Gaming Box For +/- R10,000 - HELP!

PilgrimToHyperion

PilgrimToHyperion

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Hey guys,

I hope it's not too rude to ask for help seeing that I haven't posted much yet.

Here goes ...

Lightning hit my PC about 2 weeks ago and the insurance claim paid out R10,000. I need to buy a gaming pc. I'm utterly confused about what I should get and what I shouldn't. I've been to Sybaritic's website, PCINT , Prophecy etc, but now I'm even more confused.

What would you recommend in terms of CPU, MB ( this is a pain as I'm looking at the I5, but it seems most motherboards that support it is around R3,000), GPU ( leaning towards a 5870 for the DX11, but is it worth it? ), RAM ( someone told me 4GB is must for today's games and Win 7), PSU ( is 650W enough? ) and a chassis. Although I wish I could, I cannot afford to buy a new monitor, speakers and router now - they all suffered a bit with the lightning ...

I'd be very happy if you could spare a moment to help a lost soul with this!

Thanks so long.
 
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i5 system with a 5850 would be best I think. 5870 would use up almost half your budget
 
hahaha rude, lol... not at all. That is what the forum is for regardless of the amount you have posted, I too was once a lowly single digit poster. ;)

For R10k you could probably get a fairly decent i7 rig, depending on the components you require, if the lightning took out everything then you are probably gonna be stuck with the lower end of the i5 market if you want a decent GPU, but I am going to assume the following:

1.) you are not an overclocker.
2.) you do not require a dual GPU setup
3.) you probably can't tell me exactly what make, brands, etc you are interested in
4.) you most likely need only the major components for your setup
So here goes, for a mid level gaming rig i would recommend the following:

Get an I7-860 CPU if you have no interest in Dual GPU's or Upgradeability within the next 3 or so years: http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?target=products&product_id=4663

Get OCZ 4GB low latency 1333MHZ kit: http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?target=products&product_id=4637

Get an Asus ASUS P7P55D LE Motherboard: http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?target=products&product_id=4079

Get a Sapphire 5850 GPU: http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?target=products&product_id=4676

this should come to a total of R10 085.00 and will likely last you at least three years. It will play every game at full tilt and supports all the latest gaming relevant tech, ie DX11 etc.

If these prices from ikonic are still too steep, and i am not to impressed with them at the moment by the way, and you are in JHB... the wiskey is affecting my judgement... then give me a shout and i could probably better them ever so slightly (few hundred rand).

Edit: Hooking you up will cost you a few beers and a lekka braai at your expense ;)

By the way if you are in JHB then give me a shout and i will try make a plan to test the other components in your rig for you to find out exactly what is shot and what is not... I am just being nice because i feel the pain of a fellow lightning victim in need... ordinarily I am a @#$%@#$. ;)
 
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If you are in Cape Town contact me and I can help put one together
 
@Rosaudio - well worth the consideration. It is expensive for that 5870...sigh.

@fionab - based on PTA, but thanks a lot.

@rtzouves - Although lightning didn't take out EVERYTHING, I still have to replace all of it. I had an old single core P4, with 1GB DDR2, a 7900GTX, a 350W PSU - all of which was very prone to overheating anyway. :-) I think you see why I need to upgrade everything.

I appreciate the links and the recommendations - they're quite impressive, but alas, I will need to include a PSU and a chassis too. Both PSU and chassis are around R1,000 each, which brings the total to around R12,000, which is still viable.

Clarification on the GPU and CPU that you recommend though please. Isn't the I5 worth it? Also, after googling a bit I see flame wars going on about the 4890 vs the 5850 ... why are you recommending the 5850?

Thanks in advance.
 
Beylie said:
@Rosaudio - well worth the consideration. It is expensive for that 5870...sigh.

@fionab - based on PTA, but thanks a lot.

@rtzouves - Although lightning didn't take out EVERYTHING, I still have to replace all of it. I had an old single core P4, with 1GB DDR2, a 7900GTX, a 350W PSU - all of which was very prone to overheating anyway. :-) I think you see why I need to upgrade everything.

I appreciate the links and the recommendations - they're quite impressive, but alas, I will need to include a PSU and a chassis too. Both PSU and chassis are around R1,000 each, which brings the total to around R12,000, which is still viable.

Clarification on the GPU and CPU that you recommend though please. Isn't the I5 worth it? Also, after googling a bit I see flame wars going on about the 4890 vs the 5850 ... why are you recommending the 5850?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

5850>4890 by quite a bit.
 
Hi beylie,

yeah there are often flame wars, but to be perfectly honest and in my opinion i would definately go for the 5850 as the 4890 does not support DX11, so unless you want to upgrade again in a year or two then i would stick with the 5850, similar performance for a similar price, but with the dx11 support.

A 1TB HDD can be gotten for as little as R600, the Chassis is really about choice more than anything else... you need to look around, for the rig you are building it would not be a major factor and the case would be more about preference with regards to style. The PSU I would recommend a decent 500 watt branded PSU (about R800-1000), but thats because my own personal preference says never go with unbranded PSU's and never buy less than 500 watts for a gaming rig.

Unfortunately I have the "boss" pulling at my arm for a game of Crysis wars, yes impressive the "wife" plays crysis, so i better get to that... but I will try and post a Quote with some pricing later tonight... bear in mind that i never ever do this as it is not "fair" to the retail guys on the forum, but i relate to your lightning strike plight and as such will give you everything at cost, we will try to make a plan to get you back up and running with a decent gaming rig ASAP.

Edit: Crud... in my very wiskey drunken state i have forgotten to respond to the CPU Querry... The CPU is definately more than enough for what you require. It is an awesome CPU and is in actual fact a better CPU than the i7-920 when compared at stock speeds, of course the chipset we are looking at is the LGA 1156 based chipset and so upgradeablility is a bit of an uncertanty in the future, but the rig would be an absolutely awesome gaming rig for at least 2 yrs for the budget. The i5 is a possibility and really is not a bad CPU, but I was simply trying to maximise the rig for the budget you gave me and as a result i recommended the i7-860 which is a superior CPU.

You will really need to decide whether you want the best for what you have or if you simply want something that will do what you want at the current requirement. It is very difficult to tell you what the best option is because it is really more of a comparison of cost to a comparison of performance game when it comes to restricted budgets.
 
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rtzouves said:
Hi beylie,

yeah there are often flame wars, but to be perfectly honest and in my opinion i would definately go for the 5850 as the 4890 does not support DX11, so unless you want to upgrade again in a year or two then i would stick with the 5850, similar performance for a similar price, but with the dx11 support.

A 1TB HDD can be gotten for as little as R600, the Chassis is really about choice more than anything else... you need to look around, for the rig you are building it would not be a major factor and the case would be more about preference with regards to style. The PSU I would recommend a decent 500 watt branded PSU (about R800-1000), but thats because my own personal preference says never go with unbranded PSU's and never buy less than 500 watts for a gaming rig.

Unfortunately I have the "boss" pulling at my arm for a game of Crysis wars, yes impressive the "wife" plays crysis, so i better get to that... but I will try and post a Quote with some pricing later tonight... bear in mind that i never ever do this as it is not "fair" to the retail guys on the forum, but i relate to your lightning strike plight and as such will give you everything at cost, we will try to make a plan to get you back up and running with a decent gaming rig ASAP.

Edit: Crud... in my very wiskey drunken state i have forgotten to respond to the CPU Querry... The CPU is definately more than enough for what you require. It is an awesome CPU and is in actual fact a better CPU than the i7-920 when compared at stock speeds, of course the chipset we are looking at is the LGA 1156 based chipset and so upgradeablility is a bit of an uncertanty in the future, but the rig would be an absolutely awesome gaming rig for at least 2 yrs for the budget. The i5 is a possibility and really is not a bad CPU, but I was simply trying to maximise the rig for the budget you gave me and as a result i recommended the i7-860 which is a superior CPU.

You will really need to decide whether you want the best for what you have or if you simply want something that will do what you want at the current requirement. It is very difficult to tell you what the best option is because it is really more of a comparison of cost to a comparison of performance game when it comes to restricted budgets.
Click to expand...
:confused:
The 5850's performance is way above that of the 4890. The 5850 performs just above a GTX285 whereas the 4890 performs similarly to a GTX 275.....
 
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Zenbaas said:
:confused:
The 5850's performance is way above that of the 4890. The 5850 performs just above a GTX285 whereas the 4890 performs similarly to a GTX 275.....
Click to expand...

lol, very true, my bad, the 5850 really does give the 4890 a whipping... like i said before... wiskey has #$%##$ with my brain... but i am all better now after a good whipping in crysis. Will post some pricing for your rig as soon as I have licked my wounds. Actually perhaps i should PM those prices so as not to give away distributor pricing... yeah I think so. Will PM you shortly.
 
Hmmm, so, something like this?:

ASUS P7P55D - R 1,544
Core i5-750 - R 1,879
Mushkin Copperhead DDR3-1600 4GB kit - R1340.37
Sapphire HD5850 - R3488.13
Vantec ioN2 600w - R830.44

Total - R9081

All you need now is a decent hardrive, optical drive and case. You could add in a bit of cash for those I guess :)
 
Silverlight said:
+1 to what Zenbaas just said

A 4870x2 barely beats a 5850 so it's much better than a 4890
Click to expand...

A 4870X2 is on par with a 5870, in some cases it actually beats it.

A 4890 is still a powerful card but I'd still say get a 5850. If you can find any in stock. :/
 
Yeah I agree with Frag. You're just going to have to wait for them to come into stock though, apparently the 23 Nov. For R700 difference it's well worth it.
 
One thing you should have noticed in this thread though, shop around. Spend a little more time on shopping around and you can save some money here and there.

I think that is what most of us do anyway, unless you are lazy. :D :P
 
SharkBait said:
...unless you are lazy. :D :P
Click to expand...

That I am :-) No, I've been doing my homework and have a pretty good idea of what I want. Now it's just a matter of finding the right prices.

@Frag - that is a good price. Unknown brand to me though? Any experience with it?

@Sheepbot - those are good prices. May I ask where you got them from?

@rtzouves - thanks again for the info - I've PM'd you.
 
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