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I'm looking to purchase a Convoy desktop with these specs

Chassis : V3 Dark Fleet CONVOY Chassis by Antec
Chassis Cooling : V3 Ultra Cyclonic Positive Pressure Airflow System
Exterior Finish : Midnight Black
Power Supply : 750W Corsair SLI/CrossFire Ready 80 Plus Power Supply
Graphics Card 1 : NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 550 Ti 1GB @900MHz w/PhysX
Graphics Card 2 : NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 550 Ti 1GB @900MHz w/PhysX
Dedicated PhysX (Nvidia Cards Only) : NO
Motherboard : MSI® Z77A-G45 Ivy-Bridge SLI/CrossFire w/USB 3.0, SATA III 6Gb/s
Processor : INTEL® 3rd Generation Core™ i5-3550 3.30GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) Quad-Core, 6MB (+25)
Processor Cooling : V3 GAMING LC120ZS by Asetek Zero-Service Liquid Cooling
V3 LC™ Launch Control Overclocking : NO, INTEL® Automatic Turbo Boost Technology Only
Memory : 4GB Patriot Dual-Channel DDR3 (2X2G) -1333MHz CL9
Operating System Hard Drive 1 : 500GB SATA III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Ultra-Performance
Operating System Hard Drive 2 : 500GB SATA III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Ultra-Performance
Operating System Hard Drive RAID : RAID 0 - Striped for Faster Speed (Total Size = 2X Drive Size)
Data Storage Hard Drive 1 : None
Data Storage Hard Drive 2 : None
Data Storage Hard Drive 3 : None
Data Storage Hard Drive 4 : None
Data Storage Hard Drive RAID : None
Optical Drive 1 : 24X Dual Layer SATA DVDRW
Optical Drive 2 : None
Media Reader : None
Audio : 8-channel High Definition Surround Sound Optical S/PDIF Out
Network Adapter : Dual 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Wireless Adapter : None
Operating System : Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Office Software : None
Display 1 : None
Display 2 : None
Keyboard : Microsoft Desktop 400 Black USB Wired Keyboard
Mouse : Microsoft Desktop 400 Black USB Wired Mouse
Speakers : None
Headphones : None
Vivacity™ Warranty : V3 Life time Labor & Technical Support w/3-year Vivacity™ Service

Is this good and will it play newer games like Diablo 3?

Depends on the price. Only 4gig RAM?

Overkill for Diablo 3. Really overkill for any mainstream level gaming.

You're paying for silly over the top things like liquid cooling, and RAID.Given how cheap it is these days, spring for more RAM. You rarely get a good value out of those two graphics cards.

Given this a pre-build you're probably paying a premium beyond what is already what reads to me like a flabby build.

Build your own (Really no matter how technically inept you think you are, you can handle out).

Google around for whatever is in the sweet spot for price/performance right now and jump on it.

Chongara wrote:Overkill for Diablo 3. Really overkill for any mainstream level gaming.

You're paying for silly over the top things like liquid cooling, and RAID.Given how cheap it is these days, spring for more RAM. You rarely get a good value out of those two graphics cards.

Given this a pre-build you're probably paying a premium beyond what is already what reads to me like a flabby build.

Build your own (Really no matter how technically inept you think you are, you can handle out).

Google around for whatever is in the sweet spot for price/performance right now and jump on it.

I'd agree, you can put together something really nice by yourself and there are loads of guides, plus it's just simple to do. Like Meccano. Unless it goes bang.

Chongara wrote:Overkill for Diablo 3. Really overkill for any mainstream level gaming.

You're paying for silly over the top things like liquid cooling, and RAID.Given how cheap it is these days, spring for more RAM. You rarely get a good value out of those two graphics cards.

Given this a pre-build you're probably paying a premium beyond what is already what reads to me like a flabby build.

Build your own (Really no matter how technically inept you think you are, you can handle out).

Google around for whatever is in the sweet spot for price/performance right now and jump on it.

Yeah I noticed the lack of ram.... I think I will keep the liquid cooling because reviews say it over heats a lot, but I agree on the idea of getting rid of the RAID.
Sides the cost of one ram is probably equal to that of the RAID itself

Generalian wrote:

Chongara wrote:Overkill for Diablo 3. Really overkill for any mainstream level gaming.

You're paying for silly over the top things like liquid cooling, and RAID.Given how cheap it is these days, spring for more RAM. You rarely get a good value out of those two graphics cards.

Given this a pre-build you're probably paying a premium beyond what is already what reads to me like a flabby build.

Build your own (Really no matter how technically inept you think you are, you can handle out).

Google around for whatever is in the sweet spot for price/performance right now and jump on it.

Yeah I noticed the lack of ram.... I think I will keep the liquid cooling because reviews say it over heats a lot, but I agree on the idea of getting rid of the RAID.
Sides the cost of one ram is probably equal to that of the RAID itself

Ok see the thing is, if you're regularly overheating to the point where you need liquid cooling (or really anything over stock cooling) you're really going over the top.

You just don't need a system that's pushing that hard to get a good performance to excellent performance on recent games. If what you want out of this is a good experience playing D3 and comparable games, you don't need that much machine.

what should I change from this machine then to lower the price?

Generalian wrote:750W Corsair SLI/CrossFire Ready 80 Plus Power Supply

Not sure on this, but what you'll spring for this one, I'd rather get a Seasonic.

Generalian wrote:Graphics Card 1 : NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 550 Ti 1GB @900MHz w/PhysX
Graphics Card 2 : NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 550 Ti 1GB @900MHz w/PhysX

Going SLI with these two cards isn't good. They're probably 150 dollars each, and I'd rather get a single gtx 670. Lower consumption, less heat, probably more performance, support for more recent games, and less glitches.

Motherboard : MSI® Z77A-G45 Ivy-Bridge SLI/CrossFire w/USB 3.0, SATA III 6Gb/s

I'd rather go Asus. Then again, I'm not sure why would you want this kind of mobo, if you're not an experienced used and not going to overclock,

Another point, the Core i5. I'm sure it's a newer Ivy Bridge, but an entusiast build without an unlocked processor for overclocking means that either the Mobo or the processor is wrong. You can keep the processor, over gaming you'll notice little performance against an i7 unless you work with other programs that need processing power, like SolidWorks or others.

Also two 500 gb disks... I'd rather spend a little more, get a 128 SSD (like a Sandisk / Samsung 870 / Intel 330) for primary drive and a normal one for storing. Given the prices that normal mechanical disks go for nowadays, you wouldn't have to spend that much more.

It's easier for you to tell us how much you are willing to spend.

what kind of asus?

Generalian wrote:what kind of asus?

Sorry, I meant for the Motherboard. A solid mobo would be a H77, it's already got a lot of stuff, or one of the more basic Z77 if you want to later venture into overclocking. Otherwise you can pay up to 200 or more euros for a motherboard whose functions you'll never use, like triple sli or somesuch.

Again, it'd be better if you could tell us how much you're willing to spend!

The box is overkill for just about everything. I have a single one of those video cards, and I don't think I've played anything I couldn't turn up the graphics on all the way. I'm also using the stock heat sink. Granted, I'm not measuring FPS, running benchmarks, and using it as a measuring device for my e-penis, but I notice no flicker. I have an i7, one GTX 550, 8 gb RAM, about a 700W cooler master (i think) power supply. I leave the thing running 24/7, and I've never had heat issues.

I've got the settings turned up about max on Company of Heroes, Retribution, Space Marine, D3, World of Tanks, and a bunch of other games, and I notice no flickering or choppiness.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I feel like I should mention that RAID 0 on consumer grade drives is probably a big no-no. If one of those goes bad, you're probably not recovering any data. If you're going to do any RAID, it would be best to do it yourself: Hardware RAID card (buy two of them, only install one, other is a backup), two different manufacturer equal capacity drives, and then RAID 1 them. Reason for the different manufacturers is because you don't want a bad production run of harddrives causing both of the drives in your array to gak the bed at once. With two different companies, you get different production lines, and if one is going to go, they both (hopefully) won't go at once.

Destrado wrote:

Generalian wrote:what kind of asus?

Sorry, I meant for the Motherboard. A solid mobo would be a H77, it's already got a lot of stuff, or one of the more basic Z77 if you want to later venture into overclocking. Otherwise you can pay up to 200 or more euros for a motherboard whose functions you'll never use, like triple sli or somesuch.

Again, it'd be better if you could tell us how much you're willing to spend!

I willing to spend around 1500 dollars.

I want to use the site http://www.v3gamingpc.com/buy/convoy_p67.html

Can you post what you got after optimization?

Sorry but I cannot in good conscience recommend that store unless you buy it heavily discounted. 1,500 dollars starting for those specs is a blatant rip-off, even if they do say it's lab tested and all. It doesn't even have a monitor!

I can recommend you a spec, but I don't know which US stores to buy from; maybe someone else knows a good store. I would recommend looking at newegg or something for fairest prices on hardware parts.

Some people prefer buying separately, then assemble it at home. It isn't hard but if you've never done it, and don't have any help or computer knowledge, it could be a trial. The advantage is that you keep a two-year warranty on components, and it can be quite cheaper.

As for your rig, I would recommend any i5 or i7, as long as it's ivy bridge (aka intel 3rd gen). If you're not planning on overclocking, then skip any model with a K after the number. These are unlocked processors, which allow to increase their clock speed up to a point. I'd say there's no real benefit for you to get one of these.

The motherboard, I don't have any personal favourite, but if you look at www.Anandtech.com , you'll find some reviews on MSI, Asus, etc.

Asus H77 is said to be a solid performer, but only higher models (I think the Asus Z77 Deluxe) have wireless on them. It's your choice if you want to buy a wireless pen for 10$ or pay 50 to 100$ difference between motherboards.

For hard drives, it really depends on what you plan on doing. Installing a bazillion videogames? Got a large movie/music folder? Enjoy keeping all the pictures, even the ones with the finger in front of the lens? I'd say a 1 TB disk is good enough, if you're also working with other stuff like Photoshop, etc, maybe consider a SSD (solid state disk) as your boot drive. A small one, like 128 gb, should cost around 150$ but people swear that once you get one you can't go back to traditional hard drives.

The ideal would be a SSD with Windows inside and some other programs, while the bigger, 1 TB disk would keep the other info, games, etc.

The graphics card, depending on what you play, can be up to 100$, or half a grand (or even a grand and a half!). If you want to play battlefield 3, skyrim, etc., on 2560x1080 monitors, you'll probably want a gtx 680 or a Radeon 7970. Really depends on what you want to play and with how much eye candy.

The PSU is very important, and I'd either go Seasonic, or at least some model by other company that's made by Seasonic (ex. Antec has some PSU's built by Seasonic, not all of them though).

The case will depend on your personal preference, and the amount of coolers. I suggest looking for some reviews, as you can buy some expensive case without needing it, and it might not even be the best (I'd say the main thing to look at, after "efficiency", would be noise).

Some online stores could be http://www.avadirect.com/desktop-pc-configurator.asp?PRID=24257 I've heard some good stuff about them, and the basic pc you've got there is 500 cheaper than the other guys you showed. The site can look daunting, but if you need help I can pick a few and tell you later.

I think Alienware, or even Acer or Asus, might have better options on Desktops than v3.

Build it yourself.

You will learn a great skill that you can make money off of and you will save hundreds if not a thousand dollars.

It wont take you more than two hours and you get a warranty on each individual part.

I'm with others that are telling you to build your own. I built my system for $800 and have an 8-core processor, 16 gig of ram, 2-gig video card, 1TB HD, and a 23" HD monitor. I admit that I went OTT compared with what I need to run the games I play but it's something I wanted to do.

I play all games on the highest settings without a hitch.

Edit: Should have mentioned, I bought everything from Newegg.

agnosto wrote:I'm with others that are telling you to build your own. I built my system for $800 and have an 8-core processor, 16 gig of ram, 2-gig video card, 1TB HD, and a 23" HD monitor. I admit that I went OTT compared with what I need to run the games I play but it's something I wanted to do.

I play all games on the highest settings without a hitch.

Edit: Should have mentioned, I bought everything from Newegg.

Can you break the prices down for your system for me? Because that is good money

ChocolateGork wrote:

agnosto wrote:I'm with others that are telling you to build your own. I built my system for $800 and have an 8-core processor, 16 gig of ram, 2-gig video card, 1TB HD, and a 23" HD monitor. I admit that I went OTT compared with what I need to run the games I play but it's something I wanted to do.

I play all games on the highest settings without a hitch.

Edit: Should have mentioned, I bought everything from Newegg.

Can you break the prices down for your system for me? Because that is good money

It was back in Nov, during black friday sales but Newegg.com often has some great deals. I just built a similar system for less, $722.40 online:


Broadway Com Corp A3728-Series A3728-Red Glossy Black SECC Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811162062
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$12.00 Instant
$49.99
$37.99


Western Digital Caviar Green WDBAAY0010HNC-NRSN 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136776
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
Recover Your Data(expand for options)
-$15.00 Instant
$109.99
$94.99


Acer G235HAbd 23'' WideScreen LCD monitor
Item #: N82E16824009266
Return Policy: Monitor Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$40.00 Instant
$179.99
$139.99


ASUS M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Item #: N82E16813131767
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$5.00 Instant
$99.99
$94.99


ZOTAC ZT-50605-10L GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 2GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
Item #: N82E16814500223
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$49.99


APEVIA ATX-CB700W 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply - OEM
Item #: N82E16817148046
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$40.00 Instant
$79.99
$39.99


MASSCOOL Fanner-420 Thermal Grease
Item #: N82E16835100301
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$4.49


G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9Q-16GBXL
Item #: N82E16820231441
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$84.99


AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8120FRGUBOX
Item #: N82E16819103961
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$169.99
1

Newegg Promotional Gift Card - $15.00
Item #: N82E168GC000001
Your Promotional Gift Card will be emailed 4 days after invoice.


MASSCOOL 5C12B3 50mm Ball CPU Cooler
Item #: N82E16835150018
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

I'd up it from the 520 and the PSU, but otherwise, solid build. It probably can't handle recent games @ 1080p, but the monitor had a great price. I paid roughly 200 dollars for a LG of the same size (though it has an IPS panel).

The hard drives are still so expensive, damn! I bought a 2tb one for 50 dollars before the prices skyrocketed, so I'm covered. ...Together with two 3,5 500gb, one 1tb, and three 2,5 of various capacities, I can take any from an enclosure and save about 100 dollars...

Destrado wrote:I'd up it from the 520 and the PSU, but otherwise, solid build. It probably can't handle recent games @ 1080p, but the monitor had a great price. I paid roughly 200 dollars for a LG of the same size (though it has an IPS panel).

The hard drives are still so expensive, damn! I bought a 2tb one for 50 dollars before the prices skyrocketed, so I'm covered. ...Together with two 3,5 500gb, one 1tb, and three 2,5 of various capacities, I can take any from an enclosure and save about 100 dollars...

How about this?

DESKTOP PC Core™ i7 4-DIMM SLI® / CrossFireX™ Performance Custom Computer System $1243.98

COMPUCASE HEC 6C28B Black Mid-Tower Case, No PSU, ATX
HEC X-Power 585 Power Supply, 585W, 24-pin ATX12V, Dual 80mm Fans, OEM
EVGA X79 SLI, LGA2011, Intel® X79, DDR3-2133 32GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /2+1*, SATA 6Gb/s RAID 5 /2, 3Gb/s /4, USB 3.0 /4, HDA, GbLAN, FW, ATX, Retail
INTEL Core i7-3820 Quad-Core, 3.6 - 3.8GHz TB, LGA2011, 10MB L3 Cache, HT EM64T EIST VT-x VT-d XD, 32nm, 130W, Retail
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler, Socket 2011/1155/1156/1366/775/FM1/AM3/AM2, Copper/Aluminum
CRUCIAL 16GB (4 x 4GB) Ballistix Elite PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL8 (8-8-8-24) 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
ASUS HD7850-DC2-2GD5, Radeon™ HD 7850 870MHz, 2GB GDDR5 4840MHz, PCIe x16 CrossFire, DVI + HDMI + 2x mini-DP, Retail
SEAGATE 1TB Barracuda®, SATA 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache
RAID No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
NONE No Operating System (Choose OS or subject to Limited Support)
WARRANTY Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

About the PSU:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/295511-10-hp585d

About the rest:

Pairing that i7 with that graphics card doesn't cut it. Unless you're doing light gaming (you can go 1920x1080 with medium settings probably on most games). With that config, I'd rather spend a couple more bucks and go for the 7970 or the 670, with the latter taking the crown (but I've heard it's availability is limited).

Destrado wrote:About the PSU:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/295511-10-hp585d

About the rest:

Pairing that i7 with that graphics card doesn't cut it. Unless you're doing light gaming (you can go 1920x1080 with medium settings probably on most games). With that config, I'd rather spend a couple more bucks and go for the 7970 or the 670, with the latter taking the crown (but I've heard it's availability is limited).

how about this?

COMPUCASE HEC 6C28B Black Mid-Tower Case, No PSU, ATX
HEC X-Power 585 Power Supply, 585W, 24-pin ATX12V, Dual 80mm Fans, OEM
ASUS P8Z77 WS, LGA1155, Intel® Z77, DDR3-2800 (O.C.) 32GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /2+2*, SATA 6Gb/s RAID 5 /4, 3Gb/s /4, DVI, USB 3.0 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, ATX, Retail
INTEL Core™ i7-3770 Quad-Core 3.4 - 3.9GHz TB, HD Graphics 4000, LGA1155, 8MB L3 Cache, 22nm, 77W, EM64T EIST HT VT-d VT-x XD, Retail
CORSAIR 8GB (4 x 2GB) XMS3 PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
ASUS HD7950-DC2T-3GD5, Radeon™ HD 7950 900MHz, 3GB GDDR5 5000MHz, PCIe x16 CrossFire, DVI + HDMI + 2x mini-DP, Retail
SEAGATE 1TB Barracuda®, SATA 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache
RAID No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
NONE No Operating System (Choose OS or subject to Limited Support)
WARRANTY Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)


Also, what do you mean by PSU?
Adding PSU doesn't seem to be an option on the site you showed me

PSU = Power Supply Unit. Look for "Power Supply".

Daedalus is correct. I know it might seem odd to pay 50-100 dollars for a Power Supply, but trust me, it's worth it - assuring your system runs stable enough.

A few incorrections I must point out

The Processor. You selected an i7, which is just good, but it isn't in synergy with the motherboard and the graphics card. It isn't a K model, as I assume you're not overclocking, then you can get the Asus H77 (if the price difference is under 40 dollars then keep the Z77).

The graphics card, while good enough (certainly better than what I'll get in the next few years), is pratically the same price as the GeForce GTX 670, which beats it into a corner and leaves it there crying for mom. In newegg they both go for 400 dollars more or less, but the 670 is nearer in performance to the 7970. I'm an ATI fan at heart but Nvidia has such a ferocious advantage this time, it's a crime not to recommend it.

But, that's not to say the system you configured isn't sound, it's a very good config, just change the power supply. A weaker power supply (ie badly built, cheap components) can fry and take some components with it, or will force your computer to shutdown if it can't power the parts. If there's a component you can't go cheap with, it's the Power Supply Unit, or PSU.

If you want to keep the Motherboard, I'd consider investing in an Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5 3570K. Or an even cheaper i5. I'll try to explain.

The K denominator indicates a processor that's unlocked. It will allow you to increase it's speed, combined with motherboard software and hardware, beside energy and lots of cooling.
Unlike Sandy Bridge, the previous Cores (2nd Gen), the Ivy Bridge processors consume less power, but can't be as aggresivelly overclocked. This doesn't mean they're worse, things got a lot better, and we all know (or should know) that a processor's speed isn't only measured in ghz.

The difference in speed from an i5 to an i7 in gaming is marginal. Most games don't take advantage of the i7's hyperthreading (the Core i7 is a quad-core, but it appears to double it's cores because of HT). So unless you plan on doing, for example, renders on SolidWorks or other program that uses all the Cores... It's cheaper to go with an i5.

Of course, over the years games might pop that take advantage of all the cores. In that case, if you opted for an i5, you can;

a) it's a K! (overclock it!)
b) it ain't a K! (sell it and get a newer generation i5/i7, assuming they're compatible with the motherboard socket; they probably should be)
c) keep it. You'll probably have to lower from Ultra-Entusiast to Ultra-but-not-Ultra-Enthusiast but you'll still get your marvellous super high FPS's.

Hope this was more helpful than confusing!

Well, it's not even a matter of it being 'worth it'. It's dangerous to buy a crappy one. Back when I worked in retail computer tech support hell (don't do this) I saw situations where people bought $20 cheapo power supplies and they end up flaking out and taking parts of the rest of the system out with them. As far as big box manufacturers go, e-machines was notorious for having power supplies that would do this.

Not to mention 1000/1500+ dollar PCs with PSUs worth 30 bucks. Or some 500w ones that only go as far as 350, etc.

Destrado wrote:Not to mention 1000/1500+ dollar PCs with PSUs worth 30 bucks. Or some 500w ones that only go as far as 350, etc.

Wow am I more confused then ever.... so I am going to do this one piece at a time.

This is what I have so far...

http://www.avadirect.com/desktop-pc-configurator.asp?PRID=24248