so good....

 

[Theocnoob]

But it also uses the Marvell controller which I've heard is not so good....

My 510 is exactly the same speed as when I got it like 5 months ago and I've written over the whole thing at least 100 times.

 

[Knufire]

It's not as fast, but more reliable.

Drop a hard drive and get this? http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/harddrives-ssd/ocz/agt3-25sat3-60g.html

 

[Djinni]

My 510 is exactly the same speed as when I got it like 5 months ago and I've written over the whole thing at least 100 times.

It's not as fast, but more reliable.

Drop a hard drive and get this? http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/harddrives-ssd/ocz/agt3-25sat3-60g.html

I dunno... I just can't justify to myself that spending £80 on an SSD is worth the money.

Doing as suggested though dropping down to 2 HDD's and picking up the suggested 1 SSD brings me to £1307 I just look at it every time and see 60GB : £80......It's not like I've ever had a problem with any of my systems being slow.... sure file transfers have always been a bit slow for my liking but this won't actually help with that.

In other news I have received an offer of £200 for my Samsung 2233RZ 120Hz screen and NVIDIA 3D glasses... assuming I take that offer what screens (2 or 3, 3 preferable so they can all be the same) might anyone suggest I get to replace it?
(Budget for screens would be £200 + the £108 I'm currently already planning to spend on a screen.)