# Advice for new build [UK] - £2000 budget



## IggSter (Nov 19, 2010)

Hi all,


I find myself in the lucky position to be able to spend approx. £2000-£2200 on a new gaming PC and would like some advice with regard to the hardware.

My decisions so far are:

CPU must be Intel
GFX must be Nvidia
Boot drive must be SSD
Storage drives must be sata 6Gb
Must be Air cooled
Must be as quiet as possible

This is my plan so far, please feel free to comment on or question my choices.....


CPU: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz @ 4.20GHz

Motherboard: Asus X58 Sabertooth (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard

RAM: Corsair Dominator (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Triple Channel

Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler w/ x2 Akasa Apache Black 120mm Fans

Artic Cooling MX-3 Thermal Compound
This is a pre-overclocked bundle - Linky

OCZ IBIS 240GB 3.5" HDSL Super-Fast Solid State Hard Drive [OCZ3HSD1IBS1-240G]
Linky

Corsair HX 1000W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-1000HXUK)
Linky

Coolermaster HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942)
Linky

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) (Mirrored)
Linky

Sony Optiarc DRU-870S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)

Here are my questions:

I'm totally undecided about which model of GFX card to get.....1 x 580? 2 x 460? 
I will be using a Dell 30" @ 2650 x 1600 initially, planning to add  2 x (1600 x 900) monitors (portrait) to give me triple screen gaming (is this possible with Nvidia?)
Any advice for cards would be greatly appreciated.....

I'm also undecided about the case.....I've looked at the HAF X and Corsair Obsidian/Graphite cases. While I really like the Corsair ones, I've read they are better suited to water than air.....again any help would be most welcome.

If you have any other comments about my shopping list (OMG 1000W PSU -WTF, Ewww crappy MOBO choice etc) please let me know 

I intend to order within the next 5-7days so Santa has plenty of time to collect all the parts. 


Thanks in advance everyone!



.


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## scaminatrix (Nov 19, 2010)

Are you planning to buy all of these parts from overclockers?
I would suggest not to, as they have a looong track record of ripping people off. Including me.
Scan, ebuyer and Dabs are good choices. Scan and ebuyer have some amazing deals sometimes.

Anyway;  that looks like a beasty SSD!
If you're going to be RAID-ing the HDD's, might I suggest to steer clear of the Western Digital Caviar Blacks, it's apparently not a wise choice to RAID them. I would suggest these. Note that the price is for 2 hard drives. The price isn't for 2 HDD's; they've just got a sale on. You get 2 of them for £75.19 as seen in this page. They perform the same as the WDCB's but are half the price.

Other than that, I think it's a solid build.


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## francis511 (Nov 19, 2010)

Cheaper psu

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...sfire+Compliant+Power+Supply+?productId=38095

But if you have the money the one you picked looks good.

Alternative ssds

OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read.. | Ebuye...

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/64gb...-sata3-6gbps-25-ssd-read-355mb-s-write-70mb-s


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## Fourstaff (Nov 19, 2010)

2xGTX580  
Get the GTX580, and make sure you can SLI it later. 1.5Gb of vram helps a lot in 2560X1600, but you will still need 2 graphics card to run 3 screens.

I think you should target a £1500 build, and keep the further £500 for future upgrades because in my eyes, a PC rapidly loses its value for money after the ~£1000 mark. No chance of getting Thermalright Silver Arrow or NH-D14?


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## IggSter (Nov 19, 2010)

Scaminatrix: - I've bought tons of stuff from OCuk over the years and never had a problem (so far ). I know they are not the cheapest, but I do like to get all from one place to save any hassle.
Good info about the WD blacks - Will the Samsungs really keep up with them - I noticed thay are Sata 3Gbps and the WD are 6Gbps. Yes I was intending to mirror the drives.
I'm really looking forward to trying the OCZ Ibis 

Francis: - The reasons I picked the HX1000 were: 1) Modular cabling 2) I will upgrade the GFX in 6-12mths (Dual 580s maybe...who knows)
The reason for the OCZ Ibis SSD is:
- Max Read: up to 740MB/s
- Max Write: up to 720MB/s
- Sustained Write: up to 600MB/s 

Hard to resist those stats 


Fourstaff: Thanks for the clarification about 3 screens - I suspected that would be the case. Your idea to add a 2nd 580 later sounds like a cunning plan!. It was a £1500 build until I added the SSD and I just have to have that  (dont tell the wife please)
I will add Thermalright Silver Arrow to my list for review for sure and see if OCuk can swap the cooler for a NH-D14 (really impressed by the reviews and just hope I can get as part of the bundle) Edit: seems the NH-D14 is a possibility, unfortunately the silver arrow is not listed.


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## scaminatrix (Nov 19, 2010)

IggSter said:


> Scaminatrix: - I've bought tons of stuff from OCuk over the years and never had a problem (so far ). I know they are not the cheapest, but I do like to get all from one place to save any hassle.
> Good info about the WD blacks - Will the Samsungs really keep up with them - I noticed thay are Sata 3Gbps and the WD are 6Gbps. Yes I was intending to mirror the drives.
> I'm really looking forward to trying the OCZ Ibis





Spoiler



Yea overcockers are great at getting your stuff to you etc., but when it comes to returning stuff, they will try every trick in the book to get out of replacing it. I had a bad experience in about April-June this year with them. Plus, you'll save a ton of money getting certain bits from other sites.


There is absolutely no benefit of getting SATA 3 over SATA 2 when talking HDD's (as far as I know). I think it's the SpinPoint F3's all the way. I made a stupid choice buying 5 WDCB's (all from overcockers, I spent £1000 there in one go), and I regret it now (I should have gone with the F3's).
With your SSD it's a different story; is SATA 3 going to be fast enough? Peak throughput of SATA 3 is reported to be about 600 MB/s.
EDIT: Just noticed the sustained lol


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## IggSter (Nov 19, 2010)

Any views on a good brand of GTX580?

Any views about my case choice...HAF/Corsair etc?


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## IggSter (Nov 19, 2010)

Scaminatrix: - good info about sata 3 vs sata2, I will go do some more research on that. The SSD comes with its own x8 PCIe interface card with 4 x SAS connections (all go to the same SSD) so I believe it provides 2.4GB/s max.

I think I will defo get the bundle from OCuk (as they do all the overclocking before shipping - I know lazy barsteward ) I will probable shop around at scan, ccl, ebuyer etc for the rest.

Thanks man, much appreciated!


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## scaminatrix (Nov 19, 2010)

IggSter said:


> Scaminatrix: - good info about sata 3 vs sata2, I will go do some more research on that. The SSD comes with its own x8 PCIe interface card with 4 x SAS connections (all go to the same SSD) so I believe it provides 2.4GB/s max.



 that's hardcore!

You know you'd save £75 buying the bundle from scan and oc'ing it yourself?
ebuyer might have some better deals on the stuff too.


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## IggSter (Nov 19, 2010)

scaminatrix said:


> that's hardcore!
> 
> You know you'd save £75 buying the bundle from scan and oc'ing it yourself?
> ebuyer might have some better deals on the stuff too.




I wouldn't know where to start to get the 950 to 4.2Gig  (I dont think I've ever OC'ed an Intel CPU before)

The £75 saving does sound good though


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## scaminatrix (Nov 19, 2010)

You could get a ton of help from the pro's here on TPU! with OC'ing; I'd even be tempted to save the £75 and leave the settings at stock, I'd probably just chuck the RAM at 1600MHz

Also, your SSD is £70 cheaper here


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## IggSter (Nov 19, 2010)

scaminatrix said:


> You could get a ton of help from the pro's here on TPU! with OC'ing; I'd even be tempted to save the £75 and leave the settings at stock, I'd probably just chuck the RAM at 1600MHz
> 
> Also, your SSD is £70 cheaper here



With the cash you are saving me I might be able to get the bigger Ibis drive 

Edit: Also updated OP with Samsungs rather than WDs (another £80 saved lol)


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## kurosagi01 (Nov 19, 2010)

If your going buy from one place then i suggest looking at scan or ebuyer.
As for brand to get i would reconmend checking out KFA2 which is Galaxy UK division which means you have a customer service specially for the UK and you have 2 year warranty with them too.
This is what i'd spend i'm not sure what SSD you want:


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## scaminatrix (Nov 19, 2010)

IggSter said:


> With the cash you are saving me I might be able to get the bigger Ibis drive
> 
> Edit: Also updated OP with Samsungs rather than WDs (another £80 saved lol)



lol, na just get 2 of the IBIS's and RAID them  
just kidding lol


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## IggSter (Nov 19, 2010)

kurosagi01: wow , thanks for that.


Every day I come to this site, I am reminded why I come to this site every day!!! (Hmmm does this even make sense  - well I know what I mean)


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## kurosagi01 (Nov 19, 2010)

of course cooler is your choice and brand of GPU but i picked KFA2 because my GTX460 is KFA2 brand and i love the design of the card and i love fact i got support by the company itself in the UK of course the other brand you can check out is Zotac which are good too,MSI always provide brilliant cards and then EVGA is Nvidia biggest GPU provider just how sapphire is too AMD.


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## francis511 (Nov 19, 2010)

IggSter said:


> Francis: - The reasons I picked the HX1000 were: 1) Modular cabling 2) I will upgrade the GFX in 6-12mths (Dual 580s maybe...who knows)
> The reason for the OCZ Ibis SSD is:
> - Max Read: up to 740MB/s
> - Max Write: up to 720MB/s
> ...



Then your choices are better.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 20, 2010)

I will not go into all the indivudual items you have listed and offer alternatives, simply because I am lazy (at least i admit it!), all I will say is, with that budget you are doing yourself real injustice, spending that kind of money I would EXPECT.....

triple channel ram of at least 1866mhz stock
a hex core intel CPU
a GTX 580
2 x SSD 120GB in Raid 0 (perhaps)

All are easily obtainable within budget, if you would like me to specifically  link to components, just say and tomorrow when I am less tired I will gladly do it for you!


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## Tatty_One (Nov 20, 2010)

Sod it, I slept less for you!  here is some suggestions, now this is really top end and comes to about £2,250 from Novatech, you could do it for cheaper but still have a much better (IMO) system than you suggested..............................


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## kurosagi01 (Nov 20, 2010)

Tatty_One said:


> Sod it, I slept less for you!  here is some suggestions, now this is really top end and comes to about £2,250 from Novatech, you could do it for cheaper but still have a much better (IMO) system than you suggested..............................



I see where your going at tatty,well switching the blu-ray drive with a standard one if he isn't going burn or read any blu-ray files then there isn't need for one right?
Also if he only needs SSD for OS and use 1TB to install games and another 1TB for media it seems like good idea to me.
Another build which fully use his £2000 budget,of course he can switch the 700D to a cheaper case and switch the i7 to the extreme edition and switch the blu-ray drive to normal dvd drive to save money.


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## Fourstaff (Nov 20, 2010)

Kuro, I don't think 850w is going to cut it if he is going to get GTX580 SLi in the future as the GTX580 consumes 300w max, leaving little room for cpu oc. And Mailman is not happy about his SSD.

I will get Kuro's first suggestion (with the 950) because that seems to be the sweet spot for high end computers, and you can immediately get the second GTX580 and be happy. No one uses 6 core/12thread anyways, its just to make your peen longer


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## Techtu (Nov 20, 2010)

When spending this amount of money and also wanting to save where and when you can on part's your best bet is to order the part's from different places, I believe Novatech has a great price on the i7 980 but is more expensive on a few other things and so on... if you can bare to wait for your items not being delivered on the same day (or it's possible that they may) then I'd really suggest shopping at different store's, the only down side is it will take a lot longer to shop.


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## pantherx12 (Nov 20, 2010)

Spending over £50 nets you free delivery (up to 5  day) from ebuyer ( or used too)

I think a few other sites have spend over x amount and get free delivery too, so defitnitely mix and match.

Best not to put all eggs in one basket anyways.


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## Fourstaff (Nov 20, 2010)

pantherx12 said:


> Spending over £50 nets you free delivery (up to 5  day) from ebuyer ( or used too)
> 
> I think a few other sites have spend over x amount and get free delivery too, so defitnitely mix and match.
> 
> Best not to put all eggs in one basket anyways.



Ebuyer offers free delivery on items less than 25kg and more than £50. There are a few sites (OCuk, aria, ebuyer, Scan etc) which offer good deals, so definitely shop around.


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 20, 2010)

IggSter said:


> Hi all,
> 
> 
> I find myself in the lucky position to be able to spend approx. £2000-£2200 on a new gaming PC and would like some advice with regard to the hardware.
> ...



Hey man,with such a sweet budget,go for the Asus ROG Rampage III  Extreme MOBO,you wont regret that!!The Sabertooth is by no mean a bad MOBO,but is more value aimed,while the Rampage Extreme III is a real bad boy!If I would be you,I would swap the IBIS for other 2 SSDs from OCZ,probably VERTEX 2 SE,one smaller one up to 100GB),just for windows and other for game instalations to make them run superfast(about 150GB is more then enought)..and yhen I would buy a 500GB - 1TB HDD for storage.


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## kurosagi01 (Nov 20, 2010)

Or you have free scan next day delivery on spending over £20 i would go for scan


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## Techtu (Nov 20, 2010)

kurosagi01 said:


> Or you have free scan next day delivery on spending over £20 i would go for scan



 Since when is this?


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## KieX (Nov 20, 2010)

Well this was based on Kurosagi's, but 1600MHz ram with low cas are much better than 2000MHz ram if you want to keep the OC steady with 200bclk. I'd also opt for RAID 0 with SandForce SSD's and change the case for 600T which has better airflow for a 580 than the 700D. 1Kw PSU for you future upgrades. I realise I missed the optical drive, but it's not going to tip the scale much more.







EDIT: Free delivery? how? even on my screenie it's charging £13


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## InnocentCriminal (Nov 20, 2010)

Wish I had £2k to spend on a rig... stupid GF takin' all my monies. *Shakes fist!* 

If it has to be air cooled I'd definitely say look at the Silverstone FT02R-W - I can't say it's too much tastes but apparently it's f'ing awesome at air cooling. One thing about it though is that it is far better looking than any HAF case.


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## IggSter (Nov 20, 2010)

WOW, so many replies while I was out.......thanks everyone!

Well it seems the general concensus is shop around - and even tho I'm lazy, you have convinced me 

With regard to the 980x cpu - I really did consider that but I'm not sure I could make use of 6 cores (The most demanding game I play atm is ARMA2)

One item I really do want to get is the OCZ IBIS SSD mainly because of its insane transfer rates (2-3 times the perfomance of the fastest SATA SSDs). I know its stupidly expensive but IMHO the biggest bottleneck in any decent PC is reading/writing from storage. (And we all now how much of a PITA re-installing windows/apps/games is).

It will take me a while to read through all the options that have been suggested, but I will post back shortly with an updated shopping list.

Right now my gut feeling is:

i7 950: (I tend to agree this is the sweet spot and is I can get to 4Gig+ I will be very happy)

Noctua cooler 

6 GB DDR RAM: I will need to investigate further, I'm a noob when it comes to RAM - I also believe I have to be careful when it comes to RAM height as it can interfere with cooler installation.

OCZ IBIS 

2 x 1TB Spinpoint F3 mirrored for storage.

Corsair 1000w PSU (to support GTX580 SLI in future)

GTX580 (Does anyone know of after market coolers that are available?)

Case....hmmmm, still not 100% sure 

MOBO....again I'm really not sure, I would rather spend more on this as it really is the backbone of the PC and is probably the hardest thing to upgrade)


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## IggSter (Nov 20, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Wish I had £2k to spend on a rig... stupid GF takin' all my monies. *Shakes fist!*
> 
> If it has to be air cooled I'd definitely say look at the Silverstone FT02R-W - I can't say it's too much tastes but apparently it's f'ing awesome at air cooling. One thing about it though is that it is far better looking than any HAF case.



Thanks for the link - I really like the look of that case, and I totally agree the HAF cases are not the best looking - thats why I was considering the Corsair range. I will defo look at some more reviews for the Silverstone.


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## KieX (Nov 20, 2010)

IggSter said:


> Thanks for the link - I really like the look of that case, and I totally agree the HAF cases are not the best looking - thats why I was considering the Corsair range. I will defo look at some more reviews for the Silverstone.



I'm using two FT02's and I can definitely say they're incredible. I have a very hot room with my crunching/folding computers, and the temps with FT02's are much better than the HAF's I used before. They look stunning too, if you have one, it'll probably be for a long time. Found if you remove the top grill you can drop temps 10C further (well in my room at least). Highly recommended!

From what you've said, that you prefer IBIS SSD and quad i7, I think it should make the FT02 stay withing budget.


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## IggSter (Nov 20, 2010)

OK, this is where I've got to now, for the main components at least. Price £2,073.90



Thanks for all the comments and advice so far....please keep them comming


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## KieX (Nov 20, 2010)

IggSter said:


> OK, this is where I've got to now, for the main components at least. Price £2,073.90
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and advice so far....please keep them comming



Looks good man. The FT02 also has the 180mm Penentrator fans from the looks of it which is great. (I had to upgrade mine for extra monies :shadedshu)

I think you're pretty much sorted with that


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 20, 2010)

IggSter said:


> OK, this is where I've got to now, for the main components at least. Price £2,073.90
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and advice so far....please keep them comming



So you've taken my advice on the MOBO,Im jealous allready 

I dare to say however,that you can find a better case than the Silverstone model and still save about £60 on it..what about this one?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-203-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=


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## InnocentCriminal (Nov 20, 2010)

Rado D said:


> So you've taken my advice on the MOBO,Im jealous allready
> 
> I dare to say however,that you can find a better case than the Silverstone model and still save about £60 on it..what about this one?
> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-203-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=



Personally I don't believe the HAF X to be better at air-cooling than the FT02 tbh, aesthetically... well, that's a different thing.


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 20, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Personally I don't believe the HAF X to be better at air-cooling than the FT02 tbh, aesthetically... well, that's a different thing.





Well,I cant judge the air cooling performance on the Silverstone,since I never had that particular model our fella picked,in fact I never had any Silverstone.What I can tell you is that I have the older HAF 932 and it does have very good cooling performance.I dont think that the Silverstones price difference is worth it in battle against the HAF X,especially if you consider much more room in HAF X


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## InnocentCriminal (Nov 20, 2010)

Rado D said:


> Well,I cant judge the air cooling performance on the Silverstone,since I never had that particular model our fella picked,in fact I never had any Silverstone.What I can tell you is that I have the older HAF 932 and it does have very good cooling performance.I dont think that the Silverstones price difference is worth it in battle against the HAF X,especially if you consider much more room in HAF X



You do make a very valid point in regards to the price difference. The additional money saved could go towards components of greater worth.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 20, 2010)

KieX said:


> but 1600MHz ram with low cas are much better than 2000MHz ram if you want to keep the OC steady with 200bclk. I'd also opt for RAID 0 with SandForce SSD's and change the case for 600T which has better airflow for a 580 than the 700D. 1Kw PSU for you future upgrades. I realise I missed the optical drive, but it's not going to tip the scale much more.
> 
> EDIT: Free delivery? how? even on my screenie it's charging £13



Not true in my expereince, the i7 architecture just loves bandwidth, far more so than latency, there are 101 sources out there to support that so i won't bore you with them, as to helping stability with the overclock.... you may be right in some circumstances, however I run at 4.2gig with fairly obscene memory speeds without issue....... however, to be fair to you, I think much of what you have said is appicable but perhaps more motherboard dependant rather than chip dependant if you get my meaning. I have owned 5 different x58 boards and some of them do support what you are saying, however without changing the chip, it can be amazing how much more you can get between one good board and another.


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 20, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> The additional money saved could go towards components of greater worth.



Maan,I wish I also had £2000 budget for a new baby 

Shame that a world of computers can be an bottomless pot where you just throw your money and you never get 100% satisfied,cos the very next day you've spent a fortune on you new baby,there is something more powerful that makes your eyes sparkle 

For instance,when I've finished my last rig,I've stopped on about £1300.It was June 09..since then,my MOBO cost £169 instead of £230,my case..well its actually holding its price....but since then Its my 3rd case on the same build,3rd VGA,3rd CPU cooler,2nd LCD,any few more extras...where am I getting..I dont know 

No for serious,the worst thing is that for the money you've spent on your last rig a while ago,now you can get much much more...never ending circle


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## Nokiacrazi (Nov 21, 2010)

Wheres the best place in the UK to buy computer parts from?

I have seen e-buyer and scan, but honestly, scan isn't that cheap and e-buyer only has a few things cheap, like cases, fans, processors...


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## Over_Lord (Nov 21, 2010)

Seriously, don't buy now, wait for Sandy Bridge, else the moment you buy this 2000 thingy, it'll be worth 1000 after Sandy's release


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## pantherx12 (Nov 21, 2010)

Nokiacrazi said:


> Wheres the best place in the UK to buy computer parts from?
> 
> I have seen e-buyer and scan, but honestly, scan isn't that cheap and e-buyer only has a few things cheap, like cases, fans, processors...




Aria.co.uk Kustompcs specialtech.co.uk ebuyer scan ebay and chilledpc.co.uk

It's best to shop around using all of these sites getting the various sales and offers available to each site.


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 21, 2010)

Nokiacrazi said:


> Wheres the best place in the UK to buy computer parts from?
> 
> I have seen e-buyer and scan, but honestly, scan isn't that cheap and e-buyer only has a few things cheap, like cases, fans, processors...



overclockers.co.uk has some great deals...but I had some terrible customer services experience with them....for me the best of the best for customer services is novatech.co.uk,while they cant keep up with prices o most items,if the price difference isnt too high I'll still go for them..but they have items cheaper then others..you know,its best to compare,research and after all,if you are working on a build,you dont need to buy everything from one place.


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## pantherx12 (Nov 21, 2010)

Kustom pc have good service, I've cancelled things willy nilly no problem, had to call them once and got no answer but got a call back in 15 minutes, maybe they just had nothing better to do but I like to think they have good care lol


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## InnocentCriminal (Nov 21, 2010)

Rado D said:


> overclockers.co.uk has some great deals...but I had some terrible customer services experience with them....for me the best of the best for customer services is novatech.co.uk,while they cant keep up with prices o most items,if the price difference isnt too high I'll still go for them..but they have items cheaper then others..you know,its best to compare,research and after all,if you are working on a build,you dont need to buy everything from one place.



Exactly the same situation here. OcUK can suck my nuts - Novatech, I'd rather pay that little bit more (on certain products) and get good customer service than pay through the nose and get _nothing._

I must admit, OcUK do (how I don't know) manage to get some interesting deals, but saying that so do Aria and Aria's customer service has been pretty good, can't say I've ever had any negative experience with them tbh.


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 21, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Exactly the same situation here. OcUK can suck my nuts - Novatech, I'd rather pay that little bit more (on certain products) and get good customer service than pay through the nose and get _nothing._
> 
> I must admit, OcUK do (how I don't know) manage to get some interesting deals, but saying that so do Aria and Aria's customer service has been pretty good, can't say I've ever had any negative experience with them tbh.



LOL here's my old post quote about customer services at overclockers 

I dont know why its with me,but (I wont name the retailer) despite a lot of good feedback from other customers,every time I order something expensive from them,it comes with problems..so I just stick to my GTX 470 for now..But read this story,when I ordered my little baby GTX 470...Well I wanted to order a HD 5850 really in that time,cos here in UK it would cost about £250,while a cheapest GTX 470 around £350,,So I've picked a nice Asus HD 5850 and upon placing the order on the retailers website,the stock indicated 10+..so I paid and paid extra for next day,before 12am delivery...Imagine my excitement..I jumped out of bed about 8 am next morning,cos I couldnt sleep I was so waiting for my new baby..prepared everything,you know drivers utilities and so on
And I was waiting and waiting and waiting..9am..11am..noon..about 1pm I was allready pissed off my girlfriend was pissed off that Im not going out and wasted my morning..so with furry I've picked up the phone and was ready to kill trough it..You know how long it takes until you get to talk to someone on the helpline.that just elevated my anger.so when I've finally moved in the queue and was connected with the operator after giving him my order info,guess what he told me....Yeah,bingo,item out of stock!!...son of a ....!!I told myself thats enough!!After I asked him kindly(LOL) that why the hell nobody sent me even one bloody email that this is to happen which would save me from a lot of anger and wasted time and lot of other things..I was asked to pick a different card,but they wont be able to refund the cost of the delivery...what???am I hearing right while I've just wasted another fiver on my mobile phone credit???Dude you got the guts Im telling you...I've ordered something you had in stock,but you actually had not,paid extra £15 for quick delivery.wasted half of my day and nerves and you are telling me that you cant refund the delivery cost for something I even did not get????son of a ....!!!Now listen to me carefully dude,you will sort out for me a full refund otherwise I'll kill you over the phone you hear me???...no I did not really say that but in the end I managed to get the full refund...Now will you call me a fussy customer after such a shitty experience??


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 21, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> I must admit, OcUK do (how I don't know)



They must obviously take large stock on each item,thats how they manage the lower prices


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## InnocentCriminal (Nov 21, 2010)

Rado D said:


> They must obviously take large stock on each item,thats how they manage the lower prices



Yeah, it'd make sense as that's really one of the only ways you can do it. I hate 'em! Your experience with OcUK is very similar to mine, but I won't derail the thread, I think the OP gets the idea with OcUK. 



I was thinkin' OP - you might as well just purchase a PCIe SSD for your current rig enjoy the benefits of the blistering speed and then watch as the GFX prices lower when the new ATi card(s) are released and Sandy Bridge (LGA1155). 

Stating that, if you do hold out until next year VAT is increasing by 2.5% bringing it up to 20% which is bollocks! It's going to be a really difficult deciding, unless you already have.


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## Radi_SVK (Nov 21, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> a PCIe SSD f



Yeah I've seen then too,is it still OCZ the only brand doing them?I like the idea that you stick it right to the MOBO and it meant to be really fast,a lot faster than a classic SSD..there may be one problem however,you know that by current way of the MOBO layout(any brand) the PCI slot is wether covered by the VGA card or it too damn close which could cause heat problems on the PCI SSD card.


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## InnocentCriminal (Nov 21, 2010)

Rado D said:


> Yeah I've seen then too,is it still OCZ the only brand doing them?



There are others but they're usually aimed at enterprise/server/workstations more than they are the gaming enthusiast. 



Rado D said:


> I like the idea that you stick it right to the MOBO and it meant to be really fast,a lot faster than a classic SSD..there may be one problem however,you know that by current way of the MOBO layout(any brand) the PCI slot is wether covered by the VGA card or it too damn close which could cause heat problems on the PCI SSD card.



Yeah, choosing the right board or GPU will really make a difference, generally they all use pretty similar layouts but even though these current PCIe SSDs are only 4 or 8x - they'll still fit in a full size slot. Forward thinking is key here.

Personally, if I was in Igg's position I'd most likely get a new GPU first and then the PCIe SSD as they'll most likely get smaller when more companies start releasing theirs.


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## HUSKIE (Nov 21, 2010)

*here you can consider these companies*

UK:

Aquacooledpc.co.uk
Unknown location / not listed on site, fair range of components from all major brands.

Candccentral.co.uk
Located in Worcs, again most of their range is made up of well known brands but they also carry plenty of Phobya products.

Chilledpc.co.uk
Located in bridgend, offering many well known brands and some self branded items along with modding services such as case powder coating, also known to have produced custom blocks. Good range of bitspower fittings.

Overclockers.co.uk
Located in Stoke, OCUK carry regular PC components and have a separate, limited water cooling section carry a decent selection of parts from Dtek, XSPC and others.

Specialtech.co.uk
Located in Wales, they offer conventional PC components along with a wide selection of major brand watercooling parts and in particular a large range of AC Ryan modding products.

Scan.co.uk
Located in Bolton, this is another large e/retailer with a large stock of PC components and a smaller water cooling section with many popular brands, much of the Feser range can be found here.

Thecoolingshop.com 
Located in Lincoln with their own selection of pre built ready to go cases and broad selection of most of the bigger manufacturers especially Koolance.

Thewatercoolingshop.co.uk
Located in Redditch, good selection of parts from all well known brands.

Watercoolinguk.co.uk
Located in Manchester, offering most prominent manufacturers products along with their own pre-modded WC cases. Good range of Thermochill options.

Watercooledpcs.co.uk
Located in Brigton, broad range of parts and offering case modding services along with a large compliment of Zalman's line.

Watercoolingshop.co.uk
Based in Durham, supplies almost exclusively XSPC products.


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## Fourstaff (Nov 21, 2010)

Or you can use this:

 UK component sites


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## IggSter (Nov 27, 2010)

Hi everyone,

Firstly, I would just like to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions for this build - Thanks all, much appreciated!

Secondly I thought I would update you with my progress....

As of 5 minutes ago I ordered the parts from Scan (I managed to get them to price match most stuff if cheaper on other sites). Thumbnail attached of ordered parts.

There are a couple changes from original spec and I changed a couple of the bundle parts:

The Fortress case I wanted (with the uprated air penertrator fans) is out of stock everywhere and not due til Jan 17th, so I opted for the Raven instead - basically the same case but steel rather than Aluminium and no sound dampening on side.

I changed the CPU cooler to the Noctua D14 as it seems to be a great choice for cooling and silence.

I changed the RAM to Dominator - just to give a bit more headroom for OCing and also it matches the mobo colours a bit better.

The OCZ Ibis SSD is out of stock but due in a few days so should not hold up shipping too much.

And now the plan:

I intend to build and test before xmas, but once done it will go under the tree untill xmas day...boooo 

However on or around xmas I intend to post some benches of the SSD performance in Win 7 64bit pro.

I also intend to post some screens etc of the Iphone app that connects to the mobo over bluetooth to allow access to BIOS for OCing, monitoring temps, voltages etc.
There is also a Windows app that does the same that connects over a dedicated USB port on the mobo.

Best regards all

Iggy.


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## Fourstaff (Nov 27, 2010)

Nice! enjoy your new rig


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## InnocentCriminal (Nov 27, 2010)

I'm jealous!


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## Millennium (Nov 27, 2010)

So close to sandy bridge too! I hope it works out for you, that SSD looks great 

Need to find a good job lol


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## IggSter (Nov 27, 2010)

Millennium said:


> So close to sandy bridge too! I hope it works out for you, that SSD looks great
> 
> Need to find a good job lol



I considered sandy vag err bridge but the PC i've ordered should be good for 2-3yrs if I throw another GPU at it at some point.

Good luck with the Job - always remember quality of life > job, no point earning lots of cash if you have zero time to engoy it!


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