New PC

Mach III

Mach III

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Hi guys,

I would like to build a new computer, however I don't know what is the best place to buy the hardware from, and what is the best value for money.

I think the i7 950 is a good priced processor.

And what graphics card should I go for (not super expensive but DX11), and RAM.

And how much will it cost.

And where is the best place to buy if from?

Thanks
 
As always, state the primary use of the rig as well as overall budget. Do you need everything (mouse, keyboard, case) or just the inside stuff?
 
In terms of gaming, the i5 750/760 CPUs are much better value for money.
If you're working in multi-threaded environments on a daily basis, then it would be worth it to go for the i7 series CPUs.

Have a look at Archers' GPU Charts. If you're going for a gaming rig now, it would be worth it to rather spend a big cut of the budget on the graphics card rather than on the CPU.
I would suggest that you get at least a NVidia GTX 460 1GB / AMD HD 6850 (both available from R2000) or better :)

www.evetech.co.za is a good starting point for building gaming PC's, but you can do so much better by building your own rig.

I usually use pricecheck, oneshop & jump.co.za to find the cheapest prices on PC components. My favorite PC shops are Wootware (close to Stellenbosch) & Prophecy (free shipping with quotes exceeding R1500).
 
Mach III said:
Hi guys,

I would like to build a new computer, however I don't know what is the best place to buy the hardware from, and what is the best value for money.

I think the i7 950 is a good priced processor.

And what graphics card should I go for (not super expensive but DX11), and RAM.

And how much will it cost.

And where is the best place to buy if from?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Give budget and mian use for the pc. You may wanna get a 6core processor depending on what you do.
 
Well the 950 is an awesome cpu but you could always go with the amd 965 put the saving into a more expensive vga card if all you do is gaming.

No point having a good cpu with a kuk vga card :D. Rather have a decent cpu with a decent vga card.
 
Primary use would be for gaming.
I have a mouse, and keyboard and screen..
Just a standard case, power, small things like cables how much would that come to?

Don't have a buget in mind, probably around R8000-9000

But I want an i7!

That HD 6850 does look quite good.

Well I'm fom SW so how good is the shop wootware?
 
Gaming you really do not need i7 (LGA1366). You will achieve almost identical FPS at resolutions 1920x1080 and up with an i5 750/760 or Phenom 955/965. Rather spend more on an awesome GPU. Remember, games want GPU horses way more than they want CPU horses :)

So choose either of those CPUs, along with 4gb DDR3 RAM, suitable mobo (depends what option you choose), and then you should have R4500 for the GPU at least. Go the LGA1136 route and you will only have around R2500 for the GPU.

And yes, wootware is a great shop
 
I think I'm starting to get it... But what would the use of the i7 be if not for gaming?

What would the price difference be for (amd phenom 2 965 + motherboard) vs (intel i5 760 + motherboard)

I don't need a motherboard with 50 RAM slots, and 10 SLI's...
 
i7 = productivity and dual GPU setups. So if you are heavily into photoshop, rendering, 3D modelling or similar then i7 is for you, or for getting the full badwidth to both of your graphics cards.
Price difference between AM3 and LGA1156 is minimal, around R300-500 if both motherboards have similar features.
 
Thanks for the help, so no need for i7 -check.
and the 1156 motherboards do seem alot cheaper than the 1366.

I see an AMD hexacore for R1900, is that better than the i5 760?
 
Mach III said:
Thanks for the help, so no need for i7 -check.
and the 1156 motherboards do seem alot cheaper than the 1366.

I see an AMD hexacore for R1900, is that better than the i5 760?
Click to expand...

In current games, nope. Once again, at any semi decent resolution all mid to high end CPUs are the same from a gaming perspective.

Argh, you are upgrading at a strange time - both Intel sockets are set to be replaced, and even AMDs socket is on the way out. What CPU are you currently running? Perhaps a GPU only upgrade now with a CPU+mobo upgrade in 6 months time is the better option. Of course, this all relies on supposed release dates of all this new stuff...
 
Mach III said:
I think I'm starting to get it... But what would the use of the i7 be if not for gaming?

What would the price difference be for (amd phenom 2 965 + motherboard) vs (intel i5 760 + motherboard)

I don't need a motherboard with 50 RAM slots, and 10 SLI's...
Click to expand...

I7 would help if you are cross-firing or sli-ing 2x powerful graphics cards.

My suggestion:
I5 760
 
Another thing, how much power will I need?

I didn't expect the power supplies to cost more than the processor!!
 
Mach III said:
Another thing, how much power will I need?

I didn't expect the power supplies to cost more than the processor!!
Click to expand...

Single GPU setup you will not need more than 600W. Depending on what exact GPU you get you can get down to 400W.

i5 760 + HD6870 = ±320W full load
This site works fairlt well to figure these things out
 
Archer said:
In current games, nope. Once again, at any semi decent resolution all mid to high end CPUs are the same from a gaming perspective.

Argh, you are upgrading at a strange time - both Intel sockets are set to be replaced, and even AMDs socket is on the way out. What CPU are you currently running? Perhaps a GPU only upgrade now with a CPU+mobo upgrade in 6 months time is the better option. Of course, this all relies on supposed release dates of all this new stuff...
Click to expand...

Well right now I don't have a desktop. I use my laptop for work. It plays games quite well, its an i5 430m, 2gb 1333 RAM. HD4570 Graphics card.
It plays crysis and starcraft 2 on medium..

But I want to get a good desktop to play games on full graphics, as computer is looking better than my xbox now!

So your verdict is to wait a couple of months?
 
Mach III said:
Well right now I don't have a desktop. I use my laptop for work. It plays games quite well, its an i5 430m, 2gb 1333 RAM. HD4570 Graphics card.
It plays crysis and starcraft 2 on medium..

But I want to get a good desktop to play games on full graphics, as computer is looking better than my xbox now!

So your verdict is to wait a couple of months?
Click to expand...

Honestly I have no clue :p I've done all my upgrades for this year, so I can afford to wait until the next big thing comes out. If you have no desktop, then flip a coin between AMD and Intel and then go for either the Phenom 955 or i5 760
CPU - R1750
Mobo - R1500
RAM - R1000
PSU - R750
Case - R900
Left over for GPU (R9000 budget) - R3100 = HD6870 @ R2600
 
The Socket 1156 motherboards are cheaper, but as soon as you want to get SLI+CrossFire support the motherboards end up with roughly the same price as the Socket 1366 motherboards.
So as soon as you know that you want to go for SLI/CF, you should consider the i7 option, but the i7 CPU would still cost you about R800 more :(

For the current generation of games, you don't need anything more than 3 cores.
The AMD motherboards with USB3+SATA3 are slightly cheaper (~R200) than the Intel counterparts.
eg. http://www.prophecy.co.za/asus-m4a87td-amd870-dualchannel-ddr3-pcie-p-68867.html @ R1200 vs http://www.prophecy.co.za/asus-p7p55de-lga1156-dualchannel-ddr3-pcie-p-82528.html @ R1430

6 Core CPUs are a bit overboard in my opinion, unless you're going to use your PC for productivity.
The AMD quad core CPU costs less than the i5 7xx CPU's, but they consume more power and also produce more heat.
 
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