New PC build, advice & recommendations welcome!

ponder

ponder

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Ok so it's time for a new build.

Old system Q6600 CPU, G31 MB, 4GB RAM, 9600GT GPU, 500W PSU, Antec Sonata Chassis. This system lasted 7 odd years so as you can see I'm not a frequent upgrader passing a few MB socket types, so I'm not concerned about future proofing as I'll probably outlive the current (1150 & AM3+) sockets and whatever comes after them.

Use is day to day stuff, office, browsing, music, movies etc. Don't do much video or photo editing. Play some games but not a competitive gamer, just fun & single player stuff. OS is 99% Linux except for when it comes to gaming. Already have a Win7 64-bit license for gaming so no OS required.

Seeing as I use Linux AMD/ATI GPU is not an option has to be nVidia, current case I reckon is too short (pushing it) for modern GPU's and I doubt this old Antec's cooling is up to scratch.

Budget ~R9k
 
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Plenty of GTX960's / 970's barely stick out past the edge of the motherboard, so space is not an issue. Cooling should also be fine imo looking at the fan options it's got. Save that bit of cash and push a SSD or get the 970
 
 
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Will probably need a 550w 80% efficient power supply since you seem to be going the AMD overclocking route. Will also allow you to squeeze more out of the GTX960

I wouldn't personally go the AMD route since you like paying R1000 extra to get it's benefits. By which point you would of been better of buying an intel R2600 CPU and running it on stock on a R800 atx motherboard.

Take the price of the CPU and motherboard as one.
What else can you buy for R3400?

Well:
http://carbonite.co.za/f39/4-intel-core-i7-4790-processors-93635/

Then you have R600 for the motherboard left, which is actually doable but it will be a micro atx.

You can try all the OC, you want on the FX6300, you won't touch the i7.
And it comes with warranty, although you will have to query yourself of how long exactly. Although you'll still need a cooler, so it'll work out R300 more to be a fair comparison.

I'd personally rather go i5 secondhand though just to have more money I can throw at graphics card.
New retail i5 CPUs are a bit expensive though, that's where the FX6300 looks attractive, but it's the extras you need to take into account.
 
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HideInLight said:
Will probably need a 550w 80% efficient power supply since you seem to be going the AMD overclocking route. Will also allow you to squeeze more out of the GTX960

I wouldn't personally go the AMD route since you like paying R1000 extra to get it's benefits. By which point you would of been better of buying an intel R2600 CPU and running it on stock on a R800 atx motherboard.

Take the price of the CPU and motherboard as one.
What else can you buy for R3400?

Well:
http://carbonite.co.za/f39/4-intel-core-i7-4790-processors-93635/

Then you have R600 for the motherboard left, which is actually doable but it will be a micro atx.

You can try all the OC, you want on the FX6300, you won't touch the i7.
And it comes with warranty, although you will have to query yourself of how long exactly. Although you'll still need a cooler, so it'll work out R300 more to be a fair comparison.

I'd personally rather go i5 secondhand though just to have more money I can throw at graphics card.
New retail i5 CPUs are a bit expensive though, that's where the FX6300 looks attractive, but it's the extras you need to take into account.
Click to expand...

Yes we know you suck Intel's cock.
 
 
HideInLight said:
New retail i5 CPUs are a bit expensive though, that's where the FX6300 looks attractive, but it's the extras you need to take into account.
Click to expand...

And therein lies the problem for me, if PotterH had some i5's at a good price I would probably jump on it. i7 is a bit over the top for me.

If you guys spot any good deals share please.
 
ponder said:
And therein lies the problem for me, if PotterH had some i5's at a good price I would probably jump on it. i7 is a bit over the top for me.

If you guys spot any good deals share please.
Click to expand...

What price range you looking for, there's a i5 - 4690k up for grabs @R2300
http://carbonite.co.za/f39/6-intel-core-i7-4790-1-intel-core-i5-4690k-processors-94007/

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4690+@+3.50GHz
7617

Still your initial Motherboard + CPU + cooler works out R3400
You'll have R1100 left for the motherboard + cpu cooler to break equal, but have a much faster PC in return.

Lets say budget R2000 for the following:
Harddrive: R700
Case: R600
Power Supply: R600
R100 spare for shipping.

That leaves R7000

Add that GPU when lands on SA
R4000

Add the memory:
R2900 left for CPU/Motherboard/Cooler

Things are being cut a bit close.
 
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ponder said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I've been reading a bit and it does not look like the fx-6350 overclocks higher than the fx-6300?
So whichever one is picked you'll probably end up hitting about ~4.5GHz before things get unstable?
Click to expand...

That's true. If you're gonna OC stick to the fx6300.

If you were keeping stock go for the fx6350.
 
HideInLight said:
What price range you looking for, there's a i5 - 4690k up for grabs @R2300
http://carbonite.co.za/f39/6-intel-core-i7-4790-1-intel-core-i5-4690k-processors-94007/

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4690+@+3.50GHz
7617

Still your initial Motherboard + CPU + cooler works out R3400
You'll have R1100 left for the motherboard + cpu cooler to break equal, but have a much faster PC in return.

Lets say budget R2000 for the following:
Harddrive: R700
Case: R600
Power Supply: R600
R100 spare for shipping.

That leaves R7000

Add that GPU when lands on SA
R4000

Add the memory:
R2900 left for CPU/Motherboard/Cooler

Things are being cut a bit close.
Click to expand...

R700 for hard drive?

A dual core with an SSD will feel faster than an i7 with a mechanical hard drive.
 
Get an SSD its the best thing you can do for a new system and even an old one. I would agree with Chevron on the AMD route. More value for money considering on what you are planning on using this machine for.
 
Chevron said:
R700 for hard drive?

A dual core with an SSD will feel faster than an i7 with a mechanical hard drive.
Click to expand...

WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM is just over R700.

I'm not interested in a i7, I reckon a fx-6300 + gtx960 would do the job for a midrange gaming pc where I play mostly fps games?
 
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HideInLight said:
What price range you looking for, there's a i5 - 4690k up for grabs @R2300
http://carbonite.co.za/f39/6-intel-core-i7-4790-1-intel-core-i5-4690k-processors-94007/

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4690+@+3.50GHz
Click to expand...

What am I gonna pay for a MB that will allow me to OC that CPU (i5-4690k)? I would probably fit a non-k better into the budget. I would love to have that CPU though.

Paired with a gtx960 will I get much higher fps than a [email protected]?
 
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ponder said:
Thinking of the following so far.

MB - R1401 - MSI AMD 970 Gaming AM3plus ATX Motherboard
CPU - R1698 - AMD FX-6300 Vishera Black Edition 6-Core 3.5GHz
Cooler - R333 - Zalman CNPS10X Optima
RAM - R1081 - Crucial Ballistix S XT 8GB 1866Mhz DDR3 Gaming Memory
GPU - R2999 - Galax 96NPH8DVD9XX GeForce GTX 960 EXOC 2048MB GDDR5 128-bit

Still need to add case, psu & hdd.
Click to expand...

I like the build and its very similar to what I'll end up with in about two month's time (moving from an Athlon X3 to a FX-6300). My 970 Gaming is just spectacular and I could not have hoped for a better turnaround to my dismal experience with ASUS SA.

Memory-wise, PSU, HDD and case-wise, this is what I'd be looking at:

Super Flower Golden Green HX450 450W @ R599
Crucial Ballistix S XT 2x 4GB 1866Mhz @ R1170 (FX chips perform better with dual-channel RAM)
Cooler Master N500 ATX @ R771
WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM @ R1023

Of course, this sets you back quite a bit more, but you're not skimping on quality in any way here. Given your extreme patience thus far with your machine, I guessed that having a SSD is not really that important to you.
 
CataclysmZA said:
I like the build and its very similar to what I'll end up with in about two month's time (moving from an Athlon X3 to a FX-6300). My 970 Gaming is just spectacular and I could not have hoped for a better turnaround to my dismal experience with ASUS SA.

Memory-wise, PSU, HDD and case-wise, this is what I'd be looking at:

Super Flower Golden Green HX450 450W @ R599
Crucial Ballistix S XT 2x 4GB 1866Mhz @ R1170 (FX chips perform better with dual-channel RAM)
Cooler Master N500 ATX @ R771
WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM @ R1023

Of course, this sets you back quite a bit more, but you're not skimping on quality in any way here. Given your extreme patience thus far with your machine, I guessed that having a SSD is not really that important to you.
Click to expand...

Rather spend R100 extra on:

http://www.rebeltech.co.za/7424-sea...23-80-plus-bronze-certified-active-pfc-6.html
 
CataclysmZA said:
Super Flower Golden Green HX450 450W @ R599
Crucial Ballistix S XT 2x 4GB 1866Mhz @ R1170 (FX chips perform better with dual-channel RAM)
Cooler Master N500 ATX @ R771
WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM @ R1023

Of course, this sets you back quite a bit more, but you're not skimping on quality in any way here. Given your extreme patience thus far with your machine, I guessed that having a SSD is not really that important to you.
Click to expand...

Would 450W be sufficient? Was thinking 500W Antec or Super Flower. Will end up with 4x HDD
I don't need a fancy case with disco lights, the Corsair Carbide 200R appeals to me but if there's something similar/
simpler/cheaper out there let me know.
I'm assuming you picked the WD Black purely based on warranty?

A 128GB SSD would be a nice bonus. I only need 10GB for Linux so the rest could go to Windows.
 
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