The PC Build Thread

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Ampha said:
This might be a silly question, but I'm not too familiar with graphic cards and coudlnt find what I was looking for in the GPU thread (I'm probably a nub) but nevertheless here goes

A work colleague has asked me to find him a graphics card that can play Diablo 3 - doesnt have to be the highest settings, he is fine with low/normal settings

His budget is R500-R1000

Any information will be appreciated
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His best option for his budget would be a Radeon 6750 @R880, can run Diablo 3 at 1920x1080 with playable FPS.
 
The Bru said:
Hey

Thanks so much!
I was a bit hesitant on the Ivy Bridge as I heard Intel used cheap paste..

I would be using this rig to play games like BF3, MW3, etc. Hope it will do fine :)
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No problem, Intel had used cheaper thermal grease however that would only affect temperatures if you're overclocking your CPU.
 
Hi Duff-Man, I would like to buy pc(just the box):
Purpose:Internet, emails, office and and moderate gaming(SC2 and Diablo 3 on high spec or better)
Budget: Around +-R5000 range
Already Owned Hardware: Screen, mouse etc.. just need fully new box + windows 7 software
Amt. of years intended to last:5 years
Wanted Date:In the next 30 - 60 days
LAN Parties:N/A
Preferred Manufacturers:N/A

I really liked the Bulldozer one you made:
FX-4xxx : CPU : FX - 4100 @R1280
Motherboard : ASUS M5A97 @R1060
GPU : AMD Radeon 6850 @R1770
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 1TB @R660
RAM : Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (x2) DDR3-1333 @R120 each
Power Supply : Antec Earthwatts 380W @R460
Case : Aerocool X Warrior @R480
Optical Drive : Asus DVD-RW 24X @R150

Maybe update with most recent prices and other equipment? Bit of a noob at pc building as I usually buy complete systems :o

Thanks in advance..
 
Goliath said:
Hi Duff-Man, I would like to buy pc(just the box):
Purpose:Internet, emails, office and and moderate gaming(SC2 and Diablo 3 on high spec or better)
Budget: Around +-R5000 range
Already Owned Hardware: Screen, mouse etc.. just need fully new box + windows 7 software
Amt. of years intended to last:5 years
Wanted Date:In the next 30 - 60 days
LAN Parties:N/A
Preferred Manufacturers:N/A

I really liked the Bulldozer one you made:
FX-4xxx : CPU : FX - 4100 @R1280
Motherboard : ASUS M5A97 @R1060
GPU : AMD Radeon 6850 @R1770
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 1TB @R660
RAM : Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (x2) DDR3-1333 @R120 each
Power Supply : Antec Earthwatts 380W @R460
Case : Aerocool X Warrior @R480
Optical Drive : Asus DVD-RW 24X @R150

Maybe update with most recent prices and other equipment? Bit of a noob at pc building as I usually buy complete systems :o

Thanks in advance..
Click to expand...

Hi Goliath

For your purposes I would rather recommend an APU build

Here's my quote

CPU : A8-3850 @R1180
Motherboard : MSI A75A-G55 @R880
GPU : MSI Radeon 6850 @R1635
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 320GB @R480
RAM : Kingston HyperX Blue 4GB Kit @R245
Power Supply : Corsair VS450 @R400
Case : Aerocool X Warrior @R480


Total = R5300

*The above build will run StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 at 1920x1080 with ease
*If you are willing to wait an extra couple of months, your best option would be to wait for AMD to release their Trinity line of APU's, which should offer around a 10% performance increase over the current Llano series of APU's. If you do decide to opt for Trinity then you would also need a new FM2 socket motherboard which will release around the same time as Trinity.
*I haven't listed Windows 7 software above, but I would recommend Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit @R1250

Hope this helps, if you have any questions just ask ;)
 
Duff-Man said:
Always a pleasure ;)
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Why an APU build though? He'd be better off with a Core i3-2120, seeing as LGA1155 will be around for some time. he'll also have Ivy Bridge and its revisions to upgrade to later, whereas FM1 is now a dead end and he can't overclock that A8 nicely to compensate. The HD7770 would also be a better fit, longevity-wise.

Why no Western Digital hard drive?
 
NAG - Wesley said:
Why an APU build though? He'd be better off with a Core i3-2120, seeing as LGA1155 will be around for some time. he'll also have Ivy Bridge and its revisions to upgrade to later, whereas FM1 is now a dead end and he can't overclock that A8 nicely to compensate. The HD7770 would also be a better fit, longevity-wise.

Why no Western Digital hard drive?
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I chose the APU build due to the fact that it's overall price/performance ratio was better than an equivalent i3 build. For example an i3 build with similar specs would mean that one would have to use a H61 motherboard to fit into the budget which wouldn't allow for overclocking and has less/minimal features compared to the A75 motherboards. I also highly recommended that Goliath waited for the new Trinity APU's to release along with FM2 socket motherboards which would be far better longevity-wise. The HD7770 would fit in better longevity wise, but the 6850 fares better with current games such as StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 which is what Goliath wants. I couldn't find any Western Digital hard drives that would fit the budget, so instead opted for Seagate.

Hope this answers your questions :)
 
Duff-Man said:
Hope this answers your questions :)
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Good points all-round :) Pity that Trinity only comes much later this year and requires a new socket. I guess that was required for the new power-saving features.
 
Hey duff man.

I want to build a computer mostly for gaming. My budget is around R8000:

I like your i5 rig.

Is there a way I could customize that buiid:

i5 :
CPU : i5 3540 @R1825
Motherboard : MSI Z77A - G43 @R1215
GPU : EVGA GTX 550Ti @R1380
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 2TB @R1200
Power Supply : Corsair CX500 @R580
RAM : Kingston Hyper X 8GB - 1600MHz @R455
Case : Cooler Master HAF 922 @R1200
Optical Drive : Asus DVD-RW 24X @R150

Total = R8005


To save money on the motherboard, case, and 1TB harddrive to buy an HD 7850 instead?

After doing some reading, to me, it looks like AMD's trinity APU is better for gaming than anything else. Should I hold out until that arrives?
I want the PC to last for about 3 years

Thanks a lot!
 
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Mach III said:
To save money on the motherboard, case, and 1TB harddrive to buy an HD 7850 instead?
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I can't really comment on the rest, but I picked up a Gigabyte HD7850 for my build, and I must say, I am thoroughly impressed with it. Been able to play all my games on the highest quality setting without any issue.
 
srothman said:
I can't really comment on the rest, but I picked up a Gigabyte HD7850 for my build, and I must say, I am thoroughly impressed with it. Been able to play all my games on the highest quality setting without any issue.
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That's what I want to hear!
 
I'm running it on a Gigabyte Z77 Motherboard, i5 3570k, 8GB RAM, 700w power supply. Really no issues as yet.
 
damn, this thread is EXACTLY what I have been looking for :-) Duff-Man you LEGEND! I have only read the first couple pages and then scooted over to this final page. Looking for a basic rig where I can play Diablo 3 and SC2 and Civ 3. In other words, I'm mainly looking to play RTS games, as my primary platform for other games will still be my XBOX. Having said that, I want the RIG to be easily upgradable, in the event that I gravitate towards PC gaming again.

Budget is R5000, with no particular preference to brand. You advice ? I noted the previous posts where you advise that ppl wait for the AMD Trinity ? if i get this chip, then obviously it contains the GPU on board. but what happens if i decide to play more intense games and need to stick in a new GPU ? Would the chip and mobo still be fine or would those also need upgrade ?

aLso, is there any significant and noticable difference between 4,6 and 8 cores ?
 
Hi,

I'm busy planning my 1st ever build for around July and have the following components in mind (have been on a Pentium 4 Mecer laptop the past 8 years):

Intel i5 3450
ASUS P8Z77V-LX
Sapphire HD6850
Corsair Vengeance 2x2GB
Antec HCG 520 (non modular)
Antec 1 (One) chassis
WD Caviar Blue 750GB (WD7500AALX)

Will also need to buy keyboard (Logitech), speakers (Creative), optical drive (Asus), monitor (Samsung), front intake fan and OS (Win7)

Main use will be gaming (not necessarily latest), multi-purpose (accounting, spreadsheet), general entertainment (music & movies) i.e a good all round performer.

Budget is R 10,000 and is currently at R 9,800 from Rebeltech excluding OS.

Any comments will be appreciated...

PS Am considering getting a SSD drive later on...
 
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Mach III said:
After doing some reading, to me, it looks like AMD's trinity APU is better for gaming than anything else. Should I hold out until that arrives?
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I won't steal Duff's thunder from his recommendations, but Trinity isn't going to cut it for a performance gaming rig. Up to a point Llano chips reach a bottleneck, specifically with the HD7950/GTX670 and anything stronger requires an Intel quad-core chip. Llano is good for low-cost computing that needs above-average graphics compared to Intel GMA HD, Trinity isn't going to give you that much more performance. Maybe it'll improve things with high-end discrete cards, but using the built-in graphics is where its at.

And its all much of a muchness because the desktop processors aren't even out yet and current Trinity chips are only built for the thermal constraints of a laptop. Once the desktop models hit, then we'll know how things fare.
 
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