Building a PC

SaiyanZ

SaiyanZ

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Hi All, am planning on building a decent pc to be used mainly for gaming. The parts I'm going to use should be value for money but the pc must be able to play all games at max settings. Will use my 32" LCD as a screen for the moment. It's only has a resolution of 1366 x 768 but will suffice until I get a proper pc screen with a better resolution.

I've been reading through stuff on the net the last few days and have come up with the following build:

CPU: Q6600
GPU: 8800 GT extreme edition
Motherboard: Asus P5
Memory: 2x2G=4G @800Mhz
Hard drive: 500GB
DVD writer: a reliable one
Case: dont know
Power supply: dont know

Optional: maybe a decent sound card and speakers

Ok, so I've worked out some of the stuff above but am not sure of the specifics. Dont want to get ripped off when purchasing parts and stuff as I know there are several different versions of the 8800GT and even the CPU. So can anyone here with a bit of know-how please help me fill in the blanks and maybe be more specific in terms of the actual parts names and brands than I've been.

Am in Cape Town, anyone also know of places where I can get good deals :)
 
for Graphics ..... if you stay with an 8800GT, try get an XFX. Also make sure your PSU is nothing under 500W. It would help us tell you if you're getting ripped off if you posted the prices for your parts ;):D
 
for the case get a coolermaster cm690, they are brilliant!!!! about R700 odd for the case excluding psu...
 
Also say how much you're willing to pay for the entire system. There's loads of guys here on the forum who will work out the best deal you can get as long as the have a price to work from.
 
JUGGY said:
If mainly for gaming you should go for the E8500 or E8600 processor.
Click to expand...

E8400. Don't waste money.

What size LCD screen you planning to get in the future. You should get a a GFX card for that resolution.
 
yeah yeah, rather get the e8400 then ultraclock that baby!
 
Was looking at getting an Intel Core 2 Duo E8800, but some other forumites suggested I go for the Q6600 as some games to be released in the next couple of years will utilise more than 2 cores. Apparently the Q6600 overclocks really well too. So do you'll suggest I stick with a dual core? And which one, considering all my other components? I dont want to get a really expensive processor whos power will not be fully utilised because of the GPU or something else bottlenecking. Need something futureproof though so I wont have to upgrade for next 2 years at least.

My budget is around R10000 in building this, R12000 max I'd say. Remember, I already got a screen.
I dont have prices for parts yet, was looking at around R2000 for the CPU, around R3000 for the GPU and around R2000 for the motherboard. What brands do you'll suggest in SA for power supply, RAM, etc...?

Will have a look at that Coolmaster case. Thanks :)
 
10 or 12k is gonna net you a very nice PC bru .... wait til the knowledgeable chaps put together systems for you to compare (that's baiscally what I did before buying mine). :D
 
PostmanPot said:
The ATi HD4850 is a better card for roughly the same price. Unless you'd prefer Nvidia.
Click to expand...

I agree, this is a really good card if you happy to use ATI.
And if you can afford it, which I think you can considering you have a monitor already, get the 4870 (Roughly R3000)

If you want a real monster get the 4870X2 (these are roughly R5500)
 
Intel E8400/Q6600
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5D Dominator/Transcend AxeRam 2 x 2GB
Sapphire HD4870
Seagate 500GB SATA
LG 22x SATA DVD/RW
CoolerMaster CM690 + windowed side panel
Corsair VX550W

±R12000.
 
PostmanPot said:
Intel E8400/Q6600
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5D Dominator/Transcend AxeRam 2 x 2GB
Sapphire HD4870
Seagate 500GB SATA
LG 22x SATA DVD/RW
CoolerMaster CM690 + windowed side panel
Corsair VX550W

±R12000.
Click to expand...

Ahh, thanks. I'll probably get the above stuff with the Q6600. Am undecided on the graphics card though. The HD4870 is one of the newest cards around so wouldn't it be a bit overpriced? That's why I picked the 8800GT because it is the best-selling card since it came out and the price has dropped significantly since it is now 2nd generation... but still is a really good card. Is the HD4870 worth spending over a R1000 more?
 
SaiyanZ said:
Ahh, thanks. I'll probably get the above stuff with the Q6600. Am undecided on the graphics card though. The HD4870 is one of the newest cards around so wouldn't it be a bit overpriced? That's why I picked the 8800GT because it is the best-selling card since it came out and the price has dropped significantly since it is now 2nd generation... but still is a really good card. Is the HD4870 worth spending over a R1000 more?
Click to expand...

It's not overpriced considering it competes with, is better than, and is cheaper than the Nvidia GTX 260. If you want to spend less, then go for the HD4850 which is around the same price as the 8800GT and offers better performance. ;)

Some 3DMark scores here.

Check your private messages.
 
SaiyanZ said:
Ahh, thanks. I'll probably get the above stuff with the Q6600. Am undecided on the graphics card though. The HD4870 is one of the newest cards around so wouldn't it be a bit overpriced? That's why I picked the 8800GT because it is the best-selling card since it came out and the price has dropped significantly since it is now 2nd generation... but still is a really good card. Is the HD4870 worth spending over a R1000 more?
Click to expand...

Dude, HIS 4850 IceQ4 from Landmark: R2005.15
http://www.landmarkpc.co.za/store/digital-4850-iceq-512mb-4850-p-2275.html

It kicks the 8800gt hands down..
 
Ok, I've spent some time looking at prices on the net. Most of the stuff is probably priced too high as I didn't do any thorough searching.


Intel Q6600 R 2,000.00
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R R 2,000.00
Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5D 2 x 2GB R 1,800.00
ATI HD4850 R 2,005.00
Seagate 500GB SATA R 1,000.00
LG 22x SATA DVD/RW R 280.00
CoolerMaster CM690 + windowed side panel R 840.00
Corsair VX550W R 1,100.00

Total 11,025.00


So that's basically what I'm looking at for now. Probably around R1k or so lower because. Any recommendations on where I can purchase the goods for better prices in Cape Town or online? Or improvements/money savers?
 
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