The PC Build Thread

DrJohnZoidberg

DrJohnZoidberg

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zamrg said:
It's been about 8 years since I upgraded, so I'm looking to purchase a new budget-mid level gaming PC.
I must admit, I'm not very clued up about specs and hardware these days - it's been that long. I'm currently sporting a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400, 5GB DDR2, ASUSTek P5Q LGA775 motherboard with a Nvidia Geforce 9600 GT :)

I've tried to put something together myself, but am looking for any advice on what I'm missing, could change up, or cut down to slim costs a bit.
I've priced the components from evetech as they seem to be fairly competitive, but this is just for budgeting.

  • MSI Z370 PC Pro Intel Motherboard R2,571.45
  • Intel 8th Gen Core i5-8400 Coffee Lake up to 4.00GHz 9MB Cache LGA 1151 R3,358.95
  • Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (1 x 8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 Memory R1,311.45
  • Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive R1,573.95
  • Western Digital BLUE WD20EZRZ 2TB HDD / 64MB Cache / SATA 6.0Gb/s / 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive R1,080.45
  • Antec TP-750C 750W GOLD Power Supply R1,363.95
  • NZXT S340 Elite Matte Black Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Case 1363.95
  • MSI GeForce GTX 1060 OC OVERCLOCKED Edition 6GB GDDR5 1280 Core VR Ready Graphics Card 4828.95
Total: R17,453.10

I'm considering bumping the memory to 16GB for an additional R1311, but it's already slightly above what I'd like to spend.
Do I need a CPU cooler here, or will the stock one suffice?
Is the GTX 1060 going to last me a little while?

Appreciate any help I can get here!
Click to expand...

You're on the right track but there are a few things here which you need to consider.

That new Intel chip is great but Intel is putting consumers in a difficult spot as they haven't yet released their mid-range motherboards yet. The Z370 chipset is the enthusiast level motherboards designed for overclocking, which the i5 8400 cannot do. You're essentially wasting at least R1000 on features you'll likely never use if you purchase one of these now. The mid-range boards are supposed to be released early next year.

In this regard you should either be okay with some of the following scenarios:

1. Wasting that money (which could be used to more memory of a better GPU)
2. Waiting until next year when the cheaper boards are released.
3. Choosing a different platform (7th gen Intel or AMD Ryzen).

I wouldn't go less than 16GB of memory. Unfortunately memory prices are through the roof right now due to supply constraints so you'll just have to accept the pricing.

You don't need a 750W power supply, something in the 500W range will be plenty.

The 6GB GTX 1060 is a good card and should last you for a while. You should also consider the 8GB RX 580 if you can find one at a reasonable price.
 
Z

zamrg

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Thanks guys

I think I'll rather drop to the 7th generation i5 then and pick a cheaper motherboard.
I was originally eyeing this:
MSI B250M Gaming Pro Intel Motherboard 1573.95
but the ASRock B250M Pro4 comes in a bit cheaper.

I've also seen the SI H110M PRO VD PLUS USB 3.1 Intel Motherboard 943.95 listed for budget gaming pcs.

I'll bump up to 16GB ram but can also go with a slightly cheaper brand.
 
ponder

ponder

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zamrg said:
Thanks guys

I think I'll rather drop to the 7th generation i5 then and pick a cheaper motherboard.
I was originally eyeing this:
MSI B250M Gaming Pro Intel Motherboard 1573.95
but the ASRock B250M Pro4 comes in a bit cheaper.

I've also seen the SI H110M PRO VD PLUS USB 3.1 Intel Motherboard 943.95 listed for budget gaming pcs.

I'll bump up to 16GB ram but can also go with a slightly cheaper brand.
Click to expand...

Why an i5 when you can get an i7 for less?

MSI H110M PRO VD PLUS confirm that board ships with bios v1.4 or later else it won't work with kaby lake cpus.
 
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zamrg

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ponder

ponder

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zamrg said:
Is the one you linked the same as this one - https://raru.co.za/electronics/5365...ghz-8mb-cache-socket-1151-processor-kaby-lake ?

It looks like that mobo is compatible - https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/H110M-PRO-VD-PLUS-.html#support-cpu
Click to expand...

Yes it's the same except it is OEM so comes without a cooler, so I added the RAIJINTEK THEMIS 0R100010 to the parts list above.

Are you looking at this https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/H110M-PRO-VD-PLUS-.html#support-cpu because that list basically tells you which bios version is required to work with a cpu, not the bios version it ships with.
https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/H110M-PRO-VD-PLUS-.html#down-bios list all bios versions, if get a mb with the older bios versions it won't work with kaby lake, you'll have to flash the bios but in order to do that you will need a skylake cpu...
 
ponder

ponder

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ShloshMalosh

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ponder

ponder

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Budget for 1050ti? Maybe check Carbonite.

You should be able to get a newer has well dell if you look around. How much is the one you found going for?

Volksieboi said:
Than
ks @ponder .... the one you posted was gone already :(

but I got a 7010 i5-3470 8GB and a 500GB hdd for R2K :) its nice and clean and runs smooth and silent.

Now to find a 1050 Ti on the cheap... I think i'll wait for black friday sales
Click to expand...
 
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ShloshMalosh

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ponder said:
Budget for 1050ti? Maybe check Carbonite.

You should be able to get a newer has well dell if you look around. How much is the one you found going for?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure yet, will need to finalize the tender with Government (wife).

Seller wanted R3k but i managed to get it for 2.
Haswell machines are going for R3500 and up. No government approval for that level of expenditure

I'm ok with the 3rd gen though
If our boy tech deals is to believed, from 2nd to 6th gen there isnt THAT much of a noticable difference.

Would have been nice, but i dont have the "nice" money :(

The machine i got tho is nice and clean, no dust, runs smooth and absolutely silent, i ran CPUZ to confirm that the specs were as claimed... and it all checked out. I'm happy with the buy. It came with windows 10 pro and Office 16, which is cool cos my wife will use it for her home business when i'm not gaming. actually shes going to trick me into doing her books...

I'll have a look on carbonite for a 1050ti and a better PSU for safety.
thanks
 
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ShloshMalosh

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Carbonite is downzies :(

Whats a reasonable price for a 1050 ti?

I see takealot has the zotac 1050ti mini for R2499
 
ponder

ponder

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Volksieboi said:
If our boy tech deals is to believed, from 2nd to 6th gen there isnt THAT much of a noticable difference.
Click to expand...

With a 1050ti it will be plenty, just thought it would be nice to have haswell.

You don't really need another PSU but it can't hurt, 1050ti only ues 75W and pulls it from the pci bus.

A dual fan GPU is better than single fan. Measure the space, if you have 191mm this one will fit https://www.rebeltech.co.za/13490-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-oc-gv-n105toc-4gd.html

I'll have a look at carbonite.
 
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ShloshMalosh

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ponder said:
With a 1050ti it will be plenty, just thought it would be nice to have haswell.

You don't really need another PSU but it can't hurt, 1050ti only ues 75W and pulls it from the pci bus.

A dual fan GPU is better than single fan. Measure the space, if you have 191mm this one will fit https://www.rebeltech.co.za/13490-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-oc-gv-n105toc-4gd.html

I'll have a look at carbonite.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the advice

Yes a 4th gen would have been nice. I did do some digging tho and the difference between the 3rd and 4th gen is really small. And also the 3rd gen has a lower TDP. So yeah. it is what it is. I'm satisfied tho, esp for the price i picked the unit up for.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/429/Intel_Core_i5_i5-3470_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-4590.html

Thanks also for the PSU tip... my digging (toms hardware, the dell support site) seems to confirm that the PSU is sufficient.

Also, I found a technical guidebook for the Optiplex 7010....

I'm gonna be safe and go with 165mm max length for the GPU.

Hope this will help any others also attempting this.

So 2k for the box, hopefully max 2 - 2.5K for a GPU = decent entry level gaming for R4.5K

I'm proud of myself :)

Thanks again Ponder... you assistance has been wonder....full :D

I'll come back and post some feedback once I'm all set...
 

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kaaskop

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Currently planning a ryzen itx build.
Any input will be appreciated.

R5 1400 R2549 Evetech
Mini ITX case R829 Evetech
Antec VP500P R599 Evetech
RX580 4GB R4126 Rebel
Biostar B350GTN R1299 Wootware
Apacer Blade 16GB Ram 2800Mhz R2450 Computersonly
Total R11852

The RX580 is only 4GB but should be enough for me. Was thinking about a GTX1060 but the 6GB is to expensive for me. 3GB VRAM is ibit min i think :)
 
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ShloshMalosh

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kaaskop said:
Currently planning a ryzen itx build.
Any input will be appreciated.

R5 1400 R2549 Evetech
Mini ITX case R829 Evetech
Antec VP500P R599 Evetech
RX580 4GB R4126 Rebel
Biostar B350GTN R1299 Wootware
Apacer Blade 16GB Ram 2800Mhz R2450 Computersonly
Total R11852

The RX580 is only 4GB but should be enough for me. Was thinking about a GTX1060 but the 6GB is to expensive for me. 3GB VRAM is ibit min i think :)
Click to expand...
I heard that evetech is the devil... Theres a thread
 
DrJohnZoidberg

DrJohnZoidberg

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kaaskop said:
Currently planning a ryzen itx build.
Any input will be appreciated.

R5 1400 R2549 Evetech
Mini ITX case R829 Evetech
Antec VP500P R599 Evetech
RX580 4GB R4126 Rebel
Biostar B350GTN R1299 Wootware
Apacer Blade 16GB Ram 2800Mhz R2450 Computersonly
Total R11852

The RX580 is only 4GB but should be enough for me. Was thinking about a GTX1060 but the 6GB is to expensive for me. 3GB VRAM is ibit min i think :)
Click to expand...

There is this 6GB GTX 1060: https://www.wootware.co.za/palit-ge...-192-bit-pci-e-3-0-desktop-graphics-card.html but it's still more expensive.

What case is that? Just make sure it supports ATX power supplies.
 
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ShloshMalosh

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Just a question about used gpus.

Im seeing quite a few 3 month old 1050ti cards for sale.

Reason for selling: used for mining.

What does one need to look out for here? Are these even worth considering?
 
ponder

ponder

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Volksieboi said:
Just a question about used gpus.

Im seeing quite a few 3 month old 1050ti cards for sale.

Reason for selling: used for mining.

What does one need to look out for here? Are these even worth considering?
Click to expand...

Check if they still have the remaining 33 months warranty.
 
Neoprod

Neoprod

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Check if it's from somewhere reputable also. No one wants to be hassling with the Evetechs of the world if their card dies in month 35.
 
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