Critique my PC

[z7storm7z]

Hello tomshardware
I was wondering if you could critique my PC that i will be building on friday, just post your thoughts and views on it,
Here is a list of the parts;
CPU-I5-3570k
MB-Asus maximus V gene
Case- NZXT phantom 410
SSD-crucial m4 250GB
RAM-crucial Ballistix 1866mhz
OS-Win7 home premium
PSU-Be Quiet Pure Power 630W
GPU-EVGA GTX 670 FTW

 

[djosbun]

Never heard of the PSU. Is it one of those cheap non-brand name types? If so, why spend decent money on a system but cheap out with a $25 power supply?

 

[sam_p_lay]

I approve! Though I half agree about the PSU. While I am familiar with the brand, I'd always buy Seasonic-built units (so either actual Seasonic brand or XFX, PC Power & Cooling etc). Only other thing is SSD - Crucial M4 is awesome, but there are faster drives for the same price (at least where I am). If the 250GB Samsung 830 was significantly more expensive then you probably made the right choice. Otherwise, really nice looking setup.

EDIT: Only other thing is the RAM - definitely quality, but will be running at 1600MHz on that CPU/mobo so not worth the extra spend.

 

[z7storm7z]

Never heard of the PSU. Is it one of those cheap non-brand name types? If so, why spend decent money on a system but cheap out with a $25 power supply?

i bought this from ebuyer for around £70, i had read reviews in a tech magazine stating it was the best PSU for the money and specs.

I approve! Though I half agree about the PSU. While I am familiar with the brand, I'd always buy Seasonic-built units (so either actual Seasonic brand or XFX, PC Power & Cooling etc). Only other thing is SSD - Crucial M4 is awesome, but there are faster drives for the same price (at least where I am). If the 250GB Samsung 830 was significantly more expensive then you probably made the right choice. Otherwise, really nice looking setup.

EDIT: Only other thing is the RAM - definitely quality, but will be running at 1600MHz on that CPU/mobo so not worth the extra spend.

I looked on the specs for the MB, says it can support 2600mhz overclocked?
Also about the hardrive, i bought it to use in my old sony vaio 3 or 4 months back when SSDs were very expensive and the crucial was the best for the money. 😉

 

[sam_p_lay]

Supporting it and running it at full speed are two different things entirely. My system supports 1600MHz memory (which I have), but it's X58/i7 920 so the memory is actually operating at 1066MHz. It can't run faster than the CPU/QPI. If you already own the SSD then that's an awesome drive, and good to stick with it!

 

[z7storm7z]

Supporting it and running it at full speed are two different things entirely. My system supports 1600MHz memory (which I have), but it's X58/i7 920 so the memory is actually operating at 1066MHz. It can't run faster than the CPU/QPI. If you already own the SSD then that's an awesome drive, and good to stick with it!

Ahh thanks 😀 i did not know that about the memory, also another question my ballistix ram has HUGE heat spreaders and i was wondering if i could be recommended a decent Cpu cooler that will fit with it?

 

[Praxeology]

Ahh thanks 😀 i did not know that about the memory, also another question my ballistix ram has HUGE heat spreaders and i was wondering if i could be recommended a decent Cpu cooler that will fit with it?

Decent cpu cooler = hyper 212 evo. Will it fit with your particular setup? Gl with getting an accurate answer on that. If you wanted to upgrade, grab a corsair h100i and OC that i5 to 5ghz<insert voltage oc warning hurr> or atleast 4.5 with stock volts.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Decent cpu cooler = hyper 212 evo. Will it fit with your particular setup? Gl with getting an accurate answer on that. If you wanted to upgrade, grab a corsair h100i and OC that i5 to 5ghz<insert voltage oc warning hurr> or atleast 4.5 with stock volts.

+1 for that cooler. Not sure about clearance though... the heat spreaders aren't at all necessary if you're not overclocking the memory, so maybe get different memory to be on the safe side. If you are overclocking the memory... well, there will be somebody in the forums who knows 🙂

 

[z7storm7z]

Decent cpu cooler = hyper 212 evo. Will it fit with your particular setup? Gl with getting an accurate answer on that. If you wanted to upgrade, grab a corsair h100i and OC that i5 to 5ghz<insert voltage oc warning hurr> or atleast 4.5 with stock volts.

tbh i am going to overclock but i am a bit worried about voiding the warranty and if it breaks, having to pay FULL price for a new one. Eventualy once I have saved enough money i may buy a H100, but i would also worry about any fluid leakage or problems. Also i have heard that the ram slots are closer to the processor than normal on my MB so i dont thing any decent air coolers will fit with my high profile ram.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Warranty would be a concern for me also. There's debate on whether or not a manufacturer could tell if hardware had been overclocked. Intel say they could tell, but they would say that! They do offer this though:

http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/

Or you could just deny overclocking if it ever fails and hope for the best.

 

[z7storm7z]

Warranty would be a concern for me also. There's debate on whether or not a manufacturer could tell if hardware had been overclocked. Intel say they could tell, but they would say that! They do offer this though:

http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/

Or you could just deny overclocking if it ever fails and hope for the best.

I will most likely just OC and deny if it does break xD.
Is that intel tuning plan available in the UK?(Scotland)

 

[sam_p_lay]

It is indeed! Just Iran, North Korea and somewhere else you can't get it... Somalia maybe. The naughty countries.

 

[z7storm7z]

It is indeed! Just Iran, North Korea and somewhere else you can't get it... Somalia maybe. The naughty countries.

lol cool

 

[z7storm7z]

Warranty would be a concern for me also. There's debate on whether or not a manufacturer could tell if hardware had been overclocked. Intel say they could tell, but they would say that! They do offer this though:

http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/

Or you could just deny overclocking if it ever fails and hope for the best.

Can Intel actually tell if you overclock a processor? is it worth overclocking my i5-3570k?

 

[sam_p_lay]

Can Intel actually tell if you overclock a processor? is it worth overclocking my i5-3570k?

Well a lot of people will say they can't tell. Intel will say they do. Honestly, I don't think anyone outside of the CPU industry knows for sure. I was talking with a guy recently about it, the subject of electron tunnelling. This subatomic stuff is way over my head (and it's why I don't think anyone on this forum is qualified to say for sure), but what I understood was that electrons are gradually stripped away within the the silicon over time. By using an electron microscope to examine the amount of decay, you could extrapolate the clock frequencies the silicon was operating at.

It's worth keeping in mind though that the CPU is one of the least likely components (maybe the very least likely) in the system to fail. PSU failures, hard disk failures etc are much more common. I'd personally buy an i5 3450 and not overclock, because the only worthwhile gains I've ever seen from CPU overclocking were where an old CPU was severely bottlenecking a powerful GPU. Overclocking mitigated the CPU constraints. With a modern CPU, that's not going to be an issue though.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Also, your signature meets with The sam_p_lay Committee's Stamp of Approval. :-D

 

[z7storm7z]

Also, your signature meets with The sam_p_lay Committee's Stamp of Approval. :-D

When I read it I laughed soooooo hard I had to put it as my sig xD

 

[sam_p_lay]

When I read it I laughed soooooo hard I had to put it as my sig xD

Haha I have my moments 🙂 Have you decided about the overclocking? I actually emailed Intel about this specifically. The replies were a bit vague (to be fair, the poor guy probably didn't have a clue) but I can c/p the emails if you'd like.

 

[z7storm7z]

Haha I have my moments 🙂 Have you decided about the overclocking? I actually emailed Intel about this specifically. The replies were a bit vague (to be fair, the poor guy probably didn't have a clue) but I can c/p the emails if you'd like.

i have ordered here for tommorow on ultra mega delivery... but yes i have decided i will probably be overclocking and would like you to C/P the email please

 

[sam_p_lay]

Alright, here we go (surprisingly badly written, but I'm just c/ping):

Me
Will overclocking a K model CPU void the warranty?

Intel
Thank you for contacting the Intel® Technical Support.

We don't support overclocking of Processors.

However, if you do it on your own and anythign will happen with the processor you void the warranty. But if you want to, you can take part in the Intel® Performance Tuning Protection Plan. You can find more information on the website below:

http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/

Me
And if the processor was overclocked but later failed due to an unrelated fault? Would you be able to determine whether or not the fault was caused by overclocking, and if not, honour the terms of the warranty?

You're probably aware that overclocking can be done relatively safely if frequencies and voltages are adjusted in small increments and thoroughly tested at every step. What I'd like to know is if somebody overclocking in the way I describe is voiding their warranty entirely, even if the processor fails for an unrelated reason?

Intel
Thank you for contacting the Intel® Technical Support.

We don't support overclocking in any cases. And yes, if we find out that the processor has been overclocked, independent of the time and causes of the failure of it, you void the warranty.

 

[z7storm7z]

Alright, here we go (surprisingly badly written, but I'm just c/ping):

Me
Will overclocking a K model CPU void the warranty?

Intel
Thank you for contacting the Intel® Technical Support.

We don't support overclocking of Processors.

However, if you do it on your own and anythign will happen with the processor you void the warranty. But if you want to, you can take part in the Intel® Performance Tuning Protection Plan. You can find more information on the website below:

http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/

Me
And if the processor was overclocked but later failed due to an unrelated fault? Would you be able to determine whether or not the fault was caused by overclocking, and if not, honour the terms of the warranty?

You're probably aware that overclocking can be done relatively safely if frequencies and voltages are adjusted in small increments and thoroughly tested at every step. What I'd like to know is if somebody overclocking in the way I describe is voiding their warranty entirely, even if the processor fails for an unrelated reason?

Intel
Thank you for contacting the Intel® Technical Support.

We don't support overclocking in any cases. And yes, if we find out that the processor has been overclocked, independent of the time and causes of the failure of it, you void the warranty.

tbh that seems a bit harsh as they are selling a processor for more money purely because it is easier to OC...

 

[sam_p_lay]

tbh that seems a bit harsh as they are selling a processor for more money purely because it is easier to OC...

I couldn't agree more, and we're not the first people to point it out! Infact there are users in this forum who refused to believe me because it seemed so ridiculous to sell a processor specifically unlocked for overclocking, but then to forbid overclocking. I didn't bother c/ping the emails for them, just linked the tuning plan 🙂

The FAQ on that tuning plan makes it all pretty clear, except the duration of the tuning plan. Turns out, even though it's treated separately from the warranty, it's still kind of an upgrade on the warranty. So if you have say 26 months of your standard warranty left when you get the OC cover, you'll have 26 months of OC cover. It expires at the same time the warranty does.

If it was me, I'd either forget overclocking, save £20 and grab a 3450 (honestly the difference in stock speed between that and a 3570 doesn't make a single bit of difference to performance in games). Or, I'd buy the K, leave it at stock until it has become old and obsolete (which is gonna be at least 3 years away, probably more, so warranty will have expired anyway) and then overclock in 2016 or whatever if you've got a new GeForce GTX1070 or something that's being held back by the CPU.

 

[z7storm7z]

I couldn't agree more, and we're not the first people to point it out! Infact there are users in this forum who refused to believe me because it seemed so ridiculous to sell a processor specifically unlocked for overclocking, but then to forbid overclocking. I didn't bother c/ping the emails for them, just linked the tuning plan 🙂

The FAQ on that tuning plan makes it all pretty clear, except the duration of the tuning plan. Turns out, even though it's treated separately from the warranty, it's still kind of an upgrade on the warranty. So if you have say 26 months of your standard warranty left when you get the OC cover, you'll have 26 months of OC cover. It expires at the same time the warranty does.

If it was me, I'd either forget overclocking, save £20 and grab a 3450 (honestly the difference in stock speed between that and a 3570 doesn't make a single bit of difference to performance in games). Or, I'd buy the K, leave it at stock until it has become old and obsolete (which is gonna be at least 3 years away, probably more, so warranty will have expired anyway) and then overclock in 2016 or whatever if you've got a new GeForce GTX1070 or something that's being held back by the CPU.

lol deffo getting a gtx1070 in 5 years , already hear nvidias moneybags clinking xD

 

[sam_p_lay]

Haha yeah 🙂 I actually hope there will never be a card called a GeForce GTX1070. I get that they have a strong brand but come on - they introduced GeForce in what, 1999? 2000? They've gone right around the clock now - we've had two 2 serieses, two 4s, two 5s, two 6s, soon two 7s... at least they're 3-digit model numbers though. AMD have now had two Radeon 7000 serieses! Or Radeon 7000 and Radeon HD 7000 if you wanna split hairs.

They both need new names though. 'FX Graphics' might make sense, but could confuse people, and isn't the most creative... I actually quite like what Google do with Android. Course they couldn't copy the dessert theme though. They should do a competition - I bet somebody could think of something better than 'GeForce'!

 

[z7storm7z]

Haha yeah 🙂 I actually hope there will never be a card called a GeForce GTX1070. I get that they have a strong brand but come on - they introduced GeForce in what, 1999? 2000? They've gone right around the clock now - we've had two 2 serieses, two 4s, two 5s, two 6s, soon two 7s... at least they're 3-digit model numbers though. AMD have now had two Radeon 7000 serieses! Or Radeon 7000 and Radeon HD 7000 if you wanna split hairs.

They both need new names though. 'FX Graphics' might make sense, but could confuse people, and isn't the most creative... I actually quite like what Google do with Android. Course they couldn't copy the dessert theme though. They should do a competition - I bet somebody could think of something better than 'GeForce'!

I agree, they should have names in letters that actually show their performance compared to other GPUs or have a universal scale that all graphics cards are measured on before production.