New pc recommendations

A

adsl2

Expert Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
1,213
Reaction score
2
Hi all,

I am now ready to buy a new pc. I have the following in mind:

4 x Kingston VALUERAM KVR1333D3N9/2G 2GB DDR-1333 1.5v CL9 Desktop R936.24 (inc VAT)

1 x Sapphire Radeon HD6850 1GB GDDR5 256-bit PCI-E x16 R2088.07 (inc VAT) Is the toxic worth the extra? Is it worth looking at other cards or brands like nvidia or brands like club3d?

1 x Corsair CX600 600W Power Supply Unit R733.93 (inc VAT) too big? too small? Is a branded psu important?

1 x Seagate ST31000524AS Barracuda 1TB SATA6G 7200rpm R567.31 (inc VAT)
1 x Intel "Buffalo Flat" DP67BA LGA1155 Dual-Channel DDR3 PCI-E x16 ? R1043.37 (inc VAT)

1 x Samsung SH-S223C 22x SATA Internal DVD Writer R220.25 (inc VAT)
1 x Coolermaster Elite 430 (RC-430) Black Chassis with Window - No PSU R434.82 (inc VAT) Is this a good case?

1 x Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core LGA1155 3.4GHz Boxed Processor R2805.13 (inc VAT)

Total: R8829.12

Any advice, changes or recommendations will be appreciated.
Any AMD's looking into?
I am not sure about the MB, what is the difference between the p67and h67?

Anything else you can think of?
Thank you very much:)
 
Don't even bother with amd bud, they are so far off the pace not even the fanboi's recommend them :D.
 
1) Rather get 2x 4GB than 4x 2GB RAM modules.
2) Go for the Corsair CX500, seeing that the CX600 is too big
3) The case is perfect for an entry level gaming PC
4) If you want to use the PC just for gaming, then rather downgrade the CPU to an i5 2500K and upgrade the graphics card to like an HD 6950
With the 2500k & 2600k CPU's, you'd really want to go for a P67 chipset, so that you can overclock the CPU's.

Could you perhaps tell us what the PC will be used for, because 8GB of RAM might be overkill.
 
Thanks for all the replies,
@Pada: Is the cx600 physically to big or just in Watts?
The pc will be used for gaming as well as photoshop.
Is the difference between the i5 and i7 very big?
@PostmanPot: Reason?
Thanks
 
adsl2 said:
Thanks for all the replies,
@Pada: Is the cx600 physically to big or just in Watts?
The pc will be used for gaming as well as photoshop.
Is the difference between the i5 and i7 very big?
@PostmanPot: Reason?
Thanks
Click to expand...

1. Better warranty/after-sales service (3 day swap-out since Asus is based locally)
2. Better quality components
3. Better overclocking
4. Better looks
5. It's Asus :p
 
Pada said:
1) Rather get 2x 4GB than 4x 2GB RAM modules.
2) Go for the Corsair CX500, seeing that the CX600 is too big
3) The case is perfect for an entry level gaming PC
4) If you want to use the PC just for gaming, then rather downgrade the CPU to an i5 2500K and upgrade the graphics card to like an HD 6950
With the 2500k & 2600k CPU's, you'd really want to go for a P67 chipset, so that you can overclock the CPU's.

Could you perhaps tell us what the PC will be used for, because 8GB of RAM might be overkill.
Click to expand...

I agree with this and would just like to add one thing.

Instead of the 6850, I suggest that you rather go for a similarly priced 6870 like this one. Also, don't worry about who the manufacturer is too much. This is a reference design and is identical in every way to every other reference card out there, be it ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte etc etc. :)
 
Ono'rach said:
I agree with this and would just like to add one thing.

Instead of the 6850, I suggest that you rather go for a similarly priced 6870 like this one. Also, don't worry about who the manufacturer is too much. This is a reference design and is identical in every way to every other reference card out there, be it ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte etc etc. :)
Click to expand...

The difference is warranty/after-sales service. Not so much the product. ;)

Asus/Gigabyte are the kings. 3 year warranty with fast swap-out, and local support in Asus's case. Cheapo brands tend to have <2 year warranties.

You don't want to learn the hard way that the Asus/Gigabyte was worth the 2 - 5% increased price.

My opinion.
 
adsl2 said:
Thanks for all the replies,
@Pada: Is the cx600 physically to big or just in Watts?
The pc will be used for gaming as well as photoshop.
Is the difference between the i5 and i7 very big?
@PostmanPot: Reason?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Your PC would probably not even consume 350W in total, so getting a 600W PSU is bit of a waste.
The CX600 is the same physical size as the CX500, but just more expensive ;)
The CX430 should work too, but then you might run into a small problem where your graphics card requires 2x PEG connectors and the CX430 has only 1. You can always use an adapter that takes 2x molex connectors to a PEG connector.
If you're going for an HD 6870 or better, I would advise you to rather go with the CX500 though, seeing as these cards all require 2x PEG connectors, unlike the HD 6850 that can run from 1 - or at least this is what I assume from it's rated TDP.

The price difference between the i5 & i7 is massive: ~R1k.
The performance in the games is negligible!

You should only go for the i7 if you're a hardcore overclocker or running applications that can make proper use of multiple threads - like video/audio encoding for instance.

Update:
I forgot to mention that you can get the VTX3D HD 6870 for R1,999 at WootWare, which makes it about R10% cheaper, and not just 2-5%, in which case it would be better to buy a Gigabyte/Asus one.
 
Last edited:
Most 6850's use 1 x PCI-E power connector. Seems the OCed ones are the ones that use 2 (like my Sapphire Toxic 6850).

I would only consider VTX3D after hearing about the after sales service/warranty swap-out process, which I haven't.
 
PostmanPot said:
The difference is warranty/after-sales service. Not so much the product. ;)

Asus/Gigabyte are the kings. 3 year warranty with fast swap-out, and local support in Asus's case. Cheapo brands tend to have <2 year warranties.

You don't want to learn the hard way that the Asus/Gigabyte was worth the 2 - 5% increased price.

My opinion.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is a good point :)

The Club3d has a two year warranty though, which is not too bad.

I obviously can't speak about after sales service etc, as mine is still going strong.
 
Thanks for all the replies. How big of a difference will I see between the i5 and i7 in adobe lightroom and Photoshop? Would you rather recommend that I take a 6870 'off' brand than a 6850 Sapphire?
 
adsl2 said:
Thanks for all the replies. How big of a difference will I see between the i5 and i7 in adobe lightroom and Photoshop?
Click to expand...

The i7 has HT, which will help with multithreaded applications. I don't know if those programs use multiple threads so can't help you there :p

adsl2 said:
Would you rather recommend that I take a 6870 'off' brand than a 6850 Sapphire?
Click to expand...

I did :)
 
Archer said:
Riiiiight, AMD GPUs suck :rolleyes: :p
Click to expand...

Well he asked if there were any amd's worth looking into whilst having an ati amd gpu in his list. I don't think we have shaken off the ati factor yet :D.

Amd = cpu
amd = gpu

but raedeon still separates them :D.
 
Last edited:
I have changed a few things, can you please give me your input?

1 x Seagate ST31000524AS Barracuda 1TB SATA6G 7200rpm R580.53 (inc VAT)
1 x Samsung SH-S223C 22x SATA Internal DVD Writer R220.25 (inc VAT)
1 x Coolermaster Elite 430 (RC-430) Black Chassis with Window - No PSU R434.82 (inc VAT)
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core LGA1155 3.4GHz Boxed Processor R2805.13 (inc VAT)
2 x Kingston KVR1333D3N9/4G VALUERAM 4GB DDR3-1333 1.5v CL9 Desktop R912.46 (inc VAT)
1 x Asus P8P67-M LGA1155 Dual-Channel DDR3 (New B3 Sandybridge) PCI-E x16 R1354.14 (inc VAT)
1 x Corsair CX500 500W Power Supply Unit R645.33 (inc VAT)
1 x VTX3D Radeon HD6870 1GB GDDR5 256-bit PCI-E x16 R2033.70 (inc VAT)
Total: R8986.36

Is this a better MB?
Anything you want to add?
Thank you very much:)
 
A better case. Pleeease!

Cooler Master Storm Sniper
" " Storm Sniper
If you want to splurge a bit, Corsair Obsidian 650D.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X