Yet another PC build thread! :)

PhireSide

PhireSide

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Hi guys.

Since Kelevra's PC that I had my eyes on was taken out by lightning, I thought I might ponder and put together a few ideas on what I'd ideally like. Now, the news about Intel's new Ivy Bridge would not really apply to me as I am going to be buying within the next 3 months and not towards the end of the year when Ivy Bridge is due to be released.

Now, I have asked a few people in the know and gotten what I think is the ideal system for my needs/wants. I already have a screen and peripherals so I only need the tower and the components.

So far, I have come up with this (revised list):

Prices attached are the prices from Rebeltech as of 10 May 2011 - just for interest's sake.

*Intel Core i5 2500K - R1,805.08

*CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus - R253.76

*Asus P8P67-M Pro Motherboard - R1,457.95

*Corsair XMS3 DDR3 RAM Modules PC10600 - R507.53

*EVGA GTX570 HD 1280MB 320Bit GDDR5 - R3,369.56

*CoolerMaster Storm Scout Chassis - R717.00

*Corsair HX650 Modular PSU - R1,195.80

*Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDD 1TB - R500.00 (on special ATM)

*[url="http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/office/optical-disk-drives/optical-disk-drives/SH-S223C/BEBE/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail']Samsung 22x SpeedPlus SATA Lightscribe DVD-RW[/url] - around R200 (Lite-On unit is R166.38)

I think that's it! Now my other dilemma is this - should I wait for AMD to release their Bulldozer chips later this year? Methinks it should drive the current prices down a bit, but only if it's really as good a competitor to Intel as they say.

Let rip, MyBB'ers!

EDIT:

I have sorted out what I would ideally want - and this build comes in at a smidge under R10'000. I guess I could leave out the HDD for now since I have one at home, but I would like to start afresh with this build rather than introduce 2nd hand parts from my other PC's. Woot woot!
 
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Two things missing - budget and use of the rig (gaming, work, etc)

In the meantime, you do not need super fast RAM, 1600mhz is plenty fast for any application, unless you truly feel you will notice the 0.00001 seconds difference faster RAM will make

Bulldozer is launching end June but you'll likely need to wait another week or two to get stock, so rather just get the best you can now
 
Whoops! Okay my budget would be around R12K max, as a last resort. Also, it will be a do-it-all rig, mostly gaming though.

@Spykertjie, I don't mind too much about speed and the 500GB Seagates are cheap as chips, so I just need one for now (can always upgrade later). I barely fill 300 gigs so I think 500GB should be okay for now. Maybe at a later stage I'll shift my OS partition over to an SSD when I have the money available.
 
wabbit,powerful system...

Like archer said on the ram, 1600mhz is fine..2000mhz is overkill

PSU I would recommend the Corsair HX 650;7 year warranty..

I would also suggest a cooler like Hyper 212 Plus..Very good cooler at a fraction of the cost...

GPU I would say look at benchies between the 2 cards..Saphhire,MSi,ASUS is good manufacturers with good warranties...
 
For mostly gaming the 2600K is quite overkill, can save yourself ±R1000 and get the i5 2500k which will still easily overclock to 4ghz
Mobo you have is fine
RAM, really drop it down to 1600 or 1333mhz at 1.5V (the voltage is very important). 4GB should cost you around R600
GPU you can choose. HD6950 (stock cards unlock to a HD6970) or GTX570 I'd say
Case is really up to you but that one is good. May struggle with longer GPUs though, will double check
PSU get a 600W Corsair
That puts you around ±R9500

edit:
HD6950 vs GTX570
570 gets 8 more fps for R1000 more
unlocked HD6950 vs GTX570
570 gets 3 more fps for R1000 more
 
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kelevra said:
wabbit,powerful system...

Like archer said on the ram, 1600mhz is fine..2000mhz is overkill

PSU I would recommend the Corsair HX 650;7 year warranty..

I would also suggest a cooler like Hyper 212 Plus..Very good cooler at a fraction of the cost...

GPU I would say look at benchies between the 2 cards..Saphhire,MSi,ASUS is good manufacturers with good warranties...
Click to expand...
7 Year warranty on a PSU? Bliksem...

I think the build is very much overkill for what I want, but I'll scale back if I find my budget not working out like I want it to. Perhaps I'll go for a 2500K instead, but this would be the ideal system I would/can build. You had that cooler, right Kelevra? Okay so I'll trim down on the RAM...anyone know if the Corsair XMS3 PC3 10666 is any good?
 
wabbit16 said:
Whoops! Okay my budget would be around R12K max, as a last resort. Also, it will be a do-it-all rig, mostly gaming though.

@Spykertjie, I don't mind too much about speed and the 500GB Seagates are cheap as chips, so I just need one for now (can always upgrade later). I barely fill 300 gigs so I think 500GB should be okay for now. Maybe at a later stage I'll shift my OS partition over to an SSD when I have the money available.
Click to expand...

Ok, but that is not an SSD, it is much cheaper and almost as fast.
 
Spykertjie said:
Ok, but that is not an SSD, it is much cheaper and almost as fast.
Click to expand...
Well, a hybrid then :D

My current laptop has Flash Cache, aka Intel Robson. I assume it's almost the same in a way? Still quite pricey for storage but I guess it is a bargain if you want to go the SSD/hybrid route
 
I completely agree with the updated first post at the moment. Though I'd also make the CPU the 2500k if it is purely for gaming, but if you're not planning on switching to Bulldozer or IvyBridge soon and the budget allows the extra R800, then I suppose there's nothing wrong with going 2600k, you just won't notice the difference for a while.

Definitely recommend the Hyper 212 plus as a top low cost cooler, but if you have a bigger budget there are more available on the market, but I personally recommend the Hyper 212 plus.

Also agreeing that 1666MHz RAM almost is overkill, 1333 should even be fine.

And maybe the MB can go to a P8P67-M Pro (Micro ATX) for a bit cheaper as well.

And lastly as much as an Nvidia fan I am, the money to buy the 'better' GPU isn't worth it..

My advise:
Drop the RAM to 4Gb DDR3 1333MHz with an i7 2500k on the mentioned board with the CM Hyper 212+
Take the HD6950 with the HX650 PSU and a chassis of your choice (I'd recommend CoolerMaster again. I'm not one for looks, so I use the Elite 371 - it's got support for the long cards - with 2 extra fans)

Use the saved cash and buy a 60Gb SSD that's good with loading small files and a 500Gb HDD.

EDIT: Just had a quick look at some of the things, and it ends up with almost R2 000 to spare...
 
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"I completely agree with the updated first post at the moment. Though I'd also make the CPU the 2500k if it is purely for gaming, but if you're not planning on switching to Bulldozer or IvyBridge soon and the budget allows the extra R800, then I suppose there's nothing wrong with going 2600k, you just won't notice the difference for a while."

-the reason I want to go with the i7 is to kind of future-proof it, but by then I suppose the new Ivy Bridge will be out.

"Definitely recommend the Hyper 212 plus as a top low cost cooler, but if you have a bigger budget there are more available on the market, but I personally recommend the Hyper 212 plus."

-sorted!

"Also agreeing that 1666MHz RAM almost is overkill, 1333 should even be fine."

-Okay, so XMS3 DDR3-1333 would do fine?

"And maybe the MB can go to a P8P67-M Pro (Micro ATX) for a bit cheaper as well."

-I also thought of that, but I am thinking along the lines of CrossfireX a while down the road.

"And lastly as much as an Nvidia fan I am, the money to buy the 'better' GPU isn't worth it."

-And the AMD 6950 can be unlocked if I'm lucky :D

As th the SSD, how much is a 60GB SSD these days? Also, are they more reliable than a conventional HDD? Wear levelling and such taken into effect.
 
Uhm..

Stay the hell away from the 212 + ..

Rather go for a Zalman CNPS10X eXtreme. Otherwise the rest of the system looks good. Maybe go for the P8P67 Deluxe for Crossfire, I have one, awesome board. The rest of the guys have summed up everything nicely.

SSD's are ****ing fantastic. If you can, get one. The Hybrid drives are utter ****. There is no increase in performance as well. Stay away.
 
"the reason I want to go with the i7 is to kind of future-proof it, but by then I suppose the new Ivy Bridge will be out."

The thing is that if you are planning on going Ivy Bridge say this time next year or end next year, then the 2600k, in my opinion, won't be worth it as you won't have a game requiring what the 2600k is possible in doing once overclocked. A lot of gamers end up getting systems that will never even reach 75% load and could have saved a couple hundred, even thousand, rands along the way. But if you want to keep this system for a couple of years I'd say maybe go for it, but I can't say for a fact that you'll have games in 2years time requiring that..


"Okay, so XMS3 DDR3-1333 would do fine?"

Most of our clients ends up getting the 1333MHz XMS3 1.5V, so I'd say that it should be fine and as stated in many a thread there is a difference in 1600, but mainly in price and a liitle in benchmarks, but for gaming it'll be fine.

"I also thought of that, but I am thinking along the lines of CrossfireX a while down the road."

The P8P67-M Pro also supports CrossfireX and SLi mode in 8x and 8x, same as the P8P67 Pro, just cheaper..

"And the AMD 6950 can be unlocked if I'm lucky :D"

If you're lucky, yes. But if not, the differences is also not that big compared to the price difference..

"As th the SSD, how much is a 60GB SSD these days? Also, are they more reliable than a conventional HDD? Wear levelling and such taken into effect."

Can't say about the wear etc, but none came back so far and from what I've read online they're also not entirely sure at the moment, but most say that they'll last quite some time at least and might outlast normal HDDs. Price wise a 40Gb Intel SATA3G (Which is one of the ones up there in terms of small files - perfect for OS drives in my opinion) is R950 and a 80Gb is R1 725..

Just remember most of this is my opinion, so there might be different views from others...
 
Kuga said:
Uhm..

Stay the hell away from the 212 + ..
Click to expand...

As I said: There are more expensive ones on the market, but price wise this is one of the best ones and can almost be compared to the graphics card situation.. The price compared to increase isn't so great, but cooling is quite important.
 
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Okay the coolers are confusing me quite a bit now. The 212+ seems very good for the price, so I think I might be settled for now. If I don't like it, I can always try something else.

"the reason I want to go with the i7 is to kind of future-proof it, but by then I suppose the new Ivy Bridge will be out."

The thing is that if you are planning on going Ivy Bridge say this time next year or end next year, then the 2600k, in my opinion, won't be worth it as you won't have a game requiring what the 2600k is possible in doing once overclocked. A lot of gamers end up getting systems that will never even reach 75% load and could have saved a couple hundred, even thousand, rands along the way. But if you want to keep this system for a couple of years I'd say maybe go for it, but I can't say for a fact that you'll have games in 2years time requiring that..


"Okay, so XMS3 DDR3-1333 would do fine?"

Most of our clients ends up getting the 1333MHz XMS3 1.5V, so I'd say that it should be fine and as stated in many a thread there is a difference in 1600, but mainly in price and a liitle in benchmarks, but for gaming it'll be fine.

"I also thought of that, but I am thinking along the lines of CrossfireX a while down the road."

The P8P67-M Pro also supports CrossfireX and SLi mode in 8x and 8x, same as the P8P67 Pro, just cheaper..

"And the AMD 6950 can be unlocked if I'm lucky "

If you're lucky, yes. But if not, the differences is also not that big compared to the price difference..

"As th the SSD, how much is a 60GB SSD these days? Also, are they more reliable than a conventional HDD? Wear levelling and such taken into effect."

Can't say about the wear etc, but none came back so far and from what I've read online they're also not entirely sure at the moment, but most say that they'll last quite some time at least and might outlast normal HDDs. Price wise a 40Gb Intel SATA3G (Which is one of the ones up there in terms of small files - perfect for OS drives in my opinion) is R950 and a 80Gb is R1 725..

Just remember most of this is my opinion, so there might be different views from others...
Click to expand...
Interesting views on the motherboard, what exactly do I lose by going the MicroATX route instead of the full-size board? Other than the obvious such as less PCI slots :)

So the XMS3 it is, cool :)

Libertas Computers, do you have a roundabout price on a 60GB SSD? Sorry if I misread anything, I managed to pick up the flu and the meds are making me groggy *bleh*.

www.hwcompare.com shows that the GTX570 has an advantage over the ATi cards (6950/6970), but I don't know how accurate that comparison might be...I guess they are more or less on par?

I might as well add I do not dabble in much Photoshop, and I stay away from video conversion and the like. It is going to be an all-round PC, mostly games and a video here and there, but no other work other than word processing and such - or in fact I might keep it a dedicated entertainment machine :)

I must add that I would like it relatively silent, too. I do most of my stuff on a 17" laptop so I am used to fans humming along, but silent components are not the top priority but they would be preferred.

Eish, what else? I think that's about it...now I think I'm going to wait until AMD flashes it's Bulldozer chips before I buy. Hopefully the prices will drop by that time. Oh, one more thing. I read online the GTX570 length is around 267mm - will it fit inside a CM Scout case?

Ek skuld julle ouens 'n bier of twee...you guys were a great help so far:D
 
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