Gaming rig help

Well done on that post Wesley!

There are a few changes that I'd recommend though, like upgrading the SSD to a 120GB one: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB @ R1,389

I'd also advise going for just 2x 4GB DDR3 1600MHz now and rather upgrade later when you need it. Since Ivy Bridge doesn't have to be overclocked to use DDR3 1600MHz RAM and it doesn't cost much more than DDR3 1333MHz either (eg. G.Skill F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL @ R990), it would be beneficial. Playing with RAM timings isn't something that I can recommend for the average PC user. The motherboard that Wesley recommended can go up to DDR3 2666 with overclocking, but those modules are absurdly expensive.

For a gaming PC I'd stick with an i5 3570k for now, since it is R1000 cheaper and games don't really use all 4 cores to their full potential yet, especially not if you're overclocking it.
The CPU & GPU are aging so rapidly, buying it now and thinking it will last you 3 years is silly. New technologies (eg. Lucid Virtu MVP) will have a much larger impact on the performance than having extra CPU cores.
If you're going to use it for work that could make good use of 8 cores, then sure, spend R1000 more and take the i7 3770k. You won't regret doing it.

As for overclocking of the Ivy Bridge CPU's, there is the heat issue like you have mentioned, in which case it won't really be beneficial to move from an aftermarket air cooler to a water cooler, because the heat simply won't be transfered away from the CPU to your cooler fast enough. Hopefully Intel will fix this in a new revision rather than a new generation.
Overclocking the i5 3570k to 4.2GHz on a stock cooler is kind of dodgy over the long run and it would be pretty darn noisy too. For this reason I'd recommend a cheap aftermarket air cooler (eg. CM Hyper 212 Evo) if you're going to overclock.

BluRay writers are still too expensive (compared to DVD writers of R150), but perhaps not such a bad option when you take a look at the current HDD prices.
 
The Agility 3 series is quite old now, though. The Adata I listed has the revised Sandforce controller with custom firmware that doesn't drop incompressible read/write speeds like others do - its not a Marvell controller, but its pretty close. 64GB is the better value choice anyway but it is an option, I agree. Once the Vertex 4 drops in price, I'll be recommending those (Indilinx is worlds better now anyway).

As for Lucid, I've been following developments on that and OpenCL at the same time. Both are quite good, but with OpenCL you'll get the same performance benefits, if not more, so Lucid is moot for now since its only used in two apps. For a gamer that needs a longer lifespan between upgrades, the i7 is the more natural choice, especially since Hyper-threading actually works these days. RAM's subjective though, I guess I'm just not a fan of Geil's huge, ugly heatsinks. Mushkins have always been better performers in my experience. DDR3-1600 won't offer any performance benefits anyway since this isn't a Bulldozer or APU build.

Oh, also RAM won't be this cheap in a few months. I'm predicting a market flood that will raise prices by R100 to R200 while oversupply bottoms out.
 
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Thanks for the "inside" info ;)

The Agility 3 series is cheaper than the Vertex 3 and it isn't even that old either.
I suggested the 120GB one, because 64GB is really small when you're running Windows 7 and a couple of big games, unless you use it as a cache drive only.
Thanks for the info on the Adata SSD - I'll try to read up on those when I have time.

Lucid Virtu MVP is pretty awesome in terms of removing tearing (vsync) on large screens, but they still have a lot of development to do before it'll be beneficial to most games. I never used Vsync (except for CS1.6 on a 100Hz CRT screen) and now that I have a 2560x1600 monitor that is tearing badly without Vsync.
OpenCL is mainly used for computing/research and not really for gaming at this moment. I don't know of any big titles that are done in OpenCL.
The thing about Lucid is that you don't need to modify the game for it to work, where as OpenCL is a language in which you develop your application/games, so you can't simply patch/attach OpenCL like Lucid to make it go faster.
Just take note that I haven't really been following the developments regarding OpenCL, since I don't see it affecting games just yet.
 
I5 3570k is more then enough for out of this world performance, it might not be the coolest processor out there but at 4.4 mine maxes out at around 60-65 with a cheapie H40. I get the point Wes is trying to make regarding the 50% more for longlivity but I highly doubt anyone will see the difference in day to day use. I'm currently using the 3770k and I can't tell any difference over the 3570k I was using a week ago...

GTX 670 FTW! Thats as high as you should go, the performance increase/price diff from 670-680 just isn't worth it. @OP, supreme commander is one of the games we use for testing(80km x 80km with AI adaptive filling all the spots) and the 670 handles multiple nukes like a dream while the host pc has reached its unit cap of 1000. While all of that is happening its also possible to adjust the game speed, something our test rig(i7 970, gtx 580) can't manage.

Blu ray, bleh! Not something I'd get. Get a gigabit link between you and your NAS, now we're talking:D

Lastly the SSD, get one.... 60GB will take a lot of discipline though.
 
Don't get a 60gb, you will be land in a bad position.

A clan mate didn't listen to me and he only has windows 7 plus bf 3 and he is struggling for space. Windows is roughly 24-30gb depending and bf 3 is nearly 20gb.

Remember a 60gb is never 60gb it's normally 55 or somewhere there.
 
Thanks for the replies. I see I wrote "I specced" instead of saying i received a spec :o, was sleepy when I posted.
This is a spec that a guy is quoting me for, so I will see how much he charges and then adjust items accordingly.
I will prob change the MB to Gigabyte, drop to i5 CPU and reduce the amount of HDD. Thinking of adding a SSD now, but what size to get. Also, he's quoting me for a HD6970 GPU, I did a quick price check and that alone is over R4k, is there any other cards that I could look at that are a bit cheaper? I understand that the GPU is important but I'm not so sure I want to spend that much on one card. Then again, it does have 2GB. Would you recommend that I go for a 1GB device and any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your time. I'm not that technologically inclined, so some of this stuff flies over my head.
Ipwn 4, I also play Supreme commander, on my old GPU, it started to shudder when there were too many units, especially with the expansion (forged alliance?), which I had to tone down.

Oh I will also change from Win 7 Pro to Win 7 Home Premium. I remember getting Vista Professional.......
 
Goliath said:
http://mygaming.co.za/news/hardware/12445-pc-gaming-build-a-beast-on-a-budget-r5000.html

Saw this, bit old but anyone willing to update? Budget still R5000 and just for a box as I am also looking to buy gaming pc that can play mostly Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 currently.. :o
Click to expand...

I do a bi-monthly column on NAG Online to address System Builders and laptop buyers. One month I do desktops, and the next I do laptops and they're up every Tuesday for the first three weeks of the month.

SYSTEM BUILDERS: MAY R4000 TO R6000

The next one will be up on June 5, but I'll post what I will be putting up anyway:

Intel Core i3-2100 @ R1183
MSI H61M-P21 @ R460
Transcend JetRAM 4GB DDR3-1333 x2 @ R400
Sapphire HD7750 1GB DDR5 @ R1101
LG GH24NS90 @ R165
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB @ R945
Corsair VS450 @ R399
Cooler Master Elite 311 Plus @ R439

Total: R5092

You'll need to run 64-bit Windows, of course and make sure its not XP :-P That Cooler Master case is also really a gem, especially for under R500.

The writer of that other article is also an idiot. A Gigabyte chassis looks "classy?" Only their X7 gets near that, and its still a poor choice for gaming systems.
 
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