The PC Build Thread

[FlexSA]

AMD card?

Nope nope, that is a GTX

 

[StrontiumDog]

Nope nope, that is a GTX

Is that rig assembled by Razer or is just the case from them?

 

[FlexSA]

Is that rig assembled by Razer or is just the case from them?

Just the case, I assembled it all

 

[fwwwn]

I'm busy sourcing parts for a build. Already got a case and wifi adapter, ordered a PSU and fans. Next up is mobo, cpu, and ram. I'm seriously considering going for an i7 4790 from PotterH on carbonite, but I'm wondering how the price can be so low? What's the catch?

 

[Soul Assassin]

I'm busy sourcing parts for a build. Already got a case and wifi adapter, ordered a PSU and fans. Next up is mobo, cpu, and ram. I'm seriously considering going for an i7 4790 from PotterH on carbonite, but I'm wondering how the price can be so low? What's the catch?

It doesn't include a heat sink and fan.

 

[ponder]

I'm seriously considering going for an i7 4790 from PotterH on carbonite, but I'm wondering how the price can be so low? What's the catch?

There is no catch.
They are OEM tray units so you will have to get a heatsink/fan combo (cheapie will do) as they don't come with a cooler and as far as I know the oem stuff only has a 1yr warranty but the chances of a cpu failing is almost nil.

 

[fwwwn]

There is no catch.
They are OEM tray units so you will have to get a heatsink/fan combo (cheapie will do) as they don't come with a cooler and as far as I know the oem stuff only has a 1yr warranty but the chances of a cpu failing is almost nil.

So the 1 year warranty vs a 3 year warranty isn't much of an issue? I would assume that a CPU would either be DOA / fail early, or outlast its usefulness.

I'm looking at pairing it with the Raijintek Aidos. Seems to do as well as a CM Hyper 212 at half the price.

While I've got you here Ponder, my two CPU / motherboard / RAM options currently are i5 6400 / MSI B150 Gaming M3 / 8GB DDR4 2400 vs i7 4790 / MSI H97 Gaming 3 / 8GB DDR3 1866. I know the mobos won't use the rated speed of the ram, but they are the same price as slower sticks so why not. The i7 is a no brainer, right?

 

[StrontiumDog]

... I'm seriously considering going for an i7 4790 from PotterH on carbonite, but I'm wondering how the price can be so low? What's the catch?

PotterH will even sell you a Zalman cnps90F 'Ultra Quiet" Low Profile CPU Cooler for R100 extra if you ask him nicely.

If you are getting it for gaming only, get the almost equivalent "Intel® Core™ i5-4690 Processors (6M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz)" from him instead. You'll just have to wait a bit for him to get more stock but you'll save about R700 vs the i7 4790.

 

[StrontiumDog]

There is no catch.
They are OEM tray units so you will have to get a heatsink/fan combo (cheapie will do) as they don't come with a cooler and as far as I know the oem stuff only has a 1yr warranty but the chances of a cpu failing is almost nil.

Why does Takealot and some other suppliers not stock more tray CPUs? Those things would sell like hotcakes...

 

[fwwwn]

PotterH will even sell you a Zalman cnps90F 'Ultra Quiet" Low Profile CPU Cooler for R100 extra if you ask him nicely.

If you are getting it for gaming only, get the almost equivalent "Intel® Core™ i5-4690 Processors (6M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz)" from him instead. You'll just have to wait a bit for him to get more stock but you'll save about R700 vs the i7 4790.

The main purpose of the computer will be gaming, but I'll also use it for development and running VMs, so the extra threads will be useful. And my budget was for a boxed i5 CPU, so I'll actually save a bit even if I get the OEM i7.

 

[ponder]

So the 1 year warranty vs a 3 year warranty isn't much of an issue? I would assume that a CPU would either be DOA / fail early, or outlast its usefulness.

Outlasting it's usefulness is the most likely scenario, I do recall one guy getting a doa cpu but that was quickly exchanged.

I'm looking at pairing it with the Raijintek Aidos. Seems to do as well as a CM Hyper 212 at half the price.

That will be fine, you can even get something cheaper if you want.

While I've got you here Ponder, my two CPU / motherboard / RAM options currently are i5 6400 / MSI B150 Gaming M3 / 8GB DDR4 2400 vs i7 4790 / MSI H97 Gaming 3 / 8GB DDR3 1866. I know the mobos won't use the rated speed of the ram, but they are the same price as slower sticks so why not. The i7 is a no brainer, right?

The i7 4790 will outperform the i5 6400 in both single & multi core performance. I would get the i7 4790 if it was my money.

 

[ponder]

Why does Takealot and some other suppliers not stock more tray CPUs? Those things would sell like hotcakes...

Dunno, gtxgaming also list some for those interested.

 

[fwwwn]

The i7 4790 will outperform the i5 6400 in both single & multi core performance. I would get the i7 4790 if it was my money.

Thanks for the advice, Ponder! Much appreciated.

 

[fwwwn]

Sorry for the double post, but I need some advice. I ordered a Cooler Master V550 PSU from Raru this week, but they dropped the ball. Told me it's not in stock, yet it was still listed as in stock on their site and other sites. Turns out the price went up and they didn't want to honour my order.

Anyway, now I need to decide if I'm going to pay extra for the same PSU, or choose a different one. Thanks to the "PSU Tier List" I have narrowed down my choice to these three units. I have an NZXT S340 case, so I can hide non modular cables, but they will be a pain to work with and I somehow just dislike the idea of having unnecessary legacy connectors inside the system.

http://raru.co.za/electronics/2011823-cooler-master-v550-semi-modular-550w-power-supply
http://raru.co.za/electronics/325241-seasonic-m12ii-520-bronze-watts-modular-psu
http://raru.co.za/electronics/2111215-seasonic-s12ii-520-520w-power-supply-unit

Any thoughts? Or other suggestions?

 

[FlexSA]

Sorry for the double post, but I need some advice. I ordered a Cooler Master V550 PSU from Raru this week, but they dropped the ball. Told me it's not in stock, yet it was still listed as in stock on their site and other sites. Turns out the price went up and they didn't want to honour my order.

Anyway, now I need to decide if I'm going to pay extra for the same PSU, or choose a different one. Thanks to the "PSU Tier List" I have narrowed down my choice to these three units. I have an NZXT S340 case, so I can hide non modular cables, but they will be a pain to work with and I somehow just dislike the idea of having unnecessary legacy connectors inside the system.

http://raru.co.za/electronics/2011823-cooler-master-v550-semi-modular-550w-power-supply
http://raru.co.za/electronics/325241-seasonic-m12ii-520-bronze-watts-modular-psu
http://raru.co.za/electronics/2111215-seasonic-s12ii-520-520w-power-supply-unit

Any thoughts? Or other suggestions?

I have a CM B600 v2 Power Supply I do not use anymore that I am selling for very cheap if you are interested

 

[fwwwn]

I have a CM B600 v2 Power Supply I do not use anymore that I am selling for very cheap if you are interested

Thanks for the offer! If I do go for a non-modular PSU, I think I'll rather get the Seasonic though. Kinda paranoid about the quality of the units, as I've heard too many horror stories of PSUs taking entire systems with them when they die.

 

[ponder]

Need a PSU, kinda need a new case as well since my current case is not in the best shape but if I have to wait before getting a new case then so be it.

Don't need a monitor, ram or ssd, but if they come cheaper in a bundle or something I wouldnt say no. Or if I need to replace the ram with DDR4 and go with the skylake build if it is in budget and works out better than a haswell build in same price range its okay, I can then always pass my current ram to somebody who needs it then.

Ye I wont be overclocking it, but if some parts are overclocked by default I dont mind.

Resolution, I dont have anything in mind since I am currently gaming in window mode (not even full screen) so just going back to fullscreen will make me very happy haha.

Apologies I ended up forgetting about you, thanks for the reminder.

A quick look around and prices are scary compared to end november, early december. A PSU that was R1.2k in Nov is now close to R2k!!!
So I settled for a Bronze rated PSU which only affects the efficiency a wee bit.

I'm gonna start off with a Socket 1150 Haswell build and will follow up with a Skylake build.

Haswell Build
R3000 - Intel Haswell Core i7-4790, 3.60GHz, Quad Core, LGA1150
R699 - Raijintek Ereboss Black Edition 140mm PWM Fan CPU Cooler
R1749 - ASUS H81-GAMER, LGA1150, Intel H81 Chipset, ATX
R6533 - SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 390, 8GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0, Nitro Edition (No backplate on this model)
R1153 - Cooler Master N600, Midi Tower, Windowed, Black, ATX
R1091 - Cooler Master GM, 650w, 80 PLUS Bronze, Modular
R14225


Note:
The PSU cooler is fsck expensive and way overkill, it's a place holder as I could not find a decently priced 120mm cooler in stock on the sites I checked. Hopefully you find something or someone comes up with a suggestion. There is this option but I'm just worried about noise a bit, it should still be way quieter than a stock Intel cooler. 120-140mm fans move more air and run at lower rpm than a 92mm fan so less noise.

The MB is average in features (not quality) and should cover your needs but if you want to shave ~R350 off the price look at this option,
http://www.rebeltech.co.za/lga1150/...set-4x-dual-channel-ddr3-1600-4x-sata6g-.html
It might even suite your needs better if you require say 6 sata ports vs the 4 of the one listed above, compare the specs on the manufacturers site & see which suites your needs better.

PotterH is out of stock of his i7-4790 CPUs but GTX Gaming has them as listed above at R300 more so still a sweet deal.

The above system would be a killer setup for gaming at 1080p & would easily handle 1440p as well.


EDIT:

Skylake Build
R3988 - Intel Skylake Core i5-6500, 3.20GHz, Quad Core, LGA1151
R1492 - GIGABYTE B150M-D3H, Intel B150 Chipset, LGA1151, Micro-ATX
R1032 - Corsair Vengeance LPX, 8GB Kit, DDR4-2133, CL13, Black
R6533 - SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 390, 8GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0, Nitro Edition (No backplate on this model)
R1153 - Cooler Master N600, Midi Tower, Windowed, Black, ATX
R1091 - Cooler Master GM, 650w, 80 PLUS Bronze, Modular
R15289


Oh, if you prefer nvdia over amd look at http://www.wootware.co.za/review/product/list/id/16979/category/24/

 

[saa044]

I am basically on a budget and want to build up a okeish pc to play star citizen. Currently on a Intel Core 2 2.55Ghz, 4GB RAM, Nvidia 420 1GB DDR3 Gpu etc... I was thinking of maybe getting a Amd Athlon or a A series APU. The Athlons are quite cheap, not sure how good they are.

 

[Gunner182]

A quick look around and prices are scary compared to end november, early december. A PSU that was R1.2k in Nov is now close to R2k!!!

Just checked now and back in October I paid R3.7K for my CPU, it's now retailing for R4.5K

 

[ponder]

Just checked now and back in October I paid R3.7K for my CPU, it's now retailing for R4.5K