New PC Build - help please

hj2k_x said:
My main concern remains the ability to run the three screens off the one GPU or off the onboard GFX of the Z68 - I'll do a bit of Googling to see what this entails. I just assumed that if there are three video outs on a card/board, there must be a way to have them all work at the same time and give me three separate desktops.
Click to expand...

I think you can do 2, not sure of 3. Your options are to span or clone, don't think you can do separate desktops. I speak under correction though. This is wrt the onboard Intel HD gpu.
 
Bear in mind that the Z68A-GD65 has already been replaced with the Z77A-GD65. They are basically identical other than the newer chipset (which supports Ivy Bridge). I was also looking for the Z68A-GD65, but there is absolutely no stock. There seems to be stock on the newer one though.

droid said:
Regarding the RAM
There is very little price difference between a 1600Mhz and 1866Mhz with XMP. I would rather go for the latter.


Mobo
That board is fine.
This is very trivial and quite possibly not necessary but if your budget allows it also look into getting a Pci-3 motherboard.
The cheapest one currently is the MSI MB-Z68A-GD65 (G3) motherboard (If it is in stock at suppliers)

And with a Z68 you can use that Kingston as a cache drive.

You could also upgrade to Pci-3 graphics card in a few years time. (If you intend in keeping the system that long)
Click to expand...
 
hj2k_x said:
Would adding a discrete GPU mean I could run a third monitor or is it a case of onboard or discrete GPU but not both? I really want the third monitor...
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply, you could add an ATI Radeon 5450 @ R350 for running three monitors, but Ivy Bridge i5's with HD 4000 and Z77 motherboards are releasing on April 29th, if you upgrade, your build should be 1 more year future proofed.
 
Duff-Man said:
Sorry for the late reply, you could add an ATI Radeon 5450 @ R350 for running three monitors, but Ivy Bridge i5's with HD 4000 and Z77 motherboards are releasing on April 29th, if you upgrade, your build should be 1 more year future proofed.
Click to expand...

That 5450 sounds like the way forward then :)
 
hj2k_x said:
That 5450 sounds like the way forward then :)
Click to expand...
And to be clear, would this be in addition to the gfx on the mobo or in addition to the other, more powerful card? If the latter is the case, then I should go for a cheaper mobo methinks..


Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk
 
The Lucid Virtu software (What allows you to use intergrated GPU's) would still be using "the most appropriate" GPU for each concurrent task. However output to the discrete card would be limited, such as video appearing slower on the discrete GPU-connected monitor.

Furthermore, windowing/full-screening a program on the discrete GPU-connected monitor would force Lucid Virtu to use the discrete GPU even though it's not necessarily "the most appropriate" GPU as it would normally determine when the program is windowed/full-screened on the integrated GPU-connected monitor, in which case both GPUs would presumably be available and "the most appropriate" one used for the task without restriction.

So your 5450 would be in addition to your Intel HD 3000 Graphics. If you want better performance you can overclock your Intel GPU : http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7950&pageid=7758.
 
Duff-Man said:
The Lucid Virtu software (What allows you to use intergrated GPU's) would still be using "the most appropriate" GPU for each concurrent task. However output to the discrete card would be limited, such as video appearing slower on the discrete GPU-connected monitor.

Furthermore, windowing/full-screening a program on the discrete GPU-connected monitor would force Lucid Virtu to use the discrete GPU even though it's not necessarily "the most appropriate" GPU as it would normally determine when the program is windowed/full-screened on the integrated GPU-connected monitor, in which case both GPUs would presumably be available and "the most appropriate" one used for the task without restriction.

So your 5450 would be in addition to your Intel HD 3000 Graphics. If you want better performance you can overclock your Intel GPU : http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7950&pageid=7758.
Click to expand...

OK, that makes sense.

And the 5450 seems pretty cheap, too. I take it it can be any 5xxx series card?
 
hj2k_x said:
OK, that makes sense.

And the 5450 seems pretty cheap, too. I take it it can be any 5xxx series card?
Click to expand...

Yes, the 5450 is the lowest-end card in that series, cards above it will only perform better.
 
Regarding SSD, do they compress data better than a normal HD? I'm also looking to upgrade my system and get my first SSD. Can definitely not afford more than 120gb and am concerned that I'll struggle to stay within that. My current c: (programs, games, years of emails...but all other data on a separate disk) is at 240gb :-/
 
nakedpeanut said:
So finally, what do I recommend (prices from takealot and wootware):
CPU: i5 2500k @ R2049
MOBO: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 (PCIe - 3.0) @ R1483
RAM: G.Skill Ares 8GB 1600MHz 1.5v @ R 525
GPU: MSI Radeon 6850 1024MB Cyclone Power Edition @ R1803
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB @ R1445
CASE: Coolermaster RC-550 Silencio Chassis R860 <- really a classy looking case and has some sound proofing.
HDD: 500GB @ R840
Click to expand...

+1 best bang for R10k for sure. H, put the remaining R1k into a new quality 500watt PSU and CPU cooler. Treating such a PC with a low end Huntkey is a slap in the face. :p

PSUs you should look at are Antec High Current Gamer 520watt, Corsair GS500 (both around R750) and Cooler Master GX550 (around R650). GX550 actually looks like a good choice with its 5 year warranty. Best bang cooler is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.

PC is overkill but will last another 5 years. :)
 
PostmanPot said:
+1 best bang for R10k for sure. H, put the remaining R1k into a new quality 500watt PSU and CPU cooler. Treating such a PC with a low end Huntkey is a slap in the face. :p

PSUs you should look at are Antec High Current Gamer 520watt, Corsair GS500 (both around R750) and Cooler Master GX550 (around R650). GX550 actually looks like a good choice with its 5 year warranty. Best bang cooler is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.

PC is overkill but will last another 5 years. :)
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me.

Though, with the Z68 board, can I not downgrade the GPU to a bottom of the range one just to run the third monitor?
 
hj2k_x said:
Sounds good to me.

Though, with the Z68 board, can I not downgrade the GPU to a bottom of the range one just to run the third monitor?
Click to expand...

Yes you can. But PC is seriously overkill if you're asking this question. If you're unlikely to game on PC again and will only look at consoles then there is no point having a R10k budget and getting all the bells and whistles. Rather look at a low power i5 and 4GB RAM or something and you can save thousands that would have otherwise been unnecessarily spent. If you plan on PC gaming again it's another story...
 
PostmanPot said:
Yes you can. But PC is seriously overkill if you're asking this question. If you're unlikely to game on PC again and will only look at consoles then there is no point having a R10k budget and getting all the bells and whistles. Rather look at a low power i5 and 4GB RAM or something and you can save thousands that would have otherwise been unnecessarily spent. If you plan on PC gaming again it's another story...
Click to expand...

I don't plan on PC gaming. The main thing is the three monitors. If there is a cheaper way of doing that, then I gladly would. The i5 and 4GB RAM sounds fine to me.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk
 
As for gfx card, HD5450 would be fine. But only if you're happy with 1 x D-Sub (analogue), 1 x DVI and 1 x HDMI (both digital).

I quite like this HD6450 Flex with 2 x DVI among others, pricey though at R695ish:

Sapphire HD6450 Flex - support Eyefinity -3x lcd ( 3 x lcd without displayport lcd or active adapter ) , Silent heatsink only + extra Low-profile bracket , 1Gb 64bit DDR3 , RoPs : 4 , 12.8Gb/sec memory transfer , 160 stream processors , 200GigaFLoPs, 6GT/s texture fill rate , core/memory : 625/1600mhz , 2x dvi+hdmi , with dvi-to-dsub adapter + hdmi-to-dvi adapter , HDMi+HDTV-out - retail pack

If you're wanting a bit of oomph for the future, then I would go with HD6770 at around R1,200. Also comes with 2 x DVI which IMO is better.

You could also look at upgrading your 32" LCD to a full HD model like the current LA32D550 at around R3,500.
 
PostmanPot said:
As for gfx card, HD5450 would be fine. But only if you're happy with 1 x D-Sub (analogue), 1 x DVI and 1 x HDMI (both digital).

I quite like this HD6450 Flex with 2 x DVI among others, pricey though at R695ish:

Sapphire HD6450 Flex - support Eyefinity -3x lcd ( 3 x lcd without displayport lcd or active adapter ) , Silent heatsink only + extra Low-profile bracket , 1Gb 64bit DDR3 , RoPs : 4 , 12.8Gb/sec memory transfer , 160 stream processors , 200GigaFLoPs, 6GT/s texture fill rate , core/memory : 625/1600mhz , 2x dvi+hdmi , with dvi-to-dsub adapter + hdmi-to-dvi adapter , HDMi+HDTV-out - retail pack

If you're wanting a bit of oomph for the future, then I would go with HD6770 at around R1,200. Also comes with 2 x DVI which IMO is better.

You could also look at upgrading your 32" LCD to a full HD model like the current LA32D550 at around R3,500.
Click to expand...

In terms of these gfx cards, are they all in addition to the onboard gfx on the Z68 mobos?

I want to use my current TV as the third monitor if possible and replace it with a bigger version of the same (or very similar) thing.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk
 
Yes, I don't think you will be using onboard. Not sure if one can even run onboard and graphics cards these days?
 
PostmanPot said:
Yes, I don't think you will be using onboard. Not sure if one can even run onboard and graphics cards these days?
Click to expand...
That was my understanding. So, basically you suggest less RAM, an i5 and less powerful gfx card? All of those which you have suggested will run all three monitors as separate desktops at 1920x1200 then? :)

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk
 
Should do - it does 1920x1080. :p ;) But rather look at 6450 and up though since they are a fair bit faster for a small price increase. The 6450 Flex is ideal if you don't want D-Sub/VGA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X