New specc, worth the money / compatible?

Comments

• Ridelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383

  April 2011

  Solid build. I am not familiar with UK pricing but just going off the numbers I didn't see anything that stood out as outrageous.

  Keep in mind you'll need to tell the motherboard to actually run the RAM at 1600 speed, it probably won't pick it up by default.

  Also, that motherboard is micro-ATX. There isn't anything wrong with that, but it will be very small inside that very big case.

  Your power supply is well matched for the hardware your getting. Just a word of warning if you decide to upgrade to SLI, or a more powerful video card later on, that you need to re-look at your power supply size as well. It's perfectly sized for what you are getting now though, and has enough room to overclock a decent bit, but I wouldn't try to run a 580 GTX or twin 560's off of it, for example.

  Good luck with it!
• Quizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,353

  April 2011

  You're paying extra for the unlocked multiplier of the Core i5 2500K (as opposed to the Core i5 2500) so that it can be greatly overclocked, and then getting a motherboard that can't take much of an overclock.

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  The memory is rated at 1.65 V, so if you set it at the DDR3 stock voltage of 1.5 V, it likely can't attain the rated clock speed of 1600 MHz.  That's also expensive for 4 GB.  Try this instead:

  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-057-GS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

  That's rated as 1600 MHz at 1.5 V.  It's cheaper, too.

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  If you prefer Nvidia to AMD, or are willing to pay a price premium for a better cooler, then go ahead and get that card.  But otherwise, you can get better performance with a lower price tag, lower power consumption, and a better feature set from this instead:

  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-028-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

  It's not a big difference in either performance or price, and the MSI Twin Frozr II does have a better cooler.

  You might want more airflow than an Antec Three Hundred offers if you're getting an internal exhaust GeForce GTX 560 Ti, though.  The Radeon HD 6950 that I linked above also has the advantage of sending much of the card's heat right out the back of the card.  It also puts out less heat to begin with.

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  What hard drive to get depends tremendously on how much capacity you need.  It looks like you're not getting a solid state drive, but rather, trying to run everything off of your hard drive, which is going to be slow.  A Western Digital Caviar Black will be, well, if not fast, then at least somewhat less slow.  Something like this:

  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-354-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940

  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-372-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940

  But again, it depends tremendously on how much capacity you need.  If you've only got 100 GB in use on your computer now, then a 500 GB hard drive will have more space than you need.  If you've got 1 TB in use on your computer now, then maybe you should look at 2 TB hard drives.

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  And now, for the big, important change.  Do not get that power supply.  It's not a bad power supply, really, but it's not very good, either.  CX is Corsair's low end line, with inflated wattage ratings, low temperature tolerances, and the usual shenanigans that less than reputable but not really awful power supply companies do.  Again, it's not a bad power supply; it's not like you're getting a Linkworld, Apevia, Diablotek, or Shaw.

  Get this power supply instead:

  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-007-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1497

  The XFX Core 550 offers much better energy efficiency, likely better voltage regulation (Corsair isn't sending the CX line to be reviewed anywhere), more wattage available (the CX600 isn't a real 600 W power supply), more cables to plug things in, and a lower price tag.

  But grab it fast, as thats a great deal on the XFX Core 550, and with only 1 left in stock, it might soon be gone.