Advice on finishing touches

[Darieu]

Hey guys.
I finished building my new system the other day, doing research on various parts that people have recommended and given feedback on, as well as serious reviews on websites.

The last part to arrive was the CPU Cooler, which arrived on Saturday.
This is my build. (I haven't touched the PC in around 4+ years. So I thought it was about time.)
http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/tLL4

The one big thing I need help with is a Monitor ... and possibly a decent Speaker System (preferably 5.1).
What's keeping me hesitant is the battle between 1080p & 120hz vs 1440p & 60hz. (The speakers were something I could pick up at a later date so I wasn't fussed worrying about them at the time.)
Do you still use Speakers, or do you just chuck on your headset like me and are not fussed with Speakers?

If you've got any information on upcoming info about a 120hz, 1440p Monitors with low ms I will be very grateful. (Also any websites that do monitor testing would be appreciated as I have noticed some monitors say 5ms or 2ms and don't actually run that low when tested properly.)

Anyone who can offer some ideas for finishing touches such as Corsair's External Hardware that monitors temperatures etc, or anything that you don't need to actually run the computer but hardware you guys own or have owned that will bring me those slight additional bonuses, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Praxeology]

Hey guys.
I finished building my new system the other day, doing research on various parts that people have recommended and given feedback on, as well as serious reviews on websites.

The last part to arrive was the CPU Cooler, which arrived on Saturday.
This is my build. (I haven't touched the PC in around 4+ years. So I thought it was about time.)
http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/tLL4

The one big thing I need help with is a Monitor ... and possibly a decent Speaker System (preferably 5.1).
What's keeping me hesitant is the battle between 1080p & 120hz vs 1440p & 60hz. (The speakers were something I could pick up at a later date so I wasn't fussed worrying about them at the time.)
Do you still use Speakers, or do you just chuck on your headset like me and are not fussed with Speakers?

If you've got any information on upcoming info about a 120hz, 1440p Monitors with low ms I will be very grateful. (Also any websites that do monitor testing would be appreciated as I have noticed some monitors say 5ms or 2ms and don't actually run that low when tested properly.)

Anyone who can offer some ideas for finishing touches such as Corsair's External Hardware that monitors temperatures etc, or anything that you don't need to actually run the computer but hardware you guys own or have owned that will bring me those slight additional bonuses, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Monitors are pretty personal touches, not much to really say about it. You have the build for 3D 120Hz if that interests you and you also have the build for 1440p. Between spending a lot of money on a shitty 3d monitor, or spending a lot of money on a 1440p, I would buy the 1440p if that is any help. As far as the ms on monitors go, that is pretty much a useless spec. Anything that is within 5-10ms is perfectly fine. You can't see a difference between 5 milliseconds, or 10 milliseconds. Just a marketing gimmick. As far as temperature monitors go there aren't any really good ones I can recommend. Some well rated items on newegg would be Controller 1 and Controller 2

 

[g-unit1111]

Monitors are pretty personal touches, not much to really say about it. You have the build for 3D 120Hz if that interests you and you also have the build for 1440p. Between spending a lot of money on a shitty 3d monitor, or spending a lot of money on a 1440p, I would buy the 1440p if that is any help. As far as the ms on monitors go, that is pretty much a useless spec. Anything that is within 5-10ms is perfectly fine. You can't see a difference between 5 milliseconds, or 10 milliseconds. Just a marketing gimmick. As far as temperature monitors go there aren't any really good ones I can recommend. Some well rated items on newegg would be Controller 1 and Controller 2

OP is in the UK so links to Newegg won't work. You'll have to use a UK based site like Scan or Novatech.

If you're purchasing a 690 - one it doesn't really make a lot of sense since dual 670s will give you the exact same performance for $300 less. Cooler Master power supplies aren't that great and for an £2500+ rig I'd suggest a different brand like the Corsair AX1200i. Also I wouldn't pay £500 for a secondary SSD - that seems quite a bit excessive. You could drop that to a 2TB mechanical drive and save money there - use that to get the PSU I mentioned.

 

[Praxeology]

OP is in the UK so links to Newegg won't work. You'll have to use a UK based site like Scan or Novatech.

If you're purchasing a 690 - one it doesn't really make a lot of sense since dual 670s will give you the exact same performance for $300 less. Cooler Master power supplies aren't that great and for an £2500+ rig I'd suggest a different brand like the Corsair AX1200i. Also I wouldn't pay £500 for a secondary SSD - that seems quite a bit excessive. You could drop that to a 2TB mechanical drive and save money there - use that to get the PSU I mentioned.

"I finished building my new system the other day, doing research on various parts that people have recommended and given feedback on, as well as serious reviews on websites.

The last part to arrive was the CPU Cooler, which arrived on Saturday."

Though I completely agree with you. I am not sure who advised him but it was no one on these forums and what's done is done.

 

[g-unit1111]

"I finished building my new system the other day, doing research on various parts that people have recommended and given feedback on, as well as serious reviews on websites.

The last part to arrive was the CPU Cooler, which arrived on Saturday."

Though I completely agree with you. I am not sure who advised him but it was no one on these forums and what's done is done.

Oh I didn't see that. I would definitely not have advised that secondary SSD purchase, that's for sure. But otherwise that's a pretty good system.

 

[Praxeology]

Oh I didn't see that. I would definitely not have advised that secondary SSD purchase, that's for sure. But otherwise that's a pretty good system.

LoL dat recover :lol:

 

[g-unit1111]

LoL dat recover :lol:

True. :lol:

 

[Darieu]

Thanks for your input. I have been building this system over the last few months, at varying prices. So I haven't quite reached 2.5k, But I probably will after I grab the monitor.
Regarding the website (Newegg) - I can view the links and get the information on the part. I just, presumably, cannot order from Newegg.

Just to add, Dual 670's take up two spaces. I don't wish to SLI or Crossfire right now. This GPU will keep me going for many years, just like my 4800 model ATI (Now AMD, as you well know) did.
I've heard bad things about PSU's years ago, but now (in 2012) they are very generic, and with the '80Plus Gold' tag you can't go wrong. You're labelling a brand, as opposed to a specific product though. I, for one, dislike Samsung but I won't fault their Galaxy S2 & 3 (phone), along with some Monitors and T.V's and now their latest SSD's, as the reviews and tests show promising results. Some of their products are terrible, to say the least. So regarding the PSU, I have gone on reviews (possibly outside of tomshardware) and it has had decent feedback. I would have preffered a SeaSonic or Corsair as I know they produce brilliant products. The first part I bought 2 - 3 months ago was the tower, to have a look at it to see what I was working with. It is fantastic, so on that note I thought I'd give the company another shot at stealing my money.
I was told on these forums that 1200w is overkill. I very much doubt I'll reach 850, let alone 1200.

Lastly, on the system running games right now I have a SSD running W7 64-bit and a 2TB HDD. It's slow, very slow (probably because Steam as a program is pretty poor). I bought the second SSD (512GB) to hold Steam games. The 256GB will be for Windows OS and games outside of Steam, oh and programs that I will rotate to negate space probllems. That was the only method to my madness there.

However, back to Praxeology's first post about Monitors; you've just confirmed what I've thought. So I really appreciate you taking the time to post. I felt like the jump (it's something like 78% more pixels from 720 - 1440) was too big for me to ignore and shrug off for the fancy '2ms'. Especially as I have the 690 ... I don't want it to have an easy life.

Thanks for your links on the Temp monitors. They've popped up a few times in posts I've read so I will try and read up some more on them as to what I need to do myself.
Lastly, is there something majorly wrong with buying and using a second SSD? (I don't need that much space as a lot of long-term files are kept on an external drive.) Just wanted the overall improvements from HDD to SSD.

Thank you both for the advice.

 

[jmsellars1]

There's nothing wrong with using a SSD as mass storage, you just won't see a massive benefit usually.

EDIT You're right with Coolermaster as well, fair enough if people don't want to touch them because some of their cheaper PSU's are a bit dodgy. Their higher end ones seem OK though.

 

[jonjonjon]

get the 1440p. maybe i missed it but you didn't say what your budget is for a monitor. i would also drop the 256GB ssd.

 

[Praxeology]

Thanks for your input. I have been building this system over the last few months, at varying prices. So I haven't quite reached 2.5k, But I probably will after I grab the monitor.
Regarding the website (Newegg) - I can view the links and get the information on the part. I just, presumably, cannot order from Newegg.

Just to add, Dual 670's take up two spaces. I don't wish to SLI or Crossfire right now. This GPU will keep me going for many years, just like my 4800 model ATI (Now AMD, as you well know) did.
I've heard bad things about PSU's years ago, but now (in 2012) they are very generic, and with the '80Plus Gold' tag you can't go wrong. You're labelling a brand, as opposed to a specific product though. I, for one, dislike Samsung but I won't fault their Galaxy S2 & 3 (phone), along with some Monitors and T.V's and now their latest SSD's, as the reviews and tests show promising results. Some of their products are terrible, to say the least. So regarding the PSU, I have gone on reviews (possibly outside of tomshardware) and it has had decent feedback. I would have preffered a SeaSonic or Corsair as I know they produce brilliant products. The first part I bought 2 - 3 months ago was the tower, to have a look at it to see what I was working with. It is fantastic, so on that note I thought I'd give the company another shot at stealing my money.
I was told on these forums that 1200w is overkill. I very much doubt I'll reach 850, let alone 1200.

Lastly, on the system running games right now I have a SSD running W7 64-bit and a 2TB HDD. It's slow, very slow (probably because Steam as a program is pretty poor). I bought the second SSD (512GB) to hold Steam games. The 256GB will be for Windows OS and games outside of Steam, oh and programs that I will rotate to negate space probllems. That was the only method to my madness there.

However, back to Praxeology's first post about Monitors; you've just confirmed what I've thought. So I really appreciate you taking the time to post. I felt like the jump (it's something like 78% more pixels from 720 - 1440) was too big for me to ignore and shrug off for the fancy '2ms'. Especially as I have the 690 ... I don't want it to have an easy life.

Thanks for your links on the Temp monitors. They've popped up a few times in posts I've read so I will try and read up some more on them as to what I need to do myself.
Lastly, is there something majorly wrong with buying and using a second SSD? (I don't need that much space as a lot of long-term files are kept on an external drive.) Just wanted the overall improvements from HDD to SSD.

Thank you both for the advice.

There is nothing wrong with using an SSD for storage other then the fact that is it very expensive per GB. Will there be a performance increase? Yes, a great performance increase. But I would simply have steam on my SSD and my games in steams directory, on the HDD if that makes sense? You can route game directories through steam from HDD to SSD, depending on the game I would probably do that. Overall what's purchased is purchased, I hope you enjoy your rig

 

[Darieu]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your input.
Guess I'll look in to 1440p monitors more now, anything properly tested with 5 - 10ms, and hopefully 120hz ... if there are any.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.