Putting together a decent rig. Any advice?

D

deadman

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Hey everyone,

This is my first post on MyBroadband (I have been a reader here for a while though), so "Hello" to the community :) Looking forward to being a active/helpful member of this board.

I want to build a machine which can play games at decent framerates and generally give a good value for money. I am going to spend about R8000-R9000 on the machine so no i7 and 4870x2/GTX295's for me.

So far this is what I have put together after weeding through alot of personal and professional opinions online:

Motherboard: Jetway XBlue-G45.

Jetway may sound foreign but its not all that bad. Plus a motherboard with G45 chipset for just under R1000 isn't all that bad. The bios also allows to easily alter the voltage/multiplier/etc for some good overclocking.

CPU: Intel Core2Duo E8400 3.0Ghz

E8400 has the exact same features as its more powerful variants E8500/E8600. From what I have gathered, E8400 can reach E8600 speeds (3.33Ghz) with a stock Fan and Heatsink. The price difference between E8400 and E8500/E8600 is quite significant so I wanna stick to E8400.

Ram: 2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2-800Mhz

Nothing really to say here. 4GB of RAM should be enough for most multi-tasking/gaming needs.

Graphics Card: Point Of View Nvidia 9800GTX+ 512MB

The card falls in the R2500-R2800 range and performance wise its between mid-range (9800GT) and high-end (9800GX2). It should play most games at decent framerates on a 19" monitor.

Hard-Drive: Seagate 1TB Sata, 32MB cache

I've checked with the supplier. This is a newer seagate drive and does not suffer from the lockup problem recently ranted about all over the net.

So far the above setup is already touching R7500. I still need a new case and a power supply to run the whole show.

I am concerned about the power supply as any decent PSU above 450/460Watts rips through R1000 mark. Will i need a power supply higher than 460Watts?Any suggestions?

Any suggestions/additions/recommendations on the above spec will be really helpful.

deadman
 
Your specs sound ok enough, you will be able to do a lot with a system like that. One thing I can say is that you should bite the bullet and get a decent power supply. It's often overlooked, but is the heart of your system. If you pump poor power in, your components will suffer over time. Plus, a decent supply will last years and upgrades to come. I whole heartedly reccommend any Corsair power supply.

I don't know how you feel about Vista, but you should use a 64 bit version of it so that you can make full use of those 4GB's of ram. It's not worth sticking to XP anymore. A system like yours will fly with Vista.
 
Thanks for the suggestion Asha'man X, i will look into a good PSU, but again, how many watts should it be to run the system stable? I used the online PSU Watts calculator (http://web.aanet.com.au/SnooP/psucalc.php) and it says under highest of loads, usage is around 259W. I understand that 259W is kinda unrealistic but I do not want to over spend either. Will a Corsair or Gigabyte 450W PSU run good?

I do not have Vista64 unfortunately :( Maybe I can "borrow" it from someone to try it out and then maybe keep it :P
 
go for corsair psu's, not the GB odin's....

buy the best 3dcard you can afford, then think of the rest of the parts...

not bad system, btw...


dunno if you wanna spend another 400 bucks, but it's generally a good a idea to have a smaller HDD for your windows, and use the 1TB for storage....
 
I guess Corsair it is. I'll still just make sure about the required watts.
This is the best card I can afford where my motherboard can utilize it's full potential (PCI-e 2.0 16x). Anything better than this goes to R4000+.

Thanks, I hope this system lasts me for a little while :)

I do have another 160GB SATA laying around and I had intended to install Windows on it..

Thanks for the suggestions Keeper :)
 
Its not so much about the wattage anymore, laymans terms its more about the amount of amps on the 12v etc.

A decent brand 500W+ will be more than adequate. I'd also recommend a corsair id you can afford it although I have a Gigabyte 550w and it works perfectly with my similar system.
 
Yep brawler is right.

OT: the gigabytes have more rails though, don't they?
 
Hmm.. Just looked through some power supplies at Zaps. The corsairs are all R1000+. Gigabyte on the other hand has 550W for ~R700 without temperature monitor and ~R1200 with the bells and whistles... Should I just go for the simple 550W PSU?
 
deadman said:
Hmm.. Just looked through some power supplies at Zaps. The corsairs are all R1000+. Gigabyte on the other hand has 550W for ~R700 without temperature monitor and ~R1200 with the bells and whistles... Should I just go for the simple 550W PSU?
Click to expand...

yeah....it should do. Zaps is pretty expensive BTW....

maybe you should contact JUGGY...

oh - and check out www.pcint.co.za - they are dirt cheap!
 
I see what you mean.. Bytheway, pcint don't have PSU's on their components list. Maybe I should email them and find out.

JUGGY is in Capetown.. Bank Transfers/Posting/etc would be a bit of hassle. Plus I prefer to buy from closeby so if there are problems, I can contact / send the part right away.

I am in Pretoria btw.
 
Juggy has dealerships all over;) I'll PM you with a price for the system you want deadman, as soon as I get into the office.

Thanks for the pimp guys:thumbsup:
 
Might i suggest building an AMD phenom 2 system??? I see the 920 is @ R2700 @ Landmark...
these new AMD's do run rather quickly, and best of all, they overclock like they invited it.. 4GHZ on a decent air cooling - 5ghz on water...
 
JUGGY said:
Juggy has dealerships all over;) I'll PM you with a price for the system you want deadman, as soon as I get into the office.

Thanks for the pimp guys:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

lol JUGGY, you seem to have quite a fanbase around here.. Free Pimping for u :D

I'll look forward to ur pm.

@scotty777
I've never been an AMD guy. Besides with some good air cooling, E8400 can push around 4Ghz running stable. Even more when watercooled. And the prices i got for e8400 are by far way below R2700. Thanks for the suggestion though ;)

deadman
 
OK. Don't go for the gigabyte psus. Besides the odin GTs the rest are rated for peak not continuous.

Get the Coolermaster extreme 460Watt. Not the real power or whatever it's called. The extreme is the one to get.

Regarding GFX you can get the 4850 for around R2200/R2300 saving some cash.
 
I would love to get my hands onto a good power supply, problem is from where and for what price? I am in Pretoria right now, so far Incredible Connection is the only one with Gigabyte PSU's. I've tried PC Mart and Esquire, they don't seem to have any Corsair/Gigabyte/Coolermaster PSU.

JUGGY, help me out here man ;)

As for the GFX Card, I am getting a good deal. Spoke to my supplier today and he said he can get me the POV 9800GTX+ for R2300. Says it's his last GTX+ so he'll gimme a good deal. I already have a quote for everything above minus PSU/Case and its sitting at R7450 right now.

Here's a complete list of items so far:

-Jetway XBlue-G45 motherboard
-Intel Core2Duo E8400 3.0GHZ
-LG DVD Writer 20X Sata (The motherboard has no IDE :()
-POV PCI-E 9800GTX+ 512MB DDR3
-2 x Kingston 2GB DDR2 PC800MHZ CL5
-Seagate 1TB Sata 32MB Cache

Total Cost Incl. Vat = R7450.

Good? Bad?
 
Well for psus you should also look at the Antec Neo He, Zalman and Enermax.
 
I'm gonna look around for PSUs today. Any specific store that someone can recommend in Pta/Jhb region that carries good brands?
 
Almost any pc shop you go to should be able to order the psu you want. Usually in less than two days you get your psu.
 
Hey guys.. Just to let ya'll know.. My machine is up and running for a week now. SO far is performing pretty awesome and keeping me smiling.

Here are the final specs:

Intel C2D e8400 3.0Ghz (Overclocked to 3.6Ghz on stock heatsink/fan)
Jetway Xblue-G45 motherboard
2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2-800
Point Of View Nvidia 9800GTX+ 512MB (comes standard with a huge heatsink with heat distribution pipes, overclocked it slightly to match XFX 9800GTX+ OC)
1TB Seagate SATA HDD
20x BenQ SATA DVD writer
NZXT Apollo Case (comes with an intake and extractor fan, both 120mm)
Gigabyte ODIN 585W PSU

Thanks for all your input guys :)
 
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