Basic PC Build

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325i

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Hey guys, so I am in the process of looking at putting a PC together from scratch (first time, only ever disassembled and reassembled old PCs before) and was hoping I could get a few pointers about the parts I have so far put together. Looking at building a rig at no more than R5500 (max budget)

Basically what I use the PC for:
-Gaming, very light gaming: NFS World, Rift, TF2, and the likes. Not really looking for 60FPS but would like to maintain 30FPS throughout gameplay (also Graphics card is not a necessity atm)
-University Work, the odd assignment and research.
-Streaming from PC to Xbox (Videos and Music)

So this is what I've come up with so far, looking at Intel because I've only ever used it, but I am open to using AMD.

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CPU: Intel i3 4160 3,6GHz R1482

MB: Asus H81M-K R700

RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 4GB DDR3 1600MHz R510

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB R780

PSU: Corsair VS 450W R500 . Is this PSU too powerful? I have seen a Thermaltake Lite Power 450w PSU for about R300

Case: CoolerMaster Elite 344 Mini Tower Micro-ATX R450

Optional: LG DVD Drive R180

MS Windows 8.1 64 bit R1130

Only items being carried over are: mouse, keyboard and LCD Screen
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Currently this build sits at R5700-ish but with that Thermaltake PSU it will come down by about R150, so closer to R5500 budget.

Also just a few Qs:
-Is the motherboard/PSU too advanced for this build and would it be better to go for a lower spec one?
-Will the PSU fit in the case? (how would you know if it does? or does not?)

Hope you guys can help, Thanks for all your help in advance :)
 
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Don't think you can go any lower on the motherboard, the H81 is the very bottom of the line for Haswell (current Intel range) CPU's.

The power supply will fit yes. How do you know? It's a standard ATX PSU and standard Mini-tower ATX case. The only time you'd need to worry about PSU size is if you're building in a mini-ITX case or something non-standard.
 
TJ99 said:
Don't think you can go any lower on the motherboard, the H81 is the very bottom of the line for Haswell (current Intel range) CPU's.

The power supply will fit yes. How do you know? It's a standard ATX PSU and standard Mini-tower ATX case. The only time you'd need to worry about PSU size is if you're building in a mini-ITX case or something non-standard.
Click to expand...

Ahh ok thanks, thought some PSU didnt fit some cases, so then the MB is fine for this build?

ponder said:
http://www.takealot.com/msi-intel-h81m-p33-h81-chipset-motherboard-socket-1150/PLID28620999
http://www.takealot.com/thermaltake-v2s-edition-chassis-with-350w-psu-built-in-black/PLID28061169

There are some savings if you go with the above, case has psu included. 450W is way overkill for what you have specced.

There are some free R100 takealot vouchers floating around (see the thread in this section of the forum) which will save you another R100.

You should now be within your budget.
Click to expand...

:D Awesome thanks! That case+PSU is going to cut quite a bit off. So the PSU that comes with that case is ok in terms of quality? :D Cost Dropped to R5202 thanks to that case and PSU
 
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I know the i3 has the integrated Intel 4400 gpu or is it the 4000, I don't remember anyway, a cheap AMD or nVidia graphics card will go along way.
I've known skyrim to run on a similar setup so it'll handle your needs it won't be super pretty gaming but it'll do.

Also, Yes your power supply is a bit over powered for your rig as it is, you would be fine with 300 but when you get around to throwing in a graphics card then it'll be fine.
 
325i said:
Ahh ok thanks, thought some PSU didnt fit some cases, so then the MB is fine for this build?



:D Awesome thanks! That case+PSU is going to cut quite a bit off. So the PSU that comes with that case is ok in terms of quality? :D Cost Dropped to R5202 thanks to that case and PSU
Click to expand...

That's Kalahari PS4 prices there! :D
 
ponder said:
It's fine for what you are using it for ;)
Click to expand...
Ahh I see thanks again :)

GforceD said:
I know the i3 has the integrated Intel 4400 gpu or is it the 4000, I don't remember anyway, a cheap AMD or nVidia graphics card will go along way.
I've known skyrim to run on a similar setup so it'll handle your needs it won't be super pretty gaming but it'll do.

Also, Yes your power supply is a bit over powered for your rig as it is, you would be fine with 300 but when you get around to throwing in a graphics card then it'll be fine.
Click to expand...

Yes the i3 4160 has the 4400 integrated graphics, saw another i3 4370 which has the 4600 and R500 more, but similar Graphic specs.

GforceD said:
That's Kalahari PS4 prices there! :D
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Just the console with 1 controller right? :( Price skyrockets as soon as you add games and another controller.
 
325i said:
Yes the i3 4160 has the 4400 integrated graphics, saw another i3 4370 which has the 4600 and R500 more, but similar Graphic specs.
Click to expand...

Yeah rather save up and get something like a low end R7 260X/265. 265 will probaly require a bigger psu.
 
maloomjan said:
I'd rather go for the AMD (well I did). Check here http://www.evetech.co.za/PC-Hardware/amd-quad-core-apu-bundle-349.aspx
The R7 APU blows intel integrated gfx out of the water.

You can add a R7 250 gfx later and run it with the APU.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the AMD suggestion, that looks like a very good setup and 8 Gigs of RAM is more than enough. What kind of PSU would I be looking to use with that?

*Edit: it says 2x4GB but the option on the site says 4GB, the 8GB option is R700 more
 
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Yeah I also saw that with the ram (bit confusing), I got the 4gig. Seems ok for now, even running the APU using 1gig. Would be nice to get the extra 4 - you can then look to up the APU to 2gig.

I'm currently using an old 400watt PSU, which seems to be enough for this setup. Running most games (CSGO, Skyrim, Crysis2 etc) at decent frame rates.
 
maloomjan said:
Yeah I also saw that with the ram (bit confusing), I got the 4gig. Seems ok for now, even running the APU using 1gig. Would be nice to get the extra 4 - you can then look to up the APU to 2gig.

I'm currently using an old 400watt PSU, which seems to be enough for this setup. Running most games (CSGO, Skyrim, Crysis2 etc) at decent frame rates.
Click to expand...

The APU? Sorry my knowledge of components parts are very basic atm.

Hmm well if I keep the the 350W PSU that comes with the case that was suggested earlier cost goes up to R5670-ish I would then have to buy a 400/450W PSU that adds another R500 to the build :(. Will take a look at maybe other AMD CPUs tho.
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Ok so I have been looking around at an AMD build and this is what I have put together

CPU: AMD Kaveri A8-7600 R1 370

MB: MSI A78M-E35 R680

RAM: Same Corsair VS for R510

Case: Thermaltake V2 w/ 450W PSU R600

HDD: same WD Caviar Blue R780

OS and Optical drive are the same (R1130 and R180)

Total Cost at R5250
 
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An accelerated processing unit (APU, also advanced processing unit) is a computer's main processing unit that includes additional processing capability designed to accelerate one or more types of computations outside of a central processing unit (CPU). This may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) used for general-purpose computing (GPGPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or similar specialized processing system. As per wikipedia :D
 
maloomjan said:
An accelerated processing unit (APU, also advanced processing unit) is a computer's main processing unit that includes additional processing capability designed to accelerate one or more types of computations outside of a central processing unit (CPU). This may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) used for general-purpose computing (GPGPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or similar specialized processing system. As per wikipedia :D
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Thanks for that :D puts the video I watched on the A8 into perspective.

Finally made my mind up, going to go with Build no.2 with the A8 AMD :) mainly due to it being a quad processor at similar i3 prices. Thanks to all who helped, really appreciate it!
 
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