Best bang-for-buck gaming PC

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StellenboschStudent

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After more than 5 years, my macbook pro is starting to act up. I replaced the RAM and HDD, and the new HDD is starting to give in. The macbook is old and slow, so, it is time to upgrade.
Although I love the mac ecosystem, I am considering moving back to windows.

So, yes, this is yet another "look at my specs" thread, so any input/advise/criticism/ranting will be appreciated.
Just to give you an idea, I am going for a gaming and entertainment PC, want to play the latest games on near highest setting for a couple of years.

Input peripherals:
Razor Lyxosa Gaming Keyboard (http://www.pc-direct.co.za/pRZ03-00181400/RZ03-00181400---Razer-Lyxosa-Mirror-Gaming-Keyboard.aspx)

Razor Death Adder Mouse (http://www.pc-direct.co.za/pRZ01-00151400/RZ01-00151400---Razer-Death-Adder-3500.aspx)

Acer 24" LCD (http://www.pc-direct.co.za/pET.FG5H...ms-800001-VGA--DVI-wDHCP--HDMI-Black-TAR.aspx)

Intel Core i5 2500 3.3GHz LGA1155 Processor (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=21_688&products_id=52065)

Gigabyte GeForce GTX560 Ti (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=74_224&products_id=54356)

Intel BearUp Lake Motherboard (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=81_689&products_id=52045)

Kingston DDR3-1333 12GB (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=30_403&products_id=60895)

Corsair TX750W Power Supply (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/pr...ucts_id=14870&language=en?manufacturers_id=56)

Cooler Master RC-922M Chassis (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=50_51&products_id=26313)

Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=61_64&products_id=52046)

OCZ 120GB (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=61_428&products_id=60582)
 
Looks good, I would change the ram though. That CPU is dual channel, so you need either 2 or 4 sticks for optimum performance. It makes no difference if you buy a kit, or loose modules, as long as they are the same.
 
Some quick changes:
The 1155 chipset uses dual-channel RAM and not triple channel, hence you will want 4/8/16 GB RAM.
For this reason, take a look at this perhaps: http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=254 x 2 or x 4

The Razer Lycosa is a 50/50 shot.... I was one of those to get a bugged one. The problem is bad enough that it's happened at least twice to Razer. I'd rather get the Blackwidow or the Arctosa.

Rather get the 2500k if you want to overclock.

The motherboard is fine, but not really great.
Rather go for this (or similar): http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19&products_id=792

At the end of the day I'd rather wait two or three months for the launch of Ivy Bridge.
 
Last edited:
froot said:
Some quick changes:
The 1155 chipset uses dual-channel RAM and not triple channel, hence you will want 4/8/16 GB RAM.
For this reason, take a look at this perhaps: http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=254 x 2 or x 4

The Razer Lycosa is a 50/50 shot.... I was one of those to get a bugged one. The problem is bad enough that it's happened at least twice to Razer. I'd rather get the Blackwidow or the Arctosa.

Rather get the 2500k if you want to overclock.

The motherboard is fine, but not really great.
Rather go for this (or similar): http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19&products_id=792

At the end of the day I'd rather wait two or three months for the launch of Ivy Bridge.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for the feedback, will take a look at mobo and keyboard and ram.

Then yes, completely forgot about Ivy Bridge that is just around the corner... urf, that means, when it launches the graphics card will be out-dated and then it is back to the drawing board...
 
Ivy bridge = new CPUs. It has been delayed to June at least (edit thats mobile chips upon further investigation, desktops are May). So if you can wait that long, go for it. However, in terms of gaming and entertainment, you wont see any real world performance improvent, so its not important imo
Mobo I'd switch to a P67, or cheap Z68. Asus is my preference. Both of those chipsets allow for overclocking the CPU (if its a 'K' variant), Z68 has some other features that are again not relevant to gaming.
Now the GPU... that one already cant play everything maxed out at HD resolutions, so expecting it to last a couple of years will be a stretch. I would actually look at picking up a second hand GTX570, GTX680, HD6970 or HD6950 to stay within budget. If you are not keen on doing that, then yes, GTX560Ti or HD6870 are your friends. In a years time dropping in another GPU for SLI/crossfire would be a very decent upgrade, and the PSU you have will handle it easily

What is your max budget btw?
 
Last edited:
Archer said:
Ivy bridge = new CPUs. It has been delayed to June at least. So if you can wait that long, go for it.
Click to expand...

Not all of them. The i7 is coming out in April still. There is a calendar drifting around on MyBB.
 
Archer said:
Ivy bridge = new CPUs. It has been delayed to June at least. So if you can wait that long, go for it. However, in terms of gaming and entertainment, you wont see any real world performance improvent, so its not important imo
Mobo I'd switch to a P67, or cheap Z68. Asus is my preference. Both of those chipsets allow for overclocking the CPU (if its a 'K' variant), Z68 has some other features that are again not relevant to gaming.
Now the GPU... that one already cant play everything maxed out at HD resolutions, so expecting it to last a couple of years will be a stretch. I would actually look at picking up a second hand GTX570, GTX680, HD6970 or HD6950 to stay within budget. If you are not keen on doing that, then yes, GTX560Ti or HD6870 are your friends. In a years time dropping in another GPU for SLI/crossfire would be a very decent upgrade, and the PSU you have will handle it easily

What is your max budget btw?
Click to expand...

Ivy Bridge delayed till June? Damn, last time I heard they said Q1 2012... Hmmm... don't think it is worth waiting.
Maybe it is worth getting a better GPU then, and then it will last me a couple of years...

Budget, I would say R20k max. I thought about a upgrade for my MacBook Pro, that is about R20k, so yes, in that price range. All of the above is about R13k, so I still have a bit to play with, but of course, if I can get away with cheaper, that would be better.
 
Ivy Bridge was always slated for a Q2 launch, so they've got 3 months to fool around with and still launch "on time" according to the investors. In my edit you'll see desktop variants should launch in beginning of May (NDA is over on 29 April)
For 20k...

I say you got two options
Get the best GPU you can possibly get (GTX580, 590, HD7970, 7950)
Then think about how much stuff you want to be able to have on your SSD which leaves you with 2500k + 240GB SSD, or 2600k with 120GB SSD. Gaming, right now, there is zero difference between the two chips. So when games get coded properly to take advantage of more than 4 cores, you begin to notice some difference, but even then, the GPU is going to bottleneck first
Everything else will stay the same basically
 
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I would say away from Razer, their stuff seems to look pretty but it's kinda buggy. I have the Lycosa and every now and then it goes completely mad and I have to unplug and plug it back into my pc...

Also, I noticed ghosting issues, certain things aren't working so well (on BF3, I was running sideways, jumped, and couldn't knife :/. Works fine if I knife using my mouse though... kinda irritating).

And I got the Cyborg RAT5 -> amazing mouse, so comfy :D. really epic mouse.
 
StellenboschStudent said:
After more than 5 years, my macbook pro is starting to act up. I replaced the RAM and HDD, and the new HDD is starting to give in. The macbook is old and slow, so, it is time to upgrade.
Although I love the mac ecosystem, I am considering moving back to windows.

So, yes, this is yet another "look at my specs" thread, so any input/advise/criticism/ranting will be appreciated.
Just to give you an idea, I am going for a gaming and entertainment PC, want to play the latest games on near highest setting for a couple of years.

Input peripherals:
Razor Lyxosa Gaming Keyboard (http://www.pc-direct.co.za/pRZ03-00181400/RZ03-00181400---Razer-Lyxosa-Mirror-Gaming-Keyboard.aspx)

Razor Death Adder Mouse (http://www.pc-direct.co.za/pRZ01-00151400/RZ01-00151400---Razer-Death-Adder-3500.aspx)

Acer 24" LCD (http://www.pc-direct.co.za/pET.FG5H...ms-800001-VGA--DVI-wDHCP--HDMI-Black-TAR.aspx)

Intel Core i5 2500 3.3GHz LGA1155 Processor (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=21_688&products_id=52065)

Gigabyte GeForce GTX560 Ti (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=74_224&products_id=54356)

Intel BearUp Lake Motherboard (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=81_689&products_id=52045)

Kingston DDR3-1333 12GB (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=30_403&products_id=60895)

Corsair TX750W Power Supply (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/pr...ucts_id=14870&language=en?manufacturers_id=56)

Cooler Master RC-922M Chassis (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=50_51&products_id=26313)

Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=61_64&products_id=52046)

OCZ 120GB (http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=61_428&products_id=60582)
Click to expand...

Wootware:

CPU: 2500K - R2049

RAM: G.Skill Sniper 1.25v 1600 2x4GB 1600 (You do NOT remotely need 12GB) - R535

SSD: OCZ 120GB Vertex 3 - R1668

GPU: Sparkle GeForce GTX570 1280MB - R2999

GPU 2: Sapphire Radeon HD6950 2GB - R2948

GPU 3: Club 3D Radeon HD 6950 2GB - R2990

MOBO: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 - R1483

COOLER: Cogage TRUE Spirit - R329

PSU: Corsair TX750 V2 - R1298
 
Last edited:
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